Corruption

T
he sound of the balcony doors opening startled me, and I shot out of bed, looking around the room wildly for who it had been. Nothing seemed out of place. The sun was shining through the window behind me; the bedroom door was still closed, and Candace was in the shower. The white noise coming from the bathroom was comforting. That is, until I saw who was lying on the couch.

“So how was your night Mike?” Aiden asked, glaring at me as I lie in Candace’s bed. It was a little surprising to see him there now, but I didn’t show it. At least, I didn’t try to show it.

“Why are you here?” I asked, staying in the bed.

“Just thought I would come and say hi.” Aiden got up from the couch, and came over to the bed, settling in where Candace had been. “So, hi.”

“Hi.” I said back, still glaring at him. Did he always have to bug me?

“So you and Candace talked a lot last night.”

“What does that have to do with you?” I scooted toward the other side of the bed, away from Aiden.

Aiden sat up, his face no longer smug. “You upset Candace last night. I told you you don’t know what goes on inside her head. You should have listened to me.”

“But I did listen to you.” I said, turned so I was facing him. “I tried to see what she has been thinking. And it worked, didn’t it?”

Aiden nodded, his fingers running through his hair. “Maybe so, but now she has other things she is worried about. She worries about you. More than I had hoped she would.” He smiled as if ashamed of saying so. “But you make her happy when you are around. So you must stay.”

“I wasn’t planning on leaving.”

“But you will.” Aiden said, getting up from the bed. He went over to the picture that lie on the floor and handed it to me. “You will leave eventually. You can’t stay here forever.”

The shower had been turned off, and Candace was coming out of the bathroom. Aiden disappeared in a matter of seconds, leaving before Candace could see he had been there. I stared at the picture for a moment, looking at our smiling faces. Aiden was right. I would leave eventually. I couldn’t stay here forever.

Looking up from the picture, I greeted Candace. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. You might want to go get dressed. We have breakfast at Aiden’s this morning. Well—if you want to go.” Looking at Candace’s dress, my mouth popped open without my knowledge. It was a silly thing to do, but it seemed appropriate. Her dress was yellow in color, with a white design on it and a white leather belt at her waist.

“I’d love to go.” I said jumping out of bed. Okay, that was a big lie. Going to Aiden’s wasn’t the thing that I would love to do. It was spending some time with Mike that I was looking forward to. Every minute I got with her was an amazing minute, no matter what we did in that time frame. “I’ll go get dressed and meet you down stairs.”

She smiled and nodded, heading out of the room with me. We went opposite way in the hall, me going to my room, Candace going downstairs. As quickly as I could, I got into the shower, washed my hair, and threw some clothes on. Candace was waiting for me in the living room with her mom.

She seemed happy to see me when I came in the room. Julie gave Candace a hug, kissed her on the cheek and gave me a little wave from the couch. “Have fun you two.” She said, smiling widely at me.

“We will mom.” Candace said, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the house. Once off the driveway and onto the sidewalk, Candace asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Starved.” I said truthfully. I was really hungry, and no one was going to stop from eating. Aiden can be a bit smug about the things he knows sometimes, but I wouldn’t let it get to me. After all, I was doing this for Candace. Candace was the important thing right now, not competing with Aiden.

Candace knocked on the front door of the Westcott’s house only to have the door open at the same time. “Come on in.” Trevor said, standing aside for the both of us. “So how’s it going?” Trevor asked, shutting the door with a kick of his foot.

I shrugged. “Just fine.”

Trevor smiled knowingly. “You shouldn’t take what Aiden says to heart. He is just worried about Candace, that’s all. He doesn’t really mean what he says.”

I nodded, but not believing what he said. How could it not be personal at least a little bit? Of course Aiden was worried about Candace. So was I, but I didn’t go around bashing Aiden whenever I felt like it.

“Shall we?” Trevor led us to the kitchen where Aiden was cutting apples at the closest counter, and Amy was at the oven, checking on the food that was inside.

“Good morning!” Candace called to the room at large, sitting down on a stool.

Aiden took the towel off of his shoulder, leaned in to Candace and kissed her on the cheek. “Good morning.” Looking down at Candace’s clothes, he asked, “Is that a new dress?”

“Why, yes, thank you.”

Aiden looked up at me, nodded, me returning the greeting. “Good to see you.” He told me. Amt started to coo over Candace’s new dress, making her stand up from the stool she had been sitting on. When she got up, Aiden and I sat down.

“How surprised do you think she will be next week?” Aiden asked me, referring to the surprise party we had planned.

“I guess it depends…” I said, watching as Candace started to help out in the kitchen. “She may figure it out, but if she doesn’t she is going to be pretty surprised.” Thinking of her face when she saw that I had come, I had to laugh. I wouldn’t want to miss her making that face again.

