Chapter 1- First Impressions…

            I open my eyes to see someone staring at me, looking a little angry. Their breath I could feel on my skin and I shoved him away from me. Slowly I sat up on my bed and kept my blankets covering my body. The young man stumbled back and then proceeded to stand up straight and look at me, looking a bit infuriated.
            His hair was dark brown and in the style of a crew cut. He had green eyes with a shade of red infused with them. The paleness of his skin was beyond normal, not human for it was almost completely white. It looked as if he was dead or was terribly ill making his skin look pale. Under his eyes were black bags given to him from not sleeping. Physically he was in top fit condition, muscular and handsome.
            At the moment, he looked either angry or irritated at me. Though, I wasn’t sure why he felt that way. I continued to stare at him, hoping he would speak first but he didn’t even move his lips to reposition them into a more comfortable position. His lips were tightly pressed together as he continued to glower at me. Suddenly, I saw him shift his standing posture so he was leaning against the wall with his shoulder, keeping his eyes on me. When I realized I was going to have to speak, I took a deep breath and began to talk.
            “Celina, you have to stop sleeping in so late.” The young man said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest. I quickly shut my mouth when he had begun talking.
            “Well sorry if I’m sleepy.” I snapped. In the morning wasn’t the best time to talk to me. Mornings always made me cranky and snappy but somehow everyone seemed to tolerate me and my attitude.
            “Get out of bed and get changed. We have school.” He said throwing clothes at me and walking towards my bedroom door. I groaned at the word school.
            “Do I have to go Vince?” I asked, almost begging to somehow be able to stay home. As he turned around to look at me, I quickly put on a puppy-dog face, the face when you just seem so innocent and so loveable. He smirked and rolled his eyes at my expression.
            “You are horrible at acting. Now get dressed or else.” Vince said turning around and grabbing the door handle.
            “Or else what? You’ll leave me here?” I asked hopefully. School wasn’t a thing I was very…excited to go to. Everyday it seemed to kill me with boredom. Most of the time, I almost fall asleep but somehow I keep myself from sleeping in my classes.
            “Or else I’ll drag you to school the way you are now.” He teased as he left my room, closing the door behind him. I looked at what I was wearing…a tang-top and short shorts. Going to school in this would be problematic. As I get out of bed, I let out a loud sigh and then get dressed. Slowly I walk into my bathroom and brush my teeth, brush my fiery-orange-elbow-length hair and then look at myself in the mirror. Even after getting almost nine hours of sleep, I looked exhausted. These days I always seemed to look exhausted, but by the end of the day, I was never tired.
            To try and wake myself up, I splash water on my face, dab it off then walk downstairs. Vince was waiting with my bag in his hand. He threw it up the stairs at me and somehow my instincts took over and I caught it. As I caught it, I almost fell down the stairs but someone grabbed me from behind. The cold hand had clutched the back of my shirt tightly and the other hand picked me up and I was carried downstairs. I turn and look at who saved me from falling down.
            He was taller than both me and Vince. His skin was pale white as well and he too had black bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep. The eyes looking me over were brown with a shade of red in them. Even though he didn’t wear tight clothing like Vince did, you could tell he was physically strong, his muscles large and he too was handsome. My whole family was beautiful, but I hated calling men beautiful…it sounded too girly. I smiled at him thankfully.
            “Thanks Anthony.”
            “Don’t try and catch things Celina, I mean seriously, you suck at it. You couldn’t catch anything even if your life depended on it.” Anthony said poking my forehead with his index finger. “Can you ever live a day without an accident? I mean jeez.”
            I rubbed my forehead softly. “I do not always have accidents.” I said defending myself.
            “Oh yes, I’m sorry. They’re not accidents they’re coincidences, my mistake, please forgive me.” He said bowing to me with shame but it was all sarcasm.
