Time Stood Still

My Body Can't React To Your Love.

Josh’s POV

“Josh your erm… kinda bleeding.”
“Huh?” I say, breaking out of my day dream ten seconds later after hearing someone’s voice, looking back at Vic who had a puzzled expression on his face. He pointed down at my chest when I still hadn’t clock on to what he said before, and my eyes followed the direction of his finger and that’s when I saw there was a patch of blood which had sunken through the material of my hoodie.
“Oh shit!” I push back in my seat and I automatically grimace in pain from my sudden movements. Son of a bitch that hurts, I need to remember not to move so suddenly because everything literally hurts right now.

“Are you alright?” Vic asks, obviously seeing my reaction.
“I’m fine.” I lied.
“Are you sure? You don’t look fine Josh.”
“I’m fine Vic, I just need to go to the bathroom.”

The one good thing about college is that you can basically get up and go to the bathroom without asking the teacher for permission. I grabbed my bag and told Vic I’d be right back, he offered to come with me but I said no, this is the last thing I wanted him to see and to find out about, so as soon as I left the classroom I bolted to the boys toilets.

Luckily the toilets were empty when I got to them, so I walked down to the end sink, dropping my bag to the ground and turning on the hot water as I tried to attempt to scrub the small dominate blood stain out of my hoodie.
I didn’t bother wearing my sling today, even though I probably should have because my arm started to ache a little. I pull off my red scarf I had wrapped around my neck and glanced into the mirror in front of me to examine my neck.

Oliver did more than leave his mark on me alright, I was literally covered in deep dark purple red hickeys where he sucked the life out of me, black and blue bruises surrounded them where he man handle me, and small crescent moon shaped wounds where he had sunk his teeth into me, all of these markings covered me from my neck all the way down to my nipple. And a few bruises and swollen redness lingered around my hips and wrists as well.

My body didn’t even look like I’ve been making out with someone; it more looked like someone had beaten the shit out of me. And I knew for a fact if Oliver saw the damage he left on me he would never touch me again and do nothing but hate himself for it and that’s something I’m defiantly not going to let happen. It’s my fault, I wanted it… I still do, I don’t regret last night, I mean, Oliver means something to me… and all this is to be expected from making out with a vampire I guess, so I better get used to it if I’m going to be “his” forever.

I roll up my sleeves, and begin scrubbing on my hoodie with some wet tissue but it only seemed to make it worse. The water soaking into the fabric and spreading the wetness into something a lot bigger than it started with and the tissue broke apart into tiny little pieces making it a lot harder and more annoying to clean up.

Giving up on the stain on my jumper for now, I decided to go to the main problem, which was my nipple. I slowly pull my hoodie over my head along with my beanie and saw that my white t-shirt was coated in more blood than it showed on my hoodie. I lift up my t-shirt carefully, trying not to let the fabric touch my wound but of course it did and I was whining in pain like a little bitch. I look down at my chest and then at the mirror ahead of me so I could get a better look at my nipple and I swear it had gotten worse from when I last looked this morning. Despite the obvious hickeys and bruises which surround it, it was extremely swollen; it was awfully sore and tender and thick dark blood was oozing from the crescent moon shaped wound around it. I lightly grazed my finger tips over it and that was more than enough to have tears prick the corners of my eyes and have me hissing loudly in pain. Fuck that hurt!

I let my t-shirt drop back down and thought I should hurry up and get cleaned up before someone walks in and sees the state I’m in and then that would be an awkward situation. I walk into the last toilet cubicle and grab a handful of tissue, when I turn back around, I flinch back in fright when I see Oliver standing in between the door frame.

I hadn’t seen him since he left me in bed last night and I must admit I did feel a little awkward. Only because it was the most intimate we’ve become so far and we never got to talk about it and I wasn’t exactly sure how to act… I just knew him seeing me like this will freak him out and not want me anymore.

He already had a pain expression on his face and I already knew he hated himself seeing what he did to me before even seeing the full damage. I realised I was only in my t-shirt, exposing my heavily stained skin to him and I knew this was going to be a mistake if I let him get close and take a proper look. I wrap my arms around myself trying to cover up mostly of what was on show, wincing in the process because any sudden movement hurt but I didn’t want him to know that I was hurting.

