Narrated by JASON:
Crystal Moon is known for having weird people. Unique people, I guess that's why I feel so at home right in this town. Well, it's a city but most people just call it a town. I know if I were to step foot out in the real world that my differences wouldn't be praised like it is being celebrated here in this city town.
Of course, a few kids teased me a lot growing up, still do. But it's hard to feel insecure when everywhere I turn I see another weirdo. Like Orchid, for example, the one Kin introduced me to. She claims to be a real nymph and says her green hair is natural. Her ears are real, and no one shits on her for her beliefs. Because she chooses to identify as a nymph. Maybe I will feel included if I had something to identify as. Because Orchid isn't the first nymph or fairy I've met in town, and she won't be the last. And when fae festivals approach in spring, she gets to meet more people like her.
I feel like the only one of my kind.
So yeah, the town is known for celebrating monsters of all kinds. So much so that people think that the town was solely created (by crystal witches) to be a haven for humans against monsters. Like what? I don't believe in monsters though, but I love to attend the city town's annual celebration of the birth of Crystal Moon.
And today a whole new weirdo joined our class. The teacher introduced her as Lemon. She came right to me and plumped herself down. I looked at her, she grinned at me. She has dark green roots with yellow hair. Her eyes are the same colour green as her lime earrings.
"Did I give you permission to sit next to me?"
"Oh," she seemed a little surprised. "I thought since there's a space?"
"Move. Before I start pinching you and you don't want to be known as the annoying new girl that wasn't even in class for ten minutes, and already started complaining to the teacher that the weird boy is pinching her,"
She didn't say anything. She just looked at me for a short while before standing up and sitting somewhere else. Great. I hate sitting next to people, I love my space.
I initially thought that that would be the last time I'll see her, although she's in my class. But it wasn't. Saskia has a way of annoying me, bringing the Lemon over to our tree. My stomach dropped when I saw her that I grunted and rolled my eyes. I looked at Lemon, she has yellow nails with green tips. She flashed me a large smile, one I returned with his cold eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Jason!" Saskia threw herself in, "that's not a nice thing to ask. She befriended me and asked if she could join me. Of course, I said yes,"
I rolled my eyes and as she sat down. There was something about her that I didn't trust. Everything about her seems so perfect and in place. Her aesthetic is a bit too on point. "Just so we're clear," I told as I closed my novel, keeping my finger between the pages to keep track of which page I'm on, "I don't like anyone of you, but there's something about this Lemon that I just can't digest,"
I spoke as if Lemon wasn't present which I guess caused Laura to break into laughter. She wiped an invisible tear and gently hit me. Lemon cleared her throat and looked at me.
"I'm sorry I make you feel uncomfortable. I'll try my best not to,"
I flashed her a very obvious fake smile and opened my book and groaned, "yet you're still here?"
Paul cleared his throat, "tell us more about yourself, Lemon. Ignore Jason, he's cold with all of us,"
"Oh. I've been home-schooled all my life,"
"Yay," I injected without ever lifting my eyes from my book, "another weirdo,"
"I don't think it's weird if you haven't been around people all your life," Kin assured Lemon.
Which caused me to joke on air.
"I-I am an only child and my mother and I probably won't stay in town long,"
"What d'you mean?" Laura asked.
"Just that. We came for business,"
"What kind of business?" Saskia asked.
"My mother collects rare objects and sells them for a fortune. But enough about me, what about you guys?"
God she couldn't stop talking. I couldn't wait to get to the orphanage to just unwind. When I did, I found another box on my bed with a sticky note attached to it. I pluck it off and read it.
Jason:
So now you're allowing Saskia and Bethany to convince you to look for your parents?
That's a bad move. You better stop.
-S.A.M
Who on earth is Sam? And how do they know me and my friends? Shit, I called them my friends. But still, is this the same person that has been sending me things all these years?
I had this unsettling feeling. What's happening with my life? First I get followed and now mystery person as, 'warning,' me to stop looking for my parents. Why? Who are my parents? Perhaps I am the president's child. No, of course not. But is there a possibility that my parents could be somewhat important? No. But all this feels weird, crazy even.
