Fates (On Hold, Rewriting)

Chapter 1 UPDATED

*Please note that I am in the process of re-writing this story, because I feel the new twist I am taking will open up many new opportunities. I will, of course, try to write and upload as quickly as possible. Until I am completely finished, parts between chapters and the story-line as a whole may not entirely make sense. I am trying to stick to the main stroy line, but there are major things that I am working on changing. As I upload, I will write UPDATED on the chapter title, so you know what is the new and improved.*

I hope you still read and enjoy! :)

Chapter 1

             “The pull of a trigger—a split second,” Dad told me. “That’s all the time it takes for a vampire to reach you. That’s all the time it takes for it to cover the distance between the two of you.”

            My mind drifts back to that conversation. I was six years old at the time and that’s when they decided to fill me in on the horrors of the real world. I had started to demand answers as to why I was left with a babysitter practically every night as they went out with friends. I guess they just got tired of telling me I wasn’t old enough to be left home alone. They told me about everything—vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, leviathan and all the other things that form the story line in horror books. They explained to me that they were going hunting every night when they went out with their friends. I was horrified, even though I didn’t entirely understand what that meant. The only thing that registered in my mind was this: all the monsters in horror films are real.   

            Since then I’ve come a long way from being terrified of the harsh reality of the world. At seventeen years old, I’m highly trained in tae kwon do. (My parents started training me shortly after telling me they are hunters.) I know how to shoot a gun. I am able to throw a knife at a target one hundred feet away and hit it squarely where the heart would be. I am lethal.

            But I’m also lonely.

            I haven’t attended public school since I was in kindergarten. Instead, I am home schooled, because we are on the road so much. However, this isn’t home schooling that’s been approved by the State or anything like that. The government doesn’t know who we are. We don’t exist. How is this possible? Let me explain. We have friends who forge practically anything that we need, including death certificates, driver’s licenses, passports—anything and everything that we need to stay off the radar. We only use cash for purchases. Credit cards leave a paper trail, which we cannot have.

            I have no friends my age and I’ve never had a boyfriend. Sometimes I think this isolation will drive me to insanity, but at other times I know it’s a good thing. A lesson that I learned early on is that friendship only leads to pain. Anything precious to you is something that they can use against you. It’s best to not love anyone.

            It’s times like this, when we are preparing for a hunt, that I wonder what my life would have been like if I was born to another family. Would I be the popular girl in school? What would my friends be like? Is that a boyfriend in the picture?! There are so many variables that would be different if I didn’t lead this lifestyle. And while I can only guess and imagine the “what-ifs”, I do know the following things:

1.     If I had been born to different parents I wouldn’t know about vampires or werewolves or any of that stuff.

2.     If I had been born to different parents I would have a proper education. One that would give me stress over finals.

3.     If I had been born to different parents I would actually have friends I am allowed to care about.

I sigh as I slip a silver dagger into my boot.