warning ⚠
1. this story is fictional, the characters are not accurate representations of the actors/musicians I've chosen to represent these fictional characters.
2. mature rating because this story does contain strong language, intense topics, death, sexual references&experiences, etc. Don't read if you can not handle these topics.
3. Thank you for reading, as always, enjoy, for I write for myself and others to enjoy escaping reality, if only for a time. xxC
mackenzie
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My mother and I travel on foot, hand in hand as we walk towards the train station. I play absentmindedly with the small charm bracelet that dangles from my wrist.
When I'm uneasy I have a habit of fidgeting, something my mother always tried to correct. She used to say that it was a bad habit, a potential sign of weakness if I ever needed to hide something. Now she says nothing as I twirl the jewelry around my wrist.
My 18th birthday had passed three weeks ago, on the third of March. From that morning, something had changed for my mom. She stopped lecturing me on my distant behavior that I had taken up from eight years ago, the day Satan himself, King Zayn Malik, and his army of bloodsuckers changed the way life was for every human that had thrived for centuries before.
When we turn 18, the girls, living in the once lively and beautiful city of London are forced to load into a train like herded animals and be shipped off to be massacred. My mother hated my blatant point but there was no argument for her to make against it. She used to encourage me when I was younger to make friends, to try and live the most normal life I could, but I never chose too. There was no point in deluding myself with normalcy, I didn't have that luxury.
The only reason that the human race still exists is because of the lives spared in the months of January and November. Anyone born into those months are spared from the promise of impending death at the coming of adulthood. They go on to live semi-normal lives, the only condition being they reproduce. I guess for some women that is their own misfortune, forced against their will to have child after child for a set amount of time.
I know there are other rules, and ways, that the vampire species keeps the human race alive, things they don't tell us, but anyway I look at it, is all clear. We are disposable and meaningless to them. Human life is nothing but a means of food and survival to them.
"I love you" My mother says, her hands grasping mine. I realize we've reached the loading platform, and that means it's time to say goodbye. I clutch back onto my loving and gentle mother, wishing I could say something to ease her own pain. It may seem backwards, me comforting her, when I'm the one being sent to die, but i had always been different, more wise i suppose.
"I love you too mom" I want to say more, but I don't want to have a goodbye that makes us both cry. I want her last memory to be as good as it can, so when I'm gone its not the last image she has of me.
The sirens begin to sound off around us and I get loose of my mother's grip.
"Stay strong for Michael" I say, brushing my hand across her stomach "He needs you to be okay."
"Mackenzie"
"Promise mom, you'll be okay for my brother."
"I promise, of course."
"I have to go now" I whisper, swiftly giving my mom a kiss on the cheek and disappearing into the masses of young women. I see a train car pull into the platform closest to me, and without looking back, get onto the train to hell. The first open seat is what I plop down into.
"I'm Melody" I look over to the girl sitting on my left, questioningly.
"Kenzie" I say. Melody sticks her hand out, and when I stare back she slowly pulls it back into her seat, resting her hands on her lap.
"Are you not much of a talker?."
"No, not really."
"Why?"
"Never saw the point, didn't have friends growing up, so didn't have to talk much."
"School? How did you survive without friends? That's what got me through that misery, not to mention just getting to the buildings, it was terrifying walking alone, how did you manage?"
"Home schooling."
"How is that? I always wanted to have that but my parents died when my sister and I were young. So we had to do the public route, which of course has its ups and downs-"
"I'm sorry about your parents."
"It's okay, i was really small. I didn't know them well. My sister, she's a few years older than me. It hurt her more, she got to know mom and dad better than i did."
"I-"
"Sorry I'm talking so much, when i get nervous I babble, its a bad habit. My sister used to say it would get me in trouble one day, not that it really matters after all we all know this is our fate when we turn 18."
I look over at Melody, a small smile on my lips. I would normally be annoyed at the girl, who wouldn't just let me be to my own thoughts, but her rambling was somewhat comforting. Maybe having a distraction from my own mind is the best thing i could ask for.
"When I'm uneasy I mess with this bracelet" I move my arm to show her the gift from my mother "We all have our thing."
"Wow that is beautiful" Melody's eyes widen at the jewelry on my wrist.
"Thanks, my mom gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday."
"She must really love you, i can't imagine what a piece like that must've cost from the market."
"She does, but she also worked hard, and all the time. She was a doctor at the clinic in what used to be Whitechapel. It was long hours and tiring work, but the pay was good. It kept us stable and afloat."
