Falling Pieces
Chapter One- The Good Old Boring Days
I woke up and stretched my arms as I sat up on my bed. Oh great! Another boring day. I heard my parents arguing downstairs and I knew they wouldn't stop even if I was there-they would just kind of mumble there comments to each other- so I decided to go straight to the restroom instead of eating breakfast first. I finished showering and getting changed and ready for school. I wore my gray Volcom sweater Hood with my white shirt inside and my black baggy denim jeans.
My parents arguing finally subsided when I went downstairs to eat. They looked at me and smiled as if nothing happened. I hate when they did that, I'm 17 already, I know the difference between getting along and almost at each others throats. "Ledi?" my mom asked. I looked up at her from my bowl of cereal. She called me Ledi but my real name is Ledia. She just looked at me even if I already acknowledged her by looking up at her. "Yes mom?" I finally replied a moment later. "How is school?" "It's alright, I have a test today," I knew she would ask me anyway so I added,"don;t worry I studied", before she could annoy me with silly questions about school. I knew something more was wrong but my mother never got to the point, she was always beating around the bush. Really annoying when you try so hard to respect your parents. "I would like to have a talk with you when you get home, I get off early so I will be here." She looked grave, and I tried to hide the fact that I was both afraid and nervous so I just nodded.
Could this be the talk? Could today be the day that my parents tell me that they are getting a divorce? I was scared and nervous now, and I knew I would be all day. I wasn't scared of losing my family, because I knew I wouldn't be, they loved me and they would be civilized enough to stay in the same room after a divorce if it was meant to make me happy. I was scared because I knew my mom would not handle it very well, she would be a living zombie, for her my father was her life, he made her live. They truly did love each other but sometimes things don't always go smoothly between them. And I was scared because my dad was lost, he needed the guidance of my mother and no one else could be his shoulder to lean on.
I finished my bowl of cereal in silence, my parents were quiet too and then they headed for work. I was half way upstairs when I heard a knock on the door. I yelled "It's open" and kept walking up the stairs, I knew it would be my best friend Kimmy. We always hung out for a while at my house, one because it was closer to the bus stop and two because school didn't start for another thirty minutes and the bus never came till fifteen minutes before school started, which would arrive at eight o'clock.
"Hey loser, how was your morning?" Kimmy said as she closed the door and ran up the stairs. We had no secrets between us but I never felt comfortable talking about my family issues with anyone, I mean I never even talked about my family with my own family, so I guess this was my little exception to the "no secrets" thing.
"It was alright, I'm up aren't I?" Kimmy and I chuckled. When we were finally in my room we decided to study a bit more for our test in English 12 on Shakespeare's sonnets. We lay on the bed right next to each other so that we knew the other wasn't cheating by looking at notes and because we were just lazy and tired in the morning. After about five minutes I remembered that I had turned my air con off and that's why my room was getting a bit hot. My hair was down and so I moved it behind my shoulder revealing my neck.
I asked Kimmy a question about Shakespeare's' one hundred and sixteenth sonnet, we did a project on this sonnet so I knew we both knew this sonnet by heart. I didn't hear a reply but I felt an icy cold breath on my neck. I turned to see Kimmy's mouth open slightly and her eyes closed getting closer and closer to my neck. I then realized she was trying to kiss my neck.
"Kimmy!" I yelled jumping off of my bed. "What the heck is wrong with you?! You aren't a lesbian. You...You would have told me." I was in shock and I was scared. How often is it that your best friend tries to kiss you, that's the same gender as you?
She looked just as shocked as I felt. She put her head down for a moment. "Oh no!! Oh no!!" she repeated over and over again. She looked at me with saddened eyes, "I am so sorry Ledi, I never meant to... especially not to you... I don't know how I didn't control myself." She couldn't find the words to say. She looked down and then back up at me with an expression as if she a light bulb just popped in her head.. "Will you let me explain?" she asked. I nodded. What the heck did she have to explain?! She tried to kiss me for crying out loud!! She took her phone out and called someone, I wasn't sure who because she was talking lower than a whisper.
