The False Vampire

As I rounded the corner that was one hall away from the cafeteria, I laughed to myself. The place was practically deserted and not a sign to be seen that neither Samuel nor Elisa had spotted my exit. A grin spread across my lips, straining at my sunburnt cheeks, stinging. However, despite the pain I did not stop.

The memory of them fighting was just too hilarious. Musing to my self, I realized that it was one of those small memories that everyone had occasionally, the ones we were determined not to forget.

Deep into my own mind, I glanced out the windows. I thought schools in general were extremely closed in, places where no crack of sunlight or happiness could sneak its way inside the cold halls. Instead, this school had windows everywhere – much to my displeasure, and felt like a warm comforting place in general.

I guess they had to make it comforting, seeming as they had students boarding here. It also appeared that they had more money than a regular public school. Then, as my thoughts were twirling around in my head, one, unbidden popped up.

Who was Jae? Was he just a roommate? Or family as I suspected?

It seemed as though he were going to great lengths to avoid me. What did he even look like? I pictured him as a cross between Elisa’s eyes and Samuels’s hair. Although, it was impossible to predict what type of skin he had. Did he spend his time in the sun? On the other hand, in the shade?

It was as though I were obsessed with him. However, in the back of my mind I knew I was not. I was merely curious, a challenge presented to me but not fulfilled. I knew that soon, I would find out who he was, simply for the sake of my sanity.

The bell chimed loudly, shaking me out of my thoughts. When the ringing stopped, I could feel my head throbbing and my eardrums burning. All I could hear was a ringing. I glanced up, startled to notice my blurry sight, to see that I had stood right underneath one of the bell.
I laughed quietly to myself, my ears not yet being able to catch the sound. It was just my luck for something like this to happen.

- ♣ -

I stared at the wall, the tick-tick-tick of the clock annoying me, but also telling me when the bell would ring.

10 minutes

I sighed. This one particular class seemed like it was dragging on forever, I could confidently say, that even though I love children, I do not like this class. It was like, come on, I already knew that you could buy toothpaste for babies. And how to treat their hair for lice.

This class, was going to be extremely easy, if this was the rate it was going to stay at for the rest of the year.

Listening to the teacher, I absentmindedly scrawled tiny pictures in my notebook. On my face, my scar started itching. I reached up a hand to tenderly rub at it. I was afraid, that even though it was an old scar, that somehow scratching it too forcefully might cause it to rip open again.

I had ripped open a scar before – it hurt like hell. I’d rather throw myself into the sunlight on a forty degree (°C) day. That was the type of day when even a normal person could severely burn in a matter of five minutes.

I glanced over at the clock once more.

3 minutes

Glancing down at my stuff, I began to put my pens away in my pencil case. Closing the small notepad I had and putting them both into the small bag I carried, I glanced at the teacher. She still went on about lice treatments. Now, she had moved onto the methods of using vinegar.

Wow, fascinating.

Mentally, I could feel my eyes roll. Glancing up at the clock, I realized the bell should ring any second. I twisted my body so that my legs faced into the isle. I counted down in my head – 3, 2, 1, now! The bell did not ring. Now! Now! NOW! I huffed in annoyance, waiting for the stupid bell to grace its presence with its deafening ringing.

Annoyed, I rested my hand on my palm, my elbow propped up against the desk. The bell rang, its sudden appearance causing me to jump. My elbow slipped, resulting in the hitting of my funny bone. Painful tingles shot up and down my arm.

I shook it, to help rid myself of the annoying feeling. Quickly, I jumped up from my seat. Pushing the chair in, and wasting no time in exiting the room.

The hall buzzed with students, all of them rushed to either get to their dorms or get to their form of transport, all of them eager to get out of the school hallways.

I scrounged through my pockets, looking for the tiny piece of paper that had been sent in the mail. I growled, frustrated when I could not find it. I scanned the hallway, looking for a ledge of some form to place my bag on.

I found a small window ledge that looked out into one of the courtyards. A tree shaded the ledge from the small amount of sunlight that remained. I proceeded to search through my bags.

A object gently clicked against my heel. I spun around, looking for what caused it.

“Pah!” the voice was male, it startled me. I stepped back, tripping over a rod that miraculously had found its way to rest behind my legs. I fell to the floor with a thump. Air rushed out of my lungs for a second.

Grumbling to myself, I looked to see what had caused me to fall. In front of me was a cane sort of object, a ball attached to the end. Looking up, I saw it belonged to the blind boy.

“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” the words once more spilled out of my mouth. This person had a excellent talent for making me fall on my feet. Twice – in one day.

“Why are you apologizing to me? You’re the one on the floor” the ends of his lips twitched “here, let me help you up. He stuck a hand in my face, almost hitting my noise. Awkwardly, I placed my hand in his, allowing him to help me off the floor.

“Thank you” I gave him a grateful smile, knowing that even though he could not feel it, I hoped he could sense it.

“Can I do something quickly?” his brows were furrowed slightly.

“Sure, but first, what is your name?”

“Trinnean. Could you hold this please?” he held out his cane. When I grasped it, he grasped my wrist. I froze. Using his other hand, he, found my other wrist. He skimmed his hands up my arms. He cupped my neck with both his hands. One hand reached behind me to run through my hair.

“Strait, soft. Its natural colour isn’t it?” I nodded, knowing he would feel the motion. He grasped a lock of hair between his fingers, smelling it. “Jasmine shampoo?”

“Yes” he grunted lowly. Using his thumbs, he ran them over my face. Asking me to close my eyes then running his fingers gently over them. “What colour?” I knew he was referring to my eyes.

“Blue”

His hands were warm and calloused; it greatly contrasted to the texture of my skin. When he reached my scar, he paused. With his fingers, he searched for the top of it. Gently he ran his finger down it, his face pulling down into a frown.

“What happened?” his voice was gentle.

“I don’t remember” the words were just a whisper. With that, he pulled his hands away from my face, once more tracing his fingers down my arm and grasping his cane.

“Well, I must go. Nice to meet you…”

“Adrienne. Adrienne Haider”

“Pretty, can I call you Ren?”

“Sure” He smiled, it was only small, and you could tell the motion was unfamiliar and hadn’t been used in years.

“Well, nice to meet you Ren. Better be off” He saluted before walking away.

I smiled, returning to phrase and continued to look for the piece of paper. I groaned, still not being able to find it.

“Ren?” I turned around.

“Yes?”

“It’s in your bra” my face flushed red, I quickly said thanks before slipping out the piece of paper.

Sneaky rascal.