The Vampire King's Bride

Chapter 11

Opening my eyes, I was greeted with darkness in every direction. As my other senses started coming back to me, I realised I was lying in water that was only about ankle deep.

I sat up looking around, not seeing anything. The only sound was the water that moved around me. Everything felt normal to me now, my body was no longer numb, and I could hear and see everything so clearly.

Getting to my feet, I heard footsteps in the distance. I could see my own body but nothing else in the darkness, almost like there was a spotlight on me.

‘Hello?’ I called out; my voice echoed in the distance.

No one answered me, but the footsteps stopped. There had to be something else in this darkness, especially since I heard footsteps and they weren’t mine. Putting one foot in front of the other, I started walking in one direction.

There was nothing but darkness for miles around, so I couldn’t tell if I was going straight. All I could hear was my own breath and my feet splashing in the water.

A noise roared in my ears, making me cover them with my hands. I looked to my right and realised there were three doors standing there. They definitely weren’t there before, three big red wooden doors like this I would have noticed.

The high-pitched noise faded, and I removed my hands I let them rest by my sides. Glancing around, there was nothing except the three doors. Approaching them, I hesitated, hoping that there was a way out of here.

I stood in front of the middle door, my hand tightly grasping the handle. Taking a deep breath, I turned the knob and swung the door open. The door revealed blue and green smoke that swirled in a circle. It looked like the swirl of the milky way. Thinking twice about this decision, I started closing the door. A big gust of wind blew from behind me, pitching me forward and I fell through the door.

The fall didn’t stop, it was like I was caught in a wind tunnel strong enough to lift me off my feet.

Next minute, the ground rushed at me and I landed with a thud. Sitting up, I groaned it was not a good landing. Getting to my feet, I dusted off my pants when I heard a little girl giggle. She ran right through me like I was a ghost. The little girl continued running up the hill, her dark brown hair floating behind her. When she got to the tree at the top, she sat down underneath it.

I followed quickly behind the girl, watching her closely as she adjusted her little blue dress. The girl looked to be around five years old as she flipped through a book about sea creatures. A man walked up to her as if he had just appeared out of nowhere.

‘Papa!’ the girl squealed as she jumped into his arms.

The man was tall, standing at around six feet high, with a similar build to that of Benny and Axel. He had short dark blonde hair and grey eyes. The pants he had on were dress pants, something you would wear with a suit. They were black in colour and they matched the dark purple button-up top he had tucked into the waistband.

‘What’s my muffin up to?’ he asked. His voice was warm and kind as he spoke to the little person who I could tell was his daughter as she had the same coloured eyes and the same shape of nose.

‘Reading. Did you know there are crabs in the ocean?’

‘No way!’

‘Yes way!’

‘Should we let your mum in on this fact?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Let me in on what?’ a feminine voice came from behind the tree.

A beautiful woman appeared wearing a sundress coloured similar to that of the man’s shirt. She was smiling as she came to give the man and girl a hug. Her hair was dark, just as dark as mine and the way she smiled seemed so familiar, so warm.

‘ That crabs live in the ocean,’ laughed the man as he handed the girl to the woman.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. The crabs are friends with the lobsters.’

The man and the woman chuckled together as the girl protested about her fact being true.

‘Its going to rain soon,’ the little girl said all of a sudden.

The mum and dad looked at each other with concern written all over their faces.

‘Let’s get inside,’ the dad said, taking hold of the girl again.

They walked behind the tree, heading down the hill, so I followed them. There was a small cottage at the bottom of the hill, moss covering the roof. A river of water about five feet across was flowing by the cottage at a steady pace.

Other features of my surroundings I realised were blurry almost like it didn’t matter, the important details were this family. But why?

Rain started to fall as I walked inside the house. It was a small cottage on the inside with everything except the bathroom sharing the same space. The bathroom had its own private room with a door. The living room had a fireplace with two couches and a bookshelf full of books. The little girl sat on the floor by the fireplace still looking through the book about the ocean.

The father was sitting on the couch by the fireplace watching the little girl while the mother was making food in the kitchen just behind the couches. The moonlight shone through the window above the kitchen as the rain passed by and the sky became clear again.

The kitchen was small, it only had about two work benches. Looking around, I noticed the bed that was opposite to the kitchen and a smaller cot beside the bed.

‘Oksana,’ the man said, making me turn back to him.

The mum stopped what she was doing and walked over to sit down next to the man.

‘Sweetie?’ the mother said, getting the attention of the little girl.

‘Yes, mummy?” the girl replied, looking up.

‘Come here.’

The little girl got to her feet and walked over to her parents, coming to a stop just in front.

‘We have a surprise for you,’ the father said as he pulled out a little wooden box.

The moment felt frozen in place, everything started moving slower and that’s when I recognised the box he was holding in his hands. It was the exact same one that my parents had given to me when I was little. Was this little girl me?

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the cottage vanished as I was thrown backwards out the doorway and onto the water-ladened floor.