It's Either War or Peace

Katie Vereeka's Point of View

My God was it painful! I felt as if twenty knives were being stabbed into my body repetitively and like I was burning alive in some fire. The pain was strong enough to make me imagine I was burning to ashes, my soul slowly slipping out of reach. I wanted the pain to stop. No. I needed it to stop.

On top of all this pain, I had no idea what was going on (or what I was becoming for that matter). Alice, Edward, and Carlisle seemed to be talking about turning me into a vampire. That couldn’t be what was happening though. Vampires aren’t real.

Right?

I felt someone tug on my neck. Alice’s hand squeezed mine tighter. My blood was leaving me slowly, as if someone was sucking it out of me.

I opened my eyes slightly. At first I only saw ink-black hair that was in a pixie cut. The hair spiked out here and there. I looked to my right. A ghastly pale hand held mine. What the hell…?

The teeth were pulled out of my neck. Immediately, Alice stopped holding my hand and I heard gasping. Someone was trying to catch their breath.

“That was hard…” Alice whimpered. She sat up. Her figure was tiny and she looked tiny height-wise too. Her skin was snow-white and her hair was in a pixie cut. It was so black that it almost blended in with the night time background. By the look of her clothing she was a fashionista. Her jeans and shoes were definitely Dolce & Gabbana. But then something caught my eye. In the middle of long, full, black eyelashes were eyes the color of butterscotch.

Yup. She was definitely Alice Cullen of Twilight.

I won’t lie to you. I have read The Twilight Saga. It was rather interesting to me. But I wasn’t your average Twi-hard who liked it for the Edward/Bella/Jacob love triangle. I liked it because of Alice and Jasper. And now look who was sitting in front of me. Alice Cullen. The Alice Cullen.

Alice wiped away some blood that was still on her lips. My blood. “I have to go now,” she said. She quickly covered my slightly jerking body with leaves and dirt. “Try not to jerk so much.” She stood up and began to walk away. She suddenly stopped and turned to me. “Stay. Quiet,” she said. “You don’t want to get caught.” And with that, she was gone.

I lied there jerking slightly. Alice made no sound as she left. I closed my eyes again. My gunshot would felt like someone was stitching it up without numbing me first. I felt each time the needle pierced through my skin and it burned when the thread was pulled through. I winced and whimpered when the wound was closed together completely. My neck wound was next. The fire in my body snapped my broken bones back into place. This time I screamed. I couldn’t hold it in.

After a while more, the knives began to do their work again. A knife pierced through my heart to make it stop. I screamed. The scream carried out through the forest. I was able to tell by the way the trees shook and how the birds quickly flew away from me. Then suddenly, the pain stopped.

My eyes fluttered open. It was still night time. The trees above me were no longer blurry like they used to be to my weak eyes; they were perfectly clear. I didn’t need my glasses and contacts anymore. Well, that’s good I guess. I absolutely hated those things. They got in the way of everything.

I pushed the leaves away from my body and wiped the dirt off too. How was I able to move again? Slowly, I sat up. No pain. I put my hand on my neck. It was no longer broken. I looked down at my gunshot wound. My pajama shirt was still bloody but the skin was smooth and snow-white where the wound used to be.

Wait.

The skin was snow-white.

Frightened, I stood up as fast as I could, almost falling over because it was too fast and even too graceful. For a human that is. I ran as fast I was able to to my house. Everything was extremely clear even though my pace was probably too fast for a human to see. I made no noise while running also. The theory of what I became was becoming even truer by the minute.

I reached my house in a matter of two minutes. I opened the door as silently as I could. As soon as I walked in, I noticed my hearing skills increased. I heard my dad’s snoring from all the way downstairs and I heard two hearts pounding, one after the other like they were both drumsticks beating a drum. When I reached upstairs where all the bedrooms were, I turned to my left and walked in my parents’ room. My mom was sleeping somewhat peacefully. How stupid I was for not checking her room first before running out to the forest.

I began seeing images that seemed to be coming from my parents’ heads. Both of them were about me. How long was I gone?

My dad’s laptop was open to Microsoft Word. I was able to read everything from where I was standing. It was a MISSING poster for me. Apparently I’ve been gone for two days. Did the pain really last that long? It didn’t seem like it.

I sat down on a chair near my parents’ bed. Watching them sleep was something I felt like I had to do. Images of me played in both their heads over and over again. Some were dreams and some were nightmares. The dreams were just memories they shared with me. The nightmares were them just fretting over what happened to me. Was I murdered? Was I kidnapped? Was I raped? Did I run away? The possibilities in their heads were endless.

After about two minutes I realized what I was doing. My eyes widened at the thought. How was I able to read minds now?

I began to grow frightened. I was scared that I became something dangerous but I didn’t want to believe it. Unfortunately, the fact that I was able to read minds was forcing me to. It reminded me of Edward Cullen and what he was.

No. I couldn’t be what he was. They’re not real.

But you saw Alice Cullen, I reminded myself.

