Rising Tide: Dark Innocence Read online

  *She’s still lying to you…about several things,* a little voice in my head reminded me. My phone started ringing again. “I guess her apple doesn’t fall far from Ron’s tree,” I countered, aloud.

   

  “Well, if she’s doing what you think she’s doing, I’ll have no problem confronting her about the whole thing, including the health cards,” I told Susie as we rode the SkyTrain downtown that afternoon. I’d waited until we were safely away from the school to tell her about the morning’s discovery. None of our little group knew I was having health problems except Susie, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  “So, how are you doing, anyway? Anything else weird happen?” Susie queried lightly. She knew I didn’t like talking about my condition, that the effects made me feel powerless. I was much happier forgetting about it entirely when I could.

  “Well, I’m still starving all the time, weird cravings”—I’d never revealed specifically what those were—“and sometimes my senses seem like they’re on overload…”

  “In what way?” Susie asked.

  “Well, it’s like I can hear things I shouldn’t be able to hear. Some stuff I eat…well, if it’s something I really like…it’s like my taste buds are ridiculously amped up—not a completely bad thing. And when I am hungry, I can’t help eating those things; I have no choice…or control…”

  “Like sweets?”

  “Like meat…actually.” Susie raised an eyebrow at that, and I felt like a freak again, antsy and fearful of rejection.

  “Hmmm, the meat craving could mean your body needs some iron. Or some other vitamins and minerals. Maybe that’s causing the other things to malfunction. I’ve read a lot about how you can be lacking in a certain vitamin, and how it causes all sorts of bad stuff to happen.”

  “That could be it.” I’d never considered such a possibility before. “Thanks, Susie. I have to admit I’ve been skipping the fruits and veggies of late. I bet you’re right!” I felt a new sense of relief course through me. “Hey, I bet that causes problems with teeth too. I mean, we are still growing…for a little while longer anyway. My diet has been too meat heavy. Milk, fruits, veggies and multivitamins. I bet that’s the fix!” I needed her suggestion to be the fix. My whole mood brightened, considerably.

  “Yep, I’m a genius.” Susie beamed back at me. “Wow, but the protein must be super good for your hair! It’s so gorgeous.” She ran her fingers down one thick, shiny strand.

  “The next station is Burrard. Burrard Station,” the SkyTrain speaker announced.

  “Well, her office is on Pender, so that’s us!” Susie stood and looked at me expectantly. I rose and followed her to the doors.

  Lucky for us, there was a Starbucks right across from my mother’s office building. I felt twitchy, being so close to her without her knowledge, so I ordered a hot chocolate instead of a coffee. I didn’t believe Caelyn would actually consider that choice to be much better. We settled into a window seat, both sets of our eyes locked on the revolving glass door of the tower. Even when we talked to each other, we didn’t turn away.

  Ron’s ringtone sounded again, shortly after we’d settled in—so exasperating!—so I turned the sound off on my phone and, with an afterthought, the vibrate mode as well. Spying on Caelyn set me on edge, and I just couldn’t have any other distractions at the moment.

  “There she is!” Susie thought my mom looked like an elegant Italian model and was always talking about how beautiful she was after they’d met. I knew, before I locked eyes on my mother, Susie wouldn’t be mistaken. We’d been waiting for over an hour, since we’d walked straight to the SkyTrain from school, but Mom was still leaving work a little early.

  And she wasn’t alone.

  The days grew dark early in October, so the sun was well on its way to slumber. Long shadows were thrown across the paths of the people passing on the sidewalk across the street. The tall man had come out after Caelyn, and we’d been so focused on her, neither of us had gotten a good look at him while he was still inside the well-lit lobby. Outside, he fell in beside her—of course on the side farthest from my and Susie’s prying eyes. He was enveloped in the deepening shadows of the buildings, reminding me of my dreams.

  “Oh! I can’t see him at all!”

  “But…there is a guy,” I sulked.

  “Clients can be guys.” Even though the whole thing had been Susie’s suggestion, she seemed to be rooting for my team once she’d taken note of my expression. “Come on! Before they get away!” She leapt to her feet, dragging me by the hand as she made for the door.

  Once we crossed the street, I noticed my mother and Mystery Man were barely in view. As if reading my mind, Susie squealed, “Hurry, let’s get closer!”

