Four: The Plan

§ The Plan §

“This is totally worth making a Hollywood movie about"the whole star-crossed love thing"as long as it has a sad ending for the guy,” Adelheid commented.

 

            “What?” I asked, confused.

 

            What kind of black magic was this? By some weird mind-reading powers, Adelheid had discovered a glitch in my emotions or facial expressions, and correctly guessed that something weird had happened with/to me. She’d figured out something about the frazzled state of my mind, and eventually guessed that it had something to do with the time I’d spent supposedly-alone at the park after most of the rest of the students had headed back to campuses with the principal. I’d told her about my encounter with the vampire soldier named Linden, and she’d begun making her own conclusions about the event.

 

            “It’s cute that a guy’s finally caught your eye, but seriously…he’s a vampire,” she said. “And he’s actually fighting against us"he’s all for the new ‘first a vampire state, and then the world’ conspiracy, Eileen.”

 

            What? I wondered. She thinks I have a crush on a vampire?

 

            “Dude, I’m not, like, ‘into’ him…I don’t know, maybe I was so caught up in the way-weird moment, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

 

            But I had been thinking pretty clearly when I’d started gawking at his deep gray eyes and inky black hair"and that face. I’d felt so emotional sharing his rare moment of weakness and vulnerability with him"which, truth be told, was actually partly my own fault; vampires didn’t have many of those. Maybe that was it; my emotions had gotten in the way of clear thinking. I voiced this theory to Adelheid, which seemed to appease her somewhat. I hadn’t been trying to make it sound like a fairytale anyway, but Adelheid was Adelheid.

 

            Oh well. It wasn’t as if I’d ever see him again. Strange how that thought made me heavyhearted, though.

 

•••                                •§•                               •••

 

The following day was emotionally hectic for me.

 

            I kept imagining Linden appearing out of thin air every time I turned a corner in a hall or dozed off in class"which was very often this particular day. It was like reverse psychology ganging up on me with Adelheid’s assumption of my having a thing for a vampire.

 

            I bet he’d forgotten about me already"or worse: he remembered the girl who’d caused him to get shot in the arm. Was that worse?

 

            The teacher in Recognition of Vampires (ROV) class had blabbed on today about the spread of vampire propaganda. I’d hardly paid attention"highly uncharacteristic of me, especially when it was a class I enjoyed. In fact, instead of listening to the speech and presentation, I’d started hatching a theory that the academy had also started to use propaganda against vampires.

 

            What the hell had I been thinking? Maybe I hadn’t been.

 

            That evening, my friends decided on a movie"not horror or vampire-related in any way (Adelheid’s idea); again, uncharacteristically, I declined. I tried to be polite about it, but that made Adelheid think I’d come down with a fever or something"like manners were foreign to me. Everyone bid me “Get well soon” as I started up the stairs out of one of our favourite hangouts"another basement spot"the Lion’s Den rec room. Rolling my eyes as I walked up, I briefly pondered the possibility that something really was wrong with me.

 

            Nah, I’m fine"it’s just the gloomy weather, I “comforted” myself.

 

            At half past nine, I still couldn’t get the jumble of the past night out of my thoughts. I realized I was holding Pride and Prejudice, was apparently about halfway finished"with no idea which part I was on or what I’d been reading about the past hour. Of course I’d read the classic before, but all the other times, I’d paid attention to what I was reading; I enjoyed it. Jane Austen was my hero.

 

            All of a sudden, it occurred to me: I’d forgotten to bring back my purse from Serenity Park. How did one simply forget something so freaking important? If that purse got found by anyone from the academy, and brought back here, someone might spot some hint of vampire blood on…something. I hadn’t been thinking about keeping my deed hidden while I’d been at it, but the academy dedicated a whole hour and a half to a course called Recognition of Vampires, for God’s sake. I guessed that meant my subconscious breakdown of untypical actions had begun that night, starting with forgetting the purse. But the stuttering fool I’d made of myself certainly held no abnormality in terms of my personality.

 

            Regardless of these weird thoughts racing through my head, I felt like doing something out-of-character"something else, since I’d already accidentally accomplished that quite a few times the past few days.

 

            That was how I came up with the idea to hatch a rule-breaking plan.

 

            Curfew was at ten-thirty for us senior high-school students, and eleven for university-goers. I might make it back before then. But the rule-breaking part came in with the getting-out. I was mandated to have at least two others with me if I went out this late at night. And I definitely wasn’t permitted to sneak out.

 

            I was not going to ask Adelheid to risk her life to accompany me.

 

            But I was clueless about sneaking-out methods. What if I died doing it? Or ended up in a hospital? For God’s sake, why had I been roomed on the third floor? Improvise: I’d just have to somehow get to the main floor without arousing suspicion. What could I possibly want from the main floor?

 

            Left a novel in the main kitchen, I suggested.

 

            I grabbed my jacket and a pair of black gloves, shoved on a pair of wooly boots, and took my novel.

 

            I cautiously dawned the stairs. Most people were probably asleep, attacking their homework, doing recreational shiz, etc. Unless getting a light snack or something, they probably weren’t on the main floor. When I saw the kitchen empty of light and people, I sighed with relief; casually threw my Jane Austen classic at the nearest counter.

 

            So, that’s where I left my book, I mentally practiced the alibi.

 

            Turning on the sink’s faucet, I let the water run until I’d unlatched the frozen-stuck window beside the kitchen, so the sound would be muffled. Anyone could be waiting for cold water to get warm, but who’d dare open the window to go out alone into the night?

 

            Apparently, I was that dumb soul.

 

            Save my nonexistent grace, I was glad for my smaller-than average size. I slipped out through the window after turning off the faucet. I slowly closed the window, making it look like it was shut all the way. Or else I’d have a hell of a time explaining why I’d been out by my lonesome so late, possibly past curfew, and how the heck I’d gotten out in the first place.

 

            Peace out.