“I’m fine.” I say, when I see him take a step towards me.
“I heard you Josh, I know you’re in pain.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Let me have a look.”
“No, I…I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” I say nervously, cowering away from him. I didn’t want my blood to make him feel uncomfortable, I hated that it did and I knew he wouldn’t want to touch me again when he saw the full damage of his actions last night… I didn’t want this to become between us…
“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable anymore.” His velvet voice was like a whisper.
I look up to meet his gaze and he seemed like he was telling the truth… I mean, I really hope that I don’t make him feel uncomfortable anymore. .. because if things continue between us, its going to be a bit of a struggle trying to stop my body from bleeding whenever we become intimate.

I hesitated for a moment, but then I let my arms fall to my sides and nod, giving in and allowing him to take a look at my chest. I guess he is an expert at this stuff after all and he’ll know what to do if I’m seriously hurt.

I bite down on my bottom lip and look away when he lifts up my t-shirt and starts expecting me. I knew he was going to hate what was there, but I had no choice. He placed his icy cold hand on top of my nipple and I couldn’t help but pull back and hiss loudly in pain at the sudden contact. My back was pressed up against the wall and I was so fucking close to tears but I bit down on my lip hard enough to keep them back. Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Come on Josh man up! Don’t let him see you like this!

I took in a deep breath to try and calm myself down, I knew what he was doing, he was trying to cool down the swelling with his cold hand but everything just felt so sore and sensitive and unbearable to take right now.
He looked at me with apologetic eyes, I know he was only trying to help, I just wished my body wasn’t so god damn pathetic and human.
I squeezed my eyes closed and clenched my hands into fist ready for the next touch, nodding to signal him to carrying on what he was doing; I just wanted to get this over with.

He placed his hand on my chest again and even though I was prepared for the sting this time, I still hissed in pain and flinched a little but I tried so hard to man the up so I wouldn’t look like a complete loser in front of him. I allowed him to cool down the swelling with his hands and clean the rest of me up, the blood didn’t seem to bother him like he said which is a relief and when he was finished I feel him pull down my shirt and place a soft gentle kiss on top of my head.
“I’m sorry.” He says into my hair.
My eyes fling open and I feel my cheeks start to burn up instantly at his loving gesture. It threw me back, I really wasn’t expecting him to act like this… it was nice. I just feel stupid for acting like a baby through it all.
“I’m just acting like a big baby.” I say, feeling really embarrassed.
“You’re just acting like a human.” He says in my defense.
I hated him always saying that to me, I needed to man my stupid human body up so I could handle making out with my non- human boyfriend.
Fuck, did I just say boyfriend?! Man, I’m so glad he can’t read my mind because that would have been awkward. I don’t exactly know what we are to be honest, I know that I’m suppose to “belong” to him but nothings really been made official yet.

I smile up at Oliver before walking out of the toilet cubicle, putting my hoodie and beanie back on. My chest didn’t hurt as much anymore, the swelling had gone down and the bleeding had stopped so hopefully I my body can hurry up and heal now.

“I guess one good thing about living close to the sea is that nobody will question why I’m wearing so many layers. It’s bloody freezing down here!” I say wrapping my scarf back around my neck making sure all of my hickeys were well hidden.
“I’m lucky Vic never asked me why I was wearing a scarf and hat because he’s pretty much wearing the same thing too.” I laughed, but I saw that Oliver didn’t see the funny side of it… or maybe it was because I mentioned Vic.

“Its probably best you stay away from him.”
“What? Why?” I ask, feeling myself frown when I looked back at him. I knew the two of them don’t get on but it’s a bit much to tell me to stay away from him. I mean, we’re not even officially together yet so he has no right to play the over protective boyfriend card and start telling me who I can and can’t speak to.
“Please Josh, just stay away from him.” Oliver look pretty serious and that’s when my mood suddenly dropped. There was no way in hell I was going to let him tell me to stop talking to Vic.
“Why would you say that? I’m not going to stay away from him, he’s my friend.”
“He has more than friendship on his mind Josh! He made that perfectly clear on Halloween when he had his tongue shoved down your throat!” he growls and then we were surrounded in awkward silences.

My eyes widen in disbelief. Did I hear that correctly?
I open my mouth to speak but I was speechless, how the fuck was I suppose to response to that? Me and Vic kissed? Why didn’t I remember it?! And why didn’t Vic tell me?! This didn’t make sense.

“W-we kissed?” I stammer, still in complete shock from finding this out.
Oliver just stood there staring at me, ignoring to answer my question but his silence answered it for me. I felt the anger start to bubble up inside of me, I honestly don’t believe this.
“You knew this whole time and you didn’t tell me?!” I snap, unable to hold back my anger anymore.
“Neither did he.”

