THE IMMORTAL'S FRIEND

Chapter 2: Alios

Drip... Drip… Drip

I can feel my own blood drippin' from my neck down to my skinny shoulder.

I used my free hand to cover the wound on my neck and suppressed the blood from dripping while my other hand was pressed hard on the wall to support myself not to fall down. I can barely stand in my feet and I can't walk straight because my whole body is in pain.

Where is Shira? She lost a huge amount of blood so I need to bring her to the hospital.

I remember what happened last night and I was sure that both of us got bitten by a vampire.

As far as I can recall, after I saw Shira lying down on the floor unconscious, I hurried to carry her on my back and bring her to the hospital, but I failed because there's a vampire that found us on the way.

Am I going to turn into a vampire too?

It's so ironic that I would turn into something that I didn't even believe existed before. I used to not believing in the existence of vampires, but now I am becoming one of them.

There are lots of questions inside my mind, but all I want to know right now is where my sister is. Is she okay? The man last night looked scary. Shira is just a kid, she might be scared after seeing the man. Just imagining her crying and shaking in fear and I am not there beside her to comfort her is already killing me.

I need to find her as soon as possible. I know she is waiting for me.

I continued to walk, but because I can't maintain my balance, I often fell down. It happened fifteen times already yet I still didn't give up and continued to stand up.

The sun was shining and it didn't help as it only made me dizzy. I think my head is going to burst any minute now because of the heat. My head is spinning like a wheel.

"Blood... I need to drink blood.." The word came out from my mouth unconsciously.

My eyes widened when I realized what I just said and covered my mouth with my hand. Thinking that I am searching for blood when I am supposed to search for my sister makes me want to slap myself.

I wanna throw up. Did I really say that I want to drink blood?

No. I'm a human. I won't turn into a vampire. I don't want to be a vampire!

I stop walking and force myself to throw up because of the thought that I want to drink human blood. I hit my chest five times with my fist and didn't stop until I coughed.

When I somehow managed to calm myself down, I saw a car from a distance so I walked towards it and checked my reflection in the mirror.

I look so dirty. I stared at my feet and realized I was walking barefoot.

What am I thinking? Am I really going to meet Shira like this? I look so hopeless than a beggar. She might be disappointed with me if she saw me in this kind of state.

I don't want my sister to see me in such a mess so I decided to go back to our house and take a quick shower.

After wearing neat clothes and a black hoodie jacket, I got a face mask to cover my mouth as I noticed my fangs showing in the mirror earlier while I was brushing my teeth. I need to hide my fangs so I won't scare Shira when I already found her. I also patched a bandage to cover the wound in my neck.

After wearing a pair of white shoes, I went outside to go back from searching for Shira. I don't know where I should start searching for her but I have a feeling that she is just somewhere near.

I walk and roam my eyes in every corner to search for her, but no matter how much I try to look for her, I really can't find her.

The sun is also irritating me. If I wasn't wearing a jacket right now, my skin would be burnt. My skin suddenly becomes sensitive towards the sunlight.

Unlike last night, there are lots of people outside. All of them are smiling like nothing horrible happened the other day. They are all laughing like they don't have any problems in life.

I envy them.

I want to smile widely like them together with Shira, but I can't do it anymore. How can I smile widely when I have these hideous fangs to hide?

Tears started to fall down from my eyes but I immediately wiped it because I know this is not the right time for drama.

I continued searching for Shira but instead of seeing her, I saw a couple kissing. They noticed my presence and caught me looking at them, they threw me a deadly glare and immediately left. I heard them muttering something like I disturbed them and called me annoying.

I can't understand it. Is it really my fault?

Why are they getting mad at me? It's their fault for kissing in a public place anyway.

Why are people so good at blaming others with their own faults? Why are they complaining when it was obviously their fault to begin with?

The sun was scorching hot and I didn't think I could handle the heat anymore so I decided to hide behind the shadow of a tree.

A couple of minutes later, I saw a kid approaching and she was not paying attention while walking, so she tripped. Her knee hit a pointy rock and it started to bleed.

There's no one around but me so I didn't hesitate to help her stand up and remove my mask as I don't have any handkerchief to wipe the blood on her knee.

My throat dries and gulps when I see the blood on her knee falling. The smell of the fresh blood tempts me to lick and drink it.

I was staring at the blood on her knee for a couple of minutes. I felt the kid get scared so she immediately asked me if I could let go of her hand that I didn't realize I was already gripping firmly.

"I'm so-sorry." I apologized.

I let go of her hand after apologizing and gave her my mask so she could still cover her blood with it.

I told her to be careful going back to their house and run as fast as I could—far away from her and other people before I totally lose my mind and drink their blood.

I was shaking my head several times to remove the thoughts that I didn't even want to entertain.

I wanted to drink blood. I felt like I was getting stabbed by hundreds of knives the more I tried to control it.

But I know I shouldn't drink blood.
I don't want to hurt people. I would rather hurt myself than to hurt humans.

"Shira, where are you?" I asked after sitting on a corner.

She's the only one who could help me calm my mind. I want to see her. I want to know if she's just okay. I'm so worried about her.

I heard footsteps approaching so I raised my head to look at the person who just came.

It's a girl and she's wearing a yellow dress with a pink ribbon in the middle. Her blonde hair is in pigtails and she is smiling widely at me. I can see her fangs showing.

She's a vampire too? I tried to remember if I knew her, but I can't recognize her face. Does she know me?

"Hi, Alios!" She greeted enthusiastically.

I kept my mouth shut and didn't reply to her. Why did she call me Alios? I don't know who is this Alios guy she's talking about. I looked at her with a confused look and unconsciously familiarized her face.

"Who... are you?" I asked. She looks like she knows me. But calling me with a different name is just rude.

"I'll answer that question later. For now, you need to come with me. I know where you could find the person you are waiting, Alios."

I don't know if I could trust her when she's just a mere stranger to me. She also called me by the wrong name so I don't know if I should come with her.

My name is Galen and I am not Alios. She might be mistaking me for someone but she knew that I was waiting for my sister so she might know where Shira is right now. She also looked harmless and she's pretty small to hurt someone twice taller than her so without even knowing, my feet moved to follow her.

I want to see my sister again.