Diamondback

9: Family Reunion

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Mom, Dad, Zenyla, and I have always been super close. We weren't the most social family on the planet, but what should that matter if we had each other, right?

I'm sure my death affected them in all sorts of hellish ways.

I can't imagine what it must be like to go out with the knowledge of someone's absence looming over your shoulders. For me, being away from them wasn't too devastating since I knew they were fine and healthy and alive. On their end, I was rotting six feet under.

For the past year, I could check up on them from afar if we happened to cross paths and if they ever came to my grave, I'd be able to hear their one-sided conversations with me. They'd leave behind small trinkets and flowers and some of my favorite foods. I couldn't take them of course, but it was nice to hear from them every now and then. Sometimes they'd bring along Toni and Olly to come say hi. Neither of them would say much of anything, but I could still feel their presence awkwardly hovering around.

My family stopped visiting, though.

Must be because of that earthquake that apparently destroyed this house.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

There's not much time left to get lost in my own thoughts again.

I sat cross-legged in the middle of the living room. The blood soaked carpet squished uncomfortably beneath me. I'll have to scrub that out later.

As I focused my magic on the task at hand, I could envision my mother's bright smile. Her safe arms. Her honest eyes. It felt cold and empty without her secure arms draped over my shoulders.

Her voice sounded like a repressed thought in my own head.

"...I know...I know...I'm sorry...We'll get that rent to you tomorrow..."

She must be on the phone.

"I told you, Ms. Smith, my husband and I are trying. All we ask is just another extension on the deadline...No, I won't take out another loan. I'm drowning in enough debt already..."

Suddenly, my chest began to painfully eat away at itself, freezing my entire body in place. No matter how much I willed it, my body wouldn't budge. My fangs pierced through my tongue to hold in a scream. The iron taste of the blood made me want to gag. Forcing my eyes downward, the orchid tattoos wrapped around my arms started to glow, but unlike that first night in the city, the scaly skin around the area began to peel back like an old paint job. The flesh beneath the scales was the same orchid color of my tattoos.

Images of a different living room flashed in and out of my vision.

TickTickTickTickTickTickTickTickTickTick

BWOOSH!!! (There's no other way to describe that noise, man.)

Everything stopped.

After taking a second to reorient myself, I wasn't in my own decaying house. I was in an apartment. A really, really tiny apartment. Probably about the size of my kitchen plus my bathroom, which, lemme tell 'ya, is teenie weenie. It was scarcely decorated with only one or two indoor plants and unframed family photos. Photos of Mom, Dad, Zenyla, and...me.

I was only able to take a few steps back before I tripped over my own feet, landing myself onto a rather uncomfortable couch.

Mom was right next to me.

Oh God.

All I could do was gasp and slap my claws over my mouth.

She stared through me, the phone still held up to her ear.