Captivated

by Deb Apodaca

  “No.” Dean said with ease.

  “Why not?” I asked while reaching for another one.

  “I’m on a diet.” Dean said.

  “So am I.” Before I placed the strawberry in my mouth I continued, “You better eat one before I start asking questions about your special diet.” I bit half of the strawberry and chewed roughly as I dared him with my eyes.

  Dean stared back with a challenge in his eyes. Without breaking gaze with me, he grabbed a strawberry and plopped the whole thing in his mouth. He was chewing it slowly as it rested tightly on the inside of one of his cheeks. His jaw muscles were working at it. Usually, it was kind of gross watching a guy eat. There was the chewing sound, the smacking, it wasn’t something that I liked watching. But with Dean…the way I could see the skin of his cheek formed around the food and the way his jaw muscles were working together to eliminate the food was…well…cute. His eyes were still on me. When he swallowed, his eyes smiled. Being with him and seeing that happiness in him filled me with peace.

  “Where were you going to take me?” I asked.

  “After we eat, I’m planning on taking you to the Space Cavern. I heard you say you wanted to go there.” Dean said quickly.

  Markus was telling me the other day that the Space Cavern had been closed for a couple of weeks. A dead body was found down there. He said her arms and her neck were mangled. Why would Dean want to take me there if there was going to be no one around? A quiver of fear shot through me. The woman they found down there, she had puncture wounds on her. They didn’t describe them with detail, but I was betting they were the same as the deer’s I found. Was that why Markus said to be careful while I was with him? Was Dean really a vampire? No. Impossible! Okay…breath! Breath.

  We both exchanged looks in silence. I studied his eyes, the green in his eyes were sometimes so dark they looked nearly black. On other days, like today, they glittered like a lit up Christmas tree. He was strong enough to punch through brick walls. I never saw him around at night. When I did, he was (according to Markus) making people (or vampires) disappear.

  I let out a huff and forced a smile. “You’re a vampire.” I stated.

  Dean tilted his chin up and smiled. “I have no fangs.” he said through his teeth.

  I examined the glistening white canines. They were normal, just like mine. “You retract them when you don’t need them.” I said.

  Dean moved across the table and put his face up to mine. His mouth was a torturous breath away from my own. “Then why haven’t I sucked your blood Lina?” He whispered right before pressing his soft lips against mine. Then he inched towards my neck and lingered his lips on my pulse. His soft breathing tickled my skin and triggered a chill that shot up my spine. My blood jumped to a rush and began to throb for him. If he were a vampire, I swear I’d let him suck me. “Why aren’t I biting you right now?” He whispered. It took everything I had in me not to melt into the bench and land as a puddle on the ground.

  “There! That! You see what you did?” I exclaimed and pointed at him with accusation.

  Dean pulled back and sat back down, cocked his head and raised his eyebrow.

  “You vampires are known to hypnotize us humans! That’s why I always feel like I’m floating around you!” I leaned forward crossing my arms and setting my elbows on the table. I smiled and awaited his reply.

  “I do that to you?” Dean asked in a whimper. He blissfully smiled and looked down at the table to hide it. He blushed as he looked back up at me.

  “I don’t want to come off as strong, but do you watch me at night?” I asked.

  Immediately his smile disappeared and a pressed line took its place. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, every time you send me home, eventually I look out the window and see someone standing there.”

  Dean shot up. “Why haven’t you told me about this?” He snapped.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t think much of it. I just thought it was coincidental. For all I know it could be someone going for a walk. Forget I said anything.” I snapped back.

  “Lina! It could be a-” Dean stopped and took a breath.

  “A what? A vampire?” I teased.

  “I’m done with this. I’m taking you back.” Dean spat out while walking to the grill. He scooped up some dirt with his hand and threw it in the dying flame. It was scary how pensive he was as he stared down at the smoke. It was as if he had an important decision to make. One that wasn’t easy.

  Once again…I was left with no answers.

