Egbert

Worry

This is bad. That goes without saying. But I'm going to say it anyway. "This is bad" I whisper to myself, sitting in crumbled heap against my bedroom door. The minute my mother answered me I bolted, casually of course to avoid suspicion, but bolted nonetheless. Scarlett has my blood in her system. She's one stab wound away from becoming undead, the very thing she doesn't want. Usually I wouldn't be so worried given how rare it is for someone as healthy as her to up and die like that but in her line of work I suppose it isn't that rare. What do I do? I can't tell her she's only just starting to trust me. She's forgiven me for feeding her my blood but I don't think she'll be as gracious if she finds out what it can do to her. Alright I need to calm down. It's in her bloodstream. t won't be there forever right? Things pass through the bloodstream I think. A quick Google search should help. 'How long does it take for something to pass through the bloodstream?' It's coming up with stuff about alcohol. Well apparently alcohol takes about 24 hours to pass through, which means blood should take about that much time as well. I wish I could just search how long vampire blood must take but I doubt that will come up with much. Screw it I'm doing it anyway. As expected it turns up nada. Not nada exactly, there's a lot about how long it would take a vampire to drain a human of blood. It's about 5 minutes if it's at full speed from I remember when I timed my mother during that fateful parents evening. Nothing about my enquiry though. So I'm going assume, given its potency even in small doses, vampire blood will take three days to a week to be on the safe side. It's been nearly two days so I've got to keep her alive and unharmed for the rest of the week. Obviously I'll try to keep her that way for as long as I can but this next week is crucial.

I sleep but not for long and not deep. I'm plagued with nightmares of all the ways Scarlett could die. Shot with her own arrows, bitten by a vampire, impaled, beheaded, bored to death, so many ways that never occurred to me before. I'm so pre-occupied even the maid notices. I'm sitting at the Island, shoving my cereal around the bowl because it's soggy now, when he sets a plate filled with toast down in front of me.

"Eat. You can't survive on that alone." He commands.

I probably could to be fair but he doesn't know that. His command almost sounds caring and it's a small shock to me, so much so that I'm rendered speechless. He pushes the plate closer, "eat Egbert." He commands once more.

"I'm uh, not hungry." I reply.

"Yes you are. You just can't tell because you're so wrapped up in whatever's got you down." He pulls the bowl out from under me and begins washing it in the sink. "Whatever it is- you don't have to tell me by the way- it will turn out okay. Worrying won't make it better it'll just make you worse."

"So what does help then?"

"Making a plan and following it. Instead of worrying, make a contingency plan. I t gets all the nervous energy out too."

His advice actually sounds good too. I was half expecting him to tell me to toughen up. Having someone to give me nice advice that's good is rare thing. I nod and grab a piece of toast, holding it between my teeth as I grab my school bag and head over to Vikram's.

"Goodbye...uh...." I don't actually know his name; he figures out why I've hesitated and smirks down at the dish he's washing.

"Sebastian" he says slowly, "my name's Sebastian."

"Thank you Sebastian." I wonder if that's really his name.

"Till the next time Egg."

We'll see. He salutes me as I leave. He's the cheeriest maid we've ever had and I smile into my toast. I hope he lives.

Vikram's house is the opposite of the composed scene I've left. Preeti is screaming Hindi insults down the phone and gives me a harsh nod in greeting as I enter. Only faltering in her tirade for a moment before deciding to carry on. I've seen her do worse. Vikram is tying his tie and gelling his hair in the hallway mirror while his father stands behind him and does the same complaining the way Vikram's done it is too unruly. They throw me hellos as I walk past.