Walking Forwards

It was two nights after the incident.

It was a cold night. I was uneasy, extremely uncomfortable. Walking down Howard Street, I listened to my heels making clicking noises as they hit the pavement. I wasn't really going anywhere, I just really needed something. I didn't even know what.

I stuffed my naturally cold hands into my ash pea coat pockets, shielding them against the chilly wind. My house keys jingled softly on a carabiner against my legs. A small, once-white plastic bag flew into my leg. I stopped walking and shoved my leather purse aside to brush away the dirty plastic bag from my black jeans. I sighed and continued walking down the street. I took out my phone to see that it was just past three in the morning.

Various thoughts poured into my mind. What would I do? Would I get to see my family again? What would I do with myself?

A scraggly man sitting at the bottom of some stairs nodded to me as I passed him. A slight chill shot up my spine. I was always the shy and scared type. Before, even being out this late made me want to run back home as fast as possible and lock the door with the three locks I had installed after the first robbery. Now I needed this loneliness and inner fear.

I breathed in the extremely crisp, freezing cold air a few times. It felt good to breathe, refreshing, as if I had been without air for days.

On my fourth intake, I smelled something. Something sweet and savory. An image of a freshly-prepared strawberry cake appeared in my head. But why would there be strawberry cake here at this time of night? There wouldn't be. The smell only got stronger as I continued on. I began taking sharper, deeper, quicker breaths. What was this wonderful smell? I had to know.

I turned around, expecting to see something sweet, anything really. My face fell as I saw absolutely nothing. I inhaled again. This scent still eluded me. It was stronger than ever, but I had no idea where it was coming from. I turned back around to continue my journey to nowhere.

Suddenly, I heard the metal clatter of a trash can being overturned and shoved away. The sweet scent became sharp and present. My nose filled with it, the scent touching the inside of my throat. Quick, rough, cold hands slapped themselves onto my arms, pulling me backwards and down to the pavement.

"Give me the purse. Now!" his deep voice shouted in my right ear.

Frozen, I slowly craned my head downwards to see the arms of whoever had grabbed me. A long, fresh cut ran down his forearm, the blood's end hidden by his dark sleeve. I tentatively took a small breath in. The strong scent nearly overwhelmed me and I felt myself become a little light headed. The lights from lamp posts became more fuzzy, the general picture softer.

"Don't make me hurt you, give me your damn purse now!" He tried yanking it away, but the leather strap held tight. Seeing that I did not obey his orders, the man slammed the back of my head into the concrete pavement, his right hand pressed to my forehead. I opened my eyes to see a masked white man holding me down, grabbing clumsily at my purse that was held tight to my right side. I looked up at his hand that kept me pinned to the ground. A single drop of bright red blood dripped off his arm onto my upper lip. I winced as the blood hit my mouth.

Disgusting, ugh...

I was very tired and sore, now wanting to go home. My head hurt both in the back and the front from the pressure from this man's large hand. Very slowly, as the man was emptying the contents of my purse beside him, getting what he saw valuable, I stuck out my tongue and touched the blood on my upper lip.

My eyes widened. I had discovered the source of the alluring scent.

Suddenly refreshed, I hit away the mans hand and lunged forward with amazing agility. He gasped, completely surprised, and dropped my wallet and phone, the only things he had chosen to take from me. I grabbed his bleeding right arm and slammed him into a nearby mailbox. He grunted loudly as his thick body hit the cold metal. Empowered, I tilted his head to the side and stared at the clean, shiny pale skin. I smiled and lowered my head with a lightning fast move, piercing his skin and flesh with my bite. His blood, flooding into my mouth, satisfied the uneasiness that had racked my body for two days straight. The sweet taste poured into my senses and I smiled, finally content.

I pulled away and released his body. It fell with a thud onto the ground. I bent down and picked up my purse and retrieved a tissue. I slowly wiped the fresh, warm blood off of my face. I crumpled up the tissue and threw it down near the man's cooling body. I picked up whatever was still lying on the ground and pulled my purse over my head, tightening the strap again. I looked forwards and started walking again with more direction this time. With my tongue, I traced one of the newly elongated canines. So this was it. This was my life now. I couldn't be the shy, dark haired girl that nobody knew like I was before.

I was walking toward my future as a newborn vampire.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I wrote it New Year's Day literally at midnight on, so I apologize if the storyline seems rushed or undeveloped. I do not intend to continue this story. Thanks! Leave some feedback if you can! :)