The Original Hybrid

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It seems like my nightmares are stuck in a monthly cycle like the moon.

Some nights it will be a group of witches, surrounding me, slowly killing me, and chanting the same spell every time that I do not understand. Other nights it will be all of the people that I have killed, each of them breaking a single bone in my body, until every one of them is broken, and I can no longer move. Sometimes it is someone I love being killed, or me having to kill someone that I love.

Each nightmare is more terrifying than the last, but they always seem to come back each month.

Tonight’s nightmare was just like one that I had a few weeks ago. It started out completely fine; just some friends and I hanging around in a field, but then everything turned to shit. Their heads were suddenly ripped from their bodies, one by one, and thrown somewhere off in the distance. I tried to help them, but I couldn’t move from where I was sitting. Ants and other bugs started to climb all over my body. Then Stefan’s, who was sitting directly across from me, head went flying. The monster that was doing it all finally turned to look at me. All I saw was his hauntingly familiar eyes before it felt like my own head was ripped off of my body. Then everything was black.

I woke up with sweat dripping down my arms and Anna ripping off my blanket. Jane is standing in the doorway looking concerned, but it is hard to focus on her, so instead I choose to focus on my breathing.

Anna asks me the same question that she asks every single night, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Now, here’s the thing: I can’t talk about my nightmares. It’s this weird thing where even if I want to talk about them, I just end up shaking my head. It’s my first instinct. There was only one person in this world that I could talk to about the nightmares, but I don’t know where he is now.  

I shake my head and stand up from the bed. The pillowcase is soaked in sweat and I cringe. I walk towards Jane and nod at her when I pass by. “Is there any sweets downstairs? Like cookies?”

Jane gives a quick nod before grabbing hold of my arm. Usually my first instinct would be to throw her off of me, but instead Jane’s hand sends a much needed wave of calm through me and I let her bring me down the stairs. “Of course, darling,” She says when we reach the bottom. I smile to myself when she calls me darling because, even though I appear to be much younger than Jane, I am probably around one hundred years older than her. I do like being called darling, though. A good friend used to call me it.

I think that I need to get some friends, or at least some allies, in Mystic Falls.

~

 “Kari, are you sure that you want to go?” Anna asks for the fifth time within the past twenty minutes. She told me a few hours ago that she bumped into Jeremy Gilbert again at the Mystic Grill, and he mentioned that his school is having a 50s themed dance tonight. Anna is definitely going to go to try and get Jonathan Gilbert’s infamous journal, but I said that I wanted to tag along. The 50s were a pretty good time in my eternal life. Plus this way I can meet some of the locals and maybe even befriend some.

“Does this dress look okay?” I ask, ignoring Anna’s attempt to get me to stay home with Jane. She has been running around getting stuff for me all day long because she was so worried about me after my nightmare. She was able to get Anna and I a whole cart load of blood bags (turns out that our compelled friend Jane is a soon-to-be retired nurse).

Anna looks over at me annoyed and nods. “You look perfect. How about me?”

“You look normal!” I whine when I see her wearing the clothes she wears practically every damn day. “C’mon, I’ll even let you borrow one of my dresses!” I search through my recently filled closet for the rack labeled 1950s and immediately start to look for a dress for Anna to wear. I hold one up with purple floral print, but Anna just scrunches up her nose and shakes her head. I sigh and put the dress away.

“Why can’t I have a normal, girly best friend?” I ask myself, and this makes Anna laugh loudly. “You are so weird sometimes. Like, one minute you are willing to kill your own brother for revenge, and then the next you are complaining about me not wanting to wear a dress!” She laughs more and I roll my eyes.

“And I’m not going to this dance to have a good time. I’m on a mission,” Anna says as she ties her shoes.

“Missions to have Jeremy Gilbert fall in love with you?” I ask with a laugh as I slip my feet into bright red heels. She shoots me a glare before grabbing the car keys off of my bedside table and tossing them over to me. “You know that I’m dating Ben.” I snort and catch the keys. “That hasn’t stopped you before!”

“Oh. My. God! Do you ever shut up?”

I take a few practice steps in the heels before shrugging my shoulders. “Nope,” I say as I open the bedroom door and strut into the hallway. I’m not surprised to see Jane standing nearby at the top of the stairs. I shoot her a smile. Anna probably compelled her to stay near us in case we need anything urgent.  

“Have fun, darling!” She calls to me once I reach the bottom of the stairs. I have officially sworn to never drink from Jane. Who knows if I will go into some kind of feeding frenzy and end up killing her? Apparently the Ripper gene runs in my family! I’ll have to get Anna to swear off of feeding on her too because she is what you would call an emotional drinker. If she’s had a bad day, anyone within a ten-mile radius with no vervain running through their veins better watch out. “Thank you, Jane.”

“Annabelle Zhu, move your ass! We still have to be typical high schoolers and try to spike the punch bowl!”