  We ducked through the crowds, excusing ourselves in quiet voices and shortening the distance between us and the pair ahead. My mother had on a long, cream-colored sweater, so it was easier to keep track of her amid the sea of dark coats in the mounting gloom.

  A dark shape moved into the small of her back…the guy’s arm. I, unexpectedly, felt a bolt of possessive resentment. “Hey, did you see that?!” I fumed at Susie. “He’s got his arm around her.”

  Susie grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Calm down. Any guy doing business with your mom is going to try to touch her. That doesn’t mean it’s welcome on her part.”

  “Yeah…you’re right.” That brought back memories of the wormy client back home. Poor Caelyn!

  That line of thought disappeared in the next moment. Caelyn turned toward the stranger and tilted her face up to him. He stopped walking and brought his face to hers to kiss her…on the mouth! She allowed the intimacy. Susie and I stopped dead in our tracks, too.

  The kiss lingered for a moment, and then they walked on, that time hand-in-hand. I thought flames might shoot out the top of my head at any second.

  “Ow! Maura!! Don’t squeeze so hard!” Susie was trying to wrench her hand from mine. Her face was contorted in pain.

  I released her immediately. “Oh god, sorry Susie!!” She held the hand close to her chest, rubbing it gingerly with the other.

  “Geez! You don’t know your own strength! I think it’s broken.” Her expression appeared wounded, as well.

  “You do?! Oh no…I’m so sorry! Let me see.” Instead, she shook it, curling all the fingers.

  “I think it’s okay.” She was still wincing. “Seriously, though, have you been working out?” I noticed the darkening, already, under her pale skin which heralded the advent of a nasty bruise.

  “I—I…”

  She shook the appendage one more time, looking up. “Crap! We’re going to lose them. Hurry!” Susie didn’t take my hand again but dragged me along by my wrist instead. My mother and her secret lover were strolling along slowly, so it required little effort to catch up.

  We kept a safe distance, but I could still see enough details, by the shop window lights, to put two and two together. Caelyn was leaning into whoever-he-was, and she turned to smile at him quite often. Any worry I’d had about being discovered quickly melted away. My mother’s attention was too fiercely captured for her to catch on to being followed. I couldn’t help but feel deeply betrayed, even though some part of me could understand why she might want to keep the relationship a secret from me for a while.

  I stumbled over my own two feet at the unadulterated shock of it all as I walked along, uncharacteristic for me. Susie was very quiet at my side. Finally, the couple turned into a quaint-looking little restaurant which more closely resembled a cottage. The sign overhead read ‘La Gavroche.’

  “Oh! I’ve heard of this place!” Susie exclaimed. “It’s supposed to be one of the most romantic restaurants in Van…” She stopped talking when noticed my scowl.

  “Let’s cross the street and see if they sit by the window?” Susie suggested.

  “No, I’ve seen enough. I want to go home.” The tone of my voice sounded almost as miserable as I felt.

  Susie ran her hand ove
r my back in a gesture of comfort. “Are you okay?”

  I simply shrugged, completely beaten down…by my mother, by Ron, by life in general.

  “I hate to say it, Maura, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, ya know?”

  I couldn’t help but glare at her.

  “Oh, come on; think about how happy you were with Ron, right? Don’t you want that for your mother? I’m sure she has every intention of telling you, once she thinks the time is right. I mean she always seems like she’s so worried about you, and I can tell she’s not a bad person.”

  Curiously enough, I’d been having precisely the same thoughts that morning. “Yeah, I don’t want to admit it, but I guess you’re right.” I sighed in defeat.

  There wasn’t really anything to get angry about…that could be justified anyway…and I’d never been one of those teenagers who flew off the handle at every little imagined crisis. The words Susie had spoken started to burn in my mind.

  “Oh yeah, Ron. I guess I should talk to him too.” I fished in my pack for my phone.

  “Yeah, maybe it’s time you asked him about that girl. Are you calm enough to do that, though?” Susie looked pretty motherly herself at that moment. She wrapped her hand around my arm as I brought the phone up out of the bag.

  “Maybe. I just hate the way things are… Oh my god!” I’d hit the home button, and the screen showed me the list of things I’d missed. At the top was a text from Ron. I squealed with excitement as I turned the phone around to show Susie.

  Maura! Natalie is my COUSIN!! I’ve been trying to talk her out of leaving college because she’s homesick. I knew Merina would give you the wrong idea and I wanted to tell you with a call, not this way, but I guess you were mad? Can we Skype tonight please??? You know you’re my favorite girl.

