• Prologue:

    There was a loud crash, and then a man swore. The next thing he said startled me. “I haven’t seen this many bodies since nine-eleven,” he said.
    I knew there were a lot of casualties, but I didn’t think there were THAT many—
    —I must have missed something.
    I sighed; my breathing was labored. I was under a substantial pile of rubble, so I sat up and looked around, propelling the rubble away from me.
    “Oh my God,” I said softly. There were more bodies than I remembered.
    I got out of there as fast and quietly as I could. The only thing that worried me was weather that man saw me or not. No, I thought, I couldn’t let that man see me.
    While I was running, I couldn’t help but ponder the events that lead up to this . It all started Friday, March 2…

    Chapter one- Composure:

    It was early Friday morning, maybe 2:30 AM. I awoke in a cold sweat and my bed was soaking wet. I got up, cleaned up, and got dressed for school, not knowing how early it was. It had been a dark winter, so I was used to getting ready in the dark. Then I realized, it was March 2, my friend Gerard’s birthday. We planned a huge party for him for after school, and I can’t wait. I love hanging out with Gerard, especially when he is happy, and I knew this party would make him happy.
    I looked at the clock, 3:30. “Damn,” I said. I thought about going back to sleep, then I thought no, I was already dressed.
    I decided to play my X-Box for a while, I had already beaten the game I chose, but I played anyway. So many times had I beaten this game; I knew all of the cheats. It was my favorite game; Magic the Final Battle. All my friends thought I was a dork for playing it, but it was my amusement, so I ignored them. Around 5:45 AM I stopped and went down stairs to make breakfast. My mom was getting ready for work. On normal days she worked for the State College as a nurse, but today was her day off because she works four, ten-hour shifts. On her days off she works for her sister at a non-prophet, doing the accounting.
    I made her some eggs, and then she was off. It was about six fifteen, so I got my Ipod; my bus ride was really long.
    My bus was late, as usual. Generally, that makes me angry, but not today, it was Gerard’s birthday, and nothing could ruin it. From here bad things kept happening—
    —First was my IPod, it went dead on my walk to the bus stop. Then, I fell getting on the bus.
    When we got to school, I ran to my locker because the first bell had already rung. I got my math book, an automatic thing anymore, North High School, locker 1052, combination 22-15-35. I ran to my Algebra 2 class and got there just in time. I was the only freshman in my math class, most were in Algebra 1 or Geometry. I was also the youngest in the freshman class, 13.
    I liked math, it is probably my favorite subject, especially Algebra. I also kinda have a crush on the teacher, Andrew Kasly. Everyone calls him by his first name, but not me; I was a suck up. He is a very handsome, and young, 26. He has strong hands, silky black hair, and crystal green eyes. I knew he had strong hands because he had shaken my hand when I transferred into his class in second semester. I wondered if he was impressed by me, but I doubt it, because I was just a freshman—
    —Everyone hated freshmen here in Washington, even teachers.
    He was talking about matrices in class today, but I was too lost in his eyes to think, besides, I was the best student in the class, I tutored everyone else. I was only in that class because I couldn’t skip more than one level at a time.
    Next thing I knew the bell rang, so I got the homework down and rushed to my next class, Orchestra. The music teacher hated when his students were late, but I made it just in time, so I was fine. From then the day went pretty slowly.
    When lunch came, I couldn’t keep the secret any longer. I burst out laughing, and Gerard asked why, so I just told him that we were going to ‘hang out’ after school, no questions asked. He was suspicious, but he never doubted me, I was the most truthful girl he had ever met according to him anyway. After lunch Gerard had to go to his math class, Algebra 2 also, but he was a sophomore. I hugged him, which was unusual considering I never hug; (I hate contact of any kind with other people). He looked at me funny, then shrugged it off. “Good bye,” he said, and just to be dramatic I said “Never say good bye, but see you later.” I wished so badly that I could just have the courage to ask him out, but I didn’t, so I went on my way.
