Hallowed Ground (GxG)

Chapter Twenty

The world was not like it used to be. It was something Esther knew, of course. But it was different whenever she had to see it first hand.

She spent so much of her time alone, isolated, quiet and hidden— it was hard to readjust. She didn't feel like she deserved to be out in the world with humans.

Humans who deserved to be happy— unlike her. She was a dead thing, and she deserved to be in the ground with the rest of the dead things. 

"It's very pretty in here." AnnMarie said.

Esther looked around the building. It was old, though not as old as she was— probably from the turn of the century. There were exposed wooden beams on the ceiling, and chipped brick walls all around them. Esther could tell that they used to have plaster over them, but it has been torn away by somebody at some point. Maybe whoever it was thought plaster wasn't good enough for modern tastes. It was almost as strange to her as the exposed bulbs that were strung around the room. She wondered if they couldn't afford to cover them with glass for some reason. 

It seemed derelict to her, but judging by the number of people huddled around small circular tables, humans enjoyed it.

"It's definitely crowded." Esther said.

A look of guilt suddenly passed over AnneMarie's face.

"Does it bother you?"

I did make her hungry, but Esther decided not to mention that. This wasn't about her feeling hungry or being comfortable. 

"No, of course not." She said. "I just don't hang around crowded places very often."

AnnMarie gave her a sad sort of smile. 

"Neither do I."

When the waitress came to take their orders, AnnMarie didn't want to talk to her, as Esther had been expecting, so she ordered for her. After a while, food was brought to the table, and AnnMarie nervously started to eat it. It made Esther a little bit jealous, something she felt uncomfortable to admit to herself.

"Esther, can I ask you kind of a strange question?"

Esther took a sip of water. She wanted to appear normal to everyone around. It was already strange that she was at a restaurant and not eating anything, and little bit of water wouldn't hurt her the way gorging herself on a three course meal she wasn't able to taste or digest would. 

"Of course."

"Do you, you know—" AnnMarie paused to push her salad around her plate. "Do you like women?"

"Oh, uh—"

AnnMarie shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I know it's a weird question, and I know that maybe you don't have feelings like that anymore, since, you know, you're —"

She was starting to ramble, so Esther cut her off.

"I like women."

AnnaMarie blinked away, a strong, pink blush rising up over her cheeks.

"Oh."

"I don't think it's a strange thing to ask either. Even to a vampire."

"Did you always know that you liked women?"

"In a way, I think so." She said, "I do remember that when I was alive, I never really wanted to get married and start a family."

AnnMarie glanced up at her.

"But you got married anyway?"

"Things were different back then. What was I supposed to do?"

It was a lot more complicated than that, but there were still things she didn't want to admit to AnnMarie. There were still things she didn't even like to admit to herself. Things that still made her feel sick when she thought of them.