Abecedarian Ache
Chapter Three
A Lost Boys Fan Fiction
Note to readers: As a writer, I do not own Lost Boys. I am releasing this chapter in the raw form. Thanks to all my readers, I know it has been a while. Please continue to review they help to keep me inspired to write. I read every one! Thank you again!
Michael arrived at the hospital and bypassed the lobby entrance to land in the deserted courtyard. The shadows from the well-lit building provided him a cloak to sneak inside. People were everywhere. The scent of antiseptic, blood, and numerous other odors from the human body almost overwhelmed Michael as he walked the halls. He turned to look at a map posted and couldn't find a listing of any blood banks. The closet thing was the laboratory that was near the ICU. Passing by the nurse station Michael overheard the nurses.
"Poor thing, she is a wreck," the nurse told the doctor. "Cops say they pulled her over for speeding, but it was obvious she had been attacked."
"Are her parents on the way?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, at least she was able to give us her name, hard to believe she's only 16. Whoever saved her stopped that monster from doing more damage. Could you imagine if she ended up pregnant?"
"The rape kit is being processed but her hymen was intact so, I think it will come back negative. But protocol."
"Yeah."
Michael moved away. The girl was safe that was all that mattered. He continued towards the laboratory, but suddenly froze.
"Mom, I'm going to the cafeteria," Sam shouted as he left the room.
Michael turned and hid in the shadow outside of the ICU.
"Don't forget, he's being moved to another room later today." Lucy called.
"Yeah, yeah, I just need to get out of here for a bit."
Michael watched as Sam disappeared around the corner heading to the cafeteria. His little brother was still in the same clothes from last night and worse the wear. Standing the hallway with all the humans milling around Michael felt frozen. Focusing his senses, he could hear his mother and grandpa arguing over the hospital's plan to discharge him. I didn't kill him. That thought flooded him with relief.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" a nurse asked approaching him. Michael cursed himself for not paying more attention.
"If you are visiting someone, it is getting pretty late and you will have to leave soon. Can I show you the way?"
Michael smiled at the woman who was about the same age as his mother.
"No, I know where I am going, I am visiting my grandfather, he is in that room over there." Michael pointed to where Sam had come from. The nurse gave him a look as she pursed her lips.
"Well, good luck with that one, he is a handful."
Michael smiled. "I know."
The pushing off the wall he walked past the nurse and over to the room. Pausing a moment outside the door. He went in.
"I didn't call for another nurse," his grandfather snarled.
"Michael," his mother said.
The door closed behind him and Michael made no move to enter further into the room as both of his family members looked at him with a mixture of relief, fear, and something else. Dread perhaps.
"Hi," Michael said.
They stared at him. The only noise was the machines monitoring grandpa's vitals.
"Why are you here?" his grandfather asked. "What do you want?"
"Dad!"
"I wanted to make sure you were ok," Michael said and got a better look at his grandfather who appeared to be in several casts. The realization that he was hurt more than just a simple bite and blood loss filled Michael with such guilt. "Did I do that?" he whispered.
"No!" his mother almost shouted. "No," she said softer. "This fool tried to get out of bed without help when he was not ready and did that to himself."
"Hey!" Grandpa protested.
"Its true." Lucy got to her feet and moved towards her son. He stayed frozen in the doorway. "Michael are you, all right?"
Michael shook his head. "I'm a monster, mom."
"But you're not hurt." She took another step closer.
"You should stay away from me," Michael said.
"Then why did you come?" his grandfather asked. "You need another snack?"
"Dad!" Lucy said as Michael winced.
"I'm fine."
"So how many people have you killed?" his grandfather pressed.
"That's not fair! He bit you but you're not dead. Leave him alone dad." Lucy said putting herself between her son and her father.
"He's a god damn vampire Lucy," her dad said. "We can't trust him."
"This coming from the man who offered up a vein not 24 hours ago." Lucy said.
"I made a mistake." The old man looked angry but under that was remorse and guilt. Michael knew that look well.
"One," Michael said. Both adults looked at him. "I've killed one man. I am trying not to kill more."
"Michael," his mother whispered.
"I just wanted to say goodbye."
"No," Lucy said running towards him, but Michael was suddenly next to the window.
"I'm sorry, this was a mistake." Michael opened the window. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Don't look for me. Goodbye."
"Michael!" Lucy yelled but he was already gone.
Standing at the window, Lucy searched the skies. Only stars greeted her. The door to the room opened.
"Mom? What happened?" Sam said running into the room. Seeing his mother crying, he could guess. "Was Michael here?"
Lucy could only nod as she took her youngest son into her arms and wept.
