Cleo

At lunch, she sat in an empty hallway and ate alone. Parker, possibly the most annoying girl in her grade, walked by with her boyfriend. She sneered at her and Cleo let her. Anger would not suit her now. That's when her boyfriend turned to her and told her to stop.

"Parker, just stop it okay? She didn't do anything to you."

"Are you sticking up for this loser?"

"...Yes I am! And she's not a loser." he gave her a quick look. "She's a hell of a lot nicer than you." Parker gave a start. "When's the last time she spread a rumor just because she was BORED?"

"She hasn't got a single friend! Nobody likes her! She's just a little freak!"

"Well maybe she needs a friend!" he walked up to her. Cleo stared in half amazement, half bewilderment. "Cleo- it is Cleo, right? Do you want to go out after school? Hang out or something?"

"What the hell is this? Are you asking her out on a date?" he gave a sheepish grin.

"If she says yes, then yes, I am."

"You little BITCH!" she moved to slap Cleo, but Cleo blocked her hand as her boyfriend grabbed her arm. They struggled and Parker managed to get Cleo in a strangle hold when the anger and hate and darkness inside her welled up and she couldn't handle it anymore. With a strange ferocity, she sank her teeth into Parker's arm and listened to her scream. She pulled her arm loose and let Cleo breathe. A small crowd had gathered and Parker called her a freak one more time before running around the corner to the girl's bathroom.

The principal had arrived and immediately looked to Cleo for an answer as she fixed the shoulder of her jacket, pulling it back up to where it had fallen off in the fight. Cleo said nothing. The principal looked over at Parker's boyfriend who immediately rose to Cleo's defense.

"Parker had her in a strangle hold. She was going to kill her." The principal sighed. No doubt he'd heard that Cleo'd bit Parker and was contemplating what to do with both girls, who were both troublesome in their own rights. "Alright; I'm going to check if Parker's alright. I don't want to hear any more of this. Go!" After turning brusquely away, he spoke to Cleo while she was in his peripheral. "I'll be calling your parents about this." Before he could say anything, and without making eye contact, Cleo brushed past Parker's boyfriend and ran down the hall, passing a million mocking whispers and the silent insult issuing from everyone's stares: Freak.

The bell rang at the end of lunch but Cleo stayed in the bathroom in the far corner of the school. Echoing sounds of footsteps and moving to classes faded and two girls entered, gossiping, unaware that Cleo was hiding in the stall behind them. Cleo tried her hardest to be invisible. She held her breath and held her knees tight and tried to block out the noise, but a few lines drove their way into Cleo's brain.

"Did you hear what happened to Parker?"

"That little freak!"

"Creepy little freak."

"Freak."

"Freak."

"Freak."

When her brain came back to reality the room was empty and she creaked the door open and stood in front of the mirror, gazing at her reflection and tasting the memory of the bite. There was something sweet and wonderful and decidedly delicious about the taste of blood. Her teeth had started to ache and her head hurt, and she burst out of the bathroom and got to the stairs before anyone saw her and had time to insult her further.
She stopped at the window when she spotted Parker outiside. She and her boyfriend were walking to her car, her leaning on him a little as one hand held her stomach. She looked like she was dizzy. She looked like whatever she'd eaten at lunch was about to make a reappearance and it wouldn't be pretty. Cleo stood still at the glass, watching as Parker's tiny frame fell onto the ground and gave a few violent shakes until it layed still. Her boyfriend knelt and tried to wake her up, joined by the Gym teacher who had seen the entire thing go down. The whole gym class had seen Parker go down and they stood in awe as Parker was given CPR and someone in the crowd was yelled at to call 9-1-1.

The ambulance had shown up about ten minutes later. The cops interviewed those who saw it go down. Parker's body was wheeled away and word got out what happened. The rumors spread. Theories spread from an eating disorder to poison in the cafeteria food to her boyfriend getting back at her for all the things she did. But the paramedics said she had an allergic reaction, went into convulsions, and died. When her mother showed up after the police were done questioning her, she had her own theory.

"Cleo, what did you do to that girl?"

"Nothing!"

"Cleopatra! That girl is dead. Now you tell me what happened or-"

"She attacked me. I defended myself. An hour later, she has an allergic reaction. How is this suddenly my fault?"

"I have good reason to think-"

"What the hell does this have to do with Patricia? Because of my sister, I'm suddenly a suspect? It was an ALLERGIC REACTION, mom. And believe it or not, you can't have an allergic reaction to a FREAK!"

"Just get in the car!" But she was already halfway there. She climbed in and they drove in a furious silence. But Cleo's mom wasn't the only one who thought it was her fault; Cleo knew that somehow, she was responsible. From the ache in her jaw to the unforgettable taste of the sweet blood the knowledge remained that it was indeed Cleo.

In a week, when Parker's funeral was over and the coroner's report was released, rumors were put to rest as it was official- Parker had an allergic reaction to what she'd eaten at lunch and was unable to be resuscitated. Those who cared held a candlelight vigil for her, everyone forgot about Cleo's altercation with Parker, and her boyfriend somehow came out of it as the villain. As if it was his fault for not getting Parker to a hospital. Cleo was once again invisible, and that was where she liked to be, especially when she suspected herself of killing a fellow student. Winter break was approaching and most kids needed a break. But no matter where Cleo went or where she tried to hide the insatiable urge to bite grew stronger. She longed for those old moments when she could drift off in her room and feel like she was really floating. She felt...lighter. Freer. Everything was different now. Cleo was different now.

When the last day of classes before winter break came around, there was the thinnest layer of snow on the ground. Cleo stayed behind to watch a performance of the school musical. She had always wanted to join the drama club in middle school, but her parents wouldn't let her. By the time she got home, it was nearing dark and the house was mostly dark. She closed the front door and heard her mother call her from upstairs. When she walked into her room, she saw that it had been redecorated. Her binders full of drawings had been found and torn apart. Her mother was holding a cross and glaring at her menacingly.

"What the hell? What did you guys do to my room?"

"Cleo, we thought you were sick, but this- this is something that no pill can fix."

"Excuse me?"

"I know what's happening and I can help you, but you have to let me help you! I can save you from the devil!" And in her utter bewilderment, Cleo did not see the baseball bat her mother was holding. She took it and swung it with all her might into Cleo's gut. She doubled over and her parents restrained her to the ground. Her mother continued to plead with her, let me help you, I can save you, I can free you from the devil. She took swing after swing at Cleo, until her father had to take the wheel. Her mother held her arms down and told her father to save her, but he told her to stop. Before Cleo even knew what was happening, Cleo did the only thing that her instincts told her to do - bite. Her fangs sunk into her mother's hand. She screamed and let her go, allowing her to escape. She ran out of her room, down the hallway, past her sister's bedroom where Ellie was quivering and crying on her bed, listening and watching as her big sister grabbed her bag and ran out of the door.

It was cold. She was wearing her jacket, but the snow was falling once again. She stopped running and stood still just to think for half a second before she saw a bus pull up to the bus stop, Vancouver as its destination. She got on and tried to think of what the hell just happened.