Dusk til Dawn... .. .
Chapter V
Alex ran and ran, through the darkest streets and the
busiest walkways, through the city trying to find a peace he could never
have. He tried to wipe away tears that came too easily, and he cursed himself
for being weak. He stumbled over a stone, and bumped into someone walking
in front of him. The burly man in a two-piece suit turned around.
"Watch it, you little turd!" barked the business man.
He pushed Alex with one hand, and snorted under his breath. For some reason,
Alex couldn't control himself.
"You WATCH IT!!!" roared Alex as he grabbed the business
man by the collar. In his rage, Alex had bared his fangs to the man, and
a look of fear and repulsion washed over his fat face. Alex shook his head
and ran back into the night.
"Yeah? Well, screw you too, you freak!" called the
fat man. He looked around, tightened his grip on his briefcase, and hurriedly
walked home.
*I've been running for hours, and I'm not even a little tired? What's happening to me?!* thought Alex. He had been accosted by a burly man earlier, and was horrified at the time to find he had the overwhelming urge to sink his teeth into the man and rip him open. These feelings stirred in Alex's mind, driving him to an uncontrolled burst of anger at the man. Better than murdering him, though. *Even if I can go on for another century, I can't run from what's happening. Or run back to the life I've lost. Oh, Christ, what have I become...?* thought Alex. He looked in a store window to see that his reflection was transparent. He could see the street behind him through his mirror self. His reflection was slowly disappearing. He put a hand on the cold glass, then backed away. He was stopped by a lamp post. *Oh my God, oh my God, it's not there! My reflection isn't there anymore!! I'm...I'm not human...! Where do I go now? Who'll take care of m--* Alex thought frantically. He stopped as something caught his eye. He walked over to a telephone poll, and read a poster that had been stapled to the wood some time ago. "Have you seen this boy?" asked the poster. His picture was in the centre of it, his old self, smiling back at him. *Oh, no...no, fuck no...Mom, Dad, Pris...Julie* the words formed in Alex's head slowly as he read, "We pray for his safe return" at the bottom of the poster. *Oh, fuck me...! I've been feeling so sorry for myself -- crying for what I'VE lost -- but what are THEY going through? How could I have forgotten them?!* Alex thought, and he ran his hand shakily through his hair. *Says here I've been missing for a month!? Mom must be dying...! I have to go to them...tell them that I'm...all right..but am I all right? Am I still even Alex Elder?* thought the boy as he ran in the general direction of his old home.
Within an hour he'd reached his family's house. He climbed up the fire escape, sadness filling him all the while. He remembered the house used to be a small apartment building before his family bought it, and they'd left the fire escape on out of laziness. He was glad they'd left it on. He climbed up, climbed the cold metal rungs, to his sister Pris's window. He peered in, through the closed window. She was sleeping like an angel, a small smile on her face from some happy dream. Alex looked at her and smiled. "Pris, I...I..." he said, but a small flash diverted his eye just past his little sister, to her bed stand clock. It read 5:06. Sun-up would come soon. Alex felt something stir within him, and his fangs grew so fast his jaw ached. "I....I-I.-I-uuunnnggghhh!!!" *must...feed...the girl!!!* his thoughts came crashing through his head. He had not had any blood to eat, and so his beast-side, his nature's way of getting him what he needs, started to take over. His eyes glazed over, and his fangs grew too big for his closed mouth. He let out a guttural grunt as his fingernails grew to sharp claws. "NO!" he told himself in the crisp morning air. *N-not her...* "Nyyaaghh!" he growled as he fought his own body's violent impulses. He began crawling down the fire escape, trying to find refuge from his beast-side. *got...to get away...from Pris...* he started to think, but a great screeching interrupted his hazed thoughts as the fire escape tilted and he fell. He hit the ground with a hollow thud, and growled. He moaned as he fought to get up, and he stumbled over forced words, "must...feed! Find...blood....naauughh...AAAGH!" he screamed as pain filled his mind.
In her room, Priscilla Elder awoke to a screeching. She lifted her head off her pillow, looking around lazily. She let out a single, half-asleep word, and went back to sleep, "...Alex...?"
Alex Elder fell to the alley floor, and lied there among
the filth and the rotting garbage. Raspy breaths barely escaped his throat,
and he let out wet coughs. Hallucinations filled his mind, and he could
barely move from the garbage. He weakly turned his head, and let out a
single growling word, "...Pris...?"
END OF DUSK TIL DAWN
[Well, that was it. The re-visited first issue of Humberto Ramos's
Crimson. Hope you enjoyed it, and I'd 'preciate it if you could find it
in your infinite wisdom and heart (haw haw!) to review! If so, s'anks!
:-D
