Chapter 2

"OH MY GOD, COURTNEY" Her mother let out an ear splitting scream as she rushed to Courtney's bed, shaking her daughter. 

She collapsed over her daughter, shaking with the grief that overcame her as she realized that her only daughter had killed herself. She called 911 half an hour later, trying to keep her voice from being incomprehensible as she told them her address. When they came over the coroner pronounced Courtney dead at the scene. A suicide he said. Lisa, her mother, refused to believe this and wanted to know what killed her daughter, who killed her daughter. 

"My daughter, my sweet Courtney would never kill herself. She would never be driven to this. She has a loving girlfriend, fantastic friends, loving parents. I don't see how this could happen. My Courtney, Courtney..." She drifted off into uncontrollable sobs as a police officer lead her into the kitchen and made some coffee. 

"Ma'am, I know how hard this is for you right now but I'm afraid we're going to need to talk to you and your husband about Courtney's life. You said she had a girlfriend. Did she get bullied for that?" Lisa wouldn't answer.

"Mrs. Leyva, I'm going to need answers so I can get to the bottom of this. If she was bullied we can hold those people responsible. I need you to work with me please, I'm so sorry for what you're going through." Trying not to cry herself, officer Rita Stone sat down with Lisa. Holding her mug full of coffee she realized with the vacant expression on Lisa's face that this was going to take a long while. She had been there before. Her son had killed himself a few years ago because of her divorce. 

"I do know what you are going through ma'am. I," she hesitated " I lost my son, Jeremy, a few years ago as well. My divorce with his father tore him apart and the kids at his school bullied him too. I do know what you are going through. I'm here for you Lisa," she put her hand on Lisa's lifeless one, hoping to comfort this mother who reminded her of herself. 

"I... We always... fought." After two hours, two pots of coffee, and complete silence Lisa spoke a broken sentence. 

"Courtney and yourself?"

"No... Rick and I... we would always... fight... in front of her." Lisa put her head in her hands and sobbed harder, her whole body shaking. "Oh God, I did this... I did this to her... This is all... my fault. I should.. never have fought... with Rick in front of her... I should never have dragged her into it... It's all my fault... All my fault..." She spoke slowly, in between the body-racking sobs. 

"This isn't your fault Lisa, I promise. You could have shown her no more love, no more compassion than you did. You did everything for her. This isn't your fault." Officer Stone recited what she had heard another officer say to her those long years ago. 

Suddenly all of the memories with Courtney flooded back to Lisa, all the good times and when she was a child, all the bad times when she was a spoiled brat, and she would give anything to have those times back. To hold her child, to tell her how much she really did love her. All of it was gone too fast.

"She was bullied a little. Because she was dating Hailey. I always supported them. They were truly in love and I couldn't deny that." She was proud of her daughter for being independent and learning about who she was. 

"Do you know by who? If you don't want to talk about this right now I understand. This is a hard thing to go through. If you think of anything please call me. Don't let me stay any longer than you want me to. I will leave as soon as you ask." Officer Stone remembered how kind you had to be to someone who just lost their child. She felt sick to her stomach as she thought of her Jeremy. 

"Yes, please talk to the teachers. I don't want to think about who would torture my Courtney this way." Lisa waved her hand dismissively as she covered her sore and puffy eyes. She had cried her makeup off hours ago. 

"I'll be on my way ma'am, but here is my number if you need to talk to me, and here is the number to the counselor who helped me through my hard times. She is a great counselor." The officer wanted nothing more than to leave this house. She couldn't remember why in the world she had picked this job. 

At the morgue in a silver box, Courtney woke up with a jolt. Straining against the stitches she listened as the coroner spoke softly as he wrote his report. 

"Dead at the scene... Suicide... girl... age 17... Poor girl," he murmured. 

As the coroner fell asleep on the desk, Courtney quietly pushed her way out, making sure the stitches on her torso didn't rip out. When she saw the coroner she was overwhelmed with a hunger she could not describe. Her whole body was aching to tear into his flesh and drink his warm blood. She slowly made her way to the sleeping man, smelling his blood pulse under his skin. Courtney realized that she couldn't hold herself back. She had to kill him. 

Brushing her lips softly against his skin she felt the pulse that would soon stop. Biting into his neck she sucked the blood that was pouring into her mouth. He woke up with a jolt and she quickly snapped his neck and sloppily drank the life from him. When Courtney was done she looked around and saw blood everywhere. This was harder than she thought. A reflection caught her eye and she was staring at herself. She looked alive.