He's Come Undone

Chapter 10: It Feels Right

~ ETHAN ~
I haven't been sleeping much. Every dream turns into a nightmare. I close my eyes, and it comes back to me, with a slight difference, every time. It happens the same way. I am in the hallway, drinking the blood, then the corpse bolts up at my face, and I see them. And they look terrified. And then I realise my fangs are buried in my mum, in Kai, in Macy, in Dex, in Lucas, in Tomi. I just can't handle it.

I don't know how many days it's been. I felt so wrong when Sommerville released a statement saying it was an accident. That it was an accidental death. Because it wasn't.
His name was Tim Brooks.
He has two daughters, Katelyn and Stephanie. He and his wife were divorced.
He was struggling financially.
And I killed him.
I tore a life away from its story. I ended the story... I ended it where it wasn't meant to end, and I can never change that.

I feel the ache in my shoulder rush through my back, and I roll onto my other side. Tomi is lying in his bed across the room, but I know he doesn't want to be there. He's probably awake right now. He's probably lost all trust in me. He's probably sleeping with a wooden stake. Let's hope that one's not a myth.
I reach over to my bedside table and collect my phone. The light bores into my eyeballs.
3:53am on Friday morning. I have a tutorial first thing in the morning.

"You're up too, hey?" Tomi's husky voice cuts through the silent atmosphere making up the room.
I nod, and then realising he can't see me, I speak out. "Yeah. Can't sleep."
"Neither, except mine is mostly because I share a room with a vampire." He's joking, but I know there's an element of seriousness behind it.
When I don't say anything, he tries again. "Listen, Ethan. I'm sorry. For saying those things that night, for ignoring you the past few days, for making you feel shitter than you probably already do."
"That's okay, I deserve it." I respond without thinking.
"No." He says loudly, making sure I hear him. "No. You don't. Macy told me what happened. Your 'story' or whatever. I read some of the articles, too. It's a tough situation to be in, I can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like. I'm sorry you have to go through that... and, good on you for getting this far." His voice started out strong, and at the end it had become soft and comforting. I could listen to it forever.
I could feel the tears streaming down my face already.
"Thanks, Tomi." I say quietly.
"If you ever need anything, I'm here for you." His soft voice rings through the room again, and I close my eyes. "Except for letting you drink my blood, that's slightly too far." He says, laughing. I can't help it, I laugh too.

~

~ JESSICA ~

Upon seeing the corpse, my suspicions are confirmed. There is a small puncture wound on the body's left forearm. I pick up the scalpel resting on the table to my left.
"May I?" I ask the pathologist, standing next to me. He shrugs, gesturing towards the body.
I place it 2cm above the puncture wound, and press it into the flesh, pulling it in a long line towards my body.
Before I ask for it, the pathologist moves into action, pulling the flesh apart and opening up the wound.
"Just as I expected." I say, throwing the scalpel back on the table and peeling off my gloves.
"Where is the blood?" The pathologist asked, shocked, looking at me while hunched over the corpse.
"Oh, I'm just the detective. You tell me, Dr Hajon." I smile, before turning around and walking out of the room.
Fucking vampires.

                                         ~

                               ~ ETHAN ~

Things are better now. I woke up this morning and everything just felt right. We're all seated at our table, making jokes and teasing each other.
"...so I go down stairs, and there's a fucking cop stood there, and I start stumbling and muttering and being a right fool, then it turns out this idiot rang them, trying to turn himself in for underage drinking!" Dex was telling us a story about Lucas' first time drinking alcohol when they were 16.
I can tell that he has grown affectionate of Mace. He watches her especially, making sure she's laughing. I hope she likes him. He would treat her right.
I look over at Tomi, laughing at Dex and Lucas as they mess around. His jaw is so strong, and the tanned skin stretching across his face perfectly complements his dark brown hair. It looks black until you really look at it. He has a cluster of freckles that nestle away on the tip of his nose, spreading out to the edges of his cheeks. His eyes might just look like they're brown, but when I look into them, I see colours I didn't even know existed.
"You right?" The eyes ask me.
"What? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I say quickly, tearing my eyes away from him and looking down at the chicken salad on my plate, using my fork to toss it around.

I feel Macy lean in to my left side. I look at her.
"How long have you liked him for?" She asks me.
I feel my face go numb. "What?"
"You like him, don't you?" Macy rephrased, still looking at me with that knowing expression.
I don't respond. I just look at him, and he's got his mouth open in that stupid smile, laughing at something Dex said.
"Alright, you don't have to tell m-" She gives in, starting to look away
"I do." I interrupt her, watching her blankly.
"What?" It's her turn to be dumbfounded.
"I do like him. I have ever since I met him." I confess.
Her face changes, turning soft as she starts making an "aww" noise which makes me shove her and laugh.
I look back at Tomi, and he's already looking at me. He smiles. A genuine smile, that makes his nose and the little freckles on it spread over his face.

I do like him.