            “Oh shut up Tony.” I said knocking him on the head playfully. Vince started pushing me and Tony out of the door before Tony could even look up. For some reason, Vince was in a hurry to get to school. It was very unlike him. I stared at him curiously, trying to figure out what was on his mind, what he was thinking, but nothing showed through his blank expression on his face. He was a much better actor than I was; Vince never seemed to show any emotion he didn’t want anyone to see. It was a gift…and a curse at times, I guess.
            I sat in the back of the black 2006 Ford Mustang. Vince was the driver and Anthony sat in the passenger’s seat. Silently, I stretched my legs across the seat and laid my head down. Slowly, I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep. The car came to a sudden halt and I quickly sat up after being thrown into my seatbelt, hurting my chest. As I sat up, I rubbed my chest trying to rid it of the pain. It didn’t work at all. The surroundings were very familiar. Sadly, I was in the hell of school. We were in the parking lot. Anthony was outside of the car and Vince was already walking into the school.
            “C’mon Celina. Get out you sleepy girl.” Anthony said grabbing my wrist and pulling me out once I had my seatbelt unbuckled. We stayed in the shadows, Vince just barely stayed out of the sun but he managed to somehow. The sun wasn’t our enemy really...it’s just better if we stayed out of it. Tony walked beside me until we entered the school then he walked to his class. A sigh came from my lungs and I walked slowly through the halls, not meeting any eyes with the other students here.
            The bell rang loudly and I entered my classroom before it stopped ringing. First class was Biology. Being a Junior was boring, I knew everything they were teaching and I was always top of my class. Biology was a fast subject today; the class went by quickly. Next was Geometry and that also went by quickly. The whole school day was going by so quickly. Soon after History it was lunch time. Never did I eat but even so, I liked going to the cafeteria to observe the students around me.
            I sat at a lunch table, took out a book I was reading and opened it up. The library was closed today so I couldn’t read there; I was being forced to read in the cafeteria but I didn’t care; now I could observe students easily. Soon I heard a group of students walk in. From the sound of their voices, and also their scents, I could tell it was the “popular” group. Usually at least twenty people sat at their table. Honestly, I could name them all but I didn’t really care about them.
            Through their talking, a new scent emerged and a new voice as well. The crowd of students went to their table and sat down. Even with all the other voices and scents, the new one was clearly distinctive to me. If the whole student population crowded around me right now, I bet I could still smell and hear the voice and easily point the person out. Without even meaning to, I focused in on their conversations and listened. Soon enough, one conversation grabbed my attention.
            “Hey Alex, who is that?” A boy asked. It was the new voice; the new student. There had been a rumor that a new student was expected but I hadn’t really cared about it. Maybe it was because he was new that he stood out to me more clearly; because I wasn’t used to his scent or voice. That had to be the reason.
            “Who? Her?” Alex replied to the new student. He seemed amazed that his new friend had asked about me. Though it didn’t exactly surprise me that the tone of his voice was full of surprise and hesitance. No one in school but Vince and Anthony liked me. Students never spoke to me, or even about me. I was sadly an outcast to everyone in school.
            “Yes, who is she?” The boy asked again. His voice was full of curiosity and admiration. Even though I wasn’t looking up at them, I could suddenly feel about five pairs of eyes staring at me from their direction. Their staring didn’t bother me really, I was used to it; every day guys stared at me because of my inhumanly beauty and some girls even stared, wishing they looked like me.
            I could hear Alex sigh. “Her name is Celina. Celina Rowena. She’s in the same grade as us. A Junior, which obviously means she’s in the eleventh grade.” He didn’t sound like he even cared about me. Which didn’t bother me at all. No one would care if one day I just suddenly died.
            “What’s she like? And why’s she sitting all alone?” The boy asked curiously. For some reason he seemed very interested with me. Slowly, I look up to unfortunately meet his gaze. I gasp as a blush appears on my face. Quickly, I look back at my book which I wasn’t even reading.
