Bloodsuckin'

Athmosphere. P6

Belleville High School was the least nourishing environment Frank believed could possibly exist. The students were either challenged, or spent their days challenging others. The atmosphere of unrest was not exclusive to the inhabitants; the lights were dull and often flickered - which set off the Kill Bill sirens in Frank's head, following his regular staying awake all night watching horror movies. Suddenly, however, the building became remarkably more unsettling, considering the life-changing knowledge that vampires are no longer creatures of fiction, and are notably dangerous, as Frank discovered in the school bathroom. Frank's constitution had undergone a dramatic change, him now flinching at the slightest tap of a lunch tray as it drops onto a metal cafeteria table, a door slamming shut, or the screech of car tyres. As a somewhat placebo method of self defence, he began to carry a sharpened pencil in his back pocket, believing it to be the perfectly engineered balance between weaponry and mundane household obje.

Describing Frank as an interesting character would be understating the emotional juxtaposition he embodies, and Gerard knew there was no seeing through his peculiar thought patterns and complex personality. He displayed emotion very visibly, frustratedly and straightforwardly stomping through various moods that disservice the nuanced emotions hidden within.

Gerard lay on his bed the evening following the bathroom disaster, recollecting various moments from his patchy memory. He was propped up on his elbows, for his back was swollen and bruised from hitting the floor the previous day. He was, once again, fiddling with his ring as he bitterly pieced together and replayed the events from the fateful afternoon. He slid it off his middle finger and held it up, outstretching his right arm. He squinted at the intricately cut rose quartz inlay, as a sunset-orange ray of light fought its way through a scratch in Gerard's blacked-out window, and danced through the murky layers within the gemstone. Gerard's internal conflict came to a head as a smile tickled the corners of his mouth.

Deep in thought, he fell back onto his tender right shoulder, lifting him out of the depths of his peculiar mind, and instinctively slipped his ring back onto his middle finger. He turned onto his side with a sharp intake of breath, pressed his right hand onto his forehead, brought it down to his throat to pull a trapped strand of hair back onto his soft pink pillow, and nestled into it for a nap.

Frank was having a slightly more restless night. He heard a clink in the dark, and was attempting to convince himself it was a spare lightbulb rolling in the corner of the room, despite being well aware that they were kept downstairs. Frank curled up beneath to his duvet, expecting the worst - a flash of violence, a hand suddenly pinning down his forehead, a sharp swoop to his neck and the tight feeling of suffocation to compliment the blood dripping down his throat. Frank felt as if he were anticipating the drop on a roller coaster, and knew he was working himself into a state.

He tossed his covers off and sat up to turn his lamp on, but threw the duvet back over himself before he could reach the switch, having heard a tap against the window - a dewy leaf falling and hitting the glass.

His thoughts drifted to Gerard as he sat on the edge of the bed, cocooned in his duvet. Frank always quietly knew Gerard could make a difference in the world with his mind, his hands - his ability to create, however, in the last day, he had transformed into a figure of physical power, and the power he possessed was beyond frightening. Frank's greatest concern was formerly whether he'd get the spicy fries before they ran out at lunch, whereas he presently felt indisputably unsafe in this world that was presumably filled with equally terrifying beings.

Conjuring an image of the infinite forces of evil hiding in the undergrowth, Frank could not help but also picture Gerard by his side, standing together against immortal darkness. He released a deep breath he was unaware he was holding, pulled his right hand out from his duvet cocoon and rubbed his temples as he realised just how truly invaluable his companion is. Gerard completed Frank, both emotionally and socially, however, with vampirism entering the picture, Gerard may be able to offer another benefit.
"What if," Frank whispered between laboured breaths. "What if he learned to control it?"

AN/ 5 years later - I'm only just realising what I've gotten myself into by I deciding to finish this fic lol