Misty Rose: Nature
Chapter 4
Such an awesome second night, wasn’t it? Got into a fight with my best friend, wound up kicked out of my own apartment in the middle of the night. Or, well… it wasn’t a fight, but we weren’t really on the best of terms, you know? I maybe could have put my foot down about staying but… I’m kind of a doormat, and I’m worse when I feel like it’s me that’s fucked up. My Dad’s side of the family is pretty much the exact opposite, seemed like they’d get angrier if they fucked up and had to actually make up for doing something wrong. My Dad wasn’t like that, but I could remember lots of times as a kid when he’d get in a fight with my uncle or grandpa over something, least until he mostly stopped talking to them. And I sort of felt like that now. Not that I did what I did on purpose, but still. So I didn’t really feel like I could say no when Kaitlyn wanted me to leave so she could sleep.
I guess that’s something else the vampire stories probably don’t talk about, wandering around in the middle of the night in an empty city because most people are asleep and your roommate kicked you out, even if it’s only for a few hours. I’m damn sure they don’t talk about how uncomfortable it is to tuck a phone and door keys down the front of your top because you were a genius and didn’t bring a purse or anything to put them in when you walked out the door in party clothes, and party clothes don’t usually come with pockets. Lots of women’s clothes don’t, but the sort of clothes I’d wear to raves really didn’t have pockets. I suddenly found myself pretty happy that at least the skirt I was wearing let me wear more or less regular undies, even if they had to be hipsters, so I hadn’t spent the last two days with butt floss trying to crawl up my ass. I doubted even being a vampire could make a thong comfortable. Given everything, I had to find my silver linings where I could.
Bet you wanted to hear about all that, huh? Well, that’s where my mind was right then. Pretty sure I’ve seen a word for when you try to think about anything other than what’s bothering you, but that’s what I was doing. Same thing with the wandering. Didn’t really want to leave, but… Kaitlyn didn’t want me there, and wandering around let me… think about something else. Read about that, too, people whose mom or dad had died or something, and they walked out their door and just kept walking all night. Not really to anywhere, more from something. So I was kind of doing that, too. Not really paying attention to where I was going. I just… walked.
Mostly I tried to avoid people. Not too hard since it was so late, but there were still a few. Like one guy I’d see sometimes. Or hear, more often. I don’t know what his deal was, but sometimes he’d be walking around my neighborhood, listening to gangsta rap really loud on some kind of speaker because I guess he’d never heard of headphones. I’d seen him a few times, and he always seemed kind of strung out, like he was on something. And for some reason, he was always going around to all the ashtrays in the area picking smoked butts out and sticking them in a ziplock bag. He was young and didn’t look homeless, so I don’t know why he was doing that. Maybe he was going to break them up and smoke the crap left over because people didn’t smoke them down to the filters? I didn’t ask the guy, though. Something about him just seemed off, like maybe he was a meth addict or something. Pretty sure I heard the guy while I was wandering around, but I cut over a block so I wouldn’t walk past him.
Wound up going into a Walmart at like two in the morning. Something I’d have never done by myself before, but it didn’t seem to matter. Wandered around inside looking at things. Not to buy anything, I left my wallet at home, but it sort of helped. Yeah, yeah, retail therapy and all that shit, but letting myself sort of do the window shopping thing let my mind work at something other than all the shit that’d gone down in the last couple of days. Wound up leaving, though. Couple of the kind of weirdos that turn up at Walmart at that time of night were following me around and staring. Party clothes will do that, and it was making me uncomfortable. Not just because of the being stared at by creepers thing, but also because… part of me wanted to beat the shit out of them and drink them because they’d made me feel uncomfortable. Wasn’t ready to look at this… vampire temper or whatever yet, so I just left. Walked back out into the dark.
Think I saw another vampire at one point, but I’m not sure. He was a block away and turned down a cross street and was gone by the time I got there, which was fine because I didn’t want to deal with other vampires any more than I wanted to deal with humans. Also had a couple of cops in a patrol car follow me for a little while. Probably thought I was a hooker because of the clothes. Wouldn’t be the first time. Decided to head uptown at that point because at least no one would think I was turning tricks.