I sighed and shook a little. My parents shook too. They were having nightmares at the moment and were worried. I walked over to their bed, worried too. Was I suddenly like Jasper Hale who could feel people’s emotions? Can I give them off too? I calmed myself down and the room had a peaceful and calm atmosphere again. My parents were no longer worried. They were calm like me. Then it’s true. I can manipulate and feel people’s emotions.

My hands went on my parents’ faces. Their skin was hot. Fever? Hmm. They didn’t look sick. They both started shaking a little and their skin where my hand was lost some color. Was I that cold? To make sure I wasn’t just making my theory up, I thought through what happened with Alice. I met her when I was in the tree but I fell and was shot by two gangbangers. When I was near death, Carlisle, Edward, and Alice began to talk about what to do with me. Carlisle and Edward didn’t agree with Alice so they left. Alice bit my neck and knives, fire, needles, and thread did their thing. Or at least felt like it. Alice was gone when I woke up.

My parents grew worried again. My eyes widened at what they’re minds portrayed. They were thinking exactly what I was thinking. I switched to another thought. Ice cream. Chocolate. Everyone loves ice cream and chocolate (at least you better. Or else I’ll hunt ya down!). Again, my parents were thinking what I was thinking. That meant I was like Renesmee Cullen in a way. I was able to show people my thoughts just like her.

Suddenly, a sweet smell flooded to my nose. I pulled my hands away from my parents’ faces and covered my smelling tool. As the blood flooded back to my parents’ cold faces, the smell became unbearable. I never smelled this sweet smell before. It was unrecognizable to me. As the blood ran through my parents’ bodies, I knew what the source of the smell was. My throat began to feel like someone was scratching it from the inside. I needed that thing the smell came from.

I needed to get out of the room before I killed my parents.

I ran out and then across the hall. After securely locking my bedroom door, I lied down in my bed. I only needed one other thing proven to me before I concluded if my theory of what I became was true or not.

I closed my eyes. Visions popped in my head. They weren’t dreams though; I was still awake. But something was still off about these visions. I wasn’t thinking them up myself. They had that future-seeing aura to them. Most of them were about a family of vampires that lived in northern Chicago. There were four dark-haired ones and two blondes. Three women and three men. Two of them were the leaders and parents of the family. The rest were “children”. None of them were actually related but they dated someone in the family. Their names came to me. Rip was with Renee, Demi was with Joe, and Taylor was with Jackson. My visions soon turned to other people. One was a female vampire with long, black hair and butterscotch eyes. Another one was a vampire also. He had black skater hair and red eyes. The eight others I saw weren’t vampires. They seemed like your average humans to me. There was a girl with dark brown hair, a girl with black hair with gold highlights, a girl with dyed red hair, a girl with gold hair similar to mine, and a girl with dyed black hair. There were only three boys. Two with dark brown hair and one with black hair with light brown tips. All of their eye colors varied in hues of green, blue, and brown. Something inside me told me I would be seeing all these people sometime in my life but I had a feeling that wouldn’t be very soon.

My visions suddenly changed to three other people. Two girls and one boy. They weren’t vampires and they seemed like humans. The boy had a mop of blonde hair on his head. One girl had dark brown hair with light brown tips while the other had medium brown hair with black tips. She stuck out to me the most. The girl with the medium brown hair with black tips I mean. For some reason I had a feeling I was going to meet her soon. I had a feeling I was to meet all three of them soon. Very soon.

When I opened my eyes, it was the crack of dawn. Sun streamed in through the window. I had no sleep at all and I was still wide awake. Sighing, I got up to see what I looked like in my full body mirror. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what I saw.

I looked straight at my reflection. I gasped. Was that really me? I was so beautiful. My hair was more gold, straighter, and smoother than before. My eyelashes seemed to be fuller and longer too. Also, my eyebrows were so perfect that it looked like I would never have to get them done ever again. Then I caught sight of my teeth. Yes! They were no longer crooked. No braces for me! I looked at the rest of my body. My chest was more bust and I had the stomach figure and legs most girls would be jealous of. The shirt I was wearing was bloodier than I thought. It also made me notice my skin. I was pale as a human but not like this. As a human I at least had some peachy tone to my skin. Not anymore. All of my pigment was gone. My skin was so white that it looked like the color of pure, fresh snow. It also began to sparkle as the sun crept down onto it. Tiny crystals formed on my body (at least that’s what it seemed like to me). They reflected onto the walls and made my room brighter.

My eyes suddenly caught my attention. My mouth dropped a little. The last time I looked in the mirror they weren’t as big as they are now. My eyes were the kind of big that many girls would love to have to their shape. They were wide and round. Beautiful. But that’s not what concerned me. The color was what concerned me the most. Last time they were a dark gray that humans rarely had. Now, they were a very, very bright blood-shot red.

My theory of what I thought I became was true then. I was for sure no longer human. I was a vampire.

A young, dangerous, newborn vampire.