I was woken up by the distant sound of screams. My head still foggy with sleep. I shifted in my spot but a hand roughly pushed me down. I looked to my right- straight into my brother’s dark blue eyes. They seemed extremely tired and most of all they were scared. waves of fear surging through my body. I didn’t even pick up the situation until my brother tightly gripped my hand. A light was shining through the leaves of the bush we were hiding under. I shielded my eyes and trembled uncontrollably. I knew now, what was happening

 I shuffled closer to him trying not to make any noise while doing so. The muffled cries rang through my head. Long after it had stopped, the sound continued ringing through my head. Haunting me -burning my very existence to my bone. The voices would follow me blaming me as if it was my fault. I would scream and shout to make the voices go away, it was just another one of my fits. I couldn’t have one-not now. I simply held my breath and hoped it would all be over.

 But it wasn’t over- just as one of the members pained screams for help came spilling out. It suddenly made me shiver, and send jolts of fear that made the hair on my neck stand up. I didn’t know who or how many were captured but as long as my brother was fine it wouldn’t matter. I didn’t realize how disgusting I was, how much I changed- I became selfish. I wanted to save everyone but it didn’t work like that anymore. You had to only worry about yourself to live.

 The world had changed a lot

I couldn’t play hero anymore.

“Turn on the spotlight” a snake like voice yelled at the cars in front of him. He was very thin yet he seemed very well built. He had pale translucent skin, tall with red eyes hidden under his greasy bangs and messy hair, that seemed wind-blasted. A lifeless look and an incredulous smirk on his face as he glanced across the terrain. It took me a while to make out what he looked like because it was only a little flash from the headlights of the car that gave me a chance to look at him. This became a part of my routine; everyday was a game of life and death.

They knew we were hiding and they were going to get as many of us as they could, the fear was unnerving. There is always that group member who opens their eyes to see if everything is all right but I know that it’s not going to be all right.

The word echoed in my head “keep your eyes closed”. It constantly played like a haunting memory - the memory of the warnings on T.V. when I would sit alone in the dimly lit lounge alone hugging my backpack that contained all my most precious belongings. Ready to run away at any moment. The fear was always watching me. I was 10 when the epidemic broke out. No one was safe, and the doctors tried to save, as many as they could, didn’t do a good job it spread faster than wildfire. The disease claimed most the lives.  The clouds always blocking any ray of sunshine it played in my head so clearly the reporter in a sleek getup in front of the hospital. “ Please report anyone showing the black heart symptoms- call the 24/7 hotline, avoid crowded places and always wash your hands” every time I would open the T.V it would be the same warning playing every time. The thought made me snicker, washing your hands won’t save you from death I would know best.

But I remembered the real reason to keep our eyes closed; it was the shine in our eyes that gave our hiding away so to stay alive we had to keep our eyes closed. I could only hope the others would do the same we had lost enough members already this week.

I knew this wasn’t going to happen as I heard the tall figure yell once more with victory and pride in his voice “there’s 3, get them”, the other vampires followed his order. It happened quickly the screams of yet 3 more members being taken away this time. It was 2 girls and 1 boy. It was quick but extremely painful to listen to. Even after all these years I wasn’t used to it at all. When finally the scuffling of feet on the dusty ground settled- and screaming died down. I knew it was all about to come to an end.

“That’ll do us for dinner” the leader- or so he seemed, cleared his throat. I caught a glimpse of him, his eyes were mesmerizing I couldn’t help but look into them they seemed cold and cruel, but there was a strange warmth in them- it gave me a feeling couldn’t explain. “How many do we have?” another voice bellowed from near by, it broke my train of thought “8 sir, 4 from this group and 4 from another” the other vampire replied, his voice was warmer and softer-almost shy. “Boss will be happy, come on let’s go” another one chanted.

All three vampires eagerly jumped into the cars and drove of leaving us in the complete darkness of the night. I was left frozen in my thoughts, in the eyes of that vampire.

A few sighs erupted from our group, which seemed so empty with 4 members gone and everyone scattered across the shrubbery. It was a while before anyone even dared to speak. My brother got up from our hiding place with a sigh and began the usual routine “if you’re here please say your name”. I coughed the dirt out of my throat before saying “violet” and soon everyone followed Hyomin, Rebecca, Myungsoo, Bae Kim, said their names Everyone’s voice seemed dry and shaken up. We hadn’t eaten or drank any water for a while and sleeping on the dirt didn’t help at all.

