Chapter One: Sandra
Slowly I open my eyes, I look around me but can't see anything. I try to move my arm and I hit something solid to my right. I try to move my left arm this time and the same thing happens. I kick my leg up and it doesn't go very far before again I hit something solid. Up to this point I have been calm but now I am starting to panic. I take a deep breath like my therapist told me to do whenever I start to feel overwhelmed. As I take a deep breath I smell dirt, as if I was laying on the ground. That doesn't make sense if I was laying outside on the ground then I would be ale to move freely.
Then a flash back hits me of the time I was six years old and my brother thought it would be funny to lock me in a coffin.
*Flashback
"What do you think it's like to die?" I asked my older brother
"I don't know sis. Why don't you climb into that coffin and tell me what it feels like," He said.
I climbed into the opened coffin that my parents were looking at buying for my grandpa funeral. My brother closed the lid on me. As soon as he closed the lid it got all dark and I started to panic. I'm afraid of the dark. I try to move my arms but can't. I kick my legs' hopping to open the lid and be free. It doesn't move. I start crying and screaming. I hear my parents run in and yell at my brother for putting me in the coffin and sitting on top of the lid.
*Present
I start to wonder if this is a joke or something. I pass out and someone puts me in a coffin. How would they have gotten a hold of a coffin for this joke. I start to panic again. Trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down. I focus on my hearing to see if I can hear any thing. I swear I hear bugs crawling. Then it dawns on me, what if I was buried alive. I've seen it on the crime shows I watch but never thought it'd happen in real life.
Now I am really panicking kicking and screaming trying to get my arms to lift the lid of the coffin. I am no longer that weak little six year old I was ten years ago locked in a coffin by my brother.
Again I have to make myself stop and focus on my breathing like I was taught. That when I notice how sore my whole body is. I didn't notice it at first but I am really stiff like I have been in the same position for a long time. I have to stop my thinking right there or else I will start to panic again. I don't know how long I have been here or how much air I have left. All I know is I don't want to die out here.
I wonder if anyone would here me if I called for help. I was already screaming taking up more oxygen then needed but what if I called for help without panicking and taking up to much of my air supply. What if the person that did this is still out there? If they were they'd have already heard me by now. It couldn't hurt to call out for help. It's either that or die at this point.
I take my chances and start calling out for help.
“HELP?” I scream out loud, hoping that someone will be nearby to hear me and help me figure out what is going on.
I yell several times before I start to hear something faint. Like someone is talking and getting closer and closer to me. I stop calling for help for a minute and wait for the person to get closer.
That's when I hear.
“Sandra! Sandra can you hear me? Please answer me,” Ashton yelled sounding very concerned.
“Ashton!” I yelled hoping that he could hear me as clearly as I heard him. I start to hear footsteps in the direction that Ashton voice came from, right as I am about to say his name again I hear footsteps that don’t sound too friendly. I stay quiet trying very hard not to breathe so heavily. My breathing kicks up a bit once me hear someone shoveling right above me.
“Sandra don’t worry I will have you out soon. Please calm down I can’t get you out while you are panicking,” Ashton whispered.
I start focusing on my breathing and within minutes my breathing is back to normal. As soon as my breathing got back to normal I heard Ashton digging again. I had to keep thinking happy thoughts. My happy thoughts are Ashton and I spending the rest of our lives together. I am so deep in thought about getting to marry the guy of my dreams that I didn’t notice that he had finished digging me out. Ashton chuckles and it snaps me back to reality.
“What are you looking at me like that for?” I asked.
“What were you thinking about?” Ashton asked.
“Um…are you sure that you really want to know?” I asked nervously.
“Yes I would like to know but you do not have to tell me,” he said in a matter of fact tone.
“I promise to one day tell you,” I told him as I smile at him.
