Dark Love

by Olivia M. Howe

  * * * *

  In English class, Andrew and I sit next to each other, like always. He looks extra handsome today. He's wearing just a plain blue v- neck shirt and dark jeans. The color looks good on him. Blue is definitely his color.

  Andrew starts trying to play footsie with me under the desks. Mrs. Teal is talking about Romeo and Juliet and she looks lost in her lecture. Andrew keeps laughing at me because I'm trying my hardest not to pay any attention to him. His laugh is getting louder and some students start to stare. "Andrew," I whisper. "You're doing this on purpose."

  "I can't play footsie with my girlfriend?" He asks as he's still smiling and laughter is coming out of his mouth faintly.

  "I like when you say that," I announce.

  "Say what? Girlfriend."

  "Yes, it sounds," I pause, "very fitting."

  "Nice to hear, my very close friend." Andrew tries to make a joke and I punch him in his arm, just playing around.

  "You must be in an aggravating mood today. So mean!" I whisper.

  Mrs. Teal clears her throat loud enough to get Andrew's and my attention. "Mr. Madsen and Ms. Mckay!" She shouts. "Would you two like to sit out the rest of the class in the office?"

  "No, ma'am," Andrew replies. I just shake my head to agree with him.

  Mrs. Teal just glares at us and then gets back to her lecture.

  Andrew and I look at each other, and I can't help but let out a laugh. I have to put my head down so the teacher doesn't notice.

  "OK, you two, office, now!" Mrs. Teal shouts.

  "All I did was laugh!" I complain.

  Mrs. Teal points to the door. Well, I did like her as a teacher, but things change.

  Andrew and I grab our things and start walking out of the classroom and the teacher slams the door behind us. "I think she started her period. What a bitch," I say.

  "Watch your mouth. We're in a public school, Nina. Go to the office, now!" Andrew jokes.

  I push him into the lockers and start kissing him. My hands start moving behind his head. I feel his arms start making their way down my back. It's starting to get intense in the middle of the school hallway. It would be overly awkward if someone caught us, but I just can't seem to keep my hands off of him.

  "Hold on," Andrew says. I look at him deeply confused. He grabs me tight and starts to run.

  A minute later we're at his house in his bed. "That was amazing!" I announce.

  I feel his body pressed against mine and his lips moving toward me. A sensation is filling up throughout my body and I can't let my lips leave his.

  We start to make love.

  * * * *

  After we made love, we just lay in his bed and cuddle up next to each other. I glance at the clock to see what time it is. We missed a whole class. I need to get back to school as soon as possible. My mom would freak out if the school called her and told her that I'm skipping my classes. "I need to get back to school," I demand as I start getting out of Andrew's bed and throwing on my clothes.

  "It will only take us a minute," Andrew confirms. "Calm down, love."

  "If the school calls my mom, I'm so grounded."

  Andrew jumps out of bed and is dressed before I can even put my shoes on. "I'm ready," Andrew says.

  I look at him and roll my eyes. "Show off."

  He picks me up and starts to run. We make it to the school just in time for Photography class. I'll never be able to get used to him running at such an rapid speed. It's exhilarating, but it makes me nauseous.

  I kiss Andrew goodbye and walk into my class. All eyes are on me. "Two minutes late, Ms. Mckay. Have a seat," Mrs. Smith informs me. I thought I was on time. I'm late by two minutes. That shouldn't count.

  I find a seat by Sydney, who's laughing hysterically. Either from me getting yelled at by Mrs. Smith or the facial reaction I showed her when I was getting yelled at. "Seriously, two minutes." I shake my head in disagreement.

  "So, are you ever coming back to work?" Sydney asks.

  "I just have some stuff going on in my life right now. Do you think I would be able to get some time off?" I ask.

  "Maybe. You want me to ask the boss?" Syd offers.

  "Yes, please!" I plead.

  "I'll call her after school for you. She has always considered me one of her best employees so I'll do some convincing for you."

  "You're a life saver."

  "I don't like life savers. Think of me as a," Syd pauses, "skittle."

  "A skittle?"

