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Bloody Secrets
It was way past midnight when 16 year old Claire decided to call her brother. After one ring Claire was ready to chicken out but Curtis picked up almost immediate. “Hello”
A knot developed in her throat. “Umm…Y-y-you called. And I was just wondering what that was about...It was just some warnings, but…um you know”, Claire said around the knot in her throat. She tried to swallow it down and failed. Horror ran through her as she remembered last years threatening phone calls. In short someone with an untraceable number kept warning her to stay away from her brother or someone would die. Who? This was the question she asked her self over and over again. She was drawn out of her thoughts as the dial tone sounded in Claire’s ear. She hung up the phone. But more than the hurt of her own brother not want to talk to her or the fact that she needed comfort from her one and only big brother was the fact that no one wanted to recognize the fact that something was amiss. Her parents said she was over reacting, her friends said it was a prank caller; her brother was avoiding her calls. No if nobody was concerned about this then she wouldn’t be concerned about what they thought. I’ll do what they do on the TV show. Isolate the lie. Find the truth. She thought to her self as she grabbed an umbrella on her way out the door. She immediately regrets not waiting to morning as she fought against the winds to get to her car.
Twenty-five minutes later she was pulling into the libraries parking lot. Claire groped around her glove-compartment until she found what she was looking for. A small golden key now lay on the palm of her hand. She use to work at the library for a summer job and “conveniently” lost the key so that she could come here after hours to do research. But she never thought she would be breaking into the library, stealing the key had been on an impulse. Just like this was on an impulse.
After she had let her self in and started up a computer in the research section, she was ready to go. She knows that if she couldn’t trace the number through her phone resource then someone had probably done it on an internet accessed computer. And everything, everything left a trail.
She had traced the trail to its original source when she had the feeling some one was watching her. In a panicked rush Claire printed what she had, just as all the lights went out. Who was breathing so heavily? Was it her? These were questions she didn’t have the courage to answer.
“Little girls who prefer darkness get darkness.” said a silk smooth voice right next to her right ear.
“In fact little girls who stick there nose in other people’s business get hurt.” said a more mincing voice at her left ear. Claire took a shuttered breath in and fainted.
“Gezz”, said the one to her right as he caught her, “Didn’t expect her to be so jumpy.”
“Maybe we went a tad over board on this one.” replied the one on her left.
“Nah ya think”, retorted the one on her right.
“Was it the lights? I think it was the lights.”
The first thing Claire awoken to was the acrid smell of blood in her nose. She quickly ran her hand over her body. She wasn’t bleeding so what was that smell. She was weak but she managed to stand. Using the walls for support she walked down the hall. She didn’t know were to go so she followed the acrid smell. The passage she walked down was narrow, dark and was overpowered with the smell of blood. She couldn’t help but wonder, were does this go, why am I here, were is that smell coming from? At the end of the passage there was a door. As Claire opened the door the acrid smell hit her like a punch in the face. Claire gasped for air as she forced her unwilling body through the open door. Her eyes watered as her knees gave way. Claire felt like a fish who, with out any warning, had been dragged on land. She was tiring very hard to not look like the fish she felt like. The smell was suffocating her and she couldn’t breathe. After at lest a hundred gasp the smell, while not completely gone, only burned a little in here throat. When she was able to stand she notices two pale faces starring at her with curious yet unconcerned eyes. Claire staggered to the two faces. Them. She thought. This awful smell comes from them. She clamped both hands over her mouth and nose.
“Come on now we don’t smell that bad. Most humans think we smell good.”