"Doctors are rare to find in my old town. No one had the money. If you got sick you hoped it wasn't life threatening. I didn't ever feel like I was missing anything though, for us money was just what paid our monthly residence bill and other fees."
Melody's story was one I heard often back home. Many children grew up without their moms or dad's, often times having to survive on their own from young ages. I was fortunate enough to have at-least one parent. My mom had the best job you could in the human villages, a doctor was a rarity, like Melody had said.
"I'm glad some of us have stories like you though, it gives us hope that there is some good left for our kind to pursue."
"There was still bad."
"Of course, please don't mistake my words for implying you had an easy life. None of us do, we just simply wake up and go to sleep until one day we won't anymore."
"I've felt the same way for as long as I can remember."
"Oh I haven't always felt this way. Until my sister was taken away, I didn't have any cares in the world. I was truly a child, naive to the real horrors of our world. I had a wild imagination and plenty of hope for a day that we would all somehow be saved."
Again the smallest of smiles appears on my face, and quietly I unhook one simple charm from my bracelet. The one my mother gave me three weeks ago. A small metal shaped into three figures, representing her, myself, and my soon to be born brother who would never have to face the horrors of today, the King has no desire for men. I put the charm into my jacket pocket.
My fingers reach for the clasp on my bracelet, unhooking it with ease, and quietly place it on Melody's lap.
"What are you doing?" She asks, her eyes widening at the silver jewelry.
"I want you to have something nice."
"You can't give this to me, your mom gave it to you it means too much."
"I have the memory of my mom to hold onto. This bracelet isn't what makes me think of her."
"Thank you, you're too sweet."
"I have my soft sides."
"Thank you for letting me talk your head off."
"It wasn't too bad, besides it got my mind off things."
"Like our impending death sentences?"
"Yeah, something like that."
I want to tell her that maybe if we would have met before today we could've been friends, but i don't because it's not true. The same thing would be awaiting us no matter when we met. Maybe in another universe.
"Attention mundanes!" I look up to see a pale figure standing at the front of the train. The conversation around me halts, and everyone is quiet, fearing eyes trained on the vampire.
"Great listening. We are going to be coming to a stop soon ladies. You are to stay seated until we tell you otherwise, are we clear?"
Murmurs and quiet acceptance go through the aisles of seats.
"Anyone who fails to do as their told will face consequences greater than you can imagine. We don't tolerate misbehavior here on palace grounds." The vampires tone is casual, but the truth of his threat sends a shiver down my spine.
"What could be worse than this? We're already guaranteed death in a few hours, what is there else to be afraid of?"
We all turn to stare at the girl who stood in the aisle of the train now, her eyebrows raised in defiance. Sit back down, I want to scream, but I dare not speak. She is not being brave, she's being stupid to act out in this way. These monsters have no mercy, no soul.
"There's always one." The man growls, a twisted smirk plastered on his face. With a speed like no other he snatches the girl to the front of the train, "Would anyone like to speak in her defense?"
No one dares move.
"Well then, I must show what happens to those that disrespect clear orders" The vampire announces and without hesitation tears into her chest, pulling back out the girls heart. I cover my mouth with my hand, hoping to stop the vomit from coming out.
The train begins to slow down before coming to an abrupt stop.
"We're here" The vampire announces, dropping the organ in his hands on top of the dead body at his feet. "We will be exiting the train now, you will be leaving in groups to get on your designated buses."
I wait as in small groups, the people around me exit the train. Melody and I are in the last group to get out and I turn my eyes away, not wanting to see the body laying next to the door.
When he step off the train, we're immediately rushed onto a blacked out bus. I can't see anything, but I feel the bodies of other girls pushed against my own, cramped and sweating from the heat within the bus.
The ride isn't too long, and we come to a sudden stop. The doors open, and our hands are bound as we get off. There's a line of girls stretching from a brick building.
I look up, and smile. The sun is shining on the grass beneath me. I didn't think I would get to see it ever again.
"It's great isn't it?"
I turn my head, noticing its Melody standing behind me.
"What's that?"
"The sun. I was admiring it too. It's sort of nice, to get to feel it one last time."
"I've always loved the warmth and consistency of the sun."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since vampires entered our world nothing has ever been guaranteed, except the sun. I always knew, no matter what, that it would rise and fall everyday."
"I never thought about it that way."
I don't answer, there's nothing left for us to say, because the line is moving forward and there's no point in commenting on anything else.