Love Plus Hate Equals a Pool of Your Blood

I stood behind one of the chairs and waited as the family finished their praying. It was amazing to see them praying, and it was...kind of...touching. Another bell chimed and they all stood up.I smiled when I saw who appeared to be Leah, and she rushed over to me. She engulfed me in a hug and grinned from ear to ear.

"Hi!I'm Leah!You must be Shade!"I giggled and nodded"It's so good to have you with us. I've been so excited to have you come. Everyone's been talking about you."
I blushed slightly."I hope they were good things..."
"Oh they were. They said how strong you were and that you were a very clever person. We've needed someone clever around here. Not that the masters and the leaders aren't clever but they've made a huge deal about you...so apparently you're more than just clever."I smiled at the compliment. I was pretty clever most of the time...well...if my body gave my brain time to weigh out the situation.
"Thank you."I whispered

"Oh!How rude of me. You must be very hungry. Come into the kitchen and I'll get you some waffles."I nodded and followed her into the kitchen, then took a seat at the kitchen table. I watched as she worked quickly and perpared me two waffles and some scrambled eggs.They looked delicious along side the orange juice, but I didn't want orange juice..

I wanted blood.

She saw how my eyes changed when she sat the glass in front of me, and smiled.
"I know how much you want the blood, and they may let you have some tonight at the welcoming ceremony, but not until then. They're not going to take you completely off blood from the start. They kind of ween you from it. They give you less and less everyday until you don't get any anymore. It seems bad, but you get used to it."She informed me, I nodded and took a bite of the waffles.

They were good, but not as good as I remembered them. It was probably because I hadn't eaten anything but blood for the past month. I quickly finished eating and went to rinse my things off. I left them in the sink and went back into the living area where the family was. There was no TV,computer or anything electronic for that matter in the whole dormatory. The kids played board games while the parents read. I didn't know if I could live this way. I was so used to spending my time on a computer, working on web pages and such. I wondered if this family even knew of a computer or television. I was sure the children didn't, seeing as they were born here, but the parents should have.

I took a seat in the chair beside the couch where Tommy and Leah were sitting. Kaity and Nora were playing a game of Monopoly. I smiled as I watched them get along so well. I once had an older sibling, Garret. He moved away before I even turned sixteen. When we were younger he loved to play with me, but as he got older, be began to be with his friends more and more often, until he just moved out altogether.

I got up from the chair and went upstairs to take a shower. I changed into a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. The only shoes I could find were a pair of flip-flops, which were suitable. I went back downstairs just as another bell chimed, and I found the family standing by the door.

"Come Shade. It's time for the welcoming."Nora said, I nodded slowly and nervously followed them out.