Chapter 1: Meeting
Sage
I couldn't believe it; my parents were putting on another charity at the church. My mother was the head of the committee, and my father paid for everything. In addition, I, Sage, was their only child. Okay, rephrase that. My mom's only child.
My biological father had died when I was only three. My mom's "new" husband had a daughter, Arabella. (Totally wired how our names were alike, but it was true, our names were practically identical.)
She wasn't one of those awful stepsisters you read in storybooks. She was actually quiet, well shy anyway. She was a little brunette, not more than five feet tall. I would say maybe five foot one at the most. Maybe.
The day my mother met, Jack (that was my new stepfather's name), she was ten and I was twelve. She had her head in a book when I came over to talk to her. I think she was reading Moby Dick. (I know what kind of ten-year-old reads Moby Dick?)
I walked up to her and said, "Hello."
She looked up at me, blushed, then threw her face into the book as if I were some cute boy around her age that just came up to ask her to dance. I admit my hair was short then, but I was definitely NOT a boy.
Enough with the flash back. You get the idea she's shy. So now, back to the present.
This year everyone, and that included me, was supposed to bring in canned goods for the homeless. I wasn't fond on the idea. I actually had a sore spot for charity.
I got out of bed with my hair in a complete mess.
"Mother, I need to tell you something. I've been meaning to tell you for a while now." I looked at her with my robe on.
"Yes, dear. What is it?" she said while simultaneously sticking the dishes into the dishwasher.
"About the charity thing," I paused. Not sure how it would come out, "I don't want to do it."
"What?" she acted as if the world was about to end.
"Do I seriously need to repeat?" I groaned.
"You are doing the charity, and that's final." she stuck her hand on her hip. "You've been doing these for almost five years now. You're still going to do them." she said sternly.
My face was beginning to turn red for anger. "No mom, I'm not. I've been faking as if I wanted to do them. When really, I don't."
"You are going to do the charity. And that is final missy!"
I stomped the ground and yelled at her, "NO! I AM NOT!"
I was now furious. I'd been holding in my anger ever since she married Jack.
I ran out the front door, and I kept running til I got to the four way stop.
The four way stop intersected Hartsville St. and Columbus Rd. I lived on Hartsville.
I sat on the corner right below the stop sign crying when I heard a voice.
"Is everything alright?" the voice was calming.
I turned around to see a girl who was maybe five foot six. She looked at me, her pale ivory skin brought out her yellow eyes. Her sleek, black hair danced with the wind along with a white bow with green pokadots on it that matched her dress nicely.
"Not really." my voice cracked.
My eyes red from crying, my brown-black hair, a mess. I was wearing run down jeans, I got for Christmas almost two years ago now, a green t-shirt with a peace sign in the center, and some old checkered converses. Compared to her, I looked like I had no home.
"Would you like to tell me what's wrong?" she sounded very comforting.
I didn't want to tell a girl who I just met what happened between my mother and me. To be honest, I didn't want to tell anyone my problems.
"My mother and I got into this fight over a charity work." I said sniffling throughout whole sentence.
Before I realized it, I practically told her everything that was wrong with my life.
I cupped my hands over my mouth. I was a babbling idiot! I'm positive she didn't want to hear my life's story.
"I am so sorry. You didn't want to hear that I'm sure." I said between my fingers.
"Actually that was quite interesting. I am sorry I didn't properly introduce myself before I asked you what was wrong. I am Ally. I live on Columbus Road."
I instantly removed my hands from my mouth. I was in a state of shock. If she had live so close to me, why haven't I seen her around? Unless she just moved in.
"Oh. It's alright. My name is Sage, but you can call me Sara." I tried not to sound as stupid as I felt. "I live on Hartsville Street."
"Interesting."
Why did she keep saying that?
"Would you like to come over and swim?"
What in the hell was I saying? I didn't even know the chick and I'm asking if she wants to come and swim?
"That would be delightful." she sounded like she was twenty.
"Good."
I stood up, thinking how big of an idiot I was as we slowly walked to her house. Well I was just following her. Like I knew where her house was?
We got there.
"I will be right out. Let me go and change real quick."
I watched as she opened and walked through the front door.
The house was made of brick, a dark burgundy color. I had never seen it before. How could I miss a house this huge? I would say it was at least three stories, maybe four, plus the basement. Anyone could have easily mistaken it for a mansion.
