Eighteen troubled teenagers wake up one morning to an even more troubling discovery. They are all vampires...
Given the chance to correct their Scrooge like behaviors, they must accept the guidance of a keeper. Assigned to each of the eighteen, Dek...
The October wind ruthlessly whips strands of her dark hair from it's usually tidy plait. Giving me something else to zero in on while it has my attention.
I know that she can sense my stare, just as I can sense her every movement. Yet, she carries on as of she hasn't the slightest clue.
Her eyes never leave the yellow lined sheet of paper covered her scrawling calligraphy. Each letter doesn't seem to have a start or end of it's own, as they organically flow together.
This time it's my turn to catch her staring. Turing to give her a disapproving look, I can't help but to give her the satisfaction of a tight lipped smile.
Preparing to cross the street, her eyes flit back and forth, fully equipped to dash.
A lump rises in my throat at the sight of oncoming traffic. The sounds of cars whirring past sends my mind into a frenzie.
Without an ounce of hesitation on her part, Alma laces her slender fingers with my slightly chubbier ones.
Before I can get my two bits in about waiting for the traffic to recede, we're soaring across the cross walk.
Out of fear, I squeeze my eyes shut. If she was alive, it's a certainty her fingers would have broken, a victim to my harsh grip.
"Feel free to open your eyes, sleeping beauty" She taunts.
As if on cue, I open my eyes to find us on the other side of the cross walk.
"How-" I don't even try to prevent my jaw from hanging at this point.
Her hushed laughter interrupts my confusion, along with her response. "Vampire speed."
Having warmed up to Alma, I let myself go, laughing along with her.
My fear ebbs it's way to the surface. What if she's laughing at me, and not with me? Taunting laughter fills my ears, crackling with static.
I must have a tell for everything, because she takes hold of the hem of my shirt, leaving me to trail like a lost puppie.
Pulling me from one fear, into the face of my others. Social interaction being one of them.
Alma
The bell attached to the door chimes behind us, as Jett and I take our fist steps through the doorway.
The scents mingling in the air twirl around me. Exactly as they were years ago, yet stronger somehow.
Jett wordlessly trails behind me as I pass the register, earning a nod from the cashier.
Lost in a haze of familiarity, I allow myself to touch the clothing racks lining the boutique walls.
The metal hangers clink together as I slide peice after peice down the rack. Avoiding what I'm really here to do.
Trying to draw even an ounce of suspicion away from us, I grab the nearest stack of clothes, beelining it to a fitting room.
Jett
Piecing together her motives, I take up a perch in one of the many printed Swede chairs.
Silence comes from her dressing room door. The muted music from up front is the only sound that fills my ears.
Turning to face her door, like she can even see me? I speak before my brain has the chance to psych me out.
"Whatever happened, not accepting it isn't going to make accepting it any easier."
To my surprise, her response echoes throughout the room. "I'm petrified of what comes next. I fear that accepting this is the start to accepting everything else, and I'm not sure I have the means to do so."
Her every word validates my every fear. For once, I refuse to cave to my fear, in this moment, it can't own me.
"Then we take it in stride. If you can't talk to me, you always have Ace and Dekka." Saying their names in a pair oddly fits. It's hard not to notice the bond that the two of them seem to have made.
Minutes go by as more customers begin to trickle into the small shop. Just as I worry something has happened to her, her door creaks open.
One apprehensive step after another leads Alma to stand directly in front of me. Wearing the most elegant dress I've ever seen.
A rich deep red velvet wraps it's way around her arms, the hem ending just above her knees.
"What do you think?" She looks directly at my eyes as she twirls the most awkward twirl in history.
Moving from my chair just in time, she twirls right into my arms, just shy of hitting a display.
Alma
This is the exact moment where my heart would flutter, in the event I were still human.
Yet I think it almost does, as Dekkas second distress call fills my head. Snapping me from my moment with Jett.
Focusing instead on the immediate threat...
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