Infatuated

There was no colour here. Absolutely none. The four walls, along with the ceiling and the tiled floor, were a blinding white. The uncomfortable plastic chairs were white too, about ten of them standing against one wall. A single white desk sat at the end of the room, a young woman sitting behind it typing steadily.

Her skin was the colour of printer paper- and her thin wispy hair was tied up in a severe bun, a couple white-blonde pieces falling into her colourless eyes.

“Excuse me.” I said, stepping forwards, my feet making no noise on the polished floor. “Excuse me miss?”

She didn’t look up from typing. She pursed her large ashen lips and tucked a stray piece of hair back into her bun with a claw-like finger. I took another step forwards, trying again.

“M’am.” I placed my arms on the desk, but jerked them back quickly. There were white as well, blending in with the desk. My cargo pants and tank top were bleached of any colours, and when I let my hair out of its loose bun, large messy white curls spilled out around my face. “Miss?” I tried again, desperate now to figure out what was going on. “Miss please. Where am I?”

She flicked her eyes towards me, and scanned my crumpled frame. Pupil-less and iris-less eyes blinked eerily back at me. Her lips curled downwards into a sneer, and she pointed to a large sign situated behind the desk.

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

“Yeah, well, I would make an appointment if I knew where I was.” I said haughtily, crossing me arms against my chest and tapping my foot impatiently on the floor. They emitted no sound.

The lady furrowed his brow and opened her mouth to speak- she remained silent. She just mouthed the words and gave me a polite smile when she was finished.

“Excuse me what?”

She tried again, but I didn’t understand. Her mouth was moving like she was talking, but no sound was coming out. She pointed to the row of chairs impatiently.

Sit. Wait.

I trudged over to the chairs and sat down, placing my elbows on my knees and closing my eyes, hoping to catch some z’s while I waited for this insanity to be explained.
I don’t know how long I sat there, eyes half closed and fingers drumming impatiently on my knee. Seconds?? Hours? Months? Years? There was no sense of time passing in the place.

Suddenly a door at the far end of the room creaked open, a girl stepped out. I almost didn’t recognize her when she wasn’t lying in a hospital bed attached to a bunch of machines.

“Silver?” I asked incredulously, my joints aching as I stood up. She was the only colour in this room, and it hurt my eyes to look at her. Her skin was white like the rest of the room, and so was her long straight hair that hung limply to her shoulders, except for a couple of faint red streaks that were barley noticeable. Her hospital gown was white also, but her fingernails were a stark black and her frowning lips a rosy pink. Her eyes glinted back at me in the bright light, a startling blue. Barley any colour, but hey, it was a start.

“Annabelle?” She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “The girl that came with Mikey?”

I nodded spastically. “It’s so nice to see you’re awake Silver! Oh, Mikey is going to be absolutely thrilled!”

Her face darkened with sadness. She walked over to me slowly and wrapped me in a hug.

“Oh Annabelle.” She murmured into my hair, then sat me down on one of the chairs.

“What?”

“I’m not awake.”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Yeah you are. I’m talking to you. Geez, lay off the crazy pills.”

She just looked at me, and for the first time I noticed that she had no pupils. Only cold blue irises.

“Right?” I squeaked when she didn’t answer. “You’re awake right? You’re alive, up and walking, breathing, living, ALIVE?”

“I’m alive.” She amended quietly, twirling her white hair around her finger slowly. Last time I saw her it was black... “But-”

“But what?”

“But just barely.” She let the piece of hair float down so it rested on her shoulder once more. “I mean, you saw me Annabelle. Machines are breathing for me. I’m getting fed through an IV. I’m artificially alive. I should have died when Mikey put me out. But I didn’t. And with the help of the hospital, I’m cheating death.”

Cold dread creeped into my heart.

“Death doesn’t like to be cheated Annabelle.” Silver sighed, a milky tear rolling down her cheek. “I was suppose to die but I didn’t. So here I am.”

“And where exactly is here?” I whispered quietly, not sure if I wanted to know.

“The halfway point.” An unsettling grin settled on Silvers lips. “Between life and death.”

“What are you smoking?” I scoffed, crossing my arms across my chest and leaning back. “But really Si, where are we?”

