Origins Unkown

Part 3 (Tess's Enlightenment)

As the day began Tess yawned and rubbed her eyes. The sun was so bright it was blinding.

"What the hell is going on with me?" She felt sick to her stomach and had the worst headache she can ever remember having.

She thought back over the last few days and couldn't think of anything she had done that would have made her sick. Tess crawled out of bed and stumbled to her bathroom. After a quick shower and a fast brush through her hair, she grabbed some clothes and headed downstairs for a bite to eat.

The sun was even brighter outside. Newroy was so hot this time of year. She had to squint because it felt like the sun was burning her eyes. When she made it to her car, she fumbled around with her keys, got in, and quickly put on her sunglasses. The drive to work was such a blur. All the buildings seem to run together. The cars, on the other hand, seemed to be moving in slow motion. By the time she got to work she couldn't remember how she had gotten there.

The Concord building was tall and silvery. The bottom three floors were windowless, but the rest of the floors were nothing but windows. Tess walked around the backside to her studio and was met by her friend and coworker Jessy.

"Okay Tess. We have a full and complete day. To begin..." Jessy stopped. "You okay? You look a little pale." Tess snapped out of her trance and looked at Jessy.

"I'm fine. I just didn't sleep much last night. I think I may have gotten a bug or something. I'll be fine. Just load me up with coffee and cake on the make-up and we can get rolling." Tess gave Jessy her best fake smile.

"Okay, if you're sure. I'll get you that coffee and you get to make-up." As Jessy walked away Tess headed to her make-up chair. She sat down and her mind began to race. She was thinking of a hundred things at once. What bug did she have? Or was she pregnant?

"No." she thought. "You have to be exposed to get pregnant." While the tech put her face together, the room started to spin. She felt even sicker to her stomach and broke out in a cold sweat, which made the tech cuss. Then, before she knew it, she had thrown up everywhere. The tech screamed, cussed and stomped away. Jessy flew over.

"What the hell is going..? Oh my god! Tess are you okay? We need to get you to the hospital." Jessy tries to pull Tess up off the floor.

"No, really, I'm fine." Tess says resisting.

"Fine! You threw up blood! You're going to the damn hospital. Now! Get up and I'll help you to my car." Jessy grabbed what she could on the way out. She had to practically drag Tess out to the car.

As Tess laid in Jessy's backseat, all she could think about was the blood. Where had all that blood come from? Was she dying? As she rolled a hundred questions through her head she broke out in the cold sweat again. This time she didn't throw up though, she leaned up. All she could think about was the blood and how much she needed to drink it.

Tess opened her eyes and expected to be in a hospital bed with Jessy sitting next to her. Instead, she woke to total darkness.

"Where am I?" She said trying to make her eyes adjust faster to the darkness.

"You are perfectly safe here." Said a voice from nowhere.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Tess tried to look around to see who was talking, but the room was too dark.

"You are in my home. My name is none of your concern for the time being. You need rest and the dark. They will help you through this time. Rest now. I'll check on you again later." Then there was silence.