Breathe

940 30 7

by Anomiac

by Anomiac

(I've had this written for a while and it feels and sorta looks unfinished, but I'm posting it anyway.)

You make me matter.

Tags: Hollstein

A vampire has no use for breath. I knew this long before I ever was a vampire. I heard it in the whispers of children on the playground, dreaming up grotesque breathless monsters with stone hearts who steal away into the night with newborns and leave them dead and rotten on doorsteps, wrapped prettily in a wool blanket.

It only took me a day of being a vampire to realize the truth in the nightmare stories I've heard, and it took three hundred years to finally realize the importance of being -- not just feeding endlessly on helpless prey. A vampire has no use for breath, but if a vampire were all that I was, I would not have risked my life to save a naïve blonde-haired girl from her own curiosity.

And they say curiosity killed the cat.

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When I walk into the room, a blonde-haired girl is sitting at the desk, the red light on the webcam flashing. Kinky. But I have no time for that. I say 'hey' and set my stuff on my new bed, quickly making myself at home and purposefully ignoring the bewildered girl in the rolling chair

"Um, excuse me, but who the hell are you?" the girl says from behind me with her sweet, yet tense voice. I can tell Mother chose a fun one for me this time. But when I turn around and look at the tightly-wound girl, I freeze. My lungs inflate without warning. For a moment I'm shocked. The last time I breathed involuntarily was 1698. I'm surprised my lungs even remember how to do that. But it only lasts for a second and I doubt the girl noticed, so I write it off as nothing and I continue my act.

"Carmilla. I'm your new roommate sweetheart."

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I roll off of her and onto my back while gasping for breath that my lungs have no use for. To my right, Laura is doing the same. When I look over at her she's wearing a wide grin on her face, and it's becoming less and less surprising as I continue to spend time with her that I have one spread across my face as well.

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The first time she says it, it's nervously while I hand her a warm cup of hot chocolate.

"I love you."

I suck in a soft breath and a small smile graces my lips, knowing without hesitation that I feel the same.

"I love you too, Laura."

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"She's going to pull through," the doctor tells me after I've been waiting for five hours in an uncomfortable plastic chair. I immediately let out a breath I was unaware that I was holding. My heart is still whole.

"Thank you."

Laura's going to be in so much trouble when she wakes up. I won't let her get in a car ever again.

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"Laura, will you marry me?" Everything is quiet for a moment. Not even the leaves on the trees are making any noise, and for once the entire park is dead quiet.

"Yes," Laura says with a growing smile. I sigh in relief and pull her into my arms, pulling away only to quickly slip the ring onto her finger and then hug her tightly again.