My eyes slowly open, adjusting to the room around me; it’s white, really white. So white it actually hurts my eyes. I don’t know what time it is, why would I? The lovely nurse usually comes in at the time the sun sets and gives me jelly. I like the jelly, its always tasty. Of course, hospital food isn’t really all that tasty but it’ll do. I like it at least. The nurse is always smiling, or is that because she knows I’m going to not be okay, well. They haven’t told me to my face that I’ll be alright but I can see it when they look at my results every night, sometimes when they think I’m sleeping they talk above my head they mutter things like ‘It’s losing function’ I want to know what’s losing function, I can still feel my legs, my arms. I feel like they are treading on egg shells around me.
You know, I can’t even remember how I got here.
“Christine!” I say to the nice nurse lady as she comes in with my strawberry jelly. I look at it lick my lips hungrily. I don’t like normal food, I’m a fussy eater. I’m a vegetarian. Absolutely hate meat, even protested against it in the past with my chums, but that was the past. Now, all I eat is vegetables and strawberry jelly. The nurse looks at me then, smiling that same fake smile, the smile she gives to everyone else on this damn ward. She gives me a quizzical look then her eyes asking me what I wanted so I just go ahead and blurt it out, the question that was currently plaguing my already aching head. “What is wrong with me?” It’s a fairly normal question, I’d had assumed. Easily answered but I see her shifting her weight bouncing from side to side as her smile faltered, I saw she was withholding something, was I going to die?
”It’s incurable.” She said to me as I blankly stare at her. ”You ask it every night now for the past four nights, your memory is slowly going.” I’m only twenty-three, I am not old! The woman looked sorry, yet she continued and I could only watch her lips move. ”Creutzfeldt-Jakob” I had never heard of this thing she was saying I had. All I could do was laugh at her, and even then it was nervous, not meant. Christine seemed to take pity on me and gave me another bowl of jelly, as if it would make me feel alright. I asked this same question every night? My first thought was why I didn’t remember, but maybe that was what my illness was, lapse of memory.
I didn’t know what would happen next. I gave up then, leaning against the pillow of my bed lifting my spoon and popping the metal in my mouth, it felt great. Cold against my teeth. My head began to sweat, was it hot in here?
“Maybe I should open a window.” I muttered as I got up, removing the little sucker that was grappling at my temple which I had only just noticed and climbed out of bed, my bare feet kissing the cold floor as I moved to the window my palm pressing against the cold glass as I stared out at Harper Rock. I lived here, before I went to Africa. I had a home just over there, as I push my finger against the pane, pointing North-East. I was so wrapped up in my little bubble I didn’t notice the person behind me.
She frequented the hospital, mostly the childrens wing, doing her best to cheer up the poor little sick tiny humans. Most of the ones that new her by name were terminal; confined to their rooms or even their beds as their illnesses controlled what little time they had left in their short little life spans. Saige felt sorry for them, she felt like she knew she couldnt help them; no, she couldnt turn them, that was just absurd, and for all she knew, forbidden. Children were underdeveloped mentally, let alone physically, and she could see no good coming from such... immaturity being given such a gift as hers. So, she did the best she could with what she had, which was quite enough, considering she would be able to comfort as many children as she wanted in her lifespan that would exceed their own umpteen times over. She knew she would see them come and go, some faster than others, and she knew that death for these patients was inevitable; so sometimes she made her way to the adult wing where she was able to give hugs and words of kindness instead of toys and candy. The nurses hated when she gave the children candy, but they knew that the smiles on their faces would not last for forever, and so they allowed it.
Every once in a while Saige would visit the adult terminal wing as well to give her own emotions a break from the dying children. It got to her sometimes, to the point she couldnt handle being around the terminally ill children, unable to remain composed enough to not cry in front of them; so she simply didnt visit. She would visit the adults, sit with them and hold their hands and speak with their loved ones while they stuck to the sides of their family members hospital beds like velcro on shoes. It wasnt much easier than the children other times, still knowing that the people were dying, but with the adults Saige also gained something that children gave too easily; appreciation. Love. She craved that emotion, and even though children offered it in its most purest form, she needed it sometimes in its most sincere form as well.
