Hello and welcome to my new one-shot! (Yes, chaptered fics still in the works...)
Anyways, this is for the cliche-challenge on the Best Puzzleshipping Story Contest Forum.
Please enjoy.
A special thanks to Natoya for being my beta.
I am a liar. I lie every day, to everyone, even myself.
This is nothing I do by the choice of my own free will, simply because that is something that I no longer have. I hate lying.
Three years. Three years of hell, and I see no end to it. Nor will I ever, because I am cursed.
I have often contemplated the faith bestowed upon me, how it all came to be. Always trying to understand, knowing that I never will.
Why, you might be wondering. Why keep lying when I hate it so much? When the lies that I tell makes my insides churn and my head ache?
It is simple, I do it to protect the ones I love. What other reason is there after all?
They wonder, I can see the questions and the worry in my mother's eyes.
"I miss you." she says and hugs me tighter when I am about to leave into the night. "You hardly visit any more; it's not good for you to be up all night. Life is so much more then staring at a computer screen."
I hug her closer to me, taking in her smell of flowers and vanilla, trying to tell myself that maybe, just maybe, she would understand if I told her the truth. And maybe she would, but my life must remain a secret. I am not allowed to tell her, to do so would be equal to signing her death sentence. Because the secret is not my own to share.
So I sigh softly and pull back, a bright smile adorning my face as I meet my mother's gaze. A lie that effectively hides what I really feel.
"I know, mom, but for now it's what I want; I'll be fine, promise." I gently draw my hands out of her grasp and turn towards the door, careful to maintain the smile.
"Jounuchi came by today." I freeze. "He was asking about you, said that he haven't seen you in a while." She tries to sound casual, however, I still hear the underlying questions.
Why, what happened? I do not blame her, Jou and I used to be glued to the hip. The general joke among our friends used to be 'When's the wedding?'
"Yeah...we've both been busy lately." I hesitate for another second. "But I really need to get going. See you."
I hurry out the door and down the stairs, my mother's "Goodbye and be careful!" echoing through the staircases of the apartment building. If only she knew just how careful I need to be, that the computer sitting on my desk is almost never used. It is just another lie, another way to hide what I really am. It's certainly not the real reason to why I am only up at night.
The cold night wind hits me in the face as I leave the building, a first taste of the promised storm.
I feel the familiar surge of panic that always flows through me after a visit to my mother. It makes itself known with even more force then usual.
Biting down on my lower lip and clenching my fists, I manage to keep the scream of pain locked inside. The wind is picking up and I run.
I run in a frenzied panic, faster, faster! Faster then humanly possible I run through the night, the storm a mere echo to the turmoil inside.
A feral snarl of angered disgust rips from my lips as the face of the one responsible flashes before my inner eye. I never knew I could hate so much, but the man with the two coloured eyes taught me that, and so much more I never wished to know.
He taught me to lie, to hide, to hate, and what pain really is. All in the few minutes it took him to change me.
Yes, I am a vampire. A creature of the night and a danger to everyone I know and love.
I keep running, not once noticing the lightning bolting over the dark skies, the rain hammering down, the roar of the wind, nor the tree that fell to where I was mere seconds ago.
It cannot hurt me, and the storming rage holds nothing to what I feel inside.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The doorbell is ringing, but I ignore it. The only ones to ever ring on my door are travelling salesmen and nosy neighbours.
The ringing becomes more persistent, heavy knockings companioning it, and I yell out:
"Go away! I'm not buying!"
"Not until ya open this door and talk to me Yug'!" The answer on the tip on my tongue dies when I recognize the voice.
"Jounuchi?" The shock must have been noticeable in my voice, cause the next thing I hear is the rattle of the mail drop and Jou speaking through it. He sounds both annoyed and a little amused.
"Of course it's me! Who'd ya think? Santa Clause?" A snicker is heard "Come on and let me in will ya, or people might start talkin'."
I cannot hold back the feeling of happiness at hearing Jou's voice again, and for once the smile on my face is real.
"C'mon Yug', let me in so we can talk. I won't stay long if ya don' want me to. I miss ya, pal."
Jou's voice is so pleading, and it has been so long since we last spoke so I decide that a minute or two cannot hurt. Just a minute.
"I miss you too, Jou." I say as he steps inside my small apartment, kicking off his worn trainers by the door.
"Then how come ya never return any of my calls?" he asks, following me inside the combined living and bed room.
I inwardly flinch and my smile falters, and I force it back onto my lips before turning to face Jou as I flop down in the white leather sofa.
"Yeah, I've been busy, work and all, you know." I am not sounding too convincing, and Jou merely nods before sitting down on the other end of the sofa.
