Ollie

Chapter 2 :{D

Walking through the woods, I turn my attention to the shaking bush beside me. I freeze.

“Who’s there?” I ask wearily. There’s no answer but there are more rustles coming from the dying bush.

“I’ll give you five seconds to get out or else…” But I don’t bother waiting for five seconds. My fear gets the better of me and without thinking about it; I shoot out my fangs and jump on the bush. Turns out, I was freaking out about a bird. It’s just a defenceless and innocent flying creature. You don’t understand how stupid and dumb I feel about this now! I jump off the bush and continue my trek through the dense woods. Whenever I’m feeling stressed or worried or if I just need to be alone, a walk or fly through the impenetrable foliage feels great. It’s as if all my thoughts dash out of my brain and plant themselves on the soil.

“Ollie? Ollie, is that you?” My friend, Jason, calls out.

“Ah so that is you I can smell from here! I thought it was just another werewolf,” I tease.

“Haha! You are too funny for me to handle!” He replies sarcastically. 

“So, what are you doing out here?” I ask.

“Ah, you know, just chilling!” He replies.

“Well, can you go chill somewhere else?” I query. And, with that, he turns around and leaves the way he came. I continue my walk through the woods. Passing the beautiful flora never fails to disappoint me.

This time of the year, everything is blooming and the colours are expressive. I walk to my place, which is the edge of a cliff that looks over a small lake. Birds and other animals often flock around it to drink and wash themselves. It’s so peaceful around here. There are no humans that ever come here, which is very good. If the rapidly growing human population overcame this sanctuary, there would be no more majestic animals or beautiful plants. Everything would disappear forever. That’s actually another reason why I come here often. I feel like it’s my duty to help the environment. I’ve been given eternal life for a reason. If it’s not to kill the humans or the animals, then it’s to protect them, which is what I love to do. I sit on the cliff and lean back on my hands. My legs are stretched out over the cliff edge. I swing them back and forth. It feels really nice. The air rushes around them. I turn my head and take in my beautiful surroundings. My eye catches something in the distance. It’s a figure, I think. It’s dark under the trees but it feels like a beam of sunlight is shining on the figure. It turns its head and I get a full view of a young girl, about 15 years old. She looks scared and cold.

“Excuse me?” She asks.

“Uh, yeah?” I reply. Who is she and how did she manage to survive in the forest.

“Do you know where I could find a vampire called Ollie?” She continues.

“A vampire? Really? Don’t you know that there’s no such thing as those mythical creatures! As for Ollie, what a stupid name! Seriously, where did you find out such a thing?” I don’t mean to sound rude but I can’t have her figuring out that I’m the Ollie and that vampires are real. She probably just wants to stab me and hurt me to see if I die. She’s just like every other human.

“Oh,” is all she says.

“I’m sorry if I sound rude. It’s just that people always come to this forest asking for Ollie. It’s just really annoying,” I explain.

“It’s alright. Thanks for telling me, though, Ollie,” She says.

“No problem,” I reply.

“Ha! You didn’t deny it! It really is you!” She exclaims.

“Deny what? Oh…” It finally dawns on me. She called me Ollie.

“Wow! What an honour to meet you! I’m Skye,” She says.

“How do you even know about me and where to find me? I haven’t been seen for about 10 years!” I reply. She goes on to explain the story her mother had told her when she was younger and how she researched for days on end about ‘Ollie’. Apparently, she set up a Google Alert that lets her know recent news about me. Skye also went looking for people who had seen or heard about me. That’s where she got most of her information.

“Wow! You really put in a lot of effort! But please, don’t try to kill me! I really don’t like it,” I plead.

“Don’t worry! I’d never try to kill you! That’s just disgusting and gross!” She replies with a sincere smile.

“And illegal!” I joke. She joins me on the cliff edge, well two metres from the edge. “You know you can come closer, right?”

“Uh, yeah. I knew that! Haha,” She wearily comes closer to the edge but stops, again, about one metre away.

“Haha! Trust me, it’s really nice on the edge! You can just dangle your legs over the edge and feel the air rush around them. It’s surreal! And, if you fall, which you won’t, I’ll catch you!” I assure her. She comes closer and dangles her legs over the edge. She opens her mouth in awe and moves her head around like the clown game at the town fair.

“This does look amazing! Thank you,” Sky says.

“For what?” I query.

“For letting me sit with you and look at this amazing scenery! It’s incredible,” She replies.

“I was wrong about you,” I say.

“What do you mean?” She asks.

“I thought you were just another human but you’re not.  You’re different,” I explain.

“Uh, thank you?” She says, confused.

“It’s a good thing! I thought you were looking for me just to stab me, or something, but you’re not! You actually just wanna hang out, which is awesome,” I say. She blushes. That’s kind of weird! I have never known anyone who blushes when someone is speaking to them. Is that just a normal human thing?

Skye’s phone buzzes. “Oh, I’m sorry Ollie. That’s my mum. She wants me to get home right away,” She slowly backs away from the edge of the cliff and heads off back the way she came.

“Bye,” I say after she’s gone. It’s so quite now. I miss the sound of her breath, her heart. It’s crazy how a human can have so many sounds that reverberate through a vampire’s ears. We have a great auditory system.

********

“Hey Jason!” I say as I walk towards my house.

“Hey man! You chilled now?” He asks.

“Yes. Very chilled. You?” I query.

“Not yet. But, I will be,” He says.

“What do you mean?” I ask. He has a weird, sinister look in his eyes. His hand his behind his back and, from the veins in his arm, it looks like he’s clutching something really tightly.

“Well…” I thought he was going to say more but instead he lunges at me. We roll around on the dirt floor. He has a knife in one hand, trying to stab me.

“What… the… hell… is… wrong… with… you?” I manage to say as we roll around. Before I know it, his free hand is clenched tightly and meets with my face. I fade out. Haha! No, I’m still conscious and punch him right back and get on top of him. Using my impressive karate skills from the 19th century, I knock him out with my fist. Well, he was a great friend! Please, note my sarcasm usage.

I run to my house and quickly gather all my things. I have to get out of here. I don’t know where to go, but I’ll find a place. I can’t be near Jason when he comes to. What if my other ‘friends’ are like him and they try to attack me as well?! I can’t let that happen. I’ll get out of here. I’ll move far, far away. Then, I’ll be safe. Safe from werewolves, humans and everything else that will try to kill me. The environment will have to look after itself for a while. I run to the fringe of the forest and follow it all the way to the car-buying place, about four kilometres away. I’ll seem normal with a car when I get to other places. No one will suspect a vampire drives a car. It’s my only way to survive.