My Precious Nightmare

Chapter 31: When You're Not All There

A long week of numb sleeplessness finally came to an end for Lea. She said goodbye to Sky at the gate, then went home and collapsed on her bed. There, she listened to the distant taps and grumbles of the house and the lazy traffic outside. She closed her eyes to sleep, but her brain, which had been dead when she needed it for school, spun and twirled now she needed rest.

Red eyes. Sharp, shark-like features if viewed one way. Earnest, gentle and kind if viewed the other.

She had made the right choice. Her and Sky were safe. She was back to school and had been able to catch up in her school work. Crisis averted. Well, as far as school went. Her mother had grounded her for 'running off with Sky to camp out.' At least the bite marks on her neck had healed enough for a band-aid, heaven forbid she tell her mother why her neck was bandaged when there was a vampire scare.

The world had changed while she'd been gone. Every day there were new deaths and new attacks, with the majority happening in hospitals where those who were bitten had been taken and bodies were inevitably brought—and where newborn vampires awoke crazed for blood.

Without her notice, Lea's fingers trailed up to her neck where the scabs had been picked off. Even her band-aid had raised suspicion with the more superstitious students at school.

But Sky and I didn't turn...

A girl and a boy in their grade had, though, and killed two nurses. Not that anyone had suspected the truth like Sky and Lea had.

I should feel more afraid.

She told herself that every day, but even as she stared up at the same patch of ceiling molding for the past hour, all she could feel was numbness. It almost hurt, like the numb that comes from cold. Even when she wondered if she could have somehow prevented this by staying with the vampires and screwing up everything with Sky, all she felt was a twinge in her stomach.

And she didn't know why.

The red sunlight faded to the gray of twilight. Lea sat up. She did her homework with a bland concentration. She did some cleaning and then went down to make dinner, as it was usually her job. Her mother worked late on week days.

Her grandfather was over for the night, sitting on the couch watching TV as he usually did during his visits, too tired after a day of work to do much else. In his mind, retirement was still a long way off. Lea wondered if he worked on as an attempt to stave off age while she flipped the food in the pan. Bits of cooked potato clung to the spatula like clumps of buttered flour.

Grandpa passed through to sniff at dinner, thank her, and start small talk about school. Lea answered as best she could, but it came out unnatural to her ears. Grandpa didn't notice, or was too polite to, though she did see him frown.

Dinner was served. They ate. The leftovers were set aside for mother. They went to the living room and watched the news together, rife with bold headlines of deaths and brief clips of deranged, fanged people that were supposed to be dead launching at the camera or hapless victims.

At some point, her grandpa snorted.

"Give us the weather already. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off isn't going to change anything." He patted Lea's knee. "Say, what do you think about heading to the mountains until all this blows over?" It was his common go-to. Running away to fish or camp, which was part of the reason Sky had used a spontaneous camping trip as their excuse for disappearing. It was something Lea's mom was used to.

"I can't, I have school," she said, realizing too late that she had said it too flat.

"Didn't you say half your class had already run for it?" he gave a low, mirthless chuckle. "God damn apocalypse is upon us."