  I asked Dean to drop me off at school since lunch was about to start. My mom worked at home, so showing up in the middle of the day when I was supposed to be at school wouldn’t have been good. I waited at our bench outside of the cafeteria doors for Markus and Tanya. The bell rang. After a while of watching students pour out of the double doors with trays in their hands, Markus finally appeared.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Markus said while sliding onto the bench next to me. This time, he didn’t have a plate full of food from the cafeteria. He pulled out a shake and a tuna fish sandwich out of a brown paper bag. “I had to-uh make a phone call.” Then he stumbled onto the fact that I was there. “Wait a minute. Didn’t you ditch? What are you doing here?”

  I shrugged my shoulders in a way that gave off my answer. The answer being, next question. “What’s up with the new diet? Since when did you care about health?” I asked while pointing at his protein shake.

  “If I want to be a good detective, I have to be in shape.” Markus said confidently as if he were already lined up for a job and was preparing himself for it.

  “Speaking of detective…how’s your case going?” I did an air quote when I said ‘case’.

  “Case.” Markus repeated as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.

  “Yeah.” I knocked on an invisible door in the air. “Hellllo? The whole Dean being a vampire and all. What’s gotten into you?” I questioned.

  “Oh that. I was just babbling. You know how I’m superstitious. I guess I got that from my crazy grandpa.” Markus muttered before taking a bite of his sandwich. I’ve met that grouchy old man, now he was truly crazy, but not Markus.

  “What about you telling me to be careful around Dean? What did you mean by that if you don’t believe in vampires all of a sudden?” I spat out.

  “Just some friendly advice from a friend. You going to drink that water? I want to wash down the tuna and shake.” Markus slightly stuck out his tongue and crinkled his nose as he reached for my drink. I gave him the ‘yes’ by absent mindedly nodding my head.

  I couldn’t believe what was happening. I didn’t get any answers from Dean and now Markus was not acting like himself. I mean, he was still Markus, but to forget about everything that had been going on wasn’t like him. We went on a stake out. He had his theories. He even warned me about being around Dean. I felt so alone, like I had no one to lean on. So many questions swirled around in my head that I felt like it was going to explode. How would I be able to find out about Dean if I didn’t have Markus to help?

  “Guess who!” Two hands cupped around my eyes. The smacking of bubble gum followed by the delicious smell of strawberry flavor caught my attention.

  “Tanya!” I brought the small hands down and threw her a smile. “Where have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

  Tanya happily sat in front of me trying to hide her smile. “Blake and I hooked up.” The smile she was forcing back broke through as she caught someone’s view across campus.

  “Wait a minute. Hooked up? You mean you and him-”

  “No!” Tanya said immediately. Then she gave a mischievous smile. “Well not yet at least.”

  “When did he ask you out?” I asked.

  “Earlier this week. You’ve been too busy daydreaming to notice my absence.” Tanya stated.

  “Oh. Sorry about that.” With guilt, I put my head down.

  “So? Who is it?” Tanya asked.

  “No one.”
I felt my cheeks get warm.

  “Well, I’ll find out soon enough. But get this…” Tanya scanned the area around us like she was going to tell us a top secret fact. “They finally revealed who that girl was in the Space Cavern.”

  Markus and I gasped and leaned our heads closer to her to get the scoop. “Who?” We asked at the same time.

  “Jennifer Freemire.” Tanya whispered.

  Nausea filled me when I heard that name. I’d always enjoyed teasing her and snickering when she was embarrassed. We were total enemies since grade school. But this was horrible. I would never have looked forward to hearing this about her.

  “Why are you whispering about this?” I asked.

  “You know how my uncle works in the morgue?” Tanya cringed. “Well, he’s the one who worked on her. I think that’s what they call it. Anyways, they found weird bite marks on her. That’s why they didn’t rant to the media about finding her. They feared that the citizens would panic.” She flipped open her cell phone and sent a quick text message before closing it and setting it down.

  “Why would we panic?” I wondered out loud.

  “They found something strange on her, didn’t they?” Markus added with a serious tone.

