Empty veins

Chapter 5

Memories were so weird.

It was so, so weird that although there were many important times that always stood out in ones head, the smallest things like dropping a penny down a gutter could still remain.

Memories were one of the few things that could truly be yours. No one shared them.

So, it still felt so wrong.

It felt wrong to have to watch a life that you'd taken unfold in front of your eyes, watching how the person had grown and the events that had shape them.

It didn't matter to her that she had to go through it to survive. She didn't want their memories, but at the same time she did. It made her human, but it took away her humanity at the same time.

The boy, dead at her feet, staring at the sky he would never see again. She wondered how he'd feel if he knew she was about to see his entire life.

As the brain itself was digesting inside her, it broke down all the memories and thoughts and feelings and somehow transmitted them through to her. It took less than a hour for the whole process to occur, in less than an hour now, she would know everything that the guy knew. It didn't matter. Not really. As soon as the cold came again, she would only forget. That was the thing about the cold, it always came back. She'd have just over a month, maybe 6 weeks if she was lucky. Then the cold would be back.

The second the memories kicked in, her whole body burned as hot as it had once been. She felt the blood pumping inside her as the brain that had been dormant inside her kicked in.

It felt so good.

Around her, blood coated the mossy ground, already turning brown. The rest had left already, the ones that hadn't been shot, that is. They'd all sprinted off, lumbering through the trees madly, groaning about how their prey was turning into a predator and they did not like it.

She almost wished the humans killed them all. The boy, she had remembered staring at him and feeling something inside her shift as if her body itself would not allow her to harm him. It was crazy. They were humans, food, it didn't matter that she had once been human. It had been the humans that had started everything, they had fired the first bullet, now they should expect the consequences.

Consequences. She wondered if she had once felt them too.

Quickly, she scanned the clearing, check – no one was there. Now that the cold had left she found it easy to move her limbs, to leap up a nearby tree and scale it's branches until she was hidden on a sturdy log near the top of the tree.

She knew that if she were to look down at her hands, she would see a peachy complexion tainted with the blueness of hidden veins that weren't freezing. But she couldn't. It was hard enough as it was, she had to except and move it. Move her success scale to the "I did" because that was the only option that had 100% success.

She wondered what chance of success she'd want after the hour had passed. It would probably be a lot lower.

Her eyes, earlier they had been bloodshot but now held a deep chocolate core, closed.

....

The warmth hit her, or was it him, first. Soft. Comforting. It felt so right. The familiarity of the hug wrapped around the small child.

"My baby boy has grown up so fast." A murmur in his ear, then the figure pulled back – smiling. The hair of the lady was slightly messed as if she hadn't bothered to brush it in days and her face was thin and hollowed. Still, she was the most beautiful thing that the child had ever seen.

"I know! Mommy, I'm almost as tall as you!" The words tumbled from the child's mouth as he leapt up in excitement, grabbing at his mother's trousers.

She laughed – low and crackled. It sounded like a song to him, he loved everything about her.

"Let's just get you to school my 'very tall' boy." She lead him to the towering car that lay waiting ready to take him on his next adventure. The seconds began to fade away, the memory of what used to be faded into a blur. His mother's voice and laugh, they were the only things that stood clear.

"Mommy loves you, have fun." She leant forwards, ruffling his hair and in his childhood affection he was not embarrassed to plant an innocent kiss on her cheek.

Then – "Bye Mom!" And he was out of the car, tearing towards the tall building. It was weird, he wasn't at all afraid. It was just another adventure, just like his first trip abroad. First day of school, it was as easy as slaying a dragon and he was confident in his abilities.

The teacher stood, plump and friendly. She was pretty but to the child, could not compare to 'mummy'.

The child gave a final glance over his shoulder, waving his tanned hands at the figure staring at him for the car. She seemed to have water pouring out of her eyes.

Wasn't that what they called crying? Why was mummy crying?

The child dismissed it, it was probably an 'adult topic', the kind that he had to leave the dining room when it was brought up. He knew daddy never enjoyed them topics.

"Tyler!" A small boy rushed up to him.

"Ryan!

The scene began to go grey, fading into a dark spiral.

And then the colours rushed back again and a different scene was formed.