SLAVE TO THE VAMPIRE KING

THE RED EYES

Samantha's Pov

The white walls of the classroom haunted me as if I was the ghost of an outcast. Those voices rang louder in my head and when my gaze fell on the huge plain wall clock hanging on the nail, It only stared back.

Tick.. tock.. tick. tok… tick.. tock! The hands of the clock on the wall were peeking at his next prey from the hellhole. The time seemed to freeze, and I wished to escape it soon. My head turned to the window beside me and I peeked outside to admire nature. That's the moment when Mrs Sutton stopped in the middle of her lecture and the silence was awkward.

“Samantha Lambert!!!” She called my name, and my head turned to face her. Knowing she caught me ignoring the words she was trying to put in the lecture, I stood in my place and looked at her carefully.

“Yes, Mrs Sutton.” I acted like I was really indulging in the phrases she was teaching us in her class.

“Is that something interesting outside my class?” She asked with a glare.

"Probably, everything!" I snapped and mumbled under my breath, but the surrounding students laughed after hearing it.

"Oh really? Well, it seems like you know more than me, so why don't you explain the phrase forty-one from the sonnet of William Shakespeare in front of the class?" She smiled and crooked at me with her thin lips.

I did not miss the hint of amusement in her voice. Apart from all the teachers in the school, she was the strictest one, and she hated me for not being a brilliant student in her eyes. She tried to force me to get tuition from her, which I refused, and since then, she was cold towards me and made me repeat the year. I have been dyslexic since I was a middle scholar. My eyes surveyed the pages to find where exactly the phrase forty-one was. When I found out, I cleared my thoughts and picked the book up in my hands before I began to read it out loud in the class.

“More sinned against than sinning… phrase…”

“Can you explain?” The amusement in Mrs Sutton was on another level. She knew well how poor my literature and its understanding was and there were moments when she was never lost to humiliating me in front of the class. Although I was used to her screeching

“Ummm.. Yeah!!” I was thinking of something coming to my shithead brain. What would it take to get something out of it?

"Just save it, Lambert! It’s of no use! You can’t even read properly, so why waste your parents' money on education? Sometimes, I feel for them to have a daughter like you?” Her words stung me like a sharp arrow. It always hurt me, every word she has said to me, but today, she had crossed all the limits.

“I always wanted to learn to read and write, even though it was hard for me. But bullies like you exist and no wonder why students like me are hesitant to stand up and speak for their rights. Because we lack confidence as it has been fed to us that we are just a waste of everything. I am aware that I am different, but I am fine with that. I am rare.” I c****d my eyebrow at her. She gasped and pretended to be hurt by my words.

“Being different doesn't mean you are better. That’s just a waste of time, your sister was better, in fact. She was the pride of the school, where you are nothing to compare to her. Sadly, no one can do anything about it. When students like you don't improve, you begin to blame others for your actions.” She said while waving her hands to dismiss me.

I dropped back to my chair, a frown plastered on my face as I thought deeply about those cold words Mrs Sutton said to me. I was mad at her not because I couldn't understand the literature that she taught in her class, but because she praised my sister more than anyone else. I hate that b***h, she was always a sweetheart of our parents and, even in school, she was a brilliant student. Those medals and awards she received from this school. They were a mark of my lack of confidence because, everywhere and every time, I have been compared to her.

Now, she works with Dad to help him lift his business.

After school got over, I took my ass back home where I was, least welcomed by my own family. No one liked me because of my failing grades. I was not as ideal as Amanda was.

“I am back!!” I informed them about my hasty arrival.

“Oh, there you are! Put your bag in your room and take out the trash I asked you last night.” My mom appeared from her room and looked blankly at her before printing out the bin. She didn't care to ask about my day.

“Mom, I just came back from school, and I am tired. I will take it out later.” I said grumpily and walked towards the door.

“That’s what you said last night, but you forgot. You can't even remember what work has been assigned to you. You did nothing well at school, how are you even tired?” She yelled at me and I watched her in shock.

I expected a soft corner from her, but she doesn’t care about me. Either I work as she pleases or be like Amanda.

“What’s wrong with you, Mom?” I asked mom while putting my bag on the couch.

“What is wrong with you, Sam? Neither don't you focus on your studies nor do you help me around home. What do you expect me to do? Be happy that you don't deserve to be an average student in your class?" she crossed her arms and stared coldly at me.

“Not everyone is as good as Amanda, mom! I thought you would understand me. I am just a completely different person, not her copy. How can you compare your children and expect them to do the same things? I might have another talent than hers.” I yelled at her because the way she treated me hurt my pride.

“Don’t you dare to yell at your mother, you useless child! Your teacher called me and explained to me how good your efforts are in your studies. And now, you are underground because you started to talk back.” She screamed in my ear.

This made me furious. They love Amanda more than me, always treated her better than me, and they showered her with everything she wanted, but I was the one who worked hard to eat every day, even though I bargained to get their love.

I couldn't take this anymore and rushed outside from the backyard. There was this deep forest near the place I live, so I went up there. I heard my mom calling me and, as far as i could hear her, she was going to beat my ass once I was back.

How pathetic is it to have a family around you but no one to encourage you to be a better human? I was never going to come back to this hell. Never!! Instead, I kept running inside the deep part of the forest which was haunted and mesmerizing at the same time.

I had never explored this part of the forest before and in the dark, I only imagined the worst. The silence was like a melody to my ears until an uneasiness started to erupt inside my heart. Something was odd, very, very odd. It felt like I was being watched by someone.

A lump formed inside my windpipe and I couldn't breathe properly. My steps slowed down, and I decided to return home as soon as possible. My feet were shaking and I was breathing heavily.

Dried leaves on the ground crunched under my feet as I walked over them but suddenly, I halted in my way when I heard a sound of feet behind me. My heart stopped working as I felt it becoming heavy.

It took a lot of strength for me to turn back to check if someone was following me or was that just an imagination of my mind. But there was no one behind me, and I was relieved. I was about to breathe when I felt something behind me, again. As soon as I turned around to go back, my eyes got stuck in a pair of blazing red eyes. The orbs I have never seen before.

They were hypnotizing, and I knew I was drawn to them, as I felt my eyes becoming heavy, and soon I fell under the consciousness of the darkness.