Chapter 3 - The Truth

“Rayanne? Rayanne wake up!” Grams yelled at me. “Where have you been I’ve been worried sick!”

My head spun violently making me want to throw up. I sat up, still feeling weird and very confused. Where am I? I wanted to say, I tried to say, but the words come out. I couldn’t see anything and suddenly I felt that jabbing feeling in my stomach that told me something was not right again. I felt dizzy, like I hit my head all over again.

“Rayanne?” it was a guys voice this time. “Rayanne, are you ok?” He sounded honestly worried.

Something ice cold touched my forehead and I shivered.

“Rayanne?” he said again. “Say something please, anything at all.” He practically begged.

Whatever that cold thing was, it moved from my forehead down to my cheek, and touched my hair. I realized then what it was.

“What the hell?” I said. My voice cracked on the last word.

“What? What is it? Are you ok? Does your head hurt?” he asked and my head spun more.

“Uh, yeah. A little.” I answered.

I tried opening my eyes when I realized I was not on the ground and not outside my car anymore. I had to blink a couple times to focus, but it didn’t work. I could only see enough to know the sun was out. Where the hell am I? How long was I out? I wasn’t quite ready to ask those out loud yet and really wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answers.  Seeing the guy from my dream standing in front of me, while I was definitely not sleeping, was enough to make me pass out. The guy I had dreamt about the night before I came to this place. The one that gave me that very intense “not right” feeling that stuck with me while driving here had hit me again even more intensely right before my head hit the ground. For such a horrible feeling to have about something, I seemed to be ok. I was ok, wasn’t I? I had a horrible headache, but that seemed to be it. And hitting your head on concrete usually has that affect.  I blinked a couple more times and I was able to see a bit more clearly now.

“Rayanne?” he asked sounding unsure of something.  I really wished he would just be quiet for a few minutes.

“What?” I snapped back a little.

“You uh, hit your head pretty hard and I just want to make sure your ok. You slept quite a long time.” He cleared his throat a little and it sounded funny. “What happened? Why did you pass out?” He narrowed his eyes a little like he was confused when he asked. Like he was trying really hard to figure out what caused that. I laughed a little thinking about the last thing he had said a couple seconds before I dropped. Like joking with me about holding a flash light would make me pass out or something. My laughter cut off fast when I realized exactly what had made me pass out and all those thoughts came rushing at me now.

I closed my eyes tightly. Good thing I was already laying down. I thought as I slowly opened my eyes, one eye at a time, to glance about a foot over to where he was standing by a table. He was just staring at me even more confused than before. I still couldn’t make out his face clearly.

“Wait.” I asked as rethought about one of the things he said. “Exactly how long was I asleep?”  There was enough light in the room to tell that it was definitely day time, but not enough to tell what time of day.

He walked back over to me with a cup. “It’s about 7am now.” He answered while handing me the cup. I starred at it for a second. “Its water.” He smiled “I don’t really have anything else, sorry.” His smile faded a little as he walked away.

I sat up slowly, not trying to cause another head rush and tried focusing my eyes again, imagining what I must look like blinking fast, ten to twenty times while trying to see.

“You didn’t hit your head so hard that your starting to go blind did you?” he asked while laughing.

“Very funny.” I said feeling my face turn slightly red.

I don’t know why, but that reminded me of earlier, well last night, when he heard me talking to myself outside my car. And that’s what ended up bringing him over to me and if he didn’t come, possible concussion or not, I might have pneumonia or something by now sitting out there wet in my freezing car.

“7am, Wow.” I said. I must have hit my head pretty hard, I’m starting out slower than usual today. “I really have to get home.”

“Ok, well your cars all fixed now.” He said with a smile. “A rock must have shot up in there and knocked a plug lose.” He added, still smiling.

He must have caught on that I wouldn’t have known what he was talking about, because he didn’t  use the actual names.

“Oh uh, thank you. I appreciate it.” Something as simple as a lose plug could have kept me stranded for days. I took a drink of water then set it down on the table as I got up. “Well I should get going now. Thanks again.” I added as I looked around the room for the door.

