We Met at the Morgue
May 18th, 2009; Puking Blood
Frank quickly hung up his phone and had the most fearful expression on his face.
"Is everyone alright?" I ask. Every possible thing that could go wrong just flashed through my head about three times so I could scan for the best one. Frank looked at me with horrified eyes as he searched for all the right words. "Frank?" I called out to him while he was in his own mind. I reached out and stroked his soft cheek just with the tips on my fingers and lightly brushed it before he gripped onto my hand.
"We have to get to Downriver," He said sternly. Downriver is in Detroit. It's a hard place with gang violence and crime, but it is Detroit.
"Why?" I hardly got my question out but still Frank stopped me.
"I'll tell you on the way. Just get on my back and hold on as tight as you and do not let go," He ordered. In all my years of knowing Frank I've never seen him this...I don't know what to call it. I couldn't tell if he was angry, stressed, frustrated, or everything put to together. All that I could learn from his face is that something bad had just happened. "Do you understand, Sadie?" Frank asked. His eyes were so angry yet scared. I just nodded with a scared expression. Frank helped up since I was stiff with fright. So many option ran through my mind. Was someone hurt? Killed even? Had they found Dennis? Was he hurt or killed? The thought of Dennis's dead body just laying in Downriver made my heart break. I forbidden myself to shed anymore tears around Frank so I held them back with all of my might. But, not even all my strength could hide my heaving chest and quivering lip, especially from Frank.
"What's wrong?" He asked with a loving voice and stroked my cheek with his thumb. He wiped away any show of sadness, meaning my tears that had escaped my eyes. I looked away from his calming face and let a few more escape my burning eyes. I hate crying in front of Frank.
"Please, Sadie," He begged as he moved my sight back onto him. His stern face went back to calming and sweet.
"You know how I get. Whenever I think something bad happens I think the worst," I told him and sniffled. Frank wiped away the loose tears away with his thumb and looked me straight in the eye. He has those hazel eyes that could make the most clever of crooks tell their worst crimes. You just look into his eyes and your heart spills out all of it's dark secrets. Maybe he has a secret ability.
"What's the worst right now?" Frank asked, his eyes piercing my soul.
"That your friends found Dennis, but he's dead," I wept. The image of Dennis's limp, lifeless, body just stayed in my head. His tall body that my arms always wrapped around was now white and cold. His lips that showed me comforting smiles were now blue. And his energetic, dark eyes would now be black and cold with no life or energy. The more I thought about it the more I thought it to be the truth. Frank sat me back down on the bed and held me close to him.
"They did find Dennis," Frank began. "He's not dead," He said. So much relief fled into my body and I broke into tears of joy. "But, he was bitten," Frank finished. I hardly listened to what he was saying being I was so happy that Dennis was alive.
"What do you mean bitten?" I ask after everything set in. Frank took a breath and searched for more explanations.
"The guys found him in an alleyway in Downriver and he was puking up blood. That's the first phase of turning into a vampire," Frank explained. My happiness dropped and I didn't know what to feel. "First, when a person is bitten and the venom begins to attack everything in your body that makes you a living, breathing human. First the venom gets into your brain and heart and stops the heart then tells your brain to get rid of all the blood that was pumping through your veins through puking it all out," As Frank explained I now thought of Dennis as a bloodsucking fiend. His eyes call crazed with blood lust and tearing even the most innocent child limb from limb. "Then after your blood is gone the venom shuts down all your organs and teaches your brain to live without them functioning, which, sadly, is only by living off of fresh, living blood. After your brain is taught the fangs grow in. The newborn looses their sense of humanity for years before they regain any memory or sense of who they are or were," Each word hit my heart so hard I thought it would literally break.
"Can it be reversed?" I asked quickly as I tried to remember how to breathe.
"We're trying, but you and I have to get to him quick," Frank said and picked me up. I was beginning to think that this would all be too much for me to handle. I was beginning to think this was all a dream again, but it couldn't have been. Every touch and sense was real.
"Okay..."I agreed on seeing Dennis. I had to see if any of this was real. Frank threw me on his back and jumped out of my opened window. I wrapped my arms around his torso tight, so tight that I thought I was going to break his ribs. I screamed out yells of fear as we fell and hit the ground. Once Frank's feet touched ground he was off, running at hundreds of miles an hour.
