Vampires And Witches - Kayla Trautman (bookreader TXT) 📗

he left.


I layed down in bed and curled up in the blanket. It was freezing. But I wasn’t worried about the cold. I could deal with that. Why did Keith react like that? And why did he say what he did afterwards? ‘I’ll be my room if you absolutely need me.’ I repeated his words in my head. It was like he didn’t even want to see me. Didn’t he want me to kiss him? He did ask me. Was I a terrible kisser? Was I that bad? I know I’ve never kissed anyone before but I couldn’t be that bad. Could I? Tears rolled down my cheeks as I silently cried. Whenever I felt sobs crawling up my throat I shoved the blanket to my mouth to silence it. I didn’t want him to hear me and then have to feel sorry because of how he felt. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


Chapter 7: Rejection is not the Case

I woke up the next morning and I felt all the emotion that I went to sleep with. I got up and walked over to my dresser. I pulled out a pair of jeans, a blank turtle neck shirt with sleeves, and got dressed. I put my sneakers on and went downstairs.

David was sitting on the couch with Hilary and Diana. I sat on the other couch and muttered, “Morning.” Diana asked, “How are you doing?” I shrugged, “I’m okay. I guess.” Hilary came over and sat next to me. She put her arm around me, “I’m sorry.” I asked, “For what? You didn’t do anything.” “For not telling you that William was my son. Anything that he does goes on me.” I shook my head, “No. It doesn’t. You have nothing to do with anything your son does. He’s on his own. Don’t blame yourself for your sons actions.” She smiled and hugged me, “So you’re not mad that he’s part of the family?” I replied, “No. You are still you. He has absolutely nothing to do with who you are. I have no reason to be mad at you.” She sat back, “Thank you.”

At that moment Keith came in with a tray that had eggs and ham on them. He came over and held it out for me, “Here. Thought that you might want some breakfast.” I folded my arms and shook my head, “No thank you. I’m not hungry.” It felt weird seeing him right here in front of me acting like nothing had happened.

He asked, “Why not? Are you feeling okay?” I answered, “I’m fine. I’m just not hungry.” He set the tray on the coffee table in front of us, “Well it’s here if you change your mind.” Then he sat down next to Hilary. David asked, “Keith. Will you go get food from the store today? The refrigerator is almost empty.” Keith nodded and looked at me, “Sure. Ariel. Wanna come with me so you can pick out what it is you want to eat?” I answered, “I was actually planning on going to see a friend. Just don’t pick up cheese.” I didn’t want to talk to him alone right now.

I got up, “See you.” Then I walked out. I went out to my truck; this was the first time in a while that I was actually able to drive my own truck myself in a while. I got in and I started the truck. I was about to drive off but I heard Keith call, “Ariel! Wait!” I opened my window and looked out, “What?”

He came over and folded his arms on the bottom of the window frame casually leaning on the car, “Which friend are you going to see?” I lied, “Melissa. Why?” “So I know where you are if anything happens. I won’t need you to tell me where she lives. She’s in your phone book, right?”

I frowned, “You went through my stuff?” He shrugged, “Checking so I know for times like this. Call when you’re ready to come home. Kay?” I nodded, “Sure. Whatever.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. I closed my eyes when he did and quickly opened them to see him frowning at me. I sighed, “See you.” I hit the gas and sped off. He would probably question me for why I did later but right now I just needed to get out. I needed a drink. A good stiff drink. I knew exactly who I had to go see to get one. Michael. Or Mike. That’s what everyone called him.

I parked the truck in front of his house and got out. I locked it up and went up to the house. I knocked and waited. After a minute or two the door opened, “Ariel. Hey. How are you?” I answered, “Hey Mike. Okay. I was wondering if I could get a few drinks. Plain. Mixed with nothing.” He sighed, “I don’t think that you should drink while you’re upset.” I pleaded, “Please. I can’t deal with it right now. If I can’t get something to drink then I might do something else. And I think drinking is better than what I have in mind.” He nodded and moved aside, “Sure. Okay. If you put it that way then I guess I have to.” I smiled and walked inside. I was so glad that I had a twenty-three year old friend who didn’t mind me drinking.