I don't know who Sam is but they just aroused my curiosity. I want to know now who my parents are and I never wanted to, and I want to know why am not allowed to find them. I was contemplating the thought of telling someone but what is there to tell? I'd just be wasting someone's time, besides, who would I even tell?
The school week went by rather slow, Lemon crept me out with each passing second I encounter with her. She has a weird thing for, Kin. Like she would twirl her hair, by Wednesday she even wore a custom made hoodie cape just like Kin. It's like something from a thriller novel. Kin loved it though, she found it flattering. She's even supposedly into the things Kin's into. Her tv shows, movies and even bought a dress from the girl's favourite store. And when I tell Kin to draw boundaries she tells me to relax. But Lemon's behaviour is questionable.
So the weekend really couldn't come soon enough. Especially since Bev invited us over to their farm where we will have a picnic by their lakehouse.
She and Caitlyn are too close and her mother is concerned because they're like conjoined twins. Their individuality is fading and they're morphing into one person.
They don't live on the farm but have caretakers that do. So a driver drove us over to their farm and they all proceeded to the Victorian mansion that stood there elegantly. They were all the workers but their main mission was getting baskets and filling them with all kinds of snacks.
Once that was done she lead us out back to the stables where she introduced us to the horses. I freaked out, I've never been on a horse and to me, it seemed like she wanted us to get on them and drive.
"Come on, it'll be fun and safe. I promise."
I was sceptical about the thing but I didn't want to ruin the other's fun. Paul seemed stoked about it all.
They stroked the horses for a while before we climbed on. To me it felt like it was too unstable and that I'll fall right off. Cross my heart that it doesn't happen.
"So, the plan is to go horse riding through the forest where we'll go to the lake and have our picnic there. I hope you guys brought your swimming costumes like I asked?"
"We did!" I shared. Beverley started leading the way and we all followed. I was careful, doing exactly what she's doing. But riding at a safer speed.
She didn't take us directly to the lake, instead, we just rode the horses for a while. Then she started going a little faster and we followed her every move. The horses sped up, adrenaline rushing through us entangled with an exciting fear of falling flat on our faces. The warm wind met with our faces, I hated that. I'm a very cold person so even the slightest heat is too much for me to bear. My heart doesn't beat, not in the usual way anyway. Beating weakly every 30 minutes. The doctors expected me to die an early death. But thankfully they're not sticking needles in my flesh anymore drawing blood and treating me like an experiment. "They're just doing their jobs. They're worried, you're a special case to them," the caregivers would say at the orphanage if I had to go for yet another check-up. But one day it just stopped.
My horse ran fast but it still couldn't keep up, since I didn't want to go as fast as the others. To fall doesn't seem pleasant.
But my horse suddenly stopped running, leaving me to fall forward over its head. A branch from a log that just laid there penetrated my shoulder and poked out through to the other side of my body. It went right through.
A cobra was not too far from me, causing my horse to go mad. The horse neighed and ran off back in the other direction. Its crying alarmed the others and they stopped riding.
"JASON!" Kin called out and in a blink of an eye, she jumped out off her horse and reached me.
"How'd you move so fast?"
"Are you okay?" she asked.
She noticed that I wasn't even bleeding, but the blood that was caught on the branch was very black. She helped me up and carefully removed the branch from my shoulders.
"Oh god, Jason, are you okay?" she asked again and pulled me in for a hug. Like relax, do I look like I'm dying?
The others reached us.
"Are you okay? You don't seem to be in pain, " Paul noticed.
Kin released the hug to look at me.
"Because I'm not in pain, " I replied and looked at Paul, I then shifted my eyes into Kin's silver eyes, "I'm fine, "
She nodded her head and moved away from him.
"We're gonna need to look at your wound, " Beverley stated.
I didn't feel like fighting so I slowly took off my vest followed by my black shirt. The wound was huge, and still, no blood came from it.
"It needs to be cleaned out and stitched up, " Saskia shared.
"No!" Beverley protested, "he needs to see a doctor. My dad's a doctor, "
"That won't be necessary, my abnormality only scares the doctors. Saskia is right, it needs to be stitched up, that's all, "
I didn't feel like amusing new doctors or have the old ones remember that I'm still alive.
