Arriving at Mr. Bunter's house on the fringes of London made me feel so many feelings at once. Relief, happiness, and fear. I remembered how grand the house looked, but on the other hand I was afraid that it had changed.
"Coming birthday girl?" asked Charlie who already was out of the cab that all of us squeezed into. I looked around and noticed that everyone had gotten out already except myself.
Pulling myself back to the present, I glanced at Charlie and said, "Yes."
Slowly, I swung my legs out of the cab and stood up trying to keep my balance. Looking at the outside, it did not change a bit, but then again it was the inside that I was more concerned about.
Did the living room still have that high dome-shaped ceiling? Was the fireplace still huge and ominous? Are the stairs still spiral shaped? All of these questions I did not know the answer to. That is, until Mr. Bunter opened the front door.
To my delight, it hadn't changed as much as I feared. The entryway was crammed with dusty coats and boots. Probably they were dusty because Mr. Bunter and Charlie practically come with us everywhere. And that living room ceiling was still breathtakingly gorgeous. What enthralled me the most however was the fireplace. Even when I stood about twenty feet away from it, it looked grand. It stood there red bricks and golden pokers, demanding the attention that it deserved.
My hands shook in the fireplace's presence as I touched the cool red brick that gave the fireplace its true luster. I must have stood there for a while because I heard Charlie say, "Venti? I asked you if you wanted to see the guest room."
"What? Yeah, sure, sure," I immediately said, feeling as if I was shaken awake from a dream. All of the adults were in the kitchen area and when I locked eyes with Jason, he only rolled them. I turned around and started to ascend the spiral staircase with Charlie, blushing along the way.
I heard Jason follow us and at first, he was quiet like a good little brother. But then, he did the worst thing imaginable at that moment. He started to talk. "So, when are you two getting hitched?" Before I could yell at him, my forehead bumped the back of Charlie's head as he stopped on the stairs.
I was about to tell Jason some pretty brutal words when Charlie said, "I'm not sure." My face instantly turned to a paler palette than my own. Could it have been that Charlie was going to ask me out? Then, I heard both of them laugh.
"You guys are horrible!" I said under my breath as I pushed past Charlie and made my way to the second floor.
I entered the guest room and locked myself in the room wanting to not be bothered by the two guys who played the meanest practical joke on me. I was angrier toward Jason because he knew that I liked Charlie. Charlie probably only played along. On the other hand, it hurts to think that he would play a joke like that on me.
Sitting down on the box mattress I looked out of the window and felt my eyes tear up. I was about to let the tears flow when I saw a commotion on the street below.
"Help!" screamed a woman who was running away from a nicely dressed guy. I couldn't see his face, but his presence made me feel a little warmer.
I felt pacified and calm—but that was before the woman screamed at full force. I snapped out of my warm trance and opened the guest room door and ran down the stairs. I heard my Dad ask me, "Venti? What's wrong?" but I didn't stop to say hello.
Although I did notice, him bringing out a huge chocolate cake...nothing get's past me.
Why I felt compelled to run and enter the danger zone? I have no clue. Under normal circumstances, I would have chickened out and have a slice of cake. But running outside I didn't feel like me. I felt fearless of everything in the world, and that foreign energy practically pumped at full force in my veins as I followed the man in the nice coat.
At first when I approached I didn't see a woman, but then I noticed something terrifying. There were small pieces of body parts on the ground but no blood. I might not be a total expert in criminology, but when people get cut up some blood should come out.
Slowly, I felt the foreign energy pump slower as I realized that I was five feet away from the man who killed her.
He turned around and charged at me. Before I could run away, I was slammed into the alley wall and he had his hand around my throat. "Wrong place girl," he whispered. I looked right into his eyes and saw the most shockingly beautiful and haunting eyes ever. They were dark blue. Midnight blue actually, and I noticed other parts about him as well. Not only was he more handsome than Charlie, but he was young. He didn't look like an adult at all. He looked like a teenager.
I know that this is a strange thing to think about when being choked, but evidently you can think of the most irrational thoughts when you feel like you're going to die.
Our eyes were glued on each other for a while until I noticed a look of shock appeared on his face. "Why aren't you dying!" he yelled in my face his midnight blue eyes flashing with anger. Then, he squeezed around my neck harder. I thought that I was going to pass out, but then I heard my dad's voice approaching the alley where I was pinned.