It had been a few weeks since she had visited the adults, so Saige dropped off her usual bags of toys to the nurses station and made her way out of pediatrics. Rounding the corner and heading down the hallway, Saige walked past a room that she glanced into. She didnt notice anyone in the bed, so she stopped, looking in just a bit more closely. Warm teals scanned the room and landed on the woman in the hospital gown, and Saige drew a deep breath. She could smell it. Death. The woman was dying, and though Saige wasnt sure exactly sure how, she could simply tell. The way the woman looked so frail standing at the window made Saige cringe. She wanted immediately to hug this woman, to tell her that everything would be okay, that she would be through the worst of it soon. But she just stood there for a moment, staring. She could see the woman's reflection in the glass, but the doorway looked empty where she should have been standing. Saige stared hard, expecting to see herself shimmer into place, but she never did. She looked back to the other, looking so frail and weak, she frowned.
Entering the room Saige moved to the woman, reaching out to gently place her hand upon her thinly clothed shoulder that was clad in the gown that felt like cotton paper. "There there, you should be in bed, resting."
--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--
Zahara: I had been staring so hard into that glass window pane that I didn’t hear the movement behind me, yeah okay a nurse every now and again would come in but that was just that. I paid them no attention. When that hand touched my shoulder I almost cried out in horror, I didn’t know what was worse the fact that I was just scared by some random person who came up behind me that I didn’t even see the reflection in the window, or the fact that her touch was so cold on my skin. Either way I wrinkled my nose and slowly turn my head to look upon this girl, who looked so child-like. I find myself blinking, my chocolate orbs taken aback for a moment. She didn’t look sick, and I don’t get visitors that often either.
”Hi.” I say still trying to understand how this person got in this room so quick, why I hadn’t seen her reflection. The last thing on my mind was the idea that she could be a vampire, they didn’t exist, well in my mind they didn’t. I was all about volunteering. ”Are you a trainee nurse?” I ask again, my voice wavering ever so slightly. She told me I should be in bed resting, I should be really. I was sick, well that’s what Christine had said. My head felt fine though, so maybe it was just a common headache, exaggerated some what.
I do as she says though, I move my way over to the bed and climb under the sheets my eyes not leaving the woman’s, she beautiful in a horrific kind of way, she looked like a predator. She had that kind of look to her, like a lion would attack a gazelle in the plains of africa, it was beautiful. ”Apparantly I’m an incurable case. I said with a slight shrug of my shoulders, as if I didn’t care if I lived or died at this point, which was a lie. I did care, I cared very much. There was sick children in Africa that needed my care and support, I couldn’t leave them now.
Saige: Saiges smile grew wider as she said hi. “Hello Miss. You really should be in bed.” She insisted again, tipping her head to the side slightly as she let her hand fall from the womans shoulder. She giggled gently at the question, shaking her head no as she looked down to her burberry outfit and matching purse. “Oh dear. Im pretty sure you have zero fashion sense, if you are asking me that.” She smiled warmly though, clearly meaning no harm by her words. She slipped out of the way for the woman so she could make her way back to the bed unhindered.
“I dont think a nurse could afford this outfit with three months salary, to be honest, hun.” She offered information, “Burberry is first class dear.” She pulled the sheets back for her, then reached to tuck her in safe and secure, fingertips pushing the sheet up under the woman briefly before she moved to set her purse down on the chair in the corner of the room. Glancing back to the woman, she furrowed her eyebrows. “Did you want the window open? It is kind of warm in here.” She admitted, though to her it felt blazing hot, she didnt worry about sweating. Something about being dead, she assumed.
Zahara: She tucks me in, and I let her. There’s no use in fighting being babied. It’s no big deal really. Maybe this time tomorrow I’ll be out of here? Not like I’ll be here forever. I seriously can’t remember how I got here though, the memory is so foggy. It actually hurts to try and think that far back. I listen to how she speaks though, she doesn’t sound like a nurse does, because they always have that fake little voice about them. Like they can’t wait to see you leave, or die. They never really have compassion. Apart from Christine, she is the only one I really like out of everyone, she gives me jelly. I’d kill someone if they offered me jelly as a reward. Just saying.
