by R. J. Rogue
My hand stops and drops the paintbrush.
"Evan?"
I try to relax, and open my eyes. Essence cups a hand to her mouth and gasps.
"What?"
"Your eyes," she says. "Your eyes are r--" She looks over at the easel.
"How did you do that?" she asks in a gasping whisper.
I face the easel and my stomach balls into knots. It's the marking I had seen on the stranger's hand, the one from the forest, the mark that I have yet to understand its meaning. I examine the careful strokes and expertise in my use of the red and black paint. The marking covers the entire paper.
"That's impossible," I say with disbelief.
How is this possible? How did I do that?
"Evan, you look -- pale," Essence says as she peers into my face and arms.
I look into the palms of my hands and watch as my skin continues to pale. My veins turn purple, then invisible. I ball my hands into fists. Essence grabs hold of them, then withdraws and winces.
"You're freezing," she says.
"What's happening to me?"
"Evan, are you okay?"
My heart begins to race, and I can hear myself breathe. My teeth ache and I smell something metallic, but – it makes me – hungry.
"I have to go."
I rise out my chair and head for the door.
"Evan wait!" Essence calls out to me, but I do not stop.
"Evan?" Ms. Brooks says as I exit the classroom. I head down the hallway moving as quickly as possible flipping my hands from palms up to palms down, waiting for them to return to my normal blood-filled complexion. An agonizing pain rocks my head into oblivion. What is this? It—hurts!
I hear a crunch and crack, and hold my head by the temples. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to fight it. Ow! Just—stop already. Please.
I drop to my knees, still clasping my hands to the sides of my head which feels as though it is on fire. What's happening to me?
I crawl across the floor, breathing through my teeth, trying to fight off the headache and burning sensation. I stumble as I stand to my feet, and balance my weight by using the lockers I pass. The crunch and pain returns. I grab handfuls of my hair, wanting to pull out each strand, but lose my balance, fall into a locker, and leave my body's imprint into its door, creating my fossil.
The final school bell rings, and the pain calms a bit, yet I still feel it inside of me. I'm angry. Why do I feel so – angry? Calm down, Evan. Just, calm down. As I turn the dial on my lock, the numbers begin to blend and overlap each other. I look down the hall and everything does the same, blend and overlap creating two of everything. As people fill the hall, I squint to focus, but fail to see clearly. Their voices are loud, that metallic, copper smell is potent, and my anger continues to build. I stumble into a student.
"Whoa, buddy!" He says as he breaks free from catching me.
I stumble into another.
"What's wrong with you?!"
"S-sorry," I say, struggling to breathe.
I bump into a locker and try to keep my balance. I ricochet off and into something large.
"Hey watch it!"
The student pushes me back. I know his voice. It's the voice of the guy who bullies Cedric, but not anymore ever since Cedric gave him a massive nosebleed. My guess says his friends are with him.
"What's with that heavy breathing?"
He begins to mock and his laughter hurts my ears. I cover my ears, but it doesn't help. Shut – up. Not—today.
"Stop—talking so loud," I mumble through clenched teeth. I turn to my locker and rest my forehead against it.
"I can't hear you, Macrae! What was that?!"
I punch my locker and it dents. His laughing stops and the students around us fall silent.
"Thank you..." The pain begins to go away as I exhale and take long breaths.
He scoffs.
"Ohh, I'm really scared! BANG!" he yells into my ear.
I wish he'd leave. I wish he'd leave now. He taps my shoulder firmly with his index finger.
"Hey! I'm talking to you, Macrae!"
Mistake.
One second I am facing my locker, and the next, my hand grabs hold of his neck. The gasps that fill the air, fuel my fire. The boy stares into my eyes, frightened, weak, none of which phases me the slightest to let him go. His friends back away. I lift him off the ground.
"I told you to leave me alone," I say.
I squeeze his neck, and can't help, but smile. He let's out a cry as I watch his face turn into a beet. That smell. It's – strong. My mouth waters, my teeth prick my tongue.
