Vampires Never Get Old, page 16
This is what occupies my time some mornings, before the sun is too bright, before we all descend into the cellar we lock from the inside.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: Ooooh, creepy. Love this. What a cool story!
4 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 12, 2018
I did something reckless today.
And I feel alive.
I told Papi that I wanted to lie on the roof and watch the stars. I’d read about a meteor shower appearing over the desert that night, which wasn’t a lie. He said I showed “initiative” by wanting to explore more of the world, and he smiled at me, and it made his dark, bushy mustache wiggle on his wide face. I got a funny feeling in my stomach, a tickling sensation, and I liked that.
Some days, my parents are not that bad.
Papi did not join me at first; he said he’d be out later. I climbed up to the roof in a few leaps. From the top, I could see for miles in every direction. It was a clear night, cool and quiet, and I could hear the coyotes far in the distance if I focused, blocked out everything in my mind. My hearing has always been better than my vision.
But tonight, there was a flicker. A flash a quarter mile to the east.
“They are too close,” Mami told me once. “We leave them alone. We do not hunt nearby.” I had no idea who lived there, but I knew what that flash was.
Headlights.
I made for it without another thought. I leaped off the roof and rolled right into a run. I had never pumped my legs faster, never used the power of the last feeding so intensely, never felt the desert air rush over my face like that. I focused on the location of that flash, and seconds later, I stood just outside the property.
I had to be quick.
Darting to the building, I peered inside the closest window, let my eyes adjust to the lack of light.
Nope. Not there.
I rushed to the back door, aware of the sounds of the man inside shuffling about. There was some metal device on the roof, and I wondered if that was how he boosted his wireless signal so far out from his home.
Again, I peered inside.
His home was cluttered, full of scraps of metal, wires, motherboards, and other sorts of electronic paraphernalia. But not what I was looking for.
I spun around, saw my home in the distance. Terror rose from my gut, and I imagined my father climbing up on the roof to join me, discovering that I wasn’t there, realizing what I had done. Faster, Cisco! I told myself.
A light came on in another room. I heard water running. It had to be there.
I crept around the east side of the house, toward the tiny window where yellowish light burst forth. Jumped up and put my fingers on the windowsill. Went still, quiet. Then pulled myself up as slow as I could, hoping the man inside wouldn’t notice me. I squinted, trying to block the light out and—
No mirror.
He had no mirror in his own bathroom.
I let myself fall and landed on the dirt without a sound. I was darting away from the man’s house when I heard the squeak, the sound of a rusted hinge.
I spun around.
No one was there.
But it blew in the wind. The door to the mailbox. I ripped it open.
An envelope.
I pulled it out. Jairo Mendoza. And an address. An address! Oh, how had I never thought of that?
I said it over and over and over and over and over and over, and as I ran back home, desperately hoping my parents had not yet come to check on me, I repeated it.
I was on the roof seconds later, and when Papi came to join me, he said nothing for a while.
“This is nice,” he told me.
“Yeah,” I said.
I have an idea. I don’t know if it’ll work.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: Okay, now I’m hooked. When does the next chapter come out? You should be posting these on AO3.
CanIScream: It’s not fanfic. Only fanfic belongs there.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: I think it’s a good story regardless. Almost feels real lol
15 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 14, 2018
I did it.
I did it.
It was so much worse this time. I had no meteor shower to use as an alibi. We had just finished my lesson on some boring part of America. I hate when my parents try to teach me history because … well, usually they’d been there. At least for the last couple hundred years, that is. They trade giggles and knowing smirks, and they make secret references to things, and it frustrates me. They never tell me any of the good shit! They just stick to the high school textbooks they’d stolen, occasionally making comments about how “inaccurate” the text is.
It’s another way I live a separate life from them. And they designed it that way. My whole life is designed.
So when Papi said he was going to run to the school again to see if they had an Algebra II book, I told him I didn’t need algebra because I was a vampire. He thought it was pretty funny.
He still went.
Why? Why do they want to me to learn about stuff I’m not allowed to experience? Why should I care about history and math and science when they won’t let me experience the world?
After Dad left, Mami wandered over to where I sat, my back pressed against the wall, irritation running through me. She said she was going to head down into the cellar for a few minutes. “Be right back, mijo,” she said, running her fingers through my black curls and kissing me on the forehead.
I knew it was my only window of opportunity.
I ran. Even faster than the other night. I headed straight for Jairo’s home, and when I reached his back door, I froze.
I’d never done anything like this.
I raised my hand to the doorknob and slowly turned it. It made no sound. I pulled on the door and peeked around it. No humans. No one. I moved silently then, stopping the door from slamming, and drifted from the kitchen into his room.
He was asleep.
