Chosen or Cursed

Chapter 1

                                                                                      PRI

  The thought had just registered when a woman appeared.  Is this night really going to get worse,” look, I have had a pretty bad night, and your obviously scary, so what can I do for you?”

    The woman’s voice was a raspy hush, breathy, a song with every word.  “Was you, my dear, who brought me, into to this awful place. Was you, I had to see change.”  

    “OK,” I replied, “So, are you here to help me?”

    “I come to watch and nothing more. To take glee in your pain, a fallen one, a chosen now damned, something I had yet to see.”

    Really, is she really going to sing every word she says, ahh I thought, but nope, I'm definitely not saying that a loud. The woman still standing at the edge of the forest, a good distance from me and not coming closer, didn't seem to be too scary, but the fact that the vampires had just run off made me feel like this maybe she was still a little too close.  She had a dark scarf around her eyes,  and really she looked harmless, there was just something about her glitch movements of her fingertip and every now and again her shoulder, okay, maybe she is a little creepy.   I might be in...MORE danger.   ahhh, this night.   

    “You’re not young one, in danger that is.  Though do not be fooled into thinking I come in aid, I simply wanted to see. Do you know who you are?”

    Did I said that out loud?  No, great does the blind women read minds too?  “I didn’t say that, I thought it,, in fact…wait… how did you know that I was going to be changed?”

    “Finally, you’ve come to think correctly. Those are the right questions at last, but I will answer only one.”

    “One, alright fine. What am I? Why- “I sighed, with everything that had happened, it was so hard to only ask one question. 

    She giggled, yes actually giggled, and it was high pitched carefree laugh,  and almost as if the air had giggled.  “You, lost soul, are chosen as was said. It has long been foretold, millenniums ago that some would be brought to lead, to work beside, God himself.  They alone are to be brought from here, the Earth, this unpleasant place we all call home.  But you, poor child, now damaged."  She cooed, happy by my misfortune, thanks lady. "by the vampire curse, you will no longer receive this destined faith, for tainted blood, cannot ascend. You will receive, a gift, some say, to replace what has been lost.  One holy gift, I do not know exactly what for you that will be, for each is different, but it is sure to be remarkable.”

    “Do you come with a thesaurus? What does all that mean?”

    The woman didn’t walk as she got closer to m, she glided and she must have been as quick as the vampires had been. In the blink of an eye, she had her hands grasped around my chin so forcefully I don’t know how they didn’t break.   Her skin must have been as old as parchment paper; it was almost transparent.  And her eyes were visible through the old brown, worn scarf, only she her eyes were shut.  They looked as if they had been glued shut. “Your tongue it seems has the flare of those within this day, but to me you will show prize.  Lest you, dear foul, aspire yourself to become my prey.  You cannot be hurt by those of your kind, but I am not of your king.”

    She pushed my face back almost knocking me off my feet.   “I…” I didn’t know what to say, I really was being rude, but really wasn’t that understandable given everything that had just happened and the fact that I don’t understand a thing that she is telling me. “I’m sorry. You…you seem like you might be trying to help me and your speaking, but I really don’t understand what your telling me.” 

    “I do not come to aid; as has been said.  Nor will I repeat my words, so take them as you will.  There are others like yourself, and so not so far away.  The last bit I give to you, a suggestion if you will.  Find any space of hallow ground; it will be inhabited by many souls’ eager to make a deal.  Maybe even help you as you say.  Though take caution as you do, most souls would love nothing more than to take your life from you.”

    In the blink of an eye, she was gone.  Standing in front of me, then gone. Great! This is too much; I need to get away from these woods before something else poops out of them.  And of course, Gabriel was the one with the keys were to the car.  I just need to get out of here. I walked from our spot towards the street thinking trying to think the entire time. 

