To: vegangrrl_15@ [redacted]

From: amyvaughn@ [redacted]

Subject: Delete After Reading (Part 666 And Probably The End)

Draft saved 2017 July 22, 23:30:37

I was safe. For a couple of days.

I didn't hear from my mom during those days, and I only tried to call her once at home, but she didn't pick up. I knew her work schedule pretty well, and normally she was home at eight. Maybe she had taken me up on my offer and gone out with Kevin. I didn't think much of it then.

The rest of the week dragged by. I started to feel better, stronger, but I mostly stayed holed up in my room. I ran out of reading material by Thursday morning. Luckily, it was sunny, and my dad's house was within walking distance of the Oakridge Public Library. I checked out a stack of books and went online, found only spam in my email inbox and one message from Veronica: "Amy, where are you?" It was dated on Tuesday.

I dialed Veronica on the walk home. The sun was out and it was hard to imagine that anything like vampires or werewolves did exist. How could I be sure of such things? I'd never seen a werewolf transform, and even though I could have sworn I'd felt Lane bite me and suck my blood, there's never been a mark. It all seemed silly.

Veronica's voice mail picked up. I decided to leave a vague message. "Hey, it's me, Amy. Where are you? Call me back."

Why hadn't Veronica just called my phone if she wanted to know where I was?

Maybe she was afraid I'd hang up on her again, I reasoned. Hopefully she was just in the shower and she'd call me right back.

I lifted my face to the sun. My sunburn had faded into a faint tan, and the sun felt good on my pale skin. What an idiot I'd been, to ever have thought it'd be fun to live in darkness forever. To never be able to see the sunlight through the leaves and sparkling in puddles on the street. To never feel warm.

I wondered if Lane felt cold all the time, or if he felt normal and I felt feverishly hot all the time. Imagining his icy fingers trailing up my arms and along my neck made a shiver dance up my spine.

"You can't possibly be cold on a day like this," came a male voice.

I spun toward the sound.

The voice hadn't even sounded like Lane's voice. And it wasn't Lane. It was a boy around my own age, out in his front lawn with no shirt on, clipping hedges. He had sun bleached blond hair and deeply tanned shoulders, and looked like a total jock. And he was looking at me like I was a freak.

"I'm not cold," I said. "I caught a chill, that's all."

"A chill? It's like, ninety degrees out."

"So?"

"So, are you sick or something? You look really pale."

"Thanks for your concern, but I am fine."

I turned to stalk off and never see this kid again, and suddenly realized this kid's house was next door to my own. "You live there now?" the kid asked.

"Yes," I said through my teeth. "My dad lives here."

"That's cool." He wiped his hand off on his cargo shorts and held it out over the hedge. After looking at it suspiciously, I shook it. "My name's Josh."

"I'm Amy."

"You got some little brats living over there, huh?"

"Tell me about it," I said. I couldn't believe I was actually conversing with this person. This was practically the Oakridge equivalent of Devon Granger. "They never stop screaming."

"So you just up and decided it'd be fun to move in with that, huh?"

Was this kid joking with me? "Yeah," I replied in my signature monotone.

"What's the real reason?"

"Reason for what?"

"For moving in with them. Come on. You can't tell me you love kids. That crew is like a walking public service announcement for birth control."

I grinned before I could stop myself. Maybe this guy looked like Devon Granger, but he certainly had more wit.

"Ah... things weren't going too well with my mom," I lied.

"No? You couldn't hide in your room or something?" He squinted up at the house, where I heard faint screams coming from the upstairs bathroom. "Seriously."

"Well, I gotta go."

"Yeah, see ya."

I couldn't very well tell him the real reason I moved, could I? Oh, I'm being stalked by a vampire. I needed a place to live where I hadn't already invited him in. Trust me, I wouldn't be living here otherwise. Yes, we'd both have a good laugh at that one.

I hurried inside, stopping only once just inside the front door to listen for the source of the sound. There was some screaming coming from the bathroom—it sounded like Laurie was trying to force Abby into a bathing suit, and raucous thumping coming from the boys' bedroom. I darted up the stairs and into my own room, closing my door against them.

My books kept me entertained for a while, but after Laurie knocked on my door and announced that they were heading over to a friend's who had a pool and did I want to come (NO), and the house finally fell silent, I decided to pull out my sketchpad instead.

That's when I found the picture I'd drawn on the night I met Lane at the art museum. The one where I'd drawn his face looming over Veronica.

I checked my phone. An hour had passed and she hadn't called me back. I called her again but didn't leave a message this time when she didn't answer. Maybe she was mad at me for hanging up on her, and was now refusing to pick up the phone. I hoped she would call back. She had sent me that email, after all.

But I didn't hear from Veronica that night. And I didn't hear from my mother when I called her again, this time mid-afternoon, when she was sure to be awake and at home. The phone rang and rang and then the message clicked on. I left a message for her, too. "Hi, Mom, I just wanted to see how you were doing... I hope you're out having fun with Kevin instead of sitting home alone and moping. Um... call me on my cell. Bye."

The house felt very empty.

EDITED 2/24/18