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CHAPTER THREE ᴛᴇxᴛ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ
I'd like to be able to say that each day from the moment I'd stepped into Forks had been individually exciting and different. But it hadn't. Christmas had come and gone by in a flash, most of which I was stuck brooding in my room, too depressed by the idea of an annual celebration of a birth, of presents, to even try and join in.
In another time, I think I would have loved the winter celebration. I wouldn't know. Details like that were faded now. It was only those memories of the people I was surrounded by in the last month, both good and bad, that stayed vivid as if they been no more than a month ago. But the only good thing that Christmas brought now, was the cold weather, the frost levels that scaled the roads like an ice rink sparkling against the dull, grey light from constant cloud cover.
January brought school. I'd started on the first day back after break; not ideal but much preferable to a later date that I could have decided. I wanted to go back too, despite the fact that I could probably list the whole specification by now.
It was the temptation that I liked. The young and healthy blood that pounded through their veins. I was much like a child in a toy shop: seeing, wanting yet never being able to touch. But what was illegal on their part, was straight immoral on my own. The temptation paradoxically gave me strength. By smelling it, it was almost as if it was my own scent of blood and not theirs, and while to another vampires I'd smell normal enough to not stand out, it'd probably smell the same in the end.
On my first day, I'd almost convinced myself to stay in my shabby room rather than go out. For the first time in most of my stay, the sun had peaked out from behind the clouds, enough to leave little trickles of golden light dotted around the streets. While I'd been gifted with the ability to hide myself, I would always be wary of the sun. Each time I felt it on my skin, showing me up to be near translucent, my eyes played tricks, finger tips looking like they'd sparkle in the sun. They would too, if it was hot or sunny enough, but that was rare and if I was scared of being caught out, I'd remain.
But for the first day, I braved it, clenching my teeth for the whole drive to the school, blinking harshly against the brightness I hadn't felt in a while. I wondered what my eyes looked like too. I hadn't seen them in sunlight for so long.
They should be golden, bright like a brilliant necklace thanks to the feeding I'd had only the previous night. They should turn darker, onyx, in less than a week, like eyes of the last vampire I'd encountered, mad from hunger. But again, I'd always been able to camouflage, my eyes being a constant brown, fluctuating between amber flecks and chocolate rims depending on my diet. They'd never been golden or black. I'd never allowed myself to see if they'd turn red.
While being alive for so long had given me immense knowledge, my gift was one thing I didn't understand. I knew vampires were given one from somewhere and somehow, but until 1920, I'd survived without knowing. Now I was just thankful for it.
