• CHAPTER FOUR: QUESTIONING DESTINY



    I sat on my bed, alone, and listened to my mother’s receding footsteps. I waited for her to turn the TV back on and then got up and closed my bedroom door. I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. I bit my lip, worried. There was no sign of the vampire, but I could sense his presence. After a few moments of silence, I made a decision. I wasn’t going to be scared anymore, I was going to figure out what was going on.

    Once my resolve was solid, I cleared my throat and said, “Ahem. Um, excuse me?” I sounded like a little girl! There was no response, so I tried again, this time louder and with more strength. “Hello? Freaky stalker? Where are you?”

    I heard him chuckle and then say in his pleasant voice, “Hmm, freaky stalker… That’s not very complimentary, but I’ll answer. The name’s actually Leo.”

    Leo? Huh, not a very common name… I exhaled and glanced around my room, confused. How could I hear him if I couldn’t see him…

    “I’m in the closet, Sarah.”

    Oh… Duh. My composure was still intact, but I was afraid that if I opened the closet door and saw the red-eyed monster again, I would definitely lose it.

    I assumed by best 'whatever' voice and said, “Um, Leo, before you come out, can you please explain what’s going on? You’re kinda freaking me out.”

    “I’m sorry about that, really, I am.” the beautiful voice of Leo said from the closet. “I suppose I should tell you the straight truth.” He sighed, and I sat on my bed just in case I felt like passing out again.

    “All right, Sarah, the absolute truth. Without you, there is no future for me. Without me, there is no future for you… Huh, that probably scares you… Let me rephrase: Neither of us can survive without the other… Ugh, that sounds even worse.” He sighed again in frustration, and said, “Sorry, I’m not very good at explaining this, but it’s the best I can come up with. The best way to explain everything would be for us to look at each other. You’d understand everything then. At least, that’s what they told me…”

    “What? That’s crazy! We look at each other and everything is magically all better? I don’t think so! And also… I have a boyfriend! Who I love a lot, thank you very much!”

    “I know, Sarah. It’s confusing, but… everything just… melts away once you’ve found your true match. All we have to do is look into each others eyes… There’s no going back after that.” His lilting voice was extremely persuasive, but there was no way that what he was talking about was even feasible! He was probably just some psycho freak with a good vocabulary and some high tech voice disguiser! I wasn’t scared anymore, I was angry!

    “You know what?! Just come out already! I’m sick of all this nonsense!” I half- yelled. I had to struggle to keep my voice down; I didn’t want my mom to come back upstairs.

    I’m not lying, Sarah. I suppose you’ll have to find out yourself…” he said softly. The door creaked open and I braced myself for whatever was going to come out.

    A sharp intake of breath was all I was capable of as he slowly walked towards me. He stood still a few feet away from my bed and a slow smiled crept up onto his face. My eyes probed his pale, glorious face, unable to find any remnant of the monster from before. My heart started pounding faster and faster as he continued to gaze into my eyes. I met his eyes, and suddenly there was nothing in the entire world except him. He was my universe, and we would constantly revolve around each other. He was a hundred percent right about the whole, ‘everything else just melts away’ part.

    Without thinking, I stood on my tiptoes and reached an arm towards him. My fingers made contact with his face and sent shivers down my spine. His skin was very cold, but it wasn’t the temperature that had given me chills. I stroked his icy cheek with my fingertips and continued to stare into his eyes. His eyes… nothing like the blood- red of the monster in my window. The color was like nothing I had ever seen before.. Piercing emerald, with flecks of melted gold. I was spellbound by him and he was gazing at me as if he felt the same. The expression on his face was so beautiful, I almost felt like crying. If I had been one of those girls who always blushed, my face would have been cherry red.

    I felt like I had never seen properly before, never seen anything comparable to him. He had dark brown hair framing his pale face, tousled as though he had just stepped off of a windy movie set. When he smiled, his full pink lips showed his teeth, dazzling white and incredibly sharp. Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared of them as I had been before. I looked up into his eyes again, unable to resist. They were warm, almost liquid. I suddenly gasped, not realizing that I had been holding my breath while I studied his perfection.

    His lips curled up as he continued to gaze at me. I cursed myself for being a silly human and forgetting how to breathe properly. Slowly, slowly, he began to walk towards me. He crossed the wooden floor, his hazel eyes never leaving mine. I blinked once, realizing that I hadn’t done so in a few minutes and when I opened my eyes, he was only a few inches away from my face.

    He smiled gently and delicately trailed his cool fingers across my cheek, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. The contact sent tingles down my spine and goosebumps where his fingers had brushed my skin. His cold hand remained on my warm neck and he whispered softly, “Well?”

    I was unable to speak for a few moments, captivated by him. I opened my mouth to speak and said, “Leo… I-… I think I understand what you were talking about when you said there was no going back…”

    He brushed a thumb down my jaw and placed his other hand on the small of my back. He gently took me into his cold, strong arms and held me there, the two of us standing alone in the center of my room, not caring about anything else in the world.