“Good job everyone, it’s a shame that 4 of us were captured but we must not give up just yet” he tried to sound as heroic as possible but we could sense the sadness in his voice. My brother was the oldest in the group and most experienced when it came to vampires and survival

 I stood up from my place and waited for my eyes to adjust to the thick darkness and switched places “violet is that you?” Rebbeca whimpered somewhere to my left “Rebbeca? Are you ok?” I responded back to her following the sound of her breathing. In the pitch black darkness there was no way I could see where she is.  So her breathing was the easiest way to locate her. I sat beside her and she placed her head on my shoulder and started crying, “They took him, they took Changjo away” she said between sobs. She pulled her knees close to her chest cried to her hearts content. This wasn’t any nicer to listen to this, but sometimes crying would let out all the cooped up emotions inside of you.

Changjo was a Korean guy that joined our group 3 weeks ago and Rebecca was very close with him, but I guess he was gone now. I rubbed her knee as a gesture of sympathy I didn’t know what else to do. When she had stopped crying.  She clutched my hand in desperation as if I was her only hope “at least I have you”. Despite all the tragedy she never failed to make me smile. Rebecca and I were best friends and that poor girl was just too young to go through this, only 14.  I wasn’t too old myself being-two years older than her but I was definitely stronger than her. She was very innocent and she got close and trusted people much more easily than I did. My experiences were different than hers and one promise I made to myself was to never trust people. We rested our heads on each other and tried to sleep but I just couldn’t. Rebecca was drifting in to a deep sleep as her breath became shallower by the second and the other members dozed of too. It was still very late in the night and everyone was very tired after the ordeal every second was valuable time. I couldn’t sleep, their voices echoing in my head as a child my schizophrenia was really severe I needed medication every day but after we were displaced from our home I didn’t receive my medication. So I just had to tough out my fits. It was happening again.

My eyes were wide open. I heard some shuffling and shot up and before I could re-act a loud voice screamed, “Ok everyone nap time is over we are heading south”. It was just my brother, he scares me sometimes however it was funny to watch the other members flinch then wake up. Rebecca fell face forward into the dirt. I could hear Myungsoo swear under his breath. Slowly but surely everyone opened their drooping eyelids. In our lives sleep is the best thing it allows us to escape form reality even if it’s just for a little while. We could hope.

I got up and stood beside him and soon the other members gathered around him to listen to what he had to say. He cleared his throat before beginning  “well I found out that there is a lake south of this location and we are going there to find something to eat”. A few murmurs escaped from the crowd and it wasn’t too late before it got out of hand everyone was screaming and shouting things “SHUT UP!!” his loud voice echoed and ringed clearly in everyone’s ears.

It calmed the raging voices down and before anyone could say anything again I spoke in soft voice “hey you can’t be serious vampires specifically target lakes to look for humans and we are bound to get attacke-“ my brother hastily cut me of “it’s now or never I don’t know what else to do” Myungsoo spoke interrupted our conversation in a rather loud and rude way “ you freaking crazy, I thought you were the smartest in the group but this decision is plain stupid” a few people snickered in the crowd as Myungsoo continued “ we will all get killed if you take us to the lake” before he could continue my brother cut him of “ look at yourself you’re  weak beyond belief you even passed out this Morning ,all of you are ,we need to take this opportunity  or else you guys will die anyways and I always have the best intentions for the group”.

Everyone looked towards the ground in guilt every word he said was true and after a long moment of silence the group slowly agreed. And In no time we huddled close together and started following my brother who was in the front leading the way. I was standing beside him but I lost Rebecca somewhere in the crowd. I was too weak to care. The walk was long and tiring the path seemed to never end, every step felt heavy and painful. So to kill time I decided to eaves drop on people’s conversation to kill time at first I heard a few people comment on how stupid my brother’s plan was, I was clearly offended so I decided to pay attention to someone else’s conversation.

Soon I picked up Myungsoo’s low voice it seemed to sound very quiet as if he was hiding a secret however Alice’s pitchy cute voice was loud and clear. I could hear all the way up here at the front “what was your past like”. She asked eagerly. This probably had to be the most interesting conversation here nobody else was really talking so it was my only option.

 I was interested so I decided to listen. Myungsoo responded “ well I lived with my dad and my brother, but my brother Minho who was turned by someone in his school, killed my dad and before he could do anything to me I stabbed him and ran away” Alice nodded in sympathy  “wow you’ve had a horrible past” she said sounding somber and filled with sadness. I couldn’t help but scoff to myself what did she mean by he had a horrible past we all have a horrible past they continued talking, I didn’t find their conversation interesting anymore because they were just talking about other useless things so I zoned out.

 It seemed like the walk was hours long and the path would never end as if I had been swallowed by eternal darkness. Not even the moon had come out to waltz with us. The stars hadn’t shown themselves either.