  "They taste better." I start laughing uncontrollably. She always is so bright and funny. She always keeps me laughing.

  "I agree."

  The rest of the class period we look at pictures of nature and wildlife. We study angles of pictures, the best and worst, and mergers that ruin the picture completely.

  Mrs. Smith lectures us on the importance of angle format and not to snap a picture with the object directly in the middle, it doesn't look good in most pictures. She says it looks too ordinary.

  I understand most of the concepts of photography. I always angle my main objects or portraits of people off to the side of the photo. I always thought that it looks nicer that way.

  We are assigned homework that's due it two days. Our assignment is to take nature or wildlife pictures. We have to partner up with someone in the class, pick a subject, and our partner has to do the other one. "Partners?" Syd asks.

  "Obviously," I confirm.

  "I definitely want the wildlife one."

  "And I definitely want the nature one. It's perfect," I say.

  "Do you have time after school? I know this nice pond in the forest that would be perfect for both of us," Sydney suggests.

  "Let's go!" I confirm.

  When the bell rings, Syd and I leave class and start our adventure. We end up taking her car and leaving mine behind at school. Andrew told me he would bring it home for me. What a nice boyfriend I have.

  "Where are we going anyway?" I ask.

  "My mom used to take me to this pond when I was a kid. She used to be a photographer."

  "My mom's an artist. She's incredible at painting something and bringing it to life," I say.

  "My mom used to be the same way with photos. She would get lost in her work and you would have to drag her away from her dark room or you would never see her for weeks."

  "Why doesn't she photograph anymore?" I ask and immediately feel the awkward silence begin.

  Sydney takes a minute to answer my question. "She," Syd pauses. "She past away a few years ago in a car accident. It's just me and my dad now." Sydney's eyes start to fill up with tears.

  "I'm sorry. My dad passed away almost a year ago in a car accident."

  "It sucks," she adds. I nod my head in agreement. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I called the boss lady and she said take as much time as you need. I guess she talked to your mom. She knows you're going through a tough time right now, but you will have your job when you're ready to come back." I should have figured my mom would save the day like usual. She's always on top of everything, even if I don't notice.

  We turn onto a dead end dirt road and Sydney drives to the end of it. She parks her Honda Civic on the side of the road and she starts getting her camera ready.

  "We're here?" I ask.

  "Not yet. We have to walk a little way," Syd says as she gets out of the car and I follow her. "There isn't a path so watch out." She laughs. This is definitely going to be an adventure through the forest.

  We begin to walk through the forest. I'm jumping over logs and dodging branches that are flying in my direction. Sydney's walking through it like it's a walk in the park. I'm trying to avoid spider webs and bugs. I'm not a stuck up girly girl, but I hate spiders and insects. The only exception is butterflies. They're the most beautiful creatures I've ever laid eyes on.

  It takes us a good ten minutes to reach the pond, but when we finally do, it's beautiful to look at. We're definitely getting As on this assignment.

  The pond is teeming with animal and p
lant life. We walk quietly in the forest, being careful not to disturb the peaceful surroundings. There are flowers of every shape, size, and color. I breathe in deeply and am almost overwhelmed by the sweet scent. I can hear birds chirping in the background and frogs making noise from the pond. Pine needles fill the grass with the leaves that have fallen from the trees above. Rocks are peaking out beneath the pond's surface. Emerald green shimmers off the tree from the shafts of light trying to make their ways through the trees. "Isn't it just beautiful?" Sydney asks.

  "It's stunning," I spoke.

  We both go our separate ways, but we are still in sight of each other. Sydney is taking pictures of the frogs and fish that are swimming and jumping in the pond. I start taking pictures of the glorious flowers, their smell filling the air.

  My camera keeps flashing and I keep pressing the button. This place is perfect to take our wildlife and nature pictures.

  I hear branches breaking like there is some sort of animal near by. "Sydney," I shout. "I think there's an animal coming this way."

  "Perfect," she answers and walks her way over to me. "Where is it?"

  "I don't know. All I heard was branches snapping," I claim.

