You Were What You Eat

31. Resolve

After the ambulance had taken the girl away, the three had just stood there in silence, not sure what else to do. The night seemed so quiet, so empty. Anna couldn't bear to look at either of her friends, and ended up staring at the tops of her black-and-white sneakers.

Eventually, Carmine looked at her watch. "It's almost two..." she said, trailing off. Her voice wavered a little, causing Anna to look up at her, a guilty expression on her face. Carmine still looked a little pale, but at least she'd stopped trembling. In response to Carmine, Anna and Mia had merely nodded – neither of them said anything. There didn't seem to be anything they could say. After a few more minutes of silence, Carmine, realizing that no one was going to respond, tried again.

"I guess we may as well go get the bikes," she said.

"Ok" Mia replied quietly.

Anna responded with a "yeah" and slowly started following her friends towards the back of the parking lot.

When they got there, the bikes were still laying in a tangled heap on the grass. In their haste, the girls had forgotten to lock them. Someone mumbled something about how it was a good thing they weren't stolen, but Anna didn't hear who it was. She figured that the police cars, which had been sitting in the parking lot with them for the past hour or so, had helped in this, though she didn't bother to say it out loud.

The girls picked their bikes up off of the ground and peddled slowly back to Carmine's house. The car in the driveway told them that Carmine's parents were home by now. Quietly, they snuck through the gate on the side of the house, down a short paved walkway, and into the garage. They stacked the bikes up against the wall of the garage, just the way they'd found them. After a few bland comments about how they'd see each other tomorrow, Carmine snuck inside, while Anna and Mia crept through the garage and back out of the gate. At the end of the driveway, Anna turned left while Mia started heading towards the right.

Before they got more than a few feet apart, Mia turned back to face Anna. Even in the darkness, Anna could see Mia's eyes were filled with concern.

"Are you going to be alright?" she asked sympathetically. "After all, Fredrick was your friend – even if it was a long time ago."

Anna looked back at her, touched by Mia's thoughtfulness.

"I'll be alright" she replied. "I just have a lot to think about."

Mia nodded, understanding. "Okay" she said, coming over to give Anna a quick hug before turning back towards home.

Anna walked slowly down the empty streets, back to her apartment. A breeze picked up, noisily blowing leaves down the street in front of her and sweeping strands of hair over her eyes. Absentmindedly, she pulled her hair behind her ear. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Anna felt cold. When she got home, all she wanted to do was sleep. She just wanted to put the events of that night as far out of her mind as possible. She pulled on her favorite pajamas and hopped into bed, pulling the down comforter up to her chin. She reached over to her nightstand and turned off the light.

Anna closed her eyes, but couldn't sleep; her mind kept replaying the events of the night over and over, like a movie that just wouldn't end. During her walk home, Anna had managed to keep herself distracted – looking at leaves dancing across the sidewalk, watching the lights of passing cars. But now that she was tucked into bed without the distractions of the city around her, the events of the night came flooding back to her, too vivid to be put out of her mind anymore.

Anna never did get to sleep. Instead, she'd stayed up all night thinking about what she'd witnessed earlier that evening. Anna couldn't believe how Fredrick had changed. Even after their engagement had been called off, he'd still seemed so kind and charismatic – at least to others. Anna knew he'd kill her if given the slightest chance, but she never thought he'd act like that towards someone else; he was too concerned with maintaining his polished image. To see him act that way – it was almost as if he'd lost control.

But deep down, Anna knew that Fredrick was never out of control – he acted brutally because he could, because no one would stop him. Who could stop him? Watching him that night, and replaying the images over and over in her mind, Anna could only come to one conclusion: Fredrick had to be stopped. And she was the only one who could do it. Anna just hoped she'd be up to the challenge.

***

Carmine was absent from school the next day. Anna wasn't really surprised; it had been a rough night. She'd been up all night herself, and she could tell by looking at Mia that she she'd stayed up worrying too.

Anna was pretty sure she knew what Mia's thoughts on the subject were. But Carmine was a different story. What was going through her mind? Carmine had been obsessed with vampires and the occult for years. She'd loved the topic, and even though she'd tried to hide it, Anna still knew how excited she was at the prospect of seeing a real-life vampire in action. Too bad it turned out to be such a violent attack – this couldn't have been what Carmine had imagined at all.

Anna had wanted to see how Carmine was holding up – how she was taking it, and if there was anything Anna could do for her. But the fact that she wasn't at school put a damper on those plans and left Anna wondering. And as much as she hated to admit it, there was something even more important on her mind – would Carmine still want to help? Sure, she'd been happy to help stalk a vampire before, but would this change her mind?

Since it was just her and Mia at lunch, neither bothered with pretending to eat. Instead, they made awkward small talk and caught up on the homework they'd been neglecting in order to spy on Fredrick. Anna was almost glad when the bell rang. But she spent the next three hours thinking about Carmine and regretting that she hadn't talked to Mia about last night. So when the final bell rang, Anna went outside to the parking lot.

Mia's mom always picked her up in the back parking lot after class, but she always seemed to run a few minutes late for one reason or another. So as soon as school let out, Anna went out to find Mia and talk to her before her mom showed up.

Mia wasn't talking to anyone, but there were about fifteen or twenty other students waiting around next to her. As Anna approached, Mia looked up and smiled wanly.

"Hi." Mia said. Just like everything was normal. Anna realized Mia didn't want the other students to notice anything was wrong. She looked vaguely surprised to see Anna standing there, but before she had time to ask, Anna spoke up.

"Come over here – I want to ask you something." she said with a forced cheeriness.

Mia obligingly hopped down off the wall and followed Anna down the length of the parking lot to a spot where they wouldn't be overheard. They stopped and faced each other.

"So..." Mia started, not sure what to say. It was obvious from the way she stood fidgeting that she knew exactly what Anna wanted to talk about.

"I wonder how Carmine's doing...I mean, it must have been a big shock to her."

"Maybe too big." Mia said slowly.

Anna watched Mia as she fiddled with the hem on her shirt, realizing that they'd been thinking the same thing after all. Anna had been really hoping she was just overreacting.

As much as Anna hated to admit it, it was something the two of them had to consider. After all, Anna had been pretty shaken up herself by what had happened the night before, and she was a vampire. But it must have been that much more horrifying for Carmine, who couldn't have known what she was getting in to.

Mia looked across the parking lot, straightening up. Anna followed her gaze. Mia's mom was driving across the parking lot towards them. Figures, Anna thought. The one time Mia's mom was on time. She rolled up next to the girls and waved at Anna as Mia walked around towards the passenger door.

As Mia got to the car, she turned back towards Anna. She placed her fingers lightly on the handle, but before opening the door, she left Anna with one final thought.

"We have to stop them. Even if Carmine won't help."