I look at her outfit now, considering she was the one who mentioned that a nurse couldn’t look this good and I nod my head. My really short mousy coloured hair didn’t even move. ”So you’re not a nurse?” I ask, if she wasn’t a member of staff then why was she visiting me? I never had visitors. Did I? I don’t remember. ”Do you visit me all the time? I can’t remember.” I sound sorry for myself, my lips pouting. As I look at the little sucker that was attached to my temple not so long ago. It looked poisonous. Maybe this person was family, and my memory lapse was that bad I didn’t remember. ”Yes!” I say in reply to the window, god it was so hot in here.
Saige: Without hesitation, Saige moved to open the window for the woman. Giving it a brief tug, it didnt move. Saige frowned, looking at the edges that were seemingly epoxied shut. “This wont do…” She muttered, putting a bit of her vampiric strength behind the tug this time to wrench the window open about six inches. A soft cool breeze sifted through the screen, and Saige nodded contently.
Saige moved to sit on the bed for the moment, teal eyes bright as she listened to her speak to her. It wasnt all that bad, listening to a dying person, but there was something about this woman. She was in a certain form of denial, and Saige wasnt sure it was entirely healthy. Maybe she had a reason. Maybe she just was that stubborn. Whatever the fact, Saige figured in time, she would find out.
She giggled gently and reached for the towel that was on the medical table right next to the monitors that were silent. Looking at it, it seemed like they were dead, but then Saige realized that they just werent hooked up. “No, I’m not a nurse. Im Saige.” She offered, not entirely sure it mattered if the woman knew her name or not. “A nurse will probably be in shortly to hook you back up Miss…?” She let her question trail, reaching up to dab at the woman’s sweat covered forehead gently with the towel.
Zahara: She seemed nice. I smile at her, not that half arsed smile. No a nice meaningful smile. The way Saige seemed to be more intrigued me, she managed to open the window with little to no trouble. I was awestruck. She wanted to know who I am. Did I know who I was? Yeah. Yeah I did. ”Zahara.” I said with a grin. ”The tribe gave me that name, said my hair reminded them of the Sahara desert. My real name is Zoey.” I paused. ”I like Zahara more, so I like to be called it.” I look pleased with myself as Saige makes a commented about not being hooked up, god no. I hate those pesky machines. They violate my privacy, being in a hospital was bad enough for me.
My eyes looked to the end of the bed, where a clipboard was sticking out. I was curious to know what was written on there about me. Was it bad, was I going to live. Morbid curiosity told me I had to find out but I’m nicely tucked up here. I want to see!
”Saige, can you show me that clipboard? I want to know what it says.” I asked her, I’m sure she would be one of those people who would deny me the privilege of seeing how bad I actually was, but I had to find out. Something inside me said I needed to.
Saige: Her eyebrows raised as she placed the damp towel back to the table, her head turning to look upon the clipboard jutting out from its place at the end of the bed. She blinked at it, then looked back to the woman who had introduced herself to Saige. Zahara, that was a beautiful name, but what tribe? Saige was sure that there was something mentally wrong with the woman, though that seemed a bit too easy of information to give, so Saige found she wasnt entirely sure if she was serious or not. For now, she would call her Zahara, until she told her otherwise.
“Are you sure Zahara?” The look on her face was serious, with a hint of fear. She herself wasnt sure she would want to know what that clipboard contained, if she was in Zahara’s position. If she didnt know, she didnt know - though Saige found it odd that the woman didnt know what was ailing her. She reached for the clipboard and opened it, flipping the top flap up and over to tuck it underneath as her teal hues skimmed the paperwork. It took everything she had in her not to give Zahara the most saddest smile. “Are you sure?” She asked again, with less fear and more conviction; though the uncertainty rang clear on the edge of the question.
