Lost Kisses

She sat on the cold, wet, stone steps out side the library with her silky brown hair plastered to her face. It couldn’t get any worse than this. The rain was coming down in buckets now and her favorite band tee shirt was soaked all the way through to her stick thin figure. It couldn’t get any worse than this. Freshly applied eyeliner was streaming down her deathly pale face. Once again, she was alone. It couldn’t get any worse than this. Pulling herself up from her depressed position she stalked into the ally way. It wouldn’t get worse than this.

“I’ll be there at five, I promise.” His voice rang in her head. His sweet voice. Those honest eyes, anger and sadness welled up inside her. She was pounding her feet miserably on the hard wet pavement as she stormed along. Thunder and lightning crackled above. Did it have to get worse than this? It was going to, she felt it in the pit of her stomach and in the dead center of her lifeless heart.

“Me” was all she kept saying. “Me, stupid. Me, ugly. Me worthless. Me unimportant. Me a rotten piece of…” the anger ceased. Up ahead was a boy. His hair, like hers, was wet and sticking to his face and neck. It was long, wavy, chestnut brown hair.

“Sexy” she thought eagerly. A devilish smile leapt across her face as she prowled toward the mysterious boy. He looked about sixteen, her age, and was dressed in blue baggy and torn jeans. They matched nicely with his black sneakers and cream colored hoodie that he wore casually over a black shirt.

“Thirsty.” she thought now. “Why so thirsty?” She slowly approached him with the curiosity of a kitten. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks.

“I remember now.” She was finally thinking in complete sentences. “This is bad, real bad. Don’t go to him. You can’t be attracted to him. He’s like you. Listen to your past, you know you’ve been in this situation before…” a different memory hit her, like a brick falling from the sky.

She remembered it being warm and bright. She was walking down the sidewalk with her boyfriend Dave. They were laughing, joking around, running, pushing and shoving. Fun was barely the word to describe it. Then, it got dark.

“I don’t wanna go home.” She said to him when they were merely a block from her house. Her hands were pressed against his chest and he stared deep into her eyes. He loved her eye color. They were always a beautiful sapphire. Sometimes, when the light was just right, they were gold and it almost seemed like there was a tiny hint of… red.

Dave bent down to kiss the bearer of those sophisticated eyes. Quickly he saw those blue eyes turn golden then felt the sting, the life being drawn out of him. He only remembered her delicate angel face looking at him devilishly. Her lips were blood red and two sharp pure white teeth looked upon him hungrily from above and he lay in his bed with a throbbing head and a piercing pain in his neck.

For the next few days he steered away from her. Remembering that frightening night. Poor guy was confused and the only sign he got from her delicate face was sad and always walking away.

“I’ll be there at five.” He told her. He was ready to face her with his nightmare. Willing to find the truth behind this girl. But he never appeared at the library. Leaving her to a depressed state. Leading her to this mysterious boy.

She peered back into the eyes of this mysterious, dark, and handsomely devilish boy. Something was familiar about him. She knew she’d seen this feature somewhere before. Was it his face, and the way his statue like expression was fixed on her? Was it his hands, the way they were placed casually in his pockets? No, it couldn’t be. But ah, it was. His eyes, she had seen them in the mirror before and on the face of her mother and father as she watched them die. Those brilliant gold eyes with that glimmering red. It reminded her of the sweet blood she so often saw.
“I know you.” She whispered as she drew nearer.

“I know.” He replied.

His voice was so deep and thick. It reminded her of chocolate fondue. She liked to dip sweet red strawberries into the thick melted chocolate on cold winter nights. What was it with her and the color red? Everything seemed to be red, her favorite color, her favorite foods, that sweet, sweet gooey liquid… was that his voice? Yes, he was speaking again.

“I’ve found you, my angel. Come here, come back into my arms. I need you Rebecca, I need you.”

“Rebecca? Who are you… wait, what? I-I don’t know you! Leave! Get away from me!”

She dashed around the corner letting the tears pour freely down her face. It was the second time she had cried today. The tenth time this week. Depression was taking over her like the flu, sickening her to the very bone and leaving her hopeless, defeated. Her mother Rebecca’s face still continually haunted her dreams.

Rebecca was a star. The best in her family. So young when she died along side her husband, her only daughters father. Obviously the doctors never discovered the disease that killed those two. For what disease that killed a vampire would a human doctor know of? That was the problem. They could have lived if only they hadn’t wanted to keep their daughter away from the harm of that ancient world.

Ever since the death of her dear parents almost a year and a half ago she hadn’t once been truly happy. Some of her friends started to notice that she was “weird” and that her Aunt who was now her legal guardian was “weird”. People would see them walking into the woods at night and not re-appearing till the next morning, something unusual in this small town in Pennsylvania. When rumors started to spread that she had gone “emo” and that her Aunt wasn’t any help to her “emotional problem” most of her friends left her and gave her strange glances. Only one girl stayed friends with her, her name was Alice.