"Its ok mom," Sam said. "I will find a cure and bring him home."
Lucy only sobbed harder.
Michael flew towards the opposite side of the hospital and made his way in towards the lab. This time no distractions. It was a simple task to avoid people since the lab was mostly shut at night. There were several tubes containing blood. Thankfully an ice chest was in the same room. With some searching he found the blood that was marked "for disposal" skimming the notes, the blood had some sort of flaw that made it unusable. There were other notes showing that blood was only good for about 21 days. The ice chest could only hold about 6 bags of blood. Michael made quick work packing up and then headed out another window.
Now that he had food for the next few nights he had to find a safe place to hide out. Fly it turned out was rather tiring. He moved away from Santa Clara and towards the closest college town of Santa Cruz. There were rumored to be caves near the campus. Michael stopped by and found a locker he could rent on campus and placed the ice chest inside. It was safe and in a cool location. So far, the fall semester had not started but there were still students milling around. Michael decided to try his luck and walked up to a group of three peers about his age, two males and a female.
"Hey," Michael said.
The first guy, a Hispanic dude, gave him a nod. "What up?"
"Have any of you heard of caves in the area?" Michael asked.
The girl's face lit up. "Heck yeah, those places are awesome."
The white dude shook his head. "Naw, they give me the creeps."
"So, you've been there?" Michael asked.
"Duh," the girl said. "There are two, Cave Gulch and Empire Cave." She was practically vibrating with energy. Her white shorts, and high heels swung on the wall where she sat. Michael noticed her tank top had David Bowie on the front.
"I've only been ta Cave Gulch," the first said. "It was kinda boring." The Hispanic guy looked at Michael with dark eyes trying to get a feel but open and friendly. His blue t-shirt looked black except when he lit up a cigarette with his lighter. He was dressed in simple torn jeans, and sneakers.
"That's because the party was lame," the girl said, "But yeah, Empire Cave is way better and still most of it is unexplored."
Michael's interested perked up. Caves were the only thing he knew would really protect him, that was why David had chosen the condemned park.
"Can you show me?" Michael asked.
The three exchanged a look. "I don't have anything else planned tonight." The girl said. "My name is Melody."
"Michael," Michael said extending his hand.
"That's Armando, and this is Ben."
"I'm not sure about this," Ben said. He continued to sit next to Melody his white t-shirt, torn swim shorts, and flip flops which kept falling off so he would have to hop off the wall to get them back on every few minutes as he played with is read ball cap.
"You're not on shrooms this time Ben," Melody said. "Careful he will talk your ear off."
"Seriously dude, when I went there I had this weird hallucination where I was fighting this terrifying masked man. He was about 7 feet tall he wore a long flowing cape. he had a helmet on which must have been giving him some issues cuz he was breathing heavily. He also was holding this crazy sword almost like some sort of saber made of blood. He advanced on me, but I was able to unmask him but then the craziest thing happened. It was my face was the face under his mask. I was really scared cuz my friend I was hanging out with had directly told me no to go into this cave."
"Ok," Armando said, giving Melody a look. "So are we doing this?"
"Absolutely," Melody said. "Let me grab some flashlights from the dorm and we will walk over."
"It is within walking distance?" Michael asked.
"Of course, all the college kids know that. Dude, I learned about it on orientation last year. This is gonna be a blast," Melody said, and she disappeared.
Armando watched her go. "She your girl?" Michael asked.
Ben bent over double laughing. "No way man, she's too good for Armando, or for me."
"Ah," Michael said.
"Hey, don't get any ideas, we watch out for her like our sister."
Michael held up his hands. "No worries. Just curious."
"So, you starting classes next month?" Armando asked.
Michael shrugged. "I don't have a major."
"Like that matters," Ben laughed. "Just take gen ed classes until you figure it out. That's what I'm doing."
"And how's that working out for you?" Armando asked.
"Hey two years strong, but yeah my old man wants me to declare next semester. He seems to think I will make a good accountant. Ugh."
"You don't seem the type." Michael said.
"But seriously, what interests you?" Armando asked.
Michael thought about it. In high school he had only done what he had to in order to get by. He has been a bit of a jock. Then when they moved to Santa Clara, he really hadn't planned past graduation. His new 'condition' was not something he could really take a course in, or could he?
"I am thinking about history, maybe. I like to know more about mythology I guess."
"Cool man," Armando said. "If you do go the humanities route, check into anthropology."
"What's that?"
"Anthropology is the study of what it means to be human, and how humans make meaning in life."
"Sounds like your quoting," Michael said.
"Yeah I took a summer class that just ended. We learned all about mythology and this due name Joseph Campbell…"
Before Armando could explain more, Melody returned in more sensible tennis shoes, carry two backpacks full of water, flashlights, and refreshments.
