Trance

It had been two weeks since Bambi had found the lump in her breast. And it had been two days since she had been seen by a local doctor. In a daydream, she replayed the events of the last two weeks in her head.

ll

After the discovery, she rinsed herself off. She had gotten out of the shower somewhat quickly and rushed to the mirror, to double check. 'It can't be!'

There was definitely something there. She panicked. Her breathing increased and she began to hyperventilate. She sat on the toilet seat and rested her head on her lap, dry sobbing and trying not to faint. Her father. Her mother.

And now her.

Once she had calmed herself down, she fell into a sort of trance. Her mind wandered and she performed her tasks half-heartedly. She dried herself, dressed herself (without being picky about her outfit - she chose the first thing she grabbed), dried her hair and applied her makeup, all without paying attention. It was like she was dreaming. Then she sat in her chair, frozen.

An hour later, Renata entered the room to find a zombie-like Bambi in the chair by the window.

"Hello, my love," she said quietly, shaking her gently by the shoulders, believing she had merely been daydreaming instead of thinking about dying for the past hour. A little life flickered back into her eyes. She looked up at Renata with tired eyes and a creased forehead. She looked afraid. "Bambina?" She sounded concerned. "What is wrong, my love?" No answer. "This is peculiar. You would have normally stumbled over your words by now." She said, humorously.

She bent down in front of her till they were at the same level. "Bambi." The girl looked past her. "Look at me, Bambi." She obeyed. Renata scanned her eyes, trying to zone in on what was wrong with her. Perhaps she had gone mad? Or maybe she had fallen into depression?

In less than a day, that seemed unlikely.

She stood up, holding on to Bambi's hands. "I need to take you to Aro. He is the only one who can discover what is wrong with you, my love." At the mention of his name, Bambi's head snapped up. But she remained silent. She nodded and stood, linking her arm in Renata's.

When they reached the great hall, the doors swung open, ready to receive them. Renata took her straight to the Masters, without glancing at the guard once.

She unlinked her arm from Bambi's and curtseyed. "Master Aro, there is something wrong with Bambi. She is unlike herself, as I'm sure you can see." She looked to the girl whose eyes lay transfixed into space. "She won't speak to me. She's barely showing any emotion. I'm worried."

Aro stood and walked to Renata with an angelic smile on his face, and gently took her hand. After a minute or so, he nodded, kissed it and turned to Bambi. He placed a hand on her back, careful not to touch her skin just yet. She slowly turned to look at him, shivering a little. He stared at her for a while, trying to gage what was wrong, as Renata did.

"Cara mia." He said, smoothly. "Would you mind giving me your hand, or would you rather voice your concerns?" He was giving her an honest choice - no malice or sarcasm intended. 'She will be a very powerful vampire indeed.'

Without hesitation, she gave him her hand, not yet having the power to speak. She gazed at his face as she watched realisation wash over him as well.

"I see." He looked thoughtful. "Would you like to speak privately?"

She pondered for a moment before nodding. 'What's the worst that can happen?' she thought. 'I'm dying anyway.'

He led her out of the great hall to his study and shut the door behind them. Without bothering to sit down, he began. "You have found a lump?"

She nodded again.

"Do you not realise that this is not important, my dear? You will be a vampire within a month. This will be irrelevant."

She murmured something incoherent under her breath.

There was a pause. "Pardon?"

"I want to wake up." She said, dreamily.

He said nothing.

Her eyes darted from left to right. Then she looked up at him. "I want to wake up and be back in England. Back when I was well. Back when I never knew about vampires. I was going to live a long, happy, human life."

She did not say this angrily. She was merely explaining.

Then the trance wore off. She turned around and walked hurriedly out the door.

"I have to go. I have to wake up." She walked to where she thought she remembered the lift was. Aro, of course, was not far behind her and with a blink of an eye, he was in front of her.

"Where are you going, Bambi?" He said in a patronising tone.

"I want to leave! I want my mum. I want to tell her I love her!" She screamed in his face. "I don't want to die. And I don't want to be like you!" With that, she ran, all trace of trance gone.

He let her run for a little while. Oh, how fun she was.

She turned a corner and awkwardly took off her heels as she ran further and further into the centre of the castle. After a few minutes, she noticed that she was lost. She came to a dead end, a doorless corridor with a window at the end.

She got to the window and heard footsteps. Then they stopped. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

Three slow claps filled the air. "Brava. You tried, cara mia. You tried."

She turned around slowly, afraid to meet his eyes. But she did. And he looked very happy.

He took slow steps towards her, which Bambi found painful to behold. She felt the familiar surge of anticipation rush through her. And it hurt. She pressed her back against the window, praying that she might break through it, but to no avail.

When he finally reached her, she was shivering so much she could have powered an electric toothbrush. But she had not cried. Maybe the earlier discovery had numbed her tear ducts.

She looked him straight in the eye and tried not to appear frightened as he lifted his hand to her cheek and stroked it.

"My, my. No tears? That is rare. You have changed so much in just over an hour, my love. You are no longer a snivelling coward. Just a coward."

This emitted a sob from her throat. It hurt her because it was true. She had been a coward for years.

"No, no." He put a finger to her lips. "You were doing so well. Let's not ruin your progress."

He played with one of her long curls.

"I did hope that it would not come to this. I had hoped that you would behave. But I made a promise, and I must keep it, bambina." He ran his other hand down her arm and grabbed the crook of it a little too tightly for her liking and practically dragged her to a dark room in a part of the castle she had never visited. It reminded her of Dracula's bedroom. Stony walls, dark wood, satin sheets.

He let go of her and turned to leave her in the room while she examined it, bemused.

Then she realised he was leaving. "What are you doing?"

He turned to face her.

"What's going to happen to me?"

He walked towards her with a look of faint admiration, and a hint of possession, on his face. Ignoring her question, he said, "Such a beauty. I think I shall savour it."

And with that, he leaned towards her and kissed her.

It happened so fast that she did not have time to react with a level head and instinctively kissed back. A small part of her had wanted this to happen.

Then before she could break the kiss, he broke it.

Bambi staggered back. "Why-"

But Aro shushed her, smiled and left the room locking the door behind him.

Bambi rushed to the door. "Aro, please!" She banged on it. "Please, let me out! I'm sorry! Please!" She cried. Finally. "Just tell me why I'm here…"

To her surprise, she got a response.

"I will tell you."

With that, she bolted away from the door and shrank into the corner.

That was not Aro.