Something Else

Kill me now. Just somebody please kill me now. It hurts so much, but when I black out I feed and I can’t do that. I can’t live with myself.

Lucas assured me that no one else knows, but that’s highly unlikely; he just wants me to feel better. My father knows, I’m confident of that and that’s what he wanted to confide in me that first day. It’s long overdue anyway, it’s time I has a family meeting.

I swing my legs over to the side of my bed and riskily open my door and exit the room hastily. I calmly walk through the hallway. But, someone is stalking me and I finally turn and face my follower. I gasp and my reaction is one second to late. She grabs me and pins me against the wall.

“Mother, mother is that you?” I ask blinking trying to see clearly. My vision and hazy and I keep blinking to try and make the room readjust.

“Shush Lacey, we don’t have much time to talk; and if they hear us they will come. They’ve already sensed me, they’ll be here for us very soon. You need to take Karly and go. Leave this place. Better yet leave Karly, she blends in, but you don’t. You need to get away from people before you feed more. You’re very weak Lacey, it was very easy to get in your head. And it was even easier to catch you. You aren’t built for defense. You are strong and courageous and impulsive. But you didn’t even try to defend yourself,” I stare at my mother still not accepting she could be there-here in front of me right now.

“Mother?” I don’t know what to tell her, I don’t know what to say, but I know what to do.

“Run.” The words are on my mother’s lips a split second before I obey.

I dash down the hallway not caring whose watching me, I just know I have to get away, I have to get out. Before someone finds me and hauls me back. I don’t want to hurt them, and I’m so tired; this is so hard.

I can barely move and I’m parnting, but persitantly I persue the exit that I don’t know how to find. I’m lost.

I make a left at the next corner and stay straight down a long hallway, turn into a corridor and find myself in a cavernous chamber with sounds emanating from behind the next door.

I think I’m hearing or I guess intruding on someone’s meeting, a conference, but I can’t make out the voices. I strain my head and approach the door to get a closer sense of the words.

“FEED!” says the first voice sternly with an undertone of evil and just a smidge of disapproval.

“I don’t want to,” replies a much weaker and quieter tone, my senses are so drained I can barely hear without fainting.

“I can’t tell if his lack of confidence is from denying himself his own sustenance or just no self-esteem,” mused another voice, louder and familiar.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” I could hear someone screaming and squirming from inside the room, but I don’t have the energy to see what’s happening.

“YOU SHUT UP! You hold her down, you grab your brother, and you,” I could hear the distaste as Michael spit his words at his sons. “You, do as your told, you know you want to feed on her.”

Feed, feed, FEED! Oh my gosh, Lucas is in there and they are forcing him to feed off some innocent, poor, defenseless girl.

“Please, please NO!” cries the girl in agony. I would know that voice anywhere, pleading, begging, laughing, screaming. Karly.

I burst through the door and almost pass out from the physical exertion on my weak body. Just these simple movements cause tremors of pain all over my body. I keep moving forward, pursuing my sister’s safety.

I throw open the door and enter the room and am greeted by the unpleasant site that I expected. Michael is standing there over Lucas, while Brad is holding him down. Lucas is pinned to the ground in a position that was clearly forced. And then there is Karly, standing there helpless with Markus pinning her arms behind the back. Her body pressed towards his mouth.

Her clothes are in tatters and her feet are bare. Her eyes are glassy and everything about her demeanor screams helpless.

“Don’t any of you dare lay a finger on her, or I swear I will kill you myself.” I narrow my eyes threateningly a dangerous aura radiating off me.

I’m prepared to lash out at the slightest form of aggression. But no one is moving, you could hear a pin drop as every person stops in their steps.

Brad laughs at me while his grasp on Lucas is nowhere close to faltering. “Stay out of this Lacey if you know what’s good for you.”

“Let my sister go if you know what’s good for you,” I hiss at them all in tongue. I try to make eye contact with Lucas, but he seems to be purposely avoiding my gaze, his intentions unclear. I want some type of explanation, but I can hear my shaky breath, and underlying stubbornness reflected in his current behaviour. Better not to distract him while it takes all of him, he has to concentrate.

