minho
THE MICROWAVE beeps, signalling to me that my popcorn is done popping.
I get up off my couch and head behind me into the kitchen. I take the bag of popcorn out of the microwave and pour it into a bowl. Then I take the bowl back over to the couch and start eating as I continue watching the show on TV.
I'm not really sure what the TV show is because I haven't really been paying attention to it, it's just one of the only things on, so I'm watching it. It's about some family or something like that. I don't know.
I eat my popcorn and try to pay attention, but my mind drifts elsewhere.
Tomorrow, I've got to go into work around noon, just like I did today. I'm not a huge fan of the noon shifts, though, because it's not early but it's not late; it's like that weird in between.
My job isn't bad, though. I work in a flower shop. My boss is a really nice lady who gives me reasonable hours and pays well. She was friends with my mother a while back and was happy to give me a job working with her. Her name is Nikita Klimov. She's got to be around fifty, but she's a very strong woman so she doesn't seem like she's fifty.
After working many different jobs, I was really glad when Nikita gave me the job at the flower shop. All my other bosses were rude or didn't care. Nikita cares, though. And she's very kind. She enjoys my company and I enjoy hers.
I mean, I guess that would make sense, though. We're pretty similar.
I throw another handful of popcorn into my mouth.
Suddenly, I hear a sharp knock on my door.
I set the popcorn to the side and stand up, heading past the kitchen toward the front door.
Who would be coming over? It's almost eleven.
I get to the front door and unlock it before pulling the door inward.
A young man stands outside. His black hair is somewhat falling over his forehead on the sides as he looks at me with his dark brown eyes. I notice the two rings in his left ear, only one in the right. His full lips are pulled up into a grin.
Recognizing him takes half a second.
A smile grows on my face and I run a hand through my pink, dyed hair, that's always brushed back and lying over my head.
"Seunghoon," I greet him. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugs. "I was working on some work stuff at home but I got bored, so I decided to come see if you were awake."
"Well, I am." I grin. "Come in." I open the door wider and gesture for him to come inside.
He steps inside the house and moves toward the kitchen. I close the door behind him and then follow him inside.
He's already getting out some wine glasses and moving toward the pantry.
"You know your way around, huh?" I ask as I lean against the counter.
He pulls a bottle of red wine out of the pantry and then grins at me. "Oh, come on. You know your way around my place, too. We're practically roommates, just in separate houses."
I chuckle lightly as he pours both of us a glass of wine.
He sets the bottle down on the counter and then takes a sip of his wine. "Mm, wow. Where'd you get this stuff? It's good."
"Just down at the liquor store," I tell him. "I asked for a good red wine and the guy gave me this one."
He takes another small sip. "It's really good."
I take a sip and nod. Then I set my glass down on the counter, keeping my hand around the stem. "So, why are we drinking?"
Seunghoon leans to the left and places his elbow on the counter. "There was a new girl at work today."
I raise my eyebrows.
"Yeah. She's pretty. And she's smart, too. We're gonna go get coffee tomorrow morning and talk work stuff."
"Oh?"
Seunghoon laughs. "Yeah. Her name's Teagan."
"Teagan?" I ask. "That's a pretty name. Where's she from?"
"Second sector," Seunghoon replies. "Got transferred to our division because she's good at desk work, apparently."
I nod and take another sip of wine.
He sighs with a smile on his face. "She even had some new ideas, man. Like, ideas the director hasn't even really talked about. About a new group. She hasn't told me exactly what, but that's what she's gonna talk about with me tomorrow. I'm actually pretty excited, you know? I think she might really be a big help with the Nocturas and especially if there's a new group and—"
He stops suddenly and I awkwardly take a sip of my wine.
After a split second of uncomfortable silence, Seunghoon continues. "You know, Minho, you haven't been out in a while. Like, on a date."
"A date?" I laugh. "Yeah, right. I don't need to go on dates."
"So you just wanna spend the rest of your life at a flower shop?"
"Hey," I tell him. "I like it there. I enjoy working there."
He laughs. "I know, I know. I just think... once Teagan and I become better friends, I thought maybe we could start going on double dates, you know? But I can't exactly do that if you don't have a date."
"Why's it gotta be me?" I ask. "Don't you have another friend you could go on a double date with?"
"Come on, Minho!" He punches my shoulder lightly. "You're my best friend. Have been, always will be. You're the one that's gotta go on the double dates with me."
I roll my eyes. "You're the one who's good with the ladies."
"Oh, really?" Seunghoon snorts. "I recall, growing up, you were always flirting with all the girls. You were a total player, always had a ton of girls trailing after you."
"I think you're exaggerating a bit."
