Lazarus

7

The next morning I left. I left with everything I owned minus the dress and flats. It was an easy decision, Lazarus put his hands and fangs on me. I wasn't going to deal with that. Not one bit. I felt a little bad for leaving, mostly because I didn't get paid for the few days I worked. I didn't go far from the castle, I just went to the spot I was supposed to be before that storm.

I set up camp by placing a tarp on the ground and a tarp over a tree branch to make a makeshift tent. Just as I had planned to do that night. I found some large stones and placed them on either side of the 'tent' to keep the tarps in place. When I knew it was secure I tucked my backpack in the little tent and decided to take the little money I had to grab myself a breakfast at a restaurant.

I went to a local diner called Bunnies. It was owned by an old lady and ran by her daughters and a few close family friends.

When I walked in I was not looked at with disgust, I assumed it was because I looked clean. I had clean brushed hair, and clean new clothes on with my cute little combat boots.

I was immediately greeted by a woman, she was tall had blonde hair that was tied in a bun on her head and wrapped with a black headband with white polka dots. She wore only mascara and bold red lipstick. She was wearing a little light blue dress with a white apron making her look like a little housewife from the 1950s. On her little name tag, it said 'Hi my name is Stella.'

"Table for one," I told her.

"Sounds great" she smiled, she turned on her heel and lead me to a table in the back corner of the diner. It was a two-person table right beside the window, the view was of the main road in Lucan. "Can I get you a drink?" she pulled out a little notepad from her pocket.

"Coffee please, cream and sugar on the side," I smiled.

"Sounds great!" she placed the breakfast menu in front of me. I opened it and skimmed it. I decided on the pancake special which was: 4 pancakes, three pieces of bacon, a bowl of cottage cheese, and all the maple syrup you could ask for.

When she came back she carried my coffee on a little saucer in one hand, in her other hand she carried a bowl of creamer and sugar packets. She placed them in front of me, "ready to order?" she smiled.

"Oh yes" I laughed. I handed her the menu, "I will have the pancake special," my stomach growled.

"Hungry?" she laughed, I just nodded and stared out the window. My mind wandered to Lazarus, why did he bite me? I was not a blood slave he could just use when he was hungry. My hand glided to the spot where he bit me, two little bumps were there, I knew they were going to scar if they haven't already. I prayed they weren't visible.

Deep in my thoughts, I didn't notice Stella had brought me my food until she tapped me on the shoulder.

"Want a refill on your coffee?" she raised the half-full coffee pot.

"I'm good, thank you" I picked up my fork and started eating. The pancakes were so good by themselves, but I drenched them in maple syrup. The two flavors mixed made me give out a little moan. It didn't take me long to finish my meal, when I did finish I paid for my food, and made sure Stella got my five-dollar tip which was what I had left on me. I felt guilty, Stella was so kind to me.

The rest of my day went pretty slow, I hung out around the Super V and played my trick. The first person I approached was a woman, she was middle-aged and she was walking into the store.

"Excuse me mam" I approached her, she stopped and looked up at me. "Sorry to bother you, but I lost my wallet and I need some change to catch my bus is there any you could spare?"I tried to sound sweet. She smiled.

"Of course hun, that happened to me when I was your age," she pulled out her wallet and handed me a toonie. "Have a good day" she smiled before she went into the store. My next target also gave me a toonie. Someone who was walking by heard I needed change and handed me an old plastic bag filled with quarters which when I counted them later came to ten dollars.

The new-look paid off because I made a good amount of money.

Before heading to my spot that night I bought a bowl of soup and bagel at Bunnies for dinner.

The walk to my spot was terrifying, I was terrified of seeing Lazarus out. He doesn't leave the house, I thought. I walked past the castle and avoided looking at it. Part of me liked knowing I was free, but another part of me missed sleeping in a nice warm bed by a fireplace.

When got to my spot everything was gone: my stomach dropped, my blood ran cold, and I felt a cold sweat starting on my forehead. Someone took everything I owned. All I had was a bag of money from that day.

I dropped to my knees in front of the tree that once held my makeshift tent, my eyes filled with hot salty tears. Once the first tear hit my cheek everything poured out that I had been holding in, my stomach tightened as I let everything out. I bawled until I couldn't anymore.

Once I curled myself into a ball under the tree and attempted to comfort myself. "Everything is going to be okay" I whispered, I ran my fingers through my hair like my Grandma used to do. "Everything will be okay Butterfly, everything will be okay" I tried to soothe myself.

I sat under the tree for what seemed like a long time. I knew I had to go to a shelter, I needed a place to sleep and to figure everything out. I picked myself up using the tree as stability, once I had balanced myself I shuffled out of the forest and onto the dirt pathway. I avoided looking around, I just walked towards Lucan. Once I was out of the forest it was time to walk past the castle. For some reason I couldn't help myself, I looked at it. My stomach lurched at the sight, in the doorway was Lazarus with his stupid umbrella, shielding him from the sunset by his feet were my tarps and my backpack. He was staring at me.

"Where were you today?" he clipped. I stared back at him. "Where were you Ellie" he dropped the umbrella and walked down the steps, doesn't he care he might get burnt? He was in front of me in just a few strides. I didn't move, I just kept looking straight. "Answer me," he huffed. I didn't I just looked down at my feet. He wrapped his fingers around my chin and lifted my head to look at him. I kept looking down, "Ellie," he snapped.

"Out" I gritted out.

"We had a deal" his breath fanned my face.

"Well the deal was off the moment you put your hands on me" I snapped, I looked into his eyes, they held no emotion.

"I'm sorry" he huffed, his lips were pursed

"You don't seem sorry" I snapped.

"Well I am, you can either stay out here or you can come inside and do your job" he snapped. He let go of my face, turned and walked away. I felt stunned. I didn't have a choice, so I followed him. I gathered everything in my arms and opened the heavy door as wide as I could before I slipped in. I didn't even do anything I just went to my room. I dropped everything at the door, lit the fireplace and flopped on my bed. My chest felt like someone had just ripped my heart out. Part of me started to hate my life, I didn't want to be in the castle anymore. Part of me was drawn to it. Part of me knew deep down inside that it wasn't just because of the food or the new comfy room. I knew it was Lazarus.

Even though he was a total douche bag, he was mysterious and I wanted to see what he would do next. It was like watching a car accident, you know it's bad you just can't stop watching. I wanted to see his life, I wanted to be apart of his life, I wanted to see what it was like to live with a vampire.