I smile at her, remembering her teenage years when she did just that. She was more than happy to tell me about the young man in school she had her eye on. And was it crazy for her to follow him after they graduated? I told her yes and that I would hunt him down and feast from his blood if he looked at her funny. She’d just laugh.
And now those years are long gone and I’m going to be alone again. I promised myself that it was enough with the humans. I can’t go through the same thing again and again. So why am I even talking to River?
“Benny, wipe that look off your face. I thought you were going to read me a book.”
“Oh, yeah,” I say as I pull out the unicorn book River was determined had porn in it. And I begin to read. Dorothy gets a blissful look on her face as she closes her eyes and just listens.
Chapter Four
RIVER
When I stretch, I instantly get smacked in the face.
“What the hell was that for?” I cry as I open my eyes and look over at Banshee, the evil stray cat I’d brought into my home. Her love for me depends on the moment. Like at this moment, she wants to be evil because I didn’t wake up when she wanted me to.
I grab her in my arms and drag her over to me before pinning her against my bare chest. She’s all black and would probably be quite pretty if she wasn’t shaved. When I finally gave in to bringing her into my life, I thought I could brush the severe matting out before giving up and shaving off the clumps. The fur is finally beginning to grow out and is coming in long and silky, but the areas where it’s not make her look a bit ugly.
“That’s okay, I still like you even if you’re ugly and mean,” I tell her as she purrs. She starts kneading my chest, which consists of her digging her nails into my flesh and pulling. I swear she knows what she’s doing. “I’m sorry I called you ugly! I’m sure you’ll be pretty when you get your fluff thing back.” I just hope I’ll be around to see it.
She watches me with vibrant green eyes as I trail a finger over her cheek that she leans into.
“Are you hungry?” I ask as I push the covers back and sit up. It’s finally Friday, which means that tonight I’m picking Bentley up. “I’m being an idiot, Banshee.”
She doesn’t seem to care as long as I keep scratching her just right.
“I know I shouldn’t be meeting with him but here I am again. What’s wrong with me? And on top of all of it, he’s a vampire. But he’s nice… unless he’s just pretending to be nice to get me to lower my guard and then feast on my flesh!”
Banshee seems to think my dramatics need some work because she just stares at me, silently judging me, as she’s known to do.
I feed Banshee, which she seems grateful for, then take a shower before heading over to my laptop. The apartment I live in isn’t much. I haven’t held a job in a while, so I only have so much money to spend.
I sit down in front of the laptop and open a Word document that’s already filled with words. At the very top is: Let me start from the beginning. I don’t even know if anyone will ever read this. Maybe I’ll die with it still on my computer, but if there’s a chance I can get this out, I’m going to do it. My name is River Garza. I am twenty-eight years old and this is the story…
But I’m past that part. I know I need to just sit down and write it all, but I’ve found it harder than I ever imagined. There’s something about reliving a part of your past that you hate, even if there’s a good reason to do it.
I stare at the screen and force myself to start writing.
When I woke up, I was alone. I was confused about where I was and what had happened. I thought maybe everything had gone wrong or maybe I’d been mistaken. But when Dr. Novak stepped into the room, I knew something wasn’t right.
I tried asking him where I was, but my throat felt tight. It was like words couldn’t even escape it. My limbs were heavy, nearly impossible to lift as I was left watching him walk toward me. But the worst thing about it was the smile he wore. It was wrong. It was haunting and I realized I was scared.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet before dragging me to the door. My legs still weren’t working but he didn’t care as he stuffed something in my mouth and wrapped tape over it. That’s when a woman I didn’t recognize stepped into the room.
“What is this? Why is he awake?” she asked.
“The drugs didn’t keep him down long enough because they’re delayed. It’s fine. I’ll keep him quiet,” Dr. Novak promised as he pulled my arms behind my back and began to tape them tightly.
I wanted to kick and thrash, but my body was weak, and I was confused. I could kick myself for how I just stood there and let him tape my legs up tight. How that moment led to everything that happened. If I’d have screamed or run would everything have been okay? Would someone have saved me or helped me?
Instead, he wound me up in sheets and shoved me into what felt like a box, but I couldn’t see anything. Fear coursed through my body as I realized how wrong this situation was. A part of me questioned if I was dead. Did I die on the table? Is this all that’s left of my afterlife? What did I do to deserve this?
My throat still felt too tight and with the cloth stuffed into my mouth, it was like I couldn’t breathe. I began gasping for air, but there was none to be found wound up tight in the sheet while in the small box. I strained against my binds, I fought as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get free.
I wanted to beg for my life. Beg to go back to my parents who loved me and who would be devastated to hear what happened to me.
That was the day I died. That was the day my parents were given the news and were left to mourn for me. That was the day the vampires decided that they’d tear my life away from me, and now… now I’m going to ruin their lives. I’m going to destroy them all.
Banshee jumps onto my lap and I look down at her. She seems to always know when I’m upset. I gather her into my arms and decide that I can worry about the rest on a different day because today, I have a date with Bentley and… I don’t even know why. Not only is he a vampire but he wasn’t in my plan. He wasn’t supposed to be a part of any of this.
“I’m such a horrible planner,” I tell Banshee. “I’m the worst bad guy ever.”
She meows like she wants to agree, so I scratch her neck and lean back in my chair.
“Let’s go plot something evil.”
She seems to like the sound of that because she’s drawn to evil. But she’s cute, so I let her get away with it. Tomorrow will be the day. Tomorrow will have to go smoothly, in order for things to move forward.
I sigh because I’m a bit uncertain, but what do I have left to lose?
I check my phone three times as I pull into the driveway, just to make sure I got the right place. I don’t want to be the weirdo who shows up at the wrong address. I send him a text to tell him I’m here before remembering he’s a vampire and can probably hear me.
Me: Your Batmobile has arrived.
Bentley: I’ll be right out.
He steps out of his house wearing a button-down that fits him nicely and a dark pair of jeans that oddly throw me into a moment of panic.