Anniversary

not done yet

          

Cade Miller sat quietly on the swing set at the town park and checked his watch. The hands read 8:27. He smiled. Only a few more minutes before the sun went down enough for Mikhail to come out of his little cave. Not all vampires lived in caves, Mikhail had told him. He chose to live in one because it was quiet and close to the earth.

Cade had been to his friend’s home several times, and was always surprised to see it. It was not what one would expect. It was never too dark, as Mikhail always had plenty of candles lit. He liked their scent and natural light. Electric light was harsh, and hurt his eyes almost as much as the sun did.

Mikhail used the natural ledges along the cave walls as shelves to hold various pieces of artwork, candles, and beautifully decorated swords and other weapons from all over the world. He had told Cade about all of their origins on his first visit. Cade was also interested in art. He had ask so many questions about everything that Mikhail had finally decided to just give him a tour and had included everything in the cave. Now, whenever he got a new piece of artwork or a rare piece of weaponry, he brought Cade over to look at it.

Cade’s favorite possessions were two shuriken that Mikhail had gotten him from Japan for his fifteenth birthday. They were twin stars, one black and the other silver, with engravings of dragons in the center. After a good deal of pleading, Cade had finally convinced Mikhail to teach him how to use them properly. He was now a relatively good shot.

Cade checked his watch again, only to find that less than two minutes had passed. He looked up to the sky and willed the sun to go down faster. He needed to distract himself, or he would go crazy waiting. He thought about the reason he wanted to see Mikki so badly. Today was their anniversary. They had met at this spot twelve years ago today. He smiled as he remembered that day.

             He’d always been a rebel, but it had been even worse when he was younger. He had run away on his fifth birthday because his mother hadn’t allowed him to have a party despite his rotten behavior. However, being a child, he hadn’t thought through his escape plan, and ended up with a last minute decision to live in the park. He’d been sitting on the swing, just like he was now, thinking about how sorry his mother would be when she found out he was missing, when Mikki had come up from behind and startled him.