"I'm glad you think you're funny," Amanda rolled her eyes, staring at me like I was a lunatic…which I clearly am for even thinking of bringing this up. I shrugged, "It's the truth. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to." "It's not that, I know you wouldn't lie to me, but this isn't possible," she said, "Vampires don't exist. You've read too many Anne Rice books or something."
"I wish that was the case," I said softly. "You're really not kidding, are you?" she asked again. "Not at all," I assured her. Her response had me nearly floored. She wasn't afraid, she was curious. A moment of silence passed as she became lost in thought, once again I wished I could read minds like Edward. "You're not going to run screaming from the room?" I eventually asked.
She shook her head, "I'm too intrigued to run screaming from the room. Too lazy, too. Are you planning to tell me more, or am I supposed to ask?" I shrugged, I had been braced for the more dramatic reaction, "What could you possibly want to know??" I found myself being reluctant to share the gruesome details of my past with her. "Everything," she answered, eyeing me like she thought I might be the one to bolt from the room.
"It's not a happy story, like a fairy tale or something," I said, giving her one last chance to back out, "It's real and repulsive." "I can handle it," she assured me, sliding back a bit on the bed and pulling her legs up under her, as if she was readying for a long story. I scooted back beside her, I didn't want her staring at me. It's part of my nature, I guess, preferring to be in the background.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," I muttered, before beginning my story. "I was born in 1843 in Texas…." I found myself telling her everything: lying about my age to get in the army, being changed by Maria, my responsibilities with the newborns, and eventually being adopted by the Cullens. Somewhere during my monologue she had wrapped her arm around mine, in a supportive gesture. I supposed she sensed this was hard for me to talk about. I didn't realize until I after I shut up that she had also taken my hand. I didn't notice it, it felt right…I only noticed when she took her hand away to reach over and pick up the picture of me in my army uniform that the army had taken for all the soldiers.
"So, you're 165 then?" she asked, looking at the picture then at me. "164," I corrected, "My birthday, if you can call it that, is in October. On Halloween, ironically." She nodded, looking back to the photo. "You're eyes were lighter then" she said quietly, "They're closer to black now." "They're usually a goldish color," I explained, "they turn black when I haven't hunted in awhile." I immediately regretted using the word 'hunted' but it didn't seem to faze her. Apparently she was just as crazy as me.
"How do you…hunt?" she asked, "I mean, won't someone catch on if people keep disappearing?" I shook my head. "We don't hunt people, Carlisle considers us to be vegetarian vampires. We only drink the blood of animals. That's what makes our eyes the strange gold color, but we're not sure exactly why." "Is it hard for you to be around people, then?" she continued cautiously, not wanting to upset me. As if I'm the one that should be upset.
"Yes," I admitted, "I'm the newest one to this…diet. I have a harder time with it than the rest of them because of my background. I mean, I existed for nearly a century feeding off humans. After so long, it's a hard habit to adjust to breaking. Everyone, excluding Carlisle, was introduced into this lifestyle upon being created, I wasn't." "Is it hard for you to be around me?" she asked. "No," I said truthfully, "It really isn't. Being at school is excruciating, but with you it isn't. I don't want to hurt you, it isn't really even an option. That overshadows my thirst."
Silence set in for a moment. "Why are you still here?" I blurted out, "Aren't you afraid of me?? I've killed people…more people than all the serial killers you can think of combined, but yet you're still here, calm as hell, and I'm not even doing anything!!" I felt bad for swearing, I was raised not to swear in front of a lady, but it just came out.
"I'm not afraid of you," she began, "Just what you could do." That made sense, in an odd sort of way. "But," I interrupted, leaning in closer to her," Do you not realize I could kill you right now? I won't but I could. I could do it so fast you'd never even see it coming!"
"I know," she said, not perturbed by my outburst. "You're taking this far too well," I said, still awaiting her to suddenly start screaming or something, she merely shrugged. "The rest of them too?" she asked, gesturing to the rest of the house. I nodded, shaking some hair out of my eyes in the process.
