"Forever Is Too Long"-1st Installment in the "Timeless" short story series

The air was cool and crisp; it was filled with the scent of night and freshly fallen snow. It was December 23rd, 1632. There in the middle of a field in London, England stood a girl, no younger than 21. Her hair was long and jet black, her skin was brown as the tree bark around her. The full moon gleamed onto the snow creating a dreamy scene. The wind blew her hair as she turned quickly. She was out of breath and panting, trying to bring some air into her already burning lungs. Something was chasing her, something terrible and unseen. She heard a twig break in the quiet of her surroundings. She turned and looked into the deep darkness of the forest that surrounded her. She saw nothing. What was this? Where had she run to? She was far from her home and her family; far from the warmth of her fireplace and her safe and familiar surroundings. Another twig broke, and she looked into the night once more to see crimson red eyes staring back at her in the darkness. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She wanted to let out a scream but nothing came. She stood there, frozen in total and complete fear. Before she could blink the creature was on top of her and sunk its teeth deep into her neck. Her blood flowed from her neck, tainting the purity of the freshly fallen snow. She didn’t resist. She gave up fighting and laid there limp as she slipped into unconsciousness and the field around her grew darker and darker as she fell into the darkness. She kept falling, unsure if she’d ever get up again.

It was an early fall morning just outside New York City when Alexandria woke up in a cold sweat. She’s had that same dream over a hundred times and it still scared the crap out of her. She reached for her neck and rubbed over where she was bitten. “You’d think after all this time you’d be used to it.” She mumbled aloud to herself. She climbed out of bed and looked in the mirror. She looked for the bite marks that were there once there. The markings left behind by the vampire that attacked her so many years ago on that fateful night. As she rubbed her neck she wanted to cry. She never saw the face of the creature that attacked her and took her from the life that she had once known. She lost everything; her family, her friends, her home, and sometimes she felt as if her humanity was slipping away from her along with her sanity.

Alexandria was in a whole different world now. She lived in a world where vampires didn’t exist outside of books, TV shoes, and movies. Her kind was reduced to being nothing but fictional creatures. If only the humans knew just how fictional they were. Back in her century vampires were very much known and taken care of accordingly. She shook the thought of the past and looked in the mirror. She looked like she’d been dragged through hell and slapped in the face. “Ugh. If I keep having this dream I’m going to be the only vampire to look as if they aged.” She said to herself as she brushed her hair. She made her way back to her bed and glanced at the clock on her bedside table. The time blinked 4:35am on the LCD display. She shrugged and then threw herself onto her pillow and let out a groan. She hated her sleep being interrupted by stupid dreams recollecting the past. She rolled over and pulled the covers over her head as she heard nails tapping on the hardwood floor. Alex’s body stiffened as the tapping grew closer. Her door creaked open and the tapping was now in her room. She felt her bed shift due to additional weight on one side. She felt a tugging on her blanket and then it was thrown from her body.

“Very funny Alaska!” she giggled as she took her pillow and hit the Siberian husky in the face with it. If she loved anything in this world it was Alaska. Alaska was Alex’s dog. He was a purebred Siberian husky. His fur was black on top and white on the bottom, which perfectly contrasted his piercing sky blue eyes. “Guess it’s time for me to get up, huh boy?” she asked. Alaska answered with a slight nudge with his wet nose on her forehead. Alex groaned and Alaska answered with a barrage of dog kisses all over her face. “Eww! I’m up! I’m up! Now stop!” she commanded with a smile. Alaska jumped off the bed and headed out of the room. Alex then turned on her iPod and headed to the shower. Her day started now whether she liked it or not.

Alex went through her normal routine grabbed her car keys and her back pack and headed down the stairs into the kitchen. She never understood why she had this big house in the middle of nowhere and it was just her and Alaska. Then she remembered that it was safer for her to be here than in the city. Here there was no temptation to be the monster that she was forcefully turned into. The mailman left her mail in the mailbox up the road so there was only human contact when she was at school or out in the city. Here she was free to be herself and didn’t have to hide it. If she wanted to sleep in a tree she could sleep in a tree without questions being asked. Not that she would but if she wanted to she could.