Before I could finish my thoughts, she was already out of the house wearing an orange bikini with hot pink bows on the hips. She looked cute.
She handed me one similar but with red and white instead of orange and pink.
"I thought you wouldn't be comfortable going back inside your home to change. So please take this one." her voice was soft.
"Thank you" I said my eyes almost filled with tears.
"You may change inside if you wish. Once you walk inside you will be in a hallway. Fallow it until you get close to the end. There will be an open archway on your right. Take it. You will be entering the dinning room. There is a door on the opposite end. There you will find the bathroom."
"Thank you again" I replied. She had so much hospitality.
"Think nothing of it. I have something I need to take care of out here. So you may take as long as you wish."
I nodded and started in the way of the house. I turned around to see if she was still there, but she was gone. I shrugged my shoulders and went on my way.
When I reached the door I opened it slowly, afraid that I didn't belong. There was something about the house that was welcoming.
I stepped inside just as she had said I was within a hallway. I started walking down to the end. There was a huge painting. Beautiful to look at. It was drawing me in. I walked all the way down, forgetting about the archway.
The painting was of a woman who had a strong resemblance to someone I knew. Her hair was a dark auburn, eyes of a cat, and her skin looked like paper. She was gorgeous. The way her features drew me in was almost hypnotizing.
"So you are attracted to the painting as well?" Ally's voice came up from behind me.
"Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to stare…" my cheeks flushed.
"It's alright. She's beautiful isn't she?"
"Yes, very." I turned to look at her, and that's when I saw it. The woman in the painting reminded me of Ally. I shifted my eyes back to the painting. "Is this your mother?"
"No, but I can tell you she is related to me."
"I can see the resemblance."
We stood there for some time admiring the woman when her voice broke the silence. "You should get to changing now."
I nodded as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me away from the painting and towards the archway. As we entered the dining room, my eyes widened. It should have been called the GRAND dinning room. As if she told me, there was a door on the other end. We walked toward it. She opened the door. It was a bathroom, but big enough to fit a hundred people. I walked in as she shut the door behind me.
After I had finished changing, I opened the door, my clothes in my hand.
"Give me your clothes and I'll have them washed for you."
As I handed her my clothes, I nodded in thanks. She nodded back.
We walked back the way we came and exited her home. We slowly started walking back to mine. This time she was the one following me, even though I had a weird feeling she already knew where I lived.
We reached my house, and the whole time we had been walking not a word was said out of our mouths. I didn't know anything about her, but I was thinking, a lot, about the house, and the painting… Why did she say she was related to her, but didn't tell me how?
Along with that, I kept getting a weird feeling, hard to describe. It was like a dark aura of some sort from her but ignored it and kept walking.
We finally got to my backyard, which felt like a mile away from where we were.
"So this is your pool?" not more over a whisper escaped from her lips.
"Yes," I replied in the same tone.
Why was I speaking in a whisper?
"Sorry it's on the small side."
I turned around to see her smiling. Not a big smile, but more of a grin and she said, "It's quite alright. I've been in smaller ones before. No big deal."
As I turned back around I skid my foot, but I didn't think anything of it.
Still with the same grin, she took a step toward the pool. The look on her face was as if she got shocked. Her hands instantly covered her mouth and she ran.
Had I said something wrong? I didn't mean to run her off.
By the time I could blink, she was gone, out of sight.
Did she run cross-country, maybe?
That was beside the point; I went ahead into the pool. As soon as my foot hit the chlorine-filled water, it felt as if a bee had stung me. My foot had a huge gash on the bottom. I pulled it out as fast as physically possible. I hadn't realized that when I skid my foot, I had also cut it wide open.
I immediately grabbed my towel and wrapped it around my foot. Luckily, the towel was a small one you use to clean messes. It was drenched in blood by the time the bleeding had started to slow.
I hobbled all the way to my house, opened the door, and walked inside. Thank goodness, my family wasn't home. They were probably busy with the charity. Once I walked inside, I grabbed a bandage from within the far left cabinet, which was right inside the front door. I applied the bandage carefully so that it wouldn't slide off.
For the rest of the day I sat on my couch with my foot propped and watched cartoons, although it was boring. Around ten o'clock is when I fell asleep.
