When the Sunlight Dies

”Good morning Chicago! It's going to be a
sunny one out there, so put on some sunscreen
and head outside to enjoy this beautiful Wednesday morning.
To all of you vampires out there, go out and
show those humans what you're made of.
And to you pathetic humans, keep ru-”

I let out a loud groan as I slammed my hand down on my alarm clock to quickly shut it off to stop the horrible radio broadcast from playing any longer. All of the radio stations were run by the vampires, so they constantly had broadcasts like this one running all the time, giving the low down on the current vampire take over status, and human death rate percentage. The way they talked about it made it seem like a sick sport of some kind. Blood and gore to humans was considered nothing but fun and games to vampires. Some world we live in now, right?

Three soft knocks on the door cause me to groan again, knowing who it is already. I say nothing as I sit up, my back resting on the headboard. After a few more seconds without a reply from me, silently hoping that the person behind the door goes away, three more knocks sounded on the door. “Amber, hun?” The door cracks open a little and my mom sticks her head through. The door opens further as she fully lets herself in. “It's time for school sweetie.”

She smiles half-heartedly, knowing all too well what school was like for me. The cuts and bruises all over my body prove that exact point. Every morning would be the same routine. She'd always come in and tell me that I had to get ready for school. Personally, I think that it was to check to see if I was still alive. Vampires have been known to break into homes and kill the unknowing occupants inside, so her checking on me is no real surprise to me.

Before I attempt to reply to her, my mouth opens wide as a slightly frustrated yawn leaves my lips. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and give a small smile towards my mother. She seems a bit frail, and more tired than usual today. I furrowed my eyebrows, her eyes never leaving mine. “Are you okay, Mom? You don't look so well.”

That half-hearted smile finds its way to her face again. “Yeah. I'm just...tired.” Although her smile never faltered, I didn't quite believe her, but left it alone anyways. She leaned down and kissed my forehead before pushing a strand of my hair out of my face. “Get ready, hun. Breakfast is downstairs waiting for you for when you're done.” I gave her a brief nod followed by yet another yawn before throwing the covers off of my body.

Once she left my room, I stood up, wincing slightly as my feet came in contact with the cool hardwood floor. I walked the small distance from my bed to my closet slower than normal because, honestly, what's the point anymore? All that happens at school is that I get picked on and beaten, some days close to death. What human doesn't though? The only reason I even go to class is so that I could make a living, however small it may be, to support me and my mom. Humans don't get paid very well, just a few dollars here and there. Just enough so that they can stay alive. We rarely have any money to spend casually. My father would be more than happy to help, but seeing as his throat was ripped out by one of the vampires a year ago from simply knocking one down by accident, he's clearly not able to.

With yet another frustrated sigh, I opened my closet door, revealing the few articles of clothing I had, which was basically just a few pairs of tattered jeans, three shirts, and my My Chemical Romance hoodie. Not to mention my one pair of worn black converse. I pulled a pair of black jeans, a red tee, the hoodie, and my only pair of shoes. I quickly pulled those on before walking out of my room and into the small bathroom. I blinked so that my eyes could adjust to the almost blinding light as I cut them on. Once my eyes were adjusted, I began my normal morning routine to get ready.

“Amber, you're going to be late.”, Mom called from downstairs as I was putting the finishing touches on my hair. I quickly shut the lights off and headed downstairs. Mom stood at the landing holding a poptart packet out for me. “Here you go sweetie. And here's a few dollars for lunch, if they let you have it today.” She gave me a quick kiss to the forehead, causing a small smile to form across my face. “Now go, try and be safe, will you?”

I gave her a quick nod before picking up my books that were sitting on the table beside the door and heading out of the door onto the busy sidewalks of Chicago. Immediately, the 'stupid human' insults began. I just kept my head down, avoiding any and all eye contact as I made the small walk to the school. Along the way, there were humans on the street, gashes on their arms and legs from beatings, begging for things like clothes and money for food. Vampires felt no pitty, and humans didn't really have anything to spare. So if you're on the streets, it's pretty much a death sentence for you. I'm lucky I've lasted this long, really.

Once I reached the gates of the college grounds, I breathed a sigh of relief. For once, I didn't get attacked on the way. I quickly made my way up the steps that led to the main entrance, still keeping my eyes to the ground to avoid the hateful glares that I was surely getting. The hallways were filled with both human and vampire alike. All of the humans were quickly making their way to wherever they had to go to avoid the laughing vampires. Some were not so lucky.

Just before I reached my locker, I saw a human girl about my age be pushed up against a wall. The vampire holding her had his fangs baring, low growls slipping from his throat. “No! Please don't! I-I'm sorry!” She screamed, tears falling from her eyes as she begged and pleaded for her life. Everyone in the hallway froze, their gaze fixated on the show in front of them. The girl coughed as the vampire's grip on her throat grew tighter. Her face began to turn red with a slight shade of blue, due to the lack of oxygen.

“Filthy human.” The vampire growled, his fangs still baring as he dug his nails deep into her flesh and pulled as hard as he could. Her blood began flowing immediately from the gaping hole in her neck. Her hands flew to cover the wound in attempts to stop the heavy bleeding, but to no avail. Within seconds, she dropped to the ground, her eyes vacant and stained as she breathed her last breath. As the vampire walked back to his friends he was congratulated, praised for doing the deed.''

I sighed heavily , feeling sorry for the girl, who's blood was now pooled around her lifeless body. Things like this happen daily, so it's nothing that I haven't seen before. It still pains me to see a human be so brutally murdered right in front of my eyes, but there's nothing I, nor anyone can do about it. I walked around the poor girl's body, careful not to get any of her blood on my shoes. I can't afford to buy a new pair right now.

Finally, I reached my small locker that I was allowed to have, which was barely big enough to hold all of my books. I quickly grabbed the one book I would need for the day. I already had all the others in my arms right now. I shut the door to my locker careful not to slam it, and began my walk to Vampire History. Even though I was human, it was a required class so that we humans could find out 'what really happened in the past'.

With another sigh, I began the small walk to the classroom. As always, I kept my head down. If you looked a vampire in the eyes without being told to do so, you were likely to end up like the poor girl laying in her own blood in the hallway. Doing the right thing doesn't always keep you out of trouble though. If I would have looked up from the black tiled floor, I would have noticed Derek Stone, the most popular, most feared vampire in this school, standing in the middle of the hallway. Sadly for me, I didn't. I ran right into him.

He turned around, his eyes were small slits as he glared at me. My eyes widened as a loud growl fell from his lips. His dark green eyes bored into mine as he furiously shoved me down onto the hard floor, my books flying everywhere. “Clumsy little bitch, need to watch where you're fucking going.” I flinched as he spat in my face, gaining loud laughter from his friends standing around him. He walked away, a sadistic smile spread across his face.

“Fucking bloodsuckers.” My voice was low, barely above a whisper in hopes that they wouldn't hear. But like all other times, I wasn't so lucky. Derek froze in his tracks and spun around to glare at me once again. His fists were clenched at his sides, growls making their way up his throat as he closed the small distance between us. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the pain to come. This is it. I'm finally going to die.

Much to my amazement, the bell rang. My eyes flew open to see Derek standing over me, his hand mere inches from my throat. Slowly, he pulled his hand away, his eyes still on mine. “Consider yourself lucky.” He growled again before turning away and storming off towards class, his friends following close behind.

As the last person filtered out of the hallway, I began to gather my books one by one. Just as I was about to gather my last book, a pale hand reached out and grabbed the book for me. My breath caught in my throat as I slowly looked up so the the vampire standing in front of me. Without a word, he handed me the book and walked away.