“Grab her,” says Michael with an amused expression.

Dennis who I only now appeared to have noticed happens to be lurking in the corner closest, particularly convenient under the specific circumstances.

He puts his arms out in front of him, in a defensive stance, triggered by my offensive tone, but I practically end up falling into them after my lame attempt of inflicting a wound upon him.

I feel like screaming, it hurts so much. My world suddenly begins spinning on a new axis and it makes my head feel foggy and I become extremely dizzy. I find myself grabbing at his arms trying to steady him. But when he makes an attempt to grab a firm hold on me, I swat at him weakly in a half-hearted, last second, ditch effort.

“Seems someone’s having trouble following through on their threats.” Snarls Michael and turns his attention back to Lucas. “What do you want son? You want someone else, do you want to feed on this one?” He asks gesturing desperately at me. Even though his face is cold and cruel I can see the flickers of desperation and panic behind his cold, clinical stare.

Finally, Lucas looks up and meets my tired gaze. At the sight of this gesture, Michael makes a swift almost inexistent movement and immediately Dennis drags me forward right up to Lucas, so I can feel his warmth against my skin and his cold, shaky breath bringing the blood rushing to my face.

Suddenly his lips are against mine and for the first few moments my world shifts back into place, and I feel like my blood has transformed to liquid chocolate and my limbs into jelly. Then it hits me.

“AHHHHH!” This pain is something I’ve never experienced before, it’s as if my soul is being wrenched out of my body, through a big hole in my chest that with the length of the kiss grows bigger and bigger. I can’t break away his grasp, but I can’t breathe, I’m gasping for air as the heat leaves my body.

He looks me in the eye sympathetically, but I try to avert my look. I stare down at my skin and notice it’s so pale that it looks grey … just like the corpses of the people I killed.

Suddenly abruptly my hand jerks up and hits him hard n the face, leaving a deep red mark and a thick stream of blood flowing out of his nose and a small, bright red trickle trailing out of his mouth.

I try to move away, but I can feel my grip on the world slipping. Losing my grasp of reality and my footing someone takes a hold of me and lugs me away clumsily.

Where is this place? I am laying down in a meadow, flowers blossoming all around my feet. I’m wearing a blue dress, a light one with a strap around my neck and a sash at my waist. The dress seems weightless, but the train is long and flowing. I recognise this dress from my “date” with Brad. Except all of the rips are not there anymore.

I get up and feel the grass between my toes. I can smell the flowers of all different varieties. The green, rolling hills appear to be going on for miles of vast distances.

I start moving to the north and enjoy the breeze on my little walk. There’s nothing for miles, but the lush overgrowth and plants. The light blue sky isn’t dotted with a single cloud.

I walk steadily for what seems like hours and my walk turns into a demanding hike.

Then I notice it, the sky is no longer clear blue, while I’ve been walking the sky has filled with dark grey storm clouds and the wind has picked up.

Oh no, damn it! It’s a tornado. The wind starts swirling in a violent circle or maybe I’ve only just noticed this now.

I start to run, but my feet don’t get far.

“LACEY!” someone’s screaming for me, looking for me.

“LACEY!” who is that? I can’t see where they are, but I recognise the voice. I move towards the voicescreaming my name, but then it occurs to me that they aren’t saying Lacey or maybe they are, but that’s not all they are saying.

“Adeline Lacey-Grace Amelia Night!” shouts someone.

“What did you say!” I shout, walking towards the voice. I heard what they-no she- said, but I’m still so caught off guard I don’t know how to properly react.

I can’t comprehend her words, who is this person, am I related to them?

Then I remember through the wailing and screaming, Brad wasn’t looking at my mother’s grave, he was looking at mine.

That’s my voice screaming my name.

The tornado picks up and the violent winds whip my hair into my face. The blond tips stinging as the graze my eyes.

“Stop it!” she or I or whoever screams.

“Stop what? Where are you?” I continue to search for the other girl, but I can’t find her anywhere.

“Lacey, you need to go!” she says in a ghostly voice.