Ended up at this little park a few blocks from the hospital. Somewhere else I wouldn’t have gone by myself that time of the morning, but fuck it, you know? Went and sat down on one of the benches and just… looked up at the stars. Romantic and angsty, right? But I felt stupid after a few minutes and pulled out my phone. Started looking up what the stories said about stopping vampires. Which was also kind of angsty now that I think about it. Lot of bullshit on the internet, and a lot of it comes from some of those stupid vampire series. Stopped when my phone told me I’d gone over my data limit for the month. It was a cheap plan, so I didn’t get a lot, and it was still the first week.
At that point it was like five in the morning and the sunrise was going to be in an hour, so I figured it’d be good idea to get moving home unless I wanted to greet the sun, and I wasn’t feeling suicidal. Just angsty. So I started walking back. I got to this place where there’s these bushes and stuff on both sides and… well, you know how I said I wouldn’t have gone to a park alone that time of the morning? This was why. Some fucker jumped out of the bushes and grabbed me from behind. And he stank. Like, homeless junkie stink. And he was breathing in my ear and his other hand was already groping me and I froze and… that part of me that wanted to beat the shit out of those creeps at Walmart just kind of goes fuck it. I’m a vampire, right? What could this fucker do to me?
I should probably say I didn’t know how to fight. I was actually kind of a sissy when it came down to violence and… well, I used to have to be pretty damn freaked out to actually defend myself. Mostly I’d just freeze or start crying. Usually both. But… some shit just hurts, you know? Don’t have to be a fighter to know that. So I grabbed his arm with one hand and one of his fingers with the other and just sort of… yanked really hard. Pretty sure I broke something because I heard a crack and the fucker started screaming and let me go. Then something hit me really hard in the back and knocked me over. I tried to get up, and something hit me and knocked me over again, then hit me again, and my ears were ringing. And I realized that fucker shot me. Three times. But it was like… I could feel it, but it wasn’t really hurting me. I mean, I don’t know what gunshots are supposed to feel like, but this was like… being poked really hard with a stick, I guess. Hard enough to knock me over, but that’s not really all that hard.
So I sat up and I was looking at the holes… which was fucking freaky by itself, by the way… and there wasn’t any blood, just the holes where the bullet went through me and it… actually sort of looked like the holes were starting to close by themselves. Um… in me, not in my clothes, of course. This wasn’t one of those movies where even the hero’s clothes heal stupid fast. I looked up and, yep, the fucker had some cheap-looking… revolver I guess pointed at me, and his other arm tucked up against his chest and was shaking like he was freaking out. I guess it didn’t really get through my head that I’d been shot, because all I could think of was getting away. So I got up and of course he shot me two more times, but I didn’t get knocked over, and right then I was mostly thinking he was really fucking annoying, and then he shot me in the head. Right in the fucking head.
Like I said, I don’t know what that shit’s supposed to feel like, and I kind of doubt there’s a lot of people who can tell you. But for me it felt like I’d hit my head on something really fucking hard, like in the hospital for a concussion hard, and everything went red and I got a migraine and like the worst comedown ever at the same time. I kind of… don’t remember what happened for a few minutes. I… guess I felt like I was moving, I think, and then…
Explaining what it’s like to get shot in the head when you’re a vampire and can survive to talk about it is fucking hard. But describing what it feels like when a vampire drinks blood from a living human is… I don’t even know where to start. It was like the best sex I’d ever had, while being on a stupid huge dose of X and a bunch of other shit at the same time. Only it’s hot and thick and wet and it’s pouring down my throat and I didn’t really realize how cold I was until then. It’s… okay, I talk a lot of shit about how all the vampire movies and books and whatever don’t have a fucking clue what being a vampire is actually like, but… everything they say about drinking living blood doesn’t even come close. That kind of feeling can fuck up your brain, turn you into an addict in seconds. And I’m not fucking around when I say it’s like it woke something up inside me too. Right then I was full, more or less, but… I could already tell I was gonna be wanting another fix real fucking soon. For vampires, it feels like being thirsty, sure, but… it’s more like being a meth addict or some shit that can strip your life down to getting your fix, and waiting to get your fix, and the shit you do while waiting doesn’t fucking matter. So, whatever else vampires are, they’re fucking junkies, too.
Anyway, um… my head cleared and the fucker was on the ground and I was kneeling over him, and he had two holes in his neck, and I could feel my fangs and taste his blood in my mouth, and I was thinking oh shit, is this fucker going to die? But… it felt good, and I was warm for the first time since I woke up in the murderer apartment, and it felt really, really good and…
Sorry. They say you never forget your first time, and that’s true for vampires too, even if it’s true in a pretty fucked up way. But I don’t need to keep talking about this now.
