Six Feet Under the Stars

Dylan lay in a daze, blinking, as he stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling in front of his eyes.
This didn't feel right. No, this didn't feel right at all. Where was he? What the hell was going on? Millions of questions buzzed through his mind, leaving as soon as they entered, being exchanged for another unanswerable question. More and more questions piled up, and the answers remained as evasive as ever. Dylan's head felt like it was going to explode at the moment. It felt heavy; so heavy, and not only from the weight of all the unanswered questions. It was pounding, like the beginning bud of a headache-- it was manageable at the moment, but he knew it would only get worse from there. And his throat felt so dry, so... parched. He felt like there was a thirst that desperately needed to be quenched.

"Dy-Dylan?"

He jumped at the voice; if there was one thing he'd been expecting in this mess, it wasn't that. And then it hit him--

"Addi?!" He exclaimed in surprise, as he attempted to shift himself into a sitting position. He heard her give a gentle, scared whimper in response. It was a scary thought, seeing his older sister scared; After all, growing up, she'd always been the one to put on the brave face for him when he'd be scared as a child. But looking at her sitting on the bed on the other side of the room, even from this distance, he could see the terror in her eyes. Her normally perfectly kempt blonde and black hair was tangled, mussed heavily around her face. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic.

“Are you okay?” His voice was quiet, worried, protective. Even though she had a good handful of years on him, he still felt the need to act as a bodyguard to her. After all, the girl didn’t even reach up to his shoulder. Dylan saw her give a gentle, shaky nod of her head, and he exhaled in relief.

“Are you?” He nodded gently in reply. After a moment’s hesitation and a worried glance at the closed cedar door, Addison hurried her way over towards the bed where Dylan sat, legs dangling over the edge. As she shifted, however, a thought crossed her mind; she wasn’t wearing the same thing she’d been before. No, this wasn’t right at all. With another look at her brother, she realized with less surprised than she’d of liked, that his clothing had also been switched. Addi seated herself beside her baby brother, pressing her face into his shoulder as he wrapped one arm around her side, keeping her close. Her will crumbled in just a matter of seconds, and within a moment her body shook with sobs. Dylan could even feel her tears dampening the shoulder of his shirt, but at that particular moment in time, he could care less.

“Ssh, Addi, it’s okay… It’s okay…”

“No it’s not Dylan! It’s n-not at a-all… We m-must be some k-kind of f-freaks!” She choked between sobs, chest heaving. Playing with the edges of hair, Dylan spoke no more, instead opting to sit there until she’d calmed down. Because in all honesty, the words hit a sense of home to him. He felt… different, and not in a good way. Something felt different about the way he moved, the way he saw the world… He felt like he had a new found strength to him, something he’d never felt before. Unable to put a finger on exactly what seemed familiar to him, he instead opted to just keep his mouth shut. After a couple minutes, she pulled away, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palm. She smiled apologetically up at him, eyes bloodshot.

|”Sorry about tha—“

“Sssh! Hold on.”

Dylan frowned, leaning forwards, straining his ears. Silence. He shook his head in mute frustration.

“What?” Addi asked, mirroring his frown.

“I thought I heard something…”

A sharp bump, and a female voice from outside. Dylan’s frown deepened, eyebrows knitting. With her heart in her throat, Addi pressed tighter against him. Straining his ears even more, he heard footsteps creaking across the hallway outside. Oh, shit. He thought, watching the door, just waiting. Heart pounding in his chest, he felt a lone bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. After a moment of presumed arguing, the voices stopped, and the footsteps presumed. The doorknob began to twist, slowly but surely… Addi screwed her eyes shut, somewhere convinced in the back of her mind that if she hoped hard enough, that she’d wake up. That this would all just be a dream. That no, none of this had happened. They hadn’t been kidnapped, stuck in some unfamiliar place with people… well, people that could be very much terrifying.

But no.

Dylan blinked as the girl entered, stomach roiling in resentment. As much as he wanted to control himself in front of her, he stood up, bristling.

“What the fucking hell have you done to us?!” He shouted, unable to control it. His eyes held nothing but pure fury for the girl, and whoever else was out there. Dylan stalked up, prodding her in the chest with his finger.

“What is your fucking problem! Are you using us as some sort of fucking, genetic mutation?!” With each word, his voice out louder, fuelling his anger even more.

“Vampires.”

Dylan was taken aback by that, momentarily shocked into silence. A sour taste crawled into his mouth, and he glanced at Addi, who now looked more confused than terrified.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The girl launched into an explanation, and Dylan, feeling as though he was on some sort of pranked TV show, could only stare blankly. He glanced back at Addi one last time, feeling hopeless, and shook his head.

“No way. Vampires are like… fairytales. There is no fucking way that is even humanely possible. You’re not doing this to me, no. Fuck no.”

A sick, twisted smile crossed Addi’s lips, giving her a look that Dylan had never seen before. She laughed bitterly, sounding hollow. Alarmed to see the flash of fangs that adorned her jaw now, he paled slightly.

“Dylan, I don’t think we have a choice.”