    That women had told me I should go to Hallow ground. Ok, find hallow ground. Wow how did I get to the main road in less than three minutes. Never mind think and not about Gabriel but I can’t get him to leave my thoughts. I need to concentrate, let’s make a mission. My mission, first figure out what that women was.  No, wait, that’s not important. Hallowed ground, is always what they call a cemetery, yes that what they always say in the movies.  I need a cemetery but where a cemetery could possibly be located in the entire city is beyond me.  Or a church I could go to a church but was a church even considered hallowed ground, I think.  I wish we would have gone to church more often. Standing here doing nothing is not helping though.  Without having any idea where to go, I started walking towards the gas station which wasn’t but two blacks away.  I might be a Vampire now but I am still a girl, and this girl had no problem asking for directions. 

    Being a vampire hadn’t really hit me until I entered the gas station.  When I heard the sound of blood pounding under people’s skin, the sweat forming on one man’s hair line, seeing the tremor in a man’s hand. It wasn’t simply that I heard and saw these thing, it was that I felt them.  Before tonight, I had always needed glasses and couldn’t really afford them.  Being near sighted, I hadn’t been able to clearly see anything that was further than an arm’s length from my face. Now I could see every minute detail beyond clearly. This is what it feels like to live out of that haze.  I saw myself as I walked by one of the mirrors towards the ceiling of the store and realized that I was moving too quickly, and in that fluid gliding motion, as the other vampires had been. Gliding probably wasn’t the right word, but there really wasn’t another word I can think of to describe it.  Looking back at the mirror, this time not paying attention to my feet, I could hardly believe what I saw.

    As Gabriel had no longer been himself, this girl I saw in the mirror could not be me. My hair had been fine dark black hair, the kind of black that was so dark it shimmered purple or blue in the sun, and this person who looked back had full frizzy white hair, and her eyes.  She had red eyes.  Not red like dark wine or the color you would associate with a crayon but a light red almost even an orange color.  A color no person should possess.  And she was slender in way I had never thought was possible.  The extra weight I had carried for years was completely gone. Replaced by a toned and fit everything, my arms unbelievably sculpted.  It was definitely a good thing I had worn a dress to meet Gabriel.  I don’t think my clothes would have stayed on if I hadn’t as it was my dress barely held on.  My mother is going to freak out. 

    Even looking at the changes I didn’t really feel things I would have expected to feel if I was a vampire. For starters I didn’t crave drinking blood, I could hear it flowing through everyone around me but really the thought of drinking it actually made me a little sick.  I didn’t feel the confidence I would have thought every vampire movie said you would feel. In fact, Gabriel had maybe even looked as though he felt more confident, unquestionably more savage, which again I didn’t feel. All I really wanted to do was start figuring things out.  Ask questions till I was out of breath and then continue to ask a few more just for good measure. Side tracked, pri, focus.  I had to control the urge to scold myself aloud. Right this very moment none of that matter I simply need to concentrate on mission at hand.  Find hallowed ground.  With that I stole up my nerve and walked up to the counter, and stood. Completely unmoving, starring at the attendant, saying, nothing. 

    “Can I help you?” He asked, and I realized I had not fully thought this through, how am I going to ask this man where the nearest cemetery was. That really wasn’t something girls just randomly asked gas station workers, and great now here I am just gawking at him, I don’t believe it would have been possible for me to have looked stranger than I did in that moment. 

    “I needed to know where something was,” I finally squeaked out, why couldn’t I have gotten the confidence?

    “I’m not a GPS, but I’ll try and help, so shoot.”

    “Um, I need to know where there is a cemetery around here,” I tried to whisper the last words.

    “A cemetery,” he repeated much more loudly than was appreciated. “You gonna meet someone there, you look like a good girl, you shouldn’t do that.  And I have more customers, I can’t help you. Next.”

    “Wait but! I’m not meeting someone there, and don’t talk so loudly please, I really need to go to one, can you just help me out?”

    “No”

    “I need you to help me.”  I tried to sound desperate annunciating every word for purposeful emphasis. 

