Chapter Five
Who Wants To Know
I spent another week in the hospital before the doctors finally decided that all was true; I was indeed better off now than I was before that attack. And so they gave me the date of my release. At least I could dress normally and walk around now. Still, I would have to wait until around midnight before I could leave because my dad happened to work the night I was allowed to be release. And sadly I had no other family to come pick me up. Plus Kyler also had a job she had picked up while she was bored in my absence. But I could handle it
So I was leaning against the window of the hospital room, looking at the darkness that I could oddly see pretty good through. At least I wasn't albino like feared. The doctor said I just suffered a minor case of lack of melanin production, which made my copper hair more red than brown. And my brown eyes were now a very light color. I could handle that; got a nice set of sunglasses. But there goes any chance of obtaining a summer tan. At least I could eat as much sugar as I wanted, though I'm still suppose to monitor my blood sugar until further notice. And I haven't had a major headache due to blood pressure either. Not to mention that the back pain is barely there now. I feel... half-healthy.
A glance at the clock said 8:16pm, which meant that I had a nice four hours of sitting here in a room. I was sick of this room. A person is not meant to stay in one room for a long period of time. I'm just thankful that I was asleep for half that time. I still had a bandage on my hand that could pass as a cast, but I was told that once I got home, I could take it off. The wounds had healed pretty fast once it finally stopped bleeding. It appeared that cleaning the wound wasn't the best option. Apparently the saliva was also useful for clotting my wounds, and they had wiped it off. And somehow without that saliva, the teeth had some other irritant poison -- like a misquito -- that was made to make sure that the wound wouldn't clot without a fight.. until the saliva was placed on it. Kyler believed it was used for the vampire to be able to drink freely without having to keep biting me. And the clotting saliva was just so it wouldn't leave a mess. Which meant that apparently vampires are clean eaters. Eh.
Just as I was about to die of boredom, there was a knock on my door. "Yeah," I called, wondering if dad might have got off early. That would be awesome. But instead, D.J. walked into the room, looking a bit nervous. Usually someone's with him whenever he came to visit. I could still hear him yelling for help in the back of my head. I had scared him nearly to death, I'm sure.
"I heard you didn't have anybody to help you escape the clutches of the hospital, so I figured I'd come along," D.J. joked, holding his hands behind his back. "So, do you think you could ride on a motorcycle this time?"
I smiled, and then frowned. "Wait. You're serious?"
D.J. shrugged, "Yeah... I mean, if you want to, I could just drop you off at your house.. unless you're... hungry or something... we could go get something.. maybe.. if you want to... or not. I shouldn't have come; your dad's suppose to pick you up sometime..." And he started to walk out.
"Wait. No," I said quickly, and D.J. stopped in confusion. "I mean, sure. It's just I've never actually ridden on a motorcycle before, so I might become a parachute or something and fall off..."
D.J. laughed. "Come on, I'll show you." And I started to leave. We had already packed everything up and took it home the day before I was suppose to leave, so I didn't have anything to bring along. Which was good because I doubt all the flowers and balloons would do good on a motorcycle. So I followed D.J. out of the hospital and to his motorcycle.
D.J. handed me a helmet, had to help me put it on, and put one on himself. He got on the motorcycle, and I hesitated. It's going to kill me. So much for having adorexia. "Just get on behind me," D.J. coaxed, "And remember to hold on tight." I took a deep breath and lifted my right leg over the back seat. When I sat down, D.J. grabbed my foot and said, "Just put your feet right here on both sides." I listened, and then wrapped my arms around his stomach, grabbing onto my left wrist with my right hand. "Ready?"
I took in a nice deep breath and leaned my head against his back. "Ready," I said. And the motorcycle roared to life. At first I kept my eyes closed, feeling as though any second I was going to fall. Especially around the turns. But after awhile, I started getting the hang of it, and I started opening my eyes and moving with the turns instead of feeling like falling off. Soon enough, I was smiling and actually enjoying it. So this is why people get motorcycles. I always figured it was a death wish.
