Outcast

Chapter 5: Decisions

Okay, I hope you liked the story till now and if you don't please review anyway. I would like to know what I can do to make the story more interesting. Don't worry; romance is on its way for Sam. 

**One year later**

It has been so hard lately. I am always so lonely. I haven't talked to anyone in about a year. Gabriel was the last person I talked to. I still can't get over what I did to him and the girl. I only drink animal blood now and I might say that I almost have my thirst under control. But I can never be sure of myself. My control might crack at any moment so I only allow myself short moments among humans. A few kilometers away from my caves lives a family who travels a lot. They have a thirteen year old daughter, Miranda who lives with her grandma most of the time. I didn't have Internet or television to keep me entertained and no money to buy clothes so the girl's closet and laptop have really been precious to me.

Today I climbed up to her room as I did every weekend. I usually spend all my time there when there's nobody at the house. I had a nasty feeling that told me that I should find out what's going on in Malta. I sat on the chair and opened a web browser. I was about to type when suddenly my eyes got all blurry, as if I was in a fog. Then the fog suddenly seemed to shift into an image. I saw Gabriel's car fall down the cliff. I could smell the salty sea and feel the rush of the water as if I was there again, watching myself in the car as it fell down. Then the image shifted back into fog and went away as quickly as it had come, leaving me barley touching the keyboard. That was strange on a whole new level. New spooky stuff was happening to me after a year. Great!

I googled the words 'Maltese teenagers missing in 2009+Gabriel' and found a new title. I double clicked it. A website uploaded showing me the faces that had haunted me for the past year. I didn't want to read the article but I felt obliged to do so.

Sunken Car found with two missing teenagers.

In July 2009 three teenagers were found missing. It started on the 16th with Samantha Hathaway 16, following three days later there where two other teenagers, Gabriel Collins 17 and Sabrina Bell 16. The police have no clue where Samantha might be. No body was found so her heartbroken mother and friends still have no idea what might have happened to the girl. But Gabriel's car was found yesterday, when a family was swimming in those areas. It was found containing the bodies of Gabriel and Sabrina which by now have decayed. The car was found on the seabed at Damascus Point, a place where many teenagers have been found drunk or almost dead with an overdose. This might be the reason why the car ended up in the sea. The two cases where connected together but there was no proof of Samantha ever being in the car so she had to be omitted from the case. The Hathaway family is losing hope that they'll ever find the body of their daughter…

I really wanted to cry. I was causing so much pain to my mother. She must have been a mess. But it was better this way. I couldn't live with the fact that it might be her the next time my control cracked. I was living in misery and solitude but that could change. I would go seek others of my kind. I felt ready to face my thirst and control it, but was I really ready?

I got up and found the bathroom. Obviously I didn't need to pee but I really wanted to take a shower. I adjusted the temperature of the water and let it flow. The sound instantly calmed me down. I undressed and entered the shower, letting water drip down my long hair and down my back. Who would ever wonder that I would miss such small gestures? After sleeping for a year on dry leafs just taking a shower was luxury to me. I let the water flow which turned from transparent into an ugly dirty brown. I took all he time I needed and when I was ready, I wrapped around me a fluffy pink towel.

Then I went to see what Miranda had in her closet. She had just bought a new jacket and I was dying (though technically I'm already dead) to try it on. Man, it was perfect on me. I was really missing shopping. I really wanted to take it but I usually the clothes I 'borrow' end up dirty beyond washing and it was obvious that Miranda spent a lot of money on it.

I wanted to leave for good. If I was going to live forever, I had to know more about the world. I found some underwear and picked up the denim jacked that was lying on the floor and a red shirt. Finally I found a pair of jeans and some cute sandals that seemed to be ignored. I never borrowed shoes before but if I had to be seen in public I had to look normal. Of course I had to travel at night because of the whole sparkling skin problem but thanks to vamp speed it didn't matter.

I dressed up in vamp speed. I was determined to look my best and look like a sweet sixteen year old. I wanted to forget the whole lethal, bloodthirsty monster and feel normal. I looked so different from the 16th of July. I was very slim and the clothes I wore hung perfectly on my body and made my curves look really attractive.

The 'change' left my hair long with silky waves and dark brown glow which almost seemed black. I sat in front of the vanity mirror and searched for a hair band in the drawers. I found a really cute red one that matched my shirt.

I wondered whether I should apply some makeup or not. A perk of being an immortal was being eternally juvenile -Not always in spirit, I was seventeen, almost eighteen though my body was frozen in the state of a sixteen year old and I felt like a lonely fifty year old nomad- and exceptional beauty. Normally you rarely see a seventeen year old without makeup and I was trying hard to blend in but I definitely cannot be classified as normal. I applied natural eye shadow but it looked disturbing because it stood out in comparison to my pale face so I decided to apply a very dark shade of grey but it made me look as if I'd just come out of one of those teen soap operas starring as a lonely emo constantly cutting her wrists. It was simply hopeless so I just went with some clear lip gloss. I put it in one of my pockets; it could really come in handy since teenagers are often seen applying makeup in public.

I was ready. The only thing I needed was will. And even if I had will I needed a lead, I could not search the vampire phone book, and since such a book was not invented yet and I had a feeling it would never exist. The only poor lead I had was a crude article I had written in my second year at secondary school for the news paper. I was assigned mythical creatures as a topic and fortunately I chose vampires. Who would ever guess that such a meaningless project would ever come in handy? Thanks God I didn't choose werewolves because that certainly wouldn't have been any use! I remembered including something about Volterra in Italy, where they celebrated St Markus Day, who is said that fought and killed vampires that invaded Volterra back then. Well then; let's hope St Markus left out at least one vamp that still lived there.

As insane as it sounded I was willing to give it a shot. Anyway I had nothing to lose. I searched the Internet for a rough idea where Volterra was. I found a map and printed it, erased the history and switched off the computer.

Outside I heard footsteps so probably Miranda was back. I scanned the room to see that everything looked normal and after the test resulted positive I jumped out of the window and landed softly on the hard soil. I went in the forest, waiting for the last drops of sunset to disappear. Then I set of, running towards a new chance for a decent life.