Zahara: I nod. I had to be sure, I needed to know what was said on the clipboard, I needed to know these things. Was I going to die? I furrowed my brows, scrunching my nose together into it’s button like shape before I nodded again, this time it was stronger. It needed to be. ”I have to know, Saige.” I said as I outstretched my arms to take the clipboard from her. I gently plucked it from her grip without being rude and opened it so I could read it. My chocolate hues scanned the words over and over. Words like ‘rough estimation of life; four months’ made my head hurt. I really was going to die. It said my brain was slowly shutting down, this was an illness one in a million got, and I happened to be the only one in one million that got this! I wanted to cry inside, but instead I read on.
”I’m going to die.” My voice had a finality to it. I couldn’t escape my fate. ”I can’t die.” I said more or less to myself now, forgetting Saige was in the room with me for a brief moment. ”The children in Africa need me, I promised them I’d go back and visit them.” My lip wobbled. The flood gates were open and I began to cry. I didn’t want to die!
Saige: Zahara had taken the clipboard from her before she could protest, before she could even preface the reading with words that would make the woman feel better and prep her for the reading she was about to endure. She nearly reached and took the clipboard back, but she knew it was too late for that. She knew that Zahara had wanted to know, so there was nothing she could do at this point to stop her. And the woman needed to stay in bed, so this seemed a simple fix to her problem.
Saige blinked at her. The children in Africa? She frowned. Oh my gosh… That was so sad, and it only made it ten times harder for Saige to stand there and endure while she watched Zahara fall apart mentally and emotionally. That is so sad… She felt tears well up in her own eyes, but then she stopped herself. Swallowing thickly, she blinked them away. Zahara needed someone strong right now, not someone who was falling apart like she was. And the woman hadnt had any visitors as far as Saige knew from the look of the bare visitors log on the womans paperwork. Suddenly a thought flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning, and Saiges eyes got wide.
She moved back to the womans side, this time perching along side her on the bed and leaning to wipe streaming tears from soaked cheeks. “It’ll be okay, I promise.” She didnt know how else to say it, that she knew that she could make everything okay. “Zahara…” She trailed off, trying to find the right words to say, or rather, the right way to say them. “If you could go on, living, for them, would you?” It was a simple question, but Saige needed to know if that was the resolve that Zahara had - that she didnt fear death, but she feared abandonment for the children.
Zahara: I look at the clipboard, my eyes are already sore from the crying it doesn’t take much really, even as a kid I was a cryer. I look at Saige as she comes to perch next to me on the bed. I sniff as she wipes the streaming tears my cheek. I sniff again, my nose is stuffy and blocked from all this stupid crying as I try to get a hold of myself. I have to stop crying, I have to. I can’t be blubbering in front of strangers, but this stranger was so nice to me. Did I deserve her kindness. Maybe she was part of one of those christian groups. Dying wishes and stuff, well I always wanted to bungee jump off the Grand Canyon.
”Of course I would.” I said as I look at the woman with my glistening brown eyes. They seemed to twinkle from the tears. ”I was a volunteer worker in Africa for a year, came back a few months ago.. I think, I told the children I’d be back by the end of this year. That I would bring them christmas presents.” I was on a limited budget but I would try my best to bring them back toys, children liked toys.
--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--
Saige: Saige could tell that the woman laying dying in the hospital bed in front of her was doing everything she could to be strong. Funny, how when someone was on the brink of death, they showed their true colors. And this woman knew that she was going to die. She knew that death would claim her, and she didnt care a lick for herself. All she cared about was the children in Africa getting the christmas presents she had promised to them. Saige struggled dearly not to bust out into tears. Not to hug Zahara tightly and cry all over her. No, she remained strong, no matter how difficult it was.
She could also tell that Zahara wasnt lying. Saige herself couldnt tell a lie even if she wanted to; but she also had this uncanny ability to be able to tell when others were lying. Xahara’s heart was only racing from the thoughts of death, and Zahara hadnt looked to the left as she spoke which would have also indicated deception. Saige could be naive here and there, but she incredibly intelligent and she knew when she was, or wasnt, being played a fool. “I think I could make that happen… I think.” She wasnt sure of herself, hell, she wasnt sure if she could turn Zahara in the state she was even in. But that didnt mean she wouldnt offer to try to help Zahara get back to the children in Africa.
