Supernatural Suburbia

Music blared from my speaker as I packed up my clothes. I barely heard the knock on my window.

I opened it and a tall boy struggled to climb through.

He cut right to the chase, putting his lips on mine. I pulled away and smiled, “Hi, Liam.”

He gave a cheeky grin before kissing my neck. He began to suck on it.

“Hey, wait a minute. If my parents see a hickey I’m dead.”

He raised his eyebrows before slowly lifting my shirt. He made eye contact with me and I nodded. He continued undressing me.

I was in my underwear now. He put his mouth to my stomach and resumed. 

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain and yelped.

Liam pulled away.

“Did you just… bite me?”

“I’m sorry.” He looked worried.

I began to laugh ceaselessly. I only stopped when Liam said, “Oh crap you’re bleeding.

I sat up. I noticed Liam’s face begin to fall.

“I- Oh god. I’m so sorry.” He was holding back tears now.

“What-”

“I need to go,” he stood and walked towards the window.

“Baby, it’s not a big deal.”

“You don’t understand… I’m sorry.” He climbed out the window.

After that, I took a better look at the wound. It wasn’t as bad as Liam had made it seem. He had barely nicked me.

I cleaned and bandaged it before continuing to pack up my room.

It’s our last night together and you just leave? I sighed.

~~~~~

In the morning, I shoved the remainder of my things into my suitcase and headed downstairs. 

I heard my mom yell from the front yard, “Jordan, there are waffles in the freezer.”

The toaster and the syrup were packed, so I ate them  microwaved and plain. I honestly wasn’t really a big waffle person anyway.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face. My brother, Sam walked in and did the same.

“Ugh, no towels.” I pulled the bottom of my shirt up to dry my face.

“What happened there?” Sam pointed to the bandage.

“Oh, that reminds me: I should change that.” I peeled the bandaid off to reveal the skin underneath.

“.... What…” Sam spoke first. “Why did you…?

It’s healed? But it was there, wasn’t it? I looked at the blood on the bandaid. “Not even a scab, but it definitely was there.” I showed the bandaid to Sam.

“Ew.”

We both went on with our day.

It took us another two hours to get ready and pack. Liam didn’t show his face once.

I sent him a “what the fuck?” over text as I got into my mom’s car.

It wasn’t all that serious, but really? Not even a goodbye? Was I in love? God, no. Was I going to miss him? Of course.

“Boy problems?” My mom asked after ten minutes of silence.

“I guess. He just freaked out last night and-”

“Last night?” she cut me off.

I froze.

She laughed, “Calm down, I don’t care. I was young once too.”

I hesitated, “Well, he just ran out and has been radio silent since.”

“Part of me wants to tell you that he’s not worth it, but another part of me thinks he may have his reasons.” 

“I’m just frustrated. I’ll let him explain, if he ever texts back, but…”

“You don’t owe him any more than that.”

~~~~~

A few hours later, we had arrived in suburbia. It was a stark contrast to the little farm town we’d lived in before, but I didn’t hate it.

Dad pulled up in the moving truck soon after.

1917. Our house looked the same as all the others on the block.

We moved all the boxes into the house. I took all my stuff to my room before taking a break on the front porch.

An older woman walked up with her dog. “Welcome to the neighborhood!”

She’s a little too peppy.

“I’m Angela and this is Duke. We live in 1901,” she remained cheery, unaware of my judgement.

“Jordan. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Well he’s raring to go, so I’ve got to finish our walk, but tell me if you need anything.” She left.

~~~~

The first few days were about the same. We unpacked and got settled in and introduced to neighbors.

One neighbor in particular stuck out to me, well more to Sam.

Suzie lived across the street from us. She had green hair and big brown eyes. My brother was (understandably) done for as soon as she introduced herself.

Suzie and her family left after about an hour.

“So…?” I bumped Sam with my shoulder.

He sighed, “I knew I was in too deep when she mentioned the scent of the center of the galaxy.”

“Ooooh… wait what does the center of the galaxy smell like?”

“Raspberries and apparently rum.”

“How are those two related?”

He shrugged and I giggled.

That night, Liam called.

After picking up, I didn’t initially say anything. I couldn’t.

Liam sighed, “I don’t know what to do. This isn’t going to make much sense yet, but shit’s about to get weird. Just… be careful of the full moon.”

“Are you serious? That’s what you’re leading with?”

“You have the right to be angry with me and I’m sure soon enough, you’ll be even angrier, but know you can talk to me about this.”

I heard my mom’s voice in my head and said, “Okay. Goodbye.”

“Jordan-” 

I hung up.

~~~

We had finished most of the unpacking, so my parents cut Sma and me loose. I laid in my bed scrolling through posts of friends in another city, when I was interrupted by “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction.

It was playing at what I could only guess was max volume from another room.

I stood up and stormed to Sam’s room.

I quickly opened the door, startling Sam.

“What?!” He was obviously flustered.

“One Direction, really?”

“How did you…?”

I was about to respond when I noticed Sam had an earphone in. Why does he have…? Did I just…?

~~~~

I ate my cereal groggily. 

Suddenly I heard a soft Waluigi “wah”. I nearly choked on my cereal.

I yelled, “Sam stop being weird and come eat.”

After a moment, Sam came down the stairs. My mom finally asked, “What are you two up to?”

“Oh just testing out Jordan’s superpowers,” Sam replied nonchalantly.

“What?”

“What?”Sam repeated.

My mother had gotten used to Sam’s “sarcastic” comments and soon recovered. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Seventy-six today. Sunset at eight. Ooh and it’s a full moon.”

I remembered Liam’s cryptic warning.

Wait, a bite, superpowers and a full moon… Really, Liam? I tried to laugh off the feeling of impending doom.

The day continued pretty normally, which was a bit of a relief.

I helped Mom make chili for dinner, but slowly I started to feel worse and worse. “Mom I have a headache, I’m gonna lay down for a little bit.”

“Okay, hon. I hope it’s nothing major.” she put a hand on my shoulder for a moment.

I laid in bed and at some point fell asleep.

I was awoken by my brother’s obnoxiously loud knock on my door. I groaned as he entered. My head was pounding.

“Food,” he set the bowl on my desk, “Oh and Mom and Dad went for drinks with some neighbors.”

I got out of bed, suddenly too hot. As I stood up, I careened to the left, nearly falling.

“Jordan?”

My leg cracked loudly and painfully and I collapsed.

Sam started towards me. I stopped him, “St- stay back!” I whimpered as my neck cracked.

It felt like my bones were breaking. In reality, they were shifting and reshaping.

Sam was in shock as my hair grew before our eyes. “Run,” I warned him. He stayed frozen.

“RUN.” Finally awoken from his stupor, he ran, slamming the door behind him.

Everything went dark.

I woke up in an unfamiliar backyard a little before sunrise. My head hurt almost as much as it did earlier.

My body felt wet.

Looking down, the first thing I noticed was a lack of clothing. The second was blood, a lot of it.

I don’t think it’s mine, but whose is it then? I frantically began to survey my surroundings, looking for the source.

I sighed when I found it. He was horribly mutilated.

I looked away from the viscera and narrowly avoided vomiting.

“Sorry Duke.”