Dealing With A Vampire

2.

I arrive home minutes before my mom and sister, but the apartment feels foreign to me. The cream-colored walls and dark wood shelves are lined with photos of Dillon and me smiling. All of the pictures contain people who look happy: my family, his family, and just the two of us. I don't feel like I know the man pictured in these photos anymore. I had a glimpse of him today, but that Dillon disappeared before my eyes.

Walking straight into my bright white bathroom, I anxiously check my face, making sure that the color from Dillon's fingers is gone. I spot dried tear streaks on my cheeks and grab a washcloth, wetting it to erase them from my skin. I don't want my mom or Maeve, my sister two years younger than I, to see me like this. Maeve has enough on her plate with university and the rigorous biology program she is in. The last thing I need either of them to do is worry about me. I'll give them an update on what happened today, but I want to appear unaffected. I don't want to burden them with how awful it truly was.

I attempt a fake smile in the mirror just as I hear a rushed knock on the front door. With that same look plastered on my face, I greet my favorite girls as they waltz through the door, receiving tight hugs from both of them. My mom's was especially warm, as I'm sure that she knew in her heart something was wrong.

"I'd love to think that you invited us over for a girl's afternoon but I know I'd be wrong, what's going on baby?" My mom asks with concern now gracing her beautiful features. Both she and Maeve have the same deep auburn hair that I do, and while my mom keeps hers in a short pixie, Maeve and I let ours fall in waves down our backs.

We settle ourselves in the kitchen area of the one-bedroom. Light-colored wood counters line the white tiled backsplash and appliances of different colors are placed on the counters. In the middle stands an island table with bar seats standing at the free edge.

I clear my throat, not even knowing how to approach this topic. "So Dillon and I went to the river today for a picnic...and I didn't realize it was for the fourth anniversary of the first time we met."

"Okay..." My younger sister says with a raised eyebrow. "That's special, why exactly?"

"Exactly!" I squeak with emotion as my stomach threatens to tie itself in knots. "I don't even know how to explain what happened but we were arguing, I brought up him forgetting my birthday...he cussed and said all I do is nag him...and some other stuff and—" That wasn't even everything. I pause as my mom raises her eyebrows, leaning onto my kitchen island. "And then I was fed up with him, and our fight, so I tried to leave."

"Like leave him?" They ask simultaneously.

"No... I just wanted to go home and be done with that conversation."

"What do you mean tried?" Mom now asks to clarify, emphasizing the final word. Telling them makes me feel like I am betraying Dillon. Part of me doesn't want to taint his image in my family's eyes, but Maeve and my Mom are the only people I have. Why does my brain want me to keep his dirty secret?

I continue my story, "I turned and walked away from him, going to my car. When I tried to get in, he grabbed my face—" I swallow thickly at my mom's expression. "—he was holding my jaw really hard. Enough to leave marks."

My mom looks sick to her stomach. Maeve's expression tells me that she's planning Dillon's homicide in her head as we speak.

"He told me to 'fucking listen'," I recount while mimicking his voice, "then once he realized we were attracting attention from other people around the river, he let go of me and said he wasn't coming home tonight."

My mom's mouth is the size of a crater. "Mila... I don't know what to say, baby." Tears fill her eyes and she comes around the kitchen island to embrace me tightly. "Are you okay?"