Vampiric Experiment

Chapter 11

As Jasper and I sat on the couch in the living room, the front door opened.
"That must be mom." He mumbled.
"Sweetie?" A loud voice yelled from the door. "I'm home!"
I looked over my shoulder and saw a tall woman with dark hair come into view. She put her green iPhone down on the island marble counter and looked at Jasper with large eyes.
"Hey, mom." Jasper greeted her, getting off the couch to face her. She smiled at him. Then her eyes landed on me. That joyous smile disappeared faster than lightening.
"Who's this?" She sounded upset, but I knew she was trying to hide it. Most likely just to have an attempt at being polite. Guess ol' Jasper doesn't bring girls around to often. Or he does and his mom's just fed up with it.
Remembering the lie Jasper told me, I responded as cheerfully as I could. "I'm here to help with a school project."
"Oh," Her smile returned to her face. "I'm sorry for being so rude. I've had a very busy day at work." She glanced at her phone.
"Yeah." Jasper gave me a quick smile in approval at my lie. "Her name is Halo."
"You've never told me about a Halo." She looked back at Jasper.
Jasper shrugged casually. "Don't usually hang out with her." It's amazing how one can come up with a lie so easily. It's like story telling. But more pervasive.
"I see. Well," She turned back to me. "Make yourself at home. Are you staying for dinner?"
Jasper answered before I could. "Of course she will! And uh...can she spend the night?"
His mother looked taken back. "Spend the night? Not in your room I hope."
"No no." He laughed. "In the guest room."
"Well...alright then." She hesitated. It was obvious that she didn't like the thought, but she accepted it none the less.
"Thank you." I smiled at them both. I should try to look as happy as I can. Just to prove that I can be trusted. The mother nodded and headed upstairs.
"Man...that was surprising." Jasper smiled at me. "She actually let you stay. I was all prepared for a fight and everything."
"Guess I'm just that charming." I flipped my hair with a giggle.
Jasper chuckled. "I guess you are." He flipped off the television. "Come on, we should be in my room and act like we're being productive." He started walking to the staircase. I got up and followed behind him.

***

I sat at the dinner table, nervously staring at my plate of pasta. The smell of all the food surrounding me was nauseating. How can I eat this if the smell alone is making me sick? But I should eat something, so I don't look suspicious. I glanced at the mother and son sitting at the opposite head of the table. They were talking about what they should do for his grandmothers up coming birthday, thankfully paying no mind to me. I looked back down at my food. It was like it was taunting me.
I really wish I had some blood right now. The thought crawled into my brain before I had the choice to stop it. I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts all together.
No no no! Start thinking like that and there'll be no stopping the virus. I had to get it together and stop acting so paranoid.
"Halo?" I jolted my head towards the voice. It was Jasper's very concerned looking mother. "Are you feeling alright? You having even touched your food."
"O-oh. Yeah. I'm fine." I forced the corners of my mouth to perk up to a smile, and picked up the fork. "I was just thinking."
"We did have a long day of working together." Jasper cut in.
"You should eat something then." She advised me, taking a bite out of her pasta. "Feed that brain of yours."
I nodded and toke a bite out of my own pasta. I nearly vomited it back up as soon as it hit my stomach. But some how I kept it down. I continued to eat slowly. Bit by bit. Until half the plate was gone. By then Jasper and his mother were already done. I got up as Jasper did, and toke my plate to the sink. He toke it and washed the food off both our dishes. As he did so, I ran to the upstairs bathroom and locked the door. Then let it all out in the toilet. All the food I had just ate, gone. I flushed when I was done, and washed my mouth with water as best I could. Even though it didn't help with the horrible taste in my mouth. As I rinsed my mouth with water for the tenth time, there was a knock on the door.
"Halo? You okay in there?" It was Jasper's voice. "It sounds like you're sick."
"I'm fine." I replied shakily. He must have left it at that, cause there was no reply from him.
I'm making a giant joke of myself. I glared at myself in the mirror. Somehow I look worse than I did earlier just today. It looks like I'm getting paler by the minute. Unexplainable anger started to boil in my chest. Why did this have to happen to me? Out of all the people in the world, why me? I hate them. I hate the people who did this to me. Who think of me as nothing more than numbers on some chart. Who toke away my tan. My hunger for normal food. My humanity. No. I still have my humanity. I'm not about to lose that. I sighed, trying to release some of my bottled up emotions through my breath.
It didn't work.