Chapter Seven

 

"I on my part give up the uncertainty of eternal rest and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!"

- An excerpt from Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

An entry by Hayley Edison

They could tell, and it sent a shiver down my spine to walk down the hallways of school on Monday. I felt a million eyes on me as each head looked up the moment I was within their range of sight. Riley stopped mid-anecdote and stood up straight from his lean on the lockers, his eyes transfixed on me. Dylan pulled off his headphones and watched me, our eyes meeting for a moment that made my skin crawl. Annabel turned around wildly, nearly dropping her text books when I walked past her. One by one, vampires looked up and whispered to each other, some giving me confused expressions, others just passing me twisted grins.

In some sort of sick, disturbing way I liked the attention. All of a sudden I and every vampire in school shared an unspoken secret. I knew it would have never been possible, but for that brief moment as I smiled to myself and tightened the scarf around my neck, I felt like one of them.

 

With a grin I recalled lying in Patrick’s arms and listening to him talk about T.S. Eliot. He had an unshakable infatuation with poetry that I could never fully understand, but I liked how passionate he was about words and metaphors and literary symbols. I liked the way his body relaxed into a sigh as he closed his eyes and said: “Let us go then you and I, when the evening is stretched out against the sky, like a patient etherised upon a table...”

 

“Something different about you, Hayley,” a familiar voice caught me by surprise as I rummaged through my locker. I froze as Edward leant against the lockers next to mine. I felt his finger against my purple Arabian scarf and shuddered, “I can’t quite put my finger on it...”

 

“What do you want, Edward?” I said dryly.

 

“Who marked you, lovely,” His gaze wandered down from my neck to my legs, “You don’t look like a Fang Club girl,” He said.

 

“Are you jealous you didn’t get in first?” I asked, giving him a dark little smile that he returned. I shook my head and turned away again.

 

“No,” He whispered, “I’m just surprised... I didn’t know Symmonds had it in him,” he smirked. I shot a glance up at him just as he lunged towards me, making an eerie sucking noise as he paused an inch away from my neck.

 

I gasped and reeled backwards, making him laugh as he turned and walked away. He gave me one last glance before he rounded a corner, just to make sure I was watching him walk away. It took me awhile to catch my breath, and I stood holding my neck for a moment, my gaze held still on the marble floors below.

 

***

 

“I’m sorry,” Patrick said, scrolling through songs on his Ipod, “I should have been there,” He muttered. I could see he was genuinely upset and snuggled closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I rested my chin on his shoulder. He smiled and turned to look at me. “But he probably would have just beaten me up,”

 

“Yup,” I blurted out with a laugh.

 

“Thanks for your faith in me,” Patrick mumbled, giggling too.

 

“Aww, Patty-cakes,” I cooed, giving him a kiss on the cheek and tapping the top of his hat so it slanted forward and covered his eyes. “Edward’s just weird,” I said and rested my head on his shoulder again. “It’s like he periodically alternates between all these different characters inside his head,”

 

“He has his reasons,” I heard Patrick say in a hushed voice and looked up to see he had his eyes locked on a group of backbiters. They stared back as they walked across the courtyard, dragging with them an overwhelming feeling of dread. I could see Axon’s red lips curl into a smile and felt my skin crawl. Patrick’s hand tightened around mine.

 

“Ow- Patty!” I squealed when I felt his fingernails dig into my skin, pulling my hand out of his grasp.

 

“Sorry,” Patrick said, looking at me concerned as I looked down at my hand, rubbing it gently.

 

“Meany,” I pouted, but let him take my hand again. He stroked it with his thumb and returned his gaze towards the backbiters who were slowly filing into the school building. They found a group of emo kids to pick on instead, and held their stares elsewhere. I wondered why they even bothered coming to school, most of them were going to end up living in Fang Clubs by the time they turned 21 anyway, and there wouldn’t be anything their parents could do to stop it.

 

“I’ll drive you home today okay?” I heard Patrick say. I looked at him, his light blue eyes drawing me in and making me smile.

 

“Okay,” I said, and he placed his headphones over my ears.

 

“Tell me what you think about this track...”

 

“Hayley,” I heard my mother call out to me from the kitchen.

 

“Yeah!” I hung up my coat and scarf as she came out to meet me at the front door.

 

“Were you at the park again?” She asked me with a smile, a green scarf around her head to match her green apron. She held her hands up in front of her, they were covered in flour. My mother was one of those people who insisted on doing everything herself, and so cooked every meal from scratch and baked all her own bread. I never understood her obsession with toiling away in the kitchen for hours, us kids would have been happy with a bowl of fruit loops for breakfast. But such a request would’ve sent my mother into full cardiac arrest. We had freshly baked bread, homemade cheese and marmalade, and the possibility of bacon, eggs or pancakes for breakfast. I think she would have made fruit loops if she only knew how.

 

I’ve always remembered her that way- apron and hands covered in flour with a warm smile as she met me at the door.

 

“Yeah,” I said, and she smiled that ‘momma knows’ smile that made me roll my eyes as I followed her into the kitchen.

 

“That Patrick’s a nice boy,” She said as she washed her hands in the sink. The smell of cookies almost knocked me off my feet. “You should ask him over for dinner sometime,” She said. For a brief moment I wondered what that would be like.

 

“Sure,” I scoffed as she handed me dishes to set the table with, “So you guys can scare the crap out of him?” I said as I walked into the adjoining dining area and began to set the table.

