Do You See What I See?

I woke up with a jolt. I lay there staring at the ceiling. My dreams had been mottled with blooming colors, then a flash of blood, the cutting of a throat, and the sight of pearly white teeth sinking into flesh. I had felt as though it was a movie and I was the Director, except that I couldn’t change anything that was happening, only able to watch in hopeless agony as nameless and faceless humans were torn apart by vampires, animals. I blinked. I remembered, as I shut my eyes, the sight of a glass vase full of dried roses, bursting into pieces instantaneously, by nonentity. I turned my head and gazed sideways towards my window. The sunlight filtered through, pouring onto the floor like a golden rug. I pushed my quilt away and got up, rubbing my eyes.

I looked out the window. Do you ever feel as though your life is right on the verge of drastically changing? Well, that is how I felt right then.
The way the sky was dappled with a deep blue and the morning sky, the sun coming over the horizon, made me feel as if this day was opening onto a mystery, like there was no turning back and that I was just going to have to face it when it came. As I stared around at the other houses in Salem, the gothic styled church caught my eye in the distance. I wondered how vampires were made, and whether they were already dead when they were completed. Had Salem’s funeral once been held in that church? Had any of his ancestors’ funerals been held there, and had Salem already been turned into a vampire? Was he always one? Had he, perhaps watched from a tree as a family member’s body was carried out of the church doors, to where he was unable to follow and mourn with others? I shook my head and hurried into the bathroom.

I looked in the mirror at my animated and unruly hair. I pushed the stray pieces out of my eyes. I gazed back at my reflection, thinking about the recent events. I wondered whether school would be going yet again today.
Salem had said that almost everyone had been brainwashed by the Shadows. I decided, then, that school would be on. I glanced at the clock on the wall. I know it’s weird to have it in my bathroom, but it’s the way I function. I saw that it was 7:38. School was about to begin. I hurried into my room and threw open my closet and gave a cry of surprise and dismay. I didn’t know when or how it had happened, but most of my clothing was ripped and exposed with close-to-fresh blood.

Careful not to make any contact with blood, I dragged some wearable clothes from the back of the wardrobe.
I pulled them on as quickly as possible. I ran out my door and down the stairs while brushing my hair. I was so late! I flung open the kitchen door and gasped in horror.
My dad’s prized 80’s style kitchen was in ruin. Cans fruit and beans had been smashed onto the wall, the refrigerator door had been ripped off and it lay at my feet. The window had been smashed, blood oozed across the counter top and mud and blood was spread across the floor. I gaped at the scene. It was more than a mess. It looked like an abomination. And I would have to clean it up.
I decided I would just have to skip breakfast this morning.

I slammed my locker shut. Miserably, I trudged up the too-crowded stairway to get to my next class, which was Latin. So far, I had a horrible day. After the monstrosity I had found when I attempted to get a protein bar for my breakfast, I had tried to start my car, which had spluttered for a moment then died. I was going to jump-start it, but I knew that would take awhile and decided it wasn’t worth it. So I ran to school. Then, god so help me, I missed my first class and then found I had forgotten all my home work. Then, I found out that Ginny and Ivy were given leave because they had to go to ‘doctor’s appointments’ out of town. Which, of course, actually meant: they had to go to a concert out of town, and they obviously hadn’t bothered to inform me.
So, now, this is where I am, shuffling up the steps of our school and shoving past anyone in my way, which was pretty much everyone. I slid past the people at the top of the stairs, who were attempting to go the opposite way; took a sharp turn left, and ran five doors down to my class. Entering the Latin classroom, I saw that I was the last one there. I hurried to my seat and sat down, plopping my books on my desk. Absentmindedly, I played with my poufy fringe as I sat there, waiting for the teacher, Mrs. Craywick.

She entered, making me jump in surprise when her loud voice rang out through the room. I focused my attention on the board as she started the lesson, scribbling indecipherable words on the board for the class to copy down. Ugh…we needed a new teacher.
Her melodious and mono-tone voice echoed and drowning in my ears, as I dazed, copying the nonsense words off the board and thinking. What would happen now that the war of the dead seemed to be over? Would the dead come back, more powerful than before? How did they come to life anyway?
I came to earth, not from the teacher calling on me or anything, but because I heard a slight tapping noise. Curious, I gazed around with half-lidded eyes. Everyone else was watching the teacher.
The tapping came again. It was soft, very un-human tapping on glass.
Wait, glass.
Automatically, I turned my head left and saw, to my shock, two creepy yellow eyes with no whites.
Only one person could have eyes like that…
“Salem.” I breathed, and then took a quick look around the room. No one seemed to notice that there was a very real, breathing vampire right next to their window, whom was more than capable of sucking us all dry. I gave a nervous giggle.
Everyone’s heads swiveled around to look at me. Mrs. Craywick blinked at me while I blinked back.
Then everyone seemed to loose interest and turned back around. I glanced sideways.
Salem grinned at me; his perfect, white teeth glittered in the sunlight. He was sitting very nonchalantly, lazily flicking away bugs with his hands when they went for the blood on his face. I stared at him. Was I the only one who could see him? He stared back; for a moment I was locked like that, almost hypnotized.
“Miss. Hayden?” I ripped my gaze from him and looked in alarm at the teacher. I had completely forgotten where I was.
“What is the meaning of Salve?” she asked, her eyebrows raised and her expression skeptical; probably waiting for me to screw up; because of course she had known that I hadn’t been listening. But luckily for me, I already knew this one.
“Hello.” I answered, much to her distaste. But she could not deny that I had answered correctly.
“Correct.” She said grudgingly. She continued with the lesson, and I froze. I had said one of the words I had used when I had told Salem about the letters on the piece of cardboard. He wasn’t stupid, but that didn’t mean he knew what it had meant. He probably didn’t know jack about Latin. I kept my eyes fixed on the board behind Mrs. Craywick’s head. I was determined not to give away that I had said anything of use to Salem.
I figured for a moment, wondering why Salem was here.
But something got my attention before I could continue brooding. The teacher was writing something on the board. I closed my eyes in a tired sort of way. Mrs. Craywick also did a special course of Astronomy for advanced science-loving students, and most of them were in this Latin class so of course she would have written it up there at sometime.
Enumera…
Here it comes…
Astra…
She wrote the definition…
-count the stars.
Crap.
I was Raptus regaliter.
In Latin that means Royally Screwed.
And I was.