The Curse

Chapter Three- Finding Kuroji

     When I open my eyes, I am in my mother's shaky arms.
"Are you...alright...?" my mom mumbles.
She looks a lot paler than usual.
"Wha...what happened...?" I ask, my fuzzy vision getting clearer as I wake up more.
"I figured you ran off since you were taking abnormally long. I knew you'd call Kuroji. I went to your tree place, and I found you...here. You were...low on blood. I let you have some of mine," she says. "Here's an important thing a remember: All vampires—except for royal vampires, who have the purest of blood—have the same blood type flowing within them. So it's always okay to mix blood with another common vampire. Which is convenient for a time like this."
"But...are you okay?" I ask, sitting myself up.
"I'm fine. I am older and have drunk more human blood than you have, so I can handle this," she explains with a smile. But she frowns before she continues. "Vampires...need to drink human blood. It's what keeps us alive, as well as what enables us to have such fast regeneration properties. It's...a good thing you drank some before you were stabbed or else...well, let's just say it would have taken a lot more of my blood to bring you back."
I stay silent, trying to process it all.
"But...what exactly happened?" my mom presses on for details, brushing a strand of brown hair out of my face and behind my ear. "You were able to press those herbs into your wound yourself, then?"
"Huh...?" I mumble, looking down.
The wound in my chest has stopped bleeding and looks like it's starting to heal itself. I take the herbs off it and look at them.
I see that Kuroji must have found the yarrow patch and picked some for me before...before...oh, no.
"Mom! We need to look for Kuroji, now!" I yell. "He...he could be dead!"

     We run around at top speed looking for him. We follow his scent...something I didn't even know we could do until now...to the outskirts of the forest. And...there he is.
He is lying on the ground in a puddle of blood, and his head looks like it must've cracked up against a rock when he fell.
"Kuroji," I gasp, fighting back tears. "It's...it's my fault...!"
"Honey, it's okay! We'll help him! We'll...um..." Mom says, nervously.
"There's nothing we can do. You could save me, but you can't save him!" I yell, starting to panic.
"Listen! We can take him to the hospital." Mom says, staying calm.
"Where is it!?" I yell, carefully picking up Kuroji. We need to go now. Every second counts.
"Follow me. Quickly!" Mom takes off.
I follow close behind.
We sprint to the hospital. It only takes a few minutes to get there.
Mom pushes open the doors and runs to the first person she sees, which is a nurse looking quite bored.
Well, that's about to change.
"What's wrong?" the nurse asks, alarmed at the sudden commotion.
Then she sees Kuroji.
"Oh...right this way!" she says, suddenly calm and focused like she knows what to do.
She takes us down a hall to the emergency station.
She beelines to a doctor with glasses and brown, neatly combed hair.
After speaking with the nurse, the doctor smiles at us reassuringly and takes Kuroji.
He quickly enters a room and tells us to stay out.
I practically beg him to let me stay.
"No! No...please. I...I need to stay with him!" I plead, not really thinking rationally at this point, just needing to know he's okay.
"Listen, I know you are worried, but we'll be able to do the best we can if we have as much room to work as possible." the doctor instructs.
But when he sees my negative reaction, he turns to my mom.
"Ma'am, will you please escort her and yourself out." he orders.
"Mom, please! No!"
"I'm sorry, honey." Mom grasps me by my shoulders and pushes me out.
She sits me down in a chair. Then she kneels down to envelope me in a hug.
Eventually, I settle down and feel ashamed of the way I acted.
When seconds counted, I may have delayed them from helping him for a few.
And...I'm the one who caused this in the first place.

