New York City Palace of Heartbreak

Chapter 3

(Vivian)

I wake up to my alarm clock going off at 6:00 a.m. I sigh and hit the bottom to turn it off. I get up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. A knock sounds at my door. I groan.

“Who is it and what do you want?” I yell and stand up. I walk towards the door and open it to find, Maria, my mom, standing there with her laundry basket.

“Do you have any clothes I need to take down and wash?” Mom asks and looks me up and down. I sigh and give her two pairs of jeans with five shirts.

“Thank you, but you have to teach me how to wash my laundry when I go to college. I’ll have to do it myself.” I say and give her a small smile.

“I will right now. Get dressed and meet me in the laundry room.” Mom says and walks down the hall and down the stairs. I close my door and dig through my closet. I slip on a white t-shirt and a pair of dark washed jeans. I open the door when my phone begins to ring. I grumble and grab my phone. I answer it and hear Lukas’s voice on the other end.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?” I say and sit on the edge of my bed, smiling.

“I need to talk to you. It’s really important. When are you free today?” Lukas asks.

“I’m free right now. Meet me at the coffee shop we met at?” I say and look at my clock. It reads 6:29 a.m.

“Yeah. I’ll see you there soon.” Lukas says and hangs up. I smile and grab socks and my sneakers and walk down the stairs to the main floor. I slip on the socks and shoes on the bottom step and walk down the stairs to the laundry room.

“Hey mom, is it alright if I go to the coffee shop right now? I’m meeting Lukas there.” I say and stand by the laundry basket overflowing with dirty clothes.

“I suppose, but be back as soon as possible because you want to learn how to wash your own clothes like a lady of a certain age,” Mom says and starts taking out clothes from the drier.

“Thanks, mom. I’ll be back before you miss me.” I say and run up the stairs to the front door. I run to my car and hop in. I put the car in reverse and back out of the driveway. Finally getting into the street I put the car in drive and start driving to the coffee shop where Lukas and I met. As I drive up to the coffee shop I see Lukas waiting outside for me. I smile and get out of the car when it’s parked.

“Hey, you,” I say as I walk up to Lukas with a big smile on my face.

“Hi…. I need to tell you something. Promise you won’t get mad or anything, please?” Lukas asks and looks around.

“Yeah. Anything for you Luka. So what’s on your mind?” I ask and smile at Lukas.

“I-I think we should break up…….. It’s not working out for me anymore and I was told by your dad that you’re moving somewhere where I will never see you again.” Lukas says and looks at his shoes. My eyes begin to mist over with tears. How could he do this? Lukas and I have been dating for a couple years now and my dad ruins it?! How could he?!

“I wasn’t told I was moving or anything. I don’t want to break up with you Lukas.” I say and wipe my eyes from the fallen tears.

“I do though. I’ve been seeing someone better than you anyway. Her name is Christiana and she doesn’t push me into things and her parents love me unlike yours.” Lukas shouts in my face. I just stand there, not believing any words that he could be saying. He loved me. Not that little wretch. I should be the one to be with him. Not her.

“So you picked Christiana over me?! What a boyfriend you are going and cheating on me like I’m nothing. How dare you! Whatever, I’m leaving because I have somewhere important to be at this moment, so goodbye you cheating scumbag! Have a great time in the world without me.” I shout right back in his face and storm off to my car. I get into my car and start to drive away from that horrible spot in this town. Ten minutes later I’m parked in the driveway and that’s when I let the tears fall freely.

“But boys aren’t worth crying over,” I whisper to myself as I wipe my eyes. I blow my nose with a napkin and open my car door. I close the car door and lock the car so no one will try and steal it from me. I walk up to the front door and see that the door is slightly ajar.

“How strange,” I mumble underneath my breath and gently push open the door.

“Mom, Dad I’m home,” I yell and close the door with my foot. No response. I walk down the stairs to the laundry room and see my mom and dad talking and hanging up damp jeans.

“Hi sweetie, what happened? You’re back so early.” Mom says and gives a sidelong glance to my dad.