I had no idea where I was, but I assumed it was his house.  I couldn’t see a door from where I was and I got that weird feeling in my stomach again. I tried to take a step forward and staggered a little. I tried to focus and get rid of the dizziness, but before I could even blink he was by my side, holding me up and I realized at once I was right. The ice cold thing that was touching my face was his hand. I shivered when he touched my arm, and even though he barely touched me,  I got that same feeling like I was getting a shot of electricity through my bones and jumped back a little causing me to fall back down on the couch. His hands never let go of me though, so I landed gently.

“Nice reflexes.” I commented. Where were those reflexes last night before my head slammed into the ground?

“Um, thanks.” He said sounding a little awkward.

That caught me a little off guard. Why was he awkward?  I was the one feeling weird and falling all over the place pretty much every time I really noticed him. That reminds me, I never did really get a good look at his face.

I hadn’t realized that he was sitting next to me, but not touching me anymore. I just stared at my hand for a second, then slowly started looking up at him. My eyes met his and I couldn’t help but gasp a little, but I didn’t look away.

He was more beautiful than in my dreams. Which was very hard to believe.  Still pale white, only not such an odd looking pale as he looked in the dark. He was more of a creamy pale. The color of his skin was very hard to put into words. His lips were a pale pink, they looked soft as a rose petal and yet hard as a rock at the same time. His nose was the perfect shape and even his eyebrows were perfect, not too thick and not too thin. He had dark brown hair that was cut to about 2in long and slightly spiked up at the top. I loved the way it shadowed his forehead and brought out his eyes. Then there was his eyes. Those beautiful, odd looking, brown eyes that were outlined by thick long lashes. I saved those for last, I knew it would be hard to look away once I met his eyes and I was right.

I hadn’t even realized how close I was sitting to him now, staring straight into each other’s eyes. I had gotten the strangest urge to touch his face and before I fully thought it through, my hand moving off my lap. My hand wasn’t even halfway there when that weird feeling rolled through me so hard I shivered again.

That of course broke my concentration and I was back to looking at my hands that were on my lap. I felt him still looking at me and I started to feel uncomfortable.

Something isn’t right, but what is it? All these thoughts that are so jumbled like a jig-saw puzzle they aren’t making any sense. I see him and I felt him touch me. I know he’s real, but it just doesn’t… it doesn’t feel right.  I fell like I’m missing something, something under the surface. Whatever it was, it was something big enough that this is all happening and fast. I really dreamt about him and what happened in the dream had happened very similar to that. Except in my dream I woke up, not passed out.

I felt him look away and I followed his eyes that lead to the clock.

“Oh wow, yeah I really need to get home.” I stood up slowly so I wouldn’t end up falling again. I’ve done enough of that for the time ive spent with him. “Um, where exactly am I anyways?”

He laughed once. “My house.” He answered with a smile.

His smile made my veins feel like fire was running through them and it were followed by the usual.

How could someone who looked so… beautiful, so… perfect, make me feel like I was in danger? And yet even know that I was possibly in danger, I couldn’t leave him like my mind was telling me too and I realized I didn’t want too. I stopped for a second thinking about that, but I had to get home to my Lilly. I’ve already been away from her for much too long now. The longest I have ever been away from her.

My throat suddenly felt like something stuck in it and I started feeling scared. Not scared of im, but scared that I may never see him again. That I might walk out that door and drive home and it will be like he wasn’t real. Now I knew I was crazy sometimes, but I’ve never thought someone up like this, but still how could I know for sure.

“Do you think you can drive home?” He said breaking my train of thought. “Or will you suddenly get dizzy again and drive into a tree?” he laughed.

“You’re a real comedian aren’t you.” I said rolling my eyes and turning around to walk away.

“Uh, it’s that way.” He was pointing at a door in the opposite direction.

I turned and t found the door. I opened it and start walking through it when he grabbed my arm softly. I knew what to expect, but the coldness of his touch and that little electric current still made me jerk my arm a little.

“Seriously, do you think you can drive? I don’t know how used to passing out like that you are and well, I would be kind of worried if I let you drive home alone.” He gave me a half smile, but I could tell he was serious.

I wonder how he would react to knowing that he was causing this. I laughed once. “Really, I’ll be fine. I appreciate all you’ve helped me with. Much more than I would have expected from someone I don’t really know” I said glancing at the couch that I’d slept on.

