Chapter 4

Brianna

Outside of the occasional hiker and a few BMX bros, the woods behind the complex seemed to be empty. There was one spot that looked like maybe there was a fire pit, but it was too old and too small to have recently burned a body.

I thought back to when I was born. The amount of blood that I took in by simply placing my hand on it. It’s possible that if a new vampire was made, then they would have been able to dispose of any lingering evidence in their first feeding.

I didn’t like that as a possibility though. A new vampire roaming around, especially at this time of year. What were the odds? And besides, that would mean an existing vampire would have been around to turn them.

I bent down and looked at the fire pit, taking another deep inhale.

Hm… If a new vampire had ingested the blood there would be no smell traces. And I certainly smelled something, albeit incredibly faint. It was like blood, almost, but there was a tinge to it. Another inhale. It was like there was an almost rotten quality to it. A sour-sweet turn on the usual full-bodied must.

Something was definitely up. Intuition told me this would be the ideal spot for a turning, but too many things weren’t adding up.

Maybe I’d need to stick around and observe for a day or two. Just to be sure. I told myself I would leave before my birthday, I’m sure my absence from the enclave was noted and Kara and Charlotte would be worried out of their minds but… I had to see where this went. If someone was a victim of the same or similar things that had happened to me then I needed to make the perpetrator pay.

Kiran

A walk with Audry through the botanical gardens was like a godsend. We just talked. She vented a good bit about her dad being an asshole and her sister taking their dad's side. Then we talked about TV and how we’d have rewritten the last season of Game of Thrones. I wasn’t ever really talking about me, but that was what I wanted. It took the pressure off. I could forget enough of what happened to feel comfortable.

Speaking of comfortable, I never realized how nice leggings were. It felt like a second skin that hugged my body just right. They were tight enough that I didn’t need to hike them up as I would normally have done with my jeans when I bent over, but not so tight that I felt restricted. And after running down hallways and stairs with no bra, the snug security of a sports bra was also comforting. It felt like my clothes were giving me a full-body hug. It was affirming and somehow freeing.

We walked for a long time and with nothing but coffee on my stomach I was beginning to get a little nauseous. We left and Audry drove us to the Taco Bell.

Black bean crunchy wrap and two bean burritos were just what I needed.

“You want me to drop you off at your place?”

"Not really." I wasn’t ready to be alone just yet.

“You wanna come hang at my place?”

I thought about being at her place and instantly, painful memories played out in front of me.

“NO!” I hadn’t meant to react so harshly to her question but it was guttural. It was going to be a while before I felt comfortable in Audry’s apartment again. My thoughts were already on the cold sink with blood dripping out of my throat.

“Okay.”

“I’ll uh… You can take me home.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to--”

“Yeah. Let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

The rest of the drive was in near total silence. I killed whatever good vibes we’d been having but I kind of didn’t care. I’d had a long 24 hours.

“Keep the clothes. You can drop them off when you come over for the party.”

“The party?”

“Yeah. The Halloween party on Saturday.”

“Oh, shit. Right! Uh, will do.”

“Text me if you need anything.”

“I will. Thanks, Audry. You’re the fucking bomb.”

“I try.”

I started walking up the steps as she pulled away.

When I got to my room, I opened the door slowly, trying to see if Matt was still there or not. He was gone thank goodness.

I went to the bathroom and surmised that at some point he must have cleaned up because the floor was dry and the towel had changed.

It didn’t even occur to me how weird going to the bathroom was until I realized I guess I needed to wipe. It seemed pretty intuitive.

I blew a raspberry as I pulled my underwear and leggings up, walked out, and washed my hands.

I was dead tired. Sort of literally. So I made the climb up to my lofted bed, making sure to leave the lights on.

1. I wanted to see where I was going.
2. The dark just didn’t sit as right with me anymore.

I didn’t have anything due tomorrow and didn’t care how long I slept. I mean it was only like 5pm, but I was exhausted and could easily see myself sleeping all the way to tomorrow.

I rolled over so that the lightbulb at least wasn’t in my eyes and cuddled into my pillow.

Maybe everything will be better tomorrow.

At about 9pm I woke up. Matt still wasn’t back, which was actually pretty on par for him. He usually hung out with some of the other people on the hall until he went to bed at like 11.

Even though I had Taco Bell before I went to bed, I was still hungry. I chalked it up to how I’m not really a nap taker. So when I wake up my body expects it to be morning and expects me to eat breakfast.

I groaned and flipped over onto my back, feeling the secondary motion of my boobs echo the movement.

Having boobs was… nice. They felt proportional to my body but were most definitely on the bigger side. Still, they hadn’t seemed to get in my way. Well, okay that’s not true. But having boobs wasn’t like a bad feeling. It was somehow exciting. I’d always wondered what having boobs would feel like. They were actually heavier than I thought, but it didn’t really feel like a tug. At least not when I had the sports bra on.

I crossed my arms and pulled them up to my chin. It was kind of fun. And although in a literal sense, my chest was much heavier, it felt like a weight had been taken off.

