And His Jacket Smelled of Cigarettes

18 · Journals

     Someone was humming the tune of Hello My Baby.

     Athan walked up to me, a bright smile on his face. How unusual of him.

     Shay and Nick were gathered behind him, also smiling. The looked at each other and laughed, joked; it was as if they had been best friends for years. I felt myself start to smile.

     "We're waiting for you, Jen." They all spoke in unison. "We're waiting." The tune got louder.

     "I can't... I can't make it. How do I get to you?"

     "We're waiting for you."

     "Tell me how to get to you. Please!"

     The bright and happy feeling of the dream shifted to a more dark and intimidating one. Everyone's eyes had turned black, and blood started leaking from their mouths, eyes and noses. The hum of the song had gotten so loud, it was making my ear drums ache with each note.

     "Wake up, Jen." They said together.

     I woke up, still in the chair from last night. From another room, I heard someone whistling the same song I had heard in my dream. The footsteps got louder as they approached, and Donn finally poked his head through the doorway to the living room. He had large, dark shades on.

     "Oh. Did my whistling wake you up, doll?" Donn came through and leaned on the doorway, crossing his arms. "It's an old song that never gets old."

     "What... time is it?" I asked, my throat dry and scratchy. I went to itch my neck, but felt pain and looked at my hand. My fingertips were covered in blood.

     "Ooh... my bad. I'm a bit of a messy eater." Donn slipped his shirt off, revealing his fit body. I blushed and looked at the ground, not wanting to stare. He was my captor, I was his hostage. Nothing else. Donn brought the shirt to my neck, wetting it with his tongue before carefully dabbing the wound on my neck.

     "Your..."

     "My shirt? Nah, it's fine. I've got plenty. That should be okay for now, until you can shower. We should really come up with a better way to clean you up, especially if I'm gonna be feeding off of you for a while." Donn stood over me for a bit, studying something about me. I looked up at him nervously.

     "... What?"

     "Nothing. Let's get you some water. You aren't any use to me dead, are you?" Donn reached down and helped me up, and my head spun. He must have taken a lot of blood.

     He continued, "It's rude not to reply to someone who's speaking directly to you."

     "S-sorry! Sorry..." I walked with him to the kitchen, getting a flashback of Nick a couple days ago, when he was making me drink water from the kitchen sink. I fought back the tears that threatened to fall.

     The kitchen was remarkably clean compared to the rest of the house; the wallpaper was peeling, but the counters were clean, and the sink looked brand new. A thought crossed my mind, though I highly doubted it was true: Did Donn clean up for me?

     Bringing a chair over to the counter, Donn sat me down on it. He pulled a cup from the cupboard, rinsed it out a couple of time before filling it up and handing it over to me.

     "Drink. If you're dehydrated, your blood gets thicker. It's disgusting."

     I took a sip of the water, suddenly realizing how thirsty I was. I tilted the cup back, downing the entire quantity of water, and let out a shaky breath.

     "Th-thank you..." I said, setting the cup on the counter. Donn looked at me, a little surprised.

     "What a thirsty girl. I'll remember that for next time," he nodded and stroked his chin, standing me up, "so you don't get sick, of course. For now, I need to sleep. It's almost eight in the morning already. With you around, I can't even sleep all day, like I usually do." Donn brought me down a hall to a small room. Inside, there were several bottles of water, and numerous plastic containers full of snacks like crackers, cookies and other things. He gently pushed me in, grabbing the door handle behind me.