Billie the Vampire

Billie woke up and instantly shut his eyes tight again. Morning light streamed through the small, horizontal-barred gaps in the blinds. It made his eyes water, and it felt slightly hotter than usual on his skin. He tried to cover up as much of himself as possible with his bed sheets.

Millions of thoughts raced through his mind. What if he got found out? Who, if anyone, should he tell? Should he try to find Nathaniel and ask him for help? Should he just commit suicide or something and rid the world of one less evil? Was that nurse okay? Was she a vampire now too? Were there vampire slayers who would try to track him down and kill him?' And the one thought that kept echoing through his mind: 'What should I do?'

He was mad, depressed, upset, lost. He was confused, confused to a point where he didn't want to put up with all this. His future had been decided for him, it seemed. He would kill and eventually would start taking a liking to it. His conscious would deteriorate over the long years to come, and everyone would leave him. He would be a freak, hunted by vampire slayers and possibly the government.

Now he felt angry. It was all Nathaniel's fault. He did this to him; he damned him to live until killed by some means, preying on innocent people against his will.

A nurse came into the room and made him think clearer. 'I should stop jumping to conclusions; it might not really be that bad.' The nurse smiled warmly. Billie couldn't help but feel guilty. At least right now he didn't have any blood cravings.

He plucked up enough courage to ask, "Is that other nurse okay?"

The nurse stopped smiling and quietly said, "No, she died. There was nothing we could do. She barely had any blood left."

'So not everyone is turned into vampires...'

He felt relieved at first. It was short-lived; guilt surged through him. He had killed. He was a murderer. His new life had officially begun. He was a vampire. What should he do?

The nurse had said a few things, but now she was saying, "You'll be allowed to leave a little later on today after a few tests."

Billie nodded absentmindedly. Tomorrow he was going home. He would see Adie, Joey, and Jakob again. He would need to be careful around them. He would soon rather die than cause any harm to them. Then he remembered that they were all at Adie's parents' house for the weekend and wouldn't be back until two days after Billie got home. At least that gave him more time. He didn't notice that the nurse left until she came back with some breakfast.

'Hospital food...yippee,' he thought sarcastically.

Even though he wasn't hungry, he ate some of it anyway.

'What should I do?'

***

He was at home again, finally. Nothing had happened on the way home, and Mike and Tré still knew nothing and suspected nothing. It was around noon, and they were going to go out to eat. Billie was dressed all in black, the color seeming so appealing to him. He had sunglasses on to help protect his eyes from the sun.

As soon as he stepped outside, he flinched. Even with the sunglasses, his eyes hurt. He tried to ignore the pain and drove to Mike's. He hoped he wouldn't be suspicious of him. He was tense and jumpy right now, and he felt so vulnerable being out in the middle of the day when he was a vampire.

When Mike got into the car, he asked, "How come you're wearing sunglasses? It's cloudy out."

He was right, of course, and Billie winced as though he had been caught in the act of doing something wrong. He slowly removed the only protection he had from the sun for his eyes. He squinted for a little while after it, but eventually got used to it enough. All the while Mike looked at him weirdly. They were silent, and it was an awkward silence.

Billie felt relieved when he pulled up to Tré's house. He strolled out, whistling to himself happily.

"Hello wonderful peoples," he said overly cheerfully.

Mike narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"

Tré closed the car door before replying, "Nothing...'cept I did go to Wal-Mart real quick for some fun."

Mike sighed, "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing much...just got a gun and some ammunition. Well, I didn't really buy it; I got kicked out before then."

"Why?!"

"Well...all I did was ask where the ski masks were."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Why did you want a gun, some ammunition, and a ski mask?"

"'Cause I wanted to go hunting some time maybe. And skiing sounds fun too..."

Mike didn't know what to say, but luckily he didn't have to say anything as they had pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant they were going to eat at.

***

After they had finished eating, Billie had to go to the bathroom. He excused himself from their table and, well, went to the bathroom. As he was washing his hands, Mike came in. He froze.

"What?" Billie asked until he looked at what Mike was staring at: the mirror. Billie's reflection didn't show up in the mirror. "Fuck...Mike, I can explain." 'No, I can't.'

"Am I crazy or am I just seeing things, or what?" Mike stuttered.

"It's, I, er...it's just nothing, stop freaking out," Billie said in a desperate attempt to calm Mike.

Mike thought he saw Billie's eyes go white...not again. What was wrong with him? "Billie, your eyes went white."

Now Billie was starting to freak out. "No, no, it's all just a trick of the light. Nothing's wrong. Just forget about everything." He said the last words stronger than he meant to, but it seemed to work somehow.

"Nothing's wrong?"

"Nothing, so stop worrying," Billie told him, walking towards the door.

"Forget everything?"

"Yeah."

Mike looked calm and almost as though he had been hypnotized...

'No,' Billie thought.

As Billie left the bathroom, Mike returned to his normal state, although feeling confused. He decided just to forget about it.