Sometimes I wish people could read others thoughts but only ones that they want them to read. That would be so convent if everyone could do that. Then you wouldn’t have to make a fool of yourself trying to figure out if so and so likes you. All you would have to do is read the persons thoughts that you like and see if they like you. Then I wouldn’t have to come out and say oh hey Ashton by the way I really like you so I was wondering if you would go out with me. I haven’t told a soul about my crush on him. I just think that would be too embarrassing to tell someone and they laugh at me because he is so out of my league that I would never have a chance with him.
I am so lost in thought that I didn’t notice Ashton staring at me so intently until he clears his throat. I look into his eyes and they are the palest most beautiful blue eyes ever. I could just stare into his eyes all the time if I were able to. We stare at each other for what feels like forever. He starts to lean in and we are so close to kissing when two people suddenly appear out of nowhere.
There was a man and a woman both whom were tall, kind of skinny, black hair, and green eyes. They looked like twins or at least siblings. Also they were dressed the same. Both had on black paints and a black shirt. The man was well cleaned up with no facial hair alone with nice buzz cut hair. The woman had no makeup on and had her hair cut at shoulder length. She had no hair in her face like most females wear their hair. You could tell that they are very muscular and it was scary to think of two strangers who look like they could kill. Both the man and woman wore mean looks, which could kill.
Ashton stood up straight and bowed as if they were royal or something. I followed his lead I stood up and got out of the grave. Something told me that if I bowed or curtsied that it would be disrespectful. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I was so scared of why these people could be here.
“Hello, your name is?” The woman asked in a very polite tone.
“Sandra Olivia Strong,” I said nervously.
Then out of nowhere I get this calming essence come over me. It relax me but but made me nervous at the same time. why would I relax at a time like this. I also had this weird feeling as if I were about to die.
“Hello Sandra I am Alexander. Will you please tell me why you cannot calm down?” the man asked.
“I have this feeling like I am about to die and you two really scare me,” I answered in a rush.
“We are not here to kill you. We are simply here to figure out what happened that you ended up in that coffin and how everyone thought you were dead. Since you have the feeling like you are going to die it could be that you thought us to kill you but we do not kill,” Alexander informed me.
Right when I was about to speak again my heart felt weird and I couldn’t breathe. I fell down to the ground and I began gasping for breath. My vision went and I couldn’t see anything and Ashton’s voice was fading. I tried to scream out but I do not know if I was screaming or not because I lost my hearing. A few seconds pass and I couldn’t feel anything.
My mind just went blank and I can hear everything going on around me. I hear the wind blowing through the trees, the intake of breath by three people close by, and I can hear people moving about in their houses. I open my eyes and everything is more detailed and clearer. I slowly stand up and I feel like my heart should be beating really fast but I don’t feel it. I check my pulse on my wrists and it is not there. I check for my pulse on my neck but it is not there either. I get really scared and I see the concern in Ashton’s eyes as he looks at me.
“Sandra please do not panic. I will explain to you but first we need to leave,” Ashton said to me and then turned the Alexander and the woman whose name I still do not know. “Please let her come with me for now and let me explain this all to her. She deserves to know what is going on and you need to find out what happened so it is a win/win but we seriously do need to leave now or she will die and you will never know what happened and this creep will go free.” Ashton said to the man and woman.
“Alright go now but do not hide her or we will come and find you and you shall pay for it along with her,” Alexander said and disappeared with the woman.
“Sandra get on my back. It will get us out of here easier and quicker. I will explain everything and answer all your questions as soon as I get you safe. Alright you need to get on my back and you need to close your eyes,” Ashton said and I jumped on his back and he took off. Within a matter of seconds we had left the grave yard and appeared in an ally that was located in the worse area you could ever set foot in. It is so bad that not even the police come to this area.
This area is worse for us to be in because most murders happen here and I am thinking “why in the world would he bring us here when there is some unknown danger out there looking for us. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Okay we are safe for now. You can get down now and we can go to my place, if you are alright with that,” Ashton had said and I got down from his back.
