Take My Hand

Brendon came to a sharp stop once he had reached a 24-7 with extremely bright lights for my liking. They hurt to stare at them, like looking at the Sun. Brendon quickly got out of the car and opened one of the back doors to check up on me. As soon as he was in the back with me, I grabbed his hand tightly. Something that meant so much to me. I felt safe a secure when my hand was in his, like he was never going to let me go, even though it was only very little body contact.

“I need you stay here for me, okay?” Brendon asked, still holding on to my hand. He looked sincerely worried for my sickness. Another sharp pain in my stomach made me realise that Brendon was gently rubbing my stomach in a circular motion.

“No, don’t leave me,” I begged him exhausted.

“I have to. I have to get you something, to help your stomach. Pain killers or something.”

“At least let me come with you. I don’t want to be alone. How much money do we have left? Do we even have enough for the pain killers?”

There was a long pause. “Yes, I have enough. Just stay here. You’re too faint to stand up, you’re liable to collapse. I promise I’ll be back in less than five minutes. Be patient, please.”

Brendon stared at me in the eyes for a moment and then kissed my forehead tenderly before leaving the car to go into the 24-7. It was like torture watching him leave me to go into there. It just made the pain in my stomach that much worse and made the time waiting for him seem like an age.

I couldn’t take it anymore. Only two minutes had passed, but I had to go and find him before it drove me insane. I crawled out of the car almost collapsing as soon as my feet touched the floor. I clutched my stomach as I struggled to find the strength to move my legs. Eventually, I made it inside of the extremely bright building. A little too bright for my liking. My shoes squeaked against the lino floor as I dragged my feet around the store searching for Brendon, but he was no where in sight. There wasn’t even anyone on the till either. Where the hell was everyone?

“Brendon,” I called out as loud as I could, which was hard since I had no strength at all. I repeated it again, my voice getting raspier. There was no answer, no matter how many times I said it. I felt dizzy and sick, as if I was going to collapse any second. The whole room seemed to spin as I breathed heavily, trying not let myself faint. “Brendon,” I tried once more. Still nothing. I fell to my knees, now with burning tears falling from my eyes. I didn’t even feel them coming, they just fell. I wasn’t in hysterics, they were silent tears. I began to crawl further down the store in search for Brendon. As I came to the end of the isle, I saw a red liquid smeared all across the floor. It appeared to be leading towards a double door. My mind began to suspect the worse and I had a feeling I already knew what had happened. I decided to follow the trail of blood anyway. I opened the double doors as quiet as possible to see what was there.

There was Brendon, bending down in front of an open safe. He was taking all of the money from inside of it, which wasn’t a lot. I can tell this store doesn’t get many customers. As shocked as I was, nothing could compare to what was beside the safe. A dead body. Another murder to add to this list of Brendon’s. It was just as gruesome as the others he had killed, with the blood pouring out of his neck and down his torso. Before Brendon could see me, I tried crawling back out of the room, but I didn’t succeed. My foot accidentally kicked the door, whilst turning around. I quickly got up from off the floor before Brendon could realise who it was.

“Who’s there?!” I heard Brendon’s voice holler. I tried my best to run out of the store, but failed terribly. With every step I took, I just got closer and closer to the floor, until I completely collapsed again. “Belle!” I heard him shout again. I ignored him and managed to crawl out of the shop before he could catch up to me.

I’m being totally serious; I thought I was going to die. There was no strength in me at all and I couldn’t even be bothered to acknowledge the pain in my stomach anymore. It was like it wasn’t even there, but it most certainly was. As I continued to drag myself towards the car, I noticed a tall, long, skinny figure making his way up to me, along with maybe 5 or 6 other people walking majestically behind him in a V shape. It was an amazing sight, how they all walked with elegance and in synchronism. At first, I thought they could possibly be here to help me. As if they magically appeared from nowhere to cure this sickness I had, like some sort of angels. But that was incorrect. It was the opposite. They had come just to add to my troubles and to make things worse. I squinted at them, my sight seeming more and more unclear. It was definitely William, with his henchmen. It had been so long since I had seen them last, but I could recognise that face anywhere. The one that haunted my dreams and still does. Even though I was terrified of him, I didn’t move or show any emotions. My body wouldn’t let me.

“Well fancy meeting you here. I guess you’ve decided to come crawling back to me,” William started. He got down to my eye level and stared at me in the eyes. “I knew you always did like me,” He whispered into my ear.

“Don’t touch her,” Brendon warned, when he finally came out of the store. With a click of William’s fingers, the henchmen were on him like a pack of hungry wolves. They all crowded around him, stopping him from reaching me by holding him back. He broke free from their grip and began to run towards me almost falling asleep in Williams’s arms. My eyes struggled to stay open and my body struggled to get out of William’s grip, but I could hardly walk let alone push him away.

“Stay back!” William threatened, “Or I swear, I’ll cut her throat!” Brendon questioned whether he should ignore him or not. He continued to walk, but the henchmen grabbed him aggressively.

I groaned exhaustedly as William grasped my hair tightly, making me tilt my head. He placed his teeth to my neck. I tried to let out a scream, but it came out as just a sharp breath. “No!” I heard Brendon yell. I felt William’s tongue slowly slide along my neck, infuriating Brendon even more.

“What’s wrong, Brendon? I’m only doing what a real vampires, like you and I, should do. By the looks of things, it actually looks you’ve finally broken out of your shell. It’s finally occurred to you that you’re a vampire and this is how a vampire should act,” William explained as he pointed to the blood around Brendon’s mouth and chest. Then he pointed to me, “What’s stopping you from killing this one?”

Brendon tried breaking free again, but he failed. A tear rolled down my face as I watched them hurt Brendon. The last thing I remember is Brendon falling and disappearing into the henchmen, before I fell into a deep, black abyss of nothingness.