  Susie squealed almost as loudly as I had.

   

  “So, she’s really going out with someone?” Ron winced on my computer screen as he spoke.

  “Well, Susie did point out that it’s been seventeen years… I guess she’s due?” I hated admitting she was, even as I was reasoning the whole situation aloud to Ron. I guess I’d always hoped, somehow, by some unlikely miracle, the father I’d never gotten to know would find his way back to my mother and I.

  “I guess so…” Ron answered. “But I know you well enough to see you aren’t completely on board with the idea. Am I right?”

  “I just always wished… I know it’s stupid…” Allowing myself the luxury of playing out my lifelong fantasy hurt a lot, and I was dangerously close to tears.

  “You want your dad back. Believe me; I know. When mine died, I might have been young, but that’s all I wanted for the longest time and still do. But you never got to know yours at all. I think that’s way worse.” Ron was being very generous, especially being faced with the very real possibility of losing his remaining parent. At least I’d always had my loving, if overprotective, mother and was in no known danger of having her disappear from my life.

  I just nodded, my eyes in my lap. I hated crying in front of other people, even my own mother.

  Ron knew me perfectly well. He changed the subject. “So, are you going to confront her about the health cards? I still think you need to go see a doctor, and I can’t imagine why she’d want to keep you from going. Maybe I could talk some sense into her?”

  My mother and Ron having a discussion about my well-being. I was horrified at the thought. I knew exactly how Caelyn would take that—as insulting, at the very least. “No!” The word came out more vehemently than I meant it to. “I mean, believe me, my mom does not appreciate parenting advice. I’ve seen people try, and nothing gets her back up more. I don’t think it would help. But, I have a plan.”

  “Oh, you do?” He smiled in a sly manner. “I should’ve known. You’re always full of good ideas. My clever beauty.”

  I couldn’t help but blush and look down again, but quickly gathered my composure. “Thanks…but yeah, I don’t want to reveal anything yet. I need to catch her off guard. I can’t really be around her, because if I am, I know my curiosity will get the best of me, and I’ll have to ask about the guy. If we start fighting about that, I’ll lose my temper and start screaming about finding the health cards.”

  “Right, and no one wants to be on the receiving end of that.” He grinned in a knowing way.

  “Hey! I said I was sorry for ignoring your calls!”

  “I know. I just couldn’t help teasing you about it again.” He was enjoying my guilt far too much. “But, please, continue with this plan for your poor, unsuspecting mother.”

  “Poor unsuspecting! She hid my health card from me and is dating some man in secrecy!” I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff of angry breath.

  “You’re so cute when you’re angry.” He smiled disarmingly, making me giggle. “Okay, now continue.”

  I realized he knew completely how to push my buttons, alarming, but still effective. “Okay…” I gave him a mock look of warning. “So, tomorrow, I need to do two things. The first is to stay away from her, so nothing slips out.”

  “Does she have another dinner? I thought she didn’t do those back to back?”

  “No, so I have to get out. I’m going to see if Susie will go to the library downtown with me tomorrow night.”

  “Downtown?” I could tell by his expression he didn’t like that part of the plan. “I hope she’ll go, because I don’t like the idea of the two of you there at night by yourselves. So, you going alone is definitely a bad idea. You should just go to the library in New West.”

  Who was being overprotective then? I decided to ignore his concerns. “Well, that would defeat the second part of my plan. I’m going to ‘steal’ my health card out of Mom’s purse and go to the clinic instead. I have to go downtown because the one in New West is closed for renovations.”

  “Oh wow, so you’re going to the doctor behind her back.” He thought about my idea for a moment. “Well, I can’t say I’m against the idea. I don’t know why your mom would put it off, but I can’t see a good reason for doing so. You might be right, and she’s too distracted by this new guy to see how badly you need to go. I mean, if nothing else, for your own peace of mind…and mine, of course. I don’t want anything to happen to you… I can’t lose you.” He actually looked fearful when he said that.

  I was desperate to quell the spark of fright in his eyes. “Another great reason to do this my way. Don’t worry!” I unconsciously brought my hand up to the screen, wishing I could touch him across all the stupid miles between us. “I’m going to have them do all the blood tests in existence and check everything out, those weird, sporadic headaches too. It’ll be okay.” I was reassuring myself in addition to Ron. Facing the eventuality of going to the doctor made the chance of getting bad news a rock-solid reality.

