Midnight Falls

7: Carl

What could I say to offend a 300 year-old vampire? He should be a cold, calculating, killer, the only thing on his mind whether he could drain me and get away with it. Uncle D may be a lot of things, but he wouldn’t lie about this. Though I do get the feeling that he lies a lot, he doesn’t lie to me. I just… know it. Plus, during initiation, I got the same speal. 

So why would he be so upset over me not caring about him?

Either way, I had told him to find me in a couple days. Let me think it over, I’d said. Let me process. 

Let me decide on whether to trust you. I never said that last part to him. It seemed that if I said that, it would darken his mood more. I keep telling myself I didn’t tell him for my own safety, that he might have broken enough to attack me. It doesn’t feel true in the slightest.

4:45am. That’s the time it is when I get home. Great. I decided to go on a little walk before heading home to clear my head. Now my brain is more muddled than ever and I have no time to sleep. I can’t even shower right now without waking Ari up. So, all in all, just like my life it seems, my plan backfired on me. I have fifteen minutes before Uncle D wakes up and an hour before I have to wake Ari. 

I decide to stay in my room until 5:30, which is When Uncle D leaves for work. Whether it’s believable or not based on our apartment and clothing, Uncle D is actually fairly high up in the ranks of the V.H.C. A couple more years, and he’s likely to be at the head of everything. He tells us tales of his feats, the way vamps cower at his feet, that he’s one of the main reasons that not as many vamps are in New York City anymore. I’ve never seen him fight, but, seeing his build and knowing his workout routine, I gotta believe it. If only partially.

I’m sitting on an old and worn bean bag chair, under the light of a nearly fallen apart lamp, reading one of my favorite books, Charlotte's Web. I don’t have a lot of my own money, and Uncle D refuses to buy anything we don’t immediately need. Food, water, electricity, beer for his friends, energy drinks for him, and cable. Clothes and beds only come when the need is so bad that his bills go up. This book took me a year after I got my first job at fifteen to get. Since then, I haven’t been able to spend any more money on books for me. Only whatever books Arianne needed for school.

I was only able to take out the trash for the older ladies in the building, and what little that gave me, went to what Ari needed for school. Uncle D refused to get school stuff for her as he had begrudgingly done it for me.

I let those thoughts leave my mind for now, but when I get to a part in the book that draws my mind away from the text, I stop and think again. It was talking of the family, being happy, content in their new routine, however strange it was. Why do tears feel like falling down my face?

~~~

The door to the building is bathed in the sickly green and orange glow of the sign, Highway 86 Apartments, indicating that it was night. The building itself seemed to be tearing apart in between the tan and brown mix matched bricks. Even at thirteen, I knew this place was bad. 

Really, this is where Uncle D lives? According to Ma, he’s high up in the ranks, of what I have no idea, and had a good amount of money. Enough to take care of a growing boy and girl.

I was carrying Arianne in my arms, her having fallen asleep on the ride over. She was snoring softly in my ear, her head on my shoulder.  Ma was the only of our parents to come, her saying Pa was busy or something like that. But I had seen and heard the way Uncle talked to and about Pa, so I guessed the real reason. 

I still can’t tell exactly why we’re here. After all, Ma is high up too, according to Pa. Shouldn’t they have enough money to keep us?

“Carl, come on,” Ma said. She spoke softly and slowly, not at all how she usually did. Most times, I couldn’t understand how Pa understood her. Ma had her hand outstretched to me, looking rough and worn, yet soft. I would have taken it, were I not unsure in my abilities to hold up my four-year-old sister. With a small nod to Ari and an apologetic look, she gets my point; instead she smiles gently and gestures for me to follow.