"He's choking!" Someone exclaims.
"Somebody help him!" Someone else yells.
The anger slips from my grip, my hair stands to points, and I look amongst the crowd. Each face I see averts and leans away. Essence. She stares, worried, yet shocked. Bianca stands next to Cedric. Her expression is unreadable, but Cedric grins and crosses his arms as though he wants me to keep going.
I let go of the boy and he falls to the floor, coughing and comforting his neck with his hands. The students begin to whisper amongst themselves. I stare at the boy. I did this. His suffrage, fear, pain, was by my hands. It's not like me. But who am I? This just--isn't right. I can't. I have to go. I look into my palms and flip them over. Above my thumb's knuckle is the dark birthmark, 'M' that I had seen on the stranger in the forest and just moments ago, my painting easel. I place my hand on my chest, nothing. I cannot find my heartbeat.
No. No. What is this?!
I walk towards the crowd and everyone moves away hurriedly. Essence calls out to me, but my walk turns into a sprint. I have to get out of here. I have to go. NOW!
"Can't always run from your problems, Evan!" Cedric calls after me.
~
I push the exit doors open and they slam against the wall. I run across the parking lot and keep my pace so no one will follow. The mark is still there, bold and black. I stop and look at my reflection on a car window. My skin is pale, my eyes are almost black filled with a faint red in my pupils, and my teeth are beginning to form an overbite. I can't be seen like this. What's happening to me?
Thunder roars and rain begins to fall. I look above at the clouds that tumble atop each other as lighting rips across the sky, flashing the city into a blinding white. Before me are trees, at the back of the parking lot. I begin to run, not once looking back.
Everything whips past me as though I were a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun. I zigzag between the trees, jumping and running, until I trip over one of the fallen giants and become airborne. I maneuver my body as I descend, and instead of plowing into the ground, I plant my feet beneath me, and take off running again, as fast as a bullet. It felt natural, simple, and instinct. I plant my foot onto the bark of a tree, kick off to the next tree, and climb. When I reach the top, my breathing is steady. Not a single breath lost. I scan across the treetops and the gray forecast that hangs above the Mohawk River in the distance. I glance at my hand and the mark is still there. It has yet to disappear. This is unreal. None of this makes any sense. What does this mean?
"Evan?!" I hear Essence call.
I put my back against the tree hiding myself. I peer over a few branches and soon she stops running and looks around in the rain.
"Evan?! Where are you?!" she calls before running off again. I rest my head against the wet bark and close my eyes. Visions flash before me. My dreams. All of them. Beebee, that family, the little boy pushing me off of the cliffs, their inhumane appearance. The stranger. The nightmare I had last night. The markings. Bianca. Cedric. All seem relevant to each other. Somehow, connected.
And now me. Just as I was in my dreams. A monster. A -- vampire. No. That possibility is ridiculous. There's no such thing. Even if there is, I was never bitten by anything of the sort. But what about this mark. They all had it. I look at my hand and run my thumb across it. Why is it there? Why do I have it too?
I then hear water crashing against rock. I move to the t
op of the tree and overlook the rest of the forest once more. Across the water, I see it. I see it and a thought crosses my mind. There's no fighting this feeling. I can't—hold it—any longer.
I leap into the raining sky from treetop to treetop. I get to the peak of one final tree, step harsh into its wood, and leap above the ceiling of the forest. I outstretch my hands and look below. There's the trees, then sand, then water. I straighten my body into a dive, and when I'm under, I swim to the surface. The mansion is a distance away, but I feel myself drawn to it. It calls me. It's like I have to go there and do something. I don't know what, but I must go.
Those miles of water felt like seconds to swim. I'm at the base of the cliff, treading water, looking above at the terrain that almost goes into the clouds. I examine the rocky wall before me, I place my hand against it, and squeeze. The dirt is thick enough to climb without sinking. After I take my first step out of the water and onto the side of the cliff, I glance over my shoulder, and the water is far below, my breathing is heavy.