Beverley didn't like the idea but trusted us, "okay."
Saskia took off her back bag and took out an emergency kit. They watched as she cleaned his wound and slowly stitch his wound.
"You travel with this all the time?" I wanted to know.
"Yeah. You never know when you need it, I'm a zombie Jason, and I believe that you're one as well, "
All eyes were on Saskia. No one said anything, they all stood behind her like it was my intervention. I couldn't believe that these people believe in this nonsense. I broke the silence by clearing my throat, "those don't exist, Saskia, "
She didn't say anything since she was almost done. Once she finished off she placed away from the things and looked into my dark eyes, "then how do you explain this?"
Everyone watched in anticipation as she took off her collar with the red ruby situated in the middle of it and placed it around my neck.
Her skin started changing, her cheekbones for one sunk in and the flesh around her eyes disappeared. Her jaw fell off and it didn't even scare me like it was supposed to. These things happen in horror novels, but I was calm.
She slowly took out a mirror in her bag and gave it to me. My skin wasn't pale like it has always been and it had a subtle tan to it. Those dark rings around my eyes disappeared as well, and I looked like a normal human being. I scoffed. I've never seen myself this way before and it was completely new. I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with, 'normal-looking,' Jason.
"I look so normal, "
She nodded her head. Even the scar I had just made disappeared, with the collar everything disappeared.
I looked at her and took off her collar and placed it around her neck again and her face slowly become normal again. I somewhat judged like they were laughing at the fact that I thought I was a normal boy. And in a blink of an eye, I was proved wrong.
"How old are you?" I asked.
She chuckled, "much older than you think, " was her reply.
"So... I'm a zombie? How come I don't fully look like one?"
"That's what we're gonna find out once we find your parents. Now, let's get up and have that picnic."
What kind of a beast am I? I have a ton of questions. Is this the reason Sam didn't want me to dig around? Are they afraid that I would discover who I am? Or are they afraid that I would know why it was supposed to stay a secret? Saskia pulled me up and I put my shirt and vest back on.
Kin even let me ride with her to the lake.
The sight was beautiful, Laura laid down a large red blanket and packed the snacks on it. They had a lake house where they went to change, except for Kin who sat down on the blanket and munched on the snacks.
"Are you going to swim? I know you hate so many things, " Saskia asked me.
Jason gave her a small smile, "no, but you guys go ahead,"
"Why not? Who hates swimming?"
I ruffled my pitch-black hair and looked over at her, "I don't hate swimming. I love it in fact, swimming relaxes me. I love how it makes me feel. So free and so human, I feel like I belong somewhere whenever I'm in the water. You know I don't have thoughts, but when I swim, when I float in the water with my eyes closed, all different thoughts come to mind and my thoughts take me to places,"
Saskia smiled, "that's nice. So why won't you be joining us?"
"You know, Kin hates swimming. Who's going to join her?" I replied and went into the bathroom where he changed into my swim shorts. Just because I wasn't going to take a dip, didn't mean that I didn't have to change into something more relaxing. Even Kin wore a red bikini.
I threw my towel over my shoulder and walked out of the lake house where I saw Kin sitting underneath the shade, watching her friends swimming. He walked over to her and sat down next to her.
"So... what's the actual reason you don't swim? Is it because... you know... you're like me? Or whatever?"
She grinned, "remember when you asked me how I moved so quickly?"
I nodded my head and reached for the bag of Lays.
"I'm a vampire, Jason, well a vampire hybrid. I'm part cranter. I can't be in the sun, my vampire half and my cranter half cannot touch wet sand. It puts us in a deep sleep. So I'll stay right here, "
"That's no fun, " I replied and laid down like she laid, on her belly.
"It's okay. I'm used to it, "
"I'll stay with you, you know on the third floor of the library is a vampire section. Like I've seen the title cranter there as a sub-genre,"
She chortled, "you know those novels are real. That's why most of them are written with a pen,"
I didn't know that fact. I thought it was made to look like pen and human handwriting for the aesthetics. "You should totally write one of your experiences as well,"
She laughed. "No. I was homeschooled. I have no experience as a bloodsucker,"
Shit. Then there's that too. She drinks blood. That's a bit weird. I thought she's a regular girl, thought Laura was a normal girl. All of them. Is Orchid a nymph?