She closed her phone shut and thought for a second, looking from me to the bed."Ledia, I think you should sit down, I'm not sure how you will take this." she begged me with her eyes. I looked at her from head to toe, she was wearing a black plain shirt and blue denim jeans cut all around at the knees. I looked back at her wide, sad, light green eyes. They still begged me to sit down. I shook my head and said "Listen Kimmy, you didn't tell me you were a lesbian, you know I would have been o.k. with it if you just told me, but you...you...tried to kiss me." I said this with difficulty and I'm ashamed to say with disgust also. I had nothing against lesbians or gay men but when a lesbian hits on me, well that just goes too far and I will get mad and might hit you. But Kimmy was and still is my friend, I think.
She shook her head rapidly and calmly said, "No" she was sitting on the bed after I jumped off and now she slowly got up and walked towards me. I backed up slightly closing my eyes, wanting her to disappear, very afraid and not knowing what to do if she tried to kiss me again. "Not everyone likes a skater girl Ledi" she said grabbing my hand and pulling me to my bed. I opened my eyes and her eyes were full of humor at the comment she just made. I wasn't laughing though. She didn't let go of my hand so I yanked it away. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ledia Michaels, listen to me". She used my full name. I looked at her with shock, she rarely ever used my real name. She smiled, "I knew that would get your attention, now please just listen to me." I nodded. "I'm not a lesbian, or bisexual for that matter. What I am is something more...more unbelievable for you." She twisted her face, either disgusted or because she was struggling for words, I couldn't tell. She still had her Spanish accent, all the guys at school loved it, she was 5'4 had long dyed black hair, and had nice full lips. A lot of guys at school liked her, why would she want to be a lesbian?
"Ledi would you stop thinking I'm a lesbian!!!!" she shouted breaking me from my reverie. I blinked rapidly and looked at her, she was still the same person, I could still be friends with her-so long as she doesn't ever try to do that again. I smiled at her and grabbed her hand. "Kimmy I'm alright, still a bit upset that you didn't tell me sooner and had to find out like this but we are the best skater chicks at school and we are really cool friends so I don't think this should end our friendship." I started laughing and she gave me a confused look so I answered her confused gaze. "I laughed at how corny I just sounded. O.k. so let's get back to studying, we have to make sure we got this one down. So Shakespeare-"
"NO!!!! YOU DON'T GET IT!!WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME FINISH WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY?! IT'S HARD ENOUGH AS IT IS!!!" Kimmy yelled cutting me off.
I looked at her stunned, she was always mean in a joking way and mean when someone was picking on a helpless little kid, but not once have I seen Kimmy so mad at anyone. It unnerved me that it was I she was getting mad at.
"Sorry", I said softly and nodded for her to continue. She spoke slowly and very quietly, "Ledi, I'm sorry I yelled but I really need to explain; I have been fighting with my parents about this and I just need to-"
"You tried to kiss me to make your parents mad?!" I said in confusion and incomprehension. Kissing me solved the arguing how? Or did she just want to make them mad by pretending to be a lesbian? She gave me her look and I quickly bit my lip to let her know I'll shut up. "Ledi, you really need to stop jumping to conclusions. I have been arguing and begging my parents for me to tell you in case anything like this happened. I told them I might not control it, I was never as strong as everyone else, they blamed themselves for not telling me." She looked away from me at this point and now there was no conclusion for me to jump to, I was completely oblivious as to what she would say.
"Ledi...I could have killed you-don't laugh! I was not trying to kiss you, or kiss your neck, I was trying to taste you. Ledi, I was trying to drink your blood." She looked directly into my eyes, no hint of hysteria, just wondering eyes. After a minute or so I moved my hair again because it was still hot. No one said anything and I didn't know whether she was trying to joke around with me. As I moved my hair she yelled, "Wait!!" She jumped off of my bed and grabbed her bag, she reached in a pulled out her canteen. She was always drinking from that thing.
And then it hit me. She was always drinking from it when someone tossed their hair or a guy leaned on her showing their necks. I looked at her in shocked realization. She was some kind of blood drinking thing. I didn't want to call her a monster, at least not yet.
"You are telling the truth" I said but Kimmy nodded anyway. "Ledi I am a vampire." I nodded my head and said "O.k."She looked at me in shock as I grabbed my bag and headed for my door. "That's all you have to say?" she asked stunned and in disbelief. "Yeah, just as long as you keep that canteen near you at all times we are good." I laughed. I stopped half way down the hall way, turned around, and said "So much for no secret huh?" I smirked at her. " Well now there are no secrets" she said in reply. I winced a bit remembering I had to talk with my mom this afternoon. I would tell Kimmy now, she had trusted me with her secret and I only believed because she always had that canteen.