    I had English next, and we were talking about our sixth book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I was in the advanced class, which always made me wonder because I hated English. The teacher called on me, she asked, “Why did Mayella Ewell lie to the judge?” and I answered, “Because she was protecting herself, thinking she was breaking the ethical code of the time.” I thought this was a good answer, but apparently not because at least ten other hands shot up after I was finished. This made me blush, so I put my head down, and the next thing I knew I was asleep. The teacher asked if I was ok, and I lied, saying, ”May I please go to the nurse, I have a headache.” I knew exactly what the nurse would do, let me sleep, and I needed this considering that I woke up at 2:30 A.M. Once I got to the nurse’s office she told me to lay down, and I immediately fell asleep.
    She startled me awake at 1:15 P.M., and all I heard was, “Get him in here and lay him down, we have to patch up that leg for the EMT. I pretended to sleep, until the nurse was out of earshot, then I rolled over to see who it was.
    To my dismay, it was Gerard, and his fibula was jutting out of the skin. “What the hell? Gerard? Oh my god. What happened?” I said. He said, “I decided to skip fifth period, but don’t tell the nurse that, I told her I was in the bathroom, and that is also what Mr. Kasly thinks. Anyway, I skipped fifth, and went running down the stairs, and missed the third one down, and went tumbling. I immediately went into the bathroom, and called 911, but I collapsed and my phone hung up before I could get the last 1 in, so I screamed, and no one heard me.”
    “Next thing I knew I was being slapped into consciousness by some freshman, and they wheeled me in here to call the hospital.” I tried to hold in a gasp, but couldn’t. “Are you ok? I mean, are you in a lot of pain?” I asked, but he said, ”No.” I thought he must have hit his head, but when I asked, he insisted that he didn’t. The next thing he did was striking, he asked, “ Would you come with me to the hospital?” I said, “ Of coarse, but what if they do not let me?” He said, “Don’t be silly Lydia, I will just say I wont go without you, and then they have to let you. Make sure to call your parents and let them know, and have them talk to the school nurse.” I said, “Is that true, that you would not leave without me?” He blushed, and shrugged, and then I knew, he had a crush on me. I was giddy, and full of excitement, but I held it in because that would look odd in front of the nurse if I started smiling at this frightening ordeal.
    I called my parents, and they said that of coarse I could go, if he would not leave without me. They excused me from the rest of school, then the ambulance showed up, and all the kids went to see what the big deal was, because by then the bell had rung. The EMT’s ran in and got Gerard on a stretcher then ran him out with me following. The whole time in the ambulance I sat in the corner, holding Gerard’s hand, avoiding the EMT’s hasty movements.
    It was an eight-minute drive to Tacoma General Hospital from our school in the outskirts of town. The whole way there I was thinking about why I was so composed. About three minutes in, the EMT swore, and said sorry, for what I presume was him pricking me with Gerard’s IV needle, but I said it was ok because I didn’t think, at the time, that it broke skin.
    Once we got to the hospital, the EMT opened the door, and with the sirens blaring, we got out and went straight to a room. I sat in a chair next to the gurney and stroked Gerard’s hand. A few minutes after arriving, an intern came in and asked Gerard what happened, and he told her. Then she said, “The x-ray technician will be here momentarily to see how bad the fracture actually is.” All I could think from this was, isn’t that obvious, but then I realized that there might be other fractures.
    After Gerard came back from the x-ray’s he said, “What color cast should I get?” I said, “That is up to you,” and he said, “But I want your input because you are the one that is going to have to look at it all the time.” He had a point, but instead of answering I said, “You know what color I would choose, so why don’t you choose?” He said, “Fine, but you have to tell the nurse it was your choice.” I said, ”Ok, but why?” “Because I’m choosing pink,” he said. I burst out laughing, and he giggled about it too. Then I said, “Elena will love you for that.” And he chuckled. Elena hated pink, but she would get a kick out of it.
    When the Orthopedic specialist finally came it was three o’clock P.M., and Gerard’s parents were there. I felt uncomfortable around his parents because they were the kind of touchy feely people I did not like, but they were pleasant, so we got along. In the end, Gerard chose a black cast, just so I would like it, he said, thinking he was being clever. I was ok with that because it freaked his parents out, and even though we got along, it was hilarious to see their reaction, even if it was a little exaggerated.
    After the casting was done, I left the room so Gerard could talk with his parents alone. I wandered around the hospital waiting room for a few minutes, then I decided I was thirsty so I went to the cafeteria. In the cafeteria I saw Mr. Kasly, and I remembered that school was out by now, and Gerard’s party is going to start soon, so I rushed back to his room. Mr. Kasly followed and I was in such a fog that I forgot he was behind me and I accidentally closed the door on him. He came in a second later, and I said sorry but he was not worried about it, he was more worried about Gerard. I asked to use the hospital phone, but Gerard said just to use his cell phone and text all of his friends.