"What's it like?" she asked. "What's what like?" I countered. "Everything. I imagine immortality isn't nearly as glamorous as it sounds, the constant moving around and perpetually being a teenager. But, still, what's it like?" she continued. Her analysis surprised me, most people seem to think living forever is this great thing.
"Obnoxious," I answered with an unexpected smile, " I've been through high school from 9th grade to graduation nine times. I hate it, but the younger we start out the longer we can stay in one place. Then I usually go away for college for awhile, which I somewhat enjoy. At least college is borderline challenging. I have five bachelor's degrees, three masters, and a medical degree."
"Medical degree?" she laughed. "Yeah… in the 70s Edward and went to medical school for kicks," I chortled with her, "We were bored." "What did you mean earlier that I was calm and you weren't doing it?" she asked abruptly. "I have the ability to…manipulate peoples' emotions. I can also sense what they feel," I explained. 'Why?" she asked. "I don't know. Carlisle thinks I must have been remarkably charismatic when I was alive, but it's just and idea. There's no reason, that we know of, for some of us having such strange abilities and some of us not."
"Some of your family can do things?" she kept on. I nodded. "Alice can see the future, in a way. The future is remarkably fragile, so her visions constantly change, but nonetheless. Edward can read minds, except for Bella's." "Uh oh," Amanda mumbled, "This'll be awkward."
"No, it won't," I assured her, "he tunes out me, Emmett and Rosalie. I told him to do the same to you. I know he can't help it, the same way I can't help knowing exactly what everyone feels, but I still find it a touch invasive. Not to mention annoying." "I could see that," she agreed, "Will you leave Forks after we graduate in a few months?"
"I don't know," I began, "I guess I'll go away to school for a bit or something. It isn't really significant. Why do you want to know?" "So I'll know how attached I can get before you have to move on," she answered sheepishly. "Why could you possibly volunteer to get attached to a monster like me?"
"You're not a monster," she corrected adamantly, "and you shouldn't try to convince yourself that you are." I snorted and mumbled, "Suit yourself." "So why did you tell me all this? For all you know I could run out and tell everyone and screw you completely over," she asked. "So you know what you're getting into before you get more attached," I answered, putting finger quotes around the word attached.
"I should probably get you home, John and Lillian will be wondering where you are," I added. "They'll figure it out," Amanda said, "But you have a point, it's pretty late." She followed my lead and followed me to the door where she suddenly asked, "What color were your eyes before?" "I can't remember," I said as we went down the stairs, "For most vampires, human memories are foggy and vague. The memory of transformation is often the strongest."
"Do you remember anything about being…human?" she asked as we strolled out to my car. "A few things," I said, opening her door and earning a glare, "I remember I had an older brother and a little sister. My mother was blond. We lived on a farm and my father was a blacksmith. I don't remember anymore details, and even that seems hazy."
"That's sad," she interjected as we sped down the road. "Damn kids," I muttered as I heard some stupid teenager's bass booming from his car, nearly rattling my brain. I felt people should really be more considerate to those of us who have ultra sensitive hearing. Amanda burst out laughing. "You are such a crotchety old man!"
"Yeah Yeah Yeah," I sneered at her, pulling into her driveway, hopping out of the car and opening her door all before she stopped laughing. "Hurry up, whippersnapper," I smiled, waiting by her door. "Not all of us are as fast as you," she pointed out, getting out and walking up to the porch. "You don't have to walk me to the door," she insisted, "I think I'll be okay on the moderately well lit, ten foot stretch of concrete."
"Better safe than sorry," I said, matching pace with her. We reached the door and said our goodbyes. For some strange reason I'll never understand, I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. To my equal amazement, she was neither afraid or repulsed by my coldness. She just smiled and said, "Get going, old fart." I laughed at her, said bye again, and left.