Crimson Snow

"Renata! Wake up!"

I groaned. It was Ali, waking me up. My cousin loved mornings. I hated them.
She whipped my covers off my head. I hissed at her. There was too much light! Too bright!

"We're almost late to school! If you don't hurry, we'll get detention!"

Rubbing my eyes, I looked at my alarm clock. "Crap, Ali! It's 6:30!"

"I overslept! This never happens!" Her voice was frantic. I held back a smile. She was so paranoid sometimes. I looked up at her. She was fully dressed already, in decorated jeans and a T-shirt from a music festival over a green tank top. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, out of her round face. Her green eyes were concerned. She was playing with a bracelet on her wrist nervously. Yeah, she didn't look like a morning person much, with the groupie look. But really, she could wake up at six even if she had fallen asleep at five.

"Ali, will you give it a rest? School doesn't start for another hour and a half!" I threw a pillow at her. She dodged it and it hit the wall, knocking down a poster. I sighed.

"Yeah, but today is the first day! Aren't you excited or nervous at all?"

"Not particularly." I heaved myself out of bed. There was no way I would get to sleep again. I walked sleepily over to my bathroom. After a shower that I almost fell asleep standing up in, I dressed in a red top and black skinny jeans. White Converse that I had doodled all over completed the look. I looked in the mirror. My long, dark hair was still messy, shadows under my eyes stood out against my pale complexion. Around my neck hung a small, ornate silver cross. It was on a thin silver chain. I had never taken it off. Why? Because I couldn't.

Ever since my parents had died when I was a baby and I was delivered to my aunt and uncle out of the blue (they hadn't seen my parents in years), I had worn it. I had tried, but the clasp couldn't be undone. My aunt had even taken me to a jeweler's when I was seven, but he was baffled when it remained stubborn. It wasn't that I didn't like it, one just wondered why it was around my neck. Sometimes I wondered why it hadn't come off when I was a baby. I guess it would always be a mystery.
So I lived as a daughter in my aunt's home, with Ali as a sister, and we loved each other unconditionally, even though we were different in so many ways. She was bright and cheery, I was... not. She was a good student, I was... not. I scared some people. I don't know why, but, God, some people just took one look at me and headed for the hills. It wasn't as if I was one of those people with a bunch of piercings or tattoos (like that was really a problem), people just seemed to have a natural aversion to me.
Of course, everyone liked Ali.

"Good morning, Renata!" More cheeriness.

"Hi, Auntie Gen." I yawned and collapsed at the breakfast table. My aunt looked just like Ali, but older and with shorter hair. And guess what? Uncle Rod was just like them, too. I was the black sheep in this this little family. I just knew that I was an alien or something. How right I was. How I wish I wasn't.

Ten minutes later, Ali had dragged me out the door. We walked down the road to the high school, which was just a few blocks away. Ali was talking a mile a minute.

"I mean this is so cool! I know there will be a cute boy that likes me this year! I mean, now that we're not freshmen, I think we both have a chance!"

"Yeah. I agree."

"Renata, who do you think will get elected as president of the sophomore class? I think I might run this year!"

"Yeah. I agree."

"Are you even listening?"

"Yeah. I agree."

She hit me on the back of the head. "Wake up already!"

"Damn you and your peppiness," I muttered. We reached the school. Screaming and yelling echoed around the campus. The freshmen huddled together, looking scared. I smiled sympathetically. I remembered how it felt.
I walked towards the gym to receive my schedule. It was so bright in the mornings! I closed my eyes for just one second and CRASH! Something large and metal hit my legs and I fell to the ground with it. "Ouch!" I had ripped my jeans. Blood was visible. I was lying on a bike. People laughed and pointed.

"Hey! What are you doing to my bike!" A boy ran over. He wore a black t-shirt. The boy stood over me for a second, dumbfounded.

"Hey, are you going to help me up or not?" I asked. My foot was caught in the chain. He came to his senses and pulled me up.

"Ow!" My foot dragged the bike, making a horrible scraping sound.

"Oh, sorry." He knelt down and gently untangled my leg from the chain. He looked up at me. "Is it okay if I do this?"

My heart stopped as our eyes met. He had brown hair that fell into his eyes, which were grey. He was slightly pale, but not overly so. He had almost perfect features. "It's fine," I managed to say. Soon my leg was free.

"We should get you to the nurse," he said. "That cut is pretty nasty."
I nodded and stood up. A spasm of pain shot through my leg. I cursed and sat back down. "I can't."

He propped me up. "Lean on me."
I did.
We walked slowly to the nurse's office, with me dragging my hurt leg, hanging from the boy's shoulders.

"So... what's your name?" he asked.

"Renata Hunt."

"Jack Silverman."

"Cool."

"So, what do you like to do besides knock over bikes?" He half-smiled, his eyes teasing. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Very funny. I like to read."

Jack smiled. "Hey, me too. Everyone calls me a geek."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, seriously. Some people are so lame."
We made it to the nurse's office. I flopped down on a green vinyl chair. The whole place smelled like rubbing alcohol. It made me dizzy.
Jack sat down beside me.

"So, how come I've never seen you before?"

"I'm new. We moved for my sister's job." He pushed some of his hair out of his eyes.

"Sister?"

"Yeah, my sister is my guardian. My mom died a year ago, and my dad just up and left. My sister is twenty-three."

"Oh. My parents died. I live with my aunt."
We sat in silence. Finally the nurse came in and bandaged me up, and Jack went back to class.

Later, when school ended, Ali found me and we walked home. Or rather, I limped.
"You won't believe what I did today!" She said happily.