I opened my mouth to argue back but then realised he was right, they both kept it from me.
Vic was my first kiss. My first ever kiss. That’s actually really fucking personal and this whole time I believed Oliver was my first. I didn’t know how I felt about that… It may not mean anything to them but it does to me and the pair of them knew about it and decided not to tell me. I’m still coming to terms with liking guys…That’s my personal shit, how dare they keep the truth from me and mess me around like this.

Pissed off was an understatement, I didn’t want to be around Oliver right now, I couldn’t bare to even look at him. The only thing I had on my mind right now was to find that pig headed Mexican who called himself my friend and give him a piece of my mind.
This place was filled with a bunch of assholes who thought it was alright to do things with me and then keep it from me when I don’t remember; well enough is enough, no more Mr Nice Guy!

I threw my bag over my shoulder and pushed past Oliver to head straight for the door but he grabbed hold of my wrist and yanked me back to him, not caring that he hurt me.
“Josh.” He warns glaring at me, but I was too pissed off to give a shit.
“Get your hands off me!” I yell and he immediately lets go of me, allowing me to run out of the toilets in order to look for Vic or better yet, get the hell out of this place.

~~
Vic’s POV

God knows where Josh disappeared to; he left half way through class to clean himself up and didn’t come back. I hope he’s alright… it was a strange place to randomly start bleeding… I really hope his mum hasn’t hurt him again. He promised me he’d tell me if she ever hit him again and if she has, I guess I’ll just have to wait for him to tell me so himself. I’ll look for him later but right now, I had to find Mike. I left my coursework for my next lesson in the gloved compartment of my car and when I searched my bag for my keys, I realised the little shit had stolen them. This isn’t the first time he’s stolen me keys and took my car without my permission, it’s turned into a regular thing, he’s only sixteen, he’s not even legal to drive yet. I’ve let him off way too many times already and this is the last straw, so god help him tonight when I drop him in it to our father, that should finally teach him a lesson not to take my stuff.

I searched all the usual places he often hangs around in our fifteen minute break but he was nowhere to be found. This only meant one other place and to be honest I should have checked there first, because I’m certain he would defiantly be there. He always hides behind the bike shed from teachers to smoke either a cigarette or drug related stuff… I’ve caught him many times in the act and given him an ear full of lectures but he still doesn’t listen to me, I’m just a kill joy of a big brother.

My little brother isn’t a bad person, he’s just easily influence and likes to act foolish and reckless when he’s not with me. He occasionally hangs out with the wrong people to smoke weed and steals my car and god know what else, everything you’d expect from a sixteen year old little brother I suppose but I do try my best to steer him away from all that, getting him a part time job as a life guard has helped abit, its nice to see that not all of his talents are being wasted.

Just as I suspected, I could already smell the cigarette from only a few feet away from the bike shed and when I turned the corner ready to scold my little brother, I was shocked to see Josh standing there alone instead.

“Josh where did you- are you smoking a cigarette?!” I ask, shocked to see what I was witnessing right now, watching as Josh takes a drag of the cigarette he was holding. This didn’t make any sense, Josh hated smoking, from what I knew of anyway…
“Yep.” He answers rather sarcastically but I let it go. I can only assume Mike has something to do with this.
“Let me guess, Mike?”
“You just missed him.”
Fuck, I’m going to kill him when I get my hands on him later, but all that can wait, right now I’m more occupied with the boy smoking in front of me. This image doesn’t fit at all, the small amount of eye contact, his short snappy replies, smoking, this was so unlike him, and he seemed really off with me which I didn’t like one little bit.
I make my way over to him about to intertwine my fingers with his and ask him why on earth is he smoking but he frowns and steps back away from me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, I wasn’t quiet sure what I’ve done for him to act like this towards me… we were fine in class.
“Why didn’t you tell me we kissed on Halloween?”
Oh shit.
I wasn’t expecting that I must say, I didn’t really know how to response. I shifted nervously in my jumper, trying to think of something to say to him.
“I see your memory has come back to you.”
“Just answer my question Vic.”
“Simply because you didn’t remember!” I raise my voice, feeling myself getting annoyed at him, I was already pissed off with Mike and I wasn’t in the mood to put up with Josh’s pissy attitude as well.
“So. That’s no excuse to keep it from me!” Josh yells, dropping the cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with his foot aggressively. I could see us getting into an ugly fight over this and I really didn’t want that so I tried to take more of an adult approach and explain myself honestly.

