Beauty and Blood

You're Undead to Me

September 25th, 2009

The first thing Andy knew was the dark. It wasn't the usual kind found in the absence of light, it was the sort that swallowed it whole, an inky black that wrapped itself around you like a snake with a mouse. The next thing she knew she was drowning. Drowning in the cold cold dark, poisonous ebony crushing her throat in a vice grip, filling her chest with a burning as she was paralysed in place.

In the endless pit came the echoes of screams, ones she knew well, the panicked voices of her sister and parents taunting her as she tried to struggle against the invisible chains. Slowly the sound became louder and louder, filling her ears with the deafening pleas and wails of her loved ones, a sickening crescendo as she felt hot tears run down her face. Silently she just wished for the nightmare to be over and done with, all too familiar with this night terror since the accident.

But then something new happened. Suddenly a middle-aged man with short dark blond hair stood before her, cold blue irises surrounded with red glaring down at her through the darkness, two sharp fangs glistening stained red. A dark voice, a British man's, roared over the cacophony of her family's agony. "You made your choice!" A burning white hot grip clenched around her neck, just as painful as the darkness had been, yanking her forward as the sharp teeth came towards her throat. She opened her mouth to scream, but instead of her own voice a young girl's cry pierced through the endless noise, a sharp pain overwhelming her neck as the void somehow grew darker.

Andy shot up in bed with a shriek, hair plastered to her forehead and neck with sweat, her pyjama top clinging to her uncomfortably. Frantically she felt her throat, struggling to catch her breath, but was only met with smooth yet damp skin. She threw her twisted sheets off of her, feeling suffocated, and stumbled across the room to change out of her thoroughly drenched shirt and into a navy tank top. For once the lack of rug under her feet was helpful as the cold wood grounded her. Still feeling knots in her stomach and the usual tense sensation that came with nightmares, she flew her curtains apart and pried open her window, letting the cool September air wash over her as the sun barely peeked over the horizon.

As she forced herself to relax by taking deep breaths, absentmindedly her mind wandered to the end of her dream and the vampire with blue eyes, she told herself that Damon wasn't an issue anymore and there wasn't anything to worry about. But a deep part of her whispered that it wasn't Damon she was scared of. Before she could analyse the strange gut feeling further, it disappeared as soon as it came, leaving her deeply confused. Wishing for a distraction she turned to her desk to look for a book to read, but her eyes caught on a particular picture frame. It was a fairly recent photo, one of the rare ones that had everyone in the family in it, but the reason they took it slipped her mind.

Jeremy was in the centre, wedged between her and Elena, whilst their Dad stood behind Andy with an arm around Uncle John's shoulders and their Mum stood behind Elena, her arm around Aunt Jenna's waist. The ache that made itself painfully known certainly distracted her from the restlessness. She stepped into her spongebob Gary slippers that were tucked under her bed and made her way downstairs, resigned to the fact that she wasn't getting any more sleep despite her clock reading 4:00 AM.

She made a quick stop to rummage through the boxes hidden under the stairs before she found what she wanted, after that she grabbed a full tub of mint chocolate chip ice-cream and a spoon for her breakfast. Then she slotted what turned out to be a VCR tape into the video player connected to the TV, settling onto the couch as the first video began.

She knew it was probably unhealthy, that it would only deepen fresh wounds, but all she wanted at that moment was the comfort of her mother's smile and her father's laugh, to feel the second hand joy of simpler times. So that's how Aunt Jenna found her when she eventually woke up herself, Andy sat with her legs crossed on the couch and a half eaten tub of ice-cream, tears pricking her eyes as she watched old home videos bittersweetly smiling. She simply sat next to her without saying a word, putting her arm around her shoulders and laying her head against hers as they both watched the videos in silence.