Alice was already a strange soul. She was always hyper and wore some pretty colorful outfits. Before her parents left her to fend for herself in this strange world she had seen Alice as a social disaster and nothing but a nuisance. But now, that she didn’t have many other people in the world, she saw Alice as a best friend, someone who understood when no one else did. When no one else wanted to.

She continued to run, letting these memories flash through her head like a slide show. Would she ever escape? Would she ever escape the fate of her haunting memories, of her mothers mistake? Never. Her fate had been chosen for her and there was no way out. Forever. The worst word to ever slide off the human tongue.

“Oh, god! Rebecca, wait! Please, slow down! I know I’ve hurt you, but you’ve hurt me too see?” That chocolate fondue voice came crawling after her.

His running pace matched hers just as it should. What choice did she have? Finally, regretfully, she slowed to a stop.

“If I die before I get home…” She thought. But then it was too late. Those cold hands of his were already sitting on her shoulders pleading and begging for her to understand something that happened way before her time.

“Please, Rebecca…”

“First of all, get it straight. The names not Rebecca. That’s my mothers name and if you ever speak her name in my presence I swear…”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I had no clue she… never mind. Go on.”

“Uhm, ok.” She continued as she was told. “What do you want from me?”

“I’m sorry. My mistake miss.” He removed his trembling hands from her shoulder. “I’ve mistaken you for a-a lost love of mine. Sorry for the inconvenience, and the coincidence with your mother, I’ll leave you to your peace.” Here his voice jumped an octave.

“What peace.” She mumbled, turning around and dragging her worn out body home.

She continued to walk towards her old 18th century house nestled upon the big hill in the woods, but as she walked her distinct senses could tell that he was boring his eyes into her back. And he knew that she could tell. But still he stared and his topaz eyes followed her all the way until she turned the corner. Then he retreated out of sight into the oncoming twilight.

She walked quickly down the road. Instead of going straight at the intersection, instead of going straight up the hill to the place she called home, she turned left. Away from the town, away from the people. Down the hill to the pleasantly dreary atmosphere of the cemetery.

"Mom? Dad?" She called, walking past headstones she didn’t dare read anymore. "Mom, some boy said he knew you, but he was my age." She came up to the pair of frightful familiar headstones. Rebecca Bright and Mark Bright. Here they lay, gone forever to the world.

With a sob, she cried. “Hold me.” Her body fell onto the mud that covered the bodies. She traced little pictures in the dirt as she sniffled and tears streamed down her cheeks, again. “You think I would have drown by now from all this crying. Or gone dehydrated. Or at least have gotten used to it, hu?” Silence. Nobody answered her question and nobody ever would.

She lay there a few more moments, reminiscing in sorrow and deep thought. “I’m going to leave now.” More tears welled up in her crystal eyes. She stood and said her goodbyes, gently placing a kiss on each stone. I love you!” Her voice squeaked as her sneakers turned and let her feet quickly carry the wet, muddy, sobbing body of a sixteen year old girl home.

“Darling? Good you’re home. There’s a message for you on your line upstairs. I don’t know what it says though. We’re having steak for diner!”

A trail of mud led from the front door, up the stairwell, straight down the hall to the door of the bedroom straight ahead. She stood in the doorway watching the light blink red on the little machine.

Dare I push the button? but her finger was already on the key.

“One new message. Beep. Hey, it’s me. Sorry I didn’t meet you? I knew it was going to start raining so I didn’t bother but uh, I think were over. I’m so sorry. I wish I could be there for you, but I can’t anymore. Babe, you’re freakin’ me out. Don’t bother trying to get me back, ‘kay? Bye. Beep.”

That was it. The one silver lining around the cloud that absorbed her world disappeared. Waterworks began. She flew up the spiral staircase that led to the tower. The floor covered the area of the entire house, so it was more like an attic. But the circular shape and triangle ceiling gave it a the feeling of Rapunzles Tower. She flew herself across the room and made impact with the couch. As the tears died down and as she slipped out of consciousness, the ran began tapping at her window lulling her to sleep.

In her dream, she went back home. Back to New Jersey. Back to her mansion on the beach. Back to the little girl in the white dress with the red rose print running across the white sand toward the crashing waves with Daddy chasing after her. Mommy came out the back door and followed her two loves down the softness of crushed rock, shell, and sea sediment.

Daddy and the little girl buried Mommy in the sand first, working hard. Then Daddy buried himself with the help of his little girl. Seeing Mommy and Daddy buried, the little girl played along and buried herself in the sand as best she could. The little girl waited in the sand for the game to continue. She grew old and tired of waiting. Later, she heard two soft thumps in the sand next to her, then one much closer.

Mommy? Daddy? She thought. The little girl was a big girl now, she could climb out of her hidey-hole all by herself. The thumps were round rocks sitting in dirt and not sand. They were surrounded by other rocks quite similar. She looked around, all the rocks had words and numbers on them. She looked at rock one, engraved with Rebecca Bright and two dates. She looked at rock two, engraved with Mark Bright and two dates. The one date was the same as the one on rock one, but the other date was different. Then she turned to look at rock three, the rock placed above the little hole she climbed out of. This rock said Hayley Bright 1993 - 2009 A Tragedy.