When we stop by a food joint and got some burgers, D.J. wanted to show me someplace where we could eat. He wouldn't tell me where, but I figured D.J. didn't seem like the type of guy who would save a girl and then rape her later on, so I let him take me wherever it was he wanted to take me. And soon we were stopped at a hill full of trees. The motorcycle couldn't get through it, so he parked it there and grabbed my uninjured wrist to have me follow him through the trees. I looked at where I was stepping, slightly worried that I would step on a snake and get similar fang bites. That would be just great.
At the top of the hill, there was an almost full circle clearing, except for a gap that faced the horizon. D.J. went to the middle of the clearing and sat down, so I followed. He pointed at the gap, "It's facing West. You can see the sun setting from here." I looked at the gap, in which there was no sun... just a massive ammount of stars.
"It's kind of the wrong time to bring me here, you think," I asked sarcastically and smiled.
D.J. seemed a bit put out by that, but then shrugged, "Well, the stars are cool anyways. I usually come here to listen to music by myself. It's better than staying home and listening to the sweet music of my parents complaining about their son who definitely isn't going to end up another Darwin or Einstein." He pulled over the over-the-shoulder bag he had. It was a small one, but apparently it held an assortment of musical things like mp3 players, cd players, a mini radio, batteries galore, and different types of speakers and headphones. He got out his mp3 player, and replaced the earphone with mini speakers so that we wouldn't have to share a headset. And he turned on the player to the first song, Chevelle's 'Suffocating'. Instead of changing it like he usually does, he just put it down and let it run its course.
We started eating. I was enjoying the french fries, and staring at him. Nobody ever believed D.J. was capable of actually liking someone. Usually he just had a lot of friends, but he never seemed to be interested in anyone. Which is why I was never sure if he'd even like me. Maybe in his head, it's just friendship.
He noticed me staring at him, and said, "What?"
I shrugged, "What were you doing leaving the concert so early? Not that I'm complaining..."
D.J. didn't say anything at first. He seemed to be trying to remember the reason why he had been leaving early. "Weeeeelll, Tony and me actually were arguing about something." I waited for him to explain, even though he obviously didn't want to, and D.J. put down his burger. "I was... um... looking for you, and he said that... um... that you were just some... nevermind."
I scoffed, "Oh, come on. I can handle it. He said I was a skank, didn't he?"
"No," D.J. laughed, and then got serious, "Actually, he said you were.. just some prep girl trying to get attention by hanging out with us. And I got mad, so he said that if all I wanted to do was hang out with you, then he didn't want me hanging out with him. So I said 'Fine' and started leaving. And then I heard you." He shrugged, seeing as I "basically" knew the rest. He believed like everyone else that I didn't remember anything. "Yeah, I nearly killed myself trying to get in the car to the hospital." D.J. moved closer to me and held out his hand to show dark marks across his fingers. "Forgot to move my hand before I tried to shut the door on it." I winced.
"Ow," I said, and bit my bottom lip. "You know, I never did thank you for helping me. If you hadn't come along, I probably would've been dead by the time the concert was finished." And I smirked up at him.
"It was no problem," D.J. answered, and smiled himself, "Scary, but no problem. Would do it again in a heartbeat."
"Well, let's hope there's not a next time," I joked. D.J. bent towards me, and my kidding front automatically went to an inner scared and shy one. But I didn't move away as his lips pressed over mine in a kiss. My stomach fluttered uneasily, and my head buzzed from the sudden flush of blood from my face. D.J. moved back and smiled with a look of triumph. I hesitated, but smiled nervously. "Thank you."
"So you and D.J. kissed," Kyler stated, taking a lick from her vanilla icecream. "Ew." I wasn't sure if she was talking about the icecream or the kissing part. I pulled the hood of Kyler's black 'My Chemical Romance' jacket over my head, and pushed my sunglasses back over my eyes quickly. We were sitting on the overcross bridge that hanged over the highway. We had our legs hanging from the side of the bridge; a good distance away from the traffic on the bridge itself. I put my arms through the bar and leaned forward. The sun was directly overhead, which explained the jacket on a summer day. The sun seemed hotter on my skin than before, and I learned that twenty minutes outside leaves me with a light sunburn. It could be worse.
"Yeah, and I still don't feel like I actually, truly like him," I responded, sighing. Even with all the protection, I had my eyes squinted from the light. It's really annoying that something so unsolid could be that irritating.