"Is everyone alright?" I ask. Every possible thing that could go wrong just flashed through my head about three times so I could scan for the best one. Frank looked at me with horrified eyes as he searched for all the right words. "Frank?" I called out to him while he was in his own mind. I reached out and stroked his soft cheek just with the tips on my fingers and lightly brushed it before he gripped onto my hand.
"We have to get to Downriver," He said sternly. Downriver is in Detroit. It's a hard place with gang violence and crime, but it is Detroit.
"Why?" I hardly got my question out but still Frank stopped me.
"I'll tell you on the way. Just get on my back and hold on as tight as you and do not let go," He ordered. In all my years of knowing Frank I've never seen him this...I don't know what to call it. I couldn't tell if he was angry, stressed, frustrated, or everything put to together. All that I could learn from his face is that something bad had just happened. "Do you understand, Sadie?" Frank asked. His eyes were so angry yet scared. I just nodded with a scared expression. Frank helped up since I was stiff with fright. So many option ran through my mind. Was someone hurt? Killed even? Had they found Dennis? Was he hurt or killed? The thought of Dennis's dead body just laying in Downriver made my heart break. I forbidden myself to shed anymore tears around Frank so I held them back with all of my might. But, not even all my strength could hide my heaving chest and quivering lip, especially from Frank.
"What's wrong?" He asked with a loving voice and stroked my cheek with his thumb. He wiped away any show of sadness, meaning my tears that had escaped my eyes. I looked away from his calming face and let a few more escape my burning eyes. I hate crying in front of Frank.
"Please, Sadie," He begged as he moved my sight back onto him. His stern face went back to calming and sweet.
"You know how I get. Whenever I think something bad happens I think the worst," I told him and sniffled. Frank wiped away the loose tears away with his thumb and looked me straight in the eye. He has those hazel eyes that could make the most clever of crooks tell their worst crimes. You just look into his eyes and your heart spills out all of it's dark secrets. Maybe he has a secret ability.
"What's the worst right now?" Frank asked, his eyes piercing my soul.
"That your friends found Dennis, but he's dead," I wept. The image of Dennis's limp, lifeless, body just stayed in my head. His tall body that my arms always wrapped around was now white and cold. His lips that showed me comforting smiles were now blue. And his energetic, dark eyes would now be black and cold with no life or energy. The more I thought about it the more I thought it to be the truth. Frank sat me back down on the bed and held me close to him.
"They did find Dennis," Frank began. "He's not dead," He said. So much relief fled into my body and I broke into tears of joy. "But, he was bitten," Frank finished. I hardly listened to what he was saying being I was so happy that Dennis was alive.
"What do you mean bitten?" I ask after everything set in. Frank took a breath and searched for more explanations.
"The guys found him in an alleyway in Downriver and he was puking up blood. That's the first phase of turning into a vampire," Frank explained. My happiness dropped and I didn't know what to feel. "First, when a person is bitten and the venom begins to attack everything in your body that makes you a living, breathing human. First the venom gets into your brain and heart and stops the heart then tells your brain to get rid of all the blood that was pumping through your veins through puking it all out," As Frank explained I now thought of Dennis as a bloodsucking fiend. His eyes call crazed with blood lust and tearing even the most innocent child limb from limb. "Then after your blood is gone the venom shuts down all your organs and teaches your brain to live without them functioning, which, sadly, is only by living off of fresh, living blood. After your brain is taught the fangs grow in. The newborn looses their sense of humanity for years before they regain any memory or sense of who they are or were," Each word hit my heart so hard I thought it would literally break.
"Can it be reversed?" I asked quickly as I tried to remember how to breathe.
"We're trying, but you and I have to get to him quick," Frank said and picked me up. I was beginning to think that this would all be too much for me to handle. I was beginning to think this was all a dream again, but it couldn't have been. Every touch and sense was real.
"Okay..."I agreed on seeing Dennis. I had to see if any of this was real. Frank threw me on his back and jumped out of my opened window. I wrapped my arms around his torso tight, so tight that I thought I was going to break his ribs. I screamed out yells of fear as we fell and hit the ground. Once Frank's feet touched ground he was off, running at hundreds of miles an hour.