We were ten feet from the bus stop and that canteen was still in my mind. I stopped dead in my tracks, i had to ask, and then Kimmy came bumping into me and almost spilled the contents inside the canteen all over the both of us. But she was quick, she caught it before it hit the floor. "No one is watching, I guess that was alright, I mean who wants spilled blood all over the side walk right?" She giggled. I smiled and then let i fade slowly. She looked at me after taking another gulp of the substance, this time there was a bit of red above her lips and she licked it as she closed her eyes. "Whats wrong? she asked. I hesitated for a bit. "Can I see what's inside?"She smiled and handed over the canteen. "I knew you couldn't believe me that easily." she chuckled."Give it a try if you want, I doubt you'll like it though, all you humans say it tastes like rust or metal or something, but I guess for me, you can refer as honey." she smiled as she glowed. This was weird even for me, she was acting really weird, I've never seen her act like this, it was like she was on drugs. I spilled some of the red liquid onto the grass near us, I'm not sure how blood looks after it's been out so long, maybe I could let myself bleed and see...no she might attack me, but I wouldn't slice up my arm, it would be a little poke from a sewing needle. That's too weird I thought and let the thought escape my mind. I looked at her nervously, I would only know if I tried it. The bus was already turning around the corner so I had about a minute to force myself to drink the unknown red substance and then walk to the bus stop. I peered inside the canteen and saw nothing but a shimmer off of the liquid. I held my breath and took a full mouth full of the liquid, I forced it down not knowing why I did because from the moment it entered my mouth I knew it was blood.I gave a sour face before I opened my mouth to talk.
"Is this human blood?" I asked a little scared of what I had just swallowed. She laughed loudly as we walked toward the bus stop. The bus was already there and kids where getting in. "No, we aren't like that anymore, only a few are stuck on human blood, too strong for them to resist but we carry around the necessary amount we need for the day. I need the most in my family, as I said earlier, it's a lot harder for me. She grimaced. I patted her arm before we got stepped onto the bus.
I now knew today would be longer than I thought. I had to worry about what my mom would talk to me about and now I found out I'm best friends with a vampire, and now we had a fifteen minute bus ride that I knew would be filled with silence from Kimmy and I, there was too much for both of us to think about. I silently laughed. So much for another boring day.
My parents arguing finally subsided when I went downstairs to eat. They looked at me and smiled as if nothing happened. I hate when they did that, I'm 17 already, I know the difference between getting along and almost at each others throats. "Ledi?" my mom asked. I looked up at her from my bowl of cereal. She called me Ledi but my real name is Ledia. She just looked at me even if I already acknowledged her by looking up at her. "Yes mom?" I finally replied a moment later. "How is school?" "It's alright, I have a test today," I knew she would ask me anyway so I added,"don;t worry I studied", before she could annoy me with silly questions about school. I knew something more was wrong but my mother never got to the point, she was always beating around the bush. Really annoying when you try so hard to respect your parents. "I would like to have a talk with you when you get home, I get off early so I will be here." She looked grave, and I tried to hide the fact that I was both afraid and nervous so I just nodded.
Could this be the talk? Could today be the day that my parents tell me that they are getting a divorce? I was scared and nervous now, and I knew I would be all day. I wasn't scared of losing my family, because I knew I wouldn't be, they loved me and they would be civilized enough to stay in the same room after a divorce if it was meant to make me happy. I was scared because I knew my mom would not handle it very well, she would be a living zombie, for her my father was her life, he made her live. They truly did love each other but sometimes things don't always go smoothly between them. And I was scared because my dad was lost, he needed the guidance of my mother and no one else could be his shoulder to lean on.
I finished my bowl of cereal in silence, my parents were quiet too and then they headed for work. I was half way upstairs when I heard a knock on the door. I yelled "It's open" and kept walking up the stairs, I knew it would be my best friend Kimmy. We always hung out for a while at my house, one because it was closer to the bus stop and two because school didn't start for another thirty minutes and the bus never came till fifteen minutes before school started, which would arrive at eight o'clock.
"Hey loser, how was your morning?" Kimmy said as she closed the door and ran up the stairs. We had no secrets between us but I never felt comfortable talking about my family issues with anyone, I mean I never even talked about my family with my own family, so I guess this was my little exception to the "no secrets" thing.