And it was so hard. I had not fed in two months, and while my control was decent, I could hear him.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
THUMP, THUMP.
So loud.
So … delicious.
But I had a reason to be there. I moved to the small bedside table, and I grabbed his wallet, fishing out two credit cards.
I was gone seconds later.
Home not long after that.
Reading a news website when Mami came back upstairs.
“Anything interesting happening in the world?”
I shook my head. “It’s all the same.”
She sighed. “We’re low. You want to come hunting tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Sí, Mami.” I started to say something else, but she cut me off.
“Juntos,” she said. Frustration roiled in me at the reminder: never alone.
Mami stared at me, and in her eyes was the same infantilization as in her voice. She was in control. I couldn’t choose for myself.
“Okay,” I muttered. My face burned. “Together.”
She ruffled my hair, and her touch sent rage down my spine. “When you’re grown, we’ll talk about it.”
Then she was gone.
She was standing just outside the room, mere feet from me, when I used Jairo’s credit card to order a digital camera, one with excellent low-light capabilities.
I’m going to do it. As soon as it arrives at his house, I’m going to do it.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: how am I this invested in a stranger
ToEachTheirOwn: why do u write with all those sentences on one line each
6 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 14, 2018
What do I look like?
Is my nose sharp? Wide? I’ve felt it before. I think it flares out at the sides. What about my brows? My ears? I don’t really have anything to compare them to. Are my eyes dark? Light? What do my curls look like? I know how they feel, but that’s not the same. Papi is the one who gives me haircuts, only a couple of times a year, and whenever I wrap my curls around my fingers, one side always feels shorter than the other. But I can’t see for myself. He says it looks fine, and once again, I must defer to what my parents tell me. I get no choice of my own.
It’s going to happen.
I’m going to see myself.
IAmJustLikeYou: I’ll help you. I promise.
4 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 15, 2018
My ambition gave me energy on our hunt tonight.
We were miles and miles from home, far to the south. Papi said he knew of a small settlement that hugged the mountains out that way, and he was certain that we could find someone. Someone no one would look for.
We’d been running for ten minutes or so when we passed it. Tucked next to a grove of mesquite, it glimmered in what little moonlight there was. I slowed, and Mami was the first to notice. “Cisco, vámonos,” she ordered. “We have a long way to go.”
I walked to the edge of the small oasis, to the lake that rippled in the slight breeze. I leaned over the water’s edge. Saw the outline of myself, a shadow and vague shapes, my face twisting in the gentle waves. It wasn’t a full moon, but would I be able to see more of me if it was? I had a couple of weeks to find out.
I would come back, I told myself. A backup plan, just in case.
I ran with my parents. I couldn’t stop thinking about that water and my shimmering, blurry reflection.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: So, you didn’t really hunt, did you?
MiseryBusiness: I just found this blog. Wow, this is such a cool project. Wish I’d thought of it!
7 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 16, 2018
I’ve been reading about other lives for so long. I have devoured stories here from people all over the world, who are dealing with things that are arguably worse than what I’m going through. But I still feel empty most days, as if all I can do is pour myself into the lives of strangers. I want to be fulfilled someday, too. I’m tired of looking into the windows of your homes and your families.
I want someone to see me.
Papi told me that I spend too much time on the computer. That I need to listen to him and Mami more, that they know the world better than anyone else. I just smiled at him. What am I supposed to say to that? They haven’t “lived” in the world in seventeen years. We’ve been self-exiled outcasts since I was born. How could they possibly know more than anyone else?
I have to do this. Papi just made me all the more certain of that.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: We support you! Lmao listen to me, I sound obsessed.
MiseryBusiness: People always tell me I spend too much time online. Maybe if the outside world was better, I’d spend more time in it.
CallOfDuty92301: Why do you guys like this melodramatic garbage?
12 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 17, 2018
I ran to Jairo’s house today. There was a brief opportunity for it. I’m getting good at finding these flashes of time, and our hunt from the other night gave me some much-needed energy. We caught a man peeping in to another man’s home, and I fed for nearly an hour on the culprit. I felt no guilt as I drained him; that was nice. Some days, I do feel guilty when we have to cut a life short. But we thank them for what they give us. Their sacrifice allows us to live.
Mami laughed when I sat back and belched. She looked at my face for a long time, and it wasn’t like the other day. “Estás creciendo,” she said, and her eyes were warm. “Maybe you will get to hunt on your own.”
I perked up at that. “¿De veras?”
She shook her head. “Not that soon. Once we know you can be trusted. Once we know you’ll follow the rules.”
“Haven’t I been?”
“Yes,” she said. “But we need a few more years just to make sure.”
So … never.
That’s what she meant, right?
We took the other man with us. Turns out he lived alone, and he didn’t make much noise.
