Being Human (29 page)

She lowered the light with trembling hands. Black covered her, making her almost invisible against the wall except for the ivory skin of her face. Her voice was timid, a whisper as she stammered. “I-I-I'm sorry. You scared me. I-I didn't expect you to appear like that.” She looked away, red staining her cheeks and fumbling with the light.

I moved closer, taking extra slow steps. I wanted to reach out and touch her, see how the red in her cheeks felt. But I remembered the way she shied from my touch, terrified of me. “You scared me.”

Her eyes darted nervously to me, quickly looking away. “I-I-I…”

“You came back.”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “I thought that… I wanted to… I mean, you said…”

My grin grew by the second, happiness filling every inch. “My niece was right.”

“Ma-Mackenzie, right?” she asked. “That was her dad that took me home the other morning. And she always talked about her uncle, said he was the coolest in the world.”

“I don't like heat.”

Her wide eyes looked up, locking with mine. She quickly looked away, more red coloring her cheeks. “Um, I don't think that's what she meant.”

“Oh.” I brushed my confusion aside. I carefully placed my hands on her red cheeks, lifting her face to look at me. “You're here now and I won't ever let anyone hurt you. You don't have to be afraid anymore.”

****

She was here! Every time I looked at her, heard her speak, I realized it was true. I felt like I couldn't believe it, like it was a daydream. But I didn't waste time on daydreaming.

The blanket, from the last time she was here, was wrapped around her shoulders. A chilled wind blew above us, cold swirling in the cellar. She pulled the blanket closer, her teeth softly chattering as a shiver racked her body.

“I can get you another,” I suggested.

Red stained her cheeks. “This is fine, thank you.”

“Okay,” I agreed, but wondered if I should insist. That meant leaving her. What if she left before I returned? The rope she brought to get down still dangled against the cellar wall. Maybe I should take it down so she couldn't leave.

No, I scolded myself. I couldn't keep her against her will. If I wanted her to stay, I had to leave the rope so she didn't feel imprisoned.

Silence filled the space between us as I watched her, unable to tear my gaze away. Her eyes constantly slid up to look at me, quickly looking away when she saw me watching. Red repeatedly stained her cheeks, sometimes lightly, other times filling her whole face.

“Why do humans blush?” I asked, wanting to listen to her voice. It was pretty and musical, like the chiming bells of the clock in the living room at home. It made me realize why humans liked music. It was pleasant.

Red colored her cheeks even brighter. “Well, sometimes when someone says something nice to you – gives you a compliment – it makes you happy and you blush.”

“But how?” I asked, inching closer. “How does being happy make you blush? How does it turn your face red?”

She hesitated before answering, her voice a timid whisper and fear filled her scent. “It’s umm… blood. Blood pools under the surface and turns your cheeks red.”

“Blood?” I was next to her now. The red drained from her cheeks. Her body tensed and she pulled the blanket tighter around her trembling body. She stilled when I touched her cheeks to feel the blood and life pulse underneath her skin. “I don’t have blood so I can’t blush.”

“Oh,” she whispered.

I pressed my hands to her cheeks, noticing how still she was. Something had frightened her and I wanted to ease her fear. “You feel warm and I like it.”

Heat flared under my fingers, red instantly rising in her cheeks.

“Did I make you happy?”

She pulled her head from my hands. “Maybe. Sometimes people blush because they are embarrassed by something someone says too.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand. How can you blush for happiness and embarrassment?”

“It’s not something I can control,” she replied. “It just happens, like blinking.”

“My brother says I blink weird.”

“You do blink slowly,” she said in a small voice.

“Do you feel better now?” I asked. “Something scared you and I could smell it, but now you don’t smell afraid.”

“I thought maybe I shouldn’t mention blood,” she replied. “I didn’t want to make you hungry.”

“Why would the word blood make me hungry?”

She shrugged and her gaze dropped to the floor. “I thought since you're a-a-a vampire I shouldn't say that word.”

“You can talk about blood, I don't mind,” I assured her. “Humans are wrong about us, we aren’t bloodthirsty monsters. We’re just trying to survive and to do that we need blood. But you can talk about it. Blood, blood, blood. See, it doesn’t bother me.”

A tiny smile lifted her lips and I felt a bubble of happiness burst in my chest. I had made her smile.

Her smile disappeared and she lifted her gaze to me. “Can I ask you something?”

I nodded.

“Ten years ago when he…” Tears pooled in her eyes and she gulped down a breath of air. “Why did you rescue me?”

I moved closer, wanting to touch and console her, but afraid she’d shy away. I settled with her blanket-covered body pressed against my side. “What the monster did scared my family. My brother and his wife were terrified my niece would be taken. Every night I’d watch them and smelled their fear. I didn’t want to see them like that and I wanted to help protect my niece, so I hunted the monster. I found your scent and followed. When I opened the door in the wall, I saw my niece, scared, and I finally understood why my family was afraid.”

“But you took me with you,” she whispered. “I remember now. The wind blowing through my hair, being invited in and you giving me a sandwich. I remember feeling safe with you.”

“You are safe with me; I won’t let any monsters get you again.”

Her voice was hushed, like she was afraid to speak any louder. “I know.”

“Why didn't you go to the dance at the school?” I asked. “My niece told me about it, she said most humans that go can’t dance. Why go if you can’t dance?”

She shrugged and some of her weight disappeared from me as she leaned away. “I don’t have any friends to go to dances with.”

“My niece said after I rescued you that you were different. She said you looked like you were afraid of letting the other humans close.”