My stomach made audible noise and broke me from my explorative bliss.

“Fiiiiiine.”

I unplugged my phone. Gingerly dropped down onto the floor and pulled on some white Filas which appeared to be the only sneakers I owned.

The closest dining hall had closed about the same time I woke up. So I’d have to walk, catch a bus, or drive to the 24 dining hall further away.

A bus seemed like the best option with the least amount of alone time. I pulled on a hoodie, stashed my keys and phone in the pockets, and started my walk downstairs. I slipped in just my right headphone so I could still hear what was around me.

Given how I looked to everyone else and all of my still distressing memories of being brutally murdered, I was far more cautious than usual, if not outright paranoid.

I walked through the well-lit courtyard to wait by the bus stop. My app said the bus was arriving in two minutes, so I didn’t have to wait long. I blasted my music into the one earbud, trying to let it consume my thoughts. But every small gust of wind or rustle of the bushes made me twitch. The streetlight above me was the only thing keeping the darkness away. Everything beyond the light could be another person waiting to take a knife, and run it across my—

The hiss of the bus pulling up to the stop pulled me out of my horrifying reverie.

There were about five other people on the bus. They gave me space, and I was more than happy to return the gesture.

I got off at my stop, scanned my card to get into the dining hall, and grabbed a plate of food. It was too early for them to bring out the late-night breakfast food that I really wanted, and the burger lines were too long so I just made a salad and grabbed a donut.

“Kira?” I heard as I was sitting down. I looked up to see a girl I was not expecting to see.

“Oh! Uh… hey Meg.” I gave her a half wave.

“Do you mind if I sit with you? I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“Um… sure.”

This was surreal. I’d gone on two dates with Meg last semester but nothing had panned out. I stopped reaching out to her since it felt kind of one-sided and she never initiated anything back so I just let the relationship go.

Seeing her now, as Kira, when I’d gone on dates with her as Kiran was super duper weird.

“So uh… what’s up?”

“Oh, just finishing up a workout. Gym’s always emptiest this time of night.” The student gym complex was right across the street.

“Cool.”

“Yeah, so what have you been up to lately?”

“Oh, you know. Nothing much really. A lot of TV, reading a bit.”

“Gosh, I feel like I haven’t read anything in forever. What are you reading?”

“Oh, just some like sci-fi adaptations of fairy tales. Typical YA kind of stuff.”

“That sounds super interesting. I wish I had the attention span.”

I nodded with a mouth full of salad.

“What are you doing out and about on a Monday night?”

I swallowed down the mouthful of greens. “Oh, just trying to clear my head I guess.”

“Oh? Something going on? Sorry, I don’t mean to pry.”

“No no no. It’s uh, nice to talk about it with someone who’s distanced from the situation I guess.”

She nodded and put her hand on her chin waiting for me to start.

“I uh… Well… So. Like…” Where the fuck does one start without sounding crazy? “So I kinda blacked out yesterday. I don’t really remember what happened. And like, I’m kinda freaked out because maybe somebody did… something…? to me, but like it was all my best friends and there’s like video proof that nothing happened. So I guess what I remember is just a drunken misinterpretation. But I still just have this, like, lingering bad feeling.”

“Do you think somebody raped you?” Meg had gotten super serious. I mean, rightfully so. That’s where my mind would have gone. Who would’ve thought I’d been murdered and resurrected?

“No! Not that. Like, more violent and less sexual. But I don’t have any bruises or scrapes whatsoever.”

“Do you think someone slipped you something? Have you gone to the cops?”

“No. It’s all my friends. I’ve known them for a year now and they’ve always been great. And like,” I rolled my sleeves up showing her my arms, “There’s no injuries that I can find. It’s just a lingering bad feeling.” I felt something wet drip onto my hand and realized I’d teared up without even realizing it.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Meg had moved to pull up a chair to my side and wrap her arms around me.

“I feel like I’m going crazy.” I was full of mucus and snot, and suddenly felt incredibly ugly and out of place. I took a breath to try and calm myself down. “Sorry, this is like probably not what you thought when you sat down,” I said, chuckling a bit at the end. I was just a whole ass mess today.

“Hey, I’m glad someone was here.”

“Thanks.” I leaned my head against her shoulder similar to how I’d leaned on Audry earlier today.

“I’ve got some sleepy-time tea in my dorm. It’s just across the quad if you think it might help you calm down.”

I nodded and sniffled while tears continued to flow. Meg quickly ran our plates over to the dish drop off, before jogging back over to help me up. I’d felt so useless today. Other people doing everything for me while I was just a big crying baby they had to take care of.

I took a few breaths, enough so that I could walk out without drawing attention, and stood up.

“Here.” Meg offered me her hand. I took it gratefully, wrapping my free arm around hers for stability. Meg was an almost 6 foot tall women’s rugby player, so there was something comforting in holding onto her for support.

blue98

This and the next chapter were going to be one unit but it got so long that I decided to split it in two. So don't worry, the next one will have some action.