Vampirism | ✓

18 | Quaker Meeting

On Sunday morning, when I was supposed to escort Haruto to the meeting, I woke up in a cold sweat, taking deep breaths as my heart pounded against my chest. I had been alright the day before. Haruto and I had watched something from his collection of movies, and I had watched him eat pie as he talked about work. However, the dread had come crashing down on me when my eyes peeled open and I realized that I just might die today.

I got off the bed, giving Haruto a quick glance before stepping out of the room and making a beeline to the bathroom. I let the water run in the sink so that it could fill the silence in the void, before reaching down with my hands to collect water and wash my face. I took some deep breaths, before letting myself look at the mirror.

For a moment I contemplated how different Haruto would be from me when he got changed. He won't have a reflection—well, for the most part. We could always get him a special mirror, but as a creature who would be walking on a tightrope between being alive and being dead most things on earth will register him as being a ghost. He won't have a shadow. His heart will stop beating, and his body will turn cold.

I blinked at my reflection, feeling my stomach tighten up already at the thought of his warm touch turning cold.

"It depends," I said, reminding myself of something I had read. Bloodsucking vampire characteristics depended on how close to death they had been when predated on. Maybe if I take my time, and do things just right, Haruto would be 'alive' enough to hold on to his human characteristics.

"Wern."

The sound of my name made me let go of the sink's basin before turning towards the door.

Haruto was standing by it, with a small smile on his face. "We should wash up and get going, the meeting starts at ten."

"Oh." I stood up straight, pushing hair away from my face. "Okay," I nodded, stepping aside so that Haruto could walk over to the bathroom sink.

We took a shower together and got dressed in the bedroom as we talked. Haruto kept singing a hymn under his breath, and I smiled at him as I zipped up my jeans. He was wearing more formal clothes, and I was just in a casual t-shirt and my everyday pair of pants since I didn't have anything similar.

"No one's going to mind," Haruto assured me as he gave me one last look before adjusting the collar of my t-shirt. "There."

The walk to the meeting house was quiet. It was early in the morning on a weekend, so most people were sleeping in. The sun wasn't fully out yet, so the streets were bathed in a baby blue color that was tinted with hints of yellow that came from the sun still emerging from the clouds.

My heart started racing when Haruto pointed out the simple black building he identified as the meeting house. It wasn't fancy or grand like the other church buildings that dotted the town. It didn't even stand out much from the building on either side of it. It was simple, and one might even mistake it to be a farm or storage house.

Haruto held my hand as he led me up the porch stairs. I was quiet, very sure that my skin might start to itch once we walked in through the front door, but nothing happened. At first, I was confused, and then I was relieved.

So, Haruto was right. I thought to myself as he let go of my hand to greet a woman in a long skirt.

"A church? No, God lives here." I remember Haruto saying to me as he tapped his chest. "God's in every one of us, he doesn't need a house."

Also, he wasn't trying to kill me. I smiled a little, feeling glad that the paranoia Vincent had managed to install in me had been quenched.

As Haruto greeted his fellow Quakers I walked over to the end of the wall and touched my chest, staring down at my liver spots as I turned my hand into a fist. God's in every one of us. I repeated in my head, wondering if that was true for demons too. I doubted it.

After a while, Haruto called for me, so that he could introduce me to his fellow parishioners. They didn't seem phased to have me here at all, even though I stuck out like a sore thumb in my bright clothes. When it was time for the meeting to start, I sat next to Haruto. The chairs were arranged in a circular fashion, so everyone faced the center with their hands folded, and heads bowed. Some people also closed their eyes. Haruto had explained to me that silence and internal mediation were a big part of a Quaker meeting, and oftentimes someone would decide to speak, but sometimes no one would speak at all, and everyone would leave after an hour of silence.

Today, someone did speak up. It was a young dark-skinned woman who had raised her hand and had been given a go-ahead by the elder.

"Philippians 1:23, I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better," she read from her bible in a squeaky voice. "Of course, this is talking about the want to become one with Christ after death, but I also think it can apply to a lot of things. Sometimes pain must come before joy, and sometimes we experience joy knowing that there will be the possibility of pain in the future."

There was a pause in the meeting room. Everyone's eyes were on the lady as she struggled to finish her sermon.

"Don't let the fear of pain, deter you from achieving happiness," she finished, and everyone nodded their heads.

There were a few more sermons before the meeting ended, but my mind remained fixated on the woman's words. I thought of the neatly kept bible she held in her slim hands—Haruto wouldn't be able to hold an undefaced bible anymore if he became a vampire. I thought of the cross Haruto had gently worn on his neck this morning, and how his neck would scab and burn if he wore that as a vampire.

I thought of the lady's sermon again as I wondered how much pain was considered too much to be perceived as an unfair trade for limited joy.

How much was a relationship with me worth for Haruto to choose the curse of vampirism?

I shook my head, trying not to think about it too much.

The walk back with Haruto to his apartment was quiet. He didn't say anything, he didn't even sing hymns like he used to. I stared down on the concrete pavement as we kept walking, wondering if he was thinking of the sermon one of the members had been compelled to give.

As we were walking Haruto halted in his tracks, making me stop to turn and stare at him.

"Wern," he said, licking his lips as he tucked his hands in his pocket. He had a serious look on his face. "When we get home, do it. Bite me."