V FOR VAMPIRE // jenlisa

Chapter 5

J.

The woods looks a little somber today. The grey sky above does enough to make it look like I'm out for an evening stroll as I brush past the thick-skinned trees that are swaying to a gust of chill wind that just made its way past me. It might start raining anytime soon, and I should have probably gotten a raincheck on my visit here today. Since no one is here, I let myself retract a little as the eeriness of the now dark woods catches up to me. As I see a dark flicker from my peripheral, I try to convince myself it was a leaf in flight before it hit the ground, but the sweating of my palms is very prominent on my skin.

I instead breathe in the fresh air the trees have to offer, staring up at the mass of leaves arranged haphazardly above my head. Little rays of limited light, given the weather, peek through the space between the leaves as I see the curves of the clouds change every thirty seconds as they float by with the cold wind. The ground under my feet is firm, grounding, occasional crunching of twigs beneath the soles of my shoes making me flinch today. I can't shake off the feeling that something feels heavier in this forest than normal, as I finally decide to take a leave, although my original plan was to take shelter from the rain here. The leaves would shield me, but I don't think I like the idea of being creeped out any further by whatever I'm sensing right now and I wouldn't want to risk letting it slide as a false alarm. An animal in the woods is very much likely although I haven't travelled deep into it yet. Something tells me it's better not to, so I turn.

I hit a hard form as I'm trying to leave and almost think it's a tree. Almost. But my thought is lost as I spot a tall man, his face grim yet his eyes shining in what I assume to be delight. Now a full-blown fear grips me.

"Well, hello there, child." He says, his voice a combination of breathy and heavy all at the same time.

He is definitely older than me, I would say something along the marks of 27 to 30. His clear pronunciation almost makes it sound like he's emphasizing all of his words.

"Fancy meeting you here." He says with a smirk and I furrow my eyebrows.

"I'll be leaving now." I say, keeping my voice even and rushing past him.

His firm, almost crushing grip on my arm stops me. He yanks me back beside him as I widen my eyes, my veins rushing with adrenaline.

I throw my fist to his face as it hits it with a snappy pat. I retract my fist quickly, the pain stinging it gravely as I try to push him away with shock of how he did not move an inch with the punch.

"Let me go!" I shout pointlessly, his frame closing in on mine as I try to push him away but find myself losing at his weight and strength.

Everything is murky from there as I feel a piercing ache on my neck, it jolting through my veins sharply as I gasp and flail. As the sting worsens I hear a scream, the owner of which could be me but I find myself not sure. I only feel blank, the raging fear within me has subsided and I feel far away. Far, far away from whatever is happening to me right now and somehow I let it happen. It's not good, my mind figures that out but the judgement is slowly fading and my head is swimming as my vision clouds.

Suddenly, I find myself falling to the ground, no sensation as I hit the solid surface, just whatever I can decipher with my power of vision. I don't move, although I find myself wanting to. The sting on my neck is roaming back and forth from the destination of the sting to my shoulder as I feel constant rushes that synchronise with the flushed ringing I hear in my ears.

Faint voices reach my ringing ears as I try to make them out, screaming, I hear a crunch and a groan, but I can't make anything out of it. My mind does not process anything. I only know I have a mind. And thoughts. But I can't understand any of it.

"Jennie!" I'm shook wildly as I look up, catching the familiar face of Lisa. I want to trace my eyes across her face but I find them growing heavy. I try to keep them open, to feel Lisa near because right now none of it is registering, even her voice sounds far away. It's like one of my dreams.

Occasionally, I have dreams of Lisa. Dreams where we're so close, so close...I almost wonder if I should throw caution to the wind and kiss her. It's tangible, somehow, in my dreams. But they're dreams. Only dreams. And yet, I can never make it. I never press my lips to hers. Sometimes I don't try at all, fearing what will happen next. Other times, what I fear is what happens. Just as I'm about to meet her halfway, she's pulled from me, standing far away. We're so far apart that it hurts. An ache flares up in my chest as she lifts her hand in a gesture of goodbye. And I let her go.

a/n: Do drop those votes so people can discover this story, guys. I've been working hard on this one and would appreciate the support. I hope all of you are doing great, by the way. How weird that it's already October, huh? I still seem to be in awe when I think of the fact that there's just two more months left for this year to end. I also just realized I started updating this book on spooky month lmao.