Wild Flowers

Chapter 16

Ember begins to hyperventilate, and I crouch down beside her, but she shies away from me. "Don't." She warns. I glance at the clock. 8:45. Not long to persuade her. She glances nervously at me every few moments, then quickly turns away. After a while, she swallows and looks back at me. "There's no plausible way you could have done that." She says.

"Unless I wasn't plausible.Unless I wasn't human." I say back. She gulps and looks at me with wide eyes.

"So what are you then?"  

I shrug. "I don't know. But what I do know is that it's all true, Em. I may be something unknown, but plenty breeds of the supernatural exist." I lean in close. "That's why I think I can save you." Ember stands up on shaky legs and leans against the wall. She plays with the strings that she's tied to her wrists.

"So I can be like you?" She asks, a look of fear and hopefulness filling her human eyes.

"Well..." I hesitate and just shake my head.

"Then what, Ashleigh? You can't just destroy my perception of the world, give me a false sense of optimism. Just say it straight!" She sobs. I can tell that her emotions are all over the place, and I realise how scary this must be.

"Vampires." I say quietly. I put my hand up to stop her.  "Hear me out." I say and she nods. "This way you can still live. You can have friends..." 

"Blood-sucking, murderous, friends!" I give her a look that tells her to be quiet.

"May I remind you that I am not a murderer. But also that you can choose to victimize your friendly neighbourhood paedophiles and rapists. I'm not saying that taking a life can ever be excused, but also you could save lives, Ember! Help prevent people dying due to human stupidity, but also help cure diseases. I have wasted my extra time on Earth that I have been blessed with. But I'm so thankful that I did, otherwise I would not have met you, Ember." I collapse on the floor, my energy suddenly gone.

We sit in silence for a time, both of us lost in our thoughts. I suddenly let out a low moan and burst into tears. Whether Ember fakes her death, or dies in real life, I will be leaving here. Leaving the friends I have made , but also the human love that I have been re-aquainted with. Adam will go on to live his life. He will faintly remember the fiery british girl who he once fell for. He will continue on with his life, finding love over and over again through out college, and his young life. But then he will find another girl, a woman this time and they will fall so hard for each other that they decide to get married. And one day, as he tucks his young daughter into bed, she will ask about love. Is it only in movies? And he will answer no, otherwise why would he and mommy be together? But there are different kinds of love, and each one teaches you a lesson. 

I have come to realise in my time on earth that I tend to have heightened senses. But this also applies for emotions. I knew that I should keep my heart protected, hidden behind locked doors, immune to mortals. But I am weak. I know this, and yet I put myself in the position of loss time and time again.

Ember watches me with concern and curiosity. She crouches down beside me and pulls me into a hug. "Your lonely existence must be very tiresome." She says and I looks at her in confusion. "Let's be alone together." She winks at me.

"We can stay young forever." I laugh faintly through my tears.

"And this time we will." She says and we both laugh at our silly references. I stand up and dust off my leggings. 

"Go and enjoy Christmas, Ember. But we need you at your strongest, so meet me at 20 minutes past midnight on the night of the 30th." She nods silently and leaves.

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