Sanity comes in a Pill

CHAPTER ONE: a normal day

5 years later…

Yawing I slowly sit up in bed. “Time to start the day,” I say into my dark room. Well its more of a cage then a room. All concrete and reinforced glass. Over the years I've added personal touches to it to make it more cozy. This room is one of many in the ‘Area 51 Government Protection Facility’. I moved here five years ago shortly after my miraculous recovery from death’s door. Well…not everyone sees it as a recovery. Sure I’m still moving around and healthy, but I'm not really human anymore. After that weird mosquito bit me, my body started to change. It started with my skin. I had been a pretty pale child my whole life and even more so when I got sick, but this took it to the next level! If I stood outside when there was snow I don’t think you would be able to see me. The other prominent physical change were my eyes. They had once been a bright forest green and were now the colour of clotted blood. They creeped most people out but I thought they were pretty awesome. Looking at them in the mirror makes me feel stronger for some reason. Now for the really weird part of all of this, which I’m guessing is quite obvious at this point; I’m a vampire, pointy fangs and no ageing kind of thing. Luckily, I am not that crazy kind of vampire you see in most movies. Sure, I love the taste of blood and crave it all the time, but chewing on an apple or eating pizza etc. keeps it mostly at bay.

I stand up and walk over to my awesome navy blue dresser form Ikea I assembled myself. I open the first draw and I am faced with a very difficult choice; should I wear the red t-shirt or the red t-shirt today? I smile to myself. I chose the red one. I quickly pull it over my head admiring my slim muscular frame in the mirror as I do so. I look awesome today as always. I turn to the right as the door to my room opens. In steps Dr.Brenor. He looks like your stereotypical doctor; average height, long white coat with a red striped tie peeking out from the collar and slightly grey neatly trimmed brown hair. However, Dr.Brenor is not your stereotypical doctor which isn’t that hard to be when one of your patients in a vampire. “Hey, Liam” I call, walking to meet him, “how was your weekend?”. “Pretty good," he says with a bit of a smirk, which tells me he probably got a new video game he’s itching to tell me about. Even though there’s a huge age gap between us. Liam (aka. Dr.Brenor) and I have somehow become best friends. The first week I was here, he was all business and if you asked anyone outside of this room they would use those words to describe him, but I broke that façade pretty quickly when he saw me playing ‘shadows of the giants’ on my Game Box 2. I have a bunch of good gaming systems hooked up in my room thanks to my parents.

“What did you buy?” I prompt. His slightly wrinkled face breaks out into a wide smile. “Death March xz,” he says proudly. ‘Death March xz’ is the newest first person shooter game in the trilogy ‘xz’. “I brought it if you want to play it later,” Liam suggests. “Dude! Of course I want to play it,” I smile back, my fangs peeking out. We bump fists and then he puts on a serious face, which means it is time to work. To bad I would have liked to play ‘Death March xz’ right now instead of answering the same boring questions I’m asked every week. Apparently it’s to make sure I’m staying of the right mind but I mean, I’m pretty sure it would be obvious to tell if a vampire is not right of mind, and I defiantly wouldn’t want to check from this close, but hey what do I know.

He starts off with the most basic questions like always; “What is your name?” “My name is Caleb,” I reply and “where are you right now?” ‘Area 51 Government Protection Facility’, etc. Then it gets into the medical questions; “how would you rate your level of happiness on a scale of 1 to 10?” I think about this one for a moment, going over the mental check list in my mind; I have games, I’m breathing, I look awesome still, I have friends, I’m not treated like a prisoner (even though some days it feels like it), I have a craving for blood. Most of the things on my list are positive so I reply “Eight out of ten.” Liam makes a note on his chart. “How have your cravings been? Are the new pills helping?” by pills he means the medical blood capsules I get once a week to help stop blood cravings, they switch the type of blood every few weeks to see if there’s any changes in my behavior. Right now its pig blood. I must be honest it tastes REALLY good. “Worse I think, I like the pills too much,” I omit. Liam scribbles on his chart again. Then looks up at me. I can tell what he says next is as my best friend not my doctor. “Dose it concern you?” he asks. “Yes,” I say slightly regretting the fact that they will switch the pills now, but its better then hurting someone.

