My Guardian Vampire

I didn't get much time to think about it, as Tré suddenly tackled me to the floor.

"Night Green!" he yelled in my face, making me laugh. "Mwah!" he exclaimed in a strange accent, kissing me on the forehead and then running off to wherever his room was. I laughed at his randomness and got up, a little sore. I doggedly trotted into my couch room in the dark, exhausted. I plopped onto the couch, and quickly fell into sleep.

A few hours later I woke up, feeling something on my stomach. I looked up widely, putting my hand out into the darkness, and felt something fuzzy that squeaked.

"Rat!" I screamed, flipping over on the couch. I heard it run off into a hole in the corner, and I left the room slightly shaken. No way was I going back into that room. I didn't exactly mind mice or rats or anything, I just didn't want them on me in the middle of the night—especially not some big, ugly city rat. I shivered, wanting a shower.

I walked into the main room and then down one of the random hallways attached, trying to find the bathroom in the dark. The derelict place had been pretty well “sun proofed,” so no outside light from the city crept into the hallway. Being an old factory, I’m sure it looked no different than actually abandoned factories in the area. The only way I could even slightly see was from some residual kitchen light that seeped into the living room. Tré had tried to teach me a way of remembering which hallway led down to the bathroom during the movie—looking for some random stain on the wall, and it was like two down from that or something. A lot of good that did me in the dark.

So I had spun around and picked a random hallway that way, and prayed it would lead me to somewhere promising. Though there were many hallways, they weren't too long, so I figured it would be easy to just keep looking for a bathroom and find one eventually. Moving down the hall, I had to keep my hand on the worn, cracked brick that assembled the old factory. It was then that realization of my setting slammed me in the face—here I was, with a bunch of strangers—strange vampires, moving along in the dark. Should it be a horror movie, there would be something waiting for me beyond my vision, ready for me to take a few steps forward…

Reaching a door, I quickly opened it without hesitation, my fear getting the best of me. I noticed when I pushed it was heavier than the bathroom door had felt, but really just wanted to be out of the hallway. Opening it slightly, a pool of light poured from room on the other side, blinding me slightly. I stepped in, my eyes quickly adjusting.

"Hello?" Billie Joe asked, sitting up on a bed, an open book in his hands.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just looking for the shower..." I said, beginning to back out.

‘I’ll take the monster in the hallway…’ I thought, my hand on the doorknob.

"It couldn't have waited until morning?” Billie asked, pausing me in my retreat. “Well, technically sunset, but you get what I mean..."

"Well... I woke up and there was a rat on me, so I couldn't go back to sleep..."

"Oh, that must have been Barney," he said, looking back to his book, a slightly amused smile on his face. That small smirk left me intrigued; he had a history with this rat?

"Barney? Do I even want to know?" I asked. He smiled even more and put his book down.

"Come here, and I'll tell you a magical story..." he laughed. I smiled, but hesitated for a moment, and then frowned indecisively. His smile dissolved as mine did. "I'm not going to hurt you, or rape you, or whatever you think I'm gonna do ok? I’m sorry I was pushy before, but I’m really not that type of person. Please, just sit and relax for a fucking second."

I hesitated a moment more, but saw the sincere hurt in his eyes. I walked over and sat on his bed Indian-style, smiling slightly. He grinned back, slightly unnerving me still, though I pushed it out of my head.

"I didn't exactly think you were a story kind of guy," I teased by way of apology, a half-smirk on my face. He smiled back, my suspicions seemingly forgiven, and simply started the story.

"This is the story about Barney the Rat..." he began, leading me into a long tail of not only Barney, but the other various pets in the house, such as Bill and Murray the mice, and George and Larry the giant spiders. He laughed at my fears of spiders, which led us into the topic of fears, and eventually onto other subjects. We seemed to talk forever, eventually getting sleepy. I'm not sure when it happened, but I eventually fell asleep with the first whole-hearted smile plastered on my face that I had had in weeks.

I woke up, snuggling into a pillow wet from tears. I hadn’t really noticed it given all that was going on, but it seemed that I must’ve started crying in my sleep. I simply sighed and closed my eyes tightly, the wetness a now familiar feeling to wake up to, ever since I left...

