Eartha -- Chapter 4

So, here we go again. Obviously I haven't posted in a while and that would be because my birthday has once again come and gone. I managed to not die for another twelve months congratulations to me. So, now I'm back and taking the lazy way out of actually posting stuff. Yep, it's another chapter of the book have already finished the first draft of. I realized a few moments ago that this is not even mos current version of this story. Since I am at work when I post these blogs I don't have access to my laptop which is where all my first edits are stored. I already had one person read through the whole story with a red pen and most of the minor errors have already disappeared... unfortunately that means you are getting the REALLY rough draft. Sorry about that. I actually had forgotten that my little red drive didn't have the edited version on it. That's okay though. I promise the story hasn't changed that much yet. All right then, here is the un-edited chapter four.

Chapter 4


Although Eartha’s first day was a little rough her days quickly fell into a routine. She had no problems adapting to the classroom setting as opposed to one on one teaching. She was a quick learner and immediately put herself at the top of almost all her classes. She refused to make any new friends, however, making her somewhat unwelcome. She didn’t mind that a lot of the other students whispered about her behind her back. She wasn’t really up to making friends with these people. They were far more dangerous to her than the kids she had been used to at her old school. In her old community the issues she had to deal with had been small and insignificant; children’s parents getting divorced, grandparents dying, failing a test, having a cold, or just temporarily hating your best friend. They were all things that she could deal with. Sure, they had exhausted her on a daily basis and she had hated it, but it was minimal compared to what problems the kids in this community had. She had never had to deal with someone having a seizure because of a vision or windows shattering when someone got upset because of a test grade. The pain and emotions were so much more extreme at Mead Institute and it was essential that her shield be always firmly in place. Becoming close to others broke down her shield and made it easier for those extreme emotions to seep into her.
Eartha and Garrick had come to an understanding; if he didn’t touch her or ask her any questions about her ability they had no problems. Of course this wasn’t a spoken agreement. Garrick just learned that if he asked too many questions she would turn silent or just leave. If he forgot himself and actually tried to touch her she would get up and leave as quickly as she could. He learned pretty quickly what he could and could not get away with. Eartha had a hard time keeping all her secrets to herself. She overheard so many of the students chatting about what they could do that she would have loved to chime into the conversation about what she could do. She always managed to stop herself knowing the consequences could be very bad. Plus, Garrick held nothing back from her. He loved to talk and she didn’t mind listening to what he had to say. He was extremely smart and he usually could find interesting topics that didn’t have anything to do with her ability. Neither of them took meals in the cafeteria anymore. They took their food to the garden and sat under one of the trees or near one of the fountains. Being surrounded by people for an hour tended to drain Eartha and Garrick had noticed early on that she was much happier and more talkative when they were in the garden.
“You know being in here all the time I almost forgot that outside it’s snowing,” she commented one evening.
“I think I like this better,” he replied.
“But reality’s always gonna be waiting just outside the door,” she said solemnly, “Can’t hide in here forever. One day we all have to go out into the real world… And then everything’s gonna be a bigger shock when we realize the rest of the world isn’t like this.”
“Are we still talking about the weather?” he asked ironically.
“Well, you know what I mean. So many of these kids are so happy being here with others like themselves, but they can’t stay in here forever,” she explained, “I mean what happens when they go out in the real world and see that it’s the same judgmental place they left when the first came here?”
“But at least they know they’re not alone in the world,” he countered, “As few and far between as we all may be at least we know there are others out there that we can talk to.”
“Boy, are you an optimist,” she commented.
“Well why are you always so negative about everything?” he asked, “The world can’t be as crappy as you make it seem.”
“I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself is all,” she answered looking down at her gloved hands.
“Well, I can’t sympathize with ya ‘til ya tell me why the hell you’re the way you are,” he spat out.
“People tend to try to abuse me when I tell them what I can do,” she whispered, “and it’s not that I think you will, but what if you accidentally let slip what I could do to someone else and then they told someone else. Eventually everyone would know and then everyone would be after me.”
“Why don’t you try me~”
“No,” she stood quickly, “I have homework to finish.” And at that she left. He sat there open mouthed for a moment. He shook his head and began to pack up his things to go back to his dorm room. It was always like that. He would get so close to finding out something more about Eartha and then it was like she shut down and he couldn’t ask her anything else. He had discovered long ago that she wasn’t mad at him when she abandoned him. She would be just fine tomorrow and she would pretend as though nothing had been said the day before. He looked as his watch as he was leaving the garden and sighed. It was late and they should have been back in the dorms a long time ago anyways.