Kyler shrugged. "Maybe you just have to hang out with him for awhile. Like one of those things where you have to take time before you finally realize you like him..." I didn't answer. Kyler continued eating her icecream, and I watched the massive ammount of traffic drive under us. So many people come from the same direction. Sometimes I wonder if they're actually just traveling in circles just to come back over here. Or maybe they just appear out of nowhere, like in the Grand Theft Auto games. And when they're out of my sight, they just disappear until further notice. "Well, anyways, seems like you're starting to grow attached to the color black and darkness," Kyler continued, gesturing to my clothes. I still had my skater shoes, but I was wearing a black shirt and jacket, along with dark sunglasses. Plus darkness is more interesting these days. Light annoys me, but I can see through darkness without light. Not perfectly, but better than I used to.
"I've been getting weird reactions to the attack," I said, facing towards Kyler, "I'm healthier of course, and I'm stronger. And I've almost completely ditched vegetables. I can see in the dark, and not even tape around my thumb is keeping my nail from cutting through it and puncturing my meat. I've had to clip and file them to the core practically to keep me from killing myself when I'm scratching an itch. Plus, everything smells different and seems louder. It's like I'm... pregnant or something." Kyler didn't laugh, she took this talk seriously.
"Let me see the bites," Kyler ordered, and I pulled up the jacket to show the four healed circles. Two on my wrist, two on my hand. They were going to be there forever as scars. "They sure look like vampire bites.. from what I'd think vampire bites to be. You think maybe he made you one?"
"I thought you had to drink their blood... I didn't drink anybody's blood. And he seemed determined to kill me, if you haven't noticed," I responded, covering my arms again.
"Hey, it could go either way. Maybe his saliva is like... poison that makes you into a vampire. Like in the movies and stuff. Nobody really knows what vampires are like in real life until you meet one," Kyler lectured, "Though it'd be pretty cool if you were a complete vampire. Obviously you're not. No fangs, even. So what we can gather from this is that vampires can't go in the sun, since it irritates you to death and you're not even one. And they're strong, have heightened senses, and can grow out their fangs whenever they want. But I don't know if they're all hot like your vampire was. Maybe he's a lucky one..." I smiled at her hypothesis.
"Don't forget their bite. Paralyzing, along with teeth that can make sure your wound doesn't clot, and saliva that makes sure your wound does clot," I added. We were quiet again, listening to the cars drive past. "At least I feel safe during the day knowing that none of them could sense that I was bitten and start attacking me. I'm safe knowing nobody in those cars feel the urge to drain me of my blood. Or you."
Kyler bent forward, putting her arms through the bars to look at the cars as well. Just as she did, the icecream in her cone tilted over in the hot sun and spilled out of the cone. "NO," I yelled, and with amazing speed, I caught the circle of icecream in my hand, leaving only a bit of liquid dripping through my fingers. Kyler pulled her arm back and I dropped the icecream onto the side on the bridge in between us. Kyler raised her eyebrows.
"That could kill someone," I answered her questioning look, "Haven't you ever heard on the news about some stupid kids dropping things into the highway traffic, hitting a car, and that car being startled into a wreck?" I wiped the icecream left on my hand onto the jacket.
"Hey, that's my jacket you're screwing up," Kyler said as if insulted before wiping the vanilla cream off her hand and onto her own shirt. "By the way, that was some show of reflexes you did right there. Maybe I should find a vampire to boost my body like that. Did you grow some sexy leg muscles?"
"Don't even kid about that," I ordered in disgust. We got up and started to walk off. Kyler came up behind me, stepped in front of me, and started walking backwards almost playfully.
"All right. Get your dad to let you spend the night with me Friday," Kyler suggested.
"Why?"
"If your dad wants to know, we might go watch a movie," Kyler said, moving from in front of me to beside me, "If you want to know, you're going to a party where you can finally drink without worrying about your heart stopping. It'll be nice and fun." I stopped walking. "D.J. will be there if that's any consideration." I wouldn't drink anyways. I never drink and have never cared to wonder what drinking would be like. If I want to feel the effects of alcohol, I'll get someone to hit me over the head with a baseball bat. That'll be the lack of judgement, bad coordination, and the after effect of a hangover all in one. But a party would probably help me get used to knowing that I haven't died.
