Forever And Never

When night came at last and Ramsey left to sneak into my house to take the things I'd asked for, I remained awake the entire time due to the fact I wasn't tried at all. I assumed that it was because I'd been asleep more or less for the past three days during the transformation, and was well rested enough to not need sleep. I'd been scared for a while that I wasn't tired because vampires weren't able to sleep or never tired, but when I finally asked Ramsey he insisted that vampires slept about the same as humans.
I'd made a list of various things I wanted from my room, certain clothes or shoes, jewelry, make up, and others things that meant something to me, and once I'd written down all the things I could think of Ramsey took it from me to look over. "I'll take as much as I can, but there has to be a limit…" He reminded me, pausing for a second then saying: "And if somebody is awake in your house or something, I'll have to wait until another time."
I nodded understandingly, then asked if he needed my home address so he could find it. "No, I've already got it" He replied, and when I gave him a confused look he explained: "While you were in your transformation, I began a file on you and got all the information about you together. Your family, health, everything like that including where you lived."
I shot him a strange look then sat down at the table in one of the three chairs around it, still not entirely recovered from the crying I'd done after I was told the truth about August and all the lies he had told me. It was mostly inner hurt, my heart and my emotions, but I still felt drained. Once Ramsey folded my list and put it in his pocket, he grabbed a set of car keys from the counter and made his way to the door.
"I'll be back by sunrise," He said though I had no idea if that was several hours away or only a few. Since I'd woken from the transformation process, I'd had yet to see anything related in any way to a clock or something capable of telling time. There was nothing on the wall, no time even on the microwave or the oven. Ramsey had worked hard to make the apartment void of any sense of time, though I wasn't exactly sure why. Upon later thought, I concluded that must be designed that way to prevent anything on the outside from being an influence on my training.
I nodded slightly and Ramsey left for the parking lot, the front door sounding like it sealed shut once it was closed behind him. I wouldn't be surprised in none of the windows or the glass doors to the balcony worked, as they could be used as an escape. Everything in the apartment, I would come to discover, was set up to where it looked normal but was actually anything but. Once Ramsey was gone for a while I explored the rooms — except for the Blood room which was now locked — and found that everything was safety proofed to ensure that I wouldn't do anything or have any connection with the outside world.
There was a small, old style cell phone on the table which could only dial one number: the one typed on a piece of paper and tapped to the table beside the phone, Ramsey's cell phone number. I tried countless number combinations to test and see if I could at least break through the security of the apartment, but to no avail.
Everything about the apartment that I could see was fake and mostly empty. There was hardly any furniture, dishes in the kitchen, no decorations on the white walls, hardly anything that could make the home look any less void and empty. It was almost depressing, and the notion that I would have to live her for however long it took to complete my training was just as saddening.
When Ramsey returned from taking what I'd asked for from my house, I was sitting on the carpeted floor of the living room peeking through the vertical plastic blinds covering the balcony doors, watching as the very first rays of the morning sun came up to begin lighting the world once again. I watched him over my shoulder as he set several grey bags on the couch, each of them filled with various objects that had once belonged in my bedroom. Once all six or seven bags were laid up against one another, Ramsey looked over at me with a smile and I returned it calmly.
After taking of his long coat and setting his keys back down on the table he announced that he was going to take a shower and get ready for work, and I paid only a little attention to him as I slowly moved away from the glass doors to my things bagged up on the couch. Though it wasn't the same thing as being home once again, it was enough comfort having my things around me to return some happiness to my face. They were my clothes, and my possessions and they held the scent of my house and my family and when I pulled one of the bags open and changed into a long sleeve maroon shirt and a pair of white canvas shorts I felt the most at home that I had in days.
When Ramsey came back from the bathroom, wearing only jeans and drying his hair with a white towel, he came upon me sitting on the floor going through all the bags he'd brought. I'd gone through all the clothes, frowning when I realized he'd only brought back seven shirts, three pairs of pants, one pair of shoes, and other various things such as sweaters or scarves. My closet had contained much more than that, but Ramsey had told me that there was a limit to what he could take. Other things he'd brought I was happy with, thankful that he seemed to have gotten everything that was important to me such as photographs of my family and sentimental items.