At that point, I was starting to freak out, and the fucker was on the ground moaning so at least he was still alive, and then I remembered that the sword guy said that killing people to feed was against the law, and being obvious about it was too, and I freaked out even more. I mean, this guy had two holes in his neck and he was missing a lot of blood, and as I was thinking that, I saw the holes in his neck were still bleeding a little. So… I leaned over and licked the blood off. Probably the vampire in me came up with that, but for some reason, the little holes closed like they’d never been there, which was fucking weird, but also fucking convenient. So I just had to worry about the creep dying… which was also weird because that wasn’t even the main thing I was freaked out about. Yeah, I didn’t want him to die, and he’d tried to rape me, but the thing that upset the… vampire or whatever in my head was the idea of getting my head cut off. It almost felt like I had to remind myself about the fucker dying to actually feel like that was something wrong. Which of course freaked me out more.
Oh. While all this was going on, the bullet holes in my body were closing all by themselves. Which is almost as weird to say as it was to watch. I didn’t really notice until one of them, I guess the bullet got stuck inside me or something because it was like my body just pushed it back down the hole and out. Felt fucking weird, which is why I noticed, and looked just as weird when it was my own body, you know? But I felt good, and I was warm, and… more in control of myself at that point, I guess. Maybe a little thirsty, but otherwise good. Like I had a nice buzz going.
I like to think that’s why I decided to try to help the fucker even though he shot me. It was, but… it was also because then maybe I wouldn’t have a dead guy on my conscience. Possibly another dead guy, I didn’t know who killed the kid in the apartment. The asshole in the park tried to rape me, and he shot me six times, but… that didn’t mean he deserved to die, you know? Hospital wasn’t too far away, and maybe I could get him there in time. He was bigger than me, but… I could drag him, right?
That’s when I found out the next weird thing. I guess vampires are stronger than humans. Not, like, super strong, but… I don’t know. Maybe more like we just don’t feel muscle pain, so we can use more of the strength we have? I know people on adrenaline can do some crazy shit, and adrenaline blocks pain. So something like that maybe. In any case, I figured out I could pick up the fucker and carry him over my shoulder, and the only hard part was that he was bigger than me and totally limp. So I just… hauled him over to the hospital. Didn’t even get tired. Wound up kind of smelling like him because I was carrying him, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
Anyway, I got to the hospital and I realized it wasn’t like I could just walk in and go hey, this fucker shot me and tried to rape me and I broke his finger and sucked all his blood out, but he’s still alive, so, like, save him or something. So I just… dumped him somewhere I thought he’d be seen pretty soon and left. I mean, I tried, right? He was still breathing when I left, so… maybe he lived. But at that point, dawn was getting closer and I still had to get home, so my options were kind of limited, and it’s not like I could really tell them what happened anyway. Only my top had bullet holes and some of that fucker’s blood down the front, I chucked it over a wall and… sort of did the last block or so in just my bra. Which was embarrassing, but no one was around, and it got rid of the smell, too.
I let myself back into our place, and Kaitlyn was asleep in her bed. With the curtains closed. I wasn’t sure if she forgot, or if she decided to trust me, but… I went and opened them anyway. I didn’t really trust myself, so I figured having the main room full of sunlight was a good idea, you know? Then I went and washed my hands and face, which had dried blood on them I didn’t notice until then, changed out of the damn party clothes and boots, and put on a t-shirt and shorts. Kaitlyn stayed asleep while I did all this, guess she went to bed pretty drunk. I didn’t see the vodka bottle anywhere. She was snoring, too, and kind of drooling out one side of her mouth, but shh, don’t tell her I told you.
Pretty sure I could see that pre-dawn thing through the windows by the time I was done with all that, so I pulled my blanket off my bed and wrapped myself up in it, then curled up in the closet with the doors closed. I had a shit-ton of things to think about, but… honestly, I think I did the vampire day sleep or whatever thing inside a few minutes of hiding in the closet. I sort of remember thinking about how the vampire chick was hiding in the closet again, and that’s pretty much it. Some vampires dream while they’re dead during the day, I guess. I don’t. I’m just dead. I’m sure that means something to vampires, but at that point, I wouldn’t have cared.
