CLIVE

June

June, the time of the year where the sun is out the most. The nights are almost as hot as the days, but not as long. This is why they had to rush. They wouldn't have had enough time to steal something if they weren't in a pair.

Long before I was thought into existence, my real parents were already ready to give me away. I am honestly unsure the details of the story, but this is what I was told. According to the story, I was taken off of a doorstep seconds from being put into an orphanage, which I have been told are not the greatest places on earth to be. I had been unwanted by my own kind. They tell me I was rescued, but after being here for a little over 19 years I know that this is not where I belong. 

I was taken by vampires late in the summer night. Who knows where I would have ended up if this didn't happen, but I will say I am thankful to have a place to stay and people who really do care about my well being. My little family consists of a mom, a dad, and two fraternal twin siblings, Jeremy and Dove. They named her Dove because she was somewhat stoic, she was supposed to be near impossible to exist. Vampires cannot have twins, one would consume the other in a bloody frenzy within the womb before the other could even begin to form. Dove was a miracle, a beautiful precious dove that flew gracefully into their lives. Jeffrey on the other hand, put a sour taste in my mouth. He viewed me as a piece of property rather than family, and for that, I can never be comfortable alone with him. 

I was taken for a purpose, for something useful at first; an experiment. According to what I had been told, a small population of vampires were trying to create peace and prosperity among the human race. While there is a rise in acclimation to their existence now, at the time there was research being done to find a replacement for human blood, they are calling it the "Pure." A group of humans and vampires had joined together to mix the perfect formula of liquids to replace the need for human consumption. This was all going well until it wasn't. 

The vampires were divided. Tradition blocked the way for compromise and a majority of the bloodsucking beasts disagreed with what was being done. Research was put to a halt and all but vanished. This left poor old me in a bit of a bind, my family wanted peace, but didn't want to suffer so they had to use me as a source of replenishment. It has now been 14 years and no further development has been done to the mixture known as the "Pure." So now I suffer, being kept as a companion for pleasure and survival. All of my life, I had to get accustomed to being a vessel. At the age of five I was introduced to feeding. 

"We will keep it in the same place, I don't want to leave her covered in scars." My mother rushed over to me holding me tightly in her arms. Dad was pacing the room. "Darling, I don't really want to do this..." He raised his left hand towards me as if to grasp onto something that he couldn't dare reach for. My father always cared for me in a way none of the others had. He was one of those few, looking to bring peace to the world, and he had been so defeated when the research facility had been viciously attacked and burned to the ground by the primitive creatures who were just so set in their ways. All of their tedious research gone. His hand dropped, giving into his primal thoughts. They hadn't eaten in three days, they were already in agony. 

"Mama, our tummies hurt." Jeffrey stood in the corner pouting, arms crossed. My eyes squinted in a glare, he was repulsive. At the time he was only a year younger than I, but that was no excuse for his behavior. Ever since he could walk he was a monster to me. Hitting me, stealing my toys, telling on me. Mother babied him, which fed into his ego tremendously. He was always protecting Dove like some sort of shield. I don't think she liked it, but was too scared and overpowered by him to speak up. She was just looking over at me like something was bothering her, like she knew this wasn't right. 

"June, honey...." My dad sat me in a chair holding my arm, "We want you to know that we love you, but we also want you to know that you are different from us." I was meeting the eyes of everyone around the room. It's like they all knew something I didn't and it made me feel so alone. I didn't know any better, I just sat there lost and stuck to the chair. My father's grip tightened and tightened. I tried to pull away, but my fragile child-like arms couldn't stand a chance against his strength. "Please forgive us for what we are about to do, we promise it will get better." 

Pain struck me, their teeth were sharp and scary, I did not recognize them, little me was terrified. They all crowded around me until I was covered in shadows. Things went black. For the first time, I woke up in a daze, but my father was right...it did get a little bit easier and less scary. I tell myself they were just starved the first time, I should be grateful for the things they had blessed me with.  Then, the rotation began. 

On Mondays, mom spent the day with me, she took care of the house and children so she gots the beginning of the week. They would give me a days break in between so I wouldn't get sick again. I was near death from the the first encounter and it worried father sick that I would get to that point again. Mom always treated me like a dainty butterfly, braiding my long red hair, adding roses to it and telling me I was her little Cinderella after every last drop. This day of the week was ok. 

On Wednesdays, my father would take me to the movies after dark, we would always get a large tub of popcorn, he would tell me to make sure I eat the whole tub or I wouldn't get as strong as he was. These little lies would add up over time...I believed them for so long. They made everything seem so sweet and true. This day of the week was a little bit worse, because as I got older, my father and I grew so far apart...

Fridays were the worst days of all, I had to spend them with my siblings, and they didn't have the luxury to swoon me with gifts and shallow compliments. They would just strike at any given moment without a single ounce of sympathy. 

"Jeffrey, mom said to stay on the wrist..." Dove's whisper of a voice managed to escape her lips. Jeffrey rolled his eyes. By this time we were all around 9-10 years of age. "Is mom here?!?!" Mocking Dove was his full time job. He grabbed me by my hair, and I stupidly just let him. I tried to tell myself I was doing them a favor, but some days it got so hard. He went in from the scalp. He knew what he was doing too. "With her ugly red hair, they'll never notice a thing." He started laughing while Dove held out her hand. Her eyes begged for me to hand it over. I slowly lent her my wrist, as Jeffrey struck again. 

Fourteen years of this and I was numb. There was a whole world I wondered even existed outside of this. For my sixteenth birthday, I was given a make - shift sweet sixteen gift. I was told that this was a human custom that my parents didn't want me to miss out on. Like I hadn't already been missing out of every other normal human thing. I was so unaware of this, I was just filled with joy to even be gifted something in the first place. It was my own little house next to theirs. "We figured you would like your own space now, you've grown so much..." My father tried to sugar coat what this was, but while I felt joy for the gift I also felt trapped. This was a dungeon. 

"Jeffrey and your father cleaned it out just for you." My mom laid her arm across my back, slowly pushing me closer to the little shack. The old millhouse in the back of the property was nestled comfortably by the creek. We grew up playing around it, but were told never to go in. Jeffrey would scare us saying that monsters were in there and I always wondered what he meant, I felt like I was living with monsters myself. So what defined a monster to them? Later we were told by my father that his old facility equipment that made it out the fire was stored there. This led me to question what had happened to the equipment post cleaning? Did he give up on the peace and the "Pure" just to leave me stuck here forever? They would surely have to let me out of here at some point. I would shrivel with age, my blood would taste like cheap wine, right? They would outlive me by a long shot...I had to get out of here.