I place a hand over the top of the cliff and with all that's left of my strength, pull myself over and roll onto my back. I lay what felt like hours and days, but the sky had not change from dark to light, just gray, just rain, just me. Alone. I lift my head and my heart begins to race. Just like my dream.
The vast red doors from my dreams, but a distance across the grass, housed within a large cream mansion of large stained glass windows, pillars and balconies, and atop the mansion is a church bell tower that begins to ring. The sound echoes across the sky. I'm here. I say to myself, catching my breath, trying to keep myself from fainting.
I look into the palms of my hands. My complexion returns and the mark is gone. I carefully run my tongue across my teeth and do not feel the monstrous overbite, instead, fatigue begins to take over my body, my vision begins to give.
The red doors open and a pale white figure steps out. I rub my eyes, hoping to clear the disorientation, but it only gets worse as my head begins to feel heavy. I plop onto my back facing the rain and soon, my head is lifted by cold hands and placed onto a lap.
"Evan?" says a voice in a whisper. I try my hardest again to focus on his face, but fail. I look around him, and there stands a group of pale people. One of them kneels before me, next to the man. A woman.
"It's him," she says.
"Yes. It is him, my dear, Valencia," says the man. "We have been waiting a long time for you, Evan. Please, do rest."
Failing to fight the exhaustion, I close my eyes, and the world becomes silent.
Chapter Fifteen: Reunion
I wake to a mural of angels and prophets covering the ceiling. Such displays of art only exist inside of chapels and sanctuaries. I try to remember what happened before I lost consciousness, but nothing rings a bell. The covers and pillows around me are red. The head board is made up of gold carvings of the sun, more angels, people with halos, and animals such as calves and sheep.
The red ocean sized bed in which I lay, sits above a polished, cream marble floor that reflects the ceiling. Long red curtains hang from the ceiling to the floor, paintings cover each wall, and large golden chandeliers hang above. To my left rests a piano in front of tall glass doors which expose an outside balcony. To my right is a desk, easel, violin, and a bin full of piled composition notebooks. There are large bushes on each side of the bedroom door. They are green and the room is fresh of mint.
I wish this was my room.
I rise to my feet and find my shoes bedside. I step into them and open the glass doors of the balcony. Rain continues to fall, wind continues to blow, and water continues to crash at the bottom of the cliff. Visions of the forest flash before me. The running, the leaping into the water, climbing the cliff, and being found by a group of strangers. I turn back to face the glass doors with a fear settling within my skin.
Oh no. Did I really come here?
I walk back into the mansion, open the bedroom door, and place my back against the wall. Music fills my ears and confusion plagues my mind. This is the same tune that was playing in my dream. And these walls. Cream with a red border along the bottoms. Red carpeting.
I follow the music, rounding every corner I reach. And soon, another, vision flashes before me. Wait. I stop and watch as Beebee runs down the hall. Her giggles echo against the walls. She turns the corner and disappears. This is it. This is like my dream. I round the next corner and stop. A cold air escapes the room, I hug my arms and walk in. I remember this. This is the room. The one where Beebee was...
I look up, and there sits the same chandelier. I walk over to the balcony, and open the glass doors. I step out and to the ledge and run my hands across the cement where I was pushed. Is this really happening? Or is this just another nightmare?
I jog back inside and down the hallways in which I came, passing the room I awakened. When I reach the end of the hallway, there is a golden railed staircase, a fountain of cherubs on the level below standing beneath a golden chandelier, red carpeting, murals along the walls, and those vast red doors from my nightmare.
The music is much louder now. Closer. Then, voices. I look to the other end of this second floor and a chill runs down my spine. From what I last remember, that's where they were. All of them. The vampires. My legs disobey, something they have grown quite fond of doing. I peek my head around the corner and wish I had not been so curious.