"What?"

"It's a surprise! I'll tell you when we get home!" She seemed so excited. I smiled.

We reached our house. It was white, two-storied, and it backed up to a forest. We lived on the edge of town, which was right next to a national park. Sometimes we would see deer through the trees, and once, we saw a bear, who ripped apart our trash cans. We had heard a wolf howl once or twice during the night. When we were little, Ali would come and get in my bed when that happened, and we huddled together listening to their cries, remembering Little Red Riding Hood, and the Three Little Pigs.
My aunt and uncle weren't home. They both worked. We dropped our bags in the front hall and trooped up the stairs to my room. I sat on the bed, and Ali stood in front of me. She shone.

"So what did you want to tell me?"

"You know how I always say that you should get involved at school? Well, I nominated you for president!"
I stared at her. She had to be kidding me. But she wasn't. "You did what? Are you insane?" I yelled at her. She had done stuff before, but this was the worst. I was terrible at making speeches, and I hated attention. Running for class president was like a death sentence.
She looked at me, shocked. "But this would be great for you!"

I stood up. "No it wouldn't! Why do you always have to drag me into things that I don't want to do!" My hands were clenched into fists.

Her face flushed with anger. "Well, excuse me for trying to make you more confident! Sometimes you are so embarrassing to be around! All you do is hide in a corner with a book! Everyone looks at me like I'm insane when I tell them we're cousins!"

"Why do you think you know the best for everyone! Why do you always want me to be like you! It sucks! Who would want to be a peppy, happy, airhead! Sometimes you can be such a controlling bitch!" i screamed in her face.
She lunged at me in anger. Her fingers closed around my necklace. Rage in her eyes, she pulled with all her might.
Snap.
I felt a chain slither off my neck. I looked up. Ali stood, dumbfounded, holding my necklace in her fist.
"Oh," I said, "it came off."
And I collapsed.
Flesh is frozen for all eternity
I suddenly felt cold. My muscles tightened. I shook uncontrollably. My eyes went in and out of focus.
Eyes sharper than a hawk's, ears more acute than a deer's, smell more sensitive than a bear's
Everything seemed sharper and blurrier at the same time. I gasped for breath. Ice surged through my veins. It flowed through my lungs, closer and closer to my heart.
A cursed existence, forever to thirst.
Everything froze. I returned to normal - or so I thought. I could hear a heartbeat from across the room. I smelled the paint on the walls, the dust in the carpet, the blood of the person across the room from me. I saw every thread in my jeans. I realized I wasn't breathing, but I wasn't affected by it. I got to my feet and looked at my cousin. Her eyes were wide with shock.
"I thought they didn't exist," she whispered. "Oh my God, Renata, what happened to you?"

I turned toward her. "What is - " I stopped. A tantalizingly delicious smell met my nostrils and my throat burned with desire. I sniffed the air gently. The smell was coming from Ali. It wafted off of her skin. Every time she exhaled it smelled stronger. It took over my brain. I walked closer to her. She cowered against the wall and tried to slip away but I grabbed her arms and held her against the wall. She whimpered. Oh, the smell coming off of her neck was torture. I leaned closer and bared my teeth. Her veins showed through her skin. Delicious.
WHACK! She slapped me across the face. It was only a mere tingle, but I suddenly realised what I had done.
"Oh my God..."
I looked in the mirror on the wall. I was white as a sheet. My hair had deepened from dark brown to a lustrous jet black The irises of my eyes had turned from brown to blood-red.cI was devastatingly beautiful. Whatever I was (and I think I knew what), I was not human.

I thought they didn't exist...

"No," I whispered, "it couldn't be."
I looked at Ali. She was huddled against the wall. Her body was tense, and her hands shook. Her breath was ragged and her eyes were wide. Tears slid out of them. She looked as if she was about to be attacked by a horrible monster. I wanted to hug her, to tell her that everything would be okay, like I had done when we were children and we had heard wolves howling in the night. But then something struck me.
I was the monster.
I had tried to drink her blood, tried to kill her. My eyes were red as blood. I lifted one hand to my face. It was as white and as cold as marble. Could I...
BAM! I slammed my fist into the wall. It crumbled into dust.
I was so dangerous...
Especially to the ones I loved.
I could never see them again.
I jumped out the window.
Landing lightly as if I had only hopped down from a step instead of jumping out of a second story window, I fled into the forest. I jumped from tree to tree with more ease than a squirrel, more silence than a cat. Trees rushed past me. I was faster than any animal on the earth. I hated every step I took, every branch I ran on. The clarity was almost overwhelming. I could see every pine needle on every tree even though I passed about fifty trees every second. I heard everything, I smelt everything. Tears streamed out of my eyes, wiped away by the wind as I flew.
Eventually I stopped, not because I was tired (I felt like I could climb Everest without breaking a sweat) but because I wanted to. I jumped down silently and sat on a huge, mossy boulder. I sat for a minute, and realized that I must have been several miles away from home. I breathed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't be in danger. I wouldn't ever see them. Never...
I broke down, sobbing. My beautiful, strong, monstrous body shook with every sob. Why had this happened? The necklace? Ali had ripped it off, and I had transformed. Did this mean that I was always like this, just locked under some sort of magic in the silver cross that hadn't left my neck since I was delivered to my aunt's door? Ha, magic. But after all that had happened, I knew it could be possible. After all, wasn't my very existence proof that the stories I had long ago accepted as fiction could be true?
Whatever had happened, I knew what I was.
Bloodthirsty.
Beautiful.
Powerful.
Feared.
Mythic.
I was a vampire.