flightless bird

Chapter 10

I awoke the next morning with a tear stained face. I got up from bed and walked to the bathroom rinsing my face off. I brushed my hair briefly before throwing it up into a ponytail. I walked back to my room and got changed for school slipping on a navy blue long sleeve shirt, black jeans, my cons and my jacket. I grabbed my stuff and walked downstairs where I saw my mom on the phone.

"Ok. Thank you Charlie" said my mom before she hung up the phone. I entered the kitchen, placing my bag on the counter before walking to the fridge. "Oh, you're going to school?" mom asked as she looked over at me. I nodded as I grabbed an apple and the bottle of OJ. "Serena, is that really a good idea?" said my mom and I sighed.

"I really don't want to be alone in this house amongst all of uncle Waylon's things knowing he isn't here anymore. It would be torture. It's hard enough knowing he was killed and I want as much distraction from that as possible" I said as I felt the tears build up. I reached across the counter to grab a tissue when I accidentally knocked the juice off the counter.

In the blink of an eye, my mom caught the bottle effortlessly before it hit the ground and my eyes widened in shock. She looked down at her hand that held the bottle before looking back up at me as she cleared her throat. She placed the juice back on the counter and I averted my eyes. "Umm I'll see you after school" I said before grabbing my bag.

"Ok. I hope you have a good day and if you don't think you can handle it, come straight home" said mom and I nodded as I walked to the front door.

I arrived to school a few minutes later, parking my car. I climbed out and locked it before walking into school with my headphones in. I went to my locker and unlocked it before rummaging through grabbing the books I needed. I felt a tap on my shoulder causing me to jump. I turned, pulling my headphones out, and saw Bella standing behind me.

"Bella, your scared the crap out of me" I said and she gave an awkward smile. "Sorry. Umm, I'm surprised you came but I'm glad you did. I brought the book from last night so we could look at it say, lunchtime?" said Bella and I nodded. "Sure" I replied as I adjusted my bag that hung from my shoulder. "Ok cool. And umm Serena, I'm sorry about your uncle" Bella said.

"Uh thank you" I replied as I bit my bottom lip. The day went by painfully slow. I came to school to escape the thought of my uncles death but it's all that people spoke to me about. My friends and many other students gave me their condolences along with teachers. It was a kind thing to do, don't get me wrong, but every time someone would bring it up, it made the wound open further and further.

At the start of lunch, I met Bella in the library where she was sat in the far corner by a computer. I sat down beside her as she pulled out the book. "I did some reading last night and there was one term that stood out. Cold one" said Bella as she turned to me. I looked at the book and saw a tagged page and flicked to it.

I saw a big image of some sort of mask and read the sentence underneath. Bella typed 'Cold one' into the google search bar on the computer and results showed up. "Open that one" I said pointing to a link; 'The Cold One: Apotamkin'. The link lead to a website and we read the article. Below were links to different cultures which had their depictions of 'The Cold One'.

Bella clicked on several different links; Egypt, India, Peru etc. I felt my stomach turn as we looked at more and more results from the google search. As we read through more articles the same words were popping up. Speed, strength, cold skinned. I felt myself having flashbacks. When Edward stopped the van, my moms cold hands that felt like ice, their porcelain like skin, Edward's ever changing eye colour, my mom and the Cullen's avoidance of the sun.

"Oh my god" I breathed as my eyes widened. "The Cullen's are..." Bella trailed. "I don't think it's just the Cullen's who are vampires" I whispered as I looked at Bella.

I arrived home that afternoon, determined to know the truth. I entered the house throwing my bag down by the coat rack. "Hey honey" I heard my mom call from her room. I walked upstairs and to her room where I saw her folding clothes. I remained silent as I continued looking at my mom. She looked up at me, a confused smile on her face.

"Serena, is everything ok?" She said as she continued folding clothes. "I don't know. I'm just wondering a few things" I said skeptically as I looked at her. "What's that my bebita?"asked my mom. "Why you haven't been eating with me, why your skin is ice cold, why you avoid going out in the sun and only work night shifts, how you all of a sudden have amazing reflexes when you've been super clumsy your whole life, why your skin is like porcelain when the last time I saw you before you disappeared, you had all the scars all over you and now they're magically gone" I said as my mom put clothes in the dresser.

I watched as she tensed up immediately. Silence filled the room and I felt my heartbeat quicken. "Mom, what really happened to you?" I asked and she turned back around. "As Rick was attacking me the night I disappeared, I was on the brink of death when he was suddenly ripped off of me. I saw this figure standing over him. I heard a mans voice say 'didn't you ever hear the saying pick on someone your own size?' before he tore Rick to pieces, killing him immediately. I was going in and out of consciousness when he came over to me. I was terrified he was going to kill me next but I was too weak to do anything. He said 'I'll take the pain away' before sinking his teeth into my neck. When I came to, I was in this abandoned house. The man from that night appeared in front of me and I had never seen someone like him before. He was dazzling. It was as if he was sculpted by the gods. His eyes were yellow and he was like a supernatural being. He told his name was Carlos and he explained everything to me. He told me what he was a vampire, and that I was now one too. I told him I had a daughter that needed me back in Seattle but it was too dangerous for me to come back to you Serena. He explained how I would need to get my thirst under control before I could see you again so I wouldn't kill you. So for a year, we traveled around America so I could get my thirst under control and so I could train my power. Once I was strong enough to control my thirst, I came back and here I am" said my mom. I watched as she reached up to her eyes and removed something before looking back at me and I gasped as I saw her golden yellow eyes the exact same as Edwards.

"Y-You're a vampire" I stammered. "Yes. But I won't hurt you I promise bebita. I feed off of animals not humans" said my mom as she walked over to me and I backed away. "I can't believe it's true" I said as I took in shaky breaths. "I know it's a lot to take in Serena but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone" said my mom as she placed her hands on my shoulders. I swallowed hard as I nodded.

"Is there anything else I should know?" I said as I crossed my arms.

"Yeah...I'm not the only vampire in Forks"