home is where the heart is
and i'm afraid
i've lost my way
Samson
"Why do you think you'll win? I know when you're bluffing," I chided, laughing. Esther rolled her eyes with mild amusement. Esther is the most competitive one in our family and she always tries to best me in poker, despite the fact that I have the gift for sniffing out inauthenticity.
"'Cus you suck at poker," Esther pulled up the corner of her lips in a slight smirk and laid out her winning hand.
"Har har," I huffed in frustration. I felt my eyebrows furrow as I realized what was happening. "You assholes!" I exclaimed. Suddenly, the cards of Esther's winning hand became fuzzy and resembled a glitching computer monitor and then smoothed out into her true, losing hand. I looked up at Esther who was nearly hysterical, tears in her golden eyes from laughing and clutching Chip's arm.
"Sorry, brother," Chip smiled softly and brushed a lock that fell out of Esther's bun and brushed it behind her ear. I booed loudly and pushed the deck of cards off the dining table between Esther and me in mock anger.
"Clean that up, Sam," Sunny said to me without even looking in my direction as she walked past with a basket of laundry. Sunny liked to blend in more than the rest of us. "Keeps us humble," is one of her favorite phrases. Sunny is the matriarch of our family, even though she is the youngest of us. Technically.
"Sam, if you couldn't cheat, you would be terrible at poker," Stella yelled from her upstairs bedroom. Stella didn't need to yell, she could even whisper it and we would be able to hear her. But, Sunny forces us to act human at all times, even in our own house. Where no one can see us. Or hear us. Sunny's word is law.
Nathalia
If I was human, I would be panting from running this hard and far. Actually, if I was human I couldn't run like this at all. I still let air rush in and out of my lungs naturally, tasting the forest around me. I had been feeling the urge to see the ocean lately. I miss home. But, I can't go back there for a lot of reasons. Mainly because it's always sunny down there. So, the Oregon coast is perfect for my needs, it's overcast here the majority of the time. And it felt familiar here, the beach was always a constant for me until I died.
I have been on the run for three years. That is so dramatic to say, but it's true. I've been through nearly all of California, eastern Oregon, and about every rural area in Washington. I haven't been around the general public in what seems like forever. If forever means three years and three hundred and sixty-two days. I've missed normalcy. I've missed being able to call a place my own. I miss belonging to something.
The trees began to clear as the river widened and gray light bled between the branches above as they became more sparse. I slowed down into a more relaxed jog, my damp hair starting to cling from my shoulders all the way to the small of my back. I relaxed my pace completely as I could see the river desperately reaching the ocean, letting my bare feet sink into the mossy and wet forest floor. I walked slowly until the ground turned into sand. I tilted my face up towards the sky and let the gentle rain kiss my face.
The waves crashing is familiar and it eased some of my longing. Longing? God, I've become so pretentious. In my human life, I couldn't stand being alone for longer than hours and now I've gone years. I guess loneliness changes you.
While I was roaming in Washington, I heard there were vampires who tried to pretend to be humans and go to school and stuff. I was transformed only a year after I graduated high school and I didn't get the chance to go to college. I had my eyes on the University of California, Los Angeles. But, here I am. Not alive, but also alive. On a beach. In the middle of fucking nowhere.
"Hey! Aren't you cold?" A voice called out to me from down the beach. I've been practicing for this. I turned my head slowly, trying to be careful of the speed of my movements. I looked down at myself briefly. I was wearing a thin, gray sweater with jeans. And barefoot. It's probably in the low forties right now and getting colder. So much for attempting to blend in. I looked back at their direction and while I was definitely too far away, I smiled tentatively at them.
"Got thick skin!" I yelled back, shrugging. The person behind the voice was an older man, the wind carried his scent towards me. I could smell the warm blood and as he slowly approached me, I could hear his faint heartbeat. It would be too easy. In half a second I would be right in front of him, pushing his head back to expose his neck. His red cap would fall off and in my frenzy, I would probably tear apart his windbreaker. Blood on the sand. My eyes red.
Nope, nope, nope. I've gone three years without tasting human blood. I'm not going to fuck this up now. I turned on my heel and went back to the forest, as soon as I was certain I was covered by the thick swarm of trees I took off sprinting.
