Monster Inside

I can smell his blood from across the room. The perfect metallic rain sent, with an ever so slight pomegranate tint. It's been a long time since I smelled such strong blood. Makes me hungry.

He isn't that bad looking, for a human. Pale skin with soft black hair, dark blue eyes like the sea. His cupid's bow lips are pulled into a thoughtful frown, which somehow makes them seem incredibly sexy. He's wearing a pair of artfully ripped crimson skinny jeans and a black hoodie zipped so I can't see his shirt. I can almost make out a belt around his hips, but his hoodie is in the way.

After a short introduction, the teacher waves to students to ask questions. One asks my age. I almost laugh. They'd probably have heart attacks and keel over if I told them my real age. I don't like lying, so I don't really answer her. Another asks about my hair. I know white isn't a normal color for someone who looks as young as me, but it always annoys me when they ask.

The teacher notices my annoyance and calls on someone so I know where to sit. The boy in the back I can't keep my eyes off of looks surprised. When the teacher screeches a name he stands, as if he is unsure if he really heard correctly.

Eden. Everyone seems as confused as him, but also something else. Fear? What could he have done that would make them so afraid? What secrets does he hide behind that innocent facade? If I keep dwelling on it I might get in too deep. I learned that lesson a long time ago...

I walk over to him, and sit in the uncomfortable blue plastic chair. I try not to look at him as I do. I tap my nails on the desk to calm myself. There is just something about the sound of the scratching and tapping that calms me, no matter what problem I am facing.

It isn't easy hiding your true nature, especially when you are torn between getting to know someone, and ripping them to shreds with your teeth. Fuck this is so messed up! He is a human. Getting close to him is like getting close to a pig being raised for slaughter.

"I'm E-Eden." he stutters, obviously more nervous than he is trying to show.

I shake his hand, smiling as gently as I can. "Ardyn, but you already knew that."

There are no more words exchanged after that, because the teacher keeps us too busy to even think about chatting. Or rather, he keeps Eden too busy. I have the math done in the most humanly time I can manage, and still I'm done long before class ends. I watch everyone slowly complete their worksheets, and then leave when the bell rings. Eden isn't even close to finishing.

"Do you need help?" I ask, more out of pity than anything.

"Er, kinda. I suck at math." He looks thoughtful for a moment, then adds. "And reading, writing, history, science, and anything else I have to think in. I'm failing all but two classes."

"Which two?" I ask.

"Cooking and art." He smiles, "And technically P.E. I have a D in P.E., so technically I'm passing. I might have a better grade if I showed up more."

"I know exactly what you mean." I say, erasing his answers and rewriting the correct answers in their place. "P.E. sucks. I'm pretty good at history and math and stuff like that, but I can't go near a stove without setting a fire. Never got the hang of it. Art's pretty good, but I'm no Picasso. My best grade is in music, because I can play pretty much every instrument known, and I guess my singing isn't to bad."

"Pretty good at math? Dude you did that in record time, and I still felt like you were dilly dallying." he laughs.

"Ok so I'm a genius." His jaw drops, "But don't tell anyone. I don't like how they look at me as it is."

"Yeah, well they can't help it. Most people just pass through. Aren't many people who want to live in these parts." He shrugs.

"Why is that?" I pass him his finished papers and we leave the classroom to go to lunch.

"Well this place has history." He explains. "About twenty two years ago, a stranger came into town. Back then the people who lived here were very trusting, and so they didn't question him, and gave him a place to stay. Ravenhearst was a bigger town back then, but when tragedy struck they all moved.

"See, the stranger appeared to be kind, but since his arrival, the children were mysteriously vanishing. It didn't take long for them to grow suspicious of him and search the room he'd rented. The stranger was eating the children. The townspeople were furious, and in their rage they burned him at the stake.

"Things were okay after that, although most had moved away and Ravenhearst had become little more than a ghost town. The people no longer trusted outsiders, and often chased them away in angry mobs.

"Then one night, about ten years ago to the day, a strange little boy showed up. Eight years old with no memories of where he'd been or how he came here. He just appeared in town one day, in the middle of the worst storm the town had ever faced, at the exact spot they'd burned the child eater, covered in blood with a piece of paper around his neck with only a name written on it.

"The towns people soon took him in and raised him, but strange things always happened around him. The kids who played with him mysteriously got hurt, and the adults who cared for him would often fall ill.

"The people started to fear the child, and sent him to live alone at the edge of town, because they couldn't turn him away. They said he was cursed, but that didn't make them hate him. But their fear made his life very lonely." He pauses for a bit to take a few bites of his lunch, and I take a bite of my pizza, and immediately spit it out. I'm not sure it deserves to be called food, let alone pizza.

"Of course, back then it wasn't called Ravenhearst, it was called-"

"Ravenville." I cut him off. "My mother told me stories about this place when I was younger." I lie. I can't tell him I was best friends with the Ravenville cannibal before he became a cannibal, that would be insane. Besides, I wasn't alive back then, as far as they are concerned.

"Oh cool. Then it is even weirder that you'd want to live here." he chuckles. The bell rings and he waves goodbye. I stand, reminding myself to pack lunch tomorrow, then walk to my next class.

A cursed kid, huh? He'd be around eighteen if what Eden said was true. I wonder who he is. I'd love to meet him, and see if he's cursed, or if it's something else...