"It was alright, I'm up aren't I?" Kimmy and I chuckled. When we were finally in my room we decided to study a bit more for our test in English 12 on Shakespeare's sonnets. We lay on the bed right next to each other so that we knew the other wasn't cheating by looking at notes and because we were just lazy and tired in the morning. After about five minutes I remembered that I had turned my air con off and that's why my room was getting a bit hot. My hair was down and so I moved it behind my shoulder revealing my neck.
I asked Kimmy a question about Shakespeare's' one hundred and sixteenth sonnet, we did a project on this sonnet so I knew we both knew this sonnet by heart. I didn't hear a reply but I felt an icy cold breath on my neck. I turned to see Kimmy's mouth open slightly and her eyes closed getting closer and closer to my neck. I then realized she was trying to kiss my neck.
"Kimmy!" I yelled jumping off of my bed. "What the heck is wrong with you?! You aren't a lesbian. You...You would have told me." I was in shock and I was scared. How often is it that your best friend tries to kiss you, that's the same gender as you?
She looked just as shocked as I felt. She put her head down for a moment. "Oh no!! Oh no!!" she repeated over and over again. She looked at me with saddened eyes, "I am so sorry Ledi, I never meant to... especially not to you... I don't know how I didn't control myself." She couldn't find the words to say. She looked down and then back up at me with an expression as if she a light bulb just popped in her head.. "Will you let me explain?" she asked. I nodded. What the heck did she have to explain?! She tried to kiss me for crying out loud!! She took her phone out and called someone, I wasn't sure who because she was talking lower than a whisper.
She closed her phone shut and thought for a second, looking from me to the bed."Ledia, I think you should sit down, I'm not sure how you will take this." she begged me with her eyes. I looked at her from head to toe, she was wearing a black plain shirt and blue denim jeans cut all around at the knees. I looked back at her wide, sad, light green eyes. They still begged me to sit down. I shook my head and said "Listen Kimmy, you didn't tell me you were a lesbian, you know I would have been o.k. with it if you just told me, but you...you...tried to kiss me." I said this with difficulty and I'm ashamed to say with disgust also. I had nothing against lesbians or gay men but when a lesbian hits on me, well that just goes too far and I will get mad and might hit you. But Kimmy was and still is my friend, I think.
She shook her head rapidly and calmly said, "No" she was sitting on the bed after I jumped off and now she slowly got up and walked towards me. I backed up slightly closing my eyes, wanting her to disappear, very afraid and not knowing what to do if she tried to kiss me again. "Not everyone likes a skater girl Ledi" she said grabbing my hand and pulling me to my bed. I opened my eyes and her eyes were full of humor at the comment she just made. I wasn't laughing though. She didn't let go of my hand so I yanked it away. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ledia Michaels, listen to me". She used my full name. I looked at her with shock, she rarely ever used my real name. She smiled, "I knew that would get your attention, now please just listen to me." I nodded. "I'm not a lesbian, or bisexual for that matter. What I am is something more...more unbelievable for you." She twisted her face, either disgusted or because she was struggling for words, I couldn't tell. She still had her Spanish accent, all the guys at school loved it, she was 5'4 had long dyed black hair, and had nice full lips. A lot of guys at school liked her, why would she want to be a lesbian?
"Ledi would you stop thinking I'm a lesbian!!!!" she shouted breaking me from my reverie. I blinked rapidly and looked at her, she was still the same person, I could still be friends with her-so long as she doesn't ever try to do that again. I smiled at her and grabbed her hand. "Kimmy I'm alright, still a bit upset that you didn't tell me sooner and had to find out like this but we are the best skater chicks at school and we are really cool friends so I don't think this should end our friendship." I started laughing and she gave me a confused look so I answered her confused gaze. "I laughed at how corny I just sounded. O.k. so let's get back to studying, we have to make sure we got this one down. So Shakespeare-"
"NO!!!! YOU DON'T GET IT!!WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME FINISH WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY?! IT'S HARD ENOUGH AS IT IS!!!" Kimmy yelled cutting me off.
I looked at her stunned, she was always mean in a joking way and mean when someone was picking on a helpless little kid, but not once have I seen Kimmy so mad at anyone. It unnerved me that it was I she was getting mad at.