Eartha was heading back towards her dorm room thankful she had managed to resist Garrick’s inquiries once again. She was crossing the darkened main hall when she noticed something strange. She felt an unusual burst of cold air against her face and even though she could not see she knew the front door had been left open. She set her bag down and moved towards the door to see if anyone was coming in. She couldn’t see anything. All the lights had been turned off for the evening. Feeling absolutely no fear towards whatever she could possibly face because of her ability she stepped onto the front porch. The air seemed to get colder as she moved further onto the porch towards the steps. She was, for the first time in her life; happy about all the layers she wore. She could sense that something was off. No one ever just left the door wide open, especially in the middle of the night. The porch light was off and Eartha regretted not flipping it on before she stepped out onto the porch. Now, she couldn’t bare the thought of turning her back to the dark road. She stood on the porch wishing she had better night vision and suddenly an intense fear course through her entire body and she knew she needed to get back inside and lock the door. She started to back her way towards the door and she was reaching for the handle of the door when she noticed something moving towards her. She could not see clearly, but the form looked human and it was moving towards her. Eartha froze in her spot. The figure did not look that big, a child or perhaps a small woman and it was walking right for the open door. Right for her. She had to do something before this person was on top of her. She needed to move. She needed to be back inside with the door closed and locked. So she stepped back again and blocked the doorway to the school. The other person stopped for a moment, but didn’t say anything. “Who are you?” Eartha called out trying her hardest not to let her voice to shake. She wanted to sound bored, but she failed miserably. The other person did not say anything so Eartha spoke again, “Are you a student?” she asked her voice sounding a little steadier. The head of the other person moved slightly and suddenly she a reflection of red eyes glowing back at her. “Vampire,” she whispered. The creature flew at her arms extended as though its intentions were to strangle her. Eartha stood her ground she knew the vampire would not be able to drain her blood, but as the creature came closer she recognized him. He was a student in her own dorm. Probably the one Garrick had mentioned on the day they had met. She suddenly flung out her arms to protect herself and him from what would happen if he managed to bite her. He struck her and as she began to tip backwards down to the hard stone floor of the entryway she threw her hands up towards his face pushing him back so he would not be able to sink his teeth into any part of her. They both hit the floor and she used the momentum of the fall to flip him off of her. It didn’t quite work the way she intended and they ended up rolling around on the floor struggling to gain control of the other person. “Stop, Acheron,” she hissed remembering his name now, “You will regret it!”
The look in his eyes told Eartha that it was no use trying to reason with him. He obviously had fed tonight and the temptation to feed on human blood made it so that he did not care about the consequences. He finally managed to gain control over her. He was on top of her pinning her arms above her head. She thought of the spell she had used on Garrick so long ago and realized he would have sucked a pint out of her before she could even gain control of his mind. She fought him, but his strength surpassed her own by tenfold. He was a vampire and a superhuman strength went with the territory. “Acheron, you do not want my blood!” she shouted.
Garrick had been about to slip into his dorm room when he heard her shout. He knew her voice very well and immediately took off running in the direction of the main hall. “I don’t care what they do to me!” Acheron was screaming, “It doesn’t matter anymore!” He was pulling at the fabric wrapped around her neck to get to her flesh. She was struggling to keep the fabric in place. “It’s not what Dr. Timmus will do to you,” she was yelling at him, “It’s what I could do to you!”
“You!?” he laughed throwing his head back. She seized her opportunity slamming her fist into his chest. He was caught off guard and lost his grip. She managed to fling him off and back away from him by scuttling backwards crab style. “What do you think you could possibly do to me?” he asked lunging at her again. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to dodge him by crawling away, but he caught her by the back of her skirt and pulled her back against him. “I’m a healer!” she shouted suddenly. At that moment Garrick appeared through one doorway and Acheron froze in his spot. He didn’t release her though. “If you drink my blood it will heal you and I’m sure you know what that means,” she hissed.
“I don’t believe you,” he whispered back.
