Paralyzed

“Stupid phone. Why can’t you just work right for once? Ugh.”

I slid my phone back into my pocket and looked around what seemed to be the town center. It was a wide open area with plenty of benches and lighting though I felt it seemed rather empty for being eight o’clock on a Friday night. It was a huge relief to me though. It meant that I would be able to look around without having to worry about everyone else’s thoughts in my head. And hey, maybe there were better places for the people to spend their time in a neighboring town. That was something I’d have to look into.

I had spent the entire morning driving here to Mystic Falls and the afternoon unpacking my belongings. Or what was left of them, I should say. Most of my things had been packed up and shipped her ahead of time, courtesy of my grammy. A lot of mom’s things were boxed up too and waiting for me to begin unpacking them. But that could all wait until tomorrow. Tonight was about getting to know my surroundings. There wasn’t much to this town, as far as I could tell, but the Mystic Grill looked promising, even if it was just because I was hungry. Grammy hadn’t really gotten around to doing the grocery shopping yet so she’d given me some money and told me to find something to eat while I was out exploring.

Pushing open the door to the grill, I found myself in a dimly lit split-level room with tables set up, just as you would expect. There was a bar on the far side of the room where the lighting was just a tad bit brighter, though I guess that makes sense since the bartenders would need to be able to see to make drinks. It felt a bit odd to just stand there and look around. It was even more odd to hear the thoughts of some of the people in this room. Like the guy sitting in the corner who was trying to decide who he should steak next? Was he just going to buy them a steak dinner or something? Or did he mean stake, as in stab in the heart with wood? Surely it was the former and not the latter. That would be kinda terrifying to witness -- the latter that is.

I rolled my head slowly and popped my neck before making my way over to the bar. Not only was it less crowded but it was also on the opposite side of the grill from steak/stake man. He sounded a few marbles short of sane so better safe than sorry, right?

My mind was still very much on the oddball in the corner when a guy a little younger than me walked up on the other side of the bar.

“What can I get you?”

“Oh, erm…cheeseburger with pickles and onions, side of fries and a jack and coke, please.”

“Sure thing. Food will take a few but I’ll get that drink right to you,” the guy said before walking off.

I took the opportunity to look around the place once more, my mind automatically making note of where the bathrooms and all of the exits were. There weren’t very many people here, which again struck me as odd. Where was everyone at? The woman sitting by the door was thinking about running to the store, though there was also a thought about it maybe being too dangerous. Since when did a trip to the grocery store mean danger? Was she afraid of spending too much money or something? Whatever her reasoning was, I did my best to tune out her thoughts. Actually, it was more along the lines of trying to tune out everyone’s thoughts but my own.

The food, when it finally arrived, was exactly what you would expect for it being bar food. It was really greasy, delicious and left me feeling quite full. Not to mention the fact that it went well with my drink. But it was starting to get pretty dark and I knew that Grammy would begin to worry if I didn’t show up at home again soon. So I paid for my food and drink, making sure to leave a decent tip for my waiter. He had been friendly enough and anybody who’s worked as a waiter or waitress knows that all of your real money comes from your tips and not your paycheck.

As I stepped foot outside of the bar again I felt a chill run through me, instantly raising the hairs on my arms. I chalked it up to the fact that the temperature had dropped quite noticeably and there was the smell of rain in the air. Well shit. Last thing I want is to get caught out in a rainstorm on my first day in town. Talk about a miserable walk home. Pulling my hood up over my head, I began the walk back to my new home, eyes scanning the streets in front of me as I went. It was still pretty quiet out with nobody but me that I could see making their way anywhere. There were no voices in my head aside from my own and although it was a nice change, I felt as if there was something possibly wrong here. Like I’d walked onto the set of some really bad horror movie.

There was a rumbling from above and I reflexively began counting the seconds in between the rumbles. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi. Boom! At least I have some time, I thought. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed onto my phone and pulled it out, glad I had remembered to wrap my headphones around it before I left the house earlier. I quickly opened up Pandora and picked a random station; anything to drown out the rumbling sky. And any thoughts of strangers.

Home wasn’t too far away -- in fact, it was probably only another two blocks -- when the uneasy feeling of being watched settled like a lead weight in the pit of my stomach. I hated being stared at or watched. I hated the discomfort I always felt, as if I was doing something wrong. And the itchy skin! Even now, I found myself subconsciously scratching my hands in an attempt to make the itching stop. It wasn’t working though. It never worked. What had I expected though? To the people of Mystic Falls I was a new face. Nevermind the fact that I used to spend every summer as a child playing with half of these people. Chance are most of them had already moved on to bigger and better things.