"I'm glad you like everything…" He said with a laugh, walking into the kitchen and making a pot of coffee. I listened at the coffee brewed slowly, collecting all of my things once again into their bags once again so that they were no longer scattered across the floor. Once Ramsey's drink was finished being prepared, he walked back into the living room slowly as he took a small sip and watched me put the last of my things back into the bag.
"I'll be gone most of the day today, but I'll request the next few days off so that we can get started on your training," He announced as he stood there, looking to me for understanding once I stood up, though all he must have seen was a questioning look. "Where are you going?" I asked, surprised that he would leave when I was still so new to this world.
"To my job, at Branch Wood." Ramsey replied as he set his cup down on the table and began walking down the hall and to the Blood room, taking a key from his pocket and unlocking the door quickly. I followed after him calling, "What is Branch Wood? I've heard it said before, but no one's ever explained it." I opened the door to the room more, sliding in through the space to see Ramsey open a small closet behind the door which contained clothes, blankets, pillows and other bedding, and a variety of things.
"Branch Wood in an institute built by Elliot Marshall in 1852; it's a very large mansion which manages and keeps track of the vampire population in this town and the few surrounding it. Vampires can live there, go there for medical attention, or work there like myself. Not only am I certified to train newborn vampires, but my main job is to check up on local vampires and chart their progress, making sure that they're not in danger of being discovered or something." He pulled out a plain white shirt from the closet and looked to me with a smile saying, "Does that explain it?"
I nodded in reply as he put the shirt on quickly then left the room, waiting for me to exit as well before he closed it and locked it behind us. He made his way back into the living room and drank more of his coffee, only stopping when I decided to ask more questions. "You're going to leave right now? Won't the sunlight burn you or something like that?"
He laughed at my question lightly and I tried not to glare at him for being so insensitive to the fact that I'd only just come into this brand new world and had no idea whether or not what I heard about vampires was true or false. But I guess he'd been a vampire long enough to laugh when someone thought it was possible to catch fire by going into the sun.
"No we can go out into the sun and not get burned, but our eyes are sensitive and it does weaken us over time. If were exposed to the sun for a long period of time, it's better to cover up so that we can keep our strength." He paused for a second, then with a small smile continued, "And no, holy water, crosses and garlic don't hurt us.
"What about wooden stakes?" I retorted sarcastically , annoyed that he was finding so much pleasure in my ignorance. He paused to think for a second, then answered: "Actually, they don't kill us or anything, but any wound inflicted by a wooden object takes longer to heal than an injury from any other material." He shrugged, and I assumed he didn't know why that was so I chose not to ask him to explain further and asked another question.
"How long does it take us to heal? Is it faster than a human?" The surprise and excitement was clear in my voice now that it became apparent that there were some cool parts of being turned into another species. Most of it I'd been shown wasn't so wonderful, the staying inside, drinking blood, and the leaving everyone I knew behind.
"Yes we heal faster than humans, but it just depends on the type of injury we have. A scrape or cut could take a few seconds, while a broken arm can take hours." Once Ramsey had answered my question he looked to me saying, "Anything else you want to know? I do have to leave soon."
"Just one more thing…" I replied, then paused to correctly phrase my sentence before finally continuing: "Do we live forever?" I wasn't sure how I felt about what his answer would be; most humans were afraid of death and wanted to be immortal, but I wasn't human anymore, and if I never died then that meant watching all the humans around me do it. Ramsey was slow to respond, but then he nodded slowly and said, "Yea, it's impossible to die as long as you drink frequently." Holding to my promise of one last question, I let him go to finish his morning routine thinking of all the new aspects of my life.
"Alright, I'll be back at 5 or 6 PM so just relax today. My number is taped to the table next to the phone so call if you need anything." Ramsey stood by the front door and looked at me where I sat on the couch, holding several file folders of various colors in his right arm and a pair of sunglasses in his last hand. I nodded to him awkwardly, not knowing what to do as a reply to his statement. He smiled at me and said bye, then opened the front door and let the sunlight pour into the dark living room of the apartment. His sunglasses went to his eyes, and I tried to cover mine as a cone of light fell over me and the area of the couch I was resting on. Only when Ramsey closed and locked the door behind him did the sun go away, leaving with it an uncomfortable thought of what would happen if the sun got to me.
