Vampire's Valentine

by Rosette Bolter

  Bastian stood up from the table. He stepped out towards the pond and looked up to the sky. Prudence followed his gaze, but did not get up.

  “The sun is setting,” Bastian said. “The day is dying. It’s all over, very shortly. All that’s left, are these lingering moments in time.”

  “Are you talking to me?” Pru asked.

  He turned back to her. “I wonder, will you remember this?”

  “Remember what?”

  “This … very small, yet perplexing, detour. Because that’s what it is. I see it very clearly. You’re going to stand up and soon enough you will disappear out there from where you came. And your life will be the same as it always was. Only … these moments here … are different from the rest.”

  Pru licked her lips. “Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked. “Or a wife?”

  Bastian shook his head. “I do not.”

  “So, is that why you’re feeling a bit down then? Because it’s Valentine’s Day?”

  “No one understands me,” Bastian said solemnly. “And I hate almost everyone. I’m … more of a plant person.”

  “Are you avoiding my question, Bastian?”

  He inhaled. “I think so.”

  Pru stood up from the table. “You shouldn’t feel so sad. You found the centre even before I did…”

  “Do you have a valentine today?”

  Pru blushed. “I – I – not really –”

  “So will you be mine?”

  A pause. In the air between them.

  “I really have to go,” Pru said. She walked back slowly towards the maze’s hedge. “It was nice meeting you.”

  “Just don’t forget me,” Bastian smiled.

  “Okay,” Pru replied. “I won’t.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  As the pages of a magazine are turned swiftly by the wind, thus did the days of Prudence Blythe’s life move quickly by. Against the rain belting towards the passenger side window, some moments in time would stand out for her. Some things wouldn’t be forgotten.

  One such moment would be the evening of February 14, Valentine’s Day, four years after she had finished high school. She was in her last year of photography school, doing okay, but not wholly confident in her prospects of finding work once finished. The main thing was though that she was indeed happy. This was mostly due to having a wide circle of close friends, many of them photography majors as she was. And then there was Michael, the love of her life. They’d met at a party in the year following high school, and then he just kept showing up at other functions and events. He ran into her at the movies one day, both confessing they were going to the same film alone, and decided to sit together. It would be their first date.

  Michael was in fact who Prudence had elected to spend this particular Valentine’s Day with. It wasn’t their first together – in fact it was their third – but it was the first one they were actually celebrating. They went to a movie first – just a romance / valentine themed one – and then went out to dinner at a restaurant afterwards. Apparently he had other stuff planned for them, but Pru didn’t know what exactly. Some interesting conversation arose during dinner.

  “I was doing some thinking over the past week,” Michael exclaimed. “Like, wow Valentine’s Day is coming up. I’ve got to get Pru something. And then I started thinking – what did we do last year, or the year before…? Then I remember you had a thing on or … you made fake plans or something. And nothing happened. I never asked you why. So I sort of wondered … what happened there? If you remember?”

  Pru smiled politely and took a sip of her wine. “That’s too far back for me to remember.”

  “Is it?” Michael asked carefully. “I feel like I’m missing something. Do you not like Valentine’s Day or…?”

  “I’ve always said it’s no big deal. You wanted to come out.”

  “But I’m doing it for you. As well as myself – I mean, I’m doing it for us. We’re both supposed to be enjoying ourselves.”

  “I am enjoying myself.”

  Michael nodded. “I know. I’m not … I’m not being clear enough.”

  “For me the most romantic stuff in my life is just being with you day to day. We don’t need to have an official day for it. It’s not like it’s someone’s birthday.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Michael said. There was a pause. “Can I ask you something though?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “What were your Valentine’s Days like before we were together?”

  Pru hesitated. “With … with um…”

  “Who were you with before me? Was it … Clyde?”

  “Clive.”

  “Yeah. Did you guys celebrate it?”

  “I don’t think I was seeing him in February then. He was – he came after that.”

  “Alright. And before Clive.”

  “Shit,” Pru shook her head. “You mean … high school?”

  “Okay, sure. High school. Jesus I know I spoilt my high school girlfriend on Valentine’s Day.”

  “Actually, now that I recall – I was with this total asshole, Scott. Yeah, he dumped me on Valentine’s Day. Then tried to get back with me later that night. What a mess.”

  “Did you get back with him?”

  Pru swallowed. Then nodded. “Briefly.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “He works at a car place. Seems pretty normal now.”

  “What? You ran into him…?”

  “No, I just … Christine may have mentioned it.”

  “Wow, Christine. Been ages since we saw her. How’s she doing?”

  “I told you, she’s gone to France.”

  “She’s still there?”

  “She met a guy.”

  Michael nodded. Then his attention went back to the plate in front of him.

  Prudence’s gaze was drifting away. Michael was starting to blur. She was thinking … thinking about that Valentine’s Day with Scott and Christine and –

  “What is it?” Michael asked. “What’s that look for?”