"Look at the fun they're having, you shouldn't give up yours to sit with me,"
"I don't mind. So, tell me, what the hell is a cranter?"
She giggled and she told me the origin of cranters, and how they've subliminally impacted the vampire world. She told me about her vampire parents and even The Count, she told me because it's the first time I've wanting to know something about someone in the real world. And her family history and tales are more interesting than any other book I've read.
I did get a chance to swim though, Paul sat with Kin for a while and so did the others. I asked her to get on my back again so that she didn't waste her day and effort by wearing that gorgeous two-piece. She's only fourteen but already has larger breasts than the students in class, with rounder hips. But she wasn't heavy at all. We got into the water and I swam with her to the deeper side where she didn't have to touch any ground. She preferred to swim in the shade of the large trees. Understandable, but she would swim in the sun for a bit. Until the skin irritation became too much.
We spent the day by the lake until the sunset and packed up and got on the horses. Since mine abandoned me, I rode the horseback and Kin just flung her arms around me this time and rested her head on my back. We went back to the orphanage to my room, my roommates weren't home yet so they made themselves comfortable.
He sat down on his bed and looked at his friends. "So... you guys think I'm a zombie?"
Laura nodded her head. "Yeah, especially since what happened today,"
He noticed that she wore a similar collar around her neck, "so you really one too?"
Laura nodded her head and looked over at Saskia with a small smile on her face. "I've been turned earlier this year when Saskia scratched me,"
Saskia nodded her head like she knew what I wanted to ask her. "Yes. We turn people by a scratch or a bite, like in the movies,"
I leaned forward and rubbed my temples, "this is fucking insane,"
I looked at them all. "So... Cait is either a vampire or a cranter?"
"Vampire," Bev told, "she wears lenses,"
"Paul?"
"I'm a werewolf,"
They kept this a secret from me. Why? Who on earth would I have told? And how can they've kept it a secret from me if they suspected me to be one of them? I shook my head and took a deep breath in. When I had the collar on even my insides felt different. I could never feel my heart beating, could never feel as alive as I did. I was always just kind of there, heavy. But that made me feel lighter and even my hard skin became softer.
"Okay... why are you telling me this?"
Saskia walked over to me and sat down on the bed across from me and looked me into my cold black eyes. Are they cold and lifeless because I'm not a living being? "There are hunters. They kill our kind and last week a whole army of hunters came into town,"
It took me to the fake teacher, "Do you think the guy that followed me knew?"
"He did," Kin replied. "Orchid interviewed him,"
I slightly opened my mouth. I was in shock, "Kin! A guy stalked me, wanting to kill me and you never told me this? I should've known that someone's after me because I'm not human,"
Paul looked at Kin and I, "what are you talking about?"
Kin scratched her head, "I know. And I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tell you. But at least my mother made a plan,"
"That's not my point," I felt betrayed by her and a tad bit upset. This is my life and she just took it so lightly.
If there's a chance that I could be a zombie then I'd love to know for a fact. This had me wondering who my parents are more than anything now. Is this why they just left me? "Should we get that Bethany chick? She wants to get in communication with her mother again and I can help, apparently,"
Beverley sat down next to Saskia and grinned. "I can't help but feel like we're moving closer and closer to finding out Jason's story,"
Saskia grinned, "yeah. Then there's the killer vampire story too,"
I furrowed my brows and looked at Saskia, "what are you talking about?"
Then she realised that I don't know what's happening in Crystal Moon. "The killings happening in Crystal Moon aren't what you think, it's some vampire,"
"Why'd you say, vampire?" Asked Laura, "you said you're not sure,"
Kin nodded her head. "But for now we can call it a vampire,"
I chortled and shook my head. I couldn't help this conversation, "this is insane,"
Paul smiled. "Yeah. But at least we can be open with you now,"
I agreed. I wondered what else they were hiding from me. To think that they had these secret conversations away from me because I wasn't allowed in but now everything about our friendship changed and I'm going to have to move with it and get on board.