Footprints of a vampire

I could feel myself being gently shaken and I was dreading opening my eyes, I wish this was just a big joke, or better yet a big nightmare, that way I would wake up sometime and none of this would be happening.

I slowly let feeling rush back into my body, as I felt the hard cold ground underneath me, I could already feel a small throbbing at the back of my head.

"Uhh." I groaned as I opened my eyes slowly to see 2 big brown eyes staring back at me, I groaned again and rubbed the back of my new head.

Matt leaned down to get a better look at me, and that was when I noticed something I would never ever have noticed before, my throat went dry as my eyes locked onto that one thing.

I could see the veins pumping blood around in his neck.
I could smell a sweet smell but it was faint.
And as soon as my eyes caught this, my attention was focused on his neck, to where that lovely blood was pumping, if only I could have a taste, just for a second.
I could just imagine it running down my throat as I sprung upwards and jumped on him when this sudden urge raced through me and I was no longer in control of my action.

"What the -" Matt started as I bent his head to the side and bared my fangs.

Just seconds away from that sweet blood, I could smell it so clearly, I wanted to taste it, to have it, and I wanted to drink his blood.

But then I remembered, it wasn't his blood, it was mine!

My eyes widened, as I stared down into his brown ones, I backed off him and fell backwards again when I realised what I was almost going to do.

Oh crap, I thought my heart racing with fear; the sudden urge for blood, the fangs...this...this was all so bizarre!

Matt drew back a little bit so I could get up, his eyes never leaving me.

I shot him a dirty look and he took it and ignored it.

I was surprised, was he not going to ask me why I just jumped on him?

Was he not shocked or in any way slightly pissed?

"Err -" I started.

"No, you'll get used to it, you'll have to learn to control it and not too much blood either, you're only half..." He continued.

I shook my head in disbelief, was he actually being serious?

I rubbed the back of my head again and Matt arched his eyebrows.

"What?" I asked aggressively.

"You've just messed my hair up." He growled coming towards me.

He scuffed up the sides and put his finger in his mouth.

"Ew get off!" I hissed as he pressed his finger down on my forehead to plonk down a piece of hair which was standing up.

"Much better, try and keep me looking good..." He said arrogantly.

I glared at him and felt like mucking his hair up again.

He walked around and sat on one of the two swings, looking back at me to see if I was going to follow, meaning he wanted to talk...meaning he wasn't going to tell me this was all a joke...

I walked around too, and for a split second the sun shined on my face.

As it hit my skin, I felt a tingling sensation, irritating me.

I rubbed my skin a little, it wasn't hurting me, but it was just there...leaving my skin slightly irritated.

"That will be the sun." He said all of a sudden, as I turned to see him looking at me.

"Huh?" I asked sitting on the swing.

"The sun, it will effect you, but not as much, see I'm...well you...you're only half vampire." He said in one breath his eyes never leaving me.

I still wasn't over the fact that my own body was talking back to me!

I still wan't over the fact that when ever he talked to me, I felt like I was talking to myself!

And now, this vampire stuff was added to my plate!

"I thought that was a stupid joke, since it did come from you, it would be...it is, isn't it?" I tried one more time.

He blinked twice and stared at me funnily before he shook his head.

"B-but..." I started,

"They can't exist...it's...it's just not...logical!" I blurted out, slightly panicky then I intended to. It wasn't rational, vampires didn't exist they were mythical creatures in films and storybooks - they couldn't exist for real. I tried to think how it could even be true - how?

"Calm down will you, you're acting as if I'm...well you're an alien or something!" He exclaimed shooting me a filthy look.

I got up abruptly.

"Alien? Alien? Alien?!" I shouted as anger flared up inside of me.

"I would be lucky to be an alien!" I started shouting again.

"But no! I'm you! I'm Matt-up-his-own-arse Baines! Who is now telling me he's half vampire! So being an alien would be brilliant right now!" I yelled almost too loud, as a few kids stopped to look at me on the slide.

"Carry on shooting your mouth like that, and you'll be in a mental home." Matt hissed pulling me back down onto the swing.

"Now shut up and listen" He attempted to growl.

"Whatever has happened to us is weird, and un-explainable, and I don't know how we're going to get our bodies back, but we'll have to live like each other for a while" He said, his voice hinting a bitter tone.