“Lukas broke up with me and he was cheating on me with Christiana.” I sigh and sniff.

“Why that little…..” my mom growls as her voice trails off.

“Calm down Maria. It’s not worth getting mad at or anything. He was just a stupid boy that doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.” dad says placing a hand on my mom’s shoulder trying to calm her down before she snaps. “I knew I should’ve shot that boy when I had the chance.”

“It’s ok dad. He doesn’t want me and that’s fine I can find someone better than him anyway. Which is what I’ll do. But after college though.” I say and walk over to my parents and start helping them with hanging the jeans up to dry.

“Are you ready to know how your momma cleans both your clothes?” Mom asks dad and I. I smile and shake my head yes while dad just rolls his eyes and sighs. Mom puts the white shirts, socks and other clothes that are white, into the washer and adds a half cup of bleach to keep the clothes bright and white. She then adds a little bit of cleaning solution and closes the lid and starts the washer on medium speed.

“That’s it?” I ask my eyes wide in surprise.

“Yup, that’s it. But that is only for whites. Remember whites only use bleach and cleaning solution.” Mom says and smiles.

“Ok, I’ll try to remember that mom. Thank you. Call me down when it’s time to put the whites in the dryer and put the colors in the washer please.” I say and smile while walking up the stairs to my bedroom.

“Vivian!” Mom yells from down in the basement. I get up off my bed and run down the wooden stairs. I make it down into the basement when I see little pools of blood everywhere.

“Mom?! Mom are you ok?” I say and look around. I don’t get a response.

“Mom?! Mom where are you?!” I yell and my eyes land on her red polished nails. My right sock steps in a pool of wet, sticky, warm blood. My foot flies out from under me and I land all the way down the steps and onto something squishy. I open my eyes and look down on what I landed on. I gasp and hold in a scream. I landed on my mom. Her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes full of fear, and her clothes all ripped to shreds. Silent tears fall from my eyes as I get off of my mother.

“Oh, mom. Who did this to you?” I whisper and wipe my tears from my face.

I suddenly feel something warm hit my face. I get up and run to look in the mirror that we have in the small bathroom. I flick on the lights and look in the mirror. Blood covered my cheeks and hands. My clothes were covered in blood, my mother’s blood that is. I fall to my knees and burst into tears. My sobs ring out through the entire basement. I sniff and wipe my nose with the back of my hand. I hear the floorboards creak underneath something or someone’s weight. I look up and see a stranger. I scream and run to the laundry room. The stranger follows and shows me his fangs. I growl and grab the bleach that was sitting on top of the washer.

“What did you do to my mom?!” I growl and hide the bleach behind my back.

“I just cashed in a favor she had from the Vampire Courts. She owed her blood in exchange for yours.” the stranger hissed out and takes a step towards me.

“Stay back! You didn’t have the right to kill her just because she exchanged her life for mine!” I yell and unscrew the cap on the bleach bottle. The stranger keeps taking more steps toward me until he is face to face with me. I take the bleach bottle out from behind my back and throw it on his face and clothes.

“You stupid MORTAL!” the stranger yells and wipes the bleach out of his eyes. I grin and look around for a match. The man growls and stalks toward me as I look around frantically for a match or a lighter. I run to the living room that is in the next room. I hear thumping footsteps following after me as I bump into the old wooden bed frame. I grit my teeth and look in the bedside tables for the lighter I knew that might be in there from my father being a smoker. Shoveling through old wedding photos of my mother and father’s wedding, I finally find the lighter and try starting the flame. I turn around and the lights above me go out. I gasp and finally get the lighter flaring. I look around and hear footsteps somewhere far away from where I am. I spin in a slow circle and see something dart in the corner of my eye. My breathing gets faster and my palms begin to sweat. I feel someone’s breath on my neck and my hair stands on end. I come face to face with the stranger and gasp in shock.

“There you went my pretty blood pouch.” the man grins showing me his fangs and chuckles lowly. I grit my teeth and throw the lighter at him. He bursts into flames and his screams echo throughout the basement. I run back to the laundry room and hold my mother’s body close to my chest as I break out in sobs.