  We both start to look through the openings in the forest trees. I can't see any animals.

  As I'm still searching the forest, Sydney screams. I turn around and she's laying on the ground. I run over to her and blood is rushing from her head. "Sydney!" I yell over and over again.

  I hear the twigs snapping on the ground. I turn around and see an unknown face staring down at me. I try to scoot backwards, but there's no point. I'm on the edge of the pond water.

  My breathing starts to get heavier.

  The man smiles at me. "Hello, Nina. Do you know who I am?" He questions me.

  I shake my head. "No!"

  "My name is Lucian, and I'm your worst nightmare." As the words come flowing out of his mouth, I fear for my life. Where is the Madsen family when I need them?

  "Help!" I yell at the top of my lungs. "Help me!"

  Lucian laughs and runs over to me. He's really fast. He picks me up by my neck and throws me into a tree. His hand stays around my neck as he holds me hostage against the tree. He's extremely strong too. Then it clicks in my brain. He's a vampire.

  Why is he trying to kill me? Did he kill Sydney? All we were trying to do was our homework.

  "Do you know why I'm going to kill you?" Lucian asks.

  Excuse me. He's going to kill me. What the hell did I ever do to him? I don't even know the creepy looking vampire. Instead of saying that and making things worse for myself, I just shake my head as if I'm saying no to him.

  Lucian begins to laugh. I'm getting sick of it too. He keeps laughing at me and I don't think this is at all a moment to be laughing. I'm about to lose my life and he thinks it's the funniest thing. "You're just a batch of poison that needs to be eliminated." I'm not poison. I'm just a regular human girl that's trying to get her homework finished.

  Instead of trying to beg for my life, I keep my mouth shut because that's exactly what he doesn't want. He wants me to get on my hands and knees and plead in fear for him to let me live another day. I've seen enough movies in my life to know that's exactly what he wants. I'm not going to give this strange vampire the satisfaction. If these are my last minutes breathing then I'm not going to waste it on him. It isn't worth it.

  Tears start running out of my eyes. I try to stop them, but there's no controlling that instinct.

  His hands are choking me. I begin to fight for the right to breath. I am now gasping for air. I feel as if I'm suffocating under water with no way out.

  Just as I'm about to pass out, Lucian lets go and I drop to the ground in agony. I start making choking sounds. It feels nice to be able to breathe in the fresh air.

  "Nina!" A familiar voice yells.

  I cannot answer. I'm still trying to catch my breath. I look up and see his face. It's Andrew. He found me. "Are you OK?" he hollers in bleakness and rage.

  I clear my voice. "Check on Sydney!"

  Andrew runs over and sits by Sydney's side. He starts shaking her and yelling her name to wake her up.

  The anticipation is ruining my nerves. She needs to wake up. I can't bare the thought of seeing her lifeless body lying on the ground because some psycho vampire wanted to kill me for an unknown reason.

  "Wake up!" Andrew yells. Wake up, Sydney!" Tears start rolling down my face at the sound of Andrew's voice. All I can do is continue to pray that my friend regains consciousness.

  "She's alive!" Andrew shouts to me. I see her moving in the distance and I sigh in relief. "She's breathing and starting to open her eyes," Andrew announces in relief.

  Alex and William come toward us. "We lost him," William claims. "We followed him as far as we could, but we lost him at the edge of the forest."

  Alex walks over toward me. She sits next to me and starts to rub my back. "Are you OK?" she questions.

  "I'm fine," I answer. "Why was he trying to kill me?"

  Alex looks at Andrew. "I don't know," Andrew answers. "When Sydney fully comes back we need to make her forget this happened."

  We all nod our heads in approval. "I'll do it," Alex offers. "You take Nina home."

  "What's going to happen to Sydney?" I cry.

  "Don't worry, Nina. All I'm going to do is make her forget what happened and forget that she was even here with you."

  "Don't forget to erase the pictures in her camera," I announce. Alex just stares at me and nods her head.

