Secret Secrets

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Sleep didn't come that night.

Knowing Della was watching me was enough to make me never want to close my eyes again.

I spent the night in Maxwell's room with him and Gabriel.

Maxwell let me lay on his bed to try and get some rest, but I assured him that wouldn't happen. Still, I ended up on his bed pretending to sleep so I could listen in to their conversation. "How long has it been since you've feed?" Maxwell asked Gabriel.

I could feel Gabriel's eyes on me. "It's been too long." He answered.

"Are you not feeding because of her?" Maxwell asked. I could feel his eyes on me aswell.

"Yes," Gabriel mumbled his answer.

"You can't starve yourself like that, Gabriel." Maxwell told him. "Venice will understand."

Gabriel switched the tables. "When did you last feed?"

"Yesterday." Maxwell said flatly. "A squirrel. Trust me, I much rather would have munched down on a nice freshman."

I could just see Gabriel rolling his eyes. "They don't taste that good."

"Needless," Maxwell continued. "you need to eat. Let's go right now."

"We can't just leave Venice here." Gabriel said.

"Ah, don't worry about that." Maxwell said, a chuckle on his tongue. "She'll come with us. Right, Venice?"

So he had known I wasn't asleep. With my cover blown, I simply stuck a thumbs up in the air, not exactly knowing what I was getting myself into.

"No humans tonight, Maxwell." Gabriel said. The three of us were standing near the outdoor running track, close to the woods that surrounded the campus. "Not with Venice around." I waved my hand, as if to say "no big deal." But deep down, I had a huge knot in the pit of my stomach.

"Fine." Maxwell agreed. But I could tell that's what he was craving. He turned to me. "Stay behind us a fair distance, once we start feeding we are un-predictable." I nodded and crossed my arms across my chest. It was quite chilly out and I didn't have a jacket. Gabriel noticed my shivers and slipped off his leather jacket, sliding it over me. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and then took off with Maxwell into the woods.

I slipped my arms through the jacket sockets and picked up a light jog in the general direction they went. As soon as I stepped foot in the woods, my mind flooded back to the night of Eliza's death. I felt dizzy and and scared for a moment, but clutching a nearby branch helped steady myself. I had to keep reminding myself that Gabriel and Maxwell weren't that far ahead, that they wouldn't leave without me.

A brisk breeze drifted by, and I quickly zipped the jacket around me, hoping to fill up with more warmth. I began moving a bit faster now, listening for any sounds of...feeding. What exactly did feeding sound like? After a few minutes of searching with no success, I came across a dead tree which had tumbled to the ground and decided to take a rest on it.

As I sat down, I noticed something carved into the wood. Squinting in the dim moonlight, I could barely make out the sweet messege: "Emma and Jack 4 Ever". I smiled and traced the letters with my finger. And before I could stop my mind, I was being sucked into another Eliza memory.

I was laying in the freshly-cut lawn of the local park. It was a cloudless summer's day, and I was wearing my new sunglasses with the rhinestones on the side. Eliza had a matching pair and we both felt so stylish.

As we gazed up into the sunlight, I ran my tongue over my teeth, which had just been freed of braces. I felt so much more attractive, so free. Eliza and I were celebrating the great event by sun bathing.

"Is there some un-known law that states that hot guys aren't aloud to come to parks?" Eliza asked, annoyance in her voice. We were only seventh graders yet she wanted a boyfriend.

"Shut up, Eliza. You're ruining the peacefulness of the moment." I said, reaching over to flick her arm.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, sitting up. "C'mon, Venny. We've been here for an hour. Let's go to the pool!"

Smiling, I sat up with her. "What, so you can gaze at Logan Hushfield's abs?"

Eliza began to pick at her nail polished-finger nails. "Maybe."

I laughed lightly. "We don't even have cute bathing suits yet!"

Eliza slammed her hands down on the soft grass. "Then let's go buy some!"

I moaned. "Can't we just stay here awhile longer? I like it."

Eliza loudly snapped the gum she was chewing and jumped up. The sudden movement caused light to blindingly reflect off her "friends" necklace. I felt my neck for my "best" necklace and fiddled with the chain. "If we are going to stay," Eliza said. "we have to do something more exciting than laying in the grass."

"But I like laying in the grass." I said.

Even though she was wearing those thick sunglasses, I could tell Eliza was rolling her big eyes behind them. "Seriously?"

I stood up and brushed the stray grasses off of my shorts and tee-shirt. "Okay. What do you suggest we do?" A grin crossed Eliza's face and she dug into her jean shorts pocket. Once her hand was back in view, I could see she had her pink Swiss Army pocket knife out. "What are we going to do with that?" I asked unsurley.

Eliza lauged giddily and pointed toward a large oak tree near the children's playground. "Let's go." She said, taking off in a run. I jogged after her until she stopped on one side of the tree trunk.

Carefully, she popped the knife out and made contact with the wood. I walked intently as she carved each letter with the greatest of skills. She stuck her tongue out as she did this, very foucused. Once she was done, she stepped back with a smile of success. "There."

I pushed my sunglasses up to the top of my head and read what she carved out loud. "Eliza and Venny-BFFs."

"Good. We found you." It was Maxwell's voice. He and Gabriel were standing above me, wiping the sides of their mouths with the backs of their hands.

"That was quick." I observed.

Gabriel stuck his hand out to help me up. "That blood is really going to help me. Thanks for understanding."

We began to walk out of the woods. "No problem." I said quietly.

Maxwell pulled back his sleeve to look at the watch on his wrist. "1:43." He announced. Then, looking at me, he added. "AM."

"You've had a lot of late nights," Gabriel said, looking at me with concern. "do you want to sleep in a little tomorrow? You could miss first hour, I'm pretty sure Dax wouldn't care." I heard Maxwell faintly laugh at the last part.

"The lack of sleep really hasn't been slowing me down that much," I told Gabriel. "I think I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked, putting his arm around me.

I nodded. "Pretty sure." Gabriel didn't push it anymore, so the three of us walked in silence, which I didn't really mind. As we neared the track where we started out, my foot grazed something on the forest floor and I stumbled.

"Are you okay?" Maxwell and Gabriel asked at the same time.

I stood up, collecting myself. "Yeah I think so." I said. "I wonder what I tripped over." I pulled my blond hair out of my eyes to look around. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary until I discovered the culprit of my tumble and had to cover my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

It was a dead body.