“I’m going to do a test then now,” he informs me. I nod in compliance. Liam grabs my left forearm. The muscle tenses a bit sending a shot of adrenaline through my body. I can feel his blood flowing through the veins in his hand. My heart rate starts to speed up a bit, pumping the small amount of blood it contains through my body. That’s one of the things I like about Liam, I just told him the chances of me sucking all of the blood out of his body are higher then normal and yet he’s not scared to touch me.

The urge is there ever so slightly as I look down, his throat coming in to view. I start to sweat a bit. Mixed in with the urge to bite him is the possibly even stranger urge, depending how you feel, to just lick his neck. My heart won’t stop racing, my eyes are glued to Liam’s neck. I start to lean towards it then BAM. I jolt upright, rubbing the spot where Liam brutally flicked me in the forehead. “Oww…” I complain, giving him an undeserved dirty look. He smirks at me, “I couldn’t decide if you were going to eat me or make out with me.” Personally, if I was going to do the second one I wish he had let me.

That is another thing about Liam; he does not mind that I’m gay. I can’t say the same for everyone in my hometown. Hence, the reason I was home schooled. Unfortunately for me Liam is married, has two kids and is straight. He brings his kids to visit some times which I enjoy, but that’s not the point. I shrug blushing a bit.

Liam stares at me for a few more seconds then removes his hand. I am glad that’s over, I hate doing that test without having eaten, but I guess that would defeat its purpose. He takes out his medical kit and dose a classic doctor checkup thing. Including listening to my heart beat. My heart kind of works weird now when I’m relaxed or even if I’m doing a physical activity, my heart rate is under 10 beats per minute. Crazy low I know. When I have a craving rush like a few minutes ago my heart rate jumps to around 1,000 beats per minute. Yah, not the best scenario to be a part of. Liam makes a last few notes in on his chart. “Alright, you are free to go,” he says, gesturing towards the door. First I open the second draw in my dresser and pull out a pair of red hospital shoes and put them on my feet. Liam fallows behind me as I walkout the door into the blinding sunlight of the common room.

No I did not turn to dust, but it does hurt quite a bit (and I have to ware A LOT of sunscreen). Its worth it though. I look to the left Crap! My brain freaks, coming towards me is an extremely tall blond haired girl, with boobs that must be the same size as watermelons, Bebe. “Caleb!” she screams, making short work of the distance between us. She reaches out and I get a face full of watermelons. Surprisingly not a great feeling, I’m a vampire and even I feel suffocated. After what feels like forever she pulls away just enough for me to see Liam waving at me and walking away. “Have fun you two, see you tonight Caleb,” he calls back, Traitor I want to yell back at him, but the watermelons crush me again. It is best not to struggle when Bebe’s hugging you, like me she has a biting issue. I pull away from Bebe and the two of us move to a nearby white plastic bench and sit down. Our red clothes making up pop in contrast.

I look over a Bebe who is basically siting in my lap due to her huge size. She has to be around 7’5 by now and still growing. She towers way above me and my meager 6’2” frame. This is due to a medical condition she has where some of her chromosomes are flipped tricking her body into continuously producing the growth hormone. It’s pretty hard to live a normal life when you’re that tall, but that’s not the only reason why she lives here; Bebe has also turned herself into a Kludde. A Kludde is a mythical black carnivorous creature surrounded by a blue flame and associated with the sound of rattling chains.

Thanks to tech and medical advancements, Bebe has two curling horns coming out of the top of her head, canine fangs, claws and even metal inserts in her neck hooked up to her nerves that release blue fire on her command. Yes, the watermelons are real. In addition she has committed to a mostly meat diet to go with it. The fact her body has accepted all these modifications (and she has lived past the age of twenty with her medical condition) got her an invitation here.

She can be a bit much sometimes, but I love her sarcastic energetic personality. Bebe is my closest friend here besides Liam. “How are you doing today Be?” I knowing she would tell me anyways. Here it comes, “Amazing Caleb! I measured myself this morning, I grew 10cm! Then I went for a run and after I waited here for 3 hours for you to come out!” She says sarcastically, “We should go out for dinner tonight and then go back to my place to hang out! Ooo I also got a new bra let me show you!” she starts to pull down her top and I swat her hand. See, a bit much. I am almost disappointed that I have plans with Liam all night. “Sorry Be, I have plans with Liam tonight.” “You always have plans with Liam,” she pouts. Like that’s going to make me change my mind. I roll my eyes. Bebe bursts into a cloud of blue flame, burring a mark in into the bench. Her flame always impresses me and sometimes I wonder if she does it because she knows I like it. The flame is gone as quickly as it appears.

