“Raven?”

  I open my eyes slowly, invigorated to be awoke by a soft voice, rather than the chaos of an old electric bell.

  My eyes adjust and I am greeted by Alice`s face, centimeters away from mine. Startled; I remain motionless, my cheeks turning red.

  “Yes?”, I ask, not really knowing what to do.

  “Would you mind letting go of me, I need to get up and pee”, She says a little uneasy.

  It only now becomes apparent to me that I have my arms wrapped around her. I must have cuddled up to her in my sleep. How embarrassing.

  Calmly I move away from her not wanting to make a fool of myself any further, “I`m sorry”.

  “It`s fine really”, she blushes, before getting up and running to the bathroom.

  I sit up, taking a deep breath, processing my sleepy blunder. I look at my surroundings, remembering where I am and how I got here. It feels strange waking up in such a small room, filled with only myself and one other person.

  My train of thought is suddenly broken by Alice darting back into the room.

  “So listen”, Alice says. I look up at her in anticipation of what she has to say. My mind immediately drifting to me having to leave or not being welcome anymore.

  “I’m supposed to be meeting some friends at the mall today. I’m going to assume you don’t have any pns not having friends and all”, Alice pauses, “Sorry that was rude of me. What I’m trying to say is if you have no other pns today why not tag along?”

  My eyes grow wide with surprise, “You want me to hang out with you and your friends?”

  Understandably she can see why I am so awe struck by the notion.

  “They will be nice, I promise. I just really need a day of normalcy you know. No weird feelings or biting or blood. Just my friends and shopping.”, Alice begs me.

  I give the invitation some thought. It is completely against my nature to even consider going out to socialise, but these past few days have me afraid to be alone.

  It makes sense to stick with Alice as much as I can, “Okay”.

  Alice looks at me a little surprised, “Great. It’s a pn. There’s just one thing. If I may suggest a wardrobe change. My friends can be absolute piranhas when it comes to fashion”.

  I look down at myself realising I have slept in the same clothes I have been wearing for the past two days, a change would be welcome.

  “I mean, if it`s not too much trouble.”, I get out of bed and follow Alice to her wardrobe.

  “Right! Well I would love to recommend this, or maybe that, no wait this is perfect”, Alice rambles on throwing out various items of clothing that do not sit well with me. I try to ignore her suggestions and look past them to see if anything catches my eye.

  “That there”, I point.

  Alice stops for a second and looks to where I am pointing, “What that?”.

  Alice reaches into her wardrobe pulling out a long bck cotton dress with frilly patterns along the bottom and around the sleeves. I have never worn a dress before that wasn`t my school uniform.

  “This was given to me by my te grandmother, she had this thing about the colour bck being universal. I don’t like being universal, I want to stand out”, every word Alice speaks just makes me want it more.

  “I’m fine with that, I don’t really like to be noticed”, I reach out taking the dress holding it against me while looking into her mirror.

  “Fair enough. Last thing I want to do now is bully you into liking my fashion suggestions”, Alice reaches further inside her wardrobe.

  “I must insist that you wear these boots though, they go great with dresses”, She pulls out a pair of red boots with bck ces. I am a little unsure but decide to give her this one thing.

  “I`m going to go take a shower”, I blurt out grabbing the various articles and running out the room, a skip of excitement in my step.

  [---]

  I stand nervously next to Alice near the entrance of the shopping mall waiting for her friends. Alice assures me I look good but I feel terribly awkward for some reason. The idea of my appearance being appealing is a foreign notion to me. I take another deep breath, reminding myself to stay calm. I find if I am calm and in control I can tune out the sounds of peoples heart beats. That is my one saving grace for today, one less thing to worry about at least.

  Alice`s arm shot up and she starts waving to her oncoming friends. I instinctively hid behind my hair hoping they will look right past me but no such luck is had.

  “Alice!”, screams one of them, I am too busy trying to pretend I don`t exist to notice which one.

  “Bianca!”, Alice screams back, the two running to each other in a girlish embrace.

  “Me too, me too!”, screams the other girl.

  “Jasmine, you attention whore, get in here”, Alice and Bianca open up their embrace bringing Jasmine in.

  It takes a minute before they notice me, Jasmine is the first to say, “Is that No Name?”

  “Alice, why is No Name with you?”, Bianca adds.

  I look them over shyly through my hair. Bianca is tall and slender with long straight golden hair, Jasmine is of average height with a slight masculinity to her with pale skin and ginger hair that curls slightly.

  “Girls be nice. Raven”, emphasis is put into my name, “Is a welcome guest with us today. I will not tolerate any mean talk”.

  Bianca and Jasmine take a step forward looking me over judging me silently, I have never felt more fragile in all my life.

  “Fine by me I guess”, says Jasmine.

  “Yeah, I mean she is wearing this gorgeous dress so she clearly has some taste” mutters Bianca, a hint of jealousy.

  Alice walks up beside me putting her arm around and over my shoulder, “Perfect. Let’s get shopping dies”.

  Most of the time I spend with them is a forgetful blur with fshes of gleeful screaming at one another. They drag me from one shop to another observing and commenting on every item of clothing they can find.