I continued walking for what felt like forever until a loud blood-curling shriek bought me back to reality. I had realized we were near the lake and everyone was scrambling to find a hiding place. Some people bumped into it me as they were running around to hide; it was almost instant I jumped into the nearest bush. I looked around and to my horror I could not find even the slightest glimpse of my brother. So I tried comforting myself he was probably in the one of the other bushes I told myself I flinched when I heard another loud shriek “you can’t do thi…” a woman’s voice was cut off by a sultry voice that sounded all too familiar “you know that screaming won’t get you anywhere” he sounded menacing as if he was planning world domination. I could feel the sky change color as I hid in the bush, I tired controlling my limbs but they continued trembling from fear my breathing was very shaky and shallow and I was on the verge of tears, I couldn’t seem to pull myself together.

The woman let out yet another scream but it suddenly stopped, it was cut short. Almost as if someone had grabbed my heart, it skipped a beat. The first rays of dawn hit the lake as I saw the same vampire we saw earlier hold a lifeless woman within his hand. He clutched her by the neck his nails digging into her pale and dead skin as blood was dripping down her neck and she showed no vital signs. She couldn’t have been older than 15. But now she was nothing more than dead waste

As the light got brighter and more rays hit the lake I seized the opportunity to look into the bushes but there was no sign of my brother.

 The fear was pinning me down as I watched the vampire walk behind the tree and whisper something to someone. I didn’t know who it was and a part of me didn’t want to find out “tell me where they are” he spoke in a low threatening tone as he pulled the figure out of the tree so its features could be seen easily.

It hit me like a cold knife in the back the figure the vampire was talking to was MY BROTHER!! Tears started welling up in my eyes I knew this was a stupid idea we should’ve never come here. I watched in horror as he questioned my brother “ tell me where they are …or else. ”He pulled out a knife and ran it around his neck. I shrieked in horror my brother was about to die. But I wasn’t going to let that happen I could at least try. I looked once more around the bushes and saw Rebecca’s eyes and they had read my mind her eyes were screaming I know what you’re going to do so don’t even try…. I beg you. It seemed all the other members knew well that my brother had been captured; they all watched in horror as the vampire punched my brother knocking him to the ground with blood streaming down his forehead.

I wasn’t just going to watch him die. Without even knowing my body pounced out the bush “p-put h-him down you n-n-o good bastard” I was stuttering all over my words and a lump was forming in my throat. My pulse was humming in my ears, head pounding. His gaze was diverted from my brother to me as an evil smile lit up his face he grabbed my brother by the hair and pulled him up. My brother was panting and wincing in pain as he didn’t dare make eye contact with me or the vampire, his gaze stayed fixed on the ground almost as if he didn’t want to accept what was happening to him. As if he was trying to escape reality. Everyone tried to do that, not to convenient when you’re about to die.

His knife trailed along my brother’s neck and before I could move he pierced the knife deep into his neck. The blood started flowing uncontrollably and so did my tears. My brother smiled as he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. His skin became a ghastly pale and every inch of life was escaping him. I didn’t even have a chance to hug him say goodbye tell him no matter what happens I would be here for him. It was painful it felt like I had been stabbed. He didn’t deserve this; I wish I could take his place. I am terrible I should die he shouldn’t die.

 I collapsed on the ground as dust flew around me. My brother had just died, my world, my life, had just died, He was my only family and relative the only one who I could rely on and love. The vampire walked; slowly towering over me his lips played a smirk of victory. I didn’t realize as my body moved on its own. It was a sudden impulse and it took us both by surprise. I had grabbed a handful of dirt. As soon as he was in arms reach I flung the dirt at his eyes. He fell back cursing under his breath. I mustered every inch of energy in me to get back up and start running. I didn’t dare look back the fear was holding.  Soon I picked up pace. I didn’t know if he had other vampires with him but I didn’t want to find out. The tears wouldn’t stop flowing as I ran like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t dare look back I didn’t look back to say goodbye to Rebecca I didn’t have a chance.

I didn’t know where I was going or what would happen to me I had to trust fate and run. And if everything played out like it always had in my life. Nothing good could be in store.

Yay i finally posted sorry guys life is really pinning me down 

but i made quite a bit of changes, you get some insight into violets past 

BTW skitzophrenia( I probably spelled that wrong) is a mental illness where you see things and hear things that arent really there so you are stuck between realty and a dream. 

and voilet suffers from it you will learn more in the next chapter which will be coming soon 

if you have already read my story alot is going to change so reccomend you read it again 

thanks for subscribing and i hope you appreciate my hard work 

much love from me to you ^^ 

bai