I stopped and looked around, trying to figure out who could possibly be watching me. There wasn’t anyone around though, at least not as far as I could see. But that lead weight still sat in my stomach, a dead giveaway -- at least to me -- that somebody was most certainly still watching me. Oh well, the faster I get home the faster I’ll be able to ditch whoever it is.

Turning the corner, I found my path blocked by a mammoth of a man though. He was easily a foot taller than me with gorilla arms and feet fit for any clown. He just stood there and stared at me. Well, stared might not be the right term. His eyes were so wide that I could see the whites of them yet he was also grinning what came off as a malicious grin. I honestly wasn’t sure whether I should laugh at him or run away in fear.

Avoiding any eye contact, I attempted to sidestep him and continue on my way home. But he mirrored me, keeping my path blocked. Trying again, he mirrored my move. It probably looked like we were doing some kind of crazy interpretive dancing because I was trying all kinds of wacky moves in an attempt to get around him and none of them were working. The most unnerving part of it all? He hadn’t said a single word the entire time.

Finally having had enough, I looked up at this giant figure in front of me. I was not gonna let some strange off bully me or try to hold me up any more than he already had.

“Alright you big buffoon, get out of my way. I have places to be and none of them include being mirrored by some wacky frankenstein.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say because before I even knew how it happened, I found myself kissing the brick wall of the building beside us. It dug into my cheek hard enough that I was positive there would be some variation of road rash there in the morning. The real kicker? Apparently throwing me up against a wall wasn’t enough for this freak because then he bit me! And it hurt a hell of a lot more than I would ever expect a bite to hurt. It was followed by an odd slurping noise and when I forced myself to focus on thinking logically, I realized he was drinking my blood. Who the fuck even does that?

I struggled against him, knowing fully well that it was pointless. I wasn’t going anywhere so long as he had me pinned. And my vision was slowly starting to get fuzzy. This was not looking good for me. I’ve got one chance to hopefully make it out of this mess, I thought before gathering the last of my strength and pushing off of the wall in front me. And just like that I was free! I had no idea how I’d managed it, but I wasn’t about to wait and find out. Without looking back, I took off running, my hand clamped tightly over my neck.

But all of the blood that I’d lost was taking it’s toll. I’d run maybe ten feet when my legs buckled and I found myself on the ground. This was seemingly it for me. Ironic; I’d moved here for a fresh start in life but instead I was losing it. Karma apparently thought I’d wronged her or something. I looked behind me, expecting to see that giant lumbering towards me. He was nowhere to be seen though there was somebody walking towards me.

It was a man who looked to be about my age, if not slightly younger. He had well-defined cheekbones and hair so dark that it reminded me of the feathers of a raven. When he got closer I saw that he had some blood on both of his hands and even a little bit on his lower lip, as if he’d taken a hit. Had he saved me? Had he been the one to get my attacker off of me? Regardless of whether or not he had had been my savior, he was here now and I was extremely thankful for it.

“Are you okay?”

“Hell no. That freak wouldn’t let me by and then pinned me up against the wall and bit my neck! He drank my blood! Who the hell does that aside from vampires?”

“I see. Well, can I help you home? Or to a doctor?”

Taking note of my injuries, I thought about the reactions I’d receive at a doctor’s office or a hospital. Not good ones. They’d probably assume it was kinky sex gone wrong.

“I think I’ll pass on the doctor. But help home would be nice. I mean, I was almost there when that guy showed up. How’d you get rid of him anyway?”

“It was nothing. He’s mostly talk so getting rid of him wasn’t that hard,” the man said as he helped me to my feet.

“Really? He didn’t say anything to me at all. He just kept mirroring my moves until I got mad and told him to move.”

“Trust me, he won’t be bugging you anymore, okay?”

I nodded and let this guy take some of my weight off of my legs. They were still shaky but I could stand and walk on them that was good news. The bad news was that the rain had hit. And it was pouring down.

We walked in cold silence until we reached my house, where I stopped and pulled my arm off of his shoulders. He took a step back, as if were afraid I might suddenly decide to take a swing at him. Considering he had just saved my life and walked me home in the pouring rain, I was in no hurry to cause him more harm than he had taken from that creep.

“Well, this is it. Um -- thanks. For saving me, I mean.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m sure anyone else would have done the same for a pretty girl like yourself.”

Blushing, I turned to go inside my house. My head was starting to pound quite terribly, almost certainly from all of the blood that had been drained from me. When I reached the top of the stairs, I turned back around to look at my savior.

“I never got your name.”

“It’s Damon. Damon Salvatore.”

“Well, Damon Salvatore, I’m Fiona MacBradaigh and it was a pleasure to meet you, even though it was under such --” I paused as I tried to think of the right word. “Under such unique circumstances. And again, thank you.”

“Fiona...what a lovely name. You’re very welcome,” he said before walking away. I watched him go, wondering why I hadn’t heard any of his thoughts.