"Sorry", I said softly and nodded for her to continue. She spoke slowly and very quietly, "Ledi, I'm sorry I yelled but I really need to explain; I have been fighting with my parents about this and I just need to-"
"You tried to kiss me to make your parents mad?!" I said in confusion and incomprehension. Kissing me solved the arguing how? Or did she just want to make them mad by pretending to be a lesbian? She gave me her look and I quickly bit my lip to let her know I'll shut up. "Ledi, you really need to stop jumping to conclusions. I have been arguing and begging my parents for me to tell you in case anything like this happened. I told them I might not control it, I was never as strong as everyone else, they blamed themselves for not telling me." She looked away from me at this point and now there was no conclusion for me to jump to, I was completely oblivious as to what she would say.
"Ledi...I could have killed you-don't laugh! I was not trying to kiss you, or kiss your neck, I was trying to taste you. Ledi, I was trying to drink your blood." She looked directly into my eyes, no hint of hysteria, just wondering eyes. After a minute or so I moved my hair again because it was still hot. No one said anything and I didn't know whether she was trying to joke around with me. As I moved my hair she yelled, "Wait!!" She jumped off of my bed and grabbed her bag, she reached in a pulled out her canteen. She was always drinking from that thing.
And then it hit me. She was always drinking from it when someone tossed their hair or a guy leaned on her showing their necks. I looked at her in shocked realization. She was some kind of blood drinking thing. I didn't want to call her a monster, at least not yet.
"You are telling the truth" I said but Kimmy nodded anyway. "Ledi I am a vampire." I nodded my head and said "O.k."She looked at me in shock as I grabbed my bag and headed for my door. "That's all you have to say?" she asked stunned and in disbelief. "Yeah, just as long as you keep that canteen near you at all times we are good." I laughed. I stopped half way down the hall way, turned around, and said "So much for no secret huh?" I smirked at her. " Well now there are no secrets" she said in reply. I winced a bit remembering I had to talk with my mom this afternoon. I would tell Kimmy now, she had trusted me with her secret and I only believed because she always had that canteen.
We were ten feet from the bus stop and that canteen was still in my mind. I stopped dead in my tracks, i had to ask, and then Kimmy came bumping into me and almost spilled the contents inside the canteen all over the both of us. But she was quick, she caught it before it hit the floor. "No one is watching, I guess that was alright, I mean who wants spilled blood all over the side walk right?" She giggled. I smiled and then let i fade slowly. She looked at me after taking another gulp of the substance, this time there was a bit of red above her lips and she licked it as she closed her eyes. "Whats wrong? she asked. I hesitated for a bit. "Can I see what's inside?"She smiled and handed over the canteen. "I knew you couldn't believe me that easily." she chuckled."Give it a try if you want, I doubt you'll like it though, all you humans say it tastes like rust or metal or something, but I guess for me, you can refer as honey." she smiled as she glowed. This was weird even for me, she was acting really weird, I've never seen her act like this, it was like she was on drugs. I spilled some of the red liquid onto the grass near us, I'm not sure how blood looks after it's been out so long, maybe I could let myself bleed and see...no she might attack me, but I wouldn't slice up my arm, it would be a little poke from a sewing needle. That's too weird I thought and let the thought escape my mind. I looked at her nervously, I would only know if I tried it. The bus was already turning around the corner so I had about a minute to force myself to drink the unknown red substance and then walk to the bus stop. I peered inside the canteen and saw nothing but a shimmer off of the liquid. I held my breath and took a full mouth full of the liquid, I forced it down not knowing why I did because from the moment it entered my mouth I knew it was blood.I gave a sour face before I opened my mouth to talk.
"Is this human blood?" I asked a little scared of what I had just swallowed. She laughed loudly as we walked toward the bus stop. The bus was already there and kids where getting in. "No, we aren't like that anymore, only a few are stuck on human blood, too strong for them to resist but we carry around the necessary amount we need for the day. I need the most in my family, as I said earlier, it's a lot harder for me. She grimaced. I patted her arm before we got stepped onto the bus.
I now knew today would be longer than I thought. I had to worry about what my mom would talk to me about and now I found out I'm best friends with a vampire, and now we had a fifteen minute bus ride that I knew would be filled with silence from Kimmy and I, there was too much for both of us to think about. I silently laughed. So much for another boring day.