 

“I take offence to that,” I heard my brother call out from the sofa. I turned and saw him lying there, playing with his electronic dictionary.

 

“Yeah?” I smirked, “Spell offence, dork,”

 

“O-f-f-e-n-c-e,” He spelt out, making me giggle as I set out the cutlery. “To perceive something as negative and react to it with distaste,”

 

I passed my mother a look as she walked out of the kitchen with a pot in her hands. “Can you please stop him from reading the dictionary- that’s just weird,”

 

“Hey, I bought him a Nintendo DS for Christmas... I can’t force him to play with it,” She said, raising her mitten covered hands in defence as she retreated into the kitchen again. I looked over at my brother again as I sat down at the table. “Patrick’s quite a good looking boy,” I heard my mother say to me as she placed another dish on the table. “For a redhead, you know,”

 

“Mum!” I felt my face going red.

 

“What,” She said, “It’s true, most of them are covered in freckles or acne, or you just can’t get past those red eyebrows...”

 

“He’s a little more brunette than redhead,” I suggested and she nodded in agreement.

 

“B-r-u-n-e-t-t-e,” I heard my brother spelling out from the couch.

 

 

“Hayden,” My mother called out to him, “Bathroom- wash hands please!” She instructed, and as if he were a little seven-year-old wind-up toy, Hayden got up off the couch and shuffled towards the bathroom. Mum sat down next to me and I heard her sigh, “I know what he is,”

 

 

I turned towards her, my expression dropping. She moved her cutlery around. “Is this where you lecture me?” I asked.

 

“No,” She said, looking up at me again, “He seems like a really nice boy, Hayley,” She said with a smile that made me relax.

 

Hayden made it back to the table and pulled out his chair before clambering onto it. “Mum,” He begun as she dished out some mashed potatoes for him, “Can I sleep over at Richard’s this weekend?”

 

She cleared her throat and picked up the gravy boat, “Sounds alright to me sweetheart,” She said with a broken kind of voice that made my heart sink, “But you’re going to have to ask your dad too, he has you this weekend,”

 

“Oh, okay,” Hayden said, chewing on a green bean vigorously. He shifted his attention to me suddenly, “Hayley, is Patrick your boyfriend?”

 

Patrick walked me to the door, complaining to me about Tainted Windows when he suddenly stopped mid sentence at the sound of my little brother cycling up the driveway. He looked a little like a stunned cat that was about to raise its back and hiss as a dog approached. I turned and gave my brother a wave, “Hey Haydes,” I smiled.

 

“Hi Polly Wolly,” He greeted back in his husky little voice. Patrick shot me a confused expression.

 

“My middle name’s Polly,” I explained, “And no, I don’t wanna talk about it,” I added quickly, making him laugh.

 

“You’re Patrick,” Hayden assessed, and Patrick nodded. “Are you my sister’s boyfriend?” He asked, squinting his little eyes in suspicion.

 

“Um...” Patrick looked like he was being interrogated by my father instead of my puny brother. He glanced at me and I tried very hard not to burst out laughing. “Sure,” He replied.

 

“That’s gross,” Hayden decided.

 

“Why?” Patrick asked, raising an eyebrow at Hayden who only shrugged in reply.

 

“I like your headphones,” He said, twisting the handle bars of his bike.

 

“Um, thanks,” Patrick said.

 

“I’m going to go now, bye,” And with that, Hayden cycled towards the neighbour’s house.

 

“Wow, you’re such a natural with kids,” I remarked with a laugh, and Patrick only shrugged and smiled weakly. “Do you wanna come in?”

 

“Uh- thanks, but I have to prepare for the presentation tomorrow,” He said, and I felt a little silly for asking.

 

“Oh- that’s okay, sure,” I nodded. He stepped forward and kissed me briefly on the lips.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” He said and turned to walk towards his car. I watched him hop into the front seat and slam the door shut behind him before revving up the engine. He waved at me shyly and sped off. I waved back, and couldn’t help but feel like he was afraid of me.

 

If he had waited just a few minutes he could have had the opportunity of being interrogated by my father instead. I saw his black SUV drive up just moments later.

 

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out when I saw my father walk up the driveway, dressed in a blue suit and tie and looking dishevelled as usual.

 

“Nice to see you too, Hayley,” He scoffed.

 

“You don’t have Hayden til Thursday-”

 

“Where’s your mother?” He demanded, cutting me off as he stopped in front of me, whirling glances around as if he was sure we had snipers watching him.

 

“No,” I replied after a brief pause. “It’s the third Monday of the month,”

 

“Oh, right,” He said, looking guilty for a split second. Everything about him made me furious; his stupid expensive SUV, his stupid yellow tie, and his stupid black hair that was always slicked back in a way that reminded me of sleazy police officers on TV. “Could you please tell her that I can’t have Hayden this week?”

 

“That’s so like you,” I spat angrily. “What is it this time? A trip to Orange County with the new s**t?”

 

He grabbed me by the wrist suddenly, making me flinch as he swallowed back the words he knew he couldn’t say to his 17 year-old daughter. “Funny, isn’t it,” He said slowly, his voice creeping out of him like a python that snaked around me, “In just 5 months I won’t have to worry about you,”

 

“Wow,” I said, swallowing back words of my own, “You actually remembered my birthday,”

 

He scoffed, irritated, and dropped my wrist to storm towards his car. I wondered what my mother ever saw in him.