A D O N I S
"All classes are canceled today. Another student has been found deceased."
As I sit in my room, I smile to myself as I hear those words. I knew there couldn't be that many left. With each passing day, I got closer and closer to freeing them.
As I walk down the hallway, people are scared. While I get closer each night, people also get more afraid. I've heard that people aren't sleeping at night, ready for the door to open, ready to try and take down the faceless killer.
I go to the library. Valeria isn't there. I go outside. She isn't there. I'm not exactly sure why I'm looking for her. I saw the way her friends looked at her last night simply for dancing with me.
Speaking of her friend. Hazel walks down the hallway in the opposite direction of me. I stare at her. She avoids my eyes, acting like I don't exist. I think about stopping her. But I decide not to.
The last place I checked was where she was. In the church. As I stepped foot inside, I saw the back of her head sitting near the front. Witches and fairies tend to be the only species that believe in religion.
I take a seat next to her, looking at the cross in front of us, knowing the creator of it would wish me death over and over again in every lifetime.
Valeria doesn't look at me. She doesn't speak. She doesn't acknowledge that I'm there.
"Leave me alone, Adonis," she says. "I've had a bad day. Find somebody else to bother."
"But I enjoy bothering you," I say. My voice echoes slightly in the ancient room.
Slowly, she looks over at me. I look at her. My expression is empty while hers is clearly upset. She asks me, "Why are you here?"
"Because you are," I state. "What's wrong, Valeria?"
She rubs her lips together as she plays with her bracelet. I hate that sound. I put my hand over her hand which fiddles with it to stop her as I maintain eye contact.
"Leave me alone," she says. "I'm not in the mood to hang out with somebody that borderline hates me."
"That's debatable," I say. She's silent. "I'm guessing your friends said some things about me?"
Her silence answers my question. I nod.
"I'll leave you alone, Valeria, if that's what you want," I tell her. I stand up, and her eyes follow me. "But not because it's what they want."
She looks down. I exited the church, I didn't belong in there anyway, all the ghosts that lingered in there probably gave me death glares.
Last night, I dreamt again.
Valeria was in it. Dancing with me, the same way we had been in the club. But we weren't in a club. We were in a meadow, the sun shined down on us, and I saw myself smiling as I danced with her.
But it was a nightmare, not a dream, I had a nightmare of feeling happiness with a witch.
𓆩♡𓆪
V A L E R I A
Sitting at the lunch table was awkward. I didn't say a word. Neither did Hazel.
Cristella just looked between us awkwardly.
Classes were canceled for a few days, so I hadn't seen them in a while. I had been staying in my room, reading and painting, but now I sat in silence.
Cristella breaks the silence by sighing. She says, "Come on, guys, this is like super awkward. Can you two just make up already?"
Hazel and I just looked at each other. I thought she was going to ignore her until she finally said, "You're right. I'm sorry for how I talked to you, Valeria. I'm just trying to look out for you."
"I know, Hazel," I nod. "Can we just forget about it?"
Hazel agreed. I felt relieved.
After lunch, I made my way to class. And just as I thought I could avoid him, my teacher said, "Get in your pairs and go outside."
I silently walked outside. Adonis found me and stood across from me. My teacher gave us instructions, tips on how to defend yourself. After he was done, Adonis just stood there. So I said, "Come on, I'll defend myself."
"You won't be able to defend yourself against me, Valeria. I'm not attacking you."
"Pussy," I say.
He raises his eyebrows at me. I say, "Yea, I said it, pussy. Scared to get your ass kicked?"
I think he looked amused now. He nodded, "Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you when you wake up in the ER."
Vampires are fast. He ran toward me, I put my hands out to do a spell to stop him. But the next thing I knew, the motherfucker had me on the ground, standing over me. He taunted, "I've seen children do better than that."
"Ow," I say as I lay, holding onto my ribcage.
"Valeria?" he says a bit gently. He kneels down beside me and I feel his hand on my arm. "Are you alright?"
Dumbass. Right into my trap. I quickly rolled over, muttering the words under my breath as I pushed his chest. He went sliding back against the grass, getting pushed by me while I laughed. He did not look amused.
As I stood up, I said, "Sometimes intelligence beats strength, Adonis, don't be so cocky next time."
He rolls his eyes as he stands back up.
"You don't have intelligence, Valeria, nor strength," he says.
"Yea?" I smile. "Is that why you still have grass in your hair?"
I reach up and remove the piece of grass from his hair, tossing it into the wind. He goes to say something when Stella walks up to us. She smiles widely at him, "Hey, Adonis! All the vamps are going to this show tonight in the city. You'll be there, right?"
Adonis doesn't even reply. Stella looks at me, her eyes going up and down. She says in a fake disappointed tone to me, "Sorry, witch. It's vamps only."
"Oh no, I'm about to cry," I match her tone of voice. She rolls her eyes and looks back at Adonis.
I just walk away. I'm not in the mood to watch them make out. Class was nearly over, it didn't take long for the bell to ring after I started walking down the hallway.
I spent the rest of the day in my room, painting. Last night I had dreamed of a meadow. I recreated it to the best of my ability.
Once the sun was gone, I took a shower and brushed my teeth, getting into my sheets. But once again, I have a nightmare.
I'm running from them. The faceless killer. We're in a meadow, the same meadow in my dream last night. But it's different now. The sun does not shine, it's dark, I look up and the sun has turned to blood, it's red, dripping from the sky. The sky is starless, they have run away from the darkness that takes over this meadow.
I turn back around as I run. He's dressed in all black. A suit and tie. He does not have a face, I don't know why he chases me. The grass is so tall, it's hard to run in, eventually I get tangled in it and fall. I quickly turn around, breathing heavily, my lungs burn.
I look up at him as he towers over me. He was right there, I couldn't run anymore as I lay on the grass before him.
"Please don't kill me," I beg.
Slowly, he kneels down in front of me. I try to find any sort of feature - eyes, nose, lips, but it's just pure darkness. His head tilts at me.
Slowly, he reaches his hand out to touch me, I'm shaking, thinking that the moment his skin grazes mine I will die.
"I'm not going to kill you," he says, his voice is distorted, I don't recognize it.
But I don't trust him. I'm still on edge. I whisper, "You're not?"
"No, Valeria," his unrecognizable voice says softly. Confusion covers my face.
"I'm going to claim you," he says as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
"What-"
My question gets cut off by him placing his hand over my heart. I feel darkness enter me, I scream, I try to push his hand away, but I can't.
I shoot awake. I breathe just as heavily as I did in my dream. I clutch at my heart, I let out a breath of relief at the fact it was just a dream. Beads of sweat cover my forehead, and I wipe them away before standing up.
I go into my bathroom and turn the light on. I began washing my face, removing the sweat, as my heart rate went back to normal.
I stare at my reflection for a few moments after drying my face, an uneasy feeling forming in my gut. Something didn't feel right.
It feels like something bad is coming.
Word Count: 1502