Her gaze snapped to me and anger filled her face. “Mackenzie doesn’t know me and I don’t need her or anyone else’s pity!” As quickly as the anger flared, it disappeared. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s frustrating. Everyone knows what happened and they stare like I’m a freak. I wish they’d forget. I want to forget.”

“If you forgot what happened, then you’d forget me. I don’t want that.” I touched her cheek and turned her face back to me. “Please don’t be sad, I don’t like it.”

Warmth filled my chest as she smiled and leaned against my hand. Happiness shone in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She freed one hand from the blanket and curled her fingers around mine. Red filled her cheeks again. “I… It’s kinda hard to talk to you when I don’t know your name.”

I hesitated.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said quickly. “I understand if it’s hard for you to trust humans.”

I met her gaze, curious. “Humans?”

Her gaze turned curious as well. “What about humans?”

“Most humans refer to each other as people. That’s odd to me that you don’t.”

Shame filled her face and she looked away.

I didn’t like the look so I swallowed my nerves. “My name is Tommy.”

“Tommy.”

The sound of her saying my name sent an unusual bolt of happiness through me. I wanted her to say my name again and again.

She looked down, staring at her hands. “Tommy, can we go for a walk?”

I glanced at the moonlight shining through the cellar door. It caused heat to prickle against my skin, the light a reflection from the sun and trying to drain me of my energy despite the night. It was something I avoided when possible. “Of course.”

A thrill jolted through me when she placed her arms around my neck. In a few quick moves, we were above, a startled shriek muffled into my shoulder. She clung to me for a second longer before carefully sliding off my back. Her cheeks turned red and I knew I'd never tire of the action.

“Where do you want to walk?” I asked while wondering why she wanted to walk. I knew humans liked to walk and sometimes I understood it. Like when it was for exercise and the human wanted to be healthy to survive. But when it was for pleasure, I couldn't wrap my head around it.

“Can we walk along the road?”

“Yes.”

Her smile glowed as she took my hand, leading me down the road.

I stared at our connected hands as we walked. “Why are we holding hands?”

She dropped my hand, clasping her own together. “Sorry, I thought you wouldn't mind.”

I took her hand back, curling my fingers around hers. “I don't, I just wanted to know why.”

A relieved smile filled her face. “Haven't you ever done something for the sake of doing it?”

“No.” I paused, thinking. “Yes.”

She covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. I pulled it away, wanting to see her smile. She swung our intertwined hands as her smile grew. “Which one is it?”

“Yes,” I informed her. “But I never understood why.” I tilted my head, forgetting there was a ruse I should keep up. “Why do you do something just to do it?”

Her smile turned shy and her cheeks redder. “Because it makes me happy. Sometimes I stare at the stars and imagine I have wings and can fly.”

I couldn’t imagine where her wings would be. “And you do that just to do it?”

She nodded. “I can spend hours daydreaming, it makes the real world easier to deal with when I can escape.”

I frowned. “I don't understand.”

The shame was back, quickly replacing her cheer. She dropped my hand, wrapping her arms around herself and hurried ahead of me. Her scent turned bitter as she put distance between us.

I quickly caught up and grabbed her hand. “Don’t be mad, I’m trying to understand what you mean.”

Her bottom lip trembled as pain filled her eyes. She sniffed loudly and wiped at the tears that were falling. Panic filled me and my hands fumbled uselessly in the air as I tried to console her.

“Please don’t do that, don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

To my surprise, she turned to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her crying increased as she clung to me and her heart vibrated against my chest, racking me with her rhythm. Carefully, I wrapped my arms around her, uncertain if I was doing the right thing.

Moments passed as she cried, her tears dampening my shirt. Slowly, her trembling body stilled and her breathing evened out. She continued to cling to my neck until the tears completely stopped. She wiped at her eyes as she pulled away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break down on you like that. Your tone… well, there wasn’t a tone and I thought you were mocking me.”

I took both her hands and pressed them to my chest. “I would never mock you. I love you.”

I thought it was the right thing to say, something humans liked to hear. But fear filled my nose, her eyes widening as she pulled away. I took a cautious step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have said that, tell me why.”

She trembled under my touch. “It's... It's... It's...” Her voice stuck on that word. She paused and drew in deep breaths, her arms wrapped around herself. When she looked at me, I saw the little girl I had rescued ten years ago, terrified and alone. “Do you know what he did to me?”

“He took you and scared you. He was going to kill you.”

She blinked to force the tears back. “He didn’t just take me, he destroyed me.”

“How?”

Her lips moved, words even I couldn't hear, whispered to herself. She looked into my eyes and started talking. “When he’d take me from the wall, he’d say it was time to play the love game. Then he’d tie me on the bed so I couldn’t move and kiss me. Each time he kissed me, he’d say,
A kiss means I love you
. And he’d kiss lower and lower. When I’d start to cry, he’d put tape over my mouth and tell me a grown-up never cries.”

“But you weren't a grown-up, you were a child. Why would he think you were a grown-up?” Her words confused and angered me. Everything I thought I understood about the monster was changing. If I could kill him again, I knew I would. I'd kill him a thousand times if that's what it took to break his power over her.

“He knew I wasn't a grown-up and that's why he took me,” she whispered. She hugged me again as fresh tears fell. I held her tight against me, remembering how she fit in my arms all those years ago and that she still did.

“Everything is all right,” I whispered in her ear.

She stilled against me. “You told me that ten years ago and I remember how I believed you.”

“Do you believe me now?”