There was no mail at Jairo’s house today.
Maybe this was a terrible idea.
0 Comments
6 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 18, 2018
Do you know what it’s like to be trapped?
Walled-in. Unable to escape.
I don’t see how I’m ever getting out of this.
Sorry. There was no delivery again. Today sucked.
Ha ha. I wish that was as funny as I hoped it would be.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: I’m sorry. :(
3 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 19, 2018
They found me.
I’m such a fool. I should have known it was too easy. I should have known it was all too good to be true.
They thought I was hunting on my own. They were proud of me. That’s why they followed me, at a distance, watching me as I dashed away from home, out into the lonely desert.
They thought I was ready to be something else.
Instead, they observed me as I approached the house.
As I made straight for the mailbox, not paying attention to anything else.
As I flung it open.
Pulled out the package.
Tore at the edge.
And Jairo Mendoza raised his shotgun.
Aimed at me.
I heard the flint strike, then saw a blur, a flash, and then a bang, and Mami had Jairo on the ground. She shrieked something fierce as she ripped out his throat, one fluid motion, a spray of blood soaking the thirsty sand.
When she rose, her hand was gone. Just a stump where it used to be.
She’d taken the buckshot for me. And there I stood, ashamed, the digital camera box in my hand, and Papi was screaming at me, the same thing over and over.
“¿Qué hiciste, Cisco?!”
What did I do?
Mami fed, ravenously, completely. Jairo Mendoza was gone, emptied in minutes, and she panted as she began the regrowth process. It would take days. It would be painful.
“We did this to protect you, mijo,” she said, the redness falling down her own throat, over her now-stained camisa. “You were supposed to follow the rules. Why? Why did you do this?”
I had nothing to say to them. I couldn’t explain it then, and even now, sitting in the dark, I have nothing.
They buried his body far away. They said we should be fine, but we would most likely need to move soon.
The sun is coming up.
I have to go.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: Come back! We’re listening to you!
ThrowawayOne: This is still going?
MiseryBusiness: Damn, is this thing real? I feel weird about this whole thing. Maybe it’s some real kid going thru something? I dunno.
19 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 24, 2018
I still have nothing to say.
He’s dead. And it’s all my fault.
NoOneKissesLikeGaston: You did what you had to. Please come back!
TrueAnneRiceFan: man, this blog is gay
ToEachTheirOwn: @TrueAnneRiceFan who says that anymore in 20-gay-teen?
18 Notes
invisibleb0y
June 29, 2018
I went back to the lake today.
The moon was full, and I had not left home since they caught me. I told Papi y Mami the truth this time: that I needed to get outside, even just for an hour, or I was going to explode. I think they could tell how sad I felt, how much I regretted what I had done. “Una hora,” Mami said. “Then be back right here. ¿Entiendes?”
I nodded. “Lo siento.”
I have said that a lot lately.
I knew one of them would follow me. I knew they wouldn’t leave me alone. They didn’t trust me.
So I stood at the edge of that shimmering beauty, and I was disappointed to find that I looked exactly the same.
Blurry at the edges. Undefined. Shapeless.
This was such a pointless exercise.
Which is why I thought I imagined him at first. I looked up at the figure on the other side of the oasis, and I thought maybe he was another saguaro cactus, tall and quiet.
But then he moved forward.
Stepped to the edge of the lake.
I could see black hair, shining in the light of the moon.
He raised a hand to me.
I returned it.
I looked north, where I expected to find Papi watching me, but he wasn’t there. Maybe he was hiding again. And if so, had he seen this person gesture at me?
Then: A ripple. A wave. Something drifted through my body, light and tingly.
I turned, focused on the young man.
He smiled.
The wave passed again, and I took a step forward, the edge of my shoe now in the water, and whatever this feeling was, it tugged me forward, closer to the boy.
And then … he was just gone.
A wisp of dust kicked up in the spot where he’d stood. He had moved so fast, and … was it possible? Was he another one of … me?
Another vampire. It seemed so bizarre; I’d been kept away from others my whole life, and sometimes, they were just a myth. A tale. An exaggeration.
Maybe that’s what I feel like to all of you. Just a story.
I walked back home. Mami was standing at the doorway, caressing her hair. She was nervous. She was always nervous around me now, as if I’d make a sudden move and disappear on her. Any trust was gone, but even worse? It seemed like any hope she had for me, for my growth, had vanished, too.
“You look tired,” she said.
“Do I?” I said. And I indulged myself. “What do I look like, then, Mami?”
She examined me, her eyes tracing my face, and I wanted to know what she saw. Did she see that I was frayed at the edges? That I was drowning in guilt?
“You’re beautiful,” she said. “But you frightened me. Made me scared I was losing you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
