Losing Everything [COMPLETED]

If You're Going Through Hell

💋Draculaura💋

"I'm fine. I swear," I said.

My father cocked his head to the side and picked at the IV tube in my hand. "Really?"

"There was blood! You know how poorly I react to that," I said. "Seriously. That's all that happened. She swung at me, I tripped over my feet and fell. Thus blood."

"We're positive on that?" he asked.

"Yeah, Daddy."

"Why'd she swing at you?" he asked.

"Because it's my fault that Purrsephone and Meowlody are dead," I said quietly.

"It's not."

"But the entire high school thinks it is. Cleo even blamed... me for a few deaths," I said, not wanting to tell my father that Cleo had opted for hanging him instead of the true criminals.

"What's really bothering you?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"I'm not stupid. I know when something is bothering you, Princess," he said softly.

"I'm fine. Just, you know, dizzy," I said quietly.

"That's all?"

"Yeah. That's all," I repeated.

DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS

🏀Clawd Wolf🏀

"Hey, Mr. D."

He offered a very small smile. "Hi, Clawd."

"Is she home?" I asked.

"Of course. But I don't really know if she wants to see you." He cleared his throat. "She doesn't want to see anyone."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I haven't seen her since October. She, uh... dropped out of school. She sits in her room all day. I don't know if she's sleeping or doing something else, but she's not... good," he said.

I frowned. "Can I see her?"

He stepped to the side. "Be my guest. You know where her room is."

"Thank you," I said quietly. He nodded. I walked into the house as he shut the door behind me. I felt weird. It had actually been a really long time since I had stepped foot into Vladimir Dracula's home. With a deep breath in, I walked up the stairs. Laura's door was the third on the left. It always had been. So when I reached it, I knocked. When I got no answer, I glanced down at the stairs.

"You have to open the door. If she's feeling kind, she won't kick you out," Dracula said. I nodded and opened the door. Upon seeing her sitting against the bay window, watching the snow fall, I stepped into her room and shut the door.

"You know I don't want to talk to you," she whispered.

"It's me... Clawd?"

"Ah..." She sighed. "Sit?" she asked, drawing her legs up to the rest of her body. I crossed the room and sat down in front of her. She barely glanced at me before her gaze shifted back to the window. "You look good," she said.

I touched my hand to her cheek and sighed. "Wish I could say the same for you, sweetheart," I said.

"Mm." I small smile grazed her lips. "I know. I look horrible. Haven't eaten, slept... I can't remember the last time I spoke to someone," she said quietly.

"October, apparently," I said.

She nodded. "Of course." She cleared her throat. "Daddy tell you I dropped out of school?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he did. Why is that?" I asked.

She shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know. I guess the locker thing was bad enough."

"The locker thing?"

"I don't want to talk about that," she said. She shifted positions and wrapped her arms around my chest. She inhaled as I wrapped my arms around her. "Just hold me for a bit, okay, Cookie?" she asked. I nodded. I certainly didn't need to be asked twice.

***

Mom was the first to greet me when I got to the house. She was at the end of the driveway, her coat clutched at her chest. She smiled and wrapped me in a hug.

"Hey, Ma," I said.

She pulled away from me and sighed. "Come on. Everyone's waiting to see big brother," she said.

***

"Deenie?" I asked as I opened the door to her bedroom.

She looked up at me. "Came to say goodbye?" she asked.

"No. I wanted to ask you something." She nodded. I walked into her room and sat down at the end of her bed. "I talked to Laura."

"How is she?"

"She's, uh... good," I said. "She said she dropped out of school because of the locker thing. That's all she said. What's going on?" I asked.

"I have pictures. I took pictures when it happened. Want to see it?" she asked. I nodded. She unlocked her phone, opened her camera roll, and set it in front of me. "There are several. It happened over the course of a week."

The first picture was the word 'killer' painted onto Laura's locker.

The second was the word 'murderer'.

The third was what appeared to be bloody paw prints.

The fourth was 'evil'.

The fifth wasn't paint. It had been engraved into her locker. 'Slut'. 'Whore'. 'Killer'.  'Murderer'. 'Ugly'. And many more words that I wasn't used to seeing used to describe Laura.

"The janitors kept washing off the paint... That's why they started engraving," Clawdeen said. "The engraving hit her hard. She went to open her locker, and there it was. She broke. There were no tears, no sound. She just calmly shoved her books into her locker, and then walked out of the school. I haven't seen her since," she said quietly.

"Who was doing it?" I asked.

"Mainly Toralei. But a lot of kids were in on it," she said. She sighed. "How is she? Don't lie to me this time."

"Well, I didn't really think vampires could become paler." She scoffed. "Dracula said she doesn't leave her bedroom. She stays locked up all day. She doesn't sleep or eat. She won't talk to her own father."

"I guarantee you she has some vampire version of depression," Clawdeen said.

I shook my head slightly. "Probably. But I guarantee you that she's currently in her own hell. And she can't get out without the devil knowing she's there."