“Well, why don’t you test it then and see what happens,” she answered trying to sound smug, but it came out sounding frantic, “I don’t care if you turn back human. I did my obligation by warning you if you don’t take my warning you deserve what you get” Acheron was still frozen. He couldn’t call her bluff because if she was telling the truth he would be human again and he certainly didn’t want that. Plus, the other student was right there and was bound to tell Dr. Timmus exactly what happened. Acheron didn’t get much more time to decide what he was going to do because at that moment Garrick began to yell at the top of his lungs. “Dr. Timmus!” he screamed, “There’s a vampire attacking a student!” Eartha began screaming similar things and Acheron finally released her. Dr. Timmus and about three other teachers flew into the room from all different directions. Acheron threw his hands up in the air to stop any of the teachers from attacking him with whatever powers they possessed. Eartha stepped to the side and Garrick rushed to her side to see if Acheron had hurt her in any way. “My God!” Dr. Timmus breathed, “The one student that would do more damage to the vampire than what the vampire could do to her.”
“It’s true?” Acheron moaned dropping to his knees.
“Yes,” Dr. Timmus snapped, “Teachers please return to your rooms. You three,” he said pointing to Garrick, Eartha, and Acheron, “will follow me to my office.”
“Dr. Timmus,” Eartha said quickly before he could turn away, “The door still needs to be closed.” She pointed at the open door that had been forgotten by everyone else. Dr. Timmus did no more than blink and the door slammed shut. He turned back down the hallway that he had come from and led the way back toward his office. The three students followed in silence.
Dr. Timmus quickly ushered the three students into the office and shut the door behind him. The students stood nervously to one side of the office, but Dr. Timmus turned around and motioned for them all to sit down. “First of all,” he started quietly, “I want to know why each of you was up and about at ten-thirty at night in the first place.”
“Eartha and I had been in the garden since dinner time,” Garrick started, “Talking and doing some homework. Neither of us really realized how late it had gotten until we got up to leave.”
“But we didn’t leave together,” Eartha added, “I left first because he was getting nosy again.”
Then all six eyes looked over at Acheron waiting for his excuse for being out so late. “I was restless and hungry,” he said defensively, “I was going to the kitchen to have a drink when I was passing by the main hall and I could smell blood… human blood coming from outside. Apart from the scent making me more hungry I also thought someone might be hurt so I went out to see what was going on. Once I stepped onto the porch my mind kind of went blank and I don’t remember anything until I saw Eartha standing in the doorway. I don’t know what made me attack her except I was so hungry for human blood that I didn’t care about the consequences.”
Dr. Timmus looked back at Eartha, “Why were you outside?” he asked.
“When I was going back to the dorms I noticed an unusual draft. I figures someone must have not shut the door properly and I was afraid that if it was left open all night someone who didn’t belong here would get into the school.”
“And where do you come into this picture,” Dr. Timmus turned his gaze on Garrick.
“I was about to go into my dorm when I heard Eartha yelling so I ran back to see what happened,” he answered.
“Your story bothers me the most,” Dr. Timmus said to Acheron, “Something lured you outside. You say you smelled human blood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But did you see any humans at all before you blacked out?”
“No the platform was empty when I stepped onto it and then like I said I don’t remember what happened next,” Acheron answered.
“So, no blood and then you blacked out, but why? What could possibly make you black out? And why?” Dr. Timmus was babbling more to himself that Acheron, “And then you were attacking Eartha, why?”
“I don’t know,” Acheron replied, “I just felt driven for human blood at that moment. I didn’t even know who it was. I didn’t recognize her or anything… I just had to have her blood.”
“I fought him off as long as I could, but a moment more and he would have lost his vampire status,” Eartha chimed in.
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Garrick suddenly blurted out. Dr. Timmus looked at Eartha and then back at Garrick. He sighed and then began his explanation, “Garrick, if I tell you this you must promise never to tell another person in this school. That goes for you too,” he said looking over at Acheron, “If I find out either of you has said anything to anyone else about this you will be kicked out and never welcome back in this school again.” Both boys nodded vigorously. “Eartha,” he continued, “Is a healer. Which means that when she touches someone who is hurt or ill she absorbs the illness and heals injuries. She also has the added gift of feeling others emotions as well. If she touches someone who is depressed she will absorb that emotion and the person will feel better temporarily. In Mr. Acheron’s case, were he to drink her blood it would begin to heal him. He is viewed as dead biologically so her blood would bring him back to life. It would reverse the vampiric process. Vampires age very slowly normally, which makes them appear immortal to all of us who age at a normal rate. Bringing him back to life would accelerate his ageing making him look the way he would have had he never become a vampire. For example if he had been a vampire for ten years her blood would bring him back to life and age him ten years. If he had been a vampire for a hundred years her blood would bring him back to life, but then it would probably kill him since he would be aged a hundred years. Even vampires who have not been killed by this process and only aged have been driven mad.”