    He grabbed a pencil, and in jerky movements, as if he was fighting his own actions, he drew a map.  It was close and as soon as I saw the sloppy drawing, a memory of passing it holding my breath to ward off spirits came to me.  It was a superstitious something I had done every time I had passed a cemetery.  I never really believed in it but had done it for some reason. “Thanks,” I said quickly grabbing the paper so he couldn’t change his mind.  As I ran out of the store, I noticed the man followed me with his eyes a bewildered look all over his face.  He looked like he had no idea what had happened, or maybe I was walking too quickly again. I need to make a conscience effort to watch that. Didn’t matter though with the needed information in hand I was off to do what I needed to do. Whatever that ended up being.  

    It was still really late as I left the gas station though I had no idea what time it could be.  There were no cars around and even though I had just thought it might be a good idea to stop myself from walking quickly.  I bet I could get away with it. It was ridiculous, with no one around I was going quickly, not so fast that I couldn’t stop suddenly if I saw a car or a person coming to closely but fast enough that I could hear the sound of wind as it whizzed past my ears. I could feel that it was cold too.  It didn’t affect me, there was just a sense of it.  I couldn’t help but smile. Nothing is good about this night but even so, this, this is really amazing.  After a few minutes traveling at a pace I should not have been traveling at, I decided to slow down despite how giddy I felt.  I could probably have seen anyone coming from some distance away but better to be safe than sorry.  That had been how I had spent my entire life.  I tried to be safe with everything; in school, in my decision.  And yet, somehow I had still ended up like this. Whatever all of this really was, it had found me anyway.  The world really is a small crazy little space.

    Struggling to maintain some semblance of a normal quick walking speed I still ended up making it to my destination in no time flat.  I don’t know what I had expected to see when I got here but this was not it. ‘Sweet Slumber Cemetery,’ and the inaccuracy of it made me raise my eyebrows.  Ghost, roaming, moaning everywhere. They weren’t scary moans but sad weeping sounds that touched your soul. And the bodies of the people who roamed weren’t transparent.  They were whole. They looked like people decomposing, some missing limbs.  There wasn’t any blood or bad smells, but they all looked as though they were in pain.  I wasn’t really afraid of what I saw, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing here, or what to expect.  So, approaching the front entrance brought butterflies to my stomach.  Which almost sent my stubbornly curious nature into a questioning frenzy of how in the world someone who was probably dead could feel butterflies.  I managed to not even think about it, and with my jaw set I decided there was no turning back. 

    A scream ripped its way through my throat. Not like the moans of these dead, it was one of pain and electricity.  It was instantaneous as my first foot had touched down onto the ground of the cemetery.  Tears burned down my face and every soul turned in my direction. I had crumbled to the ground, sure that my foot would never work again for all the pain it felt. Sure that my shoes must have been burnt through.  And laughter exploded from the beings’ around

    “She must be very new,” one whispered.

    “And dumb” said another. 

    There was too much pain I couldn’t respond but boy when I can, I’m going to tell these awful ghost what I think of them.

    “She won’t try that again. And a lack of knowledge does not prove one to be unintelligent.” The first one chided the second.  Thank you, I thought.

    Finally, after a minute or so which had felt like an eternity, the pain subsided a bit and I was able to control my voice shakily. “That wasn’t a very nice thing to someone when they’re hurt.” Great, in the history of mankind that has to be the best come back anyone has ever come up with.  I almost added slapping myself in the head to the pain I already felt. 

    Again the figures looked hastily towards were I laid on the ground. And the first ghost spoke directly to me, “You can see us?”

    “Of course I can.  A seer sent me here. She told me that guys would be able to help me.  I just became….” I stopped.  I just became what exactly?

    But the female ghost continued as if I hadn’t stopped, or as if she understood. “You must be very needy indeed to come and ask something from us; it will cost you much to ask us for help, did your seer tell you that as well. So, you know, your foot will not hurt for much longer your kind tends to heal very quickly.”