“The halfway point.” She said again. “Right now, your nearly lifeless body is sitting in the concrete room. Beck has killed Jeremy-”

“Who?”

“Jeremy. The vampire who made Gerard kill you. Really Annabelle keep up.” She rolled her eyes. “Gerard has snapped out of his blood-lust, and him and the boys are leaning over your body.”

“Wait- how do you know about this? How do you know about Beck?”

Silver seemed uncomfortable. “Sometimes I see things.” She muttered, “Death gives me images I can’t get out of my head. They’re usually of you guys. Don’t you think Mikey’s cute? I mean, the glasses and the whole ‘Adorable Dork’ is not usually my thing but damn. I bet he has a six pack under that jumper.”

“Focus Silver.”

“Right, sorry. Anyways. Gee bit you.”

“No shit.”

“No, I mean, he bit you again. He injected venom this time. He thought it could save you.”

“He thought?”

“Well, you’re here aren’t you?” She said.

“So either I die here, or I become a vampire?” My choices were grim.

“Well, you won’t die here exactly.” She shot me a sheepish grin. “You’ll just fade over time into heaven. Or hell. Either one.” For the first time I noticed that we were more alone in the room. A couple other people were there was well, their nearly transparent frames shimmering slightly.

“Gee thanks.” I said, a little insulted. “Wait Silver.” In my head 1 1 wasn’t adding up to two.

“Yeah?”

“Why are you here?”

“Oh.” She scratched the back of her neck, twiddled her thumbs, did pretty much anything except look at me. “Well, about that.” She took a deep breath. “I’m coming back to life. Extremely slowly.”

“That’s fantastic!” I enthused. Silver did not look happy.

“Not really.” She sighed and put her face in her hands. “It hurts. A lot. I come here once a month and a little bit of life gets given back to me. But it hurts so much Annabelle.” Her voice cracked, “The process may kill me before I get fully restored.”

“I can tell the hospital to give you morphine or something.”

“If you go back.” She said, but then noticed my horror-struck expression. “Sorry. But it’s a possibility. And anyways, it wouldn’t help. It’s not that kind of pain.”

“Mikey will be happy if you wake up.” I shot her a half-hearted grin. “Do it for him.”

We sat in silence for a while, the quiet almost swallowing me whole. Suddenly Silver reached into the pocket of her hospital down and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “You should probably go give this to the receptionist.” She handed me the crumpled paper. “It’s your appointment slip.”

“My appointment with who?” I asked as I walked towards the desk. But Silver was gone.

“Um, hi.” I said nervously and handed the woman my slip. She scanned it quickly. “You’re late.” She rasped.

“Oh now you talk.” I muttered quietly.

“Annabelle Jesora Dapper you are late for your appointment. Lateness it not tolerated here. He will see you now. Get this signed and give it to me when you leave. Thank you and have a pleasant afterlife.”

“Who will see me?” I questioned. She just pointed at the door that Silver had come out of and went back to her seemingly pointless typing. I hesitantly walked towards the doorway and knocked softly.

“Come in.” A bored sounding voice sounded from within.

I stepped inside the office, which was a dull white colour-scheme like the rest of the place. A fat middle-aged man sat behind the desk, sorting through a file cabinet. He pulled out a thick file and set it on the desk with a soft thud.

“Sit down.” He growled and I did, folding my hands nervously in my lap. I glanced at the name plate on the desk.

‘Mr. Death’ glinted back at me in cold white letters.

“No way.” I muttered, “You’re death?” I scoffed.

“Believe it sister.” He winked at me and started sifting through a file labelled ‘A. Dapper’

“So.....” I looked around the room nervously. Several black and white photographs lined the walls. “This has been nice and all but... can I leave now?”

“You see.” Death heaved a giant sigh and shut my folder, replacing it in the file cabinet. “We have a small problem Annabelle. May I call you Annabelle?”

“What problem?”

“Well if you want to skip the pleasantries so be it. Annabelle, you were supposed to die in the kitchen along with your mother when you were sixteen. You’ve lived 11 years longer than you should have. You are 27, correct?”

I nodded uncertainly.

