Whispers in the Dark (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 16

16

When I opened my eyes again I was staring up at a familiar white-washed ceiling, lying in my floor bed. I took a few moments to breathe and clear my foggy head. The familiar feeling of déjà vu swept over my mind as I propped myself up on the floor. It was just like the night I had first met Susan and Benjamin. The questions that flitted through my mind weren't that different either. What had happened last night? How did I get back home? Had the officer driven me here? Did I take a bus? What in the world did I eat?

Thinking of food made my stomach growl again. God dammit, I was still hungry?

Kicking off my covers I got up out of bed. As I did I realized I was naked. Like a new born baby. Where the hell were my clothes? I dug around my dresser for a moment and pulled on a pair of sweats and my mom's Betty-Boop sweater. After I was decent I made my way downstairs.

This was gonna be the second day I missed school that week. And I still had a lot of missed assignments I needed to make up. Quietly I began rummaging through the pantry. Mom always kept it and the fridge full in case we ran out of money and had to live off of what we had for a couple weeks. She said it would be a big job, especially since she had a teenager in the house, aka me. I tried telling her that was a stereo type for teenage guys but she ignored my speech. Right now I was thankful she thought I had a bottomless pit for a stomach. I pulled out a big bag of pizza bites from the freezer, dumping nearly the entire thing into a bowl and nuking it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Once that was done I grabbed a cold can of coke, reveling in that little tsk sound it made whenever you popped open the tab and chugged down half of the fizzy drink in one go.

Ah. The breakfast of Kings.

Sitting down at the table I began thinking over last nights' events as I began shoveling handfuls of cheesy deliciousness in my face before my stomach decided to eat itself. What exactly had happened? I remembered passing out, waking up, the officer. But after that... Nothing. It was all a big dark blur in the way back part of my mind that I could barely touch. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't remember anything else that had happened last night.

I tried being logical- something I had put aside since my first encounter with a real life vampire- and say that the officer had brought me home out of the kindness of his heart and I fell asleep in my room. There was a gnawing sensation in my chest saying that logic was no longer needed in my life. Unfortunately, I believed that was true. But there was nothing I could do about something no one could remember.

I itched at my wrist as I felt the feeling someone had ran their finger tip over my veins. It had likely been a fly or some other bug, I quickly decided. I had spent hours in a public restroom and I was sure I'd need a shower soon. I glanced down at my wrist to make sure whatever it was gone away and stared. On my wrist, where I had written Greg's name and then sliced at it until it was no longer legible, was a series of faint pale lines going every which way about three fingers long stretching all the way across my wrist. Scars. New scars. Jagged and grotesque, rising up against my skin.

Grabbing my breakfast I swiped the remote off the couch and flipped on the TV, wondering what today's weather was going to be like. If I was really turning into a vampire it would probably be a good idea to avoid sunny days. As expected, my mom left the TV on channel 7 news. I didn't see anything on weather but what I saw made my stomach drop to my toes in a heartbeat.

"To recap- there are still no leads as to who or what had done this to Day Light High school officer Jeff Nicholson. He was found early this morning, his body lying in one of the school's awning covered walkways, disemboweled and throat ripped in multiple places. Police are looking over the tapes that have been posted all over the school grounds but say they still have found nothing. The time of death for Mr. Nicholson has been predicted between 9:42 p.m and 10:08 p.m last evening. It is likely we will not know anything about the case until much later. Authorities say it is possible an animal had gotten loose from a nearby zoo or a rabid dog could be responsible but no one can tell for sure at this time. If anyone knows anything about last nights' events please call us or your local police." A number was posted on the bottom of the screen and soon following it was a picture of the officer I had seen last night.