  My eyes follow Alex as she walks over to Sydney and leans down to find her ear. When her lips get close to Sydney's ear, her eyes go wide and she stares aimlessly at the forest in front of her. Alex must be whispering into her ear because Syd looks like something is taking over her body and her mind.

  It all happened so fast. Alex comes over to us swiftly and shakes her head. "It's done."

  I look over at Sydney and she's still staring off into space, her eyes still wired open. It isn't a pretty scene to be looking at. She looks empty.

  I take a deep breath and Andrew picks me up. "Ready?" he asks.

  I just nod my head and he starts running.

  CHAPTER 18

  Healer

  Dear Diary,

  I feel tremendously bad for Syd. It's all my fault she's hurt. I have such a non- normal life and I got her all mixed up in it. I just don't understand why Lucian wants to kill me. I'm just thanking God that Sydney is alright. That's all that matters.

  I should probably head to Andrew's house to talk to him. He always makes me feel better when I'm in unpleasant moods. When his soft and gentle voice tells me everything will be OK, I believe him and I know he's right. Everything is going to be OK. It could be worse, much worse than this. I just have to hear Andrew say those words. I need to hear it come out of his mouth, and it will calm my nerves. After he tells me that, I'm going to cuddle up with him on the couch and close my eyes and take a nap with his arms wrapped around me. Maybe today won't be such a bad day after all.

  Love, Nina

  * * * *

  I walk into Andrew's house like I always do, without knocking on the door. He must have heard me coming all the way down the road. So, he knows I'll be at his house shortly. Knocking would be pointless. Andrew obviously knows it's me and if he didn't want me to come in then he can lock the doors, but that's not the case.

  As I walk through the door of his beautiful elegant house, I find Andrew adding wood to the fire. His eyes don't meet mine, they stay staring into the bright, hot flames of the burning wood.

  Smoke is filling the fire place and is starting to fill the living room. It smells like the wilderness in here, like we're outdoors camping in the middle of the woods.

  "Having fun?" I ask.

  "Nina," the words slip out of Andrew's mouth as he's swiftly by my side. "I wasn't expecting you."

  "Who else would just walk into your house without a notice or a knock on the door?" I ask tentatively.
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  "I was just," he begins to say. His words seem all jumbled up. "Today isn't a good day."

  "Is everything OK?" I ask in a worry. Before he can answer my question, I hear the door open. I turn around to see four faces staring at us both.

  There are two boys and two girls. They have the same skin tone as Andrew and his family, pale. They're definitely vampires. They all look young, but so old at the same time. One boy has dark black hair. The other boy has shaggy blonde hair. He's very skinny and boney looking. The two girls have dark brown hair that's shining in the light. Their faces shimmer in the light like there's glitter sprinkled all over them. I wonder who they are. These are probably the people Andrew was expecting because they didn't knock either. "Who are they?" I whisper into Andrew's ear. I forget that vampires have super sonic hearing so whispering is pointless.

  Andrew doesn't answer my question. Instead he stares aimlessly at the four figures standing in front of us. His facial expression looks as if he's ashamed or caught off guard. There's something going on here that he obviously doesn't want me to know about.

  "Is this her?" The dark haired woman asks Andrew.

  "Yes, ma'am it is," Andrew answers.

  The dark haired girl walks over to me and puts her hand out as if she wants me to shake it.

  I stare at her for a brief moment and then slide my hand into hers. "I'm Nina and you are?" I ask.

  She smiles at me, "My name is Lilah. I know who you are," she says.

  "Excuse me?" I say as my hand leaves hers.

  Lilah looks at Andrew like she's disoriented mentally. "She doesn't know?" Andrew shakes his head as he looks down at the floor.

  "What don't I know?" I ask as I take a step back from Andrew and Lilah. "What's going on, Andrew?"

  Lilah steps closer to me. "Would you mind taking a walk with me?"

  "Yes, I mind. I don't even know who you are. I'm not going anywhere with you."

  "Miss Nina. We're here to protect you. No harm will come to you," Lilah says to me.

  "Protect me? This doesn't make sense to me." I grab my purse and try to find my way to the door. Everyone is just freaking me out. So, it's time for me to leave.