Oh okay, that should be fine, I'll just live as a half human, half vampire boy for the next week shall I?

And then I remembered why we were in the park in the first place.

"You're a freak." I hissed back.

"How'd you figure that one out?" He said sarcastically.

I scoffed.

"For a start, you claim you're a vampire, you attack random innocent people in alleyways, and you're just an annoying jerk overall!" I growled angrily.

"Well I'd rather be half vampire then half French." He said turning to glare at me sideways.

My jaw dropped, I can't believe he just said that!

I felt like killing him at this very moment.

I got up and pushed him really hard off the swing and took long strides out of the park, not knowing where I was headed, any where away from this idiot!

A few minutes later I heard footsteps behind me, ugh, great I thought.

"Aliz!" He shouted, in his girly voice.

I ignored him.

"Aliz!" He shouted again, as we passed an old couple sitting on a bench, who looked at us weirdly.

"Aliz!" He shouted again grabbing my arm, so I came to a halt.

"What? Come to insult me further?" I scoffed, still feeling hurt by his remark earlier.

He bit his lip.

"Err...sorry...it was uncalled for..." He started uncomfortably, boy it sounded like this was his first ever apology to anyone!

"It bloody well was uncalled for!" I hissed and carried on walking.

I saw a bench up ahead and sat myself on it, sighing.

"What are we going to do?" I asked quietly as everything came rushing back, the thoughts, and the events from earlier today...everything.

"Erm...well..." Matt tried to answer but wasn't getting any luck.

I turned to look at him, and swallowed slightly.

"So...vampire...eh?" I asked nervously.

He nodded.

"Are there...I mean...is there many?" I asked nervously biting my lip a bit.

He shrugged.

"Well, there's millions and billions everywhere, some are more discrete then others, like my family, we don't parade about drinking blood or come into the open about being vampires." He explained.

"Is there like a King?" I asked feeling stupid after I'd asked that stupid question.

He laughed slightly and spoke,

"There isn't a King but there is a leader, like there's a Prime Minister in this country, there's a Vampire Prime Minister, he's very good friends with my father actually, we don't see him often because he lives...far away...and well we're in London." Matt continued.

"How far?" I asked.

He twisted his lip a tad before answering.

"Try the 2nd dimension?" Matt told me.

I stared at him, as if he was telling me a load of balls, and when his expression stayed the same and serious, I shook my head.

"On second thoughts, I don't want to know..." I decided.

"Good." He said stubbornly folding his arms.

"So...erm...how do I not go around attacking people..." I asked, still finding it hard to believe this was all happening.

"It's easy, you should get little urges, but that's natural, just take some blood, there's usually a supply in the fridge, and if not...then...go to sleep." He advised.

"Sleep?" I asked.

"That way you won't kill anyone." Matt said coolly.

"Oh sure, tell me not to, if it didn't work for you, how will it work for me?" I said bitterly.

He turned to look at me, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"That man, that night, in the alleyway, he deserved it Aliz." Matt reassured me, well tried to.

"No one deserves that!" I exclaimed.

"He attacked me and my brother! He ran up to us with a knife, and stabbed my brother!" Matt shrieked.

"Will you stop with the lies?! If you're brother was stabbed a few days ago, how come he's up and running like normal today?" I questioned.

"Because we can heal, he healed when he was stabbed, and we got the guy..." Matt continued.

"You still shouldn't have -" I started.

"When we walked into there, he was trying to rape this girl!" Matt shrieked.

"Oh." Was all I could say.

"We tried to stop him, and he went mental!" Matt shouted angrily.

"He deserves everything he gets!" Matt yelled again.

"And what exactly is that? Where did you leave him bleeding to death?" I scoffed.

"We actually dropped him off at the hospital." Matt said.

Quiet.
Silence.

I didn't want to argue anymore.

I couldn't be bothered with this.

"It's getting late." He said all of a sudden, I looked around to see the street lights coming on, the sun was almost down, and I gulped a little bit.

My breathing got quicker as I realised how serious this situation was.

Before I could control myself and stop myself, tears spilled out of my eyes.

Matt looked at me wildly, I couldn't see his face properly as my vision was blurred.

"Aliz?" He asked.

I bit my lip as it trembled and shook my head, pulling my face down to my hands.

My big boy hands.

And this boy face.

Just made me cry even more.