I sat down on the couch and leaned back. After about five minutes Mike came in with a red cooler. He opened it and handed me a bottle of Smirnoff Liquor, “Here you go.” I took it, “Thank you. You’re not drinking?” He shook his head, “No. If you get drunk or pass out who’s going to take you home? Where are you living just in case I have to?” I answered, “With the Shades. They live on Jenkins street. Thanks again. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. Probably cutting myself or jumping off a cliff or something.”

Mike nodded, “Yeah. Probably. Remember when your mom died and you almost jumped off of that cliff? And when I stopped you from cutting yourself and said that it would be better if you drank a little?” I took a drink of the liquor and swallowed. It burned my throat all the way down to my chest. But it felt good. I nodded once I was able to speak again, “Yeah. You never let me get drunk though. You only gave me a cup mixed with ice tea. And when I was really upset you gave me a cup without being mixed with anything.” “You were only ten.” He replied. “I was already doing wrong by letting you have any. But I guess I can let you get drunk this one time.” I nodded and continued to drink.

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“Maybe you should stop drinking now, Ariel. You’re way passed drunk.” I heard Mike say in a worried voice. I didn’t really hear him. I was drunk and it felt really good. This was at least my fifth bottle. I laughed, “Why? I feel . . . Fine. This is great.” I took another drink and stood up. That’s when the room started spinning. “Hey. When did you get a room that spun? That’s so . . . Cool.” I fell to the floor unconscious.

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I opened my eyes and frowned, “Ow.” My head hurt. And I felt sick. I wasn’t at Mike’s anymore. I was home. Oh no. What did he do? What time is it? I looked at the clock and it read seven. Ugh! No! No! No! I got out of bed and went downstairs.

When I went downstairs everyone looked up at me. I asked, “How did I get here? I don’t remember anything.” Keith frowned, “Well you wouldn’t remember anything with the way you were drinking.” Hilary asked, “How are you feeling?” “Terrible.” And right now that’s a good thing. “Headache. I’ll be fine.”

Keith stood up and started yelling at me, “What were you thinking?! Why did you lie to me?!” I answered still talking, “Well, if I told you where I was going and what I was doing then you would have stopped me. And I’m glad I did. I haven’t done that in a long time.”

He yelled back at me, “You could’ve killed yourself! You’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself or worse! Do you know how worried I was when your so-called friend Mike showed up here and carried you in unconscious?! He’s lucky I didn’t have time to give him what he deserved for letting you drink; let alone letting you drink that much!”

I yelled despite the pain in my head, “Don’t talk about Mike like that! He’s been nothing but a friend to me! If it weren’t for him then I probably wouldn’t be here right now! The only reason he lets me drink is because he knows that I would go and do something worse!” “Worse?! What could be worse?!” Keith asked. I didn’t want to go that far. I frowned, “You really don’t want to know.” He came over to me, folded his arms and nodded, “Yes! I think I do want to know!”

I pulled my sleeves up and held my arms out wrists facing up, “How about cutting myself?! How about jumping off cliffs hopping that one time I’ll hit a rock?! Is that worse or does drinking still beat that?!” He looked at me surprised, “Ariel. Please tell me you don’t?” I said, “Look for yourself. The scars are right there in front of you. You don’t know me like he does. I don’t do good with the pain and I don’t talk to people about it. So am I done getting lectured or do I have to listen to more on how I shouldn’t do what I do?” I turned and walked out before he could say anything.

I folded my arms and walked out to the pavement. I took a few deep breaths and then I started to run down the block. I was surprised that no one came running after me to make me go back. Maybe they thought that I needed some time alone. Maybe they finally gave up on me. I hopped that that was it. But . . . I doubt it.

I kept on running. I needed to get away from life right now. It had to have been at least an hour when I finally stopped running. I found a forest. I ran into the forest and kept on running. When I was deep into the forest I levitated into the air and sat on the first branch. I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree and brought my knees up to my chest. I folded my arms across my knees and buried my head in my lap crying. It started to rain. I mean, it was pouring. But I didn’t care. Even when I was soaked in a matter of seconds I didn’t care. I didn’t care about how cold I was or that I might get sick.

A few hours had to have gone by. I levitated down and wrapped my arms around my stomach. There was a hole in my chest that was there ever since I was ten. It’s just recently gotten deeper when my dad died. And it hurt like hell all the time. Maybe even worse than hell. Sometimes I wanted hell more than this hole in my chest.

I started walking home slowly. As slow as I could manage. I heard a car horn honk and I