    I texted all of his friends and all of mine, on his phone because I did not have a cell phone. I told everyone in the group for the party that it was called off due to injury, and that, one at a time, they could come see Gerard in the Tacoma General Hospital, room 215, critical care, because he was staying over night for observation.
    When Mr. Kasly left I followed him, forgetting that I liked him, and tapped his shoulder to stop him, and then I realized that I did not like him, I was in love with Gerard. I said, “Do you want to sign his cast? I was going to run to the gift shop and buy a silver sharpie.” He said, ”I would love to, but you have to let me buy the sharpie.” I shrugged, indicating I was fine with that, and led him to the gift shop. I knew this hospital really well because I was very sick as a child. I had every childhood disease known to man, and for a while I had cancer, but they believed they sent it into remission, and it has never come back.
    On the way back to the room, I ran into Elena, and led her to his room. Elena had beautiful blonde hair all styled, just for Gerard because she liked him, and deep blue eyes. When we got to the room she was shocked, and went straight to him, giving him a giant bear hug, and tried to kiss him, but he stopped her. He winced a bit, but did not let Elena see. She said, ”How did this happen?” and he told the story, changing it so that his parents did not know he was skipping class, or so I thought. When I looked over to see his parent’s approval of the story, they were gone, and I was shocked.
    Once he and I were alone, I asked him why he hadn’t told Elena the truth, and he said that he didn’t think she would approve of his reckless behavior, so he lied.
    At about five in the evening the nurse asked if I would leave, and I looked at Gerard longingly, gazing into his ravishing brown eyes. He answered for me, he said, ”If she leaves then I am leaving, and when I pass out on the side walk and my parents find me, they will sue this place for all it is worth.” The nurse seemed frightened, and she must not have seen me look at him, so she said, “Ok, I will try and pull some strings so she can stay.” As soon as she left the room I kissed Gerard’s hand and whispered “Thank you,” in his ear.
    Twenty minutes later, the nurse came back, and she said I could stay overnight with him as long as I said I was his sister if anyone asked, and I said ok. After the nurse left, the doctor came in and changed his IV to accommodate what he said was a, “Potassium deficiency.” He also asked me to leave the room a minute while he talked with Gerard, but Gerard said, “Anything I can say to you, I can say in front of my sister.” And he winked at me. He didn’t want me to leave the room for anything.
    The doctor proceeded to ask the questions he wanted to ask, and at first they seemed normal. He would ask things like, “What happened,” or, “Did you hit your head?” But then the started to get weird, like, “Have you ever had sex?” Every single question I knew the answer to because Gerard was very truthful. The only question that caught me off guard was, “Have you ever had a craving for blood?” and this scared me. I wondered why he would ask that question, and then Gerard answered, “Yes,” he said. Then my mind started racing. I was thinking things like, is he a vampire, is he a Satanist, or is he just disturbed? Then the doctor asked why and he said, “Because I like my meat rare,” and they both started laughing. I wanted to slap him, but was afraid to.
    Later, after the doctor left the room, I said, ”What was all that about the blood?” He said, “I don’t know, guess.” This was starting to freak me out. “What?” I asked, and he said, “I am not allowed to tell you this, but I you are probably going to guess this anyway, so here it goes.” At this very moment, I felt his heart beat, almost as if it were within me, synchronized with mine, and he said, “First I want to say, I love you, and I have since I met you, and I hope you do not fear me for this.” He sighed and went on, “I am one of the many blood addicts, a family of French vampires that do not age, contrary to the cult vampires, who age at a fifth of the human rate.” I sat there taking in the information, wishing I were one of them right now. He never knew that I wanted to believe in mythical creatures, but now it is all coming true, the myths and legends.
    I leaned over the rail on the bed and kissed him. The kiss lasted at least five minutes, and then I sat back in my chair, and fell asleep saying, “I am not afraid, and nor shall I ever be, because I love you too, and fear can never surpass the love I have for you.” I dreamt about his long brown hair and his delicate, yet strong body, wondering how he came to be a vampire.