  “They found bite marks on her. They think they’re bite marks. They’re saying that there might be something out there that’s doing this to people because she’s not the first to have them.” Tanya said.

  Silence took over the table. Markus was pensive. He had that look on his face, the one where he found a clue to a puzzle he was trying to solve. Or when he found evidence for a ‘case’. The deer came to mind. The bite mark on his neck was abnormal. I wondered if it was the same markings. I had to ask. “What did the bite mark look like?”

  Tanya shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask for a detailed description. A bite mark is a bite mark.” She sprang to her feet. “Don’t tell anyone okay guys. I don’t think the news is supposed to be around yet.” Then she skipped over to Blake who was waiting several feet away. Not wanting to come near me most likely. All of Ayden’s close friends were staying away from me as if I were some kind of danger zone.

  I stared at Markus. He was looking away from me. “Don’t you want to say something.” not a question.

  “Animal attacks.” That was all he said before he stood up and walked away to the sound of the bell.

  “Vampires.” I said softly to myself, imagining that Markus had said it with me, so I could think for one moment that I wasn’t alone with the thought. No one heard me of course. The table was empty and the students were herding towards the doors. Alone, I sauntered to my fifth period.

  School was finally over. After sitting in Markus’ car for a few minutes, I felt like slamming my foot on the gas pedal. His habit of adjusting the seat of the car back and forth until he was comfortable made me want to scream. The mirrors had to be checked, seat belt, everything. I waited patiently, eye twitching until he finally drove me home. I was too upset to talk about anything on the way home. He didn’t talk either, he just sang along with the song ‘Liberate’ by Disturbed among other songs from the band.

  I threw my book bag in the house and walked to the waterfall. Dean wasn’t there. I waited for almost an hour and he didn’t show. Sadly, I left our meeting place. A cold shiver ran through my body. Even in the heat of the sun, I felt cold. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt longer than that. I stared at my house from the forest not wanting to go in. I needed to be somewhere else. I couldn’t shake the feeling off. So I walked down the neighborhood to see if I would bump into Dean. The unsettling feeling crept in and out of me as I roamed the neighborhood. I didn’t want to think it, but I couldn’t stop myself. The bite marks had to be the same as the deer’s. They just had to. Dean came to mind. What a coincidence that the deer was near the waterfall. Dean didn’t want me going near it. I didn’t think it was because he didn’t want me getting squeamish. He was hiding something. He also acted strange when I was talking to him about Jennifer’s disappearance. Could he have been the one that did that to her at The Space Cavern? Was that why he wanted to take me there? To do the same to me?

  I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head, rubbing my face and eyes in the process. When I was able to focus again, I saw his motorcycle parked in front of his old house. I stopped my step and contemplated if I should go in or not. The cold feeling tapped at me again. It was as if I was losing connection to any warmth that existed. I couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to see him, so I headed towards the side gate because I knew he would be in the back yard. His back faced me. The crooked dark branches from the tree stretched shadows across him. His shoulders were slanted down and his hands were in his pockets. He was motionless. I wasn’t sure if he heard me enter through the gate.

  “This used to be green. Alive.” Dean stared ahead, away from me. “It was full of life. And now…” He put his head down and took a deep breath.

  “Dean…I-”

  He put his hand up to stop me. I wasn’t sure if it was from walking towards him or talking, but I stopped doing both.

  Dean forced himself to turn to me. His face was a dark mask of fury and pain. The look in his eyes was scorching. He was preparing himself for something. Something he was forcing himself to do. The cold chill was slowly creeping in me again.

  “It’s over Lina.” Dean said darkly. The pain was seeping out of his eyes just as tears would.

  In that instant, the chill hit me hard, avalanching throughout me. I felt the terrible rush of fear. Like falling off a mountain to your doom. It couldn’t be over. Deep down, I knew this was right. But my heart was crumbling to pieces just hearing those words come out of him. How could this be right? He was dangerous. Deadly even. But I couldn’t stand to part with him.

