The Man that Bit Me

The Woods

    I wake up and quickly scower the room and to my disbelief I spot no Caspian. I follow my routine from yesterday and get up from bed and take a warm bath and get ready for the day. After my bath I choose a simple dark green dress. I tie it up my back, which let me tell you is way more difficult than you might think and make my way out of the room. I look around and Caspian is still no where to be seen. I peek at the bed and see a tray of eggs, ham, and bread with a glass of water is on the comforter. I pick it up and bring it to the balcony and set it on the ground. I decide to eat while I people watch and it is rather entertaining. I see men working to build more houses, women holding hands with their children and feeding the livestock, I see children running from one house to the next handing off what looks to be newspapers, and everyone else going about with their morning. I sit there and clear my head from all negative thoughts. If I cannot be peaceful and collected then maybe I can practice my peace and calm gift on the village. I begin to focus on my soul and strain my body to release the little peace I have left. I watch as I see the invisible force spread towards the village. Suddenly nobody is laughing anymore, or yelling at each other to pick up a bag. Everyone just has a soft smile on their face and going about their everyday tasks. Everyone is at peace, well except for me. Within a minute I have to release the hold because I already feel completely drained from covering that much area and that many people. I bite down hard on the bread and take in the smell. Everything here just feels so fresh all the time and clean. I don't understand, these people are vampires, where is all the blood and gore. I just shake my head from such thoughts and remind myself to think of nothing negative. This is a clear and safe space and it's time to treat my body with some care. I bring out a stool and set the canvas up on the easel with my painting supplies. Everything I felt last night I release onto the canvas. I wasn't painting anything in particular, but I just needed to release this negative energy onto something that I can see clearly. I need to physically see my pain. After the morning passes and the afternoon begins I am halfway through. I take a step back and am actually amazed at what my body released onto this canvas. I can't exactly make out what it is yet but the colors are mesmerizing. It looks so dark yet hopeful. I decide to let it dry for a bit before continuing and turn to see Caspian watching me. 

    "How long have you been standing there stalker?" I ask as I walk past him and bump his shoulder. He just shakes his dark curls and watches me as I move past him, I can see him straining to hide that smirk. "I have been watching for the past hour. You seem so entranced and I did call you quite a bit, until I realized you were on the balcony. But, you didn't even hear me, I think you were just so lost in your own little world. Which by the way so far it is quite beautiful. I haven't seen anything like it before. You are extremely gifted." I just snort and shake my head. I feel the rush of blood hit my cheeks and ears. Nobody has ever complimented me like that with such a serious face. I turn to look him in the eyes and see the certain sincerity that his eyes possess. There is no question that what he said he didn't believe 100%. I smile a little to myself, "Well thank you, it's only halfway there. To be quite honest I am not even sure myself what to make of it. It's just me releasing some tension in a healthy way." I chuckle the last part to myself. All at once I feel an arm wrap around my waist and feel myself held tightly to his chest. We are flying from the balcony to the nearest and tallest tree. I scream from adrenaline and delight. My eyes are wide open as I notice how the scene unfolds in front of me. I can see the dark navy tree getting closer and closer and smell the scent of a mixture of mint and nature mixed in. We finally reach the tree and I realize my grip on him. He doesn't seem to mind though. My arms are wrapped around his neck and my legs are wrapped around his torso, I am holding on for dear life while my head rests on his shoulder. He just laughs and drops from the tree to the ground in one swift movement. I am still so startled I am frozen to his back right now and he just begins walking. The plants are surrounding us on all sides, peeking out from one another as if to get a look at me and who I am with. Being this close I see more colors of black, charcoal, navy blue, light blue, and all different colors between. Some plants also have different prints on them which makes them even more interesting to look at. I take it all in now completely shocked, but in complete awe. I realize how beautiful all of this actually is and find myself slowly climbing down from monkey man. We're following this old path that I am unsure of where it leads to, but that doesn't matter right now. I am surrounding by things I have never seen before and I just want to take it all in completely. I bend down to feel this turquois blue leaf and when my skin touched it it felt like a shock went through my system. I retract my hand quickly and look up at Caspian waiting for an explanation. "The plants are aware of your presence, and they're just getting used to you. Give them some time and I am sure they will love you." he smiles slowly. I look at him dumbfounded, "Th-the p-plants are a-aware of my p-presence?" I take a deep breath to steady myself and ease this frazzled feelings, "What do you mean they are aware of my presence? I mean plants are alive, but not actually self-aware." I say in a set tone. He just shakes his head, "The plants here are self-aware and they're not breathing living beings, but they understand what is going on around them. Not to worry though they are not so developed as to feel emotions, they just know a human from a vampire and I am sure they're just not used to your presence here. Once you become a normal existence to them they won't shock you anymore." He chuckles at the last part. I try to reach down again and am shocked and quickly pull my hand to my chest, "I didn't realize how rejected I'd feel from a plant not allowing me to feel it." I stick my tongue out at the plant and move along. "So, Caspian, as exciting as this all is where exactly are we going? And I thought you said I was to be stuck in your room forever. Are you changing your mind?!" My voice rises with the exciting possibility. He looks down at me and tucks in the loose hairs behind my ear, "I did not change my mind, I said you were not to leave your room and have freedom to the castle. I thought about it since I saw how big of a damper it put you in and decided that although you can't go roaming through the castle I'll allow you to go roaming through the forest and village." My eyes gleam and I can feel tears ready to burst! I run to him and jump into his arms. I have been locked in that room for only a day and a half and I was already slipping into depression. Now I get to explore the forest, and meet the people I have been so attentively watching. I shake with excitement. "Thank you so much, you have no idea what this means to me! I want to see everything and meet everybody! Do you think they'll like me?" I start down a list of every thought I had since I got the news and Caspian quickly puts his hand over my mouth, "Okay motor-mouth, I know you are excited to explore a little more and get a taste of a bit of freedom, but you have to promise to always stick close to me. I know the village people will accept you, but probably not right away. They're vampires remember, and just because vampires have killed some of your kind, humans have done the same to vampires since the wheels of time began turning. So just have patience, once they get to know you they will accept and love you. And well if they don't I will just kill them. Easy." I almost scoff at that last part. A feeling of uncertainty and anxiety build up in the middle of my chest and my breathing becomes unsteady. I clear my mind and try to think of the children that I saw. They looked so happy, I just want to see that for myself. I close my eyes and shake my head and turn around from facing him to continue down the path. The mint in the air seems to calm my nerves and I feel more alive than ever. Maybe this place isn't half bad.