“Look, I wanted to tell you but you hit your head pretty bad and you said you couldn’t remember anything. I didn’t want to bring it up incase…well, I guess I was nervous.”
“You were nervous?” he mocks, raising an eye brow at me, as if he didn’t believe me. I wanted to tell him, I really did but apart of me was so afraid of what his reaction would be, I mean we were getting really close and since the accident he forgotten everything what happened that night and I’ve slowly been able to get close to him again… I’ve been kinda hoping maybe we’d kiss again sometime soon and decide what happens from there and then tell him all about it, I was just waiting for the right moment.

“I was nervous about how’d you react. We were both drunk, I remembered it but you didn’t, after your accident I was scared if I told you we kissed, you would feel uncomfortable or freak out and wouldn’t want anything to do with me anymore... and well, I didn’t want to risk that…” I hear my voice quiet down and trail off; I bet I sounded really pathetic.

I bite my bottom lip, feeling all my cocky confidence disappear from myself as I look up nervously to Josh, but I was surprised to see that his expression had soften.
“Vic I wouldn’t have done that.”
I shrug not knowing what to say.
“I just really wished you told me.”
“I know and I’m sorry I didn’t.”
I hung my head feeling guilty as fuck, I knew I should have just told him when he asked what happened in the first place. It would have saved me from getting myself into this mess.

“I would have liked to have remembered my first kiss.”
I whipped my head up at Josh, eyes all wide, surprised at what my ears have just heard.
“What?” I ask, feeling slightly stupid asking him to say it again. But he had to, I had to hear it again, did he really just say I was his first kiss?
I continue to stare back at him, feeling my mind start to lose control as I wait for him to answer me.
“That night is still all a blur to me, it’s a shame I don’t remember it.” He says, leaning his shoulder against the wall looking at me with his best smile.

Is he for real? He’s actually hinting for me to kiss him again… should I?
I felt hesitant, I could feel the nerves getting the best of me, ever since Halloween I’ve wanted to kiss him again. And now he’s standing right in front of me literally asking me to kiss him and I’m just standing here too scared to do anything like a coward!
Get a grip Victor, this is what you’ve wanted from the beginning, so grow some balls and march over there and kiss him! I curse at myself and that was enough to bring my confidence come back.

I break out of my daze and literally march my way over to him so we were only standing inches apart.
I stood close to him, making sure this is what he wanted and that he didn’t move away from me. He doesn’t move, so I take that as a hint and tip toed slightly, closing more of the gap between us, I linger my lips only inches away from his, giving him another chance to back out but instead he meets me half way sealing our lips together.

Without even intending it to, I had Josh pinned up against the bike shed within minutes as our kiss became more heavily heated. Our legs tangled in between one another’s, his fingers tugging at my loose curls, our tongues swirling around together, our breathing evening matching… it seemed way too good to be true and all too soon, I suddenly notice something was different…

He tasted different. He didn’t taste of beer mixed with mint polo’s like he did on Halloween and despite the vile taste of tobacco which lingered on his tongue right now, he still tasted different somehow. The kiss just didn’t taste the same, and I don’t mean because he’s been smoking before hand or he’s eaten some strong powering food, it were as if the taste of his innocence’s had been taken from him. I know that must sound crazy but there was something about this kissed which didn’t taste the way it did the night on Halloween.

The bell rang indicating that our break was over and next lesson had begun, but neither one of us broke apart from the kiss. Even though I was still trying to figure out why he tasted different to me, I didn’t once pull away from our kiss and neither did he. We both seemed to want this.

When I thought we would be left alone to continue making out instead of attending our next lesson, we were interrupted by a soft but stern cough.

“H-hannah!” Josh breaths deeply, placing his hand on my chest as he breaks the kiss and pushes me off him.
“What are you doing here?” he says, shuffling around in his clothing trying to act like we weren’t just caught doing what we were doing.
I couldn’t help but feel hurt by Josh, it was as if he was ashamed that we had been caught kissing. He doesn’t even look at me, he was too busy trying to bullshit his way out of what the girl had just seen but I knew she had seen us.

I tried to ignore the rage burning up inside of me, my heart was literally pounding so hard inside my chest. I turned and glared at the pale pixie girl and I couldn’t help but feel so much hatred towards her.

