Grave School: The Blood Chronicles
Blood Three: Living in Darkness
Today is my first day—or rather—night at school.
I was sitting in my bed shoving my books in my bag when somebody knocked on my door. I rushed to open it.
“Mr. Clovis!” I greeted him a good evening.
“Good evening, Miss Amanda.” He smiled playfully. “I see you’re enjoying your room.” He looked around.
“Definitely.” I nodded.
I wore the uniform laid out for me. In my feet I wore the provided black boots and tied my hair in a ponytail.
“Ready to go? I shall accompany you to your first class.” Mr. Clovis led the way.
I followed, almost reluctantly. My breath was short. I began to imagine vampire students surrounding me, smelling my mortal blood, opening up their wide mouths, letting their fangs sink into my neck—
“Here we are.” Mr. Clovis knocked at the huge wooden door. I held my breath.
The door opened and there stood a lady wearing wire-rimmed glasses and whose blonde hair looked like she haven’t brushed them since eighteenth century. She flashed us a great smile.
“Hello, Director Trent.” She turned to look at me. “Hello, my dear. You’re such a lovely lady, Miss Bradfort.” She was smiling so cheerfully, forcing me to flash a fake smile. “I’m Terry Keynes your teacher for Antidote class.”
She shook my pale, warm hands. I felt her freezing cold white hands as she shook mine. Mr. Trent then left, leaving me looking bewildered.
I entered together with Mrs. Keynes. The room was fully lit with black candles. I can see clearly their faces. The faces of vampires. They eyed me critically.
“Class,” Mrs. Keynes began, “this is Miss Amanda Bradfort. Starting today, she will be with us in this class.” She smiled at me reassuringly, smelling my nervousness.
I glanced at the whole class, my heart throbbing hard like drumrolls in my chest. The class was eerie with silence, without much of an expression in their faces—except for two persons at the back row, Jessica and Jay.
Jessica was waving to me, her fangs shining brightly as she grinned. “Amanda!” I waved back, somewhat reluctantly. Jay looked up from the book he was reading, his gorgeous smile plastered upon his face.
Still, with the two of them around, I felt uncomfortable. The students in the front row shot murderous glances at me. Was it because of my looks? Or was it because I have mortal blood flowing in my veins?
Mrs. Keynes pointed my chair, which was the empty seat next to a white-haired boy. As I walked down the aisle, those dirty looks were still pasted on me.
I managed to sit at my desk, out of harm. The white-haired boy kept on staring at me.
“Hi.” I breathed, unable to breath.
“Human blood stinks, it disgusts me.” He replied flatly.
I turned to ice. Is this the proper way to treat a newcomer? This boy may be out of his mind, I see. I let that pass.
I flushed in my seat, ready to dissolve. He chuckled. This time, I scowled. I wonder if every kid in this class also thinks as rotten as him. Antidote class kept on going but I barely listened to every Mrs. Keynes words. Is this how my life would go? Being disgusted by everyone in school?
Fortunately, Mrs. Keynes declared Antidote class dismissed. All of them hurriedly headed to the door. I stayed behind. Jay and Jessica walked towards my seat.
“I’m glad we’re in the same class.” Jessica said.
“Same here,” I replied. “But the others were not though. They disgusted me, like I was a roach or a mice or something.”
Jessica laughed. “That’s because you have human blood.”
“That’s not funny.” I snapped. I saw Jay nudged at Jessica’s side.
“Sorry Amanda, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Jessica stared at her shoes.
“That’s okay.” I smiled at her. “That’s the truth anyway.”
Jay smiled too. “Sorry for her attitude. She’s such a real pain for me.”
“No, I’m not!” Jessica exploded, ready to begin a historic sibling fight. “I would love to have a sister who understands my feelings than a brother who doesn’t think of anything than becoming human.”
My ears rang. Have I heard it right?
“What?” I squeaked. “You want to be a human?”
Silence enveloped us as Jay bowed his head and I stared at him in disbelief.
“Well, you see,” Jessica put in, “ever since we’re little kids we lived our lives in the underworld, never let the sun kiss our skin. We never saw that bright light because we will burn to death if we dared. To tell you honestly, I’m very much jealous of you, to be a half-human and half-vampire.”
“I know how you feel.” I sympathized with her. “I was raised in a French-oriented orphanage. It was just like living in prison, you’re under the rules and you have no freedom at all. You always have to be prim and proper at all circumstances.”