Aiden laughed too, but I wasn’t sure why.

We both watched Candace careful as she picked up the large chopping knife Aiden had been using. She saw us watching, a smirk lifting on her lips. “I can do it. Don’t worry. I won’t chop my finger off.”

Aiden relaxed in his chair, but didn’t take his eyes off of her. “Alright, go ahead.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t know you could cook.” It was just something else I had missed her life. Gosh this sucks.

“I’m learning.” she said, chopping the apples that Aiden had left there.

“She has done a lot of new things since she has been here.” Aiden whispered, only for me to hear. “I’m really proud of her.” He watched as Candace laughed at something Amy said, her head thrown back from the force of her own laugh. It made me smile looking at her, but my mood wasn’t that great. I missed her so much.

Aiden sighed. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” Aiden said, now looking at me. His face told me he was sincere. “I just want you to be prepared. She isn’t the same girl anymore.”

I nodded, but he didn’t take notice. He was watching her again. “So much has happened to her and I just wanted you to know that. No hard feelings?” he asked.

“Of course.” There were no hard feelings. I got that he wanted to protect her from the world. I had those same feelings. Aiden was just more capable of doing that for her.

“I’ll help you mom.” Aiden said, going over to the oven and pulling out the huge pot without putting on any gloves. Candace smiled down at her apples, simply content with herself.

“Can I help?” I asked, feeling a little left out being the only one sitting.

Candace pulled out another chopping knife from the drawer in front of her. “Come help me.”

I got up from the stool and too the knife. Watching Candace for a few moments, I got what she was doing and started to do the same, cutting apples into small squares to be put into a large bowl. After the bowl was full of apples, Candace brought over some bananas and started to chop them up as well.

Just as Candace had done, I kept smiling, content with being here, even though it was at the Westcotts. Candace was here with me and that was all I really cared about. Once the fruit salad was complete, Candace took the bowl into the dining room.

“Should we set the table?” Aiden asked me, bringing me plates and some silverware. He was holding a few more bowls of delicious food, but Amy took them and shooed Aiden over to the sink.

“Dishes.” She told him, smiling at me. “We’ll go set the table.”

I followed her to the dining room where Candace was already seated. Amy placed the bowl down and left us alone, letting me set the table by myself.

“So,” Candace said, making me look up from the place setting I was putting down. “what were you guys talking about?”

Assuming she meant Aiden and I, I smiled. “We were just catching up, that’s all.” Finishing with the place settings, I went out of the dining room, pacing Aiden in the hallway. He nodded to me in approval about my answer.

Amy greeted me in the kitchen, giving me a bowl to bring in the dining room. I was about to leave when she caught my elbow, turning me to her. “You’re a true friend to Candace.” With that said, she left the kitchen.

I stood there for a moment, wondering what everyone knew exactly. Was I being that obvious about it? Could everyone see my true feelings about it? And if I was so transparent, how come Candace had never said anything before. She still doesn’t say anything now.

Maybe these people aren’t that different. Of course they are, what was I thinking? They were bloodsucking vampires. They were more different from humans than Aluminum is from water.

Everyone was in the dining room, already seated when I got in there. Candace patted the chair on the other side of her, letting me sit down. The batter began immediately, everyone laughing and talking about the different things that had been going on here in Portland. I sat in my chair quietly, eating my meal. I really didn’t have anything to add to anything they were saying. How could I? I was never here to experience anything they did, so I had no idea what they were taking about.

“No,” Candace said, putting down her fork. I could tell this was an argument that they all had a lot because everyone knew what the other was going to say before they said it. Even if they were vampires and could read each others minds. It was still kind of interesting seeing Candace interact with them. “that wasn’t what I said. I said that it wasn’t okay for you to do that to the animal because it was inhumane. But if the animal was injured or already dead…”

“Already dead?” Trevor said, putting down his own fork. “How disgusting is that? Eating rotten meat. Would you rotten meat Candace?”

“I’m not asking you to eat rotten meat…” Candace said defensively, crinkling her nose in annoyance. “All I am saying is that eating a baby deer, or bear, or whatever the heck you are hunting, just isn’t right. Babies can’t defend themselves. I think killing one…”

“But you wouldn’t like it if we killed an adult one either.” Clark said, shoving a piece of banana into his mouth.

“That wasn’t the point.” Candace said. “My point was, is that don’t kill babies.”

Aiden patted Candace’s hand that was clenched into a fist, trying to calm her down. “We don’t kill baby animals Candace. We have told you this so many times.”

“Maybe you don’t eat the babies, but you kill the mothers when they are with their babies. Once their mothers are gone, they will die because no one can take care of them.” Candace looked to me as if for me to agree with her.