   “Oh! She’s home!” I heard Caelyn’s key turn in the lock. “Let’s cut the anmay and octorday talk.” I winked and smiled at my own joke.

  “Cool.” He gave me a thumbs up.

  “Mink!” my mother called out as she came into my room with a small knock. I fumed at her with my eyes, and she remembered she wasn’t supposed to use my nickname in front of others—any others—especially that one. “Sorry! Maura, is that Ron?”

  “Yes!” I couldn’t help but transmit back happy; I was so glad everything had been straightened out between us. Having Ron back, after I’d felt like he was being torn away from me, had delivered a good chunk of calm amid all the other storms raging inside me.

  “How are you, Dear? How’s your mother?”

  “She’s a lot better, thanks, Ms. DeLuca. I’m fine too, just studying and playing a lot.”

  “Well, don’t you wear yourself out too much.” I noticed Caelyn’s eyes had a misty, dreamy kind of look to them. Her dinner date must have gone well.

  “I won’t,” Ron promised.

  “And if you need anything, anything at all, you let me know, okay? You have my cell number. You can call an
ytime.”

  “Thanks, Ms. DeLuca.” Ron looked a little uncomfortable. I knew he didn’t like the suggestion. The pride in his voice, when he’d told me how he’d been paying all the bills not covered by his mom’s disability check, told me he felt good about being able to take care of himself.

  “Well, don’t stay up too late, okay? I’m going to bed, but, Maura, we can have dinner tomorrow, spend some time together. Do you want to go out?”

  “Actually, Mom, I can’t.” I couldn’t help but notice Ron squirm onscreen, out of the corner of my eye. I shot him a quick look I hoped would remind him to stay cool. “I have a huge paper due next week, and I have to go to the library downtown tomorrow night.” I had a weird, swirly kind of flitting in my stomach…the product of lying to my mother’s face with her wide green eyes set upon me.

  “Downtown?” She didn’t like my plan; that was apparent in her frown and the troubled furrows on her brow. “Why can’t you go to the library in New West?”

  Apparently, my skill at concocting untruths on the fly was improving. “Because that library sucks! Susie and I went there after school, and they have nothing! Come on, Mom; Susie’s going with me.”

  “Okay…” She paused, thinking. “But only if you two meet me for dinner after.”

  “Mom!”

  “That’s the only way to get a yes, Maura Maxine!”

  “Mom! Not the middle name!”

  Ron chuckled. “Maxine, huh?”

  I turned briefly to dart my tongue out at him. “Hush, you!”

  “Well, do we have a deal?”

  “Alright, alright!” I was running numbers inside my head and realized I’d have plenty of time to get to the clinic before I had to meet Caelyn. And by the time I did, it’d be too late for her to stop me. If she just wouldn’t discover my missing health card... I sighed. It was going to be another sleepless, restless night..

  17. All I Ever Wanted Was the Truth…Right?

  The next morning, I was a bundle of nerves, knowing what I had to pull off. Even though I knew Caelyn’s routine better than my own, I was positive that would be the morning she’d come out of the bathroom early and catch me digging in her purse. I worked at being quick, but that only caused me to drop her bag on the floor…again. My hands were shaking so bad; I couldn’t get a grip on anything. I pulled out her health card instead of my own, cursed under my breath and put it back so I could retrieve the correct one.

  You’d have thought I would’ve grown used to going behind her back, starting several months ago with the whole swimming incident. I even took her driver’s license out of her wallet and put it in my missing health card’s place—with the back facing out—so its absence would be less noticeable. Once I finished burying the card in my pack, my palms covered with a thin sheen of nervous sweat, I ran to my room to get dressed. I needed as little contact with my mother as possible.

  I’d purposefully only gotten into my bra and underwear. When she came into my room to say goodbye, I had a dress ready to cover my front.

  “Mom! I’m getting dressed!” I had my line planned.

  “Mink, I’ve seen it all before.” She rolled her eyes. “You do realize I used to bathe you?”

  “Yes! Several hundred years ago…” I protested. The banter was keeping my mind away from all the things I was deceiving her about, just as I’d hoped so that I wouldn’t do something to give myself away.

  She came over to kiss me goodbye—as always—anyway. “Have a good day at school, Mink. Do your best.”