Jessica smiled. “But it doesn’t matter for me anyway. At least I can see the sun smiling at me. I can imagine myself dancing under the bright sunlight.”
“Gosh,” I muttered, looking at my watch. “It’s time for the next subject. We have to go.”
“Right.” The twins said in unison, grabbing their books and headed to the door with me.
Classes ended at 4am, just the time for sunrise. Students rushed to their dormitories and into their rooms, afraid to get hit by the sun’s rays. I bid goodbye to the twins and closed my front door. I quickly dressed in my usual clothes, and out to the remnants of the cold winter. The sun began to shine and plants slowly painted the place green. I saw Christopher from my terrace, on his usual spot. Now I’m back as Amanda the mortal, jumping off the terrace and heading towards Christopher’s direction.
“Hi.” He greeted, without glancing at me. I was surprised.
“So you knew I was going here, huh?” I looked at him skeptically.
“Nah, just followed my hunches.” He looked at me, and I was mesmerized by his deep brown eyes. He then looked at the horizon, his fingers running through his hair, and I watched him very intently.
“People like you are very much lucky. You had the chance to meet your parents, your relatives, your grandparents.” I sighed, smiling at my own speech. “I never had one.”
We sat down next to each other in complete silence. “If you want, you can also call her grandma.”
I perked up. “Really? Is that okay? I never had someone to call ‘grandma’ before, living or dead!”
He chuckled. “It’s super okay!” I was lost in his shining brown eyes as I felt the remnants of snow melting rapidly under me.
“Have you got any friends at school?” Christopher asked suddenly.
“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “Jay and Jessica Monquieu. They’re such wonderful twins! I’m glad to have them by my side.”
“Glad to hear that.” He sighed, as if sighing with relief.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Have you—have you felt anything like—like you have known me for years? Like you and I were friends back then?” He turned to stare at me. I stared back.
“W—well…” I stammered. “I say, yes. I think I have seen you anywhere, but I don’t remember it very much. I think I was too young at that time.”
“Hmm… I see.” He muttered under his breath.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
A moment of silence enveloped us. We were both staring at the blue sky, the start of spring.
“I’ve got to go.” Christopher said, standing up. “Thanks for the company.”
“Not a problem at all. If I ever see you at my terrace, I’ll go here directly to keep you company.” I smiled. He smiled back, this time, I felt warm.
“Thanks.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll be here everyday. See you.”
“See you.” I waved at him then turned to see grandma’s tombstone. “See you, grandma.”
The campus was so loud with vampire kids sprawling everywhere like ants. I’m taking a hearty midnight snack with the twins.
“Drink this, Amanda.” Jessica offered me a glass with a peculiar red-black liquid inside.
“Wine?” I asked.
“Yeah, sorta.”
“Well, gotta try it. I hope the alcoholic content is not too high.” I reached for the glass and took a huge gulp.
“Well?” Jay asked, staring at me, my eyes wide open, stopping short. All the students held their breaths. I felt my lips quiver.
“BLECH!” I exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by everyone. “What’s this?!”
“It’s—uh—vampire’s wine!” Jessica laughed nervously.
“Vampire’s wine? How could it be? It smelled rusty, gross and too much salt was put on it!” I was gagging.
I heard the students surrounding us stared at me in horror. Then they started on murmuring, and then shot me dirty looks.
A boy stood up, and I realized he was my seatmate back in Antidote class. He grinned at me, and then faced the whole crowd.
“Is this what you call the Vampiress who’ll rule us all in the years ahead?!” He pointed at me, and everyone turned to see me. I looked at them nervously.
“Is this human in front of you the Vampiress who says that blood, our precious blood, is actually gross for her? That it smelled rusty? Is this human our Vampiress?” he continued on.
Nobody spoke, not even a breath was heard. They just stared at me, and the silence made me wished for invisibility.
“Ryan! Stop blabbering false accusations around!” Jessica defended, standing up.
“Oh, Monquieu. So you’re standing up for her. Haven’t you heard what she said earlier?” He flashed Jessica a sly smile.
“Oh shut up, will you, coward?” Jessica started. I motioned her to stop.
“It’s okay Jess. They hate me anyway. I’m aware of that.” I felt tears sprang from my eyes and my heart squeezed with so much pain. I don’t want to cry in front of the whole school anyway. There’s nothing else left to do but run.
“Amanda!” I heard Jay called, but I did not answer. I lef them there, calling out my name. I ran faster, faster than my feet can hold. I was heading to nowhere, but all I wanted for now is to be alone.
