Chapter Song: Somewhere I Belong – Linkin Park

Chapter XI

Days passed by, slipping into nights, and each one transforming into weeks. It was pretty tiring, we had been traveling ever since Ariel and I were blooded, and now I wonder if this was the only thing vampires did.. travel.

Mr. Crepsley was usually pretty kind to us, but I couldn't help but hate him, and it was even a struggle for Ariel to be thoughtful towards him. I mean, he was the one that had stolen everything from us. Our friends. Our happiness. Our childhood.

(When this began)
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
(I was confused)
And I let it all out to find
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
(Inside of me)
But all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
(Nothing to lose)
Just stuck/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own

I had the job of looking after Madam Octa. As you could probably imagine, I hated that creature. It was the reason why I was here. Mr. Crepsley said I had to look after her, since I was the one who stole her. Ariel sometimes helped though. The spider had nothing to do with her becoming a vampiress, so she didn't have any reason to hate it. In fact, I think she actually loved the thing. One day, I was going to sneak up on her and scare her, but I saw her playing with Madam Octa.

Of course, I didn't surprise her- Instead I waited; Maybe she would put it back in the cage soon. Well I watched closely as she played the flute, making every note perfect, while allowing the spider to crawl up her arm. It was soon perched on her shoulder, like a bird, and then-

She stopped playing. I couldn't believe it! All the sudden there was a silence, a deadly silence. I couldn't bear to watch, thinking Madam Octa would sink her teeth right into Ariel's neck, but..

Nothing happened. The spider just stood there, like maybe it was dead or paralyzed. Ariel slowly turned her head to the spider, looked down at it, and the spider leaned toward her. Once again I stood, frozen still, but when I though the spider was about to bite Ariel-

She kissed it. Ariel kissed the thing, then smiled as the spider leaned back down and began to play the flute again. I could not believe what had just happened. I even rubbed my eyes, but Ariel was still there, with the spider on her shoulder..

Wow.

The next day, while Mr. Crepsley was still sleeping, I decided I would leave the hotel. Most of the time I don't like leaving without him, but now was the time to finally get out.

Ariel was lying on the couch when I left a post-it-note on the TV. She wasn't sleeping, just looking up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head- Probably bored.

"I'm gonna go outside for awhile.."

She opened one eye, then looked over at me. As I had guessed, she wasn't sleeping.

"Where to?" She questioned.

"No where in particular. Wanna come with me?"

Ariel sat up, then followed me to the door.

We walked around for a little while, taking in some of the town we would probably be leaving soon. When we came across a museum, I stopped and peered inside the open door. The large building reminded me of mom, and how we used to go to museums all the time. The empty feeling in my heart began to throb, just as it usually did when I thought of my family.

I lost my train of thought when a kid about my age whistled loudly. It didn't take to long to realize the whistle was directed at Ariel. Looking over, I saw a group of guys about my age playing hockey.

Ariel glared over at the group of boys.

This is when I found out exactly how protective I was.

I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

"Don't do that." I murmured, taking a step toward them. My courage actually surprised me, really.

The boys all stared at me for a moment, then started laughing.

"Where're you from, kid? A horror movie?"

That really set me off. Then, Ariel walked out in front of me.

"And who's the friend of yours?" The boy who had whistled asked. "She's pretty hot."

"I beg your pardon?" She hissed, then walked over to them.

"Ohh," The boy teased. "I like 'em feisty."

I immediately came to her side.

"Piss off!" I shouted at the kid.

"What are you?" He asked. "Her boyfriend?"

"No." Ariel and I both answered at the same time.

"So you're single." He murmured at Ariel.

"Come on Mike," Another boy shouted. "Can we please just get on with the game already?"

"Alright. Let me on his team, then me against you." I challenged.

"Alright." He agreed, smiling.

"I'm on Darren's team." Ariel said.

"Girl's can't play sports!" The boy- Mike- replied.

Ugh. I hate this kid, and I especially hate when they say girls can't play sports.

That was when Ariel got really mad. She sped over toward the other boys, picked up a hockey stick, and started playing. It only seemed like yesterday when we played hockey on school, and I remember Ariel and I were both petty good.

Already she had stolen the puck, slipped around a bigger kid, and then shot it into the goal. The boys all stared at her in amazement, and I just smirked.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

I ran over to join them, grabbing a hockey stick. Just about as quick as Ariel, I easily passed the other team's captain, jumped over another player, then shot the puck into the goal.

The two of us had raised our team's score from two-six to nine-six. We had turned the game around, but things started to get pretty bad..

A few boys still went on, sexually harassing Ariel. I tried to make them stop by bringing the puck over toward them, giving them chances to make a goal, but they wouldn't pay attention. Mike especially was getting on my nerves, because he was the one doing most of it, and he was being a sore loser as well. (Hitting me, pinching me, ect.) Of course, it didn't hurt me, but it was just really annoying.

Then, all of the sudden..

I felt a sudden burst of pain. He had kicked me in.. A very painful spot.. And I was down for a minute or two. When I got up, they had pinned Ariel down, and I was angry. Angry as hell. Running over toward her, I pushed the players out of my way.

"Mike!" I barked. Everything happened so fast. Then, with all my strength, I swiped my hockey stick at his legs, and tackled him. There was a sickening "snap" noise..

Breathing heavily, I scattered to my feet, and then looked down. Mike was screaming in pure anguish, his shins torn open. It was a mixture of red and white.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move. I just stood there and gaped at his legs.

Another boy came and examined his legs when Mike stopped screaming. He looked at me, his eyes filled with horror. "You broke his legs.."

Oh, no shit Sherlock..

Everyone besides Ariel was gawking at me, terrified. I should've ran, but I couldn't, I just stood there like a stone, until Ariel grabbed my arm and ran for the hotel.

As we were running, I looked back.. Back at the boy and his blood..

And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face
(I was confused)
Looking everywhere only to find
That it's not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
(So what am I)
What do I have but negativity
'Cause I can't justify the way, everyone is looking at me
(Nothing to lose)
Nothing to gain/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own

Mr. Crepsley was awake when we got back. I sat down on the couch and stared down at the floor, while Ariel had a conversation with him. Well, it wasn't a very long conversation. Her voice as I heard it was stern, which was probably why they started to pack up immediately afterwards. I helped, too, but I didn't say anything. Not for a while.

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong
Somewhere I belong