Without a Sound

I woke up once again to the scent of blood. This time I was sitting on the soft, mossy forest floor and leaning against a tree. I felt a dreadful sense of déjà vu when I saw Mikey standing a few yards away with the thermos.

I sighed, knowing I would end up biting him again even though I vowed to try my hardest not to. It was all too repetitive.

He put on a brave face and strode forward to offer me the blood. I snatched it from his hands, not able to help myself. He sat down right next to me, knowing full well he would be my next snack.

He was ready for it when I sank my teeth into his neck and hated myself for it. He was even ready for the tears that followed. He put his arms around me and said it was okay over and over again. I liked that. It actually did make me feel better. And, to tell the truth, I liked it when he held me and talked to me like that. I almost believed him.

“We’ll get to my house by tonight,” he informed me as we got ready to continue walking. I smiled. I fell asleep very quickly that time.

Hours later, a drop of water fell on my nose. I stirred and came into consciousness. Another drop hit my cheek, and I squirmed. Mikey was still carrying me. What, was he crying or something?

“You should take off your blindfold,” he mumbled to me when he noticed I was awake. “It’s daytime, but the clouds are covering the whole sky.”

A little confused, I tugged the blindfold off of my eyes. I saw that Mikey wasn’t crying; the sky was. Or at least it was about to.

Dark purple – yes, purple! – clouds clustered together in the sky above us. Eagerly I looked around, and I gasped. Even through the clouds, the sun gave light to the forest around us. I saw the brown tree trunks, the grey rocks, and the rusty-looking leaves that made up the forest floor. Most interesting of all was the leaves on the trees, the ferns, and the shrubs. They were all so green!

The clouds cast shadows over everything. It was going to rain! I loved rain. I had loved the sound it had made when I had been locked in the crypt. Now I could smell it, too. It was so refreshing.

Soon the droplets of water started to fall. I smiled and leaned my head back, letting it wash my face from years of dust. It soaked my hair and my skin until I was shivering, but I didn’t care. It felt good to be clean.

When I looked up, Mikey was looking down at me curiously. I guess my behavior was strange. My stomach twisted when I saw the jagged, rough skin on his neck: the place where I had bitten him. I frowned. Then I shivered.

It was Mikey’s turn to frown at that. I suppose he didn’t like it that I was cold. Really, I didn’t mind. I was up for anything new and different. Still, he held me closer to him.

All of a sudden, there was a great flash of light. It made my eyes ache, but for a second it made all the colors of the forest way more vivid. Lightning.

Then – before I even realized it was there – came the thunder. It was an ear-splitting crack that boomed far louder than anything I had ever heard. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and vibrating through everything around me, including Mikey.

I recoiled from the sound, curling into a tight ball. I felt like my ear drums were rattling, so I held my ears. It hurt so badly, and I felt tears running down my cheeks.

Instantly Mikey was sitting down. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “I forgot about the thunder!”

I opened my eyes and looked at him earnestly, trying to tell him that it wasn’t his fault. I had forgotten too.

Mikey dragged me to a nearby tree. I fit into his lap easily. He pulled the collar of the leather jacket over my ears. He held it tightly for a long time. It did help when the next thunder roared, and it didn’t hurt nearly as bad.

The rain washed mud onto our legs. Where we were sitting, we couldn’t escape it. That was okay with me, though. As long as the thunder wasn’t assaulting my ears, I was alright.

After maybe an hour or so, the storm moved on. The rain let up and the lightning and thunder were gone. The only things left were the thick clouds.

“Are you okay?” Mikey murmured when he unclamped his hands from my ears. I looked up at him and held his gaze for a long time before I nodded.

“Ready to keep walking?” he asked. Without waiting for me to answer, he pulled me up and we continued to move through the forest.

I couldn’t fall back asleep. My ears throbbed continually, despite Mikey’s efforts to protect them. He had done his best. In fact, I was surprised that he had recognized right away what the problem was. He was really, really nice.

So I watched the trees pass. When I got bored of that, I looked at Mikey’s face. He glanced down at me worriedly every so often. Then I settled on looking at the sky.

I couldn’t see that much of it through the trees, but what I could see was gradually changing from purple to blue. As we kept walking the trees thinned. I saw where the sun was.

Although it was covered in clouds, some of its rays seeped through and turned the clouds pink. It was low on the horizon.

Mikey saw where I was looking. “How long has it been since you’ve seen the sun set?” he asked curiously.

I gave him a puzzled expression and shrugged. Too long, I thought. Far too long.