Chapter 1 - Hello Stranger
Submitted April 26, 2011 Updated April 27, 2011 Status Complete | Follow Aslynn on a adventure to a new vampyre school where she encounters love, loss and defeats a gruesome enemy.
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Chapter 1 - Hello Stranger
Chapter 1 - Hello Stranger
Walking home from school in 15°F weather is never fun, but that’s Delaware for you. Anyway, the walk which usually takes 20 minutes was now slowly approaching the hour mark thanks to all of the ice and snow. Now being a vampyre and all made the cold tolerable, but the icy wetness that started seeping into my clothes was not. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was a vampyre, sorry my bad. While we’re on this topic let’s get a few things straight: no we are not horrible blood sucking monsters, no we don’t burn up in sunlight, and no we are not super pale nor do we have super powers. In fact we look just like humans, only need blood once a month to stay sane or if we are seriously injured, and we only get a mild rash when exposed to direct sunlight. If we weren’t required by law to schools for vampyres only humans would be blissfully unaware of our presence. For centuries we had worked side by side with humans and we got along just fine, until one messy breakup with a vampyre and Dracula is released.
Finally walking up our driveway, I noticed my mom’s car in the street. Before I could even put my key in the lock, the door to our 18th century barn-turned-house flew open. “Who died?” were the first words out of my mouth when I saw my mom blocking the way inside the house, she never came home early so this had to be an emergency. Giving me a stern once over my mother, who could pass as my older sister we looked so alike, looked as if she could have had a bomb thrown at her and she wouldn’t even have blinked an eye. Her best poker face was on which meant something usually was messed up and she was going to blame me for it.
“Nothing is wrong. You are leaving and I’ve already taken care of packing your things and sending them to the station.”
Astonished I thought she was joking, that this was all some cruel elaborate joke, but my more logical side said that she was cruel but not this cruel. “Where and when?” were the only things that I could choke out. “Upstate New York, your train leaves in two hours, the cab comes in one.” As I digested this she snatched the key out of my hand, pocketed it, and slammed the door behind her without even a glance at me. That was when the dam broke, tears spilled down my cheeks because that house, no matter how many bad memories lie within it, was my only home ever since my grandmother died. Now I was just thrown out and cast aside like garbage, like I didn’t belong with my mother and was just an old play toy that she outgrew.
Eventually I ran out of tears and just sat there in a crumpled emotional heap. When the cabby came and saw me he got out, took my hand and led me into the backseat of the cab. He helped me seatbelt myself in and drove off. I was too numb to even look back at our house and say my final goodbyes to the only home I had ever known.
Once we arrived at the station the cabby pulled me out of the cab and drove away, I watched him go and then wondered if he had been paid in advance because he didn’t ask for money. I reached in my pocket to search for money for a ticket when I found the pre-purchased thing; looks like dear old mother really had taken care of everything. Disgusted I handed it to the guy taking tickets and boarded the train, not caring that there was still a half hour before the train departed. I found a window seat and just stared at the near empty station. Except for a few employees here and there I saw no one, and why should I it was only four o’clock. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice him standing there until I heard,
“Miss, is this seat…” he broke off midsentence and started searching for something on his person.
I took the opportunity to get a good look at him: around 17, with hair that was skater-boyish, tall maybe 6’ 1”, but when he looked up I noticed that his most striking feature were his ocean blue eyes that were framed by long black eyelashes that any girl would kill for. He handed me a tissue and I noticed for the first time that tears had been freely running down my cheeks. “Thanks, and no it’s not taken.” I said and gestured to the seat across from me, assuming that’s what his question would have been. He flashed a blinding smile and then stored something in the overhead compartment before taking the seat.
“Josh,” he said extending his hand.
“Aslynn,” I said completing the handshake.