“So we can only kill fathers.” Amy said calmly as if agreeing. Of course it really didn’t matter if they agreed or not. It wasn’t like Candace went with them to hunt. Well, not with me around she wouldn’t.

“But the males have a nasty taste to them. The females are so…” Ryan said, trying to find the right words for it. He settled with “…scrumptious. They are so much warmer…”

“Gross.” Candace squealed, pushing her plate away. “If you will excuse me, I have to go puke!” she left the room, going to the bathroom to freshen up.

Everyone stood up except Aiden and I. “Going out for a quick bite. Want to come Aiden?” Clark asked, picking up his brother’s plate for him.

Aiden shook his head. “I’ll go later.”

All three boys left the room, still arguing about which meat would be best to kill. Amy gave Aiden a quick kiss on the top of the head, then was off to work.

“Sorry about that.” Aiden said to me, smiling weakly. “Candace likes to argue about our diet.”

Not smiling back, I said, “I noticed.”

Candace came back a few moments later as I was getting up to put my dishes in the kitchen. I heard Candace ask, “Where did everyone go?” Aiden mumbled an answer, then she asked, “What is wrong?”

I couldn’t hear his response, because I was too far away, but I did hear Candace say sternly, “Don’t lie. I can tell. What is it?”

Putting the dishes in the sink, I sat down on the stool and stayed there, staring at the clock but not really looking at it. What was I doing here? Candace really didn’t need me here, no matter how much happier she was right now. It was clear I was all too welcome by her boyfriend. But I can’t just leave her here…that would kill her. It’s killing me too. But last night, I saw it had been killing her more than it has been me. She has all these feelings, all these pent up thoughts. She seems so lost.

But could I help her if I tried? She never wants to talk about anything, never even thinks about those kinds of things. She is so innocent, and she shouldn’t be burdened with all of these things. I can’t protect her from herself though. No one can. But to distract her…I can do that. It seems as though Aiden can too. But me…I just bring it all back.

I pounded my fist on the counter, frustrated with myself. I can’t keep living like this, always wondering what would happen, always wondering what would have been. It is sickening to the stomach. I just need to suck it up and move on; Candace doesn’t want me. She has a boyfriend, and is in love.

I can’t take that away from her. Looking at the clock on the stove, I noticed I had been sitting here for twenty minutes. Standing, I headed for the door, but heard voices and stopped. Clark and Ryan were talking just outside the door. Then Clark’s voice faded until it was just Ryan, now talking to Aiden and Candace.

I headed into the room, wanting to know what was going on.

“But these are different, they are almost real.” Aiden was saying as I walked into the dining room.

“What seems real?” I asked, looking around at all the faces.

Ryan skipped over the question, asking one of his own. “We are setting up a soccer game. You guys want to play with us? You can too Candace…if you want.”

I shrugged. “Sure, I’ll play.”

“I’ll stay here with Candace.” Aiden said, putting his hand on top of hers. As I looked closer at the two of them, I realized I wasn’t the only one who kept upsetting Candace. Her lips were curled into a smile, but her eyes showed torment, and confusion.

Candace slipped her hand out from under his gently and stood. “No, you should play. “I’ll come watch.”

Aiden shook his head. “It’s fine Candace.”

She puffed out her lips and made her eyes looked sad and puppy like. “But I want to watch you play.”

Aiden gave in and followed Ryan and I out to the front yard. Goals were already set up, three balls next to one of them. Clark was bouncing one off of his head making the ball go over twenty feet in the air, then back down. It looked a little abnormal to me, but it must have been normal to them. They all seemed at ease, even Candace was now sitting on the sidelines with her legs crossed.

I was starting to rethink about my decision to play because I was sure they could all kill me with one finger. Aiden came up behind me and clapped me on the back. “We’ll go easy on ‘ya.”

Aiden didn’t give me time to respond before going over to get a ball. He passed it to me rather quickly, but I was able to catch it in between my legs, then kick it put to jump kick it back him. I knew how to play this game. I had been the team leader in Georgia for the Varsity team, but that was two years ago. I hadn’t really played since I broke my leg during a game. Now I was all pumped and ready to do what ever I had to do to play against these guys. I had a huge competitive side…

The game lasted awhile, me and Aiden on one team, the other three against us. Aiden and I worked well on a team; knowing when to pass the ball at the exact moment, and when to be where. It was almost like I was communicating with him through his mind, but of course that was just dumb thinking.

When the game was over, Clark and Ryan left abruptly, not telling any of us where they were headed. Trevor left as well, but he just ran into the woods. I figured he was going to hunt again. It was just me Candace and Aiden left. It was Candace who decided we should all watch a movie, and that is what we did.