"We ready?" She asked.
"Now or never," Ben said, jumping off the wall and slipping on his flip flops. Michael followed them as Armando and Ben both took a back pack and Melody gave them each a flash light. It took about 20 minutes to make the hike. Michael was certain Melody was leading the way and had been here numerous times. Where the boys might trip she seemed to know the way without a doubt. Still the cave was also accessible from the road.
Once arriving Michael was surprised there was a low wooden fence that everyone easily jumped. They hiked a quick six feet up the side of the hill and came to a rectangle block of cement. Someone had chipped a hole in the top and attached what looked like a metal ladder. The side of the cement was covered in graffiti. This continued up the side of the mountain but strangely not on the top of the block. There were tons of shoe prints in the dirt and with Michael's eyes he could tell that dozens if not hundreds of people had visited the cave. Melody jumped up on the block and sat looking back at the boys.
"Who is going in first?" she asked swinging her legs.
"Do we have to?" Ben asked.
"If you want to partake in my treats you will," Melody said with a wicked grin.
Michael walked up to the entrance. Shining the light down the tunnel there was indeed a metal ladder but instead of going straight down it angled back. The cave smelled damp, like urine, feces both human and animal, rotting food, and alcohol. There had been a lot of parties down there.
Melody reached into the backpack and handed Michael a plastic bag.
"What's this for?"
"Trash." Michael raised an eyebrow.
Melody smiled. "Look I am taking a conservation class, so one of the rules with caving here at UCSC is that we pick up a bag of trash and take it when we leave."
"Okay…"
"Come on," Melody pushed past him and headed down the hole. She was down inside in no time and called back. "You coming?"
Michael looked at Ben and Armando who shrugged and then Michael followed Melody down the ladder.
Inside the cave was cool and surprisingly dry.
"This is a dead cave," Melody said shining her light around. All over the walls was more graffiti. There was a ton of trash on the ground which she bent to pick up and throw in her own bag. "I find if we grab and bag now, we leave it by the front and drag it out when we are done."
The boys followed her lead and in less than ten minutes there were four bags by them ladder. Melody held up the light to her face and gave them a big toothy grin. "Whose ready to explore?"
"Lead the way," Armando said.
Michael followed her. The cave was muddy despite being a dry or dead cave as Melody explained. Michael was having a much easier time than his new friends, but it was clear Melody knew this cave pretty well. With twists and turns she lead them to a place that after a tight sideways squeeze opened to a larger room. She propped her light down to shine off what looked like a metal mirror surface which gave the room more light.
"Treat time," she announced.
"Thank god," Ben said dropping next to Melody. From his backpack she pulled out chips, a six pack of beer and a pipe with tin. Ben helped himself to a beer and tossed one to Armando before offering one to Michael. Melody ignored the beer and lit up her pipe. The aromatic smell of pot filled the cave.
"We are so lucky no one else is here," Melody said.
"Is it usually crowded?" Michael asked.
"Not this room, but yeah the front really has a lot of party freshman. Thus, the trash."
"How many rooms does this cave have?" Michael asked.
"No clue, but a ton, several are harder to get into and you need to be an experienced caver." Melody said taking a hit. "There is also the Hell Hole cave but that is on private property."
"Like that stopped you," Ben said taking the pipe for a hit.
They stayed there for several hours, but it was Michael who could sense when the dawn was approaching.
"I think we should be going." Michael said.
"Shit," Armando said looking at his watch. "Its 430AM! Gawd I have to work tomorrow."
"Yeah," Melody said. "Wake up Ben will ya?"
Ben had curled into a ball and Armando shook him away.
"What?" Ben asked.
"We're leaving," Armando said handing him a flash light.
Following the same path, they exited the cave. Michael made certain to grab the trash that Melody had told them to pack up. He followed the crew back to the campus where they dumped the bags in a dumpster.
"Well this is where we part ways," Melody said with a curtsy. "Hope to see you around campus."
"Yeah, same," Michael said.
"Where ya headed?" Armando asked.
"I need to head back to my place to crash," Ben said and followed Melody.
"Me too," Michael said.
"See ya."
Michael watched as they disappeared back towards the brightly lit campus. He had made friends and not tried to kill them. Making a quick stop by the lockers, Michael grabbed the ice chest and headed back to the cave. It took him about an hour of searching but he managed to find an opening that he could put the ice chest through which led to a room that was big enough for him to stand, sit and lay down. There was a large rock which he shoved into the opening and laid down for the night. For the first time, he was thinking about the future, and the idea of college was not a bad start.