He noticed before I did that I had said “someone I don’t really know” and took a slight step back, not letting go of me, but to look at me better. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowing a little.

“Don’t really know? I was under the impression we’ve never met before.” He held the same expression only now confusion fit in there somewhere too.

“O-oh yeah, that’s uh, what I meant.” Why, oh why did I have to be such a terrible liar? And why don’t I start paying attention to what I’m saying before I say it?

I tried to step forward, but he wasn’t going to drop it. He tightened his grip a little.

“I may not know you, but I know when someone’s lying.” He said with an odd laugh.

Great, now how was I going to get out of this one? I didn’t want to lie, I just wanted the truth.  There was something very different about him, so different that even my dreams where trying to tell me, putting that with the intense “not right” feelings, the electricity when we touch, and just the fact that he’s just so perfect. He was definitely not normal, whatever normal was.

“Just drop it ok.” Even though I said to, I knew he wasn’t going too.

And I was right. “Drop it? Are you saying that we have met before? Or that you have seen me before?”

I tried to pry his hand off my arm, but he was ridiculously strong. “Will you let me go! I have to get home.”

“What’s at home that is so important that you can’t take 2 seconds to answer my question?” He said then sighed. “What is it some kind of secret or something?”

I turned to face him and he looked straight into my eyes. “My daughter is at home with my grandparents, probably worrying like crazy. A nice 3 hour drive should not turn into me not coming home till morning without at least a phone call. It’s not exactly getting off to a good start.” I said. “Not that it’s any of your business.” I added while trying again to break loose of his hold on my arm.

He finally let go and walked away. I turned back to the door and got out about 2 feet before he came back, closing the door behind him.

“Here.” He said while handing me a phone. “Sorry I didn’t think about it before.”

“It’s a little late now, I just need to get there.” I tried again to make it to the car, but he walked out in front of me and I had to stop again.

“Ok, fine.” I reached for the phone. This should be interesting, I thought while dialing the house number.

After two rings Grams answered.

“Hello?” she said. Well she didn’t sound too worried, but then again she didn’t know who was calling.

“Hey Grams, its Rayanne. I’m so sorry I didn’t get home last night. I got…” She cut me off before I could explain why.

“Oh my goodness honey, I’ve been so worried about you. What happened? Are you ok?” Now the real Grams was showing.

“Again, I’m really sorry. I got lost on my way back, and then the car broke down. Luckily there was a guy who lived close by that was able to help me.” I said. I stopped for a second. “On and yes, I’m ok. He let me sleep on his couch and I should be home soon.” It all sounded really weird when I said it out loud. It almost felt like none of that happened that I just somehow ran into him, something totally normal which was very far off from what actually was going on.

“Oh, uh, ok. Are you going to be ok getting home?”  she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be just fine.” I told her. “How’s Lilly?”

“She’s good, just curious about every little thing.” She laughed a little. “Soon as she got up this morning, she went and stood by the door saying mommy. So I think she was worrying about you too.”

“Ok well, I won’t be too much longer.” I said, feeling a little guilty for leaving Lilly like that.

“Ok honey. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye.” I said and hung up the phone.

I turned to give the phone back and he was staring at me with a look on his face I couldn’t make out what he could be thinking.

“First time away from her?” he asked and it kind of took me by surprise.

“Uh yeah. Is it that obvious?” I laughed a little and looked down.

“A little yes.” He smiled. “Well let’s get going.” He said while leading the way to the car.

I stopped when I noticed the plural he used. “Let’s?” I asked.

“Yep. I’m not letting you drive yourself home after what happen last night.” He said while climbing into the driver’s seat. “I still wish you would please tell me what that was all about.”

“Uh, who said you were driving?” I asked. I didn’t let just anyone drive my car. Besides Lilly, it was the only thing that I owned that was worth anything.

“I did. Now get it and quit avoiding my question.” He said and closed the door.

I sighed and walked to the passenger’s side. I climbed in and slammed the door. That last time I really wasn’t trying to avoid the question. But I guess, generally speaking, I was. It was already too weird. But talking to him about it, it would prove that I really was crazy.

