Blank Tables

Chapter 3

Some say that death is like falling into a black hole of nothingness, weightless and silent before being pulled back to life. For Hunter, it was exactly like that, drifting in the absolute of nothing. floating somewhere completely unable to be comprehended. 

He'd always wondered exactly what death was like and what really happens. Every human alive has, some people think they know what may happen afterwards, but the truth is nobody really knows. Here he was, experiencing death himself and even he didn't know. The only thing he knew at that moment was relaxation of the mind and body. The weightless feeling he had reminded him of being a little kid and floating down a warm river in the summertime. 

It brought him back to how he felt when he was a child. careless, happy and free. The corruption in the world had not touched him yet, and all was perfect for the time he had that way. He usually hadn't given it much thought when he was alive, the way his childhood was. playing outside in the summer evenings, camping, smoke from the fireplace at his old home during cold winters, and spending time with his family. Of course he still spent time with them but not as much, since he'd gotten older. 

His mother Meg, seemed ageless to him, always beautiful and loving no matter what happened. His father, Evan, was a little more strict. He believed in tough love, but still it was always love in even the worst of times. To him they had always been heroes, healing him when he got hurt, making sure he was always prepared for whatever happened. When he was in first grade, he had a bully who tormented him every day of school, and when Hunter's parents found out, they taught him how to box so he could defend himself. 

The reality of what had actually happened sank in, giving him a feeling like he had a hole in his chest. He would never be able to see his parents again. After all the times he was afraid he would loose them to a car accident or any one of the hundreds of ways to die, after all the times he'd been afraid they'd suddenly vanish without a trace and leave him all alone, it was him who had left them. He'd gone and gotten himself killed and left them all alone. 

Hunter sat up, instantly awake from what he knew had been a horrible dream. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and rested his head in his hands, trying to force the dream out of his head. He looked over at his clock and saw that it was 3:46 in the morning. He shook his head as he stood up and shuffled to his bathroom, trying to shake off the grogginess from his sleep. 

He turned on the light and squinted against it's bright glare, trying to adjust his eyes to the brightness. When he could finally open his eyes all the way, he was shocked at how pale he was. His face was sunken in as well, his skin even looked much thinner than it was probably supposed to, veins clearly seen through the almost white skin. His eyes however were brighter than they had ever been before. Normally a darker blue color with green closer to his pupils, his eyes almost seemed to glow, and quite frankly looked like the only remotely alive thing about his features. A dark black line surrounded his irises too, like after looking around in a dark room for a long time. He looked sick, unhealthy with not even a hint of color in his cheeks. He stared at his reflexion, zoning out as he looked into the mirror.  

A knock on the door drew him back to reality and he shot his hand towards the doorknob before the knocking was even over. As the door opened he looked down at his hand in shock of how fast he'd been. The skin on the back of his hands was thin as well, the veins clearly visible like the ones he could see on the sides of his face. 

"Hunter?" said a familiar accented voice, "how do you feel?"

Another wave of confusion crossed over Hunter as he lifted his head up to look at him. Sasha was standing before him, concern deeply rooted in his eyes. In his dream, Sasha had been there and here was, asking how he felt. Hunter lifted his hands to the left side of his neck and felt for what he dreaded being there. As his fears were confirmed, he spun towards the bathroom mirror to look at his neck. He pushed his shaggy hair out of the way and let his eyes fall on the two bite marks. 

"Hunter you were bitten," Sasha said, resting a hand on Hunter's shoulder, "You're a vampire."

At first what he had said didn't register in his mind. He let out a snort of laughter, turning towards the man, with a very skeptical smirk resting upon his lips. 

"So is your Mother, your Father, your, Uncle, and even me too," He said, with the look in his eyes he only got when he had something serious to say. Like the time he came to tell them that Meg's Mother had died. 

"I always knew you were fucking crazy!" Hunter shouted at him, "why wont you just tell me what happened damnit!"                                                                                                                                                              Sasha then opened his mouth to reveal fangs about 3/4 of an inch long, that then retracted into his gums.

"Language Hunter," he scolded him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Hunter opened his mouth in silent astonishment and stumbled backwards, almost falling into the shower. 

"WHAT THE FRICK ARE THOSE?!" Hunter screamed at him, his eyes almost bugging out of his skull,

"For Christ's sake somebody shut the dead boy up," Travis was obviously getting annoyed with all the shouting, "My ears are extra sensitive tonight and I would also like to avoid having noise complaints from nosey neighbors."

"I wish you wouldn't say that," Sasha replied, "It's very unbecoming."

"Travis, what do you mean dead boy?" Hunter asked, staring at his uncle, "what the Hell is going on?"

Sasha ran his hand through long his shaggy dark hair, feel your pulse Hunter."                                               Hunter brought his hand up to his neck, waiting to feel the familiar pulsing under his skin, but felt nothing. He then felt at the base of his neck, then his wrist and still felt absolutely nothing. He then tried tried holding his breath for a little bit and then letting it go, knowing that it would make his heart beat faster and harder than it normally ever would without strenuous exercise, but to his surprise, he didn't even feel the need to exhale even after 30 seconds.

"What is he doing?" asked a very impatient Travis, who looked like all he wanted to do was go drink another hundredth cup of coffee, who after another half a minute of silent waiting, did just that. 

"I'm sorry Hunter," said  Sasha solemnly, "if there was something I could do to help you know I would." Hunter just let the air out of his lungs and stared at the ground in astonishment at what he'd just been through in the last 24 hours.

"This is really real isn't it?" he asked, scared to hear Sasha's answer.

"Yes it is Hunter," He said solemnly "I wish it weren't but it's all too real. And there are some things we need to talk about, that is concerning what you now are."

Hunter nodded and looked down to his feet and listened as the surprisingly light footsteps of his six foot tall friend made their way down the house. He let his attention to them go and instantly the sound faded away from his head. He had always had some sort of element to his that intrigued and interested Him as long as he could remember. It all made sense now, the way he was always calm and collected, the times he showed reflexes that didn't even seem humanly possible. Thinking about it now, Hunter realized so many things about him that would never made any sense before. 

Hunter looked back up to his reflection and stared into his bright eyes again. Looking at them again after receiving the news about what he was made him realized just how unhealthy he looked. He could pass for maybe being sick but he would have to do something about his eyes. They were unnaturally bright and he would have to probably buy contacts to cover them up. 

Shaking his head he turned his attention towards the doorway again and looked out into the darkness of the hallway, which when he focused on more than usual, in a way strangely became almost lighter, and he could see into the cracks and corners of the house like he had night vision. Maybe, he thought, maybe this all wasn't so bad.