Without a Sound

I spent a very long time examining the forest. Every rock and fern interested me. Once, a black bird landed on a branch very close to the mouth of my cave. Its feathers gleamed, but it flew away when it saw me. I couldn’t really blame it. I was a monster, after all.

After maybe an hour had passed, I felt something climbing up my leg. When I looked down to see what it was, I smiled. I loved spiders. They hadn’t abandoned me when I had been trapped in the tomb. They had been my friends.

I held my hand out to it, and it crawled on. I played with it, turning my hands so that each time it made its way to the edge, my other hand was there to catch it.

I let it back onto the cave floor when I sensed the blood. My smile faded. It was definitely Mikey approaching, and he was full of blood again. He also had the thermos. The thermos I didn’t mind. However, drinking his blood made me feel a lot guiltier. I hoped I wouldn’t bite him again.

When he came into view and saw me waiting, he smiled. I just waited for him nervously. Already I felt myself being drawn to his blood. I was glad that he took off the lid of the thermos before coming closer to me so that I could focus on that.

Its scent flooded through the air to my nose. It smelled better than Mikey’s blood. It grabbed my full attention, and I reached for it eagerly.

He handed it to me quickly. Even through the frenzy I was sent into as I drank the blood, I had enough of myself left in my head to feel proud of myself for being able to drink it without Mikey’s help. Speaking of him, he sat down on the ground right next to me.

Oh, but what could I have done when I drank every last drop and he reached out to take the thermos from my hands? I was still unbearably thirsty, and his arm was right in front of me. I tried as hard as I could to stop myself, but my body acted without regarding my mind’s wishes.

I snapped at his upper arm. This time he didn’t even flinch. It was light he had been expecting me to drink his newly replenished blood. Maybe he had.

I gagged again when I had drained him. Then I put my head in my hands and sobbed silently into my leather-coat-clad arms.

He let me cry for a little bit before asking, “Why are you crying?”

When I didn’t answer, he continued, “If it’s because you’re drinking blood and you feel bad about it, you’re crazy. I drink blood too, so I’m not judging you. It’s in our nature. We have to. It’s part of who we are, so don’t judge yourself so harshly.”

He paused to gather my knotted hair in his hands and throw it behind my back. I didn’t respond. “It’s because you drank my blood, isn’t it?” he asked. “I know it is. You only cry when you’re drinking from me. Hey, don’t worry about it. I can’t imagine how thirsty you are. I know you tried your best not to.”

He patted my shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. If I really didn’t want you to drink my blood, I just wouldn’t let you. It wouldn’t really be that hard to hold you off. But… you’re just so skinny. I don’t mind letting you do it. It doesn’t even hurt that much. Look. See? It’s not even bleeding.” He laughed shortly.

I looked up skeptically. He was holding his arm in front of my face for me to look at. He was right. Not a drop of blood fell from the wound. Of course it’s not even bleeding! I thought. I drank all the blood! But he had laughed, and – although it had sounded nice – it confused me.

Oh, right. Maybe he had been making a joke. He had been kidding! Ha. I kind of smiled.

“There you go,” Mikey said, grinning. “Now let’s start heading to my house. You go ahead and sleep while I carry you. I’ll wake you up tomorrow night when I’ve got more blood for you.”

He frowned and started to think out loud. “Hm. If we walk through the day, the sun will hurt your eyes.” He looked around. Finally he settled with tying a strip of his shirt around my eyes like a blindfold.

Then he picked me up and started walking.

The lullaby of the forest began. The wind blowing through the leaves, the smells of the forest, his even breathing, and walking and his arms a perfect cradle around me. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

And what a wonderful sleep it was! I never remembered sleeping in my former prison. I had always been half awake. It was an amazing feeling to be able to escape everything for a little while.

I woke up to the overwhelming smell of blood. I had slept through the walk through the rest of the night and the day and even missed Mikey leaving me. Now he was just returning with my nightly serving of blood and had just taken off my blindfold.

I drank it while my chest throbbed with dread. I knew what was coming next. Once again, I tried to stop it. I really tried my hardest not to bite him, but it was no use. I still bit him.

This time I got him in the lower leg. It made me feel even more like an animal or a creature then ever before, and I cried again despite his gentle consolation.

“Go back to sleep,” his sweet voice crooned when I was too tired to cry any more. “You definitely have a lot of sleep to catch up on. How long had it been? Fifty years?”

He tied the strip of his shirt around my eyes again before lifting me. I wondered if he would ever get tired of carrying my weight. What weight? I contradicted myself sourly.

This time it took me a little longer to fall asleep. Maybe it was because I was thinking about how lucky I was to be found by this particular person.