We Will Be Together For Never

[29] The Hospital

Roger let me skip school on Monday. In fact, he didn't give me a choice in the matter - I needed to be home to help him tie up loose ends in his career and our social lives. We were moving yet again, thanks to what I had done.

My guardian was barely speaking to me about anything but the logistics of the move. He had exactly two moods toward me, and I could almost sense when one switched over to the other: he was either coldly furious, or quietly sympathetic. I would have bet anything on the fact that he, too, was now regretting ever sending me back to school.

Jordan kept calling and texting me at such strange times that I knew he must have also skipped school. I ignored all the attempts. I had already doomed him - he knew too much. For all I knew, it would make him a target for other vampires - Roger had referred to them in the past as loyalists - who were set on preserving our secrecy.

"How would you feel about moving countries?" Roger asked over lunch.

I paused in my chewing, shocked. "Where?"

"England's pretty nice. Or maybe France. Germany as a last resort - not that I have anything against Germans. Or we could stay a little closer to home - move up to Canada. They're nice and secluded."

I stared at him, wide-eyed. "Um..." I couldn't imagine moving countries. I felt that it would be separating myself from my past life far too much.

But then, perhaps that was a good thing. After all, that same past life had done nothing but leave me with memories riddled with grief. Maybe if we moved countries, I would be able to more easily forget about my family, friends. Jordan.

"Sure," I said. "I'm going to be living for centuries. I'd better start having fun now."

Roger raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Seriously?"

I nodded.

"Okay. Awesome. We're going to have to move to another city first, to make sure that we're completely obliterated from the records in this town. Also, it's going to take a lot of prep - international papers are way harder to forge than national ones."

I nodded as he continued rattling off obstacles we would face and how we were going to overcome them. I had moved around with my caretaker enough to know that this was just how he worked through issues; he verbally talked himself through them and eventually arrived at a usually somewhat anticlimactic conclusion.

"I'm going to go draw a little," I declared in the middle of Roger's self-discussion. He paused mid-sentence and squinted suspiciously at me.

"What are you going to be drawing?"

I smiled bittersweetly at the mistrust in his voice and didn't tell him what I had already decided - that I would never be drawing anyone or anything personal ever again. "Entirely safe subjects, I promise. Maybe some animals - I need to work on those."

Roger grinned. "Maybe I could get you art classes in our new home!"

"That would be nice." I was actually beginning to look forward to moving, although there was still the heavy feeling of grief weighing down on everything I thought and said. How could there not be? I had had my first kiss, fallen in love for the first time...only to have it cruelly ripped away by the very factor I had been attempting to come to terms with for years.

I retreated into my bedroom and grabbed my sketchpad. Sure enough, I began to work on the form of a neutrally standing dog, trying to perfect the shine of light on its fur and the odd curve of its joints.

I had been working for about a half hour when my phone buzzed. I set aside my sketchbook, picking up the device. My eyes widened when I read the text. It was from Sapphire - school had gotten out a little while ago.