“Want to go get some food?” I ask. She nods and we get up, heading down the center of the common room to the line of small shops on the other side. The common room is basically a giant park, with plants and everything. We pass a bunch of people as we make are way across the room. Most nod to me, even more gawk at Bebe. Everyone is dressed in the same red clothes, yet as you look around not a single person here is the same.

That is what makes this place awesome, even a vampire does not stick out here. Bebe leads me into a*****e called 51PLUS. It’s where all the residents here get there food if it is not delivered right to their door. Everything is made specifically for a person according to their needs. Pretty cool unless you want to try something new or are a teenager constantly craving junk food like me. Junk food is a big no, no here. Liam sneaks me some occasionally though (hopefully he brings some tonight).

Bebe walks up to the counter and the worker hands her a bucket. Even from back here I can smell it and its not pleasant. Dried meat, the smell has made me uncomfortable as long as I can remember, but I never tell her that and no one else ever complains about the smell (I mean who would want to mess with her?) so she can eat it out in the open. Now it is my turn. I show the worker my ID card. They go into the kitchen and bring back a tray full of fruit; apples, pears and oranges this time. I enjoy fruit that is juicy more than fruits like bananas. It kind of tricks my brain a bit into thinking I’m drinking blood. Sometimes.

I sit down at a tiny plastic table with Bebe, her body spilling over it. She bites into a huge chunk of the meat making me cringe. “Stop stare and Eat Your Fruit,” she demands taking another bite. I think Bebe is somewhat cute in a weird way. She is probably the person that understands my situation and eating habits the most. Because of this, she does me the curtesy of not eating raw meat in my presence. Good thing too or we would always be fighting over it.

I take a bite of an apple. Its sweet, but also kind of sour. When I was younger apples tasted only sweet. Ever since I changed everything tastes a little different than it used too, small price to pay I guess for being alive. We both quickly finish are meals and walk out of 51PLUS chucking are dishes in the return box as we do so. Back out in the burning sun of the common room. I check my watch its only noon. Five more hours before Liam comes over. Sigh. “Want to go for a run?” Bebe asks. Now this might sound strange coming from a person who went for a run already today, but since I know Bebe this is not such a strange request. A side effect of her self-imposed body changes has made her more animal than human in some aspects. Including the instinct to run and hunt.

I am the only person who can keep pace with her. I grin and bolt towards the hill looming in front of us. I you haven’t figured it out already the common room is massive. I hear Bebe’s heavy feet behind me, then Zoom! She is past me. I laugh and pick up the pace. The air creating a wind tunnel around me, blocking all sound. I love this feeling, it’s the feeling of freedom.

                                                                               *********

I hear a knock on my door. Liam’s here finally. I pause the game I was playing and chuck the controller on the floor. I push myself out of bed, careful not to trip over any of my junk on my floor. Somehow, my room always gets really messy when the only thing I really do is play video games or outside exercising. Guess it’s a teenager thing. I open the door. Liam almost knocks me over as he bolts into the room and closes the door with a bang. “sorry,” he says slightly out of breath, “I just escaped from the office. They keep trying to pile more work on me, and I didn’t want them to see me.” I can understand that considering Liam is one of only five doctors for about one hundred people and he is good at his job so the others are always trying to pawn their work off on him. “Don’t sweat it man, “I say grinning. The reason I’m grinning is because of how Liam’s dressed; grey sweat pants and a faded ‘Space Incinerators’ top. I’ve seen him where stuff like this before, but it’s so much cuter then this normal doctor outfit I just can’t help it sometimes.

“Did Lilian give you a hard time about coming over?” I ask. Lilian is Liam’s wife. I don’t think she likes me. She always tries to convince Liam to not come over or let me near the kids. Kind of understandable even though I’m the most stable vampire I know, but still give me a break! “Yah, she was pretty upset. Had to sneak out the back window,” he says. There’s your proof. He makes it through my maze of junk towards my bed. “it was clean in here this morning,” he laughs, landing with a bounce on my bed. I shrug and plop down next to him. Then I pick up the controller I had previously discarded and exit the game I was playing. I look over a Liam and give him a look that has come to mean 'brought the game?' He doesn’t disappoint. Liam holds up ‘Death March xz’ in one hand and spicy nacho chips in the other. Score!!

