Blanks and broken hearts

We Don't Believe What's On TV

  I feel the blood pounding in my ears. The heavy bass notes thunder through my stomach. Neon lights pulse. Foggy air fills the room. I'm gasping for breath. I feel as if I'm about to collapse. I shove through the mass of bodies, struggling towards an exit, fresh air, anything to replace this hell. I practically fall through the door when I finally reach it. It was a side exit, so now I'm stuck in a dingy alley in a shady part of town, with absolutely no friends or anyone to look out for me. I'm gonna die tonight. I'm going to die, and no one will even care. Fuck. I don't want to die. I look up as someone else trips through the door and stands, bracing themselves, palms flat against the wall. I stay quiet. Surely they won't be able to notice me? But for whatever reason, they do. They look up and lock eyes with me. And smirk. Then start stalking towards me. I clap a hand to my mouth, stifling my panicky breath and instinctively start to scramble backwards. My shoulders slam into a brick wall. Shit. I slide my hands down my pocket, searching for something, anything, to defend myself with. I find it. My knife. Late. Too late. The figure steps closer.

"What do you want?" I finally scrape the words from my throat.

"What I always want, honey. You." They're much closer to me now, freeing the blade of my knife from between my trembling fingers. I look up into the hazy yellow halo of light. Nothing.

"Why are you here?" I look at the ground now, at the space between my feet. My next words are a confused muddle of emotions. "You weren't supposed to be back till Friday."

He runs a thumb across the arch of my cheekbone. "And you, sweetheart, are not the only one who can change their schedule." His other hand slides down to rest on my hip.

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't. Just Fate interfering like always, hm? I just happened to see you drunkenly stumble over here. And then decided you might like some company. Was I right?"

I sigh. I'm sort of resigned to this situation now. "Aren't you usually?"

He smiles, and I see the dim light catch the spark in his eye. "I guess I am."

He moves his hand to the back of my head, twining his fingers in my hair and slowly tilting it to the side. His head moves to the base of my neck. Words catch in my throat again and I struggle to push him back. He chuckles against my skin.

"Uh uh uh honey, you don't get what you want until I get what I want. You should know by now that that's how it works." I sigh and lock my jaw, shutting my eyes to prepare for the worst. This was going to be excruciating.

Cranberry apologises for this, but she has said before that she sucks at romance - even if this isn't exactly a conventional romance scene. She is unsure whether she will expand on this or not. She probably will, in about a century. She looks forward to seeing you again at that time.

Oh and btw the girl is called Chris. It's short for Chrysanthemum, but no one calls her that because that's a dumb name. This chapter is called 'We don't believe what's on TV' because that is a great song by a great band and because the guy is a vampire and you shouldn't believe the mythology about vampires on TV.

- Cranberry