            The boy had light-brown hair, or maybe it was dirty blonde. It was semi-long but it curled a little so it never passed his jaw line. His eyes were brown and looked like they belonged to a puppy; so sweet and loving, seeming to never see any type of evil. The clothes were casual and they didn’t exactly show the muscles he had underneath but from his showing biceps, you could easily guess that the rest of his body was also muscular and in shape. After seeing his obvious muscles, I noticed the tone of his skin; it looked tan, like he was from a warm place before he moved here, a state like California or something.
            “No one knows what she’s like. She usually just ignores everyone. Plus…no one dares go near her because her brothers scare the crap out of everyone. They are so huge that we don’t dare talk to her, just incase we say anything wrong and offend her, we don’t feel like getting punched so hard I bet ours ribs would break into a million pieces.” Alex said quietly. I could feel the eyes leave my image, all but one set of eyes. It was probably this new boy’s eyes. He was still interested in me. Though, the words hurt me a little once I realized what Alex was saying.
            No one spoke to me because I was too beautiful for everyone. My brothers, Vince and Anthony, scared them so much that it would be like talking to me with them looking over their shoulders. It was an unfair way to judge someone and a horrible reason not to talk to them. Just because of who their brothers were, it was completely wrong. I dropped my head in shame and I stared at the words on the page beneath me. The spoken words were new to me; I had never known why the others never spoke to me, I guess it never dawned on me to find out.
            “Well that’s a stupid reason to not talk to her.” The new boy said. Soon I heard a chair push backwards and many boys speaking at once that I couldn’t understand. Quickly, I stopped listening in on their conversations; I didn’t want to be hurt anymore. Continuing to look at my book, I heard someone walk over to me. They stopped in front of me and sat down. A tap came from the table and my eyes reluctantly looked up. It was the new young man.
            “Hello there.” He said kindly and smiling. The whole room seemed to go quiet. It felt awkward and so different. I didn’t exactly know what to do. From his caring expression on his face, he looked as though he just wanted to talk. Obviously he wasn’t here just to embarrass me or gain information about me for a dare or something. Tentatively, I close my book and willingly look up at him.
            “Hi.” I said softly. Remembering that I had been blushing before, I started to panic, but once I noticed that I wasn’t blushing anymore, I sighed and was calm again.
            “So your name’s Celina?” He asked friendly. Why was he asking me what my name was when he already knew it? Did he think his new friends were lying to him? Or was he just making a polite conversation? This made me wonder but I didn’t let him see that I was confused and yet still curious.
            “Yes.” I nodded slightly. It felt weird to be talking to another student at school. Everyone evaded me and I had become accustomed to the feeling of loneliness. The only time I was acknowledged was at home with Vince, Anthony and my parents. A smile appeared on his face.
            “That’s a unique name.” He said keeping the friendly smile there. It comforted me somehow; knowing that I was accepted by someone other than people in my own household.
            “Thank you.”
            “Oh! Man am I rude, my name is Christopher, but you can call me Chris.” His smile grew as he said this. Somehow it looked like he felt he had to be accepted by me. Was it because I was the most beautiful girl in school? Or was it because he was kindhearted? What was the reason he was even talking to me?
            “Why are you talking to me?” The words just fell out of my mouth. I clapped my hands over my mouth after I noticed I had actually said the words out-loud. Soon I could feel my body beginning to flush red. Anyone could tell that I was embarrassed. Chris just looked at me and continued to smile. It kind of looked like he was trying not to laugh.
            “I’m talking to you because I want to. Is that okay?” Christopher asked curiously. Quickly he put on a sad face. The sad eyes that looked like a puppy-dog. It was so hard to resist, and completely impossible to stay any kind of emotion but happy when looking in those eyes. Slowly, a small smile appeared on my face without me even knowing.
            “It’s okay.” I said softly. Talking was different to me still. Even at home I didn’t talk a lot.
            “Good.” Chris said happily. Then the bell rang and it was time for students to head to class. Slowly, I stood up and put the book I was supposed to be reading in my bag. I start walking to class to soon find out that Chris is walking with me to class.
