Being Human UK "Stay" (Wattys2014)

New Year's Day (Birmingham 1994)

 It was the early hours of the morning and Carrie knew they would be no earthly hope of finding a taxi after the New Year’s celebrations. She just kept walking, almost running with her head down as though under a spell. Her bag hidden under her coat, not wanting to attract the attentions of would be muggers. But Carrie was one of the few humans who inhabited this city who knew the other danger lurking in the shadows. No doubt there would be plenty of rich pickings for Vampires on a night such as this, as drunken revellers strayed into their clutches. Carrie was in a relationship with a man who just happened to be a Vampire, he no longer killed but he was still part of that world. Carrie loved Mitchell but did she truly understand what she was getting herself into, had she really thought about the future? She pushed on, leaving the city centre behind her, almost home as the first flakes of snow started to magically fall. She needed time to think but she couldn’t switch her feelings off nor could she lie to herself…Carrie Myers had never loved someone as much or felt so alive since she had met John Mitchell….

 Carrie smiled sweetly at she thought of her faithful cat waiting for her as she turned the corner into her housing estate. She was almost home, just yards from her front door when a figure stepped out of the shadows. At first she thought it was Stuart, that he had miraculously turned up. But then she realised that it was the man she saw with her brother, round the back of the hotel on the night she first met Mitchell. This man was a stranger to Carrie and she hadn’t seen him since that night in September, it felt a lifetime ago after everything that had happened since. Her only thought was something must have happened to her brother because why else would he be here, waiting for her outside her house in the middle of the night? He just stared at her, his eyes widened as he lurched unsteadily towards her.

 “What’s the matter? Is it Stuart?” She spoke anxiously in a strangulated voice, reaching inside her handbag and instinctively searching for her keys to the front door.

 In the poorly lit street it was difficult to make out his features but she knew he was high on some substance and completely out of his mind. Then Carrie belatedly realised that her bag and the prospect of the drug money inside it, had drawn him nearer to her. Carrie went to push him away as he moved closer but in the darkness she had not seen the knife that he had suddenly pulled from his jacket…The man stumbled clumsily into her and before Carrie could push him away, the knife’s blade had gone straight into her body. She looked down at the knife sticking out of her stomach and let out a gasp of surprise. Her handbag was torn roughly from her, causing her to fall backwards onto the hard concrete as her attacker ran off into the night. At first she dragged herself along on her side, trying desperately to reach her house and her phone, forgetting she no longer had keys. Carrie wanted to live, she was willing herself to live but then she felt the strength ebbing away from her. The shock of being stabbed had deadened all sensations at first but now she could feel the searing pain, the agony twisting through her body. She clasped the knife’s handle desiring to pull the painful instrument out, then Carrie saw the blood on her hands, her own blood pouring from her body and covering the ground. She tried to call out but only a quiet and feeble sound came from her pale lips as her head sunk onto the snowy ground. And then she closed her eyes….   

 Mitchell was sure he was only half an hour behind Carrie as he began running through the streets, dodging random groups who called out “Happy New Year” after him. He would camp outside Carrie’s house if he had to, until she would let him in and then he would put everything right. His one hope was getting her to leave the city with him, going to a smaller town and together they would start again. Mitchell had turned the corner into Carrie’s estate when he knew straight away there was something very wrong, he could smell blood in the air. And then he saw Carrie lying motionless on the ground, in a pile of her own blood.

 “Carrie! No!” Mitchell screamed out as he ran over to Carrie and threw himself to the ground beside her.

 Mitchell turned her over and saw the grotesque knife hanging from her body, she was scarcely breathing now. Mitchell cradled her in his arms, the tears falling down his face, she was minutes away from death. He knew there was only one way left to save her now as Carrie’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Carrie gazed up and her eyes told Mitchell all he needed to know as they burnt into him, full of terror at the prospect of death. Her hand clung onto his jacket, a tear rolled down her face as she smiled faintly, imploring Mitchell to save her. Carrie Myers had chosen life.

 Carrie could feel her body shutting down, fading away as though she was dissolving into the snow. She was vaguely aware of Mitchell’s mouth on her neck kissing her until she felt the piercing of her flesh, like a thousand shark teeth prickling at her skin but the sensation soon passed. She could hear Mitchell’s voice now, but it was far away as though it came from the other end of a tunnel.

 “Carrie stay. Please stay with me, you need to drink this. Don’t be afraid… I’m not going to leave your side. ”

 Carrie could feel his fingers gently prise open her mouth. She opened her eyes again and watched as the blood from an open vein on his wrist dripped slowly into her mouth. She attached her mouth to his wrist and drank Mitchell’s blood, feeling the warmth sliding down the back of her throat. Carrie was dying in the arms of the man she loved. She closed her eyes again as she felt Mitchell holding her tightly, his lips gently pressed against hers as she slipped away into the darkness.