1. Curse
There are only two good things that would ever come from being what I am, my heightened senses and my quick reflexes. I couldn't care less about the brute strength, I'd actually prefer to live without it. I hate having to be extra careful around everyone else, and I hate having to sit and watch the Quidditch games instead of getting the rush of the wind whipping through my hair. It's just not fair, but I suppose it's better than what could have happened.. what would have happened had it not been for that wolf, well werewolf.
My head snapped around as I sniffed the air. There was something approaching and it smelled…human. I had to get out of here before they appeared. I could feel my taste for it overpowering me as I ran in the opposite direction. Why did they always have to sneak out at night…especially the nights I'm hunting. I can't be around humans when I'm hunting, it's too dangerous.
Storming through the forest as fast as my legs could carry me, I could still taste the scent of whoever it was in the air. Yes, it is possible to taste a scent, well at least when your what I am. I tried to hold my breath so that I couldn't taste or smell it anymore, but that didn't work. The scent seemed to force my body to breathe, like a magnetic attraction. I didn't know how much longer I could run before my desire for their blood takes over and turns me back in that direction. I couldn't let that happen. Not again.
It's happened before, only once, but still. I spent weeks after beating myself up over it. It wasn't fair for me to have to suffer, but what was worse was that others had to suffer too, all because of my stupid mistakes. I'd killed a little boy because of my problem. It took control, and before I knew it, the boy was dead, lying in the middle of the dark street bleeding. Well, bleeding what was left of his blood anyway. I hadn't given mercy it appeared, and every time I think about it my heart clenches, and feel like just killing myself. Then again, that's not possible either.
Not only do I have to survive with this horrible.. curse as I prefer to call it. But I have to lice with it for an eternity. Doomed to a life of hell for as long as this earth spins. Not only that.. I'm stuck at the age of seventeen as well. One of the worst ages.. ever. I mean sure, I could probably make it seem like I'm older than I am for a few years, but soon enough I'm going to have disappear, and never return.. move somewhere where no one knows who I am, and never return. Act as if I just never existed, and move on with my damned life.
I sniffed and found the scent dissipating in the warm air of the summer. They were turning back, I just knew it. I sighed with relief as I felt myself come back into control. I'd better feed soon or something might end up happening. I went deeper into the woods, keeping low to the ground, and searched for a meal.
Bright lights seeped through my eyelids, and I slowly opened them. They were heavy with tiredness, and I knew that I didn't get much sleep. As I looked around I briefly wondered where I was. It was then I realized that once again, I didn't go home after hunting. Not that it mattered. There was no one there to care that I didn't come back, and even if there was someone there.. they had no reason to worry. It's not like I can die.
Slowly I lifted myself up from the ground where I'd fallen asleep, my limbs were weak from the night before, and my legs felt as if they were going to give out from underneath me. I leaned up against a tree, ignoring the prickling of the bark against my pale skin. I pushed a bit of my short black hair behind my ear, and yawned. I needed to get back home before someone sees me.
Contrary to popular belief, I am not allergic to the sun or anything of the sort. My skin just looked like I was part albino. That was the only true difference from a vampire and a normal human being. At least in appearance.
I stumbled through the thick brush of the woods, my knees feeling as if they were going to give way on me at any moment. But I kept on pushing myself. I had to get home, if you could even call it that. It was more so a broken down shack that no one goes near. The only place I'm safe from the outside world, and the stares that would follow me everywhere because of my appearance.
My torn clothes were a result of the fact that I had no money to buy new ones, and of course, that I spent at least one night every week roaming the forests to feed myself before a human comes along.
I'm not going to lie, it is a difficult life. There's no denying it, and I do have self-pity. Who wouldn't? No one wants to be a vampire, cursed, whatever. It's certainly not the lifestyle I was going for twelve years ago when it happened. Yes, it's been twelve years since it happened. Hard to believe myself. I've been seventeen for twelve years, but I suppose you get used to it after a while.
I take my normal route back to the shack that resided in the middle of the forest. I knew these woods like the back of my hand. And trust me.. the fact that the back of my hand has looked the same way for the past twelve years.. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable. I could find a missing person through these woods in a matter of minutes, sprinting at speeds twice as fast as any muggle car could go, going it's fastest. And I wouldn't get lost, or even have to retrace steps to double check that they weren't there. It all came along with the curse. I do try to do as much good with it as I can, but it is kind of hard, for even though I don't want to.. the scent of humans is constantly trying to overpower me, and it makes me nervous to know that even one wrong move and I could be pushed over the edge and repeat the same mistake I swore to never make again.
When I reach the shack, my home, I don't even cringe at the look of it. It was a small, one story wooden disaster. The door was coming off of it's hinges, a broken light outside of the door that was probably used to attract bugs, and as a signal for where the shack lay exactly. One window was completely shattered, only a little bit of glass left in one of the panes. The window on the other side was pretty much there.. just a small hole through one of the panes, with cracked glass surrounding it. The wood was rotting, and it was easy to tell just by looking at it, that it hadn't been occupied in years.
Well, that was what it looked like anyway. Reality.. it was occupied, by me. I never bothered cleaning it up in the few years that I'd lived here. It was one of the few homes I've had since everything happened, as my parents disowned me and left me on the streets to die, though they knew that it wasn't possible.
The abandoned look was what I was going for. It was the only way I could make sure that anyone who happened to walk by wouldn't stop to see who lived there. Though, more than once they've stopped and at least considered going inside to have a look, but I made sure it gave off an eerie look that would stop almost everyone from nearing it. Almost that was.
As I made my way towards my.. home, I noticed something moving inside of it. I froze as I sniffed the air. Of course. Why didn't I sense it before? Usually I could smell them at least a hundred yards away, even more when I was hungry. So why hadn't I smelled them? Yes, them. It was plural. Three to be exact. They each had their own scent, unique in their own ways.
Stealthily, I tiptoed my way over to the side of my home and crouched low to the ground. The scents were starting to become overwhelming, but I suppose that's what I get for staying as far away from civilization as I could.
But wait, one of them is so.. different from the others. More so than I've ever smelt before. No, it can't be. I don't believe it, but it is.. I know it is. One of them's a werewolf. Oh shit. They really need to leave, like.. this second before my instincts kick in and that one in particular gets something he doesn't want. A bite from a vampire. It'll kill him. I can't let that happen.
Standing up I make to leave when, of course, they have to come out at that exact moment. I drop back behind the wall again, but one of them saw me. Just grand! And I can only guess which one it was. This is not going to be fun. Maybe I should just pretend like it was his imagination and run away. No, that's not fair. This is my home after all. But I don't want to end up doing anything.
I won't do anything. I'm stronger than that. I'll survive. I just fed anyway. As long as there is no blood present I can control myself. I hope.