He has not changed much since I last saw him, still wearing the signature jeans and green jacket. The colour of the jacket is a bit duller and the sleeves shorter then I remember. He looks tired, it makes me feel even more guilty for abandoning him the way I did. But to keep him safe...
I watch in silence as Jou gazes around the room, seemingly as lost for words as I am. His wandering gaze comes to a stop on me, and he fiddle his fingers.
"So... How've ya been, Yug'?"
"Good, good. Busy with work and stuff... How about yourself?"
"Ah, ya know...work, hanging at the arcade, the usual."
Another few minutes goes by in awkward silence, where we both avoid looking directly at the other, before we both speak out at the same time:
"Still working at Elderman's?"
"So whatcha working with?"
I chuckle and Jou grins sheepishly, it reminds me of the old days, before. I gesture for him to tell his story first.
"I'm sorry, you go first." His grin widen and he leans over to ruffle my hair.
"Just like old times, man. Yeah, still working for tha old grumpy. He's started selling jewelery now." Jou chuckles and shakes his head slowly. "Can ya imagine that?"
I have to giggle at the idea of selling jewelery at a hardware store. On the other hand, old Elderman always was a bit eccentric.
"Both yes and no. So how is that working out for him?"
"Surprisingly well." Jou blinked. "Ya'd be surprised at how many building workers who likes to bring a little something back home for tha missis along with their new tools." He leans back into the couch, crossing his legs. "Go figure. So whatcha doing these days? Last thing I heard you'd quit at the store?" I nod.
"Yeah, I got a job at this PR agency. I edit commercials, come up with witty slogans, that kind of stuff." Jou looks surprised.
"Oh, so where do ya work, I mean have I heard of this place?"
"Probably not. We're a web based company, I do most of my work from home." I gesture at the computer sitting at the top of my desk in a corner of the room. "Unless you're in the buiz, you probably never come across it."
It is not a lie, not completely. Only it is not really a PR agency, and the buiz is far more lethal then any bad jingle could ever be.
"I see." Jou beams at me. "I take it that goes well for ya. I mean this place is small and all, but it looks great!" He gestures to the leather sofa, the expensive looking glass table, the posh design bed linen. He seems happy, he thinks that he knows why I have been so distant. And it hurts.
I wave it off with a shrug, curling up in my end of the sofa. "It's a place to stay."
A frown returns to Jou's forehead and he opens his mouth to say something more, and right then my cell phone rings. I cannot help the relief I feel at the interruption.
Glancing at the display I rise from the couch and start for the kitchen.
"Sorry, Jou. I have to take this." He nods and I flip open the phone, walking into the kitchen.
When I come back to the living room, Jou sits exactly where I left him. An unnerving fact in itself, Jou never was good at sitting still. The expression on his face makes me feel even more on guard then I already am.
"Yug'... I get that ya don't feel up ta company, but I can see that something's bothering ya. Talk to me, man."
The pleading voice and the matching eyes is more then I can bear, it is all I can do to not crush the small phone still in my clenched hand.
"Look... Jou, I really am sorry, but I'm gonna have to cut this short. That was my boss calling and we have a bit of an emergency on this campaign launch..."
He is disappointed, of course he is, but he still smiles and rise from the couch.
"Sure, Yug'. We can always talk more next time, right?" I also smile.
"Sure."
I follow him out into the hall, and as he put his trainers back on, we both promise to call each other soon.
I know that Jou will call, and that I will not pick up nor return the call. And I know that he knows it too.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
I am running again, this time on a mission. I was not lying to Jou when I said that it had been my boss on the phone.
Strange, I always thought that vampires would be loners, that too many in one place would gather too much attention. However, it turned out that there are a whole underground government.
In a way, I am thankful for this. They took me in and trained me when my sier abandoned me after turning me. I found out later that it had all been a good laugh to him, that I was not supposed to have survived.
And now I am a 'PR agent', the title means that I am to keep the existence of vampires a secret.
Of course humans stumble over us on occasion; it is inevitable. The ones that do are either killed, or if deemed 'worthy', turned.
The one I am after tonight is of the lucky kind; he will die.
There, the house where he lives. The excitement of the hunt flows through me, even the easiest target thrills me. They say that it is because I am young. I merely take what I can get. During the hunt is the only times where I can forget.
It is over far too soon, the now dry body of the young man resting in my arms.
If I could cry, I probably would. Now all I can do is cover up my tracks.
Yes, I am a liar.
The truth still is, that what I wish most of all to hide I cannot.
I am a monster.
The end.
I would be very happy to know what you think about this. Review, please? *chibi eyes*