Esme's Diary

Chapter 22 - Explanations

Why do they have a kitchen? I thought. I wasn’t an expert on vampires, but I had been under the impression they didn’t eat…. normal food. I shuddered as I thought about what they did eat. Was this what happened to all the people who went missing? Had the man I dreamt about all these years actually turned into a stone-faced killer?

As I neared the back door – that Carlisle was holding open for me – I felt something on my arm, holding me back. Within an eighth-of- a-second I had my back to Carlisle, facing whatever had grabbed my arm. I crouched on the floor like a panther ready to pounce, hissing a warning through my teeth.

In front of me stood the boy. Edward. He held his long, pale, hands up in front of him, as though I were about to shoot him. Slowly, cautiously, I stood up, ashamed that I had turned on Edward like that

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, somewhat embarrassed.

“Esme, it is okay. I understand,” Edward said gently. “Before we leave I think Carlisle and I should explain our…. diet.” And with that he nodded to Carlisle who stepped back into the kitchen, taking a step towards me he gently placed his hand on my arm, leading me to the table and chairs in the centre of the kitchen.

Carlisle pulled out a chair for me to sit on. Edward and Carlisle sat down too. I stared at them, waiting for an explanation. Edward was the first to speak.

“Esme, I know you have a lot of questions, and we will try to answer some of them now before we leave to hunt.”

I winced slightly at the thought of having to “hunt.”

“Firstly, I have a special gift, so to speak. I am able to hear people’s thoughts. So everything you have thought while I have been in your presence, I have heard as well. This is how I knew you were thinking about escaping through the window. That is why I got there first.” He paused for a few seconds, to let me digest what he’d just told me, then continued. “Secondly, there will be some things that you’ve noticed that are different about us. We are extremely fast and strong. Our sight, hearing and smell are extremely enhanced.”

Edward turned to Carlisle at this point as I tried desperately to take in everything he had just told me.

“Thirdly,” Carlisle began, “we are not the conventional vampires you’ve heard of. As you can see, we try to live amongst humans as normally as we can. Most of the stories you have heard are myths, untrue. We don’t eat the things that humans eat, we can’t. We survive off the blood of—”

I covered my face with my hands. I could hear his voice but didn’t hear what he was telling me anymore. I needed to get out of here. There was some mistake. This wasn’t me, and it couldn’t be. I pushed the table out of my way – toward Edward and Carlisle – with a great deal of force, then turned in horror to the door that Carlisle had left open.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I was running. Running for the door and the thick trees I saw beyond it. I carried on running, trying to rid my head of the images that smothered it. As I ran, my thoughts changed. I could see everything so clear, each leaf of a passing bush, even the tiny insects that called the trees their home. I began to slow my speed, seeing more as I did. My hearing was phenomenal, just like Edward had said. I could hear the insects as they climbed the tree bark, the sound drew me closer.

Unreal, I whispered to myself.

Although I had been running for quite some time, to get away from that house and those… those vampires – I shuddered at that word – I was still surrounded by trees. I closed my eyes and listened to the woods, trying to decipher all the different sounds I could hear. I heard a gentle stream in the distance; I could hear the water lapping at the rocks as it washed over them.