How To Be Human

How To Sit Through A Scary Story

Chapter 26 : How To Sit Through A Scary Story

"Are you ready?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" I cried, snuggling further down into the bed. We were at, yet again, another hotel (surprise!). It was far away from where we were, but it was kind of a given that Warren's buddies would be back to hunt us down. They had a lead on us somehow.

Warren watched me get comfortable in the bed with dull eyes. "This isn't a bedtime story, kid. This is real shit that happened to me. You should feel lucky. You're the first person I've ever told this to."

"I know, I know, but it's going to very long, I can already tell," I said, pulling the blankets up to me. "Okay. Start your story."

Warren took in a slow, careful breath. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at his hands. "Well, I guess I should probably start off with my name. Warren Rouse isn't my real name. It's Corneliu Antonescu," The name rolled off his tongue with that faint accent that always appeared when he got slightly angry.

My mouth dropped open. "You lied to me about your name again?"

He waved me off. "I don't go by it anymore. Do you see any other fucking people that go by the name Corneliu?"

I cringed back. Yeah, he was right. "Sorry. Continue."

Warren looked back down at his hands again. "I was born in Transylvania in 1714. I had my mother, my father, and my older sister named Adrianna. We weren't very wealthy, we were at the bottom of the system. When I was little, around six or seven, I would run around the town. I was a fast little shit, I would run between all the peasants and workers and everyone.

"I was more active than any other little boy on the street. I would always be getting into trouble; starting fights, playing pranks, and breaking shit. My sister thought I was hilarious. My parents thought the opposite. I had a partner in crime to do all this with. His name was Vasile Balcescu. We did everything together. We were the bestest of friends. I don't think I can remember anything I did without him.

"Vasile was much wealthier than I was. His family was related to the prince of Transylvania at the time, his name was Gabriel Bethlen. Vasile had access to the Bran Castle whenever he pleased. We use to run around there like we owned the place. We had so much fun together. We were like brothers." Warren's voice cracked, and he coughed a little to cover it up.

"Well, one day, we got into a lot of trouble. We were both 22, so we were a bit older. We were both kind of the black sheep of our families. Adrianna got married, but I never did. I never met anyone. I never really grew up. One night, Vasile came to me. He was shaking and covered in blood. I had no idea what to do. He wouldn't calm down so I couldn't talk to him.

"Finally, after I was able to tone him down a bit, he told me what happened. He said he was out near the forest and something attacked him. He didn't know what it was, but it ripped into his neck and drank his blood. He said he passed out and when he woke up, he was out of control. He had a blinding urge for blood, and he could smell it everywhere. It made him go insane. He killed three people that night, two of them being young girls.