            “Why are you walking me to class?”
            “Walking you to class? I’m not. I’m going to my class.” He said confused and looking at me. His expression was completely and utterly confusion.
            “Wait…do you have English with Mr. Hawkins?”
            “Yup.” He said smiling and looking forward now. Now I even had a class with him. Obviously there was something going on here. This was going to be interesting; having a class with the new student, the one who spoke to me at lunch, the young man walking right beside me…the only one who talked to me in school. What was going on? Was there something I just didn’t seem to notice? Why was he being nice to me? Did I seem different to him than I do to the others? I just had to figure this out.
            “Are you okay? I mean…you’re acting really serious, like you’re trying to figure a major problem out or something.” He asked looking at me. His voice was full of worry and concern. I look over at him to see that his eyes are full of both too; worry and concern. I nod slightly again.
            “I’m fine, just trying to figure something out.”
            “May I ask what you’re trying to figure out? Maybe I can help.” Chris said gently. I hesitated. Should I tell him or no? He might just lie to me but he also may tell the truth. His answer may help or just make things worse. If I tell him, he also may never talk to me again because I’m too…suspicious. A sigh came from my chest.
            “I was just wondering…”
            “Yes?” He said quietly, eager for me to continue with what I had to say. I swallowed my spit loudly, sounding like a gulp. Was I nervous to tell him? Why was I nervous to tell him?
            “Well…I was wondering…” I looked at him quickly; he just seemed curious but still kind. “Why are you being nice to me? I mean, no one else is nice to me, let alone even talks to me. So why are you talking to me? Do I seem different to you than the others do?” At last I was able to say it. Hopefully he would answer me honestly. As I looked at his face, his expression changed from curiosity and kind to pondering. It was obvious that this was not going to be a straight answer.
            “Why am I being nice to you? Hm…” He repeated and thought out-loud. “Well…I don’t even know that answer. There’s just something about you…” His voice trailed off as his gaze met mine. My face flushed red and I broke the gaze by looking away in an entirely different direction. I could hear him chuckle beside me. Never before have I been embarrassed, it felt weird. It also felt like Chris didn’t mind me being embarrassed. Why was I embarrassed in the first place? I mean…I’ve met other people’s gazes before and never blushed; why did I blush with Chris’ gaze?
            We walked into the classroom and I took my seat. I was in the way back, where no one could see or hear more let alone notice me. It was the best seat for me. Chris followed me to my seat. He leaned across my table and watched me. Time passed and I knew he wasn’t going to answer my questions…perhaps he already forgot about them. And now why was he watching me? He could go and sit down.
            “Um…Celina?” Chris said quietly. I looked up at him curiously.
            “Yeah?”
            “Uh…are there any open seats in this classroom? I mean…do you have assigned seats or something? Or do I just sit anywhere?” He asked looking a little embarrassed that he didn’t know this. It was funny at how he was embarrassed about seats and I was embarrassed about meeting his gaze. It felt so irrational but I’d have to deal with it.
“We don’t have assigned seats in this class. You can sit anywhere you want.”
            He paused and looked around the classroom slowly. Then he looked back at me and smiled wearily. “Can I sit next to you?”
            “I don’t know, can you?” I asked sarcastically.
            “May I sit next to you?” Chris asked again. He seemed pretty determined on getting to sit next to me. I could see it in his eyes and expression. As the teacher walks in the room I shrug my shoulders, not really caring if he did or didn’t. Christopher’s smile grew and he quickly sat next to me.
“So do you still want to know the answers to the questions you asked me?” He asked silently.
            I looked at him, surprised he even remembered. “Yes, I still want to know.”
            “Alright then, I’ll give you the answers, just not now. I’ll have to think of the answers thoroughly. Is that okay with you?” Chris asked looking at me gently. I nod and then turn towards the teacher. All the other students had taken their seats. Some were looking back at me and Chris, flabbergasted that he was sitting with me. My head lowered so I couldn’t see them and my eyes only looked at the board on which Mr. Hawkins was writing something on it right now.