  “No.” I whimpered out. “NO! You can’t be serious. Dean please!” I ran to him and threw my arms around him. “Was it because of the questions? I’m sorry! I just needed to know. Please don’t do this!” Tears poured down my cheeks and dripped onto his shirt. He didn’t hug me back. He just stood there. I was desperately hugging a statue, trying to bring it to life again. I felt pathetic for frantically feeling him. I rubbed my hands on his back and squeezed him. There was no reaction. I considered pinching him so that he would make a movement, any flinch would do. I would have rather had him push me away. He slowly raised his arm to my shoulder. When he looked down at me with those dark eyes, his face was once again with no emotion.

  In my head, I pleaded. Please smile again. Please say never mind, that you didn’t mean anything. If this is a joke, I promise I’ll laugh. Please say this was all a joke. And that’s when he did it. That’s when he dragged the life right out of me. Dean pushed me to the side and stepped away from me. I whirled around in disbelief, this was real. As he made his way to the gate, he didn’t glance back. Not even a good bye. No kiss on the forehead.

  I stood there, frozen and alone. The dried up plants and trees looked as dead as I felt inside. The cold never left my body. Fire could engulf me with its flames and I still would feel cold. My legs couldn’t hold me anymore, so I let them drop to the dirt beneath me. This couldn’t be happening. Just yesterday, everything was fine. Everything seemed fine. And the days before, I swear he loved me. Even though he never said it, just by the look in his eyes…I could tell. Not enough proof for some people. Plenty when you could feel it, like when you feel the love of a dog or child radiated towards you.

  I wrapped my arms around myself knowing that it wouldn’t make the shivering go away. Nothing would…except for his arms. Through the ringing and the stabbing words echoing in my ears, I heard his bike roar and take off into silence. I held back on crying and water slowly leaked out of my eyes. I gulped to swallow the knot that would not go down, but it swelled up with every ticking second. My eyes were like a crack in a dam, ready to burst with the true tears of sadness.

  “Please come back.” I whimpered out as the crack broke apart from the force of the water.

&nb
sp; The next day at school was torture. Usually, it was because Dean didn’t show. Now, since we weren’t together anymore, he came to school and I couldn’t understand why. Now, I would never know the reason. Catching a glimpse of him was coincidental, I was actually searching for Markus and caught sight of Dean instead. I walked through the cafeteria doors from the hallway entrance and I saw Dean at the distant exit. A jolt of pain stabbed me in the chest as I watched the back of his head. He was walking away just as he did last night.

  “You going to eat that?” Markus asked me while pointing at the burger on my plate.

  “No.” I pushed my plate towards him. “I don’t want any of it.” There was a pain in my stomach, but it wasn’t hunger. Something spiky was squeezing my insides. I felt that if I took one bite, I would throw up. He grabbed the burger and took a huge bite. “I thought you were supposed to be on a diet detective.” I mentioned in an attempt to have a conversation that would distract me.

  “Protein.” Markus lifted the burger. “And caffeine helps you with energy for working out.” He raised the soda and took a gulp then took another chunk out of the burger.

  “You caved.” I said.

  “Diets are hard. I’ll get back on it after my burger.” He took another bite. “Why aren’t you sitting with Dean?” He asked through his food. “He’s finally at school again and you’re way over here.”

  I looked down at the bench and poked my fingers through the holes. Shrugging my shoulders, I took an unwanted sip of water.

  “What happened?” Markus asked while setting the burger down and reaching for his soda.

  “He broke up with me.” I said half aloud. I glanced Dean’s way. He was sitting at his usual shady bench not even taking notice that I was only forty feet away. Shane sat on the table laughing about something. His head was cocked back exposing his neck. Dean didn’t look up at him. Strange, it never occurred to me to ask Dean about Shane. It didn’t seem like he liked being around him, but why did they always sit together at lunch? There were many questions I failed to ask him. It wasn’t like he would’ve let me ask all my questions anyway. He was a vault of secrecy.