Not Another Teenage Vampire Story

I had a sip of the Chardonnay, and then my own glass, and then a couple more glasses. Enough glasses for the conversation to be flowing smoothly now, I hadn’t realized vampires could get so tipsy.

“Trust me darling, you can sing! I bet you never even tried.” He laughed for no reason at all and I joined in with him.

“Only in my shower! But you don’t understand.” I leaned in closer to him and looked back and forth checking to see if anyone could hear me. “I’m scared to sing.” I whispered.

“Hah!” He burst out. “You? Scared to sing?! I’ll hear no such thing!” With that he was out of the chair and out of sight. I sat at the table looking around and feeling the happiest I’ve ever felt that I could remember. Suddenly I heard Caleb and my heart sank. He was on the stage, with two microphones in his hand. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to sing a duet with a lovely girl. Any volunteers?” Of course, Caleb being as attractive as he is got almost every young girl in this place raising her hand and jumping up and down. He pretended to scan the crowd until his eyes met mine. “You there! The pretty little lady at the table by her lonesome, will you sing with me?” I shook my head mortified but the crowd cheered formed around me and literally pushed me around till I was up on stage standing next to Caleb.

He didn’t understand, I had a severe case of stage fright. I bet he was trying to give me a heart attack. The music started and I gasped. I knew this song; it was by one of my favorite bands. How did he know about my passion for Owl City? The guitar played its opening solo and then Caleb started singing. He was looking at the crowd and not me.

“I opened my eyes… last night. And saw you in the low light. Walking down by the bay… on the shore. Staring up at the planes that aren’t there anymore.” I awed in disbelief, his voice was amazing. It was soothing and relaxing, I couldn’t get over it. It took all I had not to pounce on him on that stage. He kept singing and I listened to him like a star struck groupie would her boyfriend’s band. By the time I finally started really listening to him again he was almost to the chorus. “You can hear the waves… in underwater caves. As if you actually were inside a saltwater room.”

The music continued and he turned to me. Smiling, he handed me the second microphone. He actually wanted me to sing? I nervously fumbled for the microphone and held on to it for dear life. I knew which part he wanted me to sing, the song was a duet. I didn’t even need the words on the monitor. What I did need was to get the heck off that stage and back to my bed. Caleb probably saw the terror I was going through and he rested his hands on my shoulders. I was instantly aware of his touch. He spun me around so my back was to the crowd and I was facing him. We locked eyes and all I could see was him. I sang. “Time together is just never quite enough.”

(C) “When you and I are alone, I’ve never felt so at home.”

(M) “What will it take to make or break this hint of love?”

(C) “We need time… only time.”

My heart skipped a beat at the words, he was closer now, and we were only singing to each other, there was no one else in the room.

(M) “When we’re apart whatever are you thinking of?”

(C) “If this is what I call home, why does it feel so alone?”

(M) “So tell me darling do you wish we’d fall in love?”

(C) “All the time… All the time…”

We didn’t finish the song. We just stood there trying to figure out what we were feeling. It felt like minutes but I knew we were just there for seconds before he pulled me off the stage. He slid his hands around my waist and pulled me closer. I never wanted this moment to end. I was aware of everything, but everything felt so far away. We danced to the music as he whispered the words to the song in my ear. "So tell me darling, do you wish we'd fall in love?"I was in heaven. He pressed his forehead to mine and we locked eyes. The intensity in them intimidated me but I dared not look away. It was a look of longing, desire, love, and uncertainty. But that was impossible. Caleb had stated what he felt and it did not match his eyes. He let out a big breath and closed his eyes. “Mm… Capella,” he breathed out in a whisper.

I secured my hands around his neck and attempted to speak, “Capella?” He opened his eyes and smiled.

“We had names for each other,” he started. “Do you happen to remember… what you called me?” The song was coming to an end.

He looked through my eyes expectantly. I wanted to give him an answer. I know it must’ve killed him to see me not remember the life we built together. Come on Melissa, why can’t I remember!? I searched through my mind, but all that was there were fake memories. His eyes grew watery as the time passed. I didn’t know vampires could cry. The song ended, I wanted so bad to remember but it wasn’t coming. I broke our eye contact and he backed away from me. “Caleb…” I reached out to him but he backed away more. The vulnerable state he was in was gone now. The same hardness returned to his face. He shook his head and started walking out of the pub; I ran after him.

“Caleb!” We were outside now; the cool night air hit me and knocked me into sober thinking. The city traffic noise was our background music. I had a flashback of Max chasing after me a couple weeks ago but I shook it out of my head. That was a different lifetime. No, that wasn’t even a life, that life was a lie. “Caleb!” I grabbed his wrist just like Max had grabbed mine. It surprised me that I was able to catch up to him, I must be getting faster. That didn’t matter though.

He turned around to face me. There was no other expression on his face other then cruelty. He looked down at my wrist in disgust. “You should leave. Go home or something.” He spat.

I shook my head. “No, I won’t leave. Stop pushing me away!” I might as well throw myself out there now. I had nothing to lose. I was going to make a scene, people were starting to stare now. “I know you feel something; I know you don’t think I’m a mistake. Why can’t things go back to the way they were before? You love me.” He wouldn’t look at me. Every time I tried to make eye contact he’d avoid it. But when I finished, he stared directly at me, through me.

“I don’t love you. I don’t even know who you are. You’re a stranger.” With that, he ripped his hand away from mine and set off down the block in a sprint. I was left alone, rejected for the third time in two weeks, alone in the city streets. I didn’t even cry, I leaned against the wall and took out my phone.

I dialed the number I had been forced to memorize in an emergency and was so relieved when Victoria answered. “Victoria, I need a favor and you cannot tell anyone, not even Gavin…”

***

A train, ferry, and bus ride later, I was standing in front of my old, fake apartment door. The place where I supposedly lived since I was six years old, where I lived with a Mom who supposedly raised me since birth. I scoffed at the life I once knew, I didn’t need it anymore. Slowly, I raised my hand and softly knocked one time. The door opened.

“I’m ready for my old life.”