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Chapter Three ; The Final Straw

I mulled it over in my head. Why the voices had come to only two people in the whole room. Why did no one else hear it? I was so confused, my head felt like a spinning wreck by the time I went to bed. Even then, I couldn't take my mind off the singing drone. It clouded my thoughts with pieces that just wouldn't fit together. My sleep was plagued with awful nightmares. The singing started it off, softly, as though nothing was wrong. Then I saw shadows, people screaming, blood that washed the earth with a cruel, deathly venom. The last thing I dreamt about was a gold, heart shaped watch. I could hear the ticking, rhythmic, but frightening. It reminded me immediately of a human heart beat, and this scared me. Then, fingers squeezed the watch, and they were fingers of death. Squeezing the watch… I felt those same fingers tighten around my heart, threatening never to let go. I could feel the life choking out of me…

And then I woke up. Breathing heavily, close to tears. What the hell was wrong with me?

It just so happened that that next day was, once again, very unlucky for me. Since yesterday, I had never took much notice of why I disliked the sun, why I was fascinated by the taste of my own blood… why I absentmindedly gnawed on the inside of my mouth.

Until today. I knew something strange was happening – and it scared me in a way that I couldn't even begin to explain. I was in a funny mood, I kept changing my mind on the most simple things, and found it very difficult to concentrate in class, not even doing my work on some subjects. That lunchtime, we were outside on the netball court. Everyone was tucking into their lunch, but my mind was settled on a much different aspect altogether. A girl in my form, Phillipa – we all called her Pip for short – had cut her finger on God knows what. I stopped what I was doing immediately, my thoughts swivelling at a frightening speed. I could only focus on one thing. And that was Pip's blood, slyly slipping out of the slit on her finger. All of a sudden my throat went dry. I could hear my own heartbeat in my head, rapidly growing faster. So fast, that I was unable to think straight anymore. Slowly, I got to my feet. I was wary of myself. By chance, I looked at Rachael. I don't know how I managed to tear my eyes away from the cut, but I did.

What I saw almost made me fall over. There was a hunger settled in her eyes, a thirst, latched onto her expression. A jolt shot through my body like a bolt of lightening. Is that what I looked like right now? I couldn't stop my mouth from forming words that would probably change my life forever.

"Pip?"

"Yes?" Was her reply, though her eyes were fixed on her finger. I was grateful – she wouldn't be able to read my eyes. Before I could stop myself and think it through, I had stuck my finger out and wiped her blood onto my hand. I was sure it was my imagination, but a hiss escaped from Rachael's mouth. I wouldn't be surprised if it was my imagination – I hadn't been thinking straight all day. Slowly, unsurely, I licked my finger which now carried some of Pip's blood. What I felt shook me to my very core. A sensation ripped at my body, at my entire being, something that I had never felt before. I closed my eyes, heartbeat once again thumping so quickly and so loud in my head, I was quite sure everyone around me could hear its urgency.

Apart from me, Rachael and Pip, no-one had seemed to witness my odd behaviour. Pip seemed to find it quite amusing. She held her finger out to Rachael. "Want some?" My best friend didn't hesitate as she dabbed a finger onto the cut, before placing her finger in her mouth. I didn't want to see her reaction, but I knew from her intake of breath that she had enjoyed the taste as much as I had.

That night, I sat, alone in my room. I was mulling it over – once again, it had come to a confusing stand. It was Rachael and I who had heard the music, no one else. It was Rachael and I who were weird enough to taste Pip's blood, and like it. A shudder promptly ripped down my spine. What was I, some sort of leech? Why was I so attracted to the red liquid that coursed through every living human's veins? There were so many questions that danced and twirled in my mind, and none that I could answer. I needed time to think, to come up with some possible explanations to why I was acting so strangely…

And then I heard the music again. I had to stuff my duvet in my mouth to stop myself from screaming. I desperately tried to block the noise out, I thought of anything that first came to my mind, concentrating, distracting. But nothing worked. When I looked up again, I almost fell off my bed in fright.

Standing before me was a medium-height but chubby man. His face boasted a smile, but his features were cold and dark. He wore a big yellow jacket and green Wellington boots, topped off with thick-rimmed glasses, a head of white hair and…

A golden heart-shaped watch.