  “It’s nothing,” Pru shook her head.

  “No, it was something,” Michael declared. “Tell me.”

  “There was this really weird thing that happened that day. I mean, not really weird per-say.”

  “Which day?”

  “The one where Scott dumped me.”

  “Keep going.”

  “We were at this garden resort place. There were ponds and lakes and areas where you’d have a picnic and so on.”

  “You were there with Scott?”

  “Yes, well. We were supposed to meet there. But that’s not the point. I remember they had this maze at the front of it … like with grass hedges and so on…”

  “How big was it?”

  “Not very. You could walk through it in five minutes. Maybe less. If you knew where to go.”

  “Alright. I’m picturing it. Keep going.”

  “Well, you don’t have to picture it.”

  “Take me back there. To this notorious Valentine’s Day. I want to see what happened that’s got you tangled up.”

  Pru leaned back in her chair. “I feel like I’m being cross-examined.”

  “Oh dear,” Michael said reaching out, touching her hand. “That wasn’t my intention.”

  “Okay. I’ll tell you what it was. Really stupid actually. But then we’re getting desert and going home. Change of subject etc. Deal?”

  Michael stared at her. “No deal.”

  “Do you want me to tell you or not?”

  “Well, no, actually.”

  “No?”

  “No,” Michael said. “I don’t want you to tell me. I want you to show me.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Michael seemed to know exactly what he was doing, but Prudence couldn’t help be afraid that he didn’t. After desert, little more than forty minutes separated the restaurant from the gardens Pru had spent Valentine’s Day all those years ago. She didn’t really recognize much of it from where they prese
ntly were. The car park was almost empty and the teahouse in the distance was completely dark. Pru’s memories were of day departing…

  Sitting here in the cold of the car, the night was forever advancing…

  “Is this it?” she asked.

  Michael blinked. “We’re just going to sit here for a moment. Take it all in.”

  “You can see this is making me uncomfortable, right?”

  He put his arm around her. “While there’s still a part of you inside that day, we can never be truly together.”

  “You’re being silly.”

  “No, I’m not. Tell me more about it. Before we go in.”

  “About what?”

  “The guy. The stranger who asked you to be his valentine.”

  “I can’t even remember what he looks like.”

  “Sure you can. What was he wearing?”

  “Don’t remember.”

  “Was he tall? Short?”

  “Tall.”

  “Dark hair or fair?”

  “His hair was dark.”

  “He was white, wasn’t he?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “You see? We’re getting a better picture of him already.”

  Pru looked over at him. “You’re lucky I’m in love with you. If someone else took me out here and –”

  “You have to trust me on this. People have things happen to them, and they don’t understand what they mean. So they can never really understand themselves. So they can never be complete.”

  “I don’t need to think about some random guy on a random day –”

  “It’s not random though. Think about it. You said he asked you to remember the moment you shared, didn’t he?”

  “I just told you that.”

  “Precisely. And so you have. Because he asked you to. And you need to realize that what you experienced there wasn’t about him or this place – it was about everything. It was about you. When you think about him, you remember everything of your life then. Those were the last days of your youth. I know, because they were mine too.”

  “What do you know about it?” Pru gushed. “You meet the woman of your dreams in a secret garden too?”

  “So he’s the man of our dreams now, is he?” Michael grinned.

  “No!” Pru exclaimed. “I didn’t mean –”

  “You see, we’re unlocking your true thoughts now.”

  “Dude, seriously. He was like old enough to be a teacher. He was old enough –”

  “You said he was handsome. In his twenties.”

  “Late twenties. And – he was weird too. What was he doing there? I remember him saying stuff about how he’d been there all day or something. I mean, he was probably a total psycho.”

  “You have no idea who he was,” Michael said. “You never will. You have to accept that some things we’ll never know.”

  “Then why are we here?”

  “Because we’re here to learn about you, not him. Come on, are you feeling up to it now?”

  “Is that a dare?”

  “An invitation,” Michael answered. “Alright. It’s a dare. Come on. Let’s see if we can find that secret spot. Let’s see if we can … create a new memory for it…”

  “But…”

  Michael pushed open her door, and undid her seatbelt.

  “I dared you, remember?”

  Prudence got out of the car.

  But, she had said as Michael took her hand.

  But…

  Wouldn’t it make the old memory stronger?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Prudence walked slowly towards the duck pond where she had ripped up Scott’s Valentine’s Day card. Michael was already down there, skimming his feet through the water, and taking it all in.

  “So you were here?” he asked as she approached. “This was where you ran away to from the group?”

  Pru nodded. “This is exactly it.”

  “How does it feel being here now?”

  “I don’t know,” Pru shrugged. “I’m … still trying to understand why you would do this.”

  “When you were here before, you didn’t have the mindset that you have now. You can see things in perspective.”

  “How does being here help that?”

  “Can’t you see how much smaller it all is?”

  He was right. The place did seem smaller.