I wait anxiously for what feels like hours, with no update on how things are going in Kuroji's room, when finally he steps out.
"...We have stitched up his wounds, but...he lost a lot of blood. He needs more. Do either of you have the same blood type as him...?"
We both look at each other and immediately say no.
"Do you know of any relatives who may?" he asks.
Mom explains to him that Kuroji is an orphan. The doctor pauses.
"Well...I don't know what to tell you," he says, shaking his head. "We don't have enough of his blood type in our blood bank to help him."
What...what if he dies? It will be all my fault. I...am starting to hate myself.
Mom sighs, and then speaks.
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait here while—"
"We'll help...in any way we can!" I cut in.
Mom pauses.
"...If it's okay with you." Mom finally says to the doctor.
"I suppose there are ways you can help. Just try not to get in the way." the doctor says, motioning for us to follow him.

     We are walking through the maze-like halls of the hospital, when we finally get the question from the doctor we were waiting for.
"So, how did that kind of injury happen?" he asks, glancing at Mom first, then me.
I stay quiet.
I start to shiver a bit.
I feel like he can hear my heart beating, like he can see every slight twitch my body makes.
"We don't...know, exactly," my mom answers. "Nobara here was walking through the forest with him. She left Kuroji for just a second to pick some raspberries, but when she came back, he was like...that." Mom rubs the temple on the right side of her head, looking bewildered.
The doctor nods his head, looking forward.
"At least, that's what she told me when I asked. She was pretty shaken up...and still is, as you can tell." Mom sighs, patting my back. She shakes her head in sorrow.
I study my mother's face.
Everything from her wide eyes to her frown makes me believe that what she's saying is true, even though we both know it's not.
And because of how smoothly she lied, it makes me wonder how many other times she has lied about incidents like this.
How many other times has she lied to me?
"Hmm. That sounds very interesting," the doctor says. "I saw bite marks and claw marks. Maybe a wild animal...?"
I gulp.
"Maybe," I say. "We...we were pretty deep into the forest."
I shouldn't have tried to tell Kuroji.
How stupid was I for deciding that was a good idea? I can't believe I didn't consider the possibility of this new transformation bringing on blood lust.
We get to a room with file cabinets.
"That blood type of Kuroji's sounded kind of familiar," the doctor mutters, starting to look through the files. "I thought one of my co-workers had that blood type."
We start to help him look through the staff files.
I gasp in relief when I find it.
Out of all of the hospital workers, only one has Kuroji's blood type. But hopefully one is all he will need.

     "Karen! Would you please be willing to donate blood to a young, injured boy?" the doctor asks the woman when we finally find her.
A huge weight lifts off my shoulders, and I feel hope.
"Uh...I...I don't think I can. Sorry." the woman replies.
Now the weight has dropped back down. "What!?" I shout. "You...you work at a hospital!"
The woman looks at me, surprised, and fidgets her hands together nervously.
"I...I am so sorry, but I don't do needle and blood stuff. I...I'm new here, and I'm just a receptionist!" the woman stutters.
"Please, ma'am!" the doctor pleads. "You may be the reason he sees another day...or not!"
And so she sits, arguing with the doctor, as time slips away.
As Kuroji's life slips away.
And once again, it sends my mind back to the day I met Kuroji.

     We both walked into my house.
Mom walked out of the kitchen, carrying chicken noodle soup in a pot for lunch. Her brown hair was pulled into a messy-bun, and she was wearing a faded blue apron.
Her smile faded into a frown when she saw Kuroji.
"Nobara, who is this!?" she snapped.
"This is my new friend, Kuroji. We met at the park. He is an orphan." I said, calmly.
She smiled once again, and looked like she felt a little guilty.
"Well...he can join you for some chicken noodle soup if he would like!" she said, brightening up.
Kuroji showed his teeth in a big smile.
"I'm not used to...well...good food for lunch." Kuroji laughed.
I smiled, laughing as well.
He was the first friend to ever make me laugh.
We sat down and ate soup and crackers.
He told me of the harsh discipline in his orphanage, and I told him of my annoying early bed-times.
We both liked to color, we discovered.
But the best part of that play-date was when he was waving goodbye.
As he walked back to the orphanage, he looked back at me and said, "See you tomorrow!"
That's when I knew. He is a true friend. He won't run away like the rest.

     And he never did.
Until I turned into that beast.