I open my eyes to see the room filled with nothing but darkness. Someone must have turned off the television before they went to bed. That's when the room started to come into better view. My eyes were adjusting to the blackness.
That's when I realized I wasn't in my living room anymore. The walls were not white but covered with red…Wait…It couldn't be… Blood?
Why was there blood on the walls around me? I opened my mouth about to scream in horror when someone came from behind and covered my mouth before I could make a sound.
A deep voice of a man broke the silence, "Do not scream my dear, for this is not the blood of your parents…"
My mind was relieved of that, but my body was still struck by the coldness of the mystery man's hand. It felt like ice wrapped around the front of my face.
That's when I felt it. The piercing of two knifes going through my neck. The room started to fade slowing back to black. My body felt as if frozen in time. I could feel my blood leaving my veins, but why so quickly? Who was this man and what were his intentions?
Finally, the knives lifted, but my blood was still leaving me. Then it stopped, the blood flow, the fading walls, everything had come back, but the man was now in front of me. He was tall, thin, like he had not eaten in months. His hair appeared a dark brown long enough to cover his eyes.
His head was down, his shoulders moved like he was having trouble breathing.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist…" he was out of breath, "you're just so tempting."
What in the bloody hell was he talking about?
As if my reflexes had taken over me, hand went from being still at my side to the base of my neck where the knives had broken my skin.
I felt them… not those a knife would make, but ones of fangs. I had to have been dreaming.
In addition, as if he could read my mind he said still in deep gasps, "You aren't dreaming, this is reality. For you will be hers and we will be after you." Then his head jolted up and his green eyes glared at me. They were glowing with such light even though the room was pitch black.
"WH-what are you?" I stuttered in fear.
"If I give you the answer you already know, it would ruin his plan." He moved from across the room to me in a quick second. His face was pale, eyes burning with green… That was the last thing I remember before passing out cold.
I woke up screaming and sweating. What had happened? Maybe it was a nightmare. After all, I was back in my living room, but where was my dog?
"Maybe she ran off when she heard me scream…" I had to think positive. I just had a nightmare, no more negative tonight.
The sound of a door creaking open stopped my train of thought. I knew for sure it was my father getting up to wonder why I was screaming. I could see one foot start down the stairs, but there was no sound like he weighed less than air.
He wasn't wearing any shoes, but I could start to see he was wearing jeans, really dark jeans, almost black.
Nevertheless, my father doesn't wear jeans to bed… I thought.
Until his whole body was visible, I thought it was my father. That's when I realized it wasn't him, but the guy who had done something to me in my dream.
His head was down, shoulders slumped. He looked the same as he was in my dream, but something was different about him. I could feel it.
He stood still, motionless. You couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not. It felt like forever until he started to lift his head. He didn't have to lift it very far in order for me to see it. His eyes were no longer that glowing green I remember, but now they were crimson, the color of blood. They looked at me as if trying to burn a hole into my skin.
The next thing I see is a blur. He moved so fast I could hardly realize where he had gone, but I didn't have to know for I could feel his breath on the back of my neck again. I knew what was going to happen and there was no way out of it.
I could feel his fangs start to bear into the base of my neck. That's when I saw another blur. This one was smaller, but still fast if not faster. Then the feeling lifted.
What had happened?
They were not human; I knew that. No human could move as swift as they did.
The smaller blur looked like it was tackling him. I could hear the grunts even though my eyesight wasn't the best in the dark.
Next thing I hear is a crash, like glass breaking…
I woke back up, again. This was seriously creeping me out. How many times was I going to close and open my eyes tonight?
I was back in my living room again. My dog was barking fairly loud, and I knew for certain it would wake up my parents. Therefore, I took the blanket on my lap off and stood up. Unfortunately, my legs didn't agree. As soon as I got on my feet, I fell back onto the couch.
My head was throbbing. My heart felt as if it was going to explode out of my chest.
"What is wrong with me?" my voice came out a whisper when it was meant to come out as a scream.
I looked in the direction my dog was barking. There was a movement in the window.
Could it have been a bird or maybe the flag? No, it was bigger than that. More like a person. That's when the crimson eyes appeared again.
I closed my eyes and started to shake.
"It's just a dream. It's just a dream!" I was forcing myself to believe that, but my mind knew better. What happened to me that night, I would never forget.