This past week completely turned my life around, most things for the better but there are some things that leave an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I didn’t know how much could happen within a week until, well, now.
To start things off, my name is Phoebe. I’m 16 and pretty much your average teenager. I hang out with my friends, listen to music, go out shopping, watch anime, all that stuff. Maybe not so average, but I enjoy wearing goth clothes, some fancy accessoires. Like I said, I’m nothing too unique that’s worth mentioning. Except there’s one thing that differentiates me from the people around me.
Unlike the people around me and presumably most of you people who are reading this, I’m not human. I am what you humans call a monster. Yep, you read right. I was gonna make it a big mystery but eh, this isn’t a detective novel. I’m a vampire. An undead. Spooky, right? Well, not really. Now, before you meet me with any prejudice: No, we are not mindless blood thirsty killers. No, we don’t think of drinking blood every minute we’re awake and no, we don’t live in graveyards. Most of us are pretty decent beings actually. But like with you humans, there are some white sheep among us. No wait, you guys say black sheep, right? You know what I mean. If you have any questions about what it’s like being a vampy, don’t hesitate to ask! Just please don’t be disrespectful, thanks.
I spent most of my “life” in an orphanage. My parents died shortly after I was born. And when I say I spent most of my “life” in an orphanage you can guess that this is a really long time. I’m not 16 years old of course. If I were, I’d still scream and cry all day and wiggle around uncontrollably. I’m actually 124 though I would be around 16 if I were a human. During my time in the orphanage I was alone most of the time. I was the only vampire in the orphanage, you know. I was forced to sleep during the day and during the night I was under constant observation. To prevent me from getting myself a midnight snack, as they said. Back then I didn’t think much of it but now when I look back at it, I think it’s kinda rude. Last week however, I was adopted by a human couple. And lemme tell you this is the happiest I’ve been in like 80 years or something! My “parents” Jenny and Aaron are really sweet and caring. They spent lots of time preparing their apartment so that it’s easy for me to adapt to human life style. To be completely honest with you, it’s really hard. I’m still super tired during the day and it’s hard to sleep at night. But overall I really enjoy living like you humans so far. There are some difficulties of course but nothing I can’t deal with.
I’d love to tell you my first week in human society was as happy and welcoming as my parents. But it wasn’t. The first day went pretty okay-ish, I’d say. My new tutor Ms. Jones supports the idea of integrating vampires into human society and promised me to always have my back which I really appreciate. I even made a friend on my first day which was and still is a huge success for me. I accidently bumped into her and made her fall. At first she was super terrified of me and basically begged me not to hurt her but after she noticed I’m all fangs but no bite as we say, she quickly opened up to me. Her name’s Claire and she’s been showing me around the school and you know, adopted me as a friend. Her words, not mine.
On tuesday things already started to get weird. I was in a bad mood from running into the local jackass and having class with a teacher that very obviously despises me just because I’m a vampire.
“Hold on, I have to put my books into my locker. Gimme a minute.” I heard Claire say just a few steps behind me. She’s in the same good mood she was in yesterday. I haven’t told her about my encounter with jackass aka Kyle, it would ruin her good mood. And of course I haven’t told her how he threatened me, piercing my eyes with his own, intimidating me with a clenched fist and his breath reeking of garlic.
“Uh, take your time. I need to put my stuff away too.” I tried my best to stop my voice from shivering. I didn’t want her to worry for now.
“You still remember your locker number?”
“Yeah yeah, don’t worry. I’ve got a decent memory.”
I kept walking down the thankfully empty hallway, counting the lockers as their numbers went up. Some of them were decorated with different stickers. Others had scratch marks on them. I guess that’s typical for human schools? Still lost in thought I reached out to my locker and opened it. My gaze fell into the small empty mirror hanging at the back of my locker. It was already there when I first used it the day before. I don’t even know why it’s there in the first place. Maybe the student who used this locker before me just forgot to take it back? I had no reason to put it away so I didn’t. After a while I felt Claire tapping my shoulder. “Hey, is this yours? It fell out of your locker.” She handed me a small note. I definitely haven’t written any small notes and I didn’t put any in my locker. “No, that’s not mine. Weird.”, I responded. I opened the note and while I did a familiar scent entered my nostrils. I ignored it however, and turned my attention to the words written on the paper.
