Skeletons On The March

Chapter Nine

With that, I walked off. Ajax and my parents were shaking hands now. They seemed to have reached a conclusion, and were now reaching an agreement.

I marched over to the three of them, glad I wasn't interrupting them. I wouldn't get into any trouble later on.

Actually, I probably was going to.

I grabbed Ajax's shoulder, and he turned around. "Hey, Anna, what do you want now?"

"I want to stay here with you guys."

Ajax groaned, covering his face. Finally, he looked at me again. In fact, he looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "No."

"Absolutely-"

"I said, no."

My mother interrupted just then. "What on Earth are you talking about, Anna?"

I turned to her awkwardly. "Ah, well-"

"Come on, we'll talk about this somewhere private." Ajax pulled me away from my mother and father. When we were a safe distance away, he crossed his arms over his chest and and smirked.

"Well? Convince me."

I sighed. Then, I matched his smirk. "You see, I know a lot about your vampire predicament."

Ajax flinched, and then lowered his arms. "What? How do you- what an Earth?"

For a second he looked at Roland, and then quickly shook his head. He looked back at me, his expression completely serious. "Tell me, then. How do you know about it?"

I should have known this was coming. I had never told anyone about my experience before, because who would believe me? I had no proof.

The only reason I still believed it was because my memory was still intact, and I could remember it right now, loud and clear.

Yet Ajax and the kids were different. Way different. I knew they'd believe me, and I knew they'd have to take me up on my offer.

So I told him.

"It was a few years ago. I was in grade four: nine years old. I was on my way home from school with my parents.

They'd gone to a bathroom in a nearby McDonald's, and I was waiting for them both outside since I was done.

A man sidled up to me, but I moved to the side, thinking he was about to go into the bathroom. He wasn't.

Or, well, he was, but not to use it. He walked straight into the woman's bathroom, and I gasped, alarmed. 'Maybe he'd just made a mistake?'

So I headed inside to tell him he'd gone into the wrong bathroom, all while hoping he hadn't gone into a stall yet, but what I saw wasn't normal at all.

He was standing by the sink, holding a woman in his arms. The woman was pale, too pale, and he was looking more and more refreshed by the second.

His head was bent to her neck, and I thought it looked strange, and was going to ask my mother and father, but then I saw blood.

That freaked me, and I realised it couldn't have just been some two lovers doing what lovers do. In fight, flight or freeze, I was flight.

That one second thing told me blood = run. So I ran. I closed the door hard, and ran out of the bathroom. I was quite close to the door, but by the time I was there, I was huffing and puffing.

I wasn't exactly the most physically fit kid. Anyways, by the time I got there, I also realised if he knows I saw them, he might try to kill me too.

I waited a few long, excruciating seconds, but nothing happened. No one came out of the bathroom.

Then, my mother came out.

We waited for my father to come out of the male's bathroom, and even by the time he was out, the man hadn't left, as far as I knew.

We left, and I told my mother, but she told me I probably imagined the blood. I wasn't so sure it was just that.

The next day, I was at school when the man came to pick up my classmate. I don't remember the kid's name. I remember the guy, though.

His unnaturally pale skin, and slick hair. The cruel expression in his eyes, and ultimately, the aura he gave off.

I knew he wasn't someone to be messed with, so I took the shortcut and asked the kid.

I never asked for the kid's name, just asked, 'Hey, what's with your father?'

Everyone was weird as kids.

He told me his father drank blood, and hated food. I obviously didn't believe him, until I got kidnapped by a vampire for knowing their secret.

I guess the boy didn't know to keep his father's secret a secret, and it didn't matter because he only told when asked, and no one believed him.

I started telling the world, because I was a pretty nasty kid at the time, and on my way home from school one day, I got jumped by a vampire.

He dragged me away, and I passed out. When I came to, I heard bits of conversation.

Person 1 in a doctor's suit was saying they should keep me for experiments, person 2 in a long cape was saying they should dispose of me, and person 3 in a formal suit was saying they should turn me.

'What do you mean? You know natural-bloods are the only ones accepted here in the coven. Even if you do turn her, she'll only be pushed away.'

'There's no reason to do that, which is why we should keep her for my experiments!"

'No way, we should dispose of her. Remember what happened with the last patient? She has a high chance of escaping, especially now.'

'We will not dispose of her, you hear me? She will be turned, and she can live with me.'

'What will anyone get from that?'

'She will live happily, that's what. Everyone knows she can't be let go, so at least let her live as a blood drinker with me.'

'You think she'll be happy if you turn her? She won't. No one wants to be a vampire.'

'Not before she's turned, but after, she'll thank me for saving her. She'll thank me for not plunging her back into the horrid life of a human.'

'You two are absolutely insane. I could help us all if I knew the insides and outs of a human's body. The ones the scientists don't talk about.'

'She's awake. Knock her out again.'

As they moved closer to knock me out, I started to panic, and the guy in the formal suit started to say that they should give me the chance to live a happy life.

I didn't like any of the choices, but perhaps they were the only ones available. Then, though, when I woke up, I was free."