Before midnight blue disappeared he whispered, "We'll meet again." I know that sounds like something that you'd hear in a comic book, but that's what he said.
Instead of running away like a normal criminal he took off his black glove on his left hand and snapped his fingers and he was gone. Back then, I thought that I was hallucinating. I was almost to the point of passing out, remember.
My dad ran towards me and started to yell, "Venti, what the hell is—," but then he stopped and saw the chopped up pieces of the woman's body.
You'd think that my dad would be more resilient to seeing a dead body (or parts of it), but my dad puked when he saw it. I guess he never had to do autopsies at his science college.
****
Half an hour after my dad puked in the dank alleyway, he was pacing back in forth in Mr. Bunter's living room. Mom was sitting right next to me on the couch and we kept on exchanging worried glances.
Usually, my dad is a pretty calm guy. Even when Jason and I did something bad he always kept his cool and was unfazed by anything.
This time however, I thought that he was going to explode. Even when we walked back to Mr. Bunter's house, my dad was silently fuming. I wanted to tell him what I witnessed, but I felt like if I said one word he might burst a vein from overcrowded anger.
So instead I kept quiet and so did everyone else. While my dad paced, Charlie was staring into the embers that blazed in the active night fire that he stood three feet away from and Mr. Bunter looked at me as if I was some mystery that he was trying to solve. Back then he probably was trying to find an answer, and so was I. I couldn't help but think of Mr. Midnight Blue and how warm I felt. It was strangely pleasant. It reminded me of a warm summer day, how you feel the sun's rays touching you from head to toe. How could such a young killer make me feel so pleasant? That's when I thought to myself, am I a killer as well to feel that warmth? I quickly shook my head and said to my thoughts But I haven't killed anyone. It's something more than that.
Finally, my dad sat down in the sofa chair that was closest to me as he talked to me. The first words that he asked me were, "Venti? Did you see the killer?"
My mom immediately said, "Killer? What!" Even Charlie turned to look at me his eyes wide. Mr. Bunter nodded as if he found a piece of the puzzle.
I slouched as I said, "I saw him. He—he had me in a chokehold."
My mom gasped and said hysterically, "Chokehold! Chokehold why a chokehold! Oh my god! My baby could have been killed!"
Jason surprised me when he stood behind me and said, "Question, did this guy happen to leave torn up bodies?"
Dad looked at Jason and asked him, "How did you know?"
Jason shook his head and handed a London newspaper article to Dad and said to him with his chocolate covered mouth (someone's been having too much cake before dinner), "In the London Daily, it says they're looking for a guy who's probably upholding his family business—of killing people. Specifically, Londoners."
For a couple of minutes silence ensued when dad read the article:
"Today, another tragedy struck the London Populace as another person was killed by the blood leech. Her name was Susan Webard, a theology professor at the University of London.
When we asked Mr. George Dunthen, the head of the Scotland Yard, if he and his associates had found out who the blood leech was, he only had this to say: "We are not certain who he is. There has been no evidence that such a person even exists. He's never been photographed or caught on camera, even when his victims were in a public location surrounded by numerous people. All that we know now for certain is that the blood leech is a menace to society and must be stopped."
The Scotland Yard calls the killer the blood leech because when they found the victims mutilated in pieces, they never found blood on the scene but instead, the blood was still in the limbs of the victims. Phil Harper, a doctor at the Westminster Hospital said, "The way that they found the bodies with no sign of blood seeping out from the limbs or body at all is fascinating. Whoever the blood leech is, what he does was thought to be impossible until now."
Whoever the mystery killer is; man, magician, or just a run of the mill serial killer, the blood leech has yet to be captured.
So do as Mr. George Dunthen says dear Londoners. "Stay inside whenever you can, and make sure that your home is locked up nice and tight at night."
When he was done reading dad said to me, "Did he say anything to you?"
"He said that we'll meet again," I said twiddling my thumbs. I was contemplating then whether or not I should mention how his presence made me feel, but I thought better of it. Saying that I felt warm around him would not help my case of innocence.
"Then you shouldn't be here," said Mr. Bunter in his matter of fact tone.
Charlie looked like he was going to protest, but I beat him to it as I said, "Yes. If I'm here, this guy might try to kill any of you."
