Distant Lands

It’s been two months since I arrived here. At first, I enjoyed exploring the grounds, but I didn’t know what to do with myself a week later. Everybody had a job to do, so they have been busy every day, doing their own thing.

I’ve been extremely bored. I tried to help in the kitchen, but the chef didn’t allow it. The servers didn’t want my help either. They say that I’m a guest and insist that I enjoy the outdoors.

So, I spend my time helping release the animals from their pens early in the mornings. I help feed them. I walk around trying to pet and befriend every animal. They always end up running away from me, so I’ve made it a sport and try to catch them. It was fun at first, but then some started to fight back and chase me.

I retired from my sport of trying to catch the farm animal. I angered a rooster and a ram. The ram was the worst; it head-butted me with his horns; I saw the anger in its eyes; I think it was trying to kill me, it gave me a big gash on my arm.

Ivan had also gotten angry and said to stop tormenting the animals. Since then, I have avoided getting so close to them. I walk over to the kitchen and see Alice, the chef’s assistant.

“Hi Alice, Do you guys need any help?” I ask.

She smiles at me, “Hello Elizabeth, no, no, we are about done, but thank you,” she says. I nod and walk off to find Isa or Nina. I walk towards Isa’s room when I see Ivan come out from his office with some papers in his hand.

“Hi Ivan,” I say. He looks up, “Oh, hi Elizabeth,” he says, looking back at the papers in his hands.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Oh, I’m going through some documents,” he says.

“Why do you have them on paper? Shouldn’t you have them like on a computer? Since you’re so advanced in tech?” I ask. He looks up at me. “Oh, we do have them in digital form, but this way, we can make sure we have hard copies, in case our system gets corrupted,” he says.

“Oh, that makes sense. Have you seen Isa or Nina?” I ask.

“Yes, they went to the city on an errand. I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but I’m pretty busy. Students will be returning soon, and I need to prepare some things,” he says, walking into his office.

I cross my arms. What should I do now? Maybe I should try and find Adira? I wonder what she is doing? I walk towards her room. I knock on her door, and nobody answers.

I walk outside towards the stables and find Adira brushing a horse’s hair. I go up to her.

“Hi Adira,” I say, smiling. She stays quiet and keeps brushing the horse. Maybe she didn’t hear me?

“She’s beautiful. Is this your horse?” I ask, genuinely interested. She doesn’t say anything. I just stare at her and stay silent for a minute. Hmm, I feel so invisible right now; maybe I am invisible? I reach up and touch the horse. Adira gives me an angry glance, and I quickly remove my hand.

“Okay, it was nice talking to you. See you later,” I say. And turn around to leave.

“It’s a male,” I hear Adira say quietly. I go back quickly. “What was that?” I ask, surprised.

“I said it’s a male, now get lost,” she says, annoyed. I nod, smile, and walk away. Geez, I was just trying to have a conversation with her. But at least she spoke to me. I call that progress. I walk toward the orchard and onto the dirt road.

I walk up to a fruit tree. It’s an apple tree.

I jump up and try to grab one, but miss. I jumped up higher and managed to grab one. I rub it against my shirt to clean it and take a bite out of it, and it’s sweet and crisp. I walk up the road, eating my apple, enjoying the warm sun shining on my face.

I look up at a tree and see a large black bird pecking on some apples. “Hey!” I yell, waving my arms in the air, trying to scare it off, but it doesn’t move. I throw my apple at it, trying to shoo it away. It flies away cawing. I stare at it, flying away until I can’t see it anymore.

I continue walking; I pick up the pace, start jogging, and then run. I run until my lungs feel like they are on fire and stop when I arrive at the shed. I look up at the sky, breathing hard, trying to catch my breath. I walk up to the shed and touch the wall. I placed my ear on the wall trying to see if I could hear anything. No voices, no buzzing; I hear nothing. I sigh.

I notice a path in the forest. I walk towards it and follow it; It leads me through the dense trees. I continue walking, and I find myself in a small clearing. There’s a large log on the ground. I stand still. I listen to the wildlife, the birds singing, insects chirping.

Standing under the canopy of trees makes me feel so tiny and lonely. I sit down on the log and look up at the trees. They are so tall and have so many branches. I bet I could climb it, but of course, I won’t because I’m pretty clumsy and would probably hurt myself if I tried.

“Hello, little human,” I hear Damon’s voice say. I quickly look at him, and I stand up fast. I didn’t even hear his footsteps.

“What are you doing out here all on your own?” he asks, out of breath.

He scares me. But right now, he looks different, like something is wrong with him. He has dark circles under his eyes and is sweating profusely. He looks like he has a fever.

“Are you okay? Damn, you look like shit,” I say, and he laughs. “Oh, I feel like shit. Little human,” he says, sitting on the log.

“Are you sick?” I ask. He runs his fingers through his hair and looks up at me.

“I’m fine. I just need blood,” he says.

“Animal blood?” I ask nervously.

“You shouldn’t be out here on your own. Sometimes Lamia come out here to feed. They might get curious at the lonely, delicate creature staring at them with fear in her eyes, and if they bite you, they will suck you dry. It’s dangerous,” he says. I didn’t realize I was staring at Damon with fear. I relax and pretend that I’m not afraid. “I was bored. I was just taking a walk,” I say.

“Try to avoid the woods. Lamia have been extra thirsty these past few days,” he says.

“On Earth, we call your kind vampires. They are immortal but are strangely afraid of garlic and crosses, and the sunlight burns them to death,” I say.

“That’s ridiculous,” he says. He looks out into the forest behind me. All of a sudden, I see Damon’s eyes go wide.

“Shh,” he whispers to me, placing a finger in front of his mouth. I stay completely still, and my heart begins to beat faster. Is it another vampire? He gets up slowly and darts past me. He snatched something from the ground. He picks it up, and it’s a rabbit.

I see him sink his fangs into the rabbit. The poor thing was kicking, trying to get away. He drinks from it until it stops moving. I stare at him with a disgusted look on my face.

He lets go of it, and it drops to the ground. He then starts walking towards me. His intense ocean blue eyes fixed on me, a drop of blood running down the corner of his mouth; he catches the drop with his tongue.

I get scared and fear that I am next. I slowly back up, getting ready to run, but the damn log trips me backward, and I start to fall back in between two trees. I try to hold on but fail and scrape my hand against the rough tree. I fall hard on the ground and look at my hand, and it’s bleeding; now I know I’m in trouble. I quickly get up on my feet.

Damon is frozen, wide-eyed, just looking at me. He runs fast towards me. I try to run, but I feel someone tackle me from behind. We both fall hard to the ground. It’s not Damon; It’s someone else. The stranger gets on top of me, holds me down, and shows me his fangs, ready to make his kill. I scream.

Damon tackles the man off of me.

“Run!” Damon yells.

I scramble to my feet and start running without looking back.