In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Forty-Three

Jim



An out-of-body experience.

Sara was always fascinated by this concept. She would do research on meditation, trances, meditation that caused trances…Astral projection though, that was her favorite one. She would ramble on and on about some research she bumped into-which was a lie because she spent hours in the local library-about people all over the world who had practiced astral projection and then she would proceed to ask whether I would like to try it someday. My answer would always be, “you’re such a f*****g weirdo you know that?” Then she would proceed to punch my arm and I would release an exaggerated high-pitched scream. She always laughed when I did that. And not just your typical soundless laugh either. She would clutch her stomach, bend over and shake as she called me a “big girl” in between her guffaws. When she looked up, there would be tears in her eyes, and I would pull her in, tuck a strand of stark white hair behind her ear. All the laughing would stop, time would stand still, the space around us would grow warmer. With Sara, I never had to worry about making the first move, she was bold enough for both of us.

As we kissed, I would forget about her weird fascination. I scarcely wondered if she ever did the same.

I never once asked why she wanted to leave her body limp and still while her soul or whatever hovered around, unseen, unfelt, untouched. I simply reduced her cry for help into some weird fascination she had.

I was so consumed, so obsessed with our happily ever after that I forgot the messy in-betweens. If only I had asked questions, if only I had taken my head out of my ass long enough to see that they were not okay.

* * *

I finally understood what Sara meant when she said that sometimes, she wanted to detach from her body and that her soul had gone off to do things on her behalf, because bodies have this annoying ability to hold you back.

Mine was holding me back, big time.

The large man’s humongous arms pinned me to the bed while Aunt Lory kept whispering “calm down” with a half smile. Was that meant to reassure me? How could everyone be so calm? Had they not seen what I had seen?

“She…she…”

“I know but you have to calm the f**k down or you will rapture that wound in your leg and we will have to f*****g saw it off!”

I stared at the large man, he stared back. Not a hint that he was bluffing. I did not doubt for a second that he could saw my leg off. For a moment I pictured myself limping about- I calmed down. Once I did, the large man slowly withdrew his hands, his gaze holding mine until he stood aloof from me. I felt someone stroke my hair. I turned to look at Aunt Lory. There was a bruise on her face, a purple one, recent.

“Did he do this to you?” I said with a nod towards the large man.

“Who? Pete?

A raspy laughter escaped Aunt Lory’s throat.

“Pete would cut his arm off if it dared to touch me in the wrong way.”

“Then who hurt you?”

Aunt Lorry gave me a tight-lipped smile and lowered herself so that when she spoke, her breath fanned my face.

“You know your father is not a nice man right?”

I quirked an eyebrow. What did my father have to do with the bruise on her face? No answer came. Aunt Lory simply stared intently at me, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

“You mean he did this to you? Your own brother?”

Aunt Lory bobbed her head weakly. I suddenly sat up from the make-shift bed and ignored the sharp pain in my leg. The meds that I had been given earlier seemed to be wearing off.

As I sat up, I recalled what I had seen earlier. It had happened so fast. One minute roof girl was next to me, in her bed and the next she was on the other side of the room. A figment of my imagination? Was I high on the meds?

When my eyes finally found my father, roof girl was crouched before him. I could not hear what they were saying, nor could I properly see my father’s face.

“Is that why he is bound? Because of what he did to you? Why would he do that? Beat you? Does this have anything to do with what happened at the party? Why is he after roof girl?”

I watched as my aunt’s mouth closed and open successively. In the end, she seemed to give up and she averted her attention to the large man. When I turned to look at my aunt’s…wait, boyfriend? Husband? Who was this guy again?

“Don’t look at me. Kid almost had his leg bit off, he does deserve some answers…”

“How about all? All answers?”

Aunt Lory was about to speak when a shrill scream pierced the tense air in the room. The large man immediately sprang into action, crossing the room to examine the source of the scream. I knew it was roof girl screaming. I tried to get out of bed.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“She needs…”

“Pete and Maria will handle it now please, lie back down and no matter what you see, don’t move.”

I tried to argue but then I thought of my leg and how there was only so much I could do while it was in this state, so I stayed put and squinted my eyes. Redhead and the large man were pulling roof girl off my father. She was still screaming, loudly, profusely; she was in pain.

“Lory! Lory come here!”

Aunt Lory squeezed my arm before dashing towards the large man and redhead. The screams had somehow grown louder, frantic. What the f**k was going on? What had my father done to roof girl? Unable to suppress my curiosity, I pressed both of my fists on the thin mattress and attempted to hoist myself from the makeshift bed. I sucked in air through my clenched teeth when I tried to move my leg.

Suck it up Jimmy, you have to see her, you have to see what’s going on.

“Learn to listen Jim, your aunt told you to stay put.”

I had been so engrossed in my activity that I had not seen Seth approach me.

“Come on man, help me get up.”

“No.”

I paused midway and lifted my head to look at Seth. I had expected to see a freaked-out Seth, a scared Seth, or at least a worried Seth but I got none of that.

This Seth had an unreadable expression and a gun in his hand.