Just as Ramsey had instructed, I spend the majority of my day doing exactly what he had told me to do: rest. The apartment was so empty, laying out on the couch in the living room was pretty much all I could do. There was a TV in the main room, and after searching for the remote for a few minutes I finally turned it on, thinking it would be okay now that I had something to pass the hours. But I quickly noticed that nearly half of the many channels were blocked, making them off limits to me. News channels and anything else that could tell me about the world in anyway all had a block on them which required a password to allow viewing so that left me with mostly cartoon and cooking shows.
Once I became bored by the TV and the lack of channels it provided, I began once again looking around the parts of the apartment that weren't locked to prevent me from entering. It was harder to imagine that I would have to live here because of how unfriendly and lonely it felt, and before I knew it I was making a list of things that I wanted in the apartment. After searching for a few minutes, I finally found an old pen and a napkin and began taking note of everything I could think of. The kitchen had hardly and food in it, and most of what there was I didn't like so I made a shopping list of everything I could think of that the cabinets, cupboard and the refrigerator were missing. The bathroom was mostly empty of any cleaning products, and as long I was having to live here I wanted it at least somewhat clean.
Once I was done with the list I'd made I stuck it to the refrigerator with a magnet for Ramsey to see, hoping that he would take the hint and buy everything listed on it whenever he had the chance. After that I sat at the table, starting to finally feel exhausted and ready for sleep. After looking at it for a second I grabbed the cell phone resting on the table beside me and dialed the number on the paper, listening to the ringing as it repeated a few times until Ramsey answered.
"Hello? What is it Nicolette?" He answered, talking loudly into his phone. Where ever he was at the time, it sounded like it was large and crowded with a lot of people all talking and making a loud noise. I guessed that he was at the Branch Wood Mansion, but I wasn't completely sure.
"What's up?" I asked, countering his question quickly. He was probably busy and wanted to hurry and end the phone call, but I was bored and needed some sort of way to pass the time and calling him was all I could think of. It was probably only a few hours since he left, though it felt like years, and I couldn't stand the boredom. "If there a real reason your calling me for?" Ramsey questioned already sounding annoyed, "Or is it to distract you or me?"
I scoffed lightly at his words, not finding a valid reason for him to be so serious when I called. "I just wanted to talk; it's really boring at the apartment and so I decided to call you." I switched the phone to my other ear, sitting back in my chair and hoping that he would understand my situation and entertain me for a little bit.
"Nicolette, I really don't have time for this; I have several appointments coming up that I can't be late for." He paused for a second, pulling the phone from his ear and talking to someone quickly, then finally returned to our conversation. "I've got to get back to work, okay? Bye-"
"Wait, I've got a question!" I blurted out frantically, waving my arms in front of me despite the fact that he wasn't there. Ramsey said loudly and said, "What is it?" He sounded frustrated, and I could hardly understand why he had to get so worked up just because I wanted to call and talk for a little while.
"Where am I going to be sleeping? I'm tired…" After looking throughout the entire apartment, I still had yet to see another bed other than the mattress in Augusts' old bedroom. Ramsey's clothes were in the Blood room, but there was no bed so I assumed it was him that slept in the bedroom.
"Oh, Augusts' room is your new bedroom; you can move your clothes in and the bed is all yours. I've always slept on the couch because of the lie me and August formed to tell people says that he lives alone, so there had to be only one bed. Now that you’re here, I'll just take the couch and you can have the room to yourself." When I didn't answer he spoke once more: "Okay I've really got to go now, bye Nicolette." I heard the phone disconnect, and I set it back down on the table carefully.
Out of everything that I was forced to put up with now that I was living in the apartment, the hours or boredom or the undeniable loneliness of the entire residence, having to live in his room, with his belongings and his scent was one of worst things I'd been told that I had to do. Not only did the room hold awful memories of a time when I was completely different from the person I am now, but it was a place that I didn't at all feel welcome. Everything about the room screamed August, the clothes and the bed, and it was intimidating to be in the domain of someone that I now hated with all of my heart.
But I knew there was no choice, and once I had moved all of my bags of clothes and belongings into the dark, vacant room I changed into one of Augusts' baggy T-shirts — as Ramsey hadn't brought me anything even remotely related to night clothes — and laid down onto the mattress in the corner, sleeping surrounded by his scent.