Vampires Do Exist

Chapter 3

THE COLD AND SUDDEN BREEZE hit me as I was walking alone in my neighborhood. It was a quiet one. It was like one of those places in movies where its a very calm and peaceful neighborhood, where you barely ever notice anyone lurking.

Green grass and a two-way street, where you have houses from left and right and rarely ever find cars strolling down. Peaceful, yet eerier. The pavement still looked new and untouched by people. I for one, would like to get out of here as soon as I turn eighteen. Heck, I'd go to the other side of the country and not tell anyone about it, it'll be like a brand new little life of mine where I wouldn't have to deal with everything here. I'll make sure that happens as soon as mom gets better. We could live there, the two of us.

The sound of loud engine of an expensive looking car that clearly did not belong to this neighborhood came out of the blue, as the driver shut the engine down. A man stepped out and held the remote towards the car as he walked towards the house. The car beeped twice and locked itself from any possible intruders. 

He looked familiar, but I couldn't put my hands on why. It killed me to not find some sort of connection.

I move my gaze to the house now. Its huge, compared to the other petit villas here. Too big to not have noticed before. A beige, Italian styled mansion in a place like this. It was hard not to gawk at. Strange how i never noticed it until now.

Maybe it was because of how nervous I am, so i start noticing other things more. I dont know if that makes sense.  

Another breeze stroked me and i cursed the wind. I pulled on the edges of my long sleeves, hoping that it'd help a bit.  

Dad was waiting for me by the little porch that mom decorated before.

She used to love that place, but now its all dusty and the little chair that swings adjacent to the window is most probably rusty, so I wouldn't recommend sitting there.  

He was probably on his eighteenth cigarette.

When he saw me, he dropped it on the ground and stepped on it. "Where were you?"

I could tell by his exasperated voice that he was getting a little impatient, even though I just got here.   "I-I got a detention toda---"  

"What?!" He raged.  

"I got a detention for being late to math class." I nervously  explained.  

"And why were you late, Avery?" He knew why, but he just wanted an excuse to be mad at me. And getting him mad wasnt something i look forward to.  

"I was visiting mom..." Suddenly, I felt so small, so fragile. Almost as if dad magically grew a little bit taller and buffer.

That's when he slapped me. The stinging pain on my cheek throbbed. It hurt so much, I forgot about the threatning look on dad's face. It numbed everything else in my surrounding. A tear or two strolled down my cheek and it pained me to think about crying pathetically in front of my dad. Pathetic because a part of me wanted him to observe me crying, to show him how hurt I was, to see if he'd feel a tiny fragment of guilt or sympathy. But his facial expression told me otherwise. All emotions died a long time ago.  

Not wanting to stay outside any longer because our neighbors might've seen what happened, I hurriedly walked towards the door.  

"Im not done here Avery!"  

I pretended to not hear him.  

"Avery, come back here!" He demanded.  

I didn't halt, I continued walking upstairs to my room as more tears fell down from my eyes. I set a faster pace because i heard dad's slow footsteps behind me. Judging by the sound of his footsteps, he was drunk again.