Sooner Or Later

Claire woke to the sound of voices. She lifted her head and slowly opened her eyes.
She could see light seeping through the sides of the windows and recognised the room as the lounge in Ray’s house. She closed her eyes and focused on the voices drifting through the room.
“Where is the other one?”
“Still sleeping”
“Will she be okay for travel?”
“What do you mean? Where would she be going?”
“We can’t stay in your house.”
“I said you and Claire could stay as long as you liked, what’s the rush?”
“We can’t risk the other vampire returning.”
“She wont, I don’t see why you have to leave.”
“Look, I’m calling the shots here, it’s not your decision to make.”
“It’s not yours either! You can’t decide her life for her.”
She heard a frustrated sigh and Frank stormed into the lounge.
“Claire? Are you awake?” He asked,
She opened her eyes, looked back at him and nodded.
“I’ve packed your bag, and we should head off now okay?”
She sat up on the couch she had been sleeping on and rubbed her eyes.
“But it’s light outside…” she replied, finding her voice.
Just then Ray walked into the room,
“Frank, you’re being ridiculous – “
“No, I’m being careful! You don’t have any idea what kind of life we have to live.”
“Look, I’ll change the locks if you stay here for a few more days.”
“Locks? Locks won’t help keep Claire safe.”
“Well if this whole thing is about Claire’s safety, why don’t you let her decide?”
Frank rolled his eyes and looked at Claire, “So when do you want to leave?”
It was then that it occurred to Claire that she had never been given a decision like this before. She had always followed Frank, knowing that she had no other choice.
“I….I don’t know. Why don’t you choose?” she said, feeling a little overwhelmed.
Ray looked at Frank sharply.
“See? She can’t even make her own mind up, look what you’ve done to her!”

As the two boys continued to argue and their voices began to rise, Claire slipped out of the room. She didn’t want to be the cause of the conflict and she wished that Frank and Ray got along… but then again, it was probably her fault they didn’t. She felt like a child that two parents were fighting over for custody, and she was scared to pick someone to side with. She chewed nervously on her fingernails as she sat on a seat in a spare room she had wandered into. It seemed to her as though everyone she trusted turned against her; first Alecia, then Stormy. Admittedly that was only two people, but it was the first friends she had made since becoming a Vampire. It was like this half-life she lived was full of fake friends and empty promises.
She felt a hand touch her pale arm and turned to see Frank looking at her concerned.
“I’m sorry things got so heated back there, we can stay if you want… but first there is something I need to tell you about Emily and Trina…”

Ray was bent over a notebook scribbling out his thoughts when he heard a cry erupt from the other room. He sighed but continued to write; Frank was probably telling Claire the bad news about her friends. They had agreed to tell her before nighttime and before she could ask where they were, but it broke his heart to see her sad so he tried to persuade Frank to put off telling her for a while. Sure, he had had a hard life, but his troubles somehow were dwarfed in the presence of Claire’s sad, empty eyes. He guessed her life had been worse than she let him know and the fact that her family thought she was dead probably wasn’t helping either. He tried to block out her cries, but now he could hear soft sobs that seemed to follow him even when he left the kitchen and wandered outside, standing in the shade and watching the last rays of sunlight fade into the horizon.

Jess had been locked inside an almost empty room for over three hours. In that time she had managed to read the booklet over and over again, memorise it, but not believe it. The changes it talked about were only viewable if she had a mirror, which she didn’t. And although her skin looked a little paler than usual, it was hardly something that made you into…well into a vampire! She lay down in the bed next to the door and stared up at the ceiling, wishing someone could tell her what was really going on, and not feed her unbelievable lies about fictional monsters.
She heard a girl crying in the next room and wondered if this was the headquarters of some strange cult kidnappers. She wouldn’t put it past that creepy guy Frank. The longer she lay there, the more possible it seemed that Frank had kidnapped Claire all those years ago, and now she was somehow dragged into this crazy cult. She sighed, “Just my luck.”

Frank had held Claire in his arms but it hadn’t made her feel any better about loosing two of her friends. After a few minutes she pushed him away.
“I want to see Jess.” She struggled to say.
Frank nodded, stood up and held out his hand. Claire placed her hand in his and he led her to the next room and opened the door.