            As the class took notes, I jotted the notes down, already memorizing them as I wrote them down. Mr. Hawkins passed out the book we were reading in the class; The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It didn’t exactly…interest me but everyone else loved the book. Personally, I couldn’t focus on the book because there were no girls in it. No women whatsoever. There has to be some woman drama in a book to make it interesting.
            A catfight, love affairs, anything really that involved a woman always interested me; maybe because I liked comparing myself with her. I was never really quite sure about that, but I always did ask myself…if I was in that position, would I do that? Would I react that way? The answers never came to me because I was and never will be in those situations. No man will ever love me so there will be no love affair. And there will be no catfight because no girls even talk to me, let alone yell at me. There were some advantages of being an outcast at school, but there were more disadvantages.
            Advantages were that there was no teenage drama in my life, no fighting, and no getting disappointed in any way. No friends to lie to when they ask me if I’m open for the weekends so we can hangout. And of course, the disadvantages were even worse, obviously. Disadvantages were that there were no friends in my life, not even acquaintances. Loneliness was my only friend in this life of mine. Dwelling in the back of the class, in the dark, alone…dying slowly and painfully…alone.
            But being alone…wasn’t all that bad. I was never annoyed, never angered. Though I didn’t really have any emotion. My emotions were dormant and all that was there was a blank expression, nothing to tell if I was happy or sad or even angry. It stayed on my face until I saw my brothers. That was the only time I showed emotion. Except…once I saw Christopher there was emotion in me…and on me. Why was that?
            The sound of the bell startled me and my eyes flashed to the clock. School was over and while I was daydreaming, I had still taken notes. I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head, ridding my mind of those thoughts. Quickly I packed my bag and walked out the door. In front of me, there was a shadow that wasn’t mine. Someone was following me and I could bet it was Christopher. Slowly I turn my head around and sure enough it was him. He smiled when I looked back at him and he waved. My eyes roll and I turn my head away.
            The boy was starting to get on my nerves. Soon the entire hallway went quiet and the footsteps behind me stopped and staggered backwards. There was a loud thud against the lockers on the side of the wall. I turn around to see Vince holding Chris against the lockers, clutching his shirt collar and saying something to him so quietly that even I couldn’t hear him. The expression Chris had was terrified. He looked like he had just seen a murder committed.
Cautiously, I walked up behind Vince and put my hand on his shoulder. His eyes flickered over to me and he relaxed a little but not enough for anyone else to see or feel.
            “What are you doing Vince?”
            Vince looked back at Chris and then back to me. He closed his eyes, shoved Chris hard into the locker and dropped him. My brother then turned, grabbed my wrist and stomped away from Chris. Christopher was left sitting against the lockers, rubbing the back of his head and watching me leave.
            “Sorry.” I mouthed to him. Truly I hoped he saw me do that. Vince would probably kill me if he knew that I apologized for something he did. But I only wish I knew why he did it. Anthony ran over to us and started asking questions.  The only thing I could do was shrug my shoulders. Tony looked at Vince for answers but Vince never spoke. He threw me into the back of the car and slammed the door once Anthony was seated.
            As he entered the car, he also slammed his own car door. From the back of the car, I watched him helplessly. Right now, I was extremely petrified of him. Not knowing what he would do, or was going to do…it scared me so much. Already knowing what he was capable of, I didn’t want any of that to be inflicted on me. I curled up in the back on the car and kept my mouth shut. Anthony did the same but he only kept his mouth closed.
            We drove home hastily and silently. Neither of us were valiant enough to speak to Vince, let alone to even just say one word to each other. From the passenger seat, I could tell Anthony was curious to know why Vince was like this. He was almost ready to start biting his fingernails because of the suspense. Keeping his mouth shut must’ve been hard for him; he always liked talking and working problems out, but he knew that now was not the time to talk.