I’m watching you.
I’m watching you? That’s some lame prank. Zero effort. I stuffed it into my pocket. “It’s just some lame prank probably.” “You sure about that? I wouldn’t disregard it that easily. Who knows who wrote this?” “That idiot who talked shit about me when Ms. Jones introduced me to the class?”, I rolled my eyes. I tried to appear confident, maybe even tricking myself into being more confident. Even if he’s the culprit, what’s he gonna do? I’m not planning on letting him bully me. “You mean Kyle? Yeah, that seems plausible. He’s got a problem with anyone stealing his spotlight in any way. Like you being a vampire which, by the way, is super cool!” she said while poking me with her elbow. “Wait, you really think so?” “Heck yeah I do! And your ears are cute! I wish I had pointy ears.” “O-oh, I see…” I was flattered honestly. Nobody had ever met me with positivity about it before. If I had blood I probably would have blushed.
Later that day on my way home I took the opportunity to look around in the city. I haven’t seen much of human society in my 124 years in this world so it was very intriguing to watch the people being busy with their everyday jobs. Waiters and waitresses serving their customers, florists watering their flowers, hairdressers sweeping the floor. It felt kinda peaceful in a way. Some people gave me looks while passing by me of course, but I’ve learned to ignore them. I’m simply me, what’s so wrong about that? My inner peace was abruptly interrupted however, when I went by an alley. I suddenly felt a strong grip around my wrist that pulled me into the darkness of the alley and before I could cry out another hand covered my mouth.
“Don’t make any noise or you’re gonna be sorry.”, the man told me. His voice sounded so cold and determined. It took me a moment to realize he had a water gun pushed against my lower jaw. Judging from the burning feeling I immediately got on that spot the water gun wasn’t filled with normal water. My heart started to race and I began shaking.
“Got you, you little pest.” He slowly took his hand off my mouth.
“Wh…what do you want from me…?” was all I was able to blurt out. I felt my shaking breath drying my mouth and throat. I couldn’t think and I didn’t dare to move a single muscle.
“Show me your teeth.”
“Wh-what?”
“Show me! Now!”
In a moment of complete panic I did as I was told. You may think I should’ve just clogged him or screamed for help but when you feel like you’re in grave danger (pun intended) and your adrenaline kicks in you sometimes lose control of your body.
“Holy shit. So it’s true. Okay, listen here, you little blood sucker!” He grabbed the collar of my hoodie and held it tightly. I couldn’t even say anything back. Not much longer and I’d start hyperventilating. I squinted my eyes in fear and I felt my legs giving out.
“Don’t even THINK of running your fangs into ANYONE.”
“I-I w-won’t-…” I felt my eyes starting to water.
“I’ve got my eyes on you from now on. Should you try anything fishy, I will come and get you. And I will end you. Don’t make stupid mistakes. Have a good day.”
With that he let go of me and left the alley, leaving a shaking and crying mess behind. I don’t know how long I sat there with waterfalls leaking from my eyes. Even the passerby who noticed me and asked me what had happened quickly left when she noticed I’m not human. I don’t understand why people hate me so much. I haven’t done anything to anyone. I just want to live a happy life. I took a detour through the local park to calm down. I washed my face with the fountain water. To be completely honest, at that moment I couldn’t care less about how dirty it was, I just needed to calm down somehow. I tried sitting on a bench and watching the birds build their nests. I stared up into the sky and looked for clouds that were shaped funny but no luck. I picked some flowers and made a flower crown and gave it to a little girl when she asked me what I was doing. I would’ve spent more time just sitting there but after a while I noticed my sunscreen was starting to wear off, so I went home. I made sure not to pass by any alleys and to stay in areas where people would see if anyone threatened me. When I arrived at home I noticed the car wasn’t there. Which meant there was a chance that I’d be alone. I didn’t like that at all. I waved to one of our neighbors before entering the house. When I entered the kitchen I was glad to see Aaron sitting at the table.
