Our Secret
Chapter 9
Abnormal
The days went by and for some reason, Nozomi started to see less and less of Nico. Whenever she did see her, she gave her a simple smile and walked off. That smile was deceptive in that she couldn't really tell if Nico was mad at her or not. On the other hand, Eli was keeping a close eye on Nozomi just in case if anything bad happened. She was still a little paranoid about those murders and being too careful couldn't hurt.
As for Nozomi, things were alright; aside from Nico, that is. Her work in the student council was actually pretty fun. She got to see all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into all of the events that their school held. She was also surprised at how incredible Eli was. This girl was so diligent. She rarely asked for Nozomi's help and whenever she did, it was for something a little kid could do. Other than that, her life was finally returning to normal. However, things like that don't last forever.
…
One day, Eli and Nozomi were walking to school when a particular conversation caught their attention. All of the girls were talking about another murder. It was obviously new because they were saying how it was someone from their student body. At that moment, Nozomi grew worried. It could have been Nico. She was close to the last one involving another student. She ran into the building without telling Eli. She barged in through the doors and looked around as frantically as she could.
"Nico! Nico, are you here?" As she turned her head frantically, someone came up behind her and touched her shoulder.
"Why are you being so loud? The day just started." It was Nico.
"Oh my gosh, I was so worried about you." Out of nowhere, Nozomi threw her arms around and squeezed her as tight as she could. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine. What's with this smothering all of a sudden?"
"Well, it's because of what everyone's talking about."
"Oh, right. Don't worry. I'm smart enough to not go out at night or anything like that."
"I don't know, Niccochi. You can be quite an airhead sometimes. And going out at night isn't the problem here, dummy." Nico turned her head in disgust.
"Wow, thanks for that comment." Nozomi giggled. "Anyway… Are we okay?" Nozomi turned her head in confusion. "You know… During the party at your house. The question I asked you."
"Oh… Yeah, we're fine. Why wouldn't we be? We're best friends, right?"
"Yeah." For Nico, hearing the word "friend" was so upsetting for her. All of this time, Nozomi could have been hers, but she just wasn't out there enough for Nozomi to realize it. Now, there's a tall, beautiful blonde girl who Nozomi has her eyes on. No matter how she looked at it, there was no competition. Eli was just too perfect of a girl. Nico bowed her head and started to walk off. "I'm going to class."
"Okay, bye." Nozomi waved bye to her as Eli walked up behind her.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing really. I just got to talk to my Niccochi again." Nozomi walked off to her class while Eli stayed in the entrance of the building for a few seconds longer.
Class was alright. All three of the third years were thinking about something, but none of them were thinking about the same thing. Nozomi wanted to know Nico was acting so strange. Nico wanted to know why Nozomi didn't see her that way even though she was so affectionate towards her. Eli was worried about the situation as a whole. She wanted to get down to the bottom of all of this, but she didn't even know where to start. Out of nowhere, Eli got this sudden pain in her head. She didn't know what it was, but she did know that she had to leave the classroom.
Right as class ended for lunch, Nozomi got up out of her chair and received an email. It was from Eli. "Can I talk to you in the student council room?" It was kind of random, but there was no need not to go there. She grabbed her lunch and headed up to the student council room. When she arrived, she opened the door and called out Eli's name. However, the room was empty. She looked around and saw that it was completely deserted.
"Hm, am I early?" She pulled out her phone to check to see if Eli didn't leave a time or anything, but at that moment, the door slid shut and Nozomi heard a lock behind her. She quickly turned around to see Eli in front of the door. Her head was down, but she could see those bright red eyes glowing in front of her. "Eli-chi, are you okay?" Eli slowly walked towards her, but this aura Nozomi was feeling was not like her usual self. "Hyah!" Eli tackled her to the ground and rammed her fangs into Nozomi's neck. "Ah, please stop."
Eli couldn't stop. All of this time she's been planning to protect Nozomi, she totally forgot about her own health. Blood is a huge necessity for vampires and Eli completely forgot about it until the very end. Nozomi continued to push her off, but Eli wouldn't budge. Her fangs continued to dig deeper in Nozomi's skin.
"Please… stop." Nozomi put her hand on her shoulder one last time to try and push her off, but the loss of blood was getting to her. Her hand fell on the floor as her vision started to blur. As that happened, Eli's eyes slowly turned back to their normal blue. She then realized what she was doing. She released Nozomi from her bite and shot back towards the door.
"Oh my God, did I just…" She looked at Nozomi who was barely conscious. "No… I didn't." She looked down at her hands and at that moment, a drop of blood fell on them. She wiped her mouth with her hand and saw blood covering her hand. "Oh no. Nozomi, can you hear me?" She couldn't really answer. She just moaned silently.
At that moment, Eli ran over to her and picked her up off the ground. She quickly wiped away the blood on her neck and carried her to the nurse's room as quickly as she could. When she got there, she laid her down on the bed as the nurse asked what had happened. Eli couldn't tell her the truth so that she suddenly fainted out of nowhere. The nurse felt Nozomi's skin and realized that she was quite cold. She then grabbed a towel, put it under hot water, and placed it on her forehead. She also turned off the A/C grabbed all the available blankets she could and placed them on top of Nozomi's body.
"Is… Is she going to be alright?"
"Thankfully, you got here when you did. Any later and her body may have shut down."
"What does that mean?"
"Don't worry about it. All you need to know is that she's safe. Just give her some time and I'm sure she'll come around."
…
Why do I feel so cold? Why does my neck hurt so much? Oh yeah, the strangest thing happened to me. Eli stole some of my blood from me. I don't know if "some" is the correct way to say it since I nearly died, but something like that did happen. So where am I now? My body's not really reacting to me right now. Am I safe? What happened to Eli? Hold on a second… What was that feeling just now? It was slightest bit of warmth coming from my hand. I did everything I could and eventually, I gained the strength to open my eyes.
Nozomi slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling was white and she was starting to feel the warmth return to her body. She turned her heads and saw curtains surrounding her. When she looked down, she saw Eli holding her hand with her head resting on the bed. Was that small bit of warmth coming from her? She slowly leaned forward which caused Eli to wake up.
"Nozomi, you're alright. Thank God." Eli leapt at her and threw her arms around her neck. "I was so worried about you."
"It's fine. I'm fine. You don't need to worry about it." Eli suddenly released her grip and sat back on her chair. She stared at the floor in silence.
"This is my fault. I did this to you. I'm sorry."
"No, no. This isn't your fault."
"Yes it is. I couldn't control myself and of all people, I did it to you… The person I care about most. The one person who knows my secret. If I would have killed you, I would have been seen as a monster who only lives to suck the blood of innocent people. I would have been a vampire." Nozomi sat there as she noticed Eli's body start to shake. A tear dropped from her eye for she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I thought I could protect you, but I was wrong. I would only hurt you more by being with you." At that moment, Eli stood up from her chair and tried running out of the room, but Nozomi's hand grabbed hers before she could.
"You'll never hurt me." Nozomi could see the pain in Eli's eyes as she spoke those words. "You know why?" Eli immediately avoided eye contact with her. At that moment, Nozomi pulled her arm until her face was right in front of hers. "Because I love you." Nozomi pressed her lips against Eli's as they shared a kiss.
Just outside the nurse's room, Nico saw their kiss and stormed off in anger.
"That bitch."
End of Chapter 9
