My feet dragged along the grimy dirt road, my head bent down to face the ground with my hands in my pockets. A dark cloak was draped around my shoulders, shielding me from the harsh winds blowing against my petite body. Not that I actually needed it or anything. Being a vampire, I was immune to cold, and it was the exact reason why I was strolling down the deserted path right now, in the middle of winter.
Today was my birthday. My 119th birthday. 100 years after I fled my original home in Washington. I hadn’t been there since… well… the last time I’ve stepped foot onto the village land, was when I was still human. I had no idea if the house I had lived in back then was still there, or the farm my brother and I used to go visit from time to time. That’s what happens when you choose to leave home at the age of 19 with a dark secret you knew you could never share with your family.
And the reason why I left was simple. I had a loving family who would love me unconditionally, and I loved them back just as much. And it was because that I loved them, that I couldn’t watch them grow old and die, while I still stayed young and beautiful.
Now, still physically 19 years old, I was going back to my human home to face what I had left behind so many years ago. The fact that I had abandoned everything I had in my life had left a gaping hole in my heart that had been bothering me for the last hundred years. Facing my choices and decisions I’d made to become who I am today, maybe it’ll heal that broken heart of mine. I was prepared for the pain and tears that were yet to come when I enter the village. I had come so far; I wasn’t willing to turn back now.
Slowly, I came to a stop when the dirt road I had been following suddenly ended. I picked up my head, glancing around at my surroundings. A grassy meadow lay before me, stretched out for at least half a mile to all sides, colourful flowers popped out in patches on the soft green canvas. The air smelled fresh and familiar, indicating I had come to the right spot for awakening ancient memories.
The place that was laid out before me was the Meadow, the farthest anyone in our village under the age of twenty-one was allowed to go. Our village was extremely superstitious, and rumour had it that outside the safe, cosy haven our home provided, a world of dangers was ready to guide us to hell. Now that I actually whisper it to myself, it sounded perfectly sane.
I had been turned into a slave to the shadows by a mysterious young man who claimed to be lost in the woods around our home. Half the village believed him, other half didn’t. My family was on the half who did, and my aunt welcomed him into our house. He told my siblings and I about a wonderful world, a world filled with beauty and art and music. None of us truly understood what he was talking about, we were so naïve. And then, he invited me to leave the village with him so I could live out the life I was born to live. I willingly took his outstretched hand, and then, he did the unthinkable. He killed me. I was dead. Undead actually, since he had given me so much blood that his powerful, immortal essence had taken over my weak human system, killing me and then bringing me back to life as a demon. And that wasn’t the worst part. He had left me after I turned. He didn’t bother to help me after I became a full vampire, so I was living in the confinements of the shadows until dusk; then I would come out and kill.
Truth was, the world was filled with dangers. I was a perfect example of that.
I should’ve listened to my friends’ opinions when they advised me to stay away from the stranger. And that was where the Meadow came into the picture. Literally. Almost every picture that was taken of me back in my human days had this Meadow as the background.
The Meadow had been the place where where I held picnics with my younger sisters and brother, when they were still too young to be able to visit the farm and ride the horses. It was the place where I watched the forest critters scurry about while I tossed food scraps from supper at them, trying to get the largest piece available. The place where I would gather with my friends and laugh together, cry together when we were depressed, and talk about what we planned our future would be like. It was the place where I had died and came back to life.
