Back Story..
I was born July 6th and was part of a family of seven.
Elizabeth, Joseph, Aldrich, Eleanor, Victoria, Me, and Fredrick.
In other words, my ma, my pa, and my brothers and sisters.
They all had blonde hair and brown eyes, except from my father, whose eyes were the brightest blue, oh, and me of course. I was the first albino any one had seen, in those days.
My ma was a dress-maker, and she earned quite a bit, making for other ladies, and the dresses were the finest quality. Sometimes, Eleanor would go into my mothers room and help her make the dresses, when money was a bit low, but Eleanor usually liked to go out; be courted and have a little fun.
Im not saying our family was poor, we were far from that, but like any family, would could be tight at times. Every other day, Victoria, Fredrick and I would be home schooled by out governess, Miss Temple.
Miss Temple had been a kind soul. She taught the girls to sew and all the necessities a young lady would need and taught the boys math, and English, and some times a bit of Latin on a Friday afternoon.
My pa had been a very skilful blacksmiths son. He had even followed in his fathers footsteps for a while before meeting my mother, and marrying her. Then, my father had earned enough, and with the income from the dresses, to pack up work, and get into rowing with the gentleman's club.
Aldrich would sometimes go with my father to the rowing on a Saturday although other times he'd stay and play with Fredrick or read to Victoria. He had courted Blanche for two years. Then finally got the blessing of her father to marry we, an now they had been expecting their first. Edward, she promised me every time I asked. The baby would be called Edward, after her grandfather, and she could just feel the baby would be a boy. Of course, I never got to see the baby boy, or any of my family again, but I heard that the boy, Edward, died of Spanish Influenza at a young age.
Victoria was a quiet girl. She'd spend most of her time in the library, learning about the world, instead of going outside and doing things with her life.
"Of course I'm doing something with my life." She would promise me."I'm learning every thing a man can lean."
I only ever hoped that attitude to the world never got her in trouble.
Mat meal times, when she'd finally surface out of the library, she would go down and help some of the servants prepare meals. She never liked to just sit around. Although, that's a bit ironic, seeing as she'd sit for hours reading.
I would spend all my time outside, exploring, with my only friend, Samuel. Sam stuck by me, when the other children stayed far away because of my lack of colour.
Sam and I would wander and eat and wander and then finally return home, say goodbye, and then go inside, only to repeat the process the next day.
Fredrick was only thirteen when I disappeared, and the only thing I can say was that he was trouble.
I never saw my family after I had gone - and I can remember exactly how I got into the position of being a ghoul.
It had been a long night, and it was just nearing dusk on a Saturday night. I had met Samuel out for brunch and we had ended our exploration late than usual. Samuel had just expressed his interests, and love, in me, and because father had agreed he was a suitable man for marriage, I had been letting him court me. The sun disappeared down into the ground as I walked into an alleyway.
Looking back, I could see how much of a bad idea that had been.
I was whistling a jolly tune and had gotten half way down the alley when three men, dressed in rags, jumped out of the shadows. One pressed his dirty hand to my mouth, and the other with a knife against my throat.
I let out a muffled scream, the other two stood in front, grinning.
"What have we here?" The first man said, his rank breath bombarding my senses.
"The colour-less, Johnny." The second answered to the rhetorical question and the first rolled his dirty eyeballs.
"I know!" He hissed and the other two winced and stepped back. "This one, the one the people say must have sinned for God to make her colour-less." I listened in curiosity. They said that? The people on the streets? The ones who crossed the road when I came walking down one side of the street.
"The one they say's diseased, Johnny?" The third commented, and gulped visibly.
"I don't want no disease, Johnny!" The second wailed and the third hit him across the head.
"Shut it, Tom. We'll take the girls money, that's all. Then we'll be off." The man they called Johnny hesitated, then added, "Quickly." Almost like he was scared.
"How you know she's got money on her, Johnny?" The third asked and the first tightened his grip on me, the knife digging in to my neck.
"Am I the only one with brains?" The first hissed. "This ones dress is quite fancy made, an' she just come from that rendez-vous with that pretty boy, you get me? No one courts, unless they have money." The first explained to the others, the others nodding along. Then the third stepped forward into the light.
I made then the first mistake.
I lifted my first finger and pointed at the man, the man who I could clearly see now.
"Get back!" The first hissed and the other quickly slunk back into the shadow. The first panicked while the others looked bewildered.
"Oi! Our Billy, get on and check them chickens!" The woman's voice boomed down the alleyway and the robbers panicked, the first letting his hand slipped on my mouth. I screamed.
Second mistake.
A little boy ran into the alleyway, panting obviously and my eyes widened. I was scared for him now. He looked only six. The robbers were panicking and the first robber was letting me go to run after his companions. As soon as the robbers grip loosened just a tiny bit, I jerked forward to get the boy. . . And in turn, making the robber react by pushing the knife into my neck with a squelching sound.
Third mistake.
Strike three!
And yourrrrrrrr out!
Or dying, in my case.
I slipped to the floor and listened to the panicked shouts of the retreating robbers;
"What did you do!"
"It wasn't my fault!"
"You've got the coppers on us now! You've killed her!" I'm dead? I thought.
The little boy was also kneeled beside me his tiny hands in my neck wound and whispering.
"Oh mamma said I shouldn't listen to Auntie Betty. She said, don't you go down that alley if Auntie Betty asks you to, you hear, Our Billy? Oh, I should have listened like a good little Boy."
My vision slowly faded and I felt my breathing shallow, and my chest struggle to collect enough air. I was just about to give up when I heard a cold, low voice.
"Go back to your family boy." And I felt the little pressure in my neck dissipate.
Then my body was even colder than it should be. I felt something prod at my neck and the voice sighed.
"Such a pretty thing, I really shouldn't let it go to waste." There was a pause. "You will thank me for this one day, I promise. My name is Berlioz. I am going to save you."
I felt something dribble between my lips and I willed my tongue to work and gulp down the sweet liquid entering my throat. Slurping it down, I almost groaned in protest when the liquid was stopped. I then felt pressure on my neck again. And then a twist.
And blackness.
When I woke, I soon found out Berlioz- it- had tried to make me into a Vampire, but my body had rejected the venom, after the blood had hit my system.
When I woke, I had begged for Berlioz to hunt down the robbers and give me some sweet revenge. He had been happy to oblige.
When I woke, I made Berlioz promise to give something to the little boys family. The boy could be traumatised. This time, it took a bit of work for him to agree.
When I woke, you could imagine the shock when the sun rose, and I left my chained body, experiencing the pain for the first time. And his expression of rage at the new development.
When I woke, I found I was no longer human.
When I woke, I was Ghoul.