            Our house was deep in the forest and beside a mountain. It was a large house; about two stories but looked as if it had three floors. There was a basement, ground floor and second floor so technically there were three floors but one was beneath the ground and our house looked like it had three floors above ground. Ground floor was usually known as the first floor to everyone but it should be called the ground floor because it is the floor on the ground really. Though, it didn’t really matter. On the ground floor, there was the kitchen, dinning room, living room and game room. In the basement were the exercising equipment and a lab for our father. The second floor was our bedrooms. Each floor also had a bathroom of its own.
            The house was a grayish color; it used to be white but it dulled over the years…or should I say centuries. Around the house we were surrounded by forest; trees, bushes, animal life and anything you could think of in the wild. It was strange for most people but normal for me and my family. Our driveway was shaped like a U so the curved part was at the doorsteps. There were three steps to the door, each having a column by it holding up a canopy. Vince parked the car in front of the house and quickly got out of the car.
            He dragged Tony out of it and then grabbed me and pulled me out as well. I stumbled back as I got out but Vince gripped my wrist tightly. It was starting to hurt and I could feel him cutting my blood circulation off from my hand. Roughly I tried breaking free of his grip but it was no use, he didn’t even move a little. His eyes glared at me and then he dragged me into the house. Anthony followed behind, afraid to do anything.
            Our parents were waiting there as usual. Mother was named Aurora. She had long-wavy-waist-length-black hair. Her eyes were blue with a shade a red like everyone else. Today she was dressed in a dress that was plain blue. Father, who stood there beside her, was named Solomon. His blonde hair was semi-long but curled up on the top of his head so it looked like he ran his fingers through it over and over again. The eyes that stared at Vince were brown with a trace of red as well. The whole family had red in our eyes, it was…necessary.
            Aurora and Solomon looked at Vince then to me then to Anthony and back again. They seemed worried, like any parent should be. Vince only ignored them and stormed passed them. He towed me upstairs and into his room. I kept trying to free myself but against his strength, I was no match. From behind us, I could tell that the others were following. The door didn’t close behind me and Vince, so the others slowly but cautiously entered his room.
            “Vince?” Aurora asked quietly. His eyes flashed over to her and he then looked back at me. A grunt came from his chest and he threw me against the wall. He stood on the other side of the room as I slide down the wall in pain. Anthony rushed over to me to see if I was okay. I only shrugged him away as I stood up slowly.
            “What is your problem?” I yelled at him angrily. Vince glowered at me. My whole body seemed to quiver at his glaring but I stayed standing, I held my ground.
            “My problem?” He spat out.
            “Yes, your problem. What did I do to make you so mad?”
            “It’s not what you did, it’s what he did…or was thinking of doing.” Vince said angrily, his fists clenching together.
            “He? He who?”
            Vince threw his hands in the air with anger. A sigh of anger came from his chest and a growl as well.
            “That…that guy!”
            That guy? Who was he talking about? Wait…it had to be Chris. It had to be…but what did Chris do?
            “Do you mean Christopher?” I had to say his whole name so Vince wouldn’t think I was close to him. If Chris had done something to make Vince this angry than I didn’t want him to flip out on Chris. It was only precautionary but it was defiantly necessary right now.
            “Yes, that…human.” His upper lip curled up with disgust.
            “What did he do?”
            “Damn it Celina! Why are you always so clueless?!” He yelled at me. I backed up against the wall in fear. Vince had never yelled at me so angrily before. And I still had no idea what was going on.
            “What the heck is going on?” I cried out.
            “Do you know what he was doing? What he was going to do? What he was thinking?!”
            “No! I don’t!”
Vince clutched his teeth together. “Do you want to know what he wanted?” His voice was full of disgust and anger. The lip was still curled up, but it was twitching a little. Full of anger was making Vince anxious for hunting.
            “Tell me.”
            He closed his eyes and took a moment to respond to me. “That boy…Christopher,” Vince spat out his name with utter repugnance.“He only wants you.”