“Hey, Aaron. I’m home…”
“Oh, where do you come from now?”
“Uh…school?”
“I thought you were already home.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“I thought I heard a stomping noise from upstairs earlier but that must’ve been my imagination then. Those ears of mine aren’t getting any younger, ha.”
He took a sip from what I assumed was coffee and continued to look through his newspaper. I hear most humans do exactly that during breakfast, and not during noon. I’ve only known Aaron for a bit more than a week but to me he’s a pretty goofy guy. That’s what I like about him though.
“Say, little Nightwind…”
“Calling me nicknames already? And you do know that’s literally my last name?”
“Well, it suits you. Or should I call you Batty instead?”
“God, please no!”
He laughed while I crossed my arms.
“You’re not gonna go exploring the city?”
“Sunscreen’s wearing off.”
“Oh, I see! Jenny put it in the bathroom after you left this morning.”
“Thanks. Where is she anyway?”
“Buying groceries. She should be back in an hour.”
I left him be and went to the bathroom to put on sunscreen and change contact lenses. My hair also got messy from my encounter in that alley so I fixed it. The only thing I wanted to do for the rest of the day was lie in my bed and sleep. Just relax my legs, listen to music and-
“What the hell?”
When I opened the door to my room I looked into the eyes of a woman standing right in the middle of the room. I froze and felt my heart starting to race again. After a second the woman quickly jumped out the window and disappeared. I immediately ran downstairs.
“Aaron!!! Aaron! Hey!”
“Phoebe? What happened? Why are you yelling?”
“I…the stomping noise from earlier…!”
“Calm down! What about it?”
“There was someone in my room!”
I told him about the situation and he didn’t hesitate to inform his colleagues. He’s a police officer, you know. However, I didn’t tell him about the little pin the woman lost in my room. It was lying right beneath the window. It looks like a family crest but it just shows the sun. But like, in a weird way. Hard to describe. It feels as if the way it’s drawn has some kind of meaning to it. I tried to look it up online but I found nothing. It’s been keeping me awake at night. This sun symbol somehow gave me a really bad feeling and it still does as I’m writing this. The following two days I saw that woman again in the distance. Could be coincidence, could be her watching me which would be super freaky. If she keeps on doing that I might start to get daymares. The rest of the week nothing further happened that would be worth mentioning. Though that was probably because I begged Claire to accompany me on the way to school and home. If those people, if they’re working together that is, were watching me, hoping to catch me alone, well they didn’t get the opportunity they aimed for.
I seriously don’t know what to think of all this. To be honest, I’m really scared. I know Claire and Aaron are doing what they can to help me but these people don’t seem like amateurs. If I’m not careful or unlucky they might get me. For whatever reason.
I’m writing this on saturday but I don’t know when I’ll manage to post it. I’m thinking of maybe staying at a friend’s place who lives pretty far away from here, at least until Aaron finds out what those people’s deal is. Thing is, I don’t even know if these people are working together, that guy from the alley and the woman at least. Kyle is a whole different problem. Heck, I don’t even know what that woman was after. Maybe she was just a skilled thief who chose our house to rob and because she didn’t find what she is looking for she suspects I have it on me? It seems unlikely but unlikely doesn’t equal impossible, does it? The alley guy has problems with me being here, that’s a fact. I told Ms. Jones about all that happened too, even the note in my locker. Unfortunately she can’t do that much but she promised to help me whenever I need her. She’s too nice to me. I think I should make her a small gift to show her how much I appreciate her. What do you guys think?
It feels like the whole city knows there’s a vampire living here now. If it did, things could become even more dangerous. I know we don’t know each other but please, I would appreciate any good advice. If you could tell me anything, even if it’s just your ideas on what’s going on, that would be great.
I’ll try to update you whenever I can, I don’t know how often though. Until then. Stay safe, mortals.