If Liam got caught giving me junk food he probably would be in a huge amount of trouble being my doctor and all, but he believes it’s a bigger crime for me to eat healthy food all the time. I’m glad he thinks that way. Liam hands me the chip bag, which I immediately rip open and start consuming. He pops ‘xz’ into my gaming system (a Game Box 2). The screen lights up showing the game tittle and blasting, an electric jingle, unique to the xz series. I’m so excited! I pick up the controller, my cheese dusted hands shaking.

The opening scene starts; Yuzan, a knight low status, knells on top of tall mountain path holding his chest. Blood is pouring out wound that has pierced his heart. He looks up to the sky and begs for mercy. He knows he has done wrong. He wants a chance to fix his mistakes and save the woman he loves, Elsa the fairy queen who has been poisoned by his own hand. A bright burning light appears in front of Yuzan. It transforms into a broad shouldered humanoid female. The humanoid is called Galga. She is dressed in all black and a slickly green ooze gushes from her eyes and mouth.

She has an offer for you: “Creature of day, I have herd your plead. I offer you a chance to live and the power of magic, in exchange you will serve me until you return what is mine. Will you accept?” YES or NO. Me and Liam consult over this. On one hand this is clearly is a terrible deal, it vague, there will be a lot of side quests to do most likely to return ‘what is mine’, but on the other hand you are given the power of magic which is really beneficial in the world of xz and also super hard to get. You also have to keep in mind that if you keep walking other offers will become available. We make our decision. “Yes, I accept your offer,” Yuzan says.

As soon as the words escape his lips, Yuzan’s body is consumed by a black flame. He screams and starts withering on the ground. Slowly his wounds heal up absorbing the fire and leaving a large black scar. Yuzan stands up. He looks over the dark forestland scape. Yuzan’s eyes are now black orbs and he is covered in in the green ooze. He’s no longer human. Galga grins showing rows of pointed teeth “Time to serve.” She cracks. Then she once again transforms into the burning light and is gone. A scroll materializes in Yuzan’s hand, he opens it. It says;

Deep, deep, under the earth hides a jewel the size of an apple. Once mine now the beast. Take it back and bring it to me. I will be well pleased. Fail to do so and you may find a little less human will stay inside.

Yuzan folds up the scroll and starts making his way down the uneven path. At the base of the mountain there are two roads. He takes the left road towards the town of Riverwell. Riverwell is a small town famous for crime and blacksmithing. This way Yuzan can obtain weapons and repair his armor. It will be a great asset for when he goes deep into the earth. He stumbles down the path, a black haze clouding his vision.

Yuzan reaches the town and checks his map for where the black smith shop is. He then continues on this way. People mill about the street, but they back away when the ghostly Yuzan passes. From a nearby house, a man bursts out swinging a large sword. Yuzan has two choices: ATTACK or FLEE. Yuzan choses to attack. Using the magic he was gifted by Galga he conjures a small ball of black flame and throws it at his assailant. The man is engulfed by the fire and starts screaming. He collapses on the ground and starts to dissolve into smoke that Yuzan absorbs. Then he continues on his way.

Liam and I play ‘Death March xz’ for a few more hours taking turns playing as Yuzan. It is past midnight when we finally stop. “Why don’t you sleep over?” I suggest. Liam thinks about it for a minute, I know he doesn’t want to wake up Lilian and get the whole ‘why were you out so late when you have work in the morning’ spiel. Finally, he makes his decision. “No, sorry I can’t.” He actually sounds somewhat disappointed. “We have a new resident coming in tomorrow, so I can’t be late for work,” he sighs. This is fairly common so I’m not too surprised, but still darn. We pack up the game and I walk Liam to the door. At the door, Liam pauses like he’s changed his mind. He shakes his head to clear it, making his short hair puff up. “Night Caleb,” he says and then he walks out into the dim light of the common room. “Night,” I call after him, thankful the dark is concealing my goofy grin.