Beauty and the Beast

I was standing in a dimly lit room. There was a horrible stench and I could faintly hear water dripping somewhere. My eyes landed on Eric where he was leaning over someone a few feet in front of me.

Eric pulled up a scruffy looking man and pushed him towards the stairs. Suddenly the man pressed a silver cross to Eric’s cheek. I jumped at the animalistic growl that came from Eric. The man ran past me, but Eric caught him and dragged him down the stairs.

Eric started biting him and pulling him apart, sending blood flying everywhere, some landing on me and some on the other people in the room.

Eric dropped the man and turned and looked at me. He came at me at vampire speed and pinned me to the ground. I stared into his eyes, the animalistic look in them burned into my brain. He bit into my neck, making me scream in pain.

He wrapped his other hand around my neck and squeezed. My chest felt like there was something heavy sitting on it and suddenly Eric pulled away.

But instead of seeing Eric, I saw Rene, blood dripping down his chin. He took off his belt and wrapped it around my neck. I opened my mouth and screamed.

I woke up screaming and feeling like I was falling, only to fall off my bed. I landed on the floor with a thud. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. I heard the door to the trailer close and my heart sped up even faster than it was before.

I gulped when my bedroom door was opened. The light switched on and buried my head in my comforter to try and block out the light.

“Dakota?” I sighed in relief. It was only my dad. “What are you doing on the floor?” He squatted down next to me.

“I fell off the bed….” I paused, now noticing the white bandage on his head. “What happened to your head?”

“Come on.” He held out his hand. I grabbed it and he helped me up. “I’ll make breakfast and explain.”

And so he explained how I was right and Rene was the killer and how he had gone to Sookie’s house with her, chased her into the graveyard, beat her up, how he had attacked Rene, got hit in the head, beat up, then Sookie decapitated Rene with a shovel.

“I slept through all that?” I asked as he shoved a plate of pancakes in front of me.

“Yeah. What happened the night of Rene and Arlene’s party?”

I sighed and stared at my blueberry pancakes. I explained how he had tried to rape me then strangle me and how I had hit him on the head with a pan.

“What time is it anyways?” I asked looking at the dark sky outside.

“About 6 in the morning.” My dad said looking at his watch.

“Fabulous.” I said through a mouthful of pancake.

I rubbed my neck where bruises from Rene’s hands were forming.

“Are they sore?” My dad asked. I nodded.

2 WEEKS LATER

My dad had finally let me out of the trailer. Most of the bruises had faded, but there were some light purple ones. The bite mark had bruised over. My dad told me it looked like I had a bunch of hickies.

It was lunch time and there weren’t very many people in the bar. A young man sitting alone at a booth, two women at a table close to him and an older, balding man sitting at the bar.

“Hey, Dakota, could you run this to table 3 for me?” Sookie asked, holding out a glass of Coke.

“Sure.” I said getting up from my spot behind the bar.

“Do you see all those hickies? She must be an awful slut for her age.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“I heard it was Jason Stackhouse.”

“I knew he was a man whore, but I never thought he’d stoop that low.” The two women at the table were talking what they thought was quietly.

“Ever wonder why she just showed up now?”

They paused and watched my as I walked to the booth with the young man in it. I sat the Coke in front of him.

“I heard it was because her mother got tired of her being a slut and sent her to live with her dad.” The two women began talking again.

“Can I get you anything else?” I smiled the best that I could.

“Nah, I’m good.” He smiled back.

“I heard she got pregnant, so her mom kicked her out and she came to find her dad….”

I turned and walked back towards the bar, tears rolling down my face. I went back towards my dad’s office and sat beside a stack of Bud Light boxes. I pulled my knees to my chest and let the tears flow.

“Dakota?” I heard Tara call. “Dakota, what’s wrong?” She knelt down in front of me.

“Why do you care? So you can make rumors about me too?”

“No, I’d never do that. I care about you, Dakota. More than you probably know.” She took my hand. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Those two women at the table are making up rumors about me, saying that my bruises are hickies and that Jason Stackhouse gave them to me and how I’m a slut and how my mom kicked me out and how I got pregnant and I had to move here because she didn’t want me anymore.” I broke down sobbing.

Tara pulled me into a hug and let me cry on her shoulder.

“I’m going to go set them right.” Tara stood up and marched out to the two women. I jumped up and followed her, stopping at the bar.

“What’s wrong with you two?!” Tara started yelling. “Making up rumors about people you don’t even know, let alone a teenage girl. And no those aren’t hickies on her neck, she was one of those girls who was attacked by Rene and those are left over bruises and she hasn’t even met Jason Stackhouse let alone do anything with him! And her mom didn’t kick her out; her mom was killed by vampires in front of her!” Sookie and Arlene appeared beside me. “She doesn’t need anyone like you making up rumors about her; she’s having a hard enough time! I’m proud of how strong she is! So you can either stop spreading rumors or get the fuck out of the bar!”

My dad came out of his office and walked towards Tara. Sookie and Arlene followed him. I stood where I was, rooted to the spot. I was shocked Tara had stood up for me like that. I thought she hated me, but she had just yelled at two women for me.

I didn’t know what to think.