“We better head to our art class Josh, we’re late enough as it is.” She says, acting as if I was invisible because not once did she glance her pretty eyes at me.

Not once did I take my eyes off her, there was something about the Sykes family which were abnormal and weren’t to be trusted. I knew they wasn’t like us, they were different from the human kind, I just didn’t know exactly what.
I was in a wave of anger, I hadn’t realised that my hands were tighten into balls of fists that my blunt finger nails lightly pierced the palms of my hands. My lips were tingling and I honestly felt like my whole body was on fire, I felt really… strange.

“Vic are you alright?” Josh says nudging me with his shoulder to get my attention.
“I need to find Mike.” I mutter, running off leaving Josh alone with they weird Sykes girl and ignoring him as he called after me, I really need to get away from here.

~~

By the time I got home something was definitely wrong with me. I was desperate to find Mike or pops but neither of them was home, so I was left to figure out what this sickness is on my own.
My limbs were aching and everything just hurt, my body was literally dripping with sweat as this burning sensation continued to burn inside of me. I didn’t feel sick like I was going to throw up or anything, I just felt really hot so I staggered over to the kitchen sink picking up a glass and pouring myself a glass of water to drink. I down it in one but it didn’t feel the slightest bit satisfying as my body carried on burning up. Unexpectedly, I hunch myself over the sink, feeling my body become extremely weak all of a sudden, I was ready to be sick but nothing was coming up. I didn’t understand what was happening to me, it must be some sort of fever because I felt fine this morning, I rarely get sick, this has come out of nowhere.

Feeling myself get worse, it took everything in me to push myself away from the kitchen sink and stumble my way to my room. I get to my door before losing all feeling in my legs and feeling them give out from under me, I fall but I grab the door frame in time before falling to the floor. My breathing was ridiculous, it felt like I was losing breath of air and my body just felt like it was shutting down on me… and that’s when I fell into panic mode.

I was only a few feet away from my bed and I knew I could make it if I forced myself to move my limbs, which I did and I basically collapsing down onto the mattress. I felt a little a peace knowing I was on my bed but I knew this was only the beginning, I bet the worse was yet to come so I knew that I needed to sleep whatever this was off and hopefully I’d feel better when I woke up.

I spoke too soon because then I became really lightheaded, my eye sight became blurry, my ears had popped and I began shake rather violently. I wasn’t cold, I felt like I was on fire, what the fuck was happening to me?! It felt like I was dying from the inside, my body hurt too much to feel, pressure adding to the pain, I was caught up in a fiery blaze inside of my own body and it was literally burning me alive.

~~

My eyes fluttered open and I was greeted with the cold dark dead of night. I didn’t move, I just continued to stare up at my ceiling for a couple of minutes allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness and I couldn’t help but notice how perfectly refined and clear my eye sight had become... especially in the dark. I could also hear everything, I wasn’t sure if that was because I was getting my hearing back from my ears popping earlier or not.
I shifted a little on my bed and found I was laying in a pool of sweat, I still felt like I was on fire but I didn’t feel no where as bad as I did earlier, the burning alive feeling had disappeared… and now I just felt warm. I panicked when I sat up and saw the amount of hair scattered across my pillow, it looked like I had moulted like some sort of animal. My hands instantly reach for my head and relief floods through me when I feel my long thick curls were still attached to my head.
I searched the tiny room which my brother and I share together and saw that it were empty, Mike and pops must be still out. How long was I asleep for? Or how late actually was it?

Light from the outside flowed through the window by my bed side indicating that it was actually a lot later than I originally thought. I couldn’t help but turn and look up at what beauty created it. And high in the night sky the full moon took its outstanding beauty, putting all the little twinkling stars to shame.
It didn’t take long for me to instantly regret staring up at the moon because everything inside me changed… something suddenly snapped.

My heart started pounding abnormally fast as my body started to transform into something I never thought was even possible.
The pupils of my eyes darken and enlarged, allowing me to witness my body’s revolution.
I watched as my hands grew into beast like paws with lethal claws attached to the end of them.
I felt my body abnormally extend into a rather large form which ripped through the items of clothing I was wearing.
My pitiful screams soon turned into loud inhuman growls which broke the silence of my bedroom.
The satisfying warmth burned back into that fiery blaze, reawaken the creature which had been inside me all along.

There I stood as a wild beast, a slave to the full moon, a hunter of the dead night, a protector to the innocent. I was a creature which had a purpose.