Delayed Awakening: Part One - Vampires

Delayed Awakening - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Hannah. Who is this boy?" Catherine spoke the first word. She was oblivious to the fact that her daughter even had a boyfriend or a good friend who was a boy as matter of fact. Hannah looked up at the two pairs of eyes looking at her for an answer. Brody wanted her to acknowledge him as her boyfriend, while her mother wanted Hannah to say that he was just a classmate that did not want to go through the hassle of having to explain why he was here.

Hannah did not want to hurt Brody's feelings by saying that he was just a classmate, but she also thought that it was too early to tell her mother about her boyfriend who she only found out about 20 minutes ago to be a vampire.

Hannah swallowed and stared into her mother's eyes wishing she knew what her mother was thinking, though she could most likely guess correctly.

"Mum, this is Brody. He is my boyfriend." Hannah said knowing she was standing on shaky ground that could break any moment. Catherine let out a sigh.

"Oh well, I guess it's that time of your life. How long have you two been together?"

Catherine's reply to her statement was so unexpected that it left her speechless.

"For about a year." Brody answered for them both smiling softly at Catherine. Catherine's mouth dropped open.

"A year? Already? And I didn't even notice???" Catherine gasped exasperated. She staggered and took a seat on Hannah's bed. Catherine looked back on the year and wondered why she did not notice her daughter having a relationship. There must've been signs! Where did the year disappear to? I thought I observed her carefully this year... Ah!!! Damn it... The first time my little girl got a boyfriend and I didn't even notice the signs...

Hannah looked sadly at her mother, noticing the wrinkles on her face which rarely showed up. Her mother looked young for her age and you could not really tell unless you saw her stressed up over something.

"It's not that big a deal, mum." Hannah tried to comfort her mother. Catherine looked up and stared sadly into her daughter's eyes as though doing that would make her troubles go away. Catherine never really noticed how fast her daughter grew. She used to be a cute little girl, now she's a beautiful young woman.

Catherine wanted to smile, but it turned into an even deeper frown. She shook her head.

"No. No. No... I should've noticed... It's a mother's job to notice these sorts of things... but... but... I failed to do so... Where have I been when I should've been talking to you? Listening to you? Watching you?"

Hannah went into a small smile and sat down on her bed next to her mother.

"Mum, you were there. You were there at the times when I needed you the most. At other times, I needed to pull through for myself without you helping me, but you were there anyway. You were there, but you never noticed. You're always with me mum." Her smile grew bigger as she put her hands, overlapping, on the left side of her chest, "In here, mum. In here. You're always with me in my heart. Wherever I go, you're always there. I remember you in times of pain and hardship, days when I can't stand to live anymore, I think of you. How you're pulling through every single day for me and Shane. You're always with me though you may not know it. There were things that I didn't want you to know. I didn't want to scare you or for you to be ashamed of me. I went through a phase where I did bad things, and I didn't want you to know. But now that I'm past it, I can tell you if you want me to, not that it matters." Hannah smiled adoringly at her mother and her mother returned the smile.

"You smile for me when I can't.

You laugh for me when I won't.

You cry for me when I don't.

You live for me when I don't feel alive.

You blame yourself for not being there for me,

But I shan't.

You smile for me, and I'll try to smile with you.

You laugh for me, and I'll try to laugh with you.

You cry for me, and I'll try to cry with you.

You live for me even though I feel like dying,

So I'll keep on trying.

Don't blame yourself for not being there for me,

Because you were."

Hannah said smiling. Catherine grinned and laughed.

"That's a poem from somewhere, right?" Hannah stared wide-eyed at her mother.

"My gosh... I can't believe this!" Hannah exclaimed angrily out of disbelief, shaking her head and running her hand through her hair, "I can't believe you read it! I can't believe you actually found my book and read it!"

"What are you talking about?!" Catherine too exclaimed, shocked at her daughter's sudden outburst. Hannah got up and started looking for her book. Brody helped to look for it too. Brody found it buried deep under a pile of paper in Hannah's desk drawer.

"This?" Brody asked to no one in particular. Catherine said a silent "Oh.", when she saw the book and remembered that she did read it, but she had not realised that it was written by her daughter. The writing was so mature and well written. It just did not seem like Hannah. It looked like a real, published paperback book. Catherine stared at it, then realised that it said Hannah Bedingfield on the cover and on the spine.

"Now do you know what I'm talking about?" Hannah questioned arrogantly.

"Yes, but dear, it's so well done that I didn't know it was yours! I didn't even notice your name printed on the cover. Saying this now, I'm actually embarrassed that I didn't realise it was done by you. It was on the desk under a pile of books... I thought it was just a book from the library." Catherine admitted, "By the way, did you really write that?" Hannah let out a sigh of hot breath and breathed in the cold air deeply to cool herself down.

"Yes, I did. I got it to a publisher because of one of my old teachers who kept pressing me to do so. She kept saying that my poetry was really good, and needed to be shown to the world. So she recommended me a publisher and surprisingly my application got accepted. This copy however, was an error print. I wanted them to print these books under the pen name of "Hannah B. Smith", but they had already started printing before I told the publisher what I wanted. Thus, the error print with my real name on it."

Brody put his arms around Hannah and hugged her tight.

"You're amazing, Hannah. You are so amazing." Brody grinned and kissed her on the cheek. Hannah giggled as her mother stood up. Catherine opened her arms waiting for a hug. Brody let Hannah go, and Hannah gave her mother a big hug.

"I agree with Brody. You are amazing." Catherine too grinned and kissed her on the other cheek. Hannah blushed and let go. Catherine stepped towards the door.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Brody. Take care of her. If you mistreat her in any way, you won't know what to expect." Catherine smiled in a motherly way then grinned widely as she gave the threat before she shut the door. Is there something wrong with my eyes? Or did I just see fangs in my mother's mouth as she grinned when she threatened Brody? Hey! Who's the vampire here? My boyfriend or my mother???