Zahara: I look at her with confusement, as I push back the tears that threaten to come again, it’s stupid crying over something so strange. Death is near, I know it is but I can’t stop thinking of those poor african children that depend on me, I look at Saige then. She said she could make it happen. Making me live I assume she means, does she know of a treatment? I dont know but I look at her and nod my head.
”How?” I ask. It has to be some kind of treatment, does she know anyone who could do brain surgery? I shift slightly in the bed, sweat clinging to my skin again. Odd that I’m going hot and cold, sometimes hot, sometimes hot.
”Do I need surgery on my head?” I ask. I’m nervous. Maybe that’s why I’m sweating, I think of the children again, scared for them.
Saige: She couldnt contain the sadness that swept over her. It was overwhelming, the way that Zahara made her feel. Though, it wasnt the other womans fault, the way she was slowly deteriorating mentally which led to a physical deterioration as well. Saige sighed, expelling what little stale air she had left built up in her lungs. This was the hard part, the explanation. She shook her head no to the womans question of surgery.
“What I am offering isnt a cure…” She started, but she frowned. It wasnt an unhappy frown, but rather just a sad one. Saige wished so badly that what she was offering was a simple cure… but it wasnt. “Im offering immortality, Zahara.” What had caused Saige to come to this, moments after meeting this frail sickly woman? She barely knew her, but something deep down told her that Zahara was important, that Zahara was needed, that Zahara would make things better for others; not herself. Saige reached for the towel again, moving to pat at the womans forehead once more with it balled up in her hand. “But there are… downsides to it.”
Zahara: Immortality. I blinked a few times, sweat blinking into my eyes. How did you get offered immortality on a death bed. How? Was there such a thing as the quest for the holy grail. I had seen the monty python films as a kid, but this seemed different I couldn’t quite understand it. She lifted her hand to my forehead and wiped away the sweat that seemed to be kissing against my skin there. I wanted to be okay. I had to be, I had so much to do in this life, besides. I was only twenty three. I needed to be an adult, I needed to party. Get married have children.
”How?” I ask tentatively. Unsure what the woman’s response would be. I know the other form of immortality was given through vampire blood, but this was the year two thousand and four-teen. There was no such thing as vampires, was there? I wait for her answer the clipboard still clutched in my grasp. My knuckles going white from the pressure as I wait. My chocolate hues glazed over once more with tears that threatened to escape.
Saige: She went quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to put the words into perspective. How could she put it, that Zahara would understand? No way, that was how. She took a deep breath, giving a slight shake of her head. “I am not human any longer, Zahara. I am vampire.” The word sounded wrong. It didnt seem to fit her tiny voice that came out in a hushed whisper as she moved to set the towel back on the nightstand.
“It’s okay if you dont believe me. I’d understand.” She gave a faint smile, clasping her hands in her lap. She herself wasnt sure that she would have believed a single word of it… but what choice did she have in revealing the truth? It wasnt like she could lie, or try to bend the truth even to suit the situation. She was what she was, and Zahara had to accept that. She just had to.
Zahara: It had been at the back of my mind, that word. Vampire. I knew what it meant. The way she said it to me, that she was no longer human sent a cold shiver down my spine. Was this the cure? Becoming a dead person. If it was how I can look after the children in Africa then that is what would happen. I knew if you wanted to become a vampire you would have to drink the other’s blood and enjoy it. Ingest it all. I move my lips to the side, curious as to what would happen. I extend my hands then taking her wrist in my palms and brought it to my lips to kiss where the vein would have been and waited.
”I understand.” I told her. ”If it saves them. I will do it. Do what you need to do.” I seemed rather calm, my voice was a little shaky but I had made my choice. Saige’s arm still in my grasp I didn’t know how she would pierce her skin but I had seen it done in films with their fangs was that what she would do now?
Saige: Zahara had taken her hand, hand kissed her wrist and looked at her with thsoe deep brown hues of hers. Saige stared, speechless. She had expected the woman to freak out. To start yelling at her, possibly throwing things, tell her to get out and to never come back. She was talking crazy talk, wasnt she? Saige had fully prepared herself to teleport from the bed there, fully prepared herself for that form of rejection from the woman she had just met.