There were so many questions that I needed answers too, and some that just bugged me. For one, how did he know my name and why did he not even tell me his. Was that a secret? Maybe he had no intensions in seeing me again, so I wouldn’t need to know his name. But still, how did he know my name? He must have saw my ID. The main thing, above everything else, that bugged me was, the way I felt, like now for instance. Stomach flopping making me feel nauseous, something about being alone with him in the car made me feel like I shouldn’t be here, but I was so damn curious I really couldn’t ignore it.

Every few minutes he’d look at me again. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly and turned to him. “What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Well for one” he paused clearing his throat and tried to smooth over that nervous look on his face, but it didn’t work. “Why did you um, freak out like that when you saw me?”

“Cause I’m crazy.” I told him. Well, it wasn’t a lie.“Seriously. Now what’s your next question?”

“That was the starter for all the other questions, but now you’ve just created a few more.” He looked at me again a little longer than before and I realized he was barely paying attention to the road.

“Will you watch where you’re going please, unless you plan on buying me a new car.” I paused for a second when I noticed how fast he was going and was a little surprised. He was going a little fast than I normally go on roads like these. “Though I guess if you crash at this speed, you probably wouldn’t need to.” I laughed a little darkly. Not exactly something I wanted to think about.

“I’m not going to wreck your car. I’ve lived here a long time, I know these roads pretty well.” He smiled, but it wasn’t as comforting as he meant it to be.

I just stared at him, trying to figure out was could be so dangerous about him again. He caught me and laughed.

“What?” he asked while still laughing.

“Can I uh, a-ask you a question, or two?” I asked.

His laugh then slowly faded to nothing, the way someone did when the subject was about to change to something more uncomfortable. He looked back to the road and sighed, “I don’t know what you would want to know, but go ahead.”

I decided to start with the least important. “How did you know my name?” I asked while keeping my eyes on his.

He smiled. “Well, I was trying to wake you up and got a little tired saying ’hey wake up.’ When I carried you I felt a card in your back pocket and guessed it was your license. Luckily I was right.” He laughed a little keeping his eyes on the road. From the look in his eyes, he knew the more difficult question was next.

I tried to think of any way that I could word what I was about to say to make me seem a little more sane, but I don’t think there any way to make a person appear sane when they had thoughts like these in their head. I sighed and just let it come out any way it could.

“Ok so, um.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but it came out staggered. My nerves were all messed up causing my heart beat to speed up. Ugh, here comes the panic attack. I could feel him tense, that didn’t help at all.

“There’s something about you, but I don’t know what, but it’s definitely something not… not normal.” His eyes narrowed, but I ignored him. Well I tried anyways. I just looked away. “What I mean is. Ugh, I don’t know. I get all these mixed feeling with you and not the normal feelings you get when you meet a cute guy. Ok, now I’m losing my train of thought.” I paused to take another deep breath. “When I’m near you, my body gives off mixed signals. There’s the one that gets so intense it makes me want to turn around and run as far as I can away from you and the other is like a huge weight pushing me to the ground, making me stay, no matter how strong the feeling to run is. The intense feeling is something I’m actually used to. It’s something my body does to warn me of danger. Like a sixth sense maybe I don’t know.” I stopped for a second to laugh and I realized I’m starting to ramble. “But what is confusing me is… What danger is there? Its weird, I know, but really how is it possible to feel safe around someone who could also be so dangerous.”

I finally got it all out and I did feel a little better, but also a little worse. When I looked at him I saw so many emotions flash at once, I felt dizzy trying to catch them all. There was anger, definitely anger, and that’s what threw me off a bit. I half expected him to laugh at me. Tell me I was crazy and that I watched too many movies. But he didn’t even look at me. I tried focusing on the other emotions I saw, but they all just blurred together with the anger and… Embarrassment? It was a mix of embarrassment and shame.

I sat their looking out the window waiting for him to answer, but he didn’t. The silence was driving me mad.

“Are you ever going to talk again?” I asked. Anything to break the silence.

“What do you want me to say?” His voice sounded so cold I looked up at him and seen that it matched the look on his face. So much for the rose petal lips, his whole face was like a rock.

“I don’t know. Anything, even if it’s just too tell me that I’m crazy. Something as long as its…”

“What? As long as it’s not bad?” He shouted at me that time.