I started walking again. "Fine. And if my dad wants to know, we might go watch a movie. Not that I really much care if D.J. is going to be there, but whatever. Maybe it is one of those things that takes time." And we started switching off taking turns saying the lines in Disturbed's 'The Game' song, along with me making the noises of the guitar parts. We have weird ways of entertaining ourselves.
As we walked down a random street, we spotted Tony mowing his front lawn. He seemed really hot in his baggy, dark clothes. And the sight of him reminded me what D.J. said. "Hey, Kyler, did I ever tell you what D.J. said that Tony said about me," I asked Kyler. Kyler spotted Tony as well.
"No. What?"
"Tony thinks I'm just some prep girl who wants attention and he practically thinks I'm not good enough for D.J.," I told Kyler. She stopped moving and made a face of disbelieving irritation.
"He said what?" It wasn't more disbelief against me, it was more that she couldn't believe that Tony would say that about her best friend.
"Yeah, he did," I assured her, "But I don't see what his problem is. I've never done anything to him..." But before I could finish, Kyler was walking towards Tony. I don't think I meant for her to confront him, but this should get interesting.
"Hey, Tony," Kyler called, and I mentally thought 'I like the things you do' from the Frosted Flakes theme song. Tony spotted Kyler and turned off his lawn mower. But Kyler wasn't doing a nice social call. Instead, she hauled back and slammed her fist into the side of Tony's face hard enough for him to fall back and trip over the lawn mower and onto his back. Kyler walked around the mower and kicked him in the stomach. "You think she's the one who wants attention? Who's the one who cuts themself and takes pictures of themself crying? You pussy bitch. Talk about my friend one more time and I'll run over you with your own lawn mower, poser!" And she kicked him again before coming back to join me.
As we walked off, Tony called out, "You whore!" He sounded in pain, and was holding his back as if the fall had popped something. Welcome to what my world used to be.
"Fuck you," Kyler called back, and I grabbed her arm so that she wouldn't go back to kick his ass some more. As we walked further more and turned onto another street, Kyler said, "Hail, I know what preps are like and you're not one. Plus, I don't think you're an attention seeker. Just weird."
I gasped, "Weird? Look who's talking." And we laughed. Soon we were at the entrance to my trailor park. A couple of kids from school live around here, but I never talked to them much. I waved at the old man that always shook his head when he saw me. It was kind of creepy, but he's never so much as tried to talk to me so I basically ignore him. At my trailer, Kyler got into her car.
"I'll see you friday," Kyler said, starting her car.
"Yeah, see ya," I replied and walked up the steps to my trailer. I walked into the house to dad making spaghetti. As long as there was a bunch of meatballs, I'd be fine with it. Though he likes to make it real spicy for some reason. Usually I make my own food because his is always extra spicy. I think it's because his taste buds are dying.
"Hey, dad," I said, walking behind him into the kitchen, "Do you think it'll be all right if I go to Kyler's house friday?" I put on my best innocent face possible.
"Ummm, I don't know if that's such a good idea," Dad responded, suddenly sounding uncertain and worried.
"Oh, come on," I begged, "If we do anything, we'll just go watch a movie. You know me, I don't go do stupid things. And I know now not to let Kyler out of my sight in case another animal attacks me. Please, please, please?" I put my hands together in front of him. "I haven't been over to Kyler's house since before the hospital nearly three weeks ago. It'll be just one night."
Dad didn't want me to. He had a sense that I was going to get hurt. He always felt as though I was going to get hurt. But he was going to let me because I've kept up in helping keep the house clean, and I've even been trying to find a summer job. I haven't been doing anything wrong, and I got my report card back. I actually got a 89.6 in History, which raised it to a 90, so now I'm in the top ten of rank in class. And my GPA is a whopping 3.98. There was no reason besides the feeling of not wanting to let me go -- a parental feeling -- to keep me home like a prisoner.
"Fine, but you have to be careful," Dad finally gave in, and I gave him a nice big hug, dipped my finger into the spaghetti sauce, licked my finger, and went to my room to listen to music. Friday night party, here I come.