• CHAPTER THREE: ELOQUENT TERROR



    If the terrible hiss predicting my death hadn’t terrified me, what happened next definitely did the job.

    I heard a scuffling noise from the window and looked over, and what I saw scared me stiff. Pale white fingers were clawing at my window, trying to get in. I couldn’t see the face, but I was sure that the monster from earlier was back. My heart seized and I sealed my eyes shut, clamping my hands over them. I sat rigidly on my bed and waited… waited for the death that was surely coming from the creature outside of my window. I heard the window click open and another frigid wind blew through my room. I shivered, half out of cold and half out of thinking that I was about to be brutally murdered by a creature I had always thought was fictitious. I heard the window close and light footsteps. My bed creaked… and it was behind me.

    I could feel the icy breath on my neck and knew that my hopes of hallucination were long gone. I was positive that I was going to die. Scared to death, sitting on a bed with an unpredictable vampire behind you is not a good way to find yourself. I pressed my lips together, determined not to scream. Small tremors were already dancing down my arms and legs as I tried to mentally prepare myself for whatever was next to come. The vampire was breathing softly behind me.

    I clenched my teeth and wondered how long he was going to wait to kill me. I was terrified, frozen with fear, and completely unprepared for what happened next. He didn’t move in to kill me; he simply spoke, an elegant, amused voice that sounded almost musical. I was confused, it was nothing like the bone-chilling hiss it had been a few seconds ago.

    “Hello, Sarah. We finally meet. Well, kind of. I didn’t realize it was customary for humans to sit on their beds looking constipated whenever someone comes to the window. I’m sorry if I scared you, but if I rang the doorbell I would probably have scared your mom.” He paused, and my thoughts screamed questions at me. How did he know my name?! What about my mom? What was going on? Was I being… punked or something? Did I really look… constipated?

    He continued speaking in his beautiful voice, “Then again, you haven’t even looked at me yet, and I will admit that my ego is rather wounded. They did say everything would be easy once we looked at each other. You still seem scared though. I wonder why… I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong… I did everything they told me to… Hmm… I’m sure this will feel natural soon enough.” he said, and effortlessly gathered me into his sub-zero arms.

    In my moment of frozen terror and disbelief, I remembered what I had been taught in fourth grade: If someone is making you uncomfortable, get away from them. I used all of my might to twist out of his frosty embrace and landed with a loud thump on the ground.

    I was mildly surprised that he had let me go so easily; he seemed extraordinarily stron g. As I was trying to process this, he laughed from my bed. The sound was surprisingly pleasant, but I was still as petrified as the wooden floor that I had landed on.

    “Nicely done, Sarah. I especially liked the landing. They didn’t tell me you were such a gymnast. It’ll be much harder to think about killing you if I think about how talented you are. Then again, if you died, I would have to die too. Everlasting love just had to come with that little detail.” I was suddenly insanely tempted to get a glimpse of him. I wanted to ask him what in the world he was going on about, and also; to see how it was possible that the nightmare I had seen earlier was capable of producing such a captivating voice.

    I suddenly heard rapid footsteps on the stairs and gasped. My mother! The icy being fell silent on my bed and adrenaline gave me enough courage to turn and look at him, to tell him to stay away. I gritted my teeth and whipped my head to finally face him, but… he wasn’t there. I shivered, the frigid breeze was in my room again, but I hadn’t heard a thing…

    My door creaked open and my mother rushed into my room.

    “Sarah? I heard a crash! Are you okay? What were you doing up here?”

    Why did everyone keep asking me if I was okay when I was most definitely not? My acting skills were already straining! I shoved away my fears and questions, saving them for later, an d assumed a lethargic role. I rubbed one of my eyes and glanced up at my mom: beautiful and tired looking, wispy chestnut hair framing her thin face. Her tawny brown eyes showed how much the last year had affected her. The divorce had been ugly, very painful. My idiot father had broken her heart and left her in shards.

    Her eyebrows were crinkled with worry and curiosity as she gazed down at me on the floor. I yawned hugely and stretched, pasting a befuddled look on my face. I had to think fast to convince her to leave. I looked around my room and found that my Calculus book was conveniently lying next to me, a perfect excuse.

    I looked at my mom and then the clock on my bedside table and said, “Huh… it’s only 8:00… I must have, um, fallen asleep while I was um, studying for that test next week.”

    “Did you fall out of bed?” my mother asked, bemused, as she walked over to help me up.

    “Yeah, I guess the, uh, Calculus was beckoning. Fascinating stuff, that is.” I joked lamely once I was standing.

    She chuckled, my poor attempt at humor assuring her that I was okay. “Very funny, Sarah. I hope you were actually studying!” she scolded playfully. She squeezed my hand affectionately and walked out of my room, back to the cooking show downstairs.

    If only she knew the truth… the truth that I still wasn’t completely sure of…