  “Don’t I always?” I gave her my best angelic smile.

  “Can’t argue with that.” She turned to go. “But, hey, you two stay away from Hastings Street, you got that? I mean it, Mink, there are prostitutes and drug dealers all over down there.”

  I shuddered, my revulsion genuine… My mother and I had driven down that street once. “No problem!”

  “7:00, okay?”

  I did some mental calculating in my head. I should be left with more than enough time. Caelyn must’ve thought I was coming up with an argument.

  “If you need to go back to the library, I’ll drive you on the weekend.”

  “Okay,” I said agreeably. My ruse had worked; she thought she’d won and, looking satisfied, turned to leave.

  “Love you.” She waved one more time.

  “I love you too.” I really did, despite my lying and scheming… *And,* I reminded myself, *I’m not the only one doing so.*

  If Caelyn just wouldn’t get pulled over for speeding or running a red light, my plan would work just fine. In fact, if something did turn out to be wrong with me, my mother would probably thank me for following through with everything I planned to do.

   

  “Sorry, Maura; I can’t. Not tonight. It’s my mom’s birthday, and my whole family’s going out.” Susie looked disappointed. She shouldn’t have. If I were her, I’d much rather go to a birthday dinner than sit in a boring clinic waiting room all evening.

  “It’s okay,” I assured her. “I don’t mind going by myself at all. Besides, it would just be boring for you, and I really just want to get it over with. It’s not like it’ll be any fun.”

  “The dinner with your mom would be fun!” Susie was quite taken with Caelyn.

  “I’ll make sure we go out with her sometime soon then; I promise.” I smiled back at her, hoping she wouldn’t keep feeling bad about not being able to go along.

  So, I’d be going alone. I felt more than a little nervous about going downtown solo. I’d never been downtown anywhere before, alone—Indiana Pennsylvania’s downtown was too small to count—consisting of a few blocks along one street.

  Susie kept looking at me all through lunch, and I knew she was trying to gauge my true reaction, but I managed to hide my trepidation well. I launched into a full-scale discussion of my plan to talk Ron into a Christmastime visit. Everyone in our group perked up their ears to listen. I so rarely talked about Ron that I knew it would be like revealing some kind of big secret. But as Susie walked off to her Biology class, I watched her back as if my friend were a life preserver floating away in the middle of a vast, empty ocean.

   

  The trip downtown wasn’t bad. No one bothered me on the SkyTrain while I read my English assignment. As fate would have it, our teacher actually did give us a rather large research paper to complete. Going to the larger library would then be a necessity, so I was glad Caelyn had offered to drive me on the weekend…and I was relieved some part of my story had become truth.

  I found the clinic easily. The Broadway Station Clinic was an easy walk from the SkyTrain stop of the same name. However, the waiting-room was past capacity, with people standing against the wall, sniffling and coughing into their sleeves, since there weren’t enough chairs for everyone. Since classes were back in full swing, cold and flu season was too.

  The wait was two hours! It wasn’t even 4:00 PM yet, so I’d still have almost an hour with the doctor. That would surely be more than enough time. Besides, if he ordered any blood tests, I already knew from searching the internet I’d have to visit a separate lab to get them done. The Biomedical Lab, unlike the clinic, in New West was open and would be easy to get to right after school. At the moment, I just had to find a two-hour distraction close by.

  The library! Maybe I wouldn’t have to bother Caelyn to drive me downtown on the weekend and having a few books with me would help back my original excuse for making my way downtown.

  I figured out which bus to take from one of the friendly drivers waiting along the curb near Broadway Station. It wasn’t far, about ten minutes on the bus. Once there, I got a card first thing in case I found books I wanted to take along, and then went to lose myself among the stacks.

  I hadn’t meant to but ended up losing track of time and staying at the library until my two-hour wait time had nearly run out. Jumping up from the table I was sitting at in a panic, I knocked my chair over and almost tripped over the jutting legs in my attempt to esca
pe. I didn’t look up to see if anyone had witnessed my humiliating fumble and made my way to the front desk to check out a small stack of books—three for my class assignment and two I couldn’t resist for pleasure.

