The Lone Survivor

Chapter 15 - Letter

Fabian's POV
With trembling hands, I slowly unfolded the slightly yellowed piece of paper that I now held in my hands.

Time seemed to stop as my eyes fell upon my mother's handwriting. My breath hitched, and I could feel a lump forming in my throat already.

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I began to read.

Dearest Fabian,
By the time your eyes wander this page, some of your memories will have returned and I will be gone.

No, you misunderstand. I will not be dead, at least not yet. If my visions are correct, I will be have been captured by vampires, vampires from the same family as those who stand at your side.

I can almost see the confusion written on you face as you read, my child. I'm sure you know by now that I am not your birth mother, but what you certainly do not know is that I see can visions of the future. Except my own.

That may sound interesting to you, but I cannot control what I see, and sometimes knowing the future of your loved ones is a burden near impossible to bear.

I saw them coming for us, the vampires. But before I discuss that, I shall start at the beginning- finding you.

You may well have remembered some of what I have to tell already, but I am almost certain there are still gaps for me to fill.

We quite literally found you on our doorstep, in that disgusting blue hospital gown. You were unconscious, and our doctor found traces of a tranquilizer in your bloodstream. We knew immediately where you had come from, and took you in as our own.

As you may well know, there was another little boy before you, Lukah. You were both from the hospital, and both wished to return. However, your reasons were very different.

You wished to return to save all the others who were going through what you had gone through. You knew you were once a human, and despised the scientists and doctors in the lab for 'ruining the lives of so many' and 'destroying their futures', as you put it. Your intentions were noble.

On the other hand, Lukah was grateful to them for changing him as drastically as they did. He was their first success, the first breakthrough. At first, he hated them too. The constant examinations, the screams of others, the injections. But when he discovered the power he now held, he developed a sick fascination with his own change, and the changing of others.

As he grew older, he began to ask more and more questions. Quickly growing frustrated at our inability to answer, he left, heading back to the lab. I'm afraid I do not know what became of him after I left, but if he's still alive and you happen to meet, be cautious.

He often talked of wanting to make the human race stronger, via the programme he went through as a child. I fear that he plans to start a mass scale human transformation programme, although I cannot be sure.

But the real purpose of this letter is you, Fabian. I need to explain why I did the things I did. I hope now you have aged, you will understand.

First of all, there is the issue of your memories. I suppose you wish to know why I sealed them away, am I correct? Oh, how you hated me for it at the time. Trust me, the guilt still gnaws at me, my child.

You would awaken in the night, terrified and screaming. You'd kick anyone who got too close, and sometimes we'd find you'd sleep walked out miles into the forest in the night. Heck, we had to lock you in your room at night, just to keep you safe! Sometimes, you'd hallucinate, too. Yelling at empty space to stay back, crying in your room at night that you were sorry for leaving everyone behind... your suffering was too much for everyone to witness.