“May I ask why you were crying Aslynn,” he said in a voice that sounded too wise for his age. Before I could reconsider I was spilling my guts to this stranger and tears were once again flowing down my cheeks. Instead of running away like most people do when they find out that you are a vampyre, he sat there listening and every so often handing me tissues. When I was done he said, “My guess is you’re being shipped off the Clearbell, I’m headed there myself and could show you around if you want,” he offered in a somewhat eager voice. Relieved that I had something to focus on other then my pity party for one, I nodded my head. Looking relieved he smiled and handed me a final tissue which I, again, took. I pulled out my cell phone just as the train departed and asked for his number in case I got lost. He pulled out his own and we traded numbers. Just as I excused myself to the restroom to clean myself up, I took a look around our train car which was completely and totally empty, “It happens,” Josh said nonchalantly over a newspaper. Brushing it off, I hurried toward the back of the car and into the restroom.
Looking in the mirror I saw an olive skinned mess reflected back. My midnight black hair that usually hangs in a low ponytail or French braid was a tangled mess that would take weeks to brush out. My emerald eyes, and the only trace of my dad in my appearance, were bloodshot and my nose was redder than Rudolf’s. I splashed cold water on my face and had just started working out the knots in my hair when I heard a knock at the door, “Your stuff was just dropped off,” Josh called through the door to me. I unlocked it and he held out my toiletries bag, “I thought you might want this,” he said slightly blushing. At that moment I didn’t care how he knew which bag was the right one; I just gratefully took it and dug out a brush leaving the door open so that I could talk to him.
“I’m not usually like this,” I tried to explain.
“I figured, I didn’t take it well either,” he said, the blood cells still rushing to his face.
Josh started heading back to our seat and I, being satisfied with my hair, followed him back. We rode in silence until the train pulled up to the station and we both hopped up to stretch and get out things. Josh lead me through the station and I got the feeling that this wasn’t his first time at the rodeo. There were few cars in sight and Josh lead me straight to a black Hummer with windows tinted so dark that I wondered if you could see from the inside. Josh loaded up his stuff and then started loading up mine despite my protests and swears that I could take care of it myself. Then he opened the right side passenger door and held it open like one of those old time chauffeurs so that I could climb in the massive vehicle. He had barely gotten seated before the Hummer was flying down the highway at what could not have been a legal speed.
After only ten minutes we pulled up to a massive castle-like structure (which I found odd because it was New York not England) I could only stare at the incredible sight. With snow covering everything from the building to the forest behind the school, it looked like a winter wonderland. Josh, having unloaded the car while I gawked like an idiot, snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. Chuckling to himself he said, “The dorms are on the bottom floor, classrooms on the second and third, and professor’s dorms are on the top. Follow me and I’ll show you around.” I grabbed my things and followed him through the front doors. The lobby was better than any other school lobby, wood floors and ivory colored walls with floor to ceiling windows every ten feet and thick burgundy velvet drapes tied back with ivory cords. Off to the sides there were two spiral staircases that looked right out of a Harry Potter movie and portraits of the school’s founders hung along the back wall. Right in the middle of the lobby was a wood table carved with images of the various contributions vampyres have made from the dawn of time (discovering fire, designing the pyramids Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa etc.) on it were folders with I assume every student’s name on them. Josh and I quickly found ours, “Room assignments, schedules, etc,” explained Josh. We spent the next five minutes comparing things; turns out we have every class together and our rooms are right across the hall from each other.
“Do you think they planned it that way?” I asked Josh since he seemed to know how things worked around here.
“Who knows, the plans and dreams of the Headmaster are an enigma to those of us with a lesser brain capacity,” he attached a British accent to the last half of the sentence and sounded perfectly snobby, causing fits of laughter between the two of us.
“Alright I’m assuming you will show me the way to my room?” I asked when we had calmed down.
“Of course neighbor,” he said leading me down one of two hallways that I hadn’t noticed when we first walked in.
The hallway was a lot less elaborate than the lobby, the only thing they seemed to have in common was the ivory colored walls. Other than that you could tell that this was left for the students, corkboards every few feet and the doors had fresh whiteboards complete with a brand new pack of markers for each student. “It will be a lot less empty tomorrow,” said Josh and I knew he was referring to the fact that tomorrow was move-in day for the vast majority of the student body. We stopped in front of a plain ivory door with my very own whiteboard and pack of markers; I couldn’t resist immediately customizing it. Ripping open the markers I started to get to work and less than five minutes later I had written Aslynn in my best handwriting and drew broken hearts on the four corners of the board.