"I...don't...want...to..." I huffed and puffed out.

Silence.

"This isn't fair..." I sobbed.

"I can't..." I started again, but stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Wow I thought the last person who would want to comfort me would be Matt!

I looked up through tearful eyes and I saw a slight shimmer in his.

"This is messed up, I know, but we can't break down here, we need to be strong," He told me gently.

Wow Matt was being caring?

"So what, I have to live as you?" I asked, wiping my face.

"Well, that's how it's going to have to be...swapping bodies...means swapping lives..." He hesitated when he said that.

"Swapping bodies means swapping lives." I repeated quietly.

"Wow." He whispered.

"This isn't going to be as easy as it seems." He whispered again.

"So you're...your going to stay at mine then..." I bit my lip.

"Where do you live?" He asked.

I gulped slightly.

"Brooke street...15 Brooke street" I replied quietly.

"Oh." I could tell he was probably thinking, why would anyone want to live in a tiny house on that stupid street?!

"I need to know, about...your...life...if I'm going to have to live it for a bit...like..." Matt suggested trying to be as subtle as possible.

My head shot up to look at him.

Uhh...Easier said than done.

A battle erupted in my mind; I couldn't...couldn't possibly let this person...this stranger in...but then if I don't it could cause trouble with my mom.

"Fine." I said finally, letting myself take defeat.

"What do you want...need to know?" I corrected myself.

"What subjects are you taking at school?" He asked.

"English, Maths, Music and History, but I'm dropping history soon, what about you?" I asked.

"English, Maths, History, Sport and extra sport." He said quietly.

Oh yeah because he was in 3 of my classes already.

"Any siblings?" He asked.

"Nope." I replied simply.

"What does your mum do?" He asked.

"She's a nurse." I replied, I was getting the feeling he was going to ask me about my dad soon.

"Cool, my mum's a nurse too, my dad's an accountant...what about your d-" He started before I interrupted.

"How can your mum be a nurse with all that blood around, and being a vampire..." I asked confused.

"Oh, my mum's a human, my dads the vampire..." He explained.

"So what does your dad do?" He asked quickly.

I didn't answer straight away.

I closed my eyes slightly and then answered.

"He doesn't..." I gulped.

"Eh?" Matt asked.

"I haven't seen my dad since I was young..." I hoped he got the hint.

"Oh, is he always busy with work then?" Matt asked dumbly.

"Look, don't mention my dad, or him, or anything okay, just forget about him." I said coldly.

"Bu-"Matt started.

"I said drop it alright?" I asked bitterly.

He nodded.

"This is going to be hard; do I have to eat snails?" Matt laughed trying to ease the tension between us.

I looked at him and glared, he hadn't eased anything.

"Just shut up about snails okay, we don't eat them, nor will you be forced to okay!" I said sourly.

"Oh yeah one more thing," I remembered all of a sudden.

"Mhm?" He said boredly.

"If...if...my mum...only has one plate out for dinner, and says she's not hungry...say you're not hungry either...and walk away leaving the food." I didn't want my mum starving.

"Eh?! Why that's stupid, what if I'm hungry?!" Matt wailed as I got up, and he followed.

"Just do it will you." I said through gritted teeth.

The sun had settled now.

"Well, guess this is it then." Matt said quietly avoiding eye contact.

"Yep." I replied.

As we both began to walk away.

"Matt?" I called before he was on his way, he turned around.

"I'm a singer." I told him out of the blue.

"You're a what?" He laughed.

"A singer." I repeated.

"Really?" He asked walking back towards me.

"Really." I nodded.

"Wow." He whispered.

"He's called Harry." I said again out of the blue.

"Who, you're boyfriend?" Matt asked coldly.

"No." I replied just as cold.

"My agent." I said nervously.

Matt smirked and walked away again.

"This is going to be fun." I heard him whisper.

I just stood there watching him disappear into the darkness.

As I looked around, his house was a block away.

Ugh.

Swapping bodies meant swapping lives.

I walked slowly up towards his house.

With each step I took, dread filled my gut.

Swapping bodies meant swapping lives.

And all I could ask was, "Why me?"

_______________________________________

I reluctantly walked into my new home.

"About time, you almost missed dinner!" I heard a deep male's voice say.

"Matthew, get you're bloody butt in here now, I got a call from the school today..." I heard a female's voice.

Oh boy...