He laughs and shakes his head, taking another sip of his wine.
There's a moment of comfortable silence.
"Have you eaten dinner?" Seunghoon asks.
I clear my throat. "Yeah, I did. You?"
"Not yet," he answers with a sigh. "I should probably go eat something, though. It's pretty late. If you're hungry, you could come over. I think I've got leftover curry."
I give him a small laugh. "Sounds good, but I've already had my fill. Thanks, though."
Seunghoon shakes his head and downs the rest of his glass of wine. "Hey, thanks for the wine. I'll have to buy this bottle next time I get some."
I leave my glass on the counter and walk Seunghoon toward the front door. He opens it and then turns around to give me a quick, two-finger salute.
"Hey, good luck tomorrow," I tell him.
He grins. "Thanks, man. I'll see you around."
I give him a two-finger salute before he heads off toward his house on the right.
I let out a short laugh and shake my head as I close the front door, making sure to lock it. I head back into the kitchen and finish my glass of wine before setting both glasses in the sink. I put up the bottle of wine and head back over to the couch, sitting down with my bowl of popcorn.
Ah, Lee Seunghoon.
Seunghoon and I grew up next door to each other for most of our lives. We hung out during school and outside of school. We became best friends pretty instantly and have been ever since. We helped each other out with everything. We told each other almost all of our secrets.
Almost.
When we were kids, Seunghoon used to always talk about wanting to go work for the AAN. I never really said much about it until one day he asked me if I ever thought about joining.
I told him no.
He asked me why.
I told him it didn't seem like something for me. I told him I was afraid of the Nocturas.
He always tries not to talk about them in front of me. But sometimes he gets excited about his work and slips up. I understand why he slips up, though. I do appreciate him always backtracking when he does slip up. And we've gotten to the point in our relationship where he doesn't have to apologize and we can just act like it never happened.
That's one of the things I like most about my best friend.
I look down at the bowl of popcorn in my lap, not even half finished. It's already starting to taste old.
My stomach grumbles and I sigh.
Popcorn won't do anything for my hunger. I need to get something good, something real.
I bring the popcorn bowl over into the kitchen and place it on the counter. I grab my jacket by the front door and then my house keys. Before stepping out the front door, I turn my lights off out front.
Carefully, I step outside and lock the door behind me. I put my hood up around my head and stuff my hands, along with my house keys, in my front pockets.
I glance over to my right and see Seunghoon's lights on out front. But there's no sign of him anywhere. He's already inside.
I turn left and begin walking down the street, keeping my head low.
As I walk out of the neighborhood and head toward the city, the lights around me get brighter. There are some people walking through the streets, others sitting in restaurants open late, and others still in offices in tall buildings, working late.
I move through the streets until I get to a bus stop. I sit down on the bench and then lean forward with my forearms on my thighs.
"Minho?"
My eyes widen and I quickly look over to my left.
My heart rate decreases a bit when I see who it is.
"Oh. Mariela."
The girl with long, dark violet hair walks over to me, her footsteps light. She's wearing a dark skirt with leggings underneath and a dark jacket. She's got a white, cross-body purse and simple, dark shoes.
She sits down next to me and looks over at me. She purses her lips and stares at me with her caramel brown eyes.
Mariela Loftis is a very pretty girl. She has dark skin and a beautiful smile. We've been friends for a while, now. We talk to each other every now and then, but mostly when we're with the others.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
She smirks. "I was out looking for someone but instead, I found you."
I give her a small smile. "Who were you looking for?"
"An ex of some sort," she tells me. "He left without paying a couple weeks ago. Thought I might find him here."
I shake my head slightly but I don't say anything. What Mariela does to earn money is her business, I don't really need to know about it.
"We didn't see you last week," she remarks.
"Yeah," I tell her with a low sigh, looking down at my shoes.
"Where were you?"
"I just didn't go."
"Mm."
There's a moment of silence.
"You didn't go last week, so you're going tonight?"
I look over at her. "I... I have to. I don't want to wait any longer."
"It's been over a month, hasn't it?" She rests her head on her hand. "Last week was a month, right?"
I nod.
"Well, I'll go with you."
I sit up straight. "Mariela, that's not necessary. Really."
"Come on, please?" She asks.
"Mariela..." I trail off. "But last week, you already—"
"I know, I was there last week," she says. "But this can be a special month. My one special month out of the year. Please? You know I'm gonna do it anyway, so it might as well be with you."
After a moment, I sigh. "I guess there's really nothing I can do to persuade you another way."
She beams at me. "Thanks! So, what have you been up to lately?"
"Same stuff," I tell her. "You?"
"Yep, same stuff."