  The changing rooms are the worst, where for some reason they keep asking me my opinion. At first I am suspicious that Alice has put them up to it but after the third or fourth time I notice a genuine curiosity.

  Not for a second do I believe they valued my opinion, but possibly they just want to hear something nice for a change. Whenever one of them would ask the others every compliment would be followed up by a negative remark and every negative remark followed by a slight insult. I started to get the impression that these girls had no idea how to genuinely compliment one another.

  It is hard for me to believe these three have been genuine friends for so long. I come to the assumption that maybe if I was to say something nice maybe they would warm to me.

  It must have been the seventh shop we entered when Bianca came out of the changing room wearing a satin green dress with some ce trim around the neck and tail. She looks at me with an expression that say she expects nothing but asks me anyway, “Raven, what do you think? Yay or Nay?”

  I look her up and down actually trying to take a general interest in what is going on before me.

  “I think it looks good”, I comment shyly, “It matches your eyes, and fits your figure nicely”.

  “My eyes?”, Bianca blushes slightly looking away embarrassed. I wonder if that is the first time someone has ever complimented her properly.

  From there the day goes rather quick with me attempting to take an interest in all the fashion talk. I notice that if I simply remain observant and comment on the obvious, then the girls would smile and be nicer to me. It feels nice, having friends.

  I am unsure of how much time has passed but a rather rge yawn from Jasmine signals the end of the day as her and Bianca comment how exhausted they are.

  With multiple shopping bags in hand we say our goodbyes to Jasmine and Bianca, I proudly note how eager they are to hug me goodbye. I have never been one for hugs but they feel so warm and genuine that I can`t help but smile and hug them back.

  Alice and I stand by the entrance of the mall watching them walk away. Once they are out of sight Alice turns to me, gripping my hand tightly.

  “Raven quickly I need some blood”, all colour drains from her face and her expression drops to one of concern.

  “Why what’s wrong?”, I ask in a panic.

  “I can feel myself lessening, please I don`t want to feel like that again. I can`t.”, she pleads, desperation and fear written on her face.

  “Where can we go?”, I ask, concerned knowing we cannot do it in public.

  Alice grabs my hand running back inside the mall, we turn a corner and push in-between two rge swinging doors. It must been a storage room, off-limits to the public.

  “Please Raven hurry, I can’t take this feeling”.

  I present my wrist to her, the old wound having closed up already to my surprise. She looks at me with a mixture of concern and irritation.

  “Maybe I can bit your neck like you do mine?”, she suggests.

  “I, I don`t know about that.”, I admit hesitantly, not wanting to put myself in such a vulnerable state.

  “Then what? Raven please! I`m begging you, I need it now!”, Alice pleads once more.

  “I don`t know, maybe-“, I stop having accidently bit my tongue.

  “What`s wrong?”, Alice asks, on edge but concerned.

  “I think I bit my tongue, damn I think its bleeding.”, I mutter to myself absent minded.

  Alice grabs me and immediately pushes her lips against mine. I`m gripped by surprise and shocked to feel her tongue forcing its way into my mouth. It doesn`t take me long to realise she is after my blood, licking up and sucking every drop she can get.

  A minute passes and Alice is back to being herself. Our lips part and she takes a deep breath.

  I`m caught between emotions, one half feeling vioted the other feeling embarrassed. I want to confront her, to talk to her about what she just did.

  But before anything else can be said we are interrupted by a mall employee.

  “What are you two doing back here? This area is off limits to the public, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”, his words are very clear. I am keen to make my exit with Alice but suddenly my legs give out and I colpse to the ground.

  Alice catches me half way through my fall trying to keep me up. The mall employee rushes over to help support my weight, “Is she okay?”, he asks confused and surprised.

  I tune out their words, my head feeling light my body starting to ache slightly.

  Thump-Thump.

  All I can hear is his heart beat.

  Thump-Thump.

  I start to feel hungry.

  Thump-Thump.

  I need to feed.

  A fsh and I find myself upon him, sinking my teeth into his neck draining him savagely. He colpses to the ground and I along with him as I drink from his neck viciously trying to satisfy a thirst I once felt in a dream.

  I can hear Alice behind me protesting, trying to stop me. I can`t control myself all I can feel is the hunger. I bite down harder and can feel his pulse slowing, I am drinking him dry, and I know it.

  Before I can think another thought I see Alice in front of me her eyes locked with mine filled with terror and fear. She brings me back to my senses, snapping me out of my bloodlust. My jaw drops open and the mall employee`s neck falls free from my mouth. I throw myself back in horror at what I have done. Alice puts her head to the man’s chest checking to see if he is still alive.

  I can still hear his heart beat; it is slow and feint but it is still there. Alice moves over to me, “Raven he`s fine. But we need to leave now”.

  Alice takes my hand, I am in shock, unable to think or act on my own. Alice pulls me up off the ground leading me along. She runs with me towards the emergency exit setting off the fire arm on the way out. The siren is loud, almost deafening, I look at Alice as she tries to speak. I can`t hear her, but I can make out the shape of the words, I read her lips.

  ‘Everything is going to be alright, I`m here for you.’