Charlie laughed and replied, "You know that we have weapons in the house right? We'll just do night shifts to watch you and make sure that you're safe." That was very touching, but I didn't have the time to tell him that, for I had something else quickly slide into my thoughts.
I couldn't help but feel my new white hair as I said, "I was wondering—what if I can change back to normal?"
My mom patted my back and said, "I think that you're stuck like this forever sweetie."
I smiled and said to my mom, "But what if I'm not stuck? Maybe there is a way that I can channel some type of energy within me to be normal again."
Mr. Bunter and dad said at the same time, "It could work—."
Charlie shrugged and replied, "Go for it."
I jumped up and closed my eyes and tried to find the foreign energy that I felt. At first I felt nothing, but then I felt something within me move. And that's when I thought I saw something. Although it was impossible because my eyes were closed, I thought that I saw this faint blue light.
With all of my human energy I could muster I tried to catch it, but it moved so quickly. After a while of trying to catch the light in my mind I just slumped as I said, "I saw it, but I couldn't catch it."
Mr. Bunter's eyes lit up as he said, "That's amazing! Whatever's changed you is dormant inside of you."
Then Charlie nodded and asked, "What if this energy doesn't want to be caught. What if—it wants to roam freely?"
Jason said exactly what I was thinking. "Then Venti's screwed."
My mom finally spoke as she said, "Maybe letting this piece of energy roam freely is a blessing."
"Mom?" I asked not understanding how letting it be free is any good.
Mom looked at my dad as she said, "Remember Moscow?"
Dad jumped as he said, "Yes! The climber who had caught a bad case of athlete's foot!" Jason and I cringed simultaneously. The thought of my predicament being compared to some kind of fungus made me purse my lips together in disgust.
Dad looked towards the entrance of the kitchen as he said, "This happened before you were born Venti. This climber was given the best medication for athlete's foot but it didn't help. So instead he stopped the medications all together and decided to let the fungus take its course—and it disappeared."
"Yes, the doctor's said that it was a miracle that it didn't get worse, and it was all because he let the fungus roam free," said mom smiling at the memory. I still didn't understand what my parents were getting at. Fortunately, Charlie got some grasp of it.
Charlie smiled at me and said, "You let the energy be free and it will come to you willingly and once that energy is touched—"
"You will look normal," said Mr. Bunter looking at his son with pure pride.
I smiled too as I asked to everyone, "And then I'll be normal?" Everyone in the room all of a sudden darted their eyes to the floor. To me, that was a bad sign.
Finally dad spoke as he said, "Maybe, but then again—maybe not." Mom must have noticed my frustration.
She put her arms around me and said, "At least this idea could be a temporary solution Venti."
Trying to smile I said, "Should I try mom?"
My mom said, "To find the energy and to let it come to you on its own. Yes." Still standing I closed my eyes again. I saw the light once again. Only a glimmer of blue at first, but then I felt it come closer to me somehow. It felt like when you know that someone is approaching you from across a room.
When it got within arm distance of me it was glowing so brightly that I momentarily mistook it as snowy daylight. Then just as bright as it was it disappeared and I was surrounded in darkness again. When I opened my eyes I saw everyone looking at me speechless.
I tried to jump in excitement, but it's like that blue light zapped my energy. I suddenly felt so tired that I only yawned. Charlie laughed and said, "Welcome back!" My mom squealed and my dad chuckled.
As for Jason he looked at me and said, "Finally. I can go to sleep."
My mom would usually get mad at a comment like that, but she looked at her watch and said, "Yup. It's bed time."
Mr. Bunter rubbed his right eye as he said, "Anthony, Patricia, I insist that you stay tonight. It's too late to go to Stone Henge right now."
My dad sighed and said to Mr. Bunter, "We really should be going. There's someone that's going to allow us in tomorrow." As Mr. Bunter said this, I noticed Charlie going upstairs. He must've forgotten about my birthday.
Mom nodded and said to Jason and I, "You two be good while we're gone, and have a good first day of school."
Jason slumped as I said, "We will mom."
When I looked back at Jason he started to go upstairs already. So, I was the one who said goodbye to my mom and dad at the door. My mom said to me, "I hope that you'll have a terrific day tomorrow Venti, and have some cake. It's your birthday!" She then held my face with her hand under my chin and smiled. Although the smile looked completely unsure, at least she tried to reassure me. That must mean something.
I smiled a little too, and I kept that smile on my face until I heard the click of the door as it closed.