My mouth dropped a little, I closed it and looked out the window. What the hell was his problem all of the sudden? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but I needed too.

“Look, uh… What’s your name?  Can you at least answer that now?” I said sourly, couldn’t believe I went this long without knowing.

He sighed then answered. “It’s Daniel.”

“Hmm, I like that name.” I said and offered a smile. I wanted him to see that I’m not, well that I wasn’t trying to be rude.

He smiled too, but it quickly faded back into the cold, rock like, face that he had before.

“Daniel, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want too, but in order for me to answer your questions about last night, I have to know, for sure, why I felt that way too.” I paused for a second then continued when I realized he was softening a little. “I’m used to weird, hell every day of my life has been one big messed up ball of weird. I don’t know why but I just…”

He raised his hand to cut me off. He took a deep breath and that flash of emotions flew by again. Was he about to tell me?

“Rayanne, my version of weird is definitely more extreme than any type of weird you can even imagine. I’ve fought it with all I had, but it’s who I am and I always lose. I’m not what or who you think I am. Who I am right now, is someone I’ve worked very hard to be and very hard to stay. But those feelings you’re getting are all apart of who I am. Make you feel danger so you’ll stay away, but lure you in by making you feel safe.” He paused again and then continued. “I never thought I’d be having this conversation with someone, just because I helped them fix their car.” He said then laughed.

I turned and looked him straight in the eyes and he looked back into mine. I could feel the car slow down, but his eyes never left mine. A few seconds later I closed my eyes and looked out the window, then looked back.

“So, what are you then?” I asked. Guess I’m not holding anything back now.

“Umm, Dangerous?” he laughed again.

“Er, besides that?” I smiled. I was glad he was starting to loosen up a bit.

“I don’t think you’re ready to know that, we just met. And well actually…”

I cut him off this time “I’d rather know now then get find out later and have it be a problem. I like to face all my problems up front.” I smiled again.

“Rayanne….” He said it in a kind of grumbled tone. I think I was getting to him.

“Daniel, please? If this is your way of trying to protecting me from something, then just stop. Things now already won’t ever be the same, I can feel that and I can handle pretty much anything.” I said while still looking at him.

He turned to look down at the steering wheel and sighed. “Even vampires?” he asked still looking down and I think my heart stopped.

Vampires? Was that what he… Was he telling me that he was a…. A vampire? That makes sense. My thoughts we so jumbled up and I was very glad I didn’t say them out loud. But as I said all that, I realized that part of me somehow knew that already. It was everything, his pale skin, off colored eyes that were probably that color from contacts, impossibly perfect features, everything about him was just so… so unreal. And a vampire fit perfectly.

“I thought so.” I whispered.

His head snapped up too look at me and his eyes narrowed. “What do you mean you thought so?”

I sighed and then continued my part. “I say ‘I thought so’ because a part of me already knew.” I paused to look at his reaction, but it never really changed. I turned to look out the window.

“I saw you, in my dreams. I saw you coming to me, only then I had no idea it was because I was stupidly stranded, but the storm, the lightning and the thunder at the exact moments, the look in your eyes as you raised your hand to my touch face and started to say something. It was all the same. I knew you were coming for me before you actually did. I just didn’t realize it till I saw your face and both the dream and reality were drowning me and well, that’s when I passed out.”

He froze for a minute, and I knew that he thought I was crazy. But then again I was sitting next to a vampire while he was driving my car. Not in the least bit scared. Suddenly everything snapped into place almost literally. The roll of nervousness with that “not right” feeling seriously felt like a snap as it busted through my veins and ran through me like a wild fire. Of course I would have that feeling. Nothing was right. A human being close to vampire like this, it wasn’t right. But I was ok with that. I knew that it was definitely dangerous, but I could deal with it. It was that sudden burning fire inside me that brought me back to reality. We sat there starting in each other’s eyes for a few minutes, thinking about what was just said and I realized something else. For the first time, in a long time, I felt ok. Different than ok, I felt right. Sitting here with Daniel in my car felt right, not matter how not right it was.

 

Author's Note

I'm new at writing and I except any criticism. I just ask that you please be nice about it. There may be some grammar errors, but I haven't made things final yet.