But that rejection never came. Instead, what came was acceptance. She even touched her, the womans warm fingers pressed against her skin and offered a bit of human relief. Saige blinked at the feeling, it had been so long since she had had that, the touch of a human against her pale skin. She swallowed, nodding. “Alright…” She sighed, pulling her own wrist to her lips, her fangs extending to sink into the flesh there. Quickly, she reached and pressed it to Zahara’s lips, urging the woman to drink. Saige then reached and took the womans hand in her own, putting her wrist to her mouth and letting her fangs break the skin there as easily as possible.
Zahara: I waited I could feel my heart beating hard in my chest. Odd that I could feel it now, in my ears and every other part of my body. Was it because I knew I would be saying good bye to the sun? I knew what was going to happen. They were going to put me in a coffin and keep me there, bury me in the ground until I clawed away the lid and there atop my tombstone Saige would be waiting. Would she become my mother now? The woman took her wrist back from me as if she was recoiling but instead she bit into her wrist and my eyes were fixed on the blood that seeped from the bite, she pushed it to my lips gently and I opened my mouth welcoming the wrist my lips caressed her smooth, cold skin and I began to drink deep. I knew after I was done with this I would die. My body forever like this. I was in my prime, that’s not a bad thing really.
Saige takes my wrist then biting it. My eyes jolt open as I feel the sharp pain, it took me by surprise as I moan a little. I could feel myself joining with her. My soul becoming hers. Was she drinking my soul away? I kept on drinking. I drank enough until I felt sick. I pushed her wrist away gently after a moment of silent exchange my lips bloody. ”Will I die now?” I ask. Her blood had pooled at the corner of my mouth.
Saige: Drinking, Saige tasted the illness in the womans blood. It was an odd taste, the way it was coating her throat and down into the pit of her stomach. But once there, Saige could almost feel it changing inside of her, the way she could feel a connection starting to tighten between the two of them. She felt it like a twine growing tight, the way someone tightened a guitar’s string by turning the knob at the end of the fret board. She drank, until Zahara had allowed her wrist to drop, and Saige did the same.
She reached up to wipe the blood from her lips. If Zahara hadnt believed her, well, now she could. “I dont… I dont know for sure. I’ve heard of it not working at all, honestly. Its like rolling dice.” She spoke quietly, softly to the woman, grabbing up the towel and moving to wipe the droplets of blood that were escaping from the womans wrist. Her own wounds were already healing, her own blood contained underneath her sealed skin.
Zahara: I look at Saige as she drops my wrist gently. My own blood visible on her lips. Odd that I am looking at someone who has MY BLOOD on her lips. I never thought it would be possible let alone the fact that vampires are real, but i’m not complaining. It’s nice to think that this world isn’t boring. The tribes in Africa had their own little boogey man. It was nice to give the children a sense of fear, something to fear when they’ve been naughty. I look at the woman and smile at her as I relax back against my pillow. I guess if I’m going to die, I’d rather I die in luxury (against a pillow).
”Have you made anyone before?” I ask. Curious as I reach out to touch the woman’s hand my fingers briefly brushing against her cold skin. I turn to the doorway as I hear Christine come walking in and panicked as she looked at Saige. “It’s time you leave now dear, visiting hours are over.” She moved towards Saige and made a shooing action at her. She then moved to my bedside and looked at the little sucker that I had removed before and tsk’ed her tongue clicking against her teeth she looked disappointed in me as I looked frantically at Saige. I didn’t want to die alone. She re attaches the sucker to my head and gives one lasting look at Saige before leaving.
”Don’t go.” I whisper to her. I didn’t want to be alone, I had actually grown attached to her company tonight.
Saige: Again, Zahara had made that lasting contact, the feeling lingering even after Saige had long stopped thinking about it. She blinked at the question, tipping her head to the side she nodded slowly a couple of times, her smile returning to her lips. “Her name is Saki.” She doted, clearly proud of her little mini-me. The nurse walked in and Saige looked over to her, then up at the clock that was hung above the doorway. It was nearly time for the sun to rise, and Saige would have problems if it caught her outside upon its rising yet again.
