• CHAPTER 5
    I opened my eyes slowly, grogaly. I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep. I yawned and sat up, but I didn’t hear the crackly paper that I should have. My eyes snapped open, and I looked around. I was in a brightly lit room that had two doors, a TV, a chair, and a bed, which I was laying on. I pushed the covers off of me and stood up, and then I swayed and fell back on the bed.

    The door cracked open, and then opened all the way. Dr. Anderson walked through and came up to me, and laughed.

    “Hey sleepy head” he said in a voice you use to talk to little kids. I sat up slowly, making sure I didn’t get dizzy again. “Breakfast?” he asked, and I nodded. I stood up and followed him out, and I followed the scent of pancakes and eggs. Sure enough, there they were, on two plates. I sank into a chair and started eating. It was delicious! I could taste cinimon, salt, sugar! It all melted in my mouth.

    When I was done I sat back and patted my stomach absentmindedly. I was thinking about how full my stomach was and how much I’d over eaten, when I heard Dr. Anderson clear his throat. I looked up, and then remembered something.

    “I don’t know your name” I stated, surprised. In my head, I’d been using the name Dr. Anderson. Huh. He smiled.

    “Jake” he said simply. I mouthed the word “Jake” and then smiled back.

    “Thanks, now I can stop using the name ‘Dr. Anderson’ in my head”. Then I got up and went into the room I came out of to go take a shower. I’d noticed that there had been a bathroom door when I was being escorted to breakfast. “Can I take a shower?” I called over my shoulder.

    “Um… sure?” he said. I was wondering what was up with the question attatched to the “sure” but I walked into the shower. 15 minutes later I came out wrapped in a towel, and noticed that I didn’t have any of my clothes with me. s**t! I cant go around in my old clothes! Those were covered in dirt and, as I picked them up again, they were also covered in blood. I stared at it, and had to keep myself from licking it because I realized I was now thirsty. I dropped the clothing and backed away, out the door, and into Jake.

    “Oh!” I squeaked, deaply embarissed. I was sure that I was blushing, and blushing very red at that. I walked back in and quickly shut the door, then spoke through the door. “Uhh… I don’t have any clean clothes… they are all in my… er… the place I’m staying…” I trailed off. Was I still staying there?

    “Ok, so we will go get everything once your done getting dressed” he said. I was surprised. How long was I staying here? “Until then…” I heard him rustling through some thing, “You can wear these” and he opened the door a cracked and shoved some clothing in.

    “Thanks” I called as I heard him retreating. I pulled up the cloth at the top, and it was a man’s shirt. Well, he was a guy, it’s not like I expected him to keep a stash girls clothes in his house…er…apartment? I realized I still didn’t know where I was. Huh. I pulled on the shirt and the tan spandex shorts. I guess it was for running, but they fit me pretty well, and that was weird.

    I walked out and into the kitchen where Jake was cleaning up breakfast. He looked up and smiled amusedly. I scowled, because, with my tangled, wet hair, and my guys clothing, I was pretty sure I didn’t look like a model.

    “So” he began, “The clothes fit, I see”, and now he was dangerously close to laughing. I stuck my tung out at him and sat down at the counter. They fit ok, I guess. I took the hair band off of my wrist and pulled the shirt back. I tied it around the shirt, and soon it fit me almost as good as my normal clothes. “Better” he allowed.

    I laughed. “Well, guy clothes do bring out my girly figure” and I rolled my eyes. It was fun to joke around with him, I almost forgot that I was thirsty. Almost. Just then, while I was still laughing, my throat ripped into flames, and I snapped my mouth shut and squinted. Why is it doing this? I scowled hard, and Jake immideatly stopped laughing.

    Knock, Knock! The sound came from Jake’s front door. Oh… that’s what made my thirst come back, there was a full human outside the door. I stiffened, because I could smell the human from here, and almost feel its body heat. Oh god, I think I’m gonna eat him. I started loosing control.

    Jake saw the change in my expression, the animal in me taking over, and jumped on me, sending me sprawling to the ground, with him on top of me. I was sprawled out, with Jake crouched over me, when the man at the door said, “I’m coming in, Jacob” and the door swung open. The man’s eyes widened at the site of us, but then he blushed and his gaze dropped to the floor.

    “Er… sorry to interrupt, Jake” he said. My eyes were fixed on his blush, the rush of blood, right under his thin skin… Snap out of it! I told myself. It worked a little. I could feel my fangs growing to full length, but I was more in control. I pushed Jake off and got to my feet. Jake got up and watched me cautiously, waiting for me to jump the stranger, I guess. I smiled at the man and then went into the living room, away from the good smelling man.

    From the living room, I could hear the conversation.

    “Its not what you think” Jake began.

    “Course not, course not” but I could hear a smile in the man’s voice. Then I heard an exsasperated sigh, which probably came from Jacob.

    “What do you want, Chris?” he asked, a little rudely, I think.

    “Just came to visit, but it seams you are a little busy right now, so maybe I’ll come back later” and I heard him moving towards the door.

    “No! Come in! I want you to meet a friend of mine” Jake said, but I wonder why he was pushing my self control. That wasn’t very nice of him. Friends don’t let friends kill people. Or something like that. I heard them walking toward me, and then I saw them walk into the room and sit down. Ahh… it hurt, but I got a hold of myself and focused on not killing Chris.

    “Chris, this is Shelby, Shelby, this is my best friend Chris” Jake said, looking a little frazzled. Ok, now I really didn’t want to kill this guy. I smiled a little, but Jake shook his head, so I sealed my lips and smiled without exposing my teeth. Talking was going to be difficult, I decided, but I tried anyway.

    “Hi Chris, its nice to meet you” I said politely, though my voice sounded a little strained. Ugh. I hated this. He smiled absentmindedly, staring at me. That made me uncomfortable. I wish people would just stop looking at me!

    “Uh… yea, same” he said. Well gee, that was a well formed sentence, I thought. I realized I was smiling again, and I snapped my lips together, and narrowed my eyes. This human could NOT know what I was… on that note, I hardly knew. Chris seemed to recover. “So, how’d you two meet? I haven’t heard about you, tell me about yourself” and he smiled, happy to meet another friend, I guess. He’s friendly, but that question irritated me, how was I supposed to answer that?

    “Well… I’m 20… uh… I just moved here from Florida” yea, that worked. “I met Jake at the store, uh, a couple of days ago and we started talking. My parents are both dead, and I have no family” that was probably a lot more then I needed to say, not even Jake new that. Both of their eyes widened impossibly big.

    “Oh… oh gosh, Shelb’s, that’s…. that’s horrible…” Jake trailed off, looking at me all sympithedicaly. He didn’t know much about me I guess, my parents had died long ago, maybe 10 years.

    “It’s ok Jake, they died a long time ago, when I was 9” ok I was wrong, 11 years. “I’ve learned to take care of myself” I was concentrating hard on the subject, but every time I opened my mouth, I could taste Chris’ blood. Mmmm….

    Jake looked at me, and then at Chris, and then suddenly he ushered him out of the room, saying something about time and how late he was to where he had to go. Within seconds Chris was out the door and gone. He came back, told me we were leaving now, and we left to go find his car.