“Does this happen often?” Garrick interrupted.
“Not often, but there have been cases of vampires drinking the wrong blood from time to time,” Dr. Timmus explained, “So you see why Eartha’s gift was kept a secret?”
“Not really,” Garrick replied, “I mean who cares about one less vampire and if you just told the rest of the students what she was and then warned them not to touch her~”
“Warning students and making sure that warning is followed are two different things,” Dr. Timmus explained, “And Acheron may be a vampire, but he is a student in my school and therefore protected by me and I would not be very pleased by him being damaged or killed.”
“Plus, people would try to persuade me to help them when they are in a bad mood all the time,” she added ignoring the part about Acheron since right now she couldn’t care less what happened to him after what had just happened, “and I don’t know if you realized or not, but absorbing these emotions and pains exhausts me. It’s not like I absorb pain and then it just goes away. When I absorb something my body has to heal it before it goes away and that takes a lot of my energy. If I could heal the world I would, but I’m not going to risk my own well being for everyone else’s.”
There was a silence in the office while the two boys processed what they had just learned about their fellow schoolmate. Dr. Timmus was still trying to understand what had lured Acheron out of the school and why. Eartha felt extremely exposed at the moment. She didn’t like so many people knowing what she could do. She had been reluctant around the teachers for a while after they found out what she was, but she had gotten used to them and she knew she could trust Dr. Timmus. Now, two more people knew what she could do and although they seemed trustworthy she knew that sooner or latter one of them would try to touch her to heal themselves or they would accidentally let it slip to someone else what she could do.
“Well,” Dr. Timmus finally broke the silence, “I believe that I have all the answers I’m going to get tonight. Do any of you have any questions?”
All three of the kids shook their heads. They were too tired to think of any other questions. “Then you should all get back to the dorms and get some sleep. You still have class in the morning.” They stood and left the office. No one spoke on the way back to the dorms and as they split up to go to their different dorms Garrick looked over his shoulder at Acheron and glared at him. Acheron saw this look and waited for Eartha to enter the dorm first before grinning at Garrick, “Don’t worry boyfriend I’ll take care of her.” And before Garrick could retort Acheron had slipped in after Eartha. Eartha was standing a few steps inside the common room glaring at Acheron. He looked a little sheepish for taunting Garrick, but he turned to go down the boy’s hall. “I swear if you tell anyone what I am you will regret it,” she warned him.
“Oh, really?” he sneered, “and what do you think you could possibly do to me?”
“I’ll make sure a few drops of my blood slip into your lunch,” she retorted, “On the other hand that may not be a bad idea anyway… after all, Garrick had a point what’s one less vampire?” She smiled and then added, “Don’t piss me off.” She turned and went down the girl’s hall. It’s not that she liked threatening Acheron, but she trusted him a lot less than she trusted Garrick not to tell anyone else. She knew that Acheron wasn’t likely to jeopardize losing his vampire status. He seemed like a very proud creature and enjoyed having the power of fear on his side.
She sat in bed unable to sleep and thinking about the events of the night. She knew there was something wrong about Acheron’s story. His black out bothered her as much as it had Dr. Timmus. She thought about what she knew of Acheron and realized it was very little. The students that had been placed in Osen Hall were all pretty secretive. Acheron didn’t seem to have many friends since most people were afraid of befriending a vampire. What Dr. Timmus had said about vampires had surprised her. She had assumed vampires were immortal just like most people did. She didn’t know that they aged at all and it made Eartha wonder how old Acheron was. He looked as though he was about thirteen or fourteen, but for all she knew he could be Dr. Timmus’ age. She wondered how he had become a vampire in the first place. He must have been made one at a very young age. She sighed and tried to force thoughts of Acheron from her mind. She needed sleep otherwise she would be more vulnerable to others emotions tomorrow.