A Girl in the Shadows

Chapter Twenty

 I stepped back, pinched myself, then pinched myself again. Our paths had crossed, and this was really happening. Molly's eyes were changing. I saw the same fear I'd seen just a week ago. She picked her head up to look past me at Jen. It fell right back down onto her stack of pillows.

"Hey, Jen," she said. No response. "Jen!"

Jen took out one of her earbuds and turned. "Yeah?"

Molly pointed to my backpack. "We're gonna drink for a little bit."

"What? But you're sick!"

"I'm going to do it whether or not you say so. So, you can stick around, or you can leave," Molly said.

Jen sighed. "Fine. I'll be over at the library."

I stood there in silence as Jen packed up her laptop and was out of the room seconds later. The door slammed shut. I got closer to Molly's bedside.

"Jen's a goody-two-shoes," Molly said weakly. "She always leaves when I tell her that. She think's we'll get in trouble."

"You really know who I am?" I asked.

She squinted. "Yeah. You're in my creative writing class. Do you have what I asked you about? My homework and the weed?"

"You wanted weed? That's what you need my help for?" I sighed. "We aren't classmates, Molly." Near my hip, there was a table that matched the pattern of her sheets. She had a chair at her desk that looked the same. I reached for the pair of glasses on the table and handed them to her. "I guess you're blind as a bat without these. Now it all makes sense."

Molly put the glasses on and her eyes were still squinting. "Are you sure you're not in my writing class? There's a girl who looks just like you—"

"No! I'm an artist, not a writer!" I said through grit teeth. "It's me, Taliah! The one who bit you!" I pointed to my shaven fangs. "I shaved these down, so I could go around unnoticed. I'm here to help you."

"Bit me?" She reached up and felt her neck. "What are you talking about? I thought this was just a really bad hickey."

I rolled my eyes. "For heaven's sake, were you really that plastered that you don't even know what happened? Do you really think all you have is the flu right now?" I put my hands atop my head. "Is this really happening? This can't be happening."

"I don't get it," Molly said.

"Molly Fitzpatrick, you...you're—" Go out and say it, Tali. Scare her, why don't you? That always works out well, doesn't it? I took a breath. "Do you remember what happened last Saturday?"

"Hmm," she said, putting her finger to her lip. "I left this awesome party with my friend and this weird girl tried to steal my purse. The next thing I know, I was waking up in Proctor Park with my shoes and my purse like, gone." She shrugged. "I figured I just walked my friend to her room and then blacked out on the way back. I just ran back here, and I've had the flu or something ever since."

I rubbed my face in my palms. "Molly, you really don't recognize me?" She shook her head. I put my hood up. "How about now."

"I don't know. You really look like the girl in my writing class."

My blood was boiling. "You bumbling idiot! It was me! I was the one who tried to steal your purse!" She was still. I pressed on. "You don't have the flu. I bit you. My name is Taliah. I'm a vampire, and you are too. You have the chills and feel weak because you've been transforming into something else. You can't eat because you only want blood. You need it to survive."