  She turned her head a little and there … not so far away at all…

  Was the maze.

  “Alright, let’s take a look at it then,” Michael said walking past her.

  “Are we … are we even allowed to?”

  “Do you see any cops out here?”

  “Well, no.”

  They hurried over and moved to the maze’s entrance. No posters up this time.

  An iron gate blocked their path.

  “Was this here before?” Michael asked, pulling on the gate.

  “I don’t think so. I … I have no idea.”

  Michael stepped back, surveying the maze’s exterior.

  “Can we go home now?” Pru asked.

  “I reckon I can climb over it,” Michael said.

  “Please don’t.”

  “Come on, you first. I’ll give you a boost.”

  “No!”

  “Pru, please.”

  “Jesus Christ. Haven’t we gone far enough?”

  He put his hands to her shoulders. “I can feel how sensitive this is to you now. That’s why it’s so important.”

  “I’m afraid. I … don’t want to see it like this.”

  “Like what? Like, with me?”

  “No! Just – you’re digging up the past. That moment – that moment I had with the guy in the garden – that belonged in that day. This … this is wrong.”

  “Do you love me?” he challenged.

  “You know I do.”

  “Then be my valentine.”

  He walked to the edge of the gate and crouched down, offering his hands to boost her.

  “You’re so crazy,” Prudence murmured.

  “You’ll thank me afterwards.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Prudence landed on the other side of the gate without a hitch.

  “Stand back,” Michael said.

  She complied.

  Michael backtracked a little, then ran at the gate as hard as he could. He managed to grab on to the top of the gate, but his feet struggled through the air, with nothing to latch onto.

  He tried pushing himself up over with his hands alone, but he wasn’t strong enough.

  “Fuck,” Michael gasped and collapsed to the ground.

  “Oh this is just great,” Pru said sourly.

  He got back up. “Yeah. Maybe I didn’t think this through.”

  “How am I supposed to get out now?”

  “Don’t – don’t worry…”

  “Okay, I’m not worrying.”

  Michael sighed. “Yep. I’m gonna have to find a ladder somewhere.”

  “Did you see one?”

  “No. But Brett has one back at the house.”

  “You’re going home?”

  “Jesus, I’m really sorry Pru. I don’t know what came over me. I think I did let this go too far.”

  She grabbed hold of the gate angrily, trying to force it.

  “Calm down,” he said. “Just … there’s no one out here. You’ll be fine.”

  “Well hurry up then!” she shouted.

  “Alright,” Michael bowed his head. “And I’m … I’m really sorry.”

  He took off.

  Pru shook her head with disbelief and crouched down on the ground by the side of the hedge. This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Saying sorry wasn’t going to make up for it.

  She heard the sound of a car starting. Probably Michael’s car. Probably driving away.

  And she was sad, but not so much because he’d left her here. Being in this place was having an effect on her. He had known that all along.

  Pru stood up and looked down the darkened path ahe
ad. She remembered how she and Christine had walked through here initially, before bumping into Elliot and … some guy he was seeing. They were … trying to move something…

  Pru retraced their steps through the beginning of the maze. She came to the clearing and saw the birdbath was still there, sitting silent and still in the moonlight. She wondered if the maze’s centre was as untouched as it had been before…

  She started walking towards it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Prudence had already been in this maze more than once. At night she had dreamt of it. It was always in the day she saw it, usually around the evening as it had been when she was actually here. She knew exactly what the dead end looked like. She knew the leaves and how they felt as they swallowed her in. The place beyond it – the centre – had the utmost tranquility. She sat by the little pond while the man read his magazine behind her, asking her questions. She had never thought too much about those dreams once she was awake. But here tonight, she was reliving them now.

  She had found it in no time. She turned away from the dead end and could see where Scott had been when he had chased her into the corner here. A tear rolled down her cheek. She realized she wasn’t afraid anymore – she was excited. She needed to see that place again. She need to sit there and breathe it in. Michael had been right about everything, but the meaning was so much deeper than what he knew.

  Pru touched the leaves with her fingers. No sound. Not a whisper. She was alone, forever alone here, as she should be. Perhaps she was dreaming. Perhaps this wasn’t really happening at all.

  Except it was. The cruel moon behind her revealed enough that she could find her way, but still much was left in the shadows. Invisible to the eye. Pru let the leaves dissolve her hands, her arms, her face… and before she knew it she had reached the other side.

  Slowly, she walked to the pond. She looked at the chairs briefly, where he had been.

  Four years. Four years, to the day.

  She wondered now – more than she ever had before. Who was Bastian? How had he come to be here? Why … why had they met the way they had? Who did he represent in her life?

  They were the questions of a child. She was grown up now, and supposed to have the clear insight and perspective to look back on this. And the rational mind said, he was just some random weirdo. If she were to meet him now he wouldn’t look nearly as nice as he once did. There would be no chemistry between them. Because it was now Michael who had taken her heart, and that was all that was important –