            “What do you mean?”
            “The only thing he wants is to…get in you.” He said, trying to make it as simple as possible for me to understand. It didn’t exactly help a lot. My mind was still in terror mode and it didn’t understand what he meant.
            “What do you mean he wants to get in me?”
            “Oh God Celina, you are so stupid! He wants to get in you! How the hell can you get in a girl?” Vince yelled in anger. He was obviously angry because this wasn’t a subject he even liked talking about. But I knew what he meant now. My eyes widen in shock when I finally understood. As I realized what he meant, Vince started to relax and he let out a sigh.
            With complete shock, I slide to the floor. The only reason Chris was speaking to me was because he wanted to get inside my pants? That was truly repulsive…I was so stupid to think anyone would want to be my friend. I could feel my eyes tearing up. My head went between my knees and the tears rolled down my face. Anthony sat there, wondering what to do.
            He was never good at comforting people, well…he was, just not with girls. Especially on this type of issue because it had never happened before and no one even thought it was ever going to happen. Solomon stared at me and Vince. Aurora stood there, thinking of a way to comfort me but she was coming up empty. Vince walked over to me and sat down.
            He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. His body was cold but just being in someone’s arms comforted me somehow. All I ever wanted was to be loved, and even though I’m only loved by my family, it was good enough for me. I cried into his chest, my salt tears most likely ruining his shirt.
            “It’s okay Celina. I…I just wanted to tell you. I thought you should know the truth and be forewarned. Making friends with him, just because he wanted that, it wouldn’t be fair to you. A friend shouldn’t expect that from you, and I didn’t want you in that position. I’m sorry I got angry but I didn’t know how to handle the situation.
            “And the thoughts he was thinking just kept replaying in my mind…knowing that the images were of you and him, it made me sick. I felt like ripping him apart right there, for thinking about that with my sister but…I couldn’t do that. I’m sorry.” Vince said quietly. His words made me relax and understand. Though, not completely understand. I wanted to know more. Know what Chris was thinking exactly and everything else.
            “Vince…how do you know these things?”
            “Jeez Celina, sometimes I swear you have some type of amnesia or something. I told you before; some of our kind have unique powers. If you want to call them powers…I guess abilities would work better.” He said calmly. By the sound of his voice, he wasn’t mad anymore. And that made me relax even more and I felt even better. I stayed against Vince though, not ready to leave the comfort of his arms.
            “Well I’m not the sharpest nail in the box, okay?”
            “I can’t believe you forgot.” He chuckled a little. It always made me smile when he did that. Him chuckling was a sign that he was completely relaxed and he was showing his emotions, holding nothing back but being calm.
            “You really can’t believe that? I mean, you should’ve expected it.” I teased. Somehow I could feel him smile and a smile also appeared on my face.
            “Well, I’ll say it again. I can see into the minds of creatures around me. But I have to want to see into their minds, it’s not like the thoughts are speaking to me out of everyone’s minds at once. I have to choose.” Vince said. Once he said that, it was like something clicked in my mind and I finally remembered.
            “Oh yeah! I remember!”
            He chuckled. “Wow Celina.” We sat there for a few more moments until I was finally ready to get up. Slowly, I stood up, my backing aching as I got up. Vince smiled wearily when he saw that I was in pain.
            “Sorry about that.”
            “It’s okay.” I said sincerely. To be honest, my back hurt so bad I didn’t even want to stand, but I didn’t want Vince to feel bad for hurting me. It would be wrong to make him feel that way. Cruel and unusual punishment it would feel like to me. There was no way I could make Vince feel that bad, so I decided to lie and say I was fine. When he nodded his head and smiled, I knew he believed me.
            Slowly I walk to my bedroom and close the door behind me. I make it to my bed then collapse on it in pain. It was like a wave of pain that shot through my body. To muffle my cries of pain, I bury my face in my pillow. Hopefully, no one heard me. Soon enough, the pain becomes so unbearable that I slip into unconsciousness.