A liquid warmness spread through me as I continued to nestle into the pillow, taking in the heat and lying in my peaceful ignorant state of the place between sleep and awakeness. It smelled strangely nice, like... I couldn't really describe it. Familiar. I eventually opened my eyes, seeing only black. I tried to move and stretch, but an arm was pinning me down.

'Wait a second... An arm?'

I almost freaked, but the person next to me seemed asleep still. I quickly thought back to anything that happened last night, but my mind wasn't functioning at the normal speed, the sleep virus slowing it down considerably. I was pretty sure I wasn't in any imminent danger however, so I freed my arm slightly and poked blindly into the darkness in front of me.

'Ok... This is a face...’ I thought as I hit skin. I guessed I was touching the chin, the skin soft but with spiky hairs... So it was likely a guy.

'Now let's see brain... Lessee, I remember movies with Mike and Tré... Then I went to bed, then the rat... Oh my god Billie Joe!' I thought, my breath catching as I quickly withdrew my hand.

"Uh, any reason you were just feeling my chin?" I heard Billie Joe say in the darkness, yawning. I immediately blushed.

Thank god for darkness.

"I didn't know who you were..." I said with an embarrassed cough, my blush deepening. I looked away from the voice, even though he couldn’t see me.

"Why? Do you usually wake up in random guy's beds?" he asked, and I laughed slightly, trying to hide the embarrassment.

"All the time. Mind moving your arm and leg there?" I asked. Not only was his arm around me, our legs were intertwined. I expected him to be embarrassed, but instead he shot back:

"Mind buying me a new shirt?"

"What?" I looked down, though that was kind of stupid because I couldn't see anything anyways. I felt it, and it was wet...

"Oh shit, I cried on your shirt!" I yelled, feeling really bad.

"Yeah, so buy me a new one or I'm not moving."

I thought about this for a moment.

"Fine. I’ll gladly buy you a shirt..." I said, and tried to move. He didn't budge.

"A shirt that I like..."

Damn. His taste was probably expensive, and I barely had any money on me...

"'Like' is such a general word..." I said, and I could feel him glare at me.

"Ok, that's it. You ain't goin nowhere," he said, and I felt his legs tighten around mine in a scissor hold like my brother used to put me in when he was beating the hell out of me.

"Nooo!" I yelled laughing, trying to push on his chest in vain. He laughed, and I gave up after a few minutes. "You know, my knee is very close to hitting you were I would get a good advantage..."

He sighed, and let me go.

"Do you have to be so fucking difficult?" he asked, though it was in a playful tone.

"Yup!" I said simply, sitting up. I was almost never this cheerful in the morning.

"3-2-1-Go!" he yelled.

'What the fuck..? Ah!'

I shield my eyes as he turned on the light, hissing.

"Fuck you and your stupid light!" I yelled, really hating the light. He laughed and pulled the covers over my head. Instead of pulling them off, I curled up into a little ball underneath them, my body wanting more sleep. Billie Joe poked me, hitting my arm.

"C'mon Green, wake up..."

"Nuuu," I whined childishly, trying to curl up tighter in the protective circle. He poked randomly again, this time hitting my foot. "Ow! Stop poking me...”

"Hey Green..." he said, his tone suddenly softer.

"Yes Billie Joe?"

"Why were you crying?" I felt the bed surface tilt as he shifted his position slightly, moving to hover over me. "Was it a bad dream? I mean, I know people cry in their dreams sometimes, but you were really bringing on the waterworks. And there was a block in your head like you wouldn’t believe. What was the deal?"

"I don't know... I don't remember, really." Which was true. I didn't remember my dreams ever since the start of this ordeal. "I think I'm gonna get up like you said now."

I pushed the covers off and snaked out from underneath him, stretching nonchalantly before walking off. Billie only watched me, not saying a word.

I walked out of his room and down the hallway, seeing that I had been way off in which hallway I had picked. I went into the main room and down the correct hallway, into the bathroom. I locked the door (as I had come to find out Tré wasn't much of a knock-before-you-barge-the-fuck-right-in kind of person) and stepped into the shower. As I was in the shower, I was left alone with my thoughts.

Not a good thing.