She reached and took Zahara’s hand in her own, putting it to her cold lips and kissing the back of it gently before she settled it back down into the sheets. “Do not fear, Zahara.” She reached into her purse after picking it up from the chair, pulling out her phone and setting it on the table next to her. “Use this to reach me, just simply call ‘home’.” She smiled. At least there was that. “She waited until Christine had exited the room, leaning in to whisper at Zahara briefly, “I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.” And with that she teleported home, leaving the room as empty as it had been before she had stepped into it.
It was raining. I didn’t know how long I lay there dreaming, wondering what would happen. I remembered her, Saige. Yes that was her name. I remember HER. I remember the exchange of blood, but tonight I don’t feel any different. I’m not dead. I lift my arms then, and pulling my other hand out from underneath the sheets and feel for a pulse. There is one. I wrinkle my button shaped nose and turn over. My eyes closing as I begin to dream again.
I’m walking. I can see something. Someone. I edge closer to the figure as it turns around to reveal myself. My small stature, my nutella like eyes looking at me but there is something different my eyes look hungry, feral. I raise a hand slowly unsure what the other me would do. It looked like it had rabies. It touches me, our fingers touching as it moves closer its then that I can see dripping, oozing blood from my-it’s mouth. Running from the corner of it’s mouth to the chin and dripping onto the thin cloth like dress they make you wear in the hospital.
I scream but it’s too late, the monster, my doppelganger grasped at my shirt and pulled me closer it’s jaws opening and clamping onto my neck. I scream over and over until I feel my eyes close… then I felt nothing. Emptiness.
I wake up screaming. The nurse comes running again, she comes to stand beside me and places a hand to my forehead it’s sticky with sweat. “You’ve got a temperature, dear.” She told me and I shrug. Who cares? I think about Saige again as the nurse scurries away probably to get medication or something for my temperature.
The rain wasn't very heavy. It was just enough to look out and see a sheet of drops falling in the sky, giving an opaque look to the world as if you were standing behind fogged glass doors and couldnt simply reach up to wipe your hand to clear a path for your eyes to see more clearly. Saige opened her umbrella, and stepped out into the rain from under the eave, glancing at her watch on her wrist as she pursed her lips to the side and quickened her pace. She was running late.
Finally making it to her destination, she slipped inside the automatic doors and shook out her umbrella before shutting it and fastening the clip around it to fully close it. She didnt stop while doing this, making it to the second set of doors and stepping into the hospital just as she was finishing closing it. Turning down the hall that held terminally ill patients, she made her way right to the room where she had spent her previous night at; visiting with the young woman there. She honestly thought of nothing but the visit tonight all day, stuck at her desk at work with the events from the night before playing out in her mind as she tried to figure it all out.
Saki hadnt happened like that. Saige had bit the woman, and fed her own blood to the woman, Saki turning within minutes right before her eyes. Saige didnt know why Zahara hadnt turned. She knew that the woman was dying, that Saige hadnt drained nearly enough blood from the woman to actually kill her - but she thought that simply feeding her the blood in her veins would do the trick. She came up to the womans room and snuck her head inside the doorway, reaching up and knocking on the door very gently.
"Zahara?" She said timidly, almost afraid to find out if the woman was still alive or not. If Zahara died Saige still wasnt entirely sure what would happen to the woman. She was sure this was uncharted waters for any vamp, and so for now she would just try to navigate them the best she could and reassure Zahara that all would work out in the end if they just kept a positive mind frame.
I open my eyes slowly. I’m not really with it, I’ve been in and out of sleep since my nightmare, I havn’t got enough sleep. I never get enough sleep since I’ve somehow acquired this disease. I feel sick my stomach churning inside my stomach I want to throw up – empty the contents of my stomach would it make me feel better if I did. I don’t think I will, but I still want to. I think back to the last night, the taste of that metallic blood – was I a vampire now? I think my hand to touch the insides of my mouth my fingers idly scraping against the teeth she didn’t feel like fangs. Did vampires get fangs? I read it in an Anne Rice book that you did, but who knew. There was a lot of sex in those books too and I really didn’t like to read those parts.