She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a pouch of AB+ and made her way to the microwave. She’d been doing this for so long that she knew how long that it took get it exactly at 98.6. She punched 3:33 onto the display, placed the pouch in the microwave, pressed START and walked away to feed Alaska. When the timer dinged she went to her silverware drawer and grabbed a crazy straw. Yes, a crazy straw. She thought it made it less morbid that she was drinking blood if it was through a crazy straw. She grabbed the pouch and poked a hole in it with the straw and began to drink. Alex found it very odd to even herself that she treated a pouch of human blood like a Capri-Sun, but she shrugged the thought off and continued to drink. Donated blood wasn’t as good as fresh, but it did the trick. The warm sweet liquid slid down her throat and recharged her body like coffee does for humans. It warmed her insides like hot chocolate with a hint of latex. Alex learned to ignore that taste and figured a little latex is better than becoming a monster and preying on those that didn’t deserve to die at her hand because she was hungry. That just wasn’t in her personality. She sucked the last drop left and grabbed her keys. Alaska escorted Alex to the door. She petted his head and gave him a quick hug and head out the door towards her red 2010 Audi R8. She liked to keep to herself that doesn’t mean she had to be a hermit and drive a Taurus. She had the money and dammit she was gonna spend it. She got in, hooked up her iPod and embarked on the 45 minute trip to NYU where she majored in Music and Creative Writing and minored in Recorded Music.

Alex drove down the road and saw the familiar scenery that she passed on a daily basis. She looked out the window from time to time to see her surroundings morph from the woods where she lived, to the suburbs, to the city. It all seemed to morph gradually into one fluid motion as me she made her way to school. She took this way every day, but the beauty and serenity still amazed her to this day. It was peaceful and familiar. It was like peace morphing into the chaos that lingered within the city. Although chaotic, she loved the city; there was something about it that drew her to it like a moth to a flame. The pull of the allure was unimaginably strong and she had no idea why.

She finally made it onto campus and parked her car. When she got out it was still dark as she made her way to the Student Union. This is why she left so early. That way the sun wouldn’t bother her as she made her way to school. She never had to worry about the transition between classes because she was only exposed for no more than five minutes. She’d feel a little sick, as if she had heat stroke, than burst into flames. As she entered the building to go wait for the start of her first class she felt as if someone had been watching her. She turned to see that no one was there. Alex shrugged the feeling off. What was wrong with me? There usually wasn’t anyone here this early, so why was today any different? She asked herself in her head.

Alex shook her head to shake this creepy feeling that she had and started to walk down the long dark hallway. It smelled just like any college hallway. It smelled of paper, textbooks, fresh coffee and pen ink. Her highly sensitive sense of smell allowed her to have a different view of what school was, but she wasn’t going to dig. She didn’t want to taint this pure scent of innocence and higher learning. Just as she allowed herself to be swept away by the scent of the hallway she heard a whoosh behind her. She turned around again to see that there was nothing there. “Get it together Alex!” She whispered to herself. She kept walking until she reached the indoor bridge way between the two buildings. It was usually used by horny college students that wanted to get a little something before class. It was windowless and secluded and that gave her a bad feeling. Alex kept walking down the long hallway and then heard the automatic door open behind her. Alex didn’t bother turning this time; she figured that it was nothing just like the rest even though her gut told her something else. Suddenly the hallway went cold. She heard footsteps and they were coming up right behind her. They were just light enough that humans would’ve never heard them. She froze, scared of who was behind her. She could take whoever it was, but she didn’t like her time to herself interrupted. The footsteps were getting closer, the room got colder. In what seemed like no time at all she felt a cold breath on the back of her neck. The scent of the breath was familiar to her but the cold froze her and she couldn’t move. “Hello Alexandria.” a deep male voice hinted with a British accent, whispered into her ear from behind her. Who was this that called her by a name that she left behind so long ago? She turned around and gasped as she saw the face of the voice that had spoken to her. Now she was truly terrified.