• “What do you want?” she fought hard to keep the tears back. She couldn’t remember another time when she was as scared as she was now, staring at the dark figure standing in front of her. His eyes gleamed black as he grinned, revealing blindingly white fangs dripping and stained with blood. “We want you of course. We’ve been hungry for so long now and what a pleasant surprise it was finding you out in the middle of these dark woods all alone and frightened.” The wind whipped his black hair everywhere, tossing it in front of his eyes as he spoke. Why had she come out here alone? Why had she come out here at all? And then she remembered. She wanted, needed, a place to let it all go, a place to relax and feel free away from the rest of the world and all the people in it. She needed a place to cut. She remembered coming out here once before, sitting on a fallen tree and getting out her stained razor blade. The silent and aloneness had felt wonderful but she hadn’t gone this deep in the woods. Now she was here, face to face with this….this half-creature half-man and she didn’t even know the right way to run. She had just been wandering along, trying to escape the real world, when she had heard a snap of a brittle twig and somehow managed to run into this blood thirsty monster. People had warned her of these woods before. They had told ridiculous myths and stories of the vampires and creatures of the night that lied within this forest of darkness and despair. Of course, she had believed no such things but now, feeling the warm breath of this “vampire” in the coldness of a beautiful autumn night, she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about these stories anymore. And then it hit her. She tried to find her voice and managed a crackled whisper. “You said we? Who else is here?” the vampire’s smile returned and as his teeth glimmered in the moonlight, she had to shut her eyes and turn away. But when she opened them, a sight filled her vision that made her gasp in horror. Gazing toward the trees, she saw other dark figures stepping out of the tall trees and into the tiny clearing where she was standing. Her head throbbed in pain as a massive headache swept into her. She began to feel dizzy and started to mumble absentmindedly “I’m going to die, I’m going to die….” “Oh, you’re not going to die.” His voice was cool and sent her entire body ice cold. “You’re merely joining us. Then you will see what it’s like to be in our position, starving for months on end only to be satisfied with a few drops of blood every now and then, waiting and watching for something or someone to come, jumping at every snap of a twig, every gust of wind that brushes against our tired, pale faces.” As he said this, she noticed that there were bags of exhaustion lining his viscous eyes. For a split second, she felt sorry for him. He hadn’t asked for this life. But neither is she. Finally finding her legs that seemed to feel like cement blocks, she broke into a run across the clearing, desperately searching for a way out before it was too late. She spotted an opening between two of the hooded figures and darted towards it only to be seized by their powerful arms. She twisted and squirmed every way she could but it was no use. She was going to have to suffer the pain that they suffered every day of their miserable lives. The vampire she had spoken to walked over shaking his head as she hung hers in sadness and shame. Tears shed from her eyes, streaming down her face. “Don’t be afraid,” he said in what seemed to be kindness. He lifted her chin with one hand and stared deeply into her hurt and confused eyes. “Your life is a sad one, I can tell. You see us vampires have a strange way of reading mortals’ eyes. You hurt yourself purposefully and yet you don’t seem to know why.” She stared at him in amazement. Then relief rushed through her. “Go ahead and take me. I don’t care.” He nodded. “I’m sure you will soon realize that a new life will not be all that bad. Now if you would, please lean your head back and close your eyes. This will only hurt for a moment.” Accepting the fact that she was about to leave her life behind, a final tear left her eye and she did as she was told.