“Nice,” commented Josh he thought for a second and then added, “I wouldn’t leave the markers out they tend to go missing in the middle of the night.”
“I’ll meet you in your room in twenty minutes?” I asked, but to my disappointment he shook his head.
“I’ve got somewhere better in mind. I’ll come and get you,” then he turned around and disappeared into his own room.
Finally walking up our driveway, I noticed my mom’s car in the street. Before I could even put my key in the lock, the door to our 18th century barn-turned-house flew open. “Who died?” were the first words out of my mouth when I saw my mom blocking the way inside the house, she never came home early so this had to be an emergency. Giving me a stern once over my mother, who could pass as my older sister we looked so alike, looked as if she could have had a bomb thrown at her and she wouldn’t even have blinked an eye. Her best poker face was on which meant something usually was messed up and she was going to blame me for it.
“Nothing is wrong. You are leaving and I’ve already taken care of packing your things and sending them to the station.”
Astonished I thought she was joking, that this was all some cruel elaborate joke, but my more logical side said that she was cruel but not this cruel. “Where and when?” were the only things that I could choke out. “Upstate New York, your train leaves in two hours, the cab comes in one.” As I digested this she snatched the key out of my hand, pocketed it, and slammed the door behind her without even a glance at me. That was when the dam broke, tears spilled down my cheeks because that house, no matter how many bad memories lie within it, was my only home ever since my grandmother died. Now I was just thrown out and cast aside like garbage, like I didn’t belong with my mother and was just an old play toy that she outgrew.
Eventually I ran out of tears and just sat there in a crumpled emotional heap. When the cabby came and saw me he got out, took my hand and led me into the backseat of the cab. He helped me seatbelt myself in and drove off. I was too numb to even look back at our house and say my final goodbyes to the only home I had ever known.
Once we arrived at the station the cabby pulled me out of the cab and drove away, I watched him go and then wondered if he had been paid in advance because he didn’t ask for money. I reached in my pocket to search for money for a ticket when I found the pre-purchased thing; looks like dear old mother really had taken care of everything. Disgusted I handed it to the guy taking tickets and boarded the train, not caring that there was still a half hour before the train departed. I found a window seat and just stared at the near empty station. Except for a few employees here and there I saw no one, and why should I it was only four o’clock. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice him standing there until I heard,
“Miss, is this seat…” he broke off midsentence and started searching for something on his person.
I took the opportunity to get a good look at him: around 17, with hair that was skater-boyish, tall maybe 6’ 1”, but when he looked up I noticed that his most striking feature were his ocean blue eyes that were framed by long black eyelashes that any girl would kill for. He handed me a tissue and I noticed for the first time that tears had been freely running down my cheeks. “Thanks, and no it’s not taken.” I said and gestured to the seat across from me, assuming that’s what his question would have been. He flashed a blinding smile and then stored something in the overhead compartment before taking the seat.
“Josh,” he said extending his hand.
“Aslynn,” I said completing the handshake.
“May I ask why you were crying Aslynn,” he said in a voice that sounded too wise for his age. Before I could reconsider I was spilling my guts to this stranger and tears were once again flowing down my cheeks. Instead of running away like most people do when they find out that you are a vampyre, he sat there listening and every so often handing me tissues. When I was done he said, “My guess is you’re being shipped off the Clearbell, I’m headed there myself and could show you around if you want,” he offered in a somewhat eager voice. Relieved that I had something to focus on other then my pity party for one, I nodded my head. Looking relieved he smiled and handed me a final tissue which I, again, took. I pulled out my cell phone just as the train departed and asked for his number in case I got lost. He pulled out his own and we traded numbers. Just as I excused myself to the restroom to clean myself up, I took a look around our train car which was completely and totally empty, “It happens,” Josh said nonchalantly over a newspaper. Brushing it off, I hurried toward the back of the car and into the restroom.