“Who are you?” I scream.

Then suddenly and abruptly the tornado stops, the winds die down and standing there is a beautiful, dark blond girl with perfect curls flowing down framing her face. The rest of her hair is sleek and straight and pinned neatly above her head. Her cheek bones are high and her cheeks are rosy and pink. Her face has a golden tan I can never achieve and her skin is literally glowing. Even her hair is glossy and alive. Her nose is better shaped then mine and her lips are a deep red shade I can never pull off. She is thinner then me and even through her clothes I can see the strong muscles. She is taller and her teeth are whiter.

She is wearing a satin red dress without any sleeves or straps. The dress clings to her nicely, but I could never wear something like that. The one thing that’s wrong about her are the eyes. Pure black inking out of her pupils and into her irises, giving her black and white eyes.

“I am you, I’m Lacey Night. I’m coming on May fourth I promise you.” She hisses.

I only then realise next to her stands another version of myself.

She has lighter blond hair then me and the other perfect me. She has messy wavy hair that falls around her head in a braid nicely and naturally. She wears a worn shirt and a stained skirt with holes. She is barefoot. She doesn’t seem to mind though.

“I am also you, I’m Adeline Lacey-Grace Amelia Night. I died a long time ago.” Says clone number two.

“The question is,” they both chime, one showing ferocity the other humility. “Who are you?”

What is this? Is this my subconscious’ way of asking me who I will be on May fourth? Shouldn’t my subconscious know, since it is connected to my conscious and the part of my brain that know these things?

“I don’t- I don’t know …” I whisper quietly unsure, but they stare at me with cheerful smiles.

Suddenly, the perfect Lacey falls to the floor and starts covering her face kneeling down in the grass. The other Lacey starts to scream and runs away.

“Wait what is going-” I start, but end up interrupted with my mouth dropped open staring at her wide eyed.

A moment before where perfect Lacey was cowering on the ground, but now she’s standing up straight with a smile planted on her face.

The look isn’t natural and sends me backwards in shock.

Her perfectly rounded, spotless, white teeth that were so shiny I could see my reflection in, now begin to grow into long sharp pointy fangs. Her black irises begin to spread into the rest of her eyes, destroying all the white and leaving full black eyes. Her perfectly rounded, buffed nails suddenly begin to transform into sharp, deadly claws. Her skin loses colour. She is something out of my nightmares’ nightmares.

“This is how you look to your victims Lacey, embrace the power inside you. Feed. FEED!” she flashes a smile revealing he fangs. “If you won’t feed on them,” she says gesturing around her, where suddenly many people I know have appeared. “Then feed on her!” she says, pointing at the other Lacey scampering away, but tripping and falling onto the ground.

“NO! NO! I’m not you!” I scream hysterically.

“Oh but Lacey, I’m only your reflection.

I start to scream and she watches and cackles hovering over me with a huge grin on her face. I stare down at my hands that have long claws now, sharpened to a deadly set of blades. Sharper than any knife, I think …

“Lacey? Lacey can you hear me?” I’m awoken to the sound of Lucas’s voice.

“Get away from me!” I scream. It sounds like a whisper. I stand up and start run-walking away.

I look into the mirror, I pull my hands out of my pockets and am confronted by what I thought but hoped not to be true. Claws. Sharp, long blades where my nails used to be.

“Lacey, I know.” I stare at him quietly without saying anything.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” I scream suddenly and he takes several steps back to regain his bearing and muster his confidence.

“Lacey!” he grabs me by my shoulder and pulls

me back towards the bed.

I pull away, but he grabs my wrist hard and pulls me back to him, forcing me to sit down. I turn my head away not to look him, disgusted.

“LACEY LOOK!” he shouts and forcefully pulls my neck making me look at him, at his face. Now looking at him I see just how healthy and rejuvenated he is. He looks better than before. Because of me …

And then I look down and turn my attention to his hands laid out in front of me. He opens his palms and spreads apart his fingers revealing 10 sharp long blades forming into a pair of long deadly claws.

Even deadlier then mine.