  I was hurrying, worried I’d lose my spot in line at the clinic if they called for me and I wasn’t there. As luck would have it, I saw the bus pull away from the stop just as I was running up to the stop. It would be fifteen minutes before another arrived, so I decided to walk to the next stop in an effort to keep warm. The late October air was pretty chilly, since the sun had disappeared behind the snow-capped mountains, and I was wearing a fall-weight jacket that was proving too thin for the evening temperatures.

  I walked along quickly, but I wasn’t scared of being downtown. It turned out to be something different in real life than what my mind had imagined. There weren’t dark characters lurking in the alleys or sides-streets, waiting to draw in innocent victims. Rather, the sidewalks were filled with happy people. Students with backpacks, laughing and joking. Couples arm-in-arm or hand-in-hand, leaning into one another or whispering intimately in a way that made me long for Ron, my heart aching.

  There were several cozy, well-lit restaurants lining my walk. I noticed I was hungry, and more than a couple appealed to my growing appetite. I almost stopped at a cute little coffee shop, the smell of the roasted beans making me sniff appreciatively, but remembered the clinic and hurried on.

  I caught sight of a sushi place—I was absolutely dying to try sushi!—as I passed by an alleyway. It sat at the end of the darkened space, beckoning like a beacon in a storm. My stomach growled fiercely and the next moment flashes of the delicious, little ricey pieces danced in front of my eyes. All I could think of was food…well, that specific food. Oddly enough, although I’d never tried any of the exotic-looking rolls, I could smell every fragrance. Essences of avocado, fried shrimp and teriyaki-style meats invaded my senses. Some small, insignificant part of my brain alerted me I should be doing something else…something important…

  I took a step into the alley, like a rabbit being lured into a carrot-filled trap. The sight of the sushi restaurant made me move forward. A couple steps more, and I was enclosed in darkness. A wariness came over me, but then the smell and imagined taste of sushi assaulted my senses again. Then, they picked up on something else.

  It was the smell at first. A dark, delicious smell. The best male cologne I’d ever inhaled. I knew whoever was wearing that alluring scent was in the alley with me. There were no footfalls behind me, no sound at all, besides the traffic I could hear on the busy streets above and below me. But I could feel a presence—that itch at the base of your skull screaming out you’re being watched—or followed in that case.

  There weren’t any doorways in which to hide down that particular stretch of alley, and I’d realized, once I’d started toward the restaurant, the space was deceptively lengthier than it had seemed upon first inspection. Every time I turned around, the space behind me was empty, as it had been the last five times I’d jerked my head around, certain I’d catch a glimpse of whomever I knew had to be there. I was about halfway through the narrow, dark walkway then, my skin consumed by the cold-running chill of fear.

  Maybe I should call Caelyn? *No, Maura,* I stubbornly told myself, *you’ll scare her to death. You’re probably imagining things.* I could envision the near hysterics at the other end of the line and ruled that option out completely. Besides, I was almost at the other end. If anything should happen at that point, I was sure someone would hear me scream. Wow…I really didn’t want cause to scream… I rubbed my hands over my arms in an effort to calm, comfort and warm myself.

  I tried to put myself at ease by telling myself anyone who smelled that good could be no homeless drug addict. And if he meant me harm, wouldn’t he have made his move before I’d gotten that close to the crowded street? As I inched through the last quarter of the alley, I took in a deep breath, just to catch one last whiff of whatever scent the guy was wearing. I tried to store it in my memory so I could try to find some to give Ron—and myself—as a Christmas present.

  “You know I’m here, don’t you, Maura?”

  My legs felt like cooked spaghetti, and it was all I could do to keep from collapsing in utter fear, right there on the pavement. Though the deep male voice was smooth and beautiful…but still should not carry across the night in the syllables which made up my name.

  My brain fumbled around inside itself for a reasonable explanation. One of the teachers must have been at the library? A far more rational part tossed out the thought that even if one of the teachers from my school was the mysterious, sweet-smelling man in the alley, he had been lurking around, not allowing me to catch a glimpse of him. And I just couldn’t propose any way that could be a good thing.

  Then, my brain tossed out anger, reminding me that person, whoever he might turn out to be, had stalked me, frightened me, made me doubt my own perceptions, only to let me come so close to a place of safety? He’d cruelly let me believe I’d soon be inside a well-lit restaurant, only snatch my safe harbor away when I’d believed myself to be home free. My ever-increasingly volatile temper flared white-hot, burning away most of the fear I’d felt. I irrationally whirled to face whoever he may be, infuriated by the twisted way he’d kept me rooted to the edge of the darkness at the very last few feet.

