Darkness
Chapter 3: Humble
I reached the town a few seconds after I started to smell the humans. I slowed down when I reached the road. There was a female walking past me. When she saw me, she stopped. "Have I seen you around before?" she asked. I shook my head. "No, I just wandered here. You see, my house burned down, and I escaped before it reached my room. My parents were . . . less fortunate," I tried to look sad. I even choked a little bit – just for show.
She advanced towards me, and then stopped. "Your eyes . . . they're red." Red eyes? What? I didn't think they were red! Great, another thing to cover up. "It's a rare medical condition, duh," I snapped. She recoiled. "I'm quite sorry, miss, I didn't think –" I put a hand up to signal her to stop and smiled at her. "No problem. My name is Alice," I said with mock friendliness. "My I ask what your name is, stranger?" She nodded her head. "My name is Annabeth. People call me Beth for short, though," she said warmly.
The sun started to make its way through the clouds. I needed to get inside – quick. Beth was still babbling on about everything. I think I would still be there if I didn't stop her. "Beth, Beth! I really need to sit down, I've been walking for about five hours, and I need to rest." Apparently I was convincing, because she stopped talking and led me by the hand to her house. "Alice, why is your hand so cold? It's like a dead person's hand or something." I panicked, but I didn't let it show. "Well, it was rather cold outside, am I right?" I hoped I was right, I couldn't tell what the weather was. "Um, no, it's hot out today. How can you stand having that hat on?"
I decided that it would be easier to make up a story about my hair. "Well, as far as the hat goes, I did get out of my house, but not before the fire burned off most of my hair. I actually like it this way, but I put the hat on because it is not very ladylike to have such short hair." I took off the stolen hat to show her my chopped-looking hair. I prayed that she would believe my story. She just nodded solemnly. What did that mean? A little nod? That could go two ways: bad or good.
I didn't have much time to think about it. We were still outside her door, and I was waiting for her to open it. I started to get impatient. "I'm starting to feel a little faint; can we please go inside so that I may sit down?"
"Oh, right," she said slowly. She opened the wooden door and gestured for me to go in first. I nodded politely and stepped inside. She came in after and closed the door behind her. "Well, this is it, my home." Beth's house was rather small and quaint. I guess you could call it humble. Before I forgot I sat down on one of her couches and sighed with mock relief.
"Would you like a glass of water?" Beth offered. I had a little vision. A little clip. I was leaning out the window at night, spitting up water. Disgusting. "No, no, I'm quite alright. I just need to rest, and then I
shall move on," I said. She shook her head. "At least stay for dinner, you look quite pale. Are you sure you don't want anything to drink? Anything to eat?" I had another clip of a vision. This time it was me leaning out the window spitting up chewed food. I put effort into not making a disgusted face. "No, no that's quite alright, I really should be going. Do you know where I can get transportation?"
Beth nodded her head uncertainly. "I believe I can order a carriage for you. Unless you want to ride in one of those newfangled car contraptions. But those are awfully hot and you need to wear a lot of gear to keep yourself shielded from the dirt that flies up. Who would want something that will get you all dirty? Certainly not me," she paused for a minute to brush something off of her dress. "And, plus, in a carriage you get much more privacy. Some even have curtains." She kept talking for quite a while, but I stopped paying attention. A carriage would be very nice. "- and so, I guess a car wouldn't be all that bad after all, if you look at it that way," she finished. I don't know how she came to that conclusion, and I really don't care. I just wanted a carriage to get me out of this place. But, first, I'm already feeling a little thirsty. It'll just be something to hold me off until I can get to where I want.
"Thank you, Beth, I think I'll take a carriage." She called the people she needed to call, made arrangements that needed to me made, and sat in a chair across from me. "Now we just have to wait."
I sat for a minute and listened to her chatter. It was all background noise. I was contemplating how to . . . let's say hunt her.
"Beth, could you go and get me a glass of water, please?" I asked. "I'm starting to feel thirsty." I wasn't lying; it was the complete and utter truth. She nodded and hurried into the other room. I got up quietly and stalked her into the kitchen. I crouched down, ready for the perfect moment. There were people around, so I think I'll have to kill her first. It's okay if the blood's a little cold.
She turned around and jumped a little. "Alice, you scared me for a minute there," she was still breathing a little hard from the scare that I had given her. "Why are you down on the floor like that it's all dir –"she screamed as I got up from my position.