Looking in the mirror I saw an olive skinned mess reflected back. My midnight black hair that usually hangs in a low ponytail or French braid was a tangled mess that would take weeks to brush out. My emerald eyes, and the only trace of my dad in my appearance, were bloodshot and my nose was redder than Rudolf’s. I splashed cold water on my face and had just started working out the knots in my hair when I heard a knock at the door, “Your stuff was just dropped off,” Josh called through the door to me. I unlocked it and he held out my toiletries bag, “I thought you might want this,” he said slightly blushing. At that moment I didn’t care how he knew which bag was the right one; I just gratefully took it and dug out a brush leaving the door open so that I could talk to him.
“I’m not usually like this,” I tried to explain.
“I figured, I didn’t take it well either,” he said, the blood cells still rushing to his face.
Josh started heading back to our seat and I, being satisfied with my hair, followed him back. We rode in silence until the train pulled up to the station and we both hopped up to stretch and get out things. Josh lead me through the station and I got the feeling that this wasn’t his first time at the rodeo. There were few cars in sight and Josh lead me straight to a black Hummer with windows tinted so dark that I wondered if you could see from the inside. Josh loaded up his stuff and then started loading up mine despite my protests and swears that I could take care of it myself. Then he opened the right side passenger door and held it open like one of those old time chauffeurs so that I could climb in the massive vehicle. He had barely gotten seated before the Hummer was flying down the highway at what could not have been a legal speed.
After only ten minutes we pulled up to a massive castle-like structure (which I found odd because it was New York not England) I could only stare at the incredible sight. With snow covering everything from the building to the forest behind the school, it looked like a winter wonderland. Josh, having unloaded the car while I gawked like an idiot, snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. Chuckling to himself he said, “The dorms are on the bottom floor, classrooms on the second and third, and professor’s dorms are on the top. Follow me and I’ll show you around.” I grabbed my things and followed him through the front doors. The lobby was better than any other school lobby, wood floors and ivory colored walls with floor to ceiling windows every ten feet and thick burgundy velvet drapes tied back with ivory cords. Off to the sides there were two spiral staircases that looked right out of a Harry Potter movie and portraits of the school’s founders hung along the back wall. Right in the middle of the lobby was a wood table carved with images of the various contributions vampyres have made from the dawn of time (discovering fire, designing the pyramids Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa etc.) on it were folders with I assume every student’s name on them. Josh and I quickly found ours, “Room assignments, schedules, etc,” explained Josh. We spent the next five minutes comparing things; turns out we have every class together and our rooms are right across the hall from each other.
“Do you think they planned it that way?” I asked Josh since he seemed to know how things worked around here.
“Who knows, the plans and dreams of the Headmaster are an enigma to those of us with a lesser brain capacity,” he attached a British accent to the last half of the sentence and sounded perfectly snobby, causing fits of laughter between the two of us.
“Alright I’m assuming you will show me the way to my room?” I asked when we had calmed down.
“Of course neighbor,” he said leading me down one of two hallways that I hadn’t noticed when we first walked in.
The hallway was a lot less elaborate than the lobby, the only thing they seemed to have in common was the ivory colored walls. Other than that you could tell that this was left for the students, corkboards every few feet and the doors had fresh whiteboards complete with a brand new pack of markers for each student. “It will be a lot less empty tomorrow,” said Josh and I knew he was referring to the fact that tomorrow was move-in day for the vast majority of the student body. We stopped in front of a plain ivory door with my very own whiteboard and pack of markers; I couldn’t resist immediately customizing it. Ripping open the markers I started to get to work and less than five minutes later I had written Aslynn in my best handwriting and drew broken hearts on the four corners of the board.
“Nice,” commented Josh he thought for a second and then added, “I wouldn’t leave the markers out they tend to go missing in the middle of the night.”
“I’ll meet you in your room in twenty minutes?” I asked, but to my disappointment he shook his head.
“I’ve got somewhere better in mind. I’ll come and get you,” then he turned around and disappeared into his own room.
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