  He was there then. And when I saw him, my consciousness slipped, like the swirl of a kaleidoscope, and I saw the revelation that was his face no more.

  Dreams swirled through my head, strange dreams which made no sense. I dreamt of eyes, dark like mine—identical. They stared back at me with no reason, no purpose. I was lost in absolute blackness, with only those eyes to keep me company. My eyes, my own eyes. *Stop it! Stop watching me!* my dream voice, with no real power, cried out.

  I started awake. Those eyes hung over me. I shut mine and screamed. I screamed for my mother, calling out for her again and again until I actually heard her voice.

  “Maura! Maura listen!” I felt someone shaking me by my shoulders as I lay on the ground…which was cold and hard. “I’m here; open your eyes.”

  I did as I was told, slowly. Then, my mother’s eyes stared back at me. Her long, dark hair was swinging into my face, tickling. “Mom!” I reached up to find her back, wrapped my arms around her warmness and pulled myself up to her. She hugged me back, pulling me close.

  “It’s okay, Maura. You’re okay,“ she soothed into my ear.

  My memory of the moments before blackness started to come back to me. I struggled to climb to my feet, pulling Caelyn with me, and somehow—in very awkward fashion—we managed to stand.

  “Mom! There was someone following me… I think someone tried to attack me.” I noted movement over my mother’s shoulder.

  “That was me.” The same resonant voice from before reverberated in my ears in the close space between the alley walls. My mother didn’t seem alarmed. In fact, she stepped aside, and my brain struggled to figure out why.

  Until I saw him. My mother had been right; I did look like my father. We had exactly the same eyes. His features were my own, with a bit of Caelyn’s thrown in to soften them, including her full, heart-shaped lips. I couldn’t look at the man and not know who he was.

  “Dad?” I squeaked—not how I wanted my first word to him to sound.

  He nodded, and I noticed, even in the dim, his eyes welling. But they weren’t tears. I felt panic as I saw the spill from one eye, and the liquid was just the color of blood.

  My mind was reeling. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Of his sudden appearance, of the ghastly red tears in his eyes… My mind flashed back to the day I’d left Pennsylvania. The day I’d been crying over leaving Ron. That moment, he’d thought a tree branch had struck my eyes…and the red stains on his shirt. The welling red swimming in my eyes the night Ron’s mom had gone into the hospital.

  I fought to gain meaning from the images running through my head, from the image right in front of me
. There had to be only one explanation. Whatever disease I had, whatever was wrong with me…I’d inherited the same. My dad was sick too, and he’d come back to help, or at least let me know what was wrong with me.

  Whatever the reason, I was overcome with relief he’d finally returned. Overcome by questions, as well as love, at the sight of the man who’d helped create me. I started to cry, my body wracked by great, heaving sobs I couldn’t control. I buried my face in my hands, hoping my father wouldn’t get the wrong idea from my tears. I wondered why he’d been gone for so long, yes, but at the moment, I was overwhelmingly filled with the exhilaration of laying eyes on him for the first time. I put my hands down, away from my face, so I could tell him…so he wouldn’t go away again.

  I paused, unable to speak. My gaze followed my hands, smeared by the same garish red tears as those shed by the man standing in front of me. I looked up at him and my mother, my expression begging an explanation for the bloody tears staining my palms.

  “I’m sick… That’s why you came back, right? Are you dying? Am I dying?” I could barely speak, my voice straining to break through my crying.

  The man, *No, Maxwell,* some part of my brain said to me, stepped over and his arms claimed me. He pulled me close, painfully close, to his body. He felt oddly cold through the front of his coat. Then, he held me away, so he could look into my face. His eyes glittered like black jewels through the red haze of his tears. His fingers traced lovingly, and like ice, across my face.

  “No, my daughter,” he said, his voice like dark music, “you are not dying. In fact, you will live forever.” The next words he spoke crept over me like a rising tide. They thrashed and rose over my whole being, threatening to drown me in a surreal dreamworld, from which I might never return. “I have come home to tell you who you truly are, Maura. My words may be very hard for you to comprehend, but you were created from a very old, very elite bloodline. Very soon, my dear loved one, you will complete your transition into the exquisite creature you were born to become. A vampire.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

   

  Claudette Melanson lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. Vampires have been a passion since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head.

   

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