DUSK

two

Tess met me at the door, dressed in overalls and covered in grime.    

"The composter needed some cleaning." she said, distractedly.

"I believe I met one of your old friends at school today." I said, hanging my pack and keys on a hook in the entryway.

"Lawrence, I presume?" she said, removing her rubber gloves.

"If 'Lawrence' wears tinted glasses and teaches at Shadow High, then yeah.  Him."  She sighed heavily.

"He helped me today," I said, plopping down in a chair at the kitchen counter.

Tess' eyes furrowed in concern. "Your eyes are black." 

Before I could move to make my own, she was preparing a drink of synthetic for me.

"Maybe you should just stay home.  Did you-...?" 

"-No. But it was close. You didn't say it could be like that." I said, and even now I shuddered at the memory of just how thoroughly the craving had had me.

"Could I have?" Tess said, turning the knob on the crockpot to low.

I paused, thinking.  She was right, there was no way she could have described the level of need I would have.  "No."

"Well, you're away. You should keep your distance from now on. You're not mature enough to handle it," she said.

I sighed heavily.  "Sometimes, I think you forget, the child is the shell."

"You forget I'm still well your elder." Tess said planting her hands on her hips. "You still have much to learn, young one." 

"Will I feel different tomorrow?" I asked.

"The desire will still be there, though it will be suppressible, unlike today. But our supply isn't endless.  You need to hunt." she said handing me the warm cup.

"I know." I replied.

~~~

I'm not a fan of television. Reading books and observing the world, including people are what I enjoy. These things are infinitely more interesting to my heightened senses.

We don't sleep.

I do 'rest', laying prone for a time, with my mind restlessly traveling all the places I've been and have yet to go, but never true sleep.  That, I did before the nightfall allowed me to go out and hunt.  

I brought down a coyote.

The next morning when I got to school, I saw Will walking in the parking lot. His footsteps angled in my direction and I tensed, waiting for that inevitable crushing wave of tension to press in upon me.

He thankfully stopped a few paces outside of my personal space, instinctively keeping his distance.

"Hey, Ibis. You feeling better?" he said, his head tipped to the side to better meet my eyes, lowered as they were on my short frame.

"Yes. I am. Thanks."

I offered a smile, but still, I felt it. It grated like starving man's hunger pangs.

I did my best to hide it from my expression.

"Good. Listen," he said, following me into the school.

"My sister, she likes to bag on me. I don't go through girls like toilet paper. I'm not a jerk or anything."

I laughed.