Kieran Tate is the type of person who just floats through life. He had a somewhat average childhood, has somewhat average grades, and isn't really anything special. That's the way he likes it to be; do all of the needed tricks without falling off th...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Age 10...
My sleep is disturbed by the usual ringing of the bell. I immediately roll out of bed, glancing at the alarm clock to see it reads 3 a.m.
Every morning they give us five minutes to get ready, no more or no less. I don't even know what happens if we are late, but I've heard the screams of horror before and I don't want to experience it myself.
I race to the hallway where lines of other kids my age are already filing down the hall toward the lunch room for breakfast, which usually consists of a cup of blood and nothing more.
I carefully glance around before joining the line, but as if repulsed by my presence, the other kids try to get as far away as possible. I sigh sadly, but follow everyone else as I should be used to the feeling by now.
I think I've always known I was a little different. For the longest time, I didn't quite understand how, but news always travels quickly in the institute, especially if one of us isn't like the others.
Growing up, I didn't understand why time seemed to move so slowly around me. I never understood why by the time my birthday was supposed to hit, my friends hadn't looked like they aged a day.
It was only then that I realized the world wasn't moving in slow motion; I was actually the one who was aging too fast. I was aging the same way any mortal would.
Another year of aging for me doesn't equate to the thousand years it takes for a normal vampire to reach their first birthday and every birthday after that.
It's impossible to hang onto friends who can't relate to me after a month because the age gap is so drastically different. It seemed as though someone hit fast forward in my life, and because of that, nobody could ever understand me because I traveled on a completely separate wavelength from them.
The fact that I aged differently isn't what drove everyone away from me, though. Sure, it was a big part, but what separated me from the rest of my fellow vampire peers was the fact that I was the product of a broken policy. I've been punished since the day I was born. If I could go back and rewrite my existence, I would do it in a heartbeat. I was destined to be hated, and only my biological parents can be blamed for that, but even still, I haven't met them as most vampires get abandoned at a young age. I shouldn't get any special treatment.
Here's the thing; the institute is hidden away from the eyes of mere mortals. Not a single human knows about the place basked in the shadows where I've grown up my whole life.
Vampires are very strict. They like order, they like tradition, and most importantly, they like anything that contributes to their own self-interest. There's nothing they hate more than humans, though. Anyone caught courting a mortal is sentenced to death with no mercy.
Sadly for me, my parents were never caught. They escaped to the human world without a trace and left their child to pick up the slack for their irresponsibility.