    “Thank God!” I don’t think I could have heard better news right now. Well, maybe her telling me what I was and what I needed to do. That would be really good right now too. But the pain I had felt to begin with thankfully gone and even what little pain was left was quickly waning. 

    For a moment a look of shock shot across the ghost face but it was gone so quickly I was left questioning if it had really been shock at all.  Slowly and careful she replied “You said his name.”

    “What?  Look-“

    “I know what you are.” It was a taunt more than a revelation.

    “Ok, I know that you’re going to charge me, I want to know what I am.  I want you to tell me what I should do because there is apparently something I should do now that some crazy people jumped out of the forest bite my boyfriend-fiancée, made him bite me, turned my hair white. Just everything.  I was told that you could help me.”  Somehow I kept from crying. “What do you want from me, for you to tell me.”

    My mind still racing from everything I had just blurted out, I barely notices the dark figure that had appear in front of me, or the fact that the other two ghost had stepped away. He was a man ghost unlike the other ghostly figures running around.  He was almost devoid of features if it was not for his height and build she would not have been able to presume its s*x. 

    The creature was the first to speak, "My name is Rhett. It has been a long time since I've seen one of you," to say the ground rumbled as he spoke would be an understatement. Everything trembled in fact, my bones, my teeth " Do you know what you are?" I wasn’t ready to speak to this creature so I shook my head no, "You are the elite among your kind, different from vampires, but still one of them.  Your skin can burn them, the simplest of touches is all it takes. They would do anything to see the likes of your kind eradicated."

    "My kind? That means that there are others like me?” The fact that Rhett’s very words were leaving me with a feeling of sea sickened nausea, kept me very scared of him.  And hoping that we could get this over with as soon as possible.

    "They are not very far from here you know, you are lucky, some of your kind has had to travel thousands of miles to find them." 

    "So, were are they?" I couldn’t help but blurt out. “Um… and before you answer that please tell me what payment you need.  I don’t have much so I need to know that I can pay for you answering me.”  I had learned not to be rude to super natural presences from my last experience. 

    "I want nothing from you, ‘cept a message.  Once you find your kind.  Tell “””””insert name here””””” that you spoke to me, and that I love her.  I’m sure she may not want to believe you at first so just tell her you came here.  Maybe one day…. Doesn’t matter. Yes, that is all I ask.”  

    "I will," I told him, and the sadness carried in his words made the tears I’d been holding back through everything come spilling out. I know I should have calmed down. I was here, I had made it and was getting what I had been wanted since all this craziness had started and now I start crying. This was not very helpful. After a minute or two I was able to gain a semblance of control.  Rhett stood unmoving the entire time.  “will you tell me now the information that I need to know?”

    “Yes, a bit anyway.  I will tell you were to go.  I will let them tell you the rest just know that you are special.”

    "Go to the Sugarloaf mountain’s." with that Rhett smiled and began to walk away.

    "wait!!"I yelled, not wanting him to walk to far away being that I couldn’t follow him.  "Thank you.  You’re the first person, err, creature, that has been nice to me.”

    “There are many that would take advantage of you, when they learn of your gift. Be careful.  Those two you had been speaking with when you first got here, would have.  Be well.” He smiled and disappeared.

    I left the cemetery finally feeling a little better.  Although if I thought about it too long I would realize that I had no idea where the Sugarloaf Mountains are, and I really still don’t know what I am.  But I know that there are others like me and I need to find them.  Mission number two.

    This time as I walked the streets I tried to pay extra attention to the way I was walking. I need to get control of this. Going over everything that Rhett had said to me was leaving me a little stumped.  He had said that that they were close.  But this is Florida, we don’t have mountains here, would ghost think of space differently than we do? Perhaps what he called close was in Georgia or somewhere just as far. I hope not, either way I am going to have to come up with some sort of plan the sun is starting to come up, and have I mentioned my mom is going to kill me.  The sun! I think a good question for Rhett would have been do I burn away in the sun? Why hadn't I thought about that. 

    I need to get home!