Where am I supposed to go now? I need to get better clothes to blend in. I need to find a place to live. "Live". To be frank, I had it pretty easy. I never had to worry about this kind of stuff. In the distance, I can hear cars sporadically driving on the wet pavement. If there are cars, there are people and if there are people, there are clothing stores and libraries. I changed my direction in order to run parallel to the highway giving myself about a half a mile distance between me and the road.
It wasn't much longer, maybe twenty miles or so before I saw neon light tinge the fog and the smell of car exhaust got stronger. Smelled disgusting. I thought about how I would be able to wander into some random mom and pop shop to get clothes without sticking out. I've been practicing my self control but it's much easier when I hold my breath. How can I go without talking to the small town locals without seeming like a bitch? I guess the only thing I can do is hope what they say about first impressions isn't true.
Luckily enough for me, the river, which had dwindled down to a creek, ran close enough to the highway so I could wash my feet and legs so I could look less dirty and homely. Unfortunately, about every person I passed stared at me. Everyone has dressed appropriately for the wintery beach weather. Except for me.
The first clothing shop that looked like it could have clothes for people "my age" and nearly completely empty was the first one I walked into. I bought nearly everything. Well, bought is a loose term. It was about four days after my transformation that I realized I had an ability. A "super talent" he called it. If I want someone to do something I want, they do it. It's never something intense like falling in love with me or giving me their kidney or anything like that. It's small stuff like if I want their approval I got it. If I want their coffee, they hand it over. Small stuff like that.
The shopkeeper handed over around six hundred dollars in merchandise with a bright smile on her face. I made a mental note to make an anonymous donation as soon as possible. Sometimes I felt bad about swindling people, sometimes I felt like it was a necessary evil. A girl's gotta do what she's gotta do.
It wasn't that hard finding the library after the shops, and lucky for me, the librarian allowed me to stash my shopping bags behind her desk. The public computer whirred to life slowly, I could practically hear the viruses worming around. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for, or even where. I tried local listings, Craigslist, even some dark web shit. It wasn't until I caved and made a fake Facebook account that I was able to find a single bedroom apartment to rent.
The man who owned the place was rather kind. I hardly had to use my ability to sway him to let me live rent free for the next foreseeable future. His name was Ernie and he had quite the beer belly and a bald spot on the back of his head, reminding me vaguely of a freshly cracked egg. I assume that he felt quite flattered that I was flirting with him. Actually, it could have been the innate human experience of being my prey who is inevitably lured to his death by my inhuman womanly charm. Who could say?
The apartment was painfully small but fully furnished. I couldn't say if it was fully furnished as a part of the lease, which I did not have, or my newfound landlord was just too caught up in our conversation. I've been told I dazzle people. Whatever that means. A large full length mirror hung in the bedroom and I took a full look at myself for the first time in a long time.
My dirty blonde hair was a mess. I think I can see a dread forming in the curly mess. My black eyes peered back at me in disbelief, how could I let myself go like this? Dark circles clung around my eyes covering the splatter of freckles on my face, I looked like I hadn't slept in weeks. More like years, I chuckled to myself. I need to feed soon. An uncommitted corner of my mind thought aimlessly about what animals are in my vicinity. The other portion of my mind looked back in the mirror. I still was pale as before, still more beautiful than I ever was as a human. It's weird, feeling this conceited but it was true. My very nature was to lure humans in, even more so with my ability. I can get humans to literally lay before me, neck exposed. But, I promised myself a while ago to never feed on humans again.
This place was definitely not intended to be left fully furnished, a laptop laid on the desk in my new bedroom. Irealized I never learned about this town before I decided on it. The ocean picked me. I wiped the laptop and set it up under my preferences. This time, password protected. My google search reminded me I'm currently in Brookings, Oregon. I had made a mental note earlier when I saw the welcome sign out of the corner of my eye on my way into town.
Oh, perfect! I exclaimed internally. There is a local community college that happened to offer marine biology courses. Marine biology was my intended major before this happened to me. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe I'm being an idiot and making stupid choices by surrounding myself with humans. But, honestly, I'm lonely and I don't think I can take this punishment much longer.