He is real. He's pale, has glowing red eyes, and a monstrous overbite. He stands at the head of the table, but I wouldn't dare see to whom he speaks. He looks over at me, my heart flatlines, but I can feel my legs beneath me, about to run for the doors.
According to my nightmares, this doesn't end well for me.
~
"Evan?" he says. I turn away and sprint for the staircase.
"Evan!" he yells after me.
I skip steps down the golden rail staircase, practically falling, and throw myself through the red doors. The sky is gray, and the wind whispers lightly. I look around for a path to run, but fail to find an escape. Why did I come here? Why did I have to be so curious? What possibly was I expecting to find?
I run to the edge of the cliff. If I take a leap, maybe I'll survive. Maybe. The water and rock far are far below…my stomach clenches and balls into a knot.
“Please," I hear a voice call through the wind.
I turn to face the man from my dream. He stands taller than myself in his black tuxedo.
"Who are you?! You tell me!" I yell.
He raises his hands as he steps forward.
"I'm--"
"Don't come any closer just stay away from me!" I command. He nods and keeps his distance.
The red doors open behind him. A pale woman steps out, dressed in all black, with a hat on her head. Her hair is short and barely touches her collarbones. The man looks over his shoulder and holds out his hand for her to come. She walks across the grass under the rain and wind, her eyes staying attached to mine until she joins the man at the hip.
"Valencia," says the man in the tuxedo.
"Shhh," she says holding a hand up to him, keeping her eyes on me. She steps away from him and closer to me. She brings her hands up to my cheeks, but doesn't touch. I refrain from moving. Her eyes are beautiful, soft, and familiar.
"You came back," she says.
"Who are you? What is this place?" I ask.
The man nods.
"Evan, I-."
"How do you know my name?" I ask.
He looks at Valencia then turns back to me.
"We gave it to you."
"I am Kaius Macrae," he says placing his hand on his chest. "This is Valencia, my wife." He rests his hands on her shoulders and she smiles.
"I've missed you, Evan."
I shake my head.
"Wait," I say. I begin to shiver. "What did you just say your name was?"
They stare at me.
"Answer me, please."
"Kaius."
"Kaius?"
"Yes, Kaius Macrae."
"No, that doesn't make any sense, um."
I shake my head again and turn away.
"Kaius Macrae is my father."
"Yes," he responds. "I am."
I turn back to face him and stare deep into his red eyes.
"I don't believe you."
He outstretches his hand.
"It is the truth."
"My mother is--"
"Sarah Foster?" He asks.
"Yes," I nod.
"What about her?" He asks, motioning his hands to Valencia.
"What about her?"
"You don't see anything, Evan?"
I look at Valencia and she looks into my eyes. My hair stands, and I must admit, there is something oddly familiar about her.
"What do you mean you named me?" I ask.
They stand quiet and then look at each other. Kaius looks down at his feet and exhales before bringing his eyes back up to mine.
"You're our son, Evan. I am your father. Valencia is your mother."
I shake my head with disbelief.
"No, I am not. You are my father's imposter and my mother is--"
The red doors open again. We turn to face the stranger that had chased me in the forest and in my nightmares. I take a couple steps forward pointing a firm finger at him.
"And you stay away from me!"
"Evan, I mean no harm to you," he says raising his hands unarmed. "If anything we have been waiting for you. Watching you."
A vision flashes before me: falling from the tree, breaking my wrist, the stranger popping it back into place and saying, 'we're watching you.'
Goosebumps populate my skin. I take a step back.
"Be quiet." I tell them.
"But it is the truth," the stranger says.
"Believe us, son," Valencia says.
"BE QUIET!"
"Son," Kaius says taking a step towards me. I take step back.
"You're fine where you stand," I tell him. "And my name is Evan."
"Yes."
I gulp and take a deep breath.
"Tell me what's happening to me."
"You don't remember anything?"
"Valencia," Kaius says to her. "For him, it has been quite a while, and he was very young."