Compare and Contrast

I can only describe this view with three words. Confusing, scary and fast. One second I was arguing with Lee, the next I was hiding away as I watched a fight unraveling right in front of me. In the blink of an eye Karma was fighting with Craig, until Max pulled her away. Everything was happening so quick and sudden. I must be sleeping or something, I thought, rubbing my eyes in attempt to wake up. After a moment someone finally snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Dakota-,” a male voice started.

“Max?” I cut him off. His eyes hypnotized me for a moment. The color had changed from a dark green to a brighter shade. A smile was about to form on my lips, but I stopped realizing the situation we were in.

“I was in the middle of fucking fighting, you asshole!” Karma yelled.

"I know."

“Then why did you-”

“Karma I have a headache and you’re making it worse with your yelling,” I stopped talking for a moment when my voice began to crack slightly because of how loud I had to speak to be heard, “You don’t have to be a bitch. Craig almost hit you and Max just saved you from it. At least be a little grateful.”

“Stay out of this; I wasn’t even talk to you. Why don’t you just run on home to your mom or something? No one wanted you here in the first place. I don’t even know why you bothered-”

“Whoa, relax. Both of you obviously need to sit down and talk-”

“You deserved what was coming at you,” I told her. “And you,” I turned to Max and pointed, “I don’t know why you didn’t let him. She deserves at the least a punch in the face for being such a bitch.”

“Ahh!”

“Oh, my God,” I said in a breathy whisper.

The view in front of me was not right. Lee had a wild look on his face as he pinned Craig down on to floor. He leaned down, as if he was planning on kissing Craig’s neck. He pulled away with a look of disgust, and stood up leaving Craig on the floor, a hand over the part where Lee had been.

His teeth.

I stumbled back when Lee faced me. The same look of innocence, only something in the picture was different. He was in front of me in seconds, but something was very, very wrong this time. I stiffened and my body temperature went down. You’d think my eyes were going to fall out from how wide they were open. It felt like ice was running through my veins.

It wasn't supposed to be possible.

+++

I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who I was.

That was until I heard someone speaking. Then they started shaking me lightly repeating a name over and over, but I couldn’t see who it was, and I didn’t want to see. I thought about keeping my eyes closed and ignoring them, hoping maybe it would stop so I could go back to sleep. I had almost forgotten my own name, but come to my senses when I remembered I could open my eyes. The person that met my gaze when I opened them was a boy.

“She’s awake!” He announced, grinning down at me.

“Too bad,” a female voice retorted in a bitter tone.

It was Karma standing behind Oliver (who’d gotten me out of my unconsciousness), crossing her arms with an annoyed expression on her face. She swiftly turned to leave.

“Hey Lee! Come over here!” Oliver yelled before turning back to me “How do yeh feel, Dakota?”

“I feel…f-fine. What happened?”

“Well,” He seemed to be gathering his thoughts as he scratched his head, “Oh yeah!” He took a seat down next to me on the bed and crossed his legs Indian style, preparing to share the events from a few hours before, “I wasn’t there the whole time, bu' Tom tol' me wha' happened. Lee an' yeh were arguing abou' Craig an' his mates-”

“Oli.” Lee shook his head in disapproval as he made his way over to the bed in a hesitant style. He wasn’t even 10 feet away when he stopped walking. I breathed a deep sigh, and stood up to get a closer. “Is something wrong?” I said after seconds of awkward silence.

Oliver cleared his throat and mumbled something about needing some water before leaving us in the room. The room itself wasn’t that nice-looking. Just a bed, dresser, and small night stand with a lamp on top.

“Nothin's wrong. I jus' wanted teh talk abou' wha' happened…” he looked down at the floor not wanting to meet my eyes. He turned around the opposite direction of me. I didn't understand why he was trying to avoid eye contact? “Wha' yeh saw…did it scare yeh?” Oh, that's why.

I didn’t know what to say. It did scare me.

“Yeh don’ have teh lie.”

“What was that…your t-teeth,” I couldn’t speak from how much I was shaking when I recalled the image, which would forever be implanted in my head. “Where’s Craig!?”

“Craig’s fine, Dakota. What yeh said abou' my teeth, what was the first thin' tha' came teh mind when yeh saw me like tha'?”

“Nothing?” I answered in a questioning tone.

“Come on, thin' abou' it!” Lee looked angry and it upsetting me, "Yeh fainted! People don' jus' faint for nothin'!"

I shook my head, “What do you want me to say?”

“Maybe I have teh remind yeh,” he finally faced me as he showed off the two pointy teeth that hadn’t been there before, "An' I'm not the only one. All of us are like this, Dakota. Oliver. Nicholls. Curtis. Kean. Even Tom."

I couldn’t believe it.

“We're all vampires.”

Vampires. The word echoed a thousand times over in my head, still my mind couldn't, wouldn't comprehend it. I stopped breathing, closed my eyes and tilted my head, tightening my fists and jaw.

I took a deep breath, attempting to steady it. "Vampires?"