The nurse comes back in and I turn my head away – if I pretend to not be here maybe she will go away and I’ll be left alone to ponder if I’m a vampire now. Thing is, she doesn’t go away she sits beside me with a bottle in her hand and a spoon I wrinkle my button shaped nose at her. She sticks the spoon in my mouth without my permission as I taste the thick, gloopy liquid and quickly grope for the bottle of water she generously offered me. What the hell did she give me.
Her hands touch the crown of my head as she pats it, like I’m some dog before exiting the room at a hasty pace. I eyeball the doorway before looking upon Saige’s face. She looks at me, and I at her. I take the first step. I ask her the situation.
”Am I dead?”
I ask her. My orbs look at her as I can’t at her a cough escape my lips as I ring my hand up to cover my mouth. I didn’t want her to catch my germs, but she’s had my blood – does that mean she already has them. Who knew.
The nurse shuffled past her, and she shifted to let the woman hastily exit the room. She frowned then, looking over at the woman in bed. She looked like death warmed over, the way she was coated in a thin sheen of sweat covering her face and forehead. She sighed, giving a small sad smile to the woman. She was there, and that proved that she hadnt died, right? How would they know if she was turned or not? Saige was sure she would know, though. And right now, she couldnt sense anything different about Zahara yet.
"You arent.... yet." She pursed her lips to the side, moving slowly to the womans bedside and sitting there before leaning to press a gentle kiss to her cheek in greeting. "Lovely, you cant get me sick." She smiled gingerly, reaching to move the girls hand off to the side before patting at it. She glanced to the door, then brought her wrist up to her mouth, tearing into it and offering the blood seeping from the wound there to Zahara's thin paled lips. "Drink..." This had to work. It had to.
I look at Saige, as she looks curiously at me – I feel like a lab rat, something that’s being experimented, just stick needles in me and we are good to go, or a hamster wheel. My hamster always looked happy in its wheel, back when I had one that was. It’s dead now, my little sister killed it trying to feed it chip it was like watching it convulse like it wanted to a model or something.
”How long does it take?”
I find myself asking Saige. In the books I’ve read, and In the films it happens automatically, but now it seemed to take forever, not that I was impatient or anything. I could wait – it wasn’t like I was dying or anything. She takes my hand then guiding it so it was beside me on the bed, she pats it and I seem to calm down. I didn’t even realise my body had tensed up – maybe it was because I was so enthralled by Saige’s presence – maybe she’s magical and does it to everyone.
She tells me to drink then so I do. I take her wrist slowly and bring it up to my lips repeating the action I did yesterday. The blood tastes odd to me, inviting as I began to drink it, pretending it’s like strawberry jelly, I liked the jelly – the blood didn’t have that bounce though but I still kept drinking, taking large gulpfuls as I gingerly offered my own wrist to her I lifted my golden hues momentarily to see the bite marks she had left on my wrist. Could be a hickey.
In truth, she didnt know how long this would take. She hadnt had a problem turning Saki. Not like this. She had fed the woman her blood and drank her own, and Saki had turned that night, almost instantly. She pursed her lips as she looked to the wrist offered to her. It was pale and slightly emaciated; it being clear to Saige that Zahara was sick, and only growing sicker by the day. Her illness was progressing more, and faster. She took the wrist up against her lips and as gently as she could pressed her fangs into the soft skin there to break it. Zahara's blood tasted different than the usual blood bags she had usually ingested. It didnt taste sick, no. It tasted... full, in fact. Full of the womans emotions, full of all the things that came with those like endorphins and serotonin.
She drank, but not too much, watching the other's color fade slowly into an even more paler Zahara. She stopped then, setting her wrist to the bed and reaching for the wet towel on the table to clean the wound that was in the same spot as the previous one. "I dont know... how long." She couldnt lie. Not to Zahara. She sighed, shaking her head. "It may be because you are sick... or maybe its me..." She shrugged, wiping her own wrist after pulling it from Zahara's mouth then, setting the rag aside. "I'll be back tomorrow though. Same time. Alright?" She didnt wait for a response as she reached a hand and gently stroked the backs of her knuckles across the woman's cheek before teleporting herself away to go home. Maybe V would know what was going on.