“Good. Math has never been my strong suit. Anyways, you owe me 11 years. So I’m thinking spend 11 year working as a barmaid in a shitty motel bar in hell then I’ll send you up to heaven. Sound fair?”

“NO IT DOES NOT SOUND FAIR!” I gasped. “This whole mess is not my fault. It’s yours!”

“I don’t like your tone.” Death warned quietly, “I’d watch it if I were you.”

“No you watch it!” I hissed, standing up and jabbing my white finger at him. “I’ve been to hell and back for god’s sake. My mother was murdered, then as soon as I find someone else I care about, you decide to take them away from me too.”

“Yeah well,” Death scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “You were kind of an experiment.”

“Excuse me?” I growled.

“Well, you see.” Death folded his hands on his desk, a sheen of sweat glistening on this balding forehead. “I made a bet...”

“A BET?” I thundered.

“Yeah. A friend of mine bet me his soul that you guys, a hunter and a vampire, would fall in love. I thought you would end up ripping his throat out.”

“You sir,” I seethed, slamming my hands down on his desk, “Are the world’s biggest asshole.”

“So I’ve been told.” A wry smile graced his thin lips.

“Send me back.” I hissed, “You screwed me over, send me back. You owe me.”

“I owe you?” He chuckled, “Darling, I’m Death. I can do whatever the fuck I want. So sit your ass down and let’s talk like civilized human beings.”

“Civilized?” I scoffed, “I’m sitting in a shitty office with death, and I’m still trying to decide whether or not I’m crazy. There is nothing civilized about this conversation at all!”

“I’ll make you a deal.” A malicious grin spread onto Death’s lips. “I’ll send you back to your body, but you have to survive the changing all by yourself.”

“The what?” I asked.

“The changing.” He repeated. “If you go back you’ll turn into a vampire. Or something along those lines. Only the strong survive. And in this state, you’re pretty weak dollface-”

“Don’t call me that.” I snapped.

“Anyways, you’re pretty weak, so I have a feeling you’re going to end up in this office pretty soon. And for that attitude you gave me, you’re going straight to hell young missy. So what’ll it be? 11 years in hell then pure bliss, or will you take your chances back in the mortal world, which don’t look good by the way.”

“Do it.” I said eagerly, “Send me back.”

“Very well.” Death sighed and pulled out a red pen, “Give me your slip.”

I threw it at him and he signed his name, then wrote a couple of things on the back.

“Give this to the receptionist.” Death sighed, handing it back to me. “I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you very soon Ms. Dapper. It’s been nice meeting with you.”

“Wish I could say the same.” I muttered, and then strode out of the office, walking over to chalky receptionist. I handed her the slip and she scanned it quickly, frowning at the request written on it.

Suddenly icy pain exploded from my neck, and I let out a shrill scream and crumpled to the floor. My hands flew up to my neck, and they came away slick with red blood.

The white room was fading rapidly and the pain in my neck was increasing, icy shards exploding throughout my veins. The last thing I saw before everything faded was the large white eyes of Death’s receptionist.

***

My body felt like it had been submerged in liquid nitrogen, then hit by a truck, then thrown in a flash freezer, then defrosted, and then thrown into an oven, and then frozen again.

“Tess.” A faint voice echoed, floating farther and farther away. “Tess, sugar, hang in there. Everything’s going to be all right I promise. I won’t let you go. Please, for me. Just, keep that pretty little heart beating for me.” A pair of lips pressed against my forehead, and my body relaxed, the pain washing over me in giant waves.

I focused on those lips, pressed gently to my forehead, and tried to ignore anything that wasn’t them.

I opened my own lips and a faint whimper slipped out. My eyes fluttered open, unable to focus on anything too far away. The only thing I could see was Gerard’s worried face, his warm hazel eyes blinking slowly and his messy black hair falling around his face.

Through the pain I smiled, and leant up to place a weak kiss on his lips. His arms tightened around my broken frame he laughed, hysterical and joyful he laughed.

“It’s okay.” He grinned, pushing my hair out of my face, and I let my eyes slide shut, the pain beginning to cloud my vision. “It’s almost done Tessy I promise. Just hang in there. Everything’s going to be all right. I promise.”

And for once I believed him.