Once we began to start walking, I began to wonder where he lives. I have never heard him talk about his home life. He has always been more of a loner but did have a few people he talked to on occasion. I was tempted to ask him about his life but then I remembered that I need to know what is going on.
“Are you going to tell me what is going on now?” I asked him.
“Once we get to my place. It is safer there than anywhere else and you don’t want someone to overhear our conversation. That would not be very good,” Ashton explained.
I just nodded and followed him.
A few more minutes of walking in silence he started to slow down. We came to a building that looked like the one on old T.V. shows that was a very nice apartment building. I stopped and looked around and this whole neighborhood looks like it used to be very nice and fancy. This just confuses me more because how could a neighborhood that was top of the line go down to the worst part of town that no one ever wants to set foot in. I make a mental note to ask Ashton about it later.
“Sandra please won’t you come inside. It is not safe to be on the streets at this time. Please just come inside and I will explain everything to you,” He said with a little panic interning his tone.
That's when I realized he was trying to lead me into the building and I had stopped walking to look around and sort of admire the once beautiful buildings.
I walk inside and it is so much different on the inside than the outside. You walk in expecting it to be run down like the outside but it is the complete opposite. The walk in area from the door has black walls with like a smoky colored floor and ceiling. To make it look run down by those passing by. You walk in to the left and there is the most beautiful gold and silver dining set. Most of it you can tell has not been used in the longest time. The walls are in sections of the china and everything. I turn to Ashton and he has a sad look in his eyes.
“Why do you look so sad?” I asked him with concern covering my voice.
“The china set represent each family. The ones at the very top are the royal families and only one royal family is left in the states because they fight too much for more territory. There is one royal family in each country. The families below them are the commanding families that are most important when it comes to war or any kind of confrontations. Below them are the warriors who fight the wars and have made it to the end of five wars or more. Below them are just warriors who may or may not have made it to the end of any type of war. The last line is the lowest families. That would be us who are expandable or easily replaced. We are the only ones forbidden to create another. They say our blood is contaminated because we are not pure bloods. It is just how our system works. You better hope that the upper levels created you or your dead for sure. They will kill you even if it was a royal because there blood is too pure to be in one that is created not born,” Ashton explains.
"What are you talking about? Created and born? Royal families as in like the king and queen of English and stuff like that?" I asked confused
"You know what I am talking about. You have suspected it before," Ashton said
“Does that mean you are a vampire?” I asked.
“Yes, I am and now you are one as well,” He said. "I knew you knew"
“How was I able to become one of you?” I asked
“It is very hard to create another. First you have to have at least seen and had a thought about the vampire that wishes to create you. Then they drink your blood until you are almost dead. The vampire must then either inject their blood into you or have you drink it. Some do both because it is faster. Most of the ones they wish to create die because of something that they have eaten before they are tried to be created. Some do not have the body to be created into anything new. You have a better chance at surviving the transition in your teen years. Even teens will die though because some families have a mutated system already and then other have an ability to kill them instead of changing. If a person was to do well but is changed they will not survive,” Ashton explained.
“So whoever changed me I had seen before and thought about at some point in time, right?” I stated.
“You would have had to have seen them recent and had a recent thought about them,” Aston clarified.
I started to think back to the last thing I remember. All I could think was going out of the restaurant because of a phone call. I can’t remember what the phone call was about or who it was that had called me.
“What are you thinking about?” Ashton asked.
“Just trying to remember what happened and it is so frustrating that I can’t seem to remember anything after leaving the restaurant that night,” I said in a sad voice.
“It’s alright we will figure this out together and everything will turn out alright. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Someone tries to hurt you then they have to go threw me first,” Ashton stated.
“Thanks, I don’t know what I would do without you,” I told him and just then I fell to the ground. My breathing became labored and then my vision went black. Then I was looking at what happened to me through someone else’s eyes. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It just wasn’t possible or at least I didn’t think so. I watched it all happen but whose eyes I was looking through I don’t know. It was just all confusing to me and I didn’t understand any of it.