Textmate By Nike ****************************************************************************** I sit here in a dark corner of this abandoned building. The sun’s rays are peering through the wooden boards that cover the windows and doors of this construct, taunting me to step into the light and end this one long nightmare I’d just gone through. But I don’t. I dare not. I am alone. Before, a couple of hours ago, I came in here with two others. Now it’s only me. Just me. I glance around, wincing as the growing light now hurts my eyes and glance at the blood stained P 1000 bill that lay on the floor at my right beside a pile of white ash. My lips form a bitter smile. That small piece of paper was the money SHE gave me in exchange for my soul and that mound of dirt had been the witch who took it. There was another pile of ash, I know, at the rooftop of this building, but I don’t have to look at it. I saw it happen. I heard his screams when I watched him take off his clothes in some despair-induced insanity and throw himself to the mercy of the sun’s rays as it rose into the horizon. And I saw it. I saw how his flesh slowly turned into an oozing mass of red that burst into flames under the sun’s merciless rays. They say that vampires immediately turn into dust in the sunlight. They are wrong. God was never that merciful. I wince, feeling that alien hunger cry out to me again, ad try to resist it for as long as I can. I don’t want to be like her. Like them. I don’t want be a monster. I know that I should have taken the easy way out like that guy earlier. But I was afraid. Too afraid that there could be a hell for even people like me. Yes, I am a vampire, but I hadn't been always one. In fact, I had just only been one a couple of hours ago. I had my life, my human mortal life, ahead of me then. Now, I curse my whole night time existence to that night I met…her. She was a dancer in a club. That’s what she told me when I got her cell number in one of those text chat shows they air late night on TV. I told her I didn’t care. I didn’t give much thought then about a person’s background. As long as they are friendly and nice, they were ok to me. She became my textmate for months. I found out that, like me she was also a night person. Someone who wouldn’t mind staying up the whole night and thinks that getting up later than 3 pm the next day was hell. I should have known that was a warning. That should have set alarm bells ringing in my mind. But I was young that time. Young and careless. One night, she asked me to eyeball with her. We set a date. 10 pm, Malate Drive. Because it was so late, I didn’t bother with any parental permission. Mom and dad wouldn’t let me go anyway. They’re the ones who disproved of my late night habits in the first place. So I sneaked out. I waited until my parents were asleep then snuck out of the house. I met her at our assigned place. She wasn’t alone. She brought in a guy whom she said was also her textmate. He seemed friendly enough and when our mutual textmate excused herself for a moment we talked about a lot of things. He said he was a private investigator. He had been investigating a case which involved twins who were swapped at birth. He said one of the twins died and the other one became the sole heir of a large fortune but that twin was reported missing after meeting in person with a textmate. Jokingly, I told him that I’d better be careful then. But his face remained serious and said it was no joke. Minutes later, she came back and took me alone in a corner. She seemed scared about something. She then asked if I wanted to live forever. I laughed and asked if she was joking. She didn’t laugh and asked if she were to give a thousand bucks, would I do something for her in exchange. I said, sure. After all, I don’t hail from a rich family. That P 1000 would do nicely to augument my allowance. The girl then smiled and placed a hand on my cheek. I shivered at her touch. It was cold. Icy cold. She said that was nice and reached over, I thought, to kiss me on the cheek. The last thing I remember was something sharp biting into my neck. I don’t remember much what happened. Somehow I get muddled impressions of some girls dancing to that “otso-otso” tune I hear on TV and a guy’s scream along with a gunshot. But that was it. I wake up inside an unfamiliar room. There was a P 1000 bill by my side, along with a pile of white ash. The guy was nearby, shaking with fright. He seemed to have been driven insane by something horrible that had happened. He told me that the girl was a vampire who had been seducing young adults at night. That bloodstained P1000 bill beside me was my payment for selling my soul and that ash was the vampire after he had killed her but not before he had been bitten and turned into a vampire too. At first I laughed at him and vampires are only in the movies and TV. There’s no such thing as vampires, right? It was then I felt something stinging on the side of my neck. I reached over to touch it. There were two small puncture wounds n my neck and they were dripping wet. I took back my hand and my heart froze. It was blood. My blood. I look at the man in horror. He was right. I was startled to hear the alarm clock of my cell go off. I have always set it to ring in the morning so I wont wake up late again. The sound must have frightened him and he quickly ran upstairs, screaming. I tried to follow him through several flights of stairs. It was easy. He would leave a piece of his clothing on the steps every now and then. When I reached the door leading to the roof of the building, he was naked. I shouted and pleaded with him to come back down. But he laughed hysterically and flinging the door wide open, he ran outside to the light. And then under the cover of darkness, I heard him scream. I fell down on my knee and covered my ears to shut out that horrid sound. It lasted a long time. And maybe it would have been better if I had shut my eyes as well. But I didn’t. And for a long time that image of him dying would remain in my mind. So now I'm here inside this room, waiting for the night to come. Again, my cellphone rings. Its almost out of battery. I know that my parents are the ones who had been trying to call me for the past few hours already. But I don’t answer it. I dare not. Even though I know they are worried and are probably looking everywhere for me I don’t want them to find me. Not now. Not ever You see, this hunger inside of me is growing. I don’t know how long I can keep it under control. I might kill the first person I see soon. I don’t want to be a monster. I don’t.