We don't have to make awkward conversation anymore because the bus pulls up to the station and stops.
We quickly step onto it. I head to the very back, passing only three people on the way there. I take a seat next to the window on the right, at the very back of the bus.
Mariela sits down right next to me.
She opens her purse and takes out lipstick and a small mirror. She applies the dark red lipstick carefully, flawlessly.
"Lipstick?" I question.
She smirks at me before putting her things away in her purse.
"Look," she says, putting her hands in front of me, palms down. "I got my nails done. I thought dark red would look pretty, plus it matches my lipstick now."
I look at her long, acrylic nails. "They're pretty."
Mariela sighs and takes her phone out. She opens it up and scrolls through some of her notifications, so I look out the window.
A few moments later, Mariela sighs again. "Are you doing anything tomorrow night, Minho?"
"Tomorrow's the third Wednesday of the month, Mariela."
She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against her seat. "Oh, right, I forgot. You have to be a hero and whatever on the third Wednesdays."
"That's not what it is."
"I know, but it kind of is. You go there with the intention of helping people. But you usually only almost get yourself killed."
I let out a small chuckle, but I don't answer Mariela.
We ride the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.
The bus stops near the edge of the city, but still within the main city. Everyone stays on except Mariela and me. We both get off together and stand at the bus stop until the bus is long gone, heading farther away from the city.
"You think tonight's a good night?" I ask.
Mariela crosses her arms over her chest. "I don't know."
"Was last week okay?" I begin walking down a street that leads down a darker street.
"I don't know," Mariela answers honestly as she catches up with me. "We didn't come here last week."
"Really?" I glance over at her. "Where'd you go, then?"
"It was more west," she says. "We went all the way down to the border of sector five."
I don't comment.
Sector five? Why would they go down there?
"I know what you're thinking," Mariela tells me. "And I don't know why, either. Johnson took us down there and no one asked why."
I nod.
We continue walking down the street. Up ahead, a man turns the corner onto this sidewalk and begins walking toward us.
Mariela clears her throat and then turns right into a small area for dumpsters, surrounded by brick walls except for the small opening. I continue walking forward.
I pass the man and glance over at him. He's on his phone, doing something, but I don't see what. He doesn't even look up at me.
He's a tall man, and he's a little round, but not muscular.
I pass him and continue walking down the street for a couple steps. Once I make sure no one else is around, I turn back around and begin following after the man.
My footsteps are light and quiet, so the man doesn't even notice as I catch up behind him.
Once we're next to the dumpster area Mariela ducked into, I reach out and grip the man's right shoulder.
He jerks around and once he sees me, his eyes widen.
I know it's because he can see my eyes. The whites of my eyes are now black, while the iris and pupil have turned a violet color.
Before the man can scream, I use my better strength to throw the man into the area with the dumpsters.
He crashes onto the ground and I move after him, seeing Mariela standing near one of the three dumpsters in the alley.
She moves over toward the man, who's now unconscious, and stands over him.
"I guess you don't really need me, do you?" She turns her head toward me and I see that her eyes have also changed. Now, the inner circles of her eyes match her hair color.
I don't say anything to her as I kneel down next to the man and turn him onto his back.
Mariela lets out a sigh. "You're really hungry, aren't you?"
I look up at her but I don't say anything. All I can think about is the life moving through this man beneath me and how hungry I am.
I watch as Mariela's eyes turn back to their original colors. "I'll keep watch. You go ahead."
Without another word, she heads out of the dumpster area to keep a lookout.
I look back down at the man beneath me.
For a split second, I think about his life and how he could have a family. Kids.
But those thoughts pass quickly.
I rip his shirt open and feel his chest, right where his heart sits, underneath the rib cage.
Then I open my mouth and sink my teeth into his skin.
Blood runs into my mouth and onto the man's chest when I bite into him, but that's not what I'm looking for.
His essence. I need his life essence.
I feel his life moving from his body up into my mouth and throughout my body. I feel myself grow stronger, feel more lively, and become less hungry.
Once I've drained this man of all his life, I take my mouth off of his chest. I look down at him, his body cold and pale and dead.
Mariela's footsteps move over toward me.
I stand up and pull a cloth out from my back jeans pocket. I quickly wipe my mouth to get rid of the blood that spilled out during the feeding.
"You done?" Mariela asks.
I feel my eyes turn back to normal as I look over at her.
"I don't need to eat tonight," she tells me. "I've decided against it. Let's just go, shall we?"
Without another word, I leave the dead man behind as I begin to walk with Mariela back into the city, back to my house, back to my normal, every day life.
The life I live when I'm not acting like a Noctura.