Don't Forget Me

by Sia Wales

  He looked at her, saw the seatbelt pressing her to the driver’s seat. He hesitantly reached out to touch her neck and was relieved to find a slight but steady pulse.

  “You don’t know how sorry I am, Stella… I failed to protect you.” He stroked her face and delicately probed her injuries, looking despairingly at the blood stains that patterned her clothes, the dashboard and the lateral airbag. He picked off some fragments of glass and tried to unlatch the seat belt, only to be defeated each time.

  “No, no, not this too!” He took his head out of the window, his hand bashing the flank of the pickup.

  “The seat belt’s blocked, I need something sharp to cut her free,” he explained, his state of agitation growing.

  “Tried the glove compartment?”

  “Not yet.” He leaned into the car again and opened the compartment but found nothing of help. Then he fumbled in the side pocket of the car door before climbing into the back seat. But he saw nothing.

  He approached Stella and penetrated her eyes. They were still closed against the moonlit gloom. He immersed himself in her dreams, exploring her deep, most intimate memories. He saw himself in front of Boston Public Library. It was pouring with rain. He saw her kissing Donn with intense passion under an umbrella and was struck speechless. In a flash, Stella realized that he had joined her in her dream and felt the pull of a real life in which she became almost one with him. Incredulous, she slowly opened her eyes, frowned and then saw his blurred figure shimmer before her eyes, making them glisten with emotion. But, unable to fight the weight of her eyelids, she couldn’t look at him for long. Sighing, she floated away into the impenetrable wall of dark oblivion that separated them once more. Jason leaned out of the pickup window slowly, a stunned expression on his face.

  “Aaron, I looked everywhere, no sign of a knife,” he said in resignation.

  “Well, one of the advantages of being a vampire, we always have something sharp with us…”

  “Ok… Help me right the pickup.” They heaved and rocked until the truck turned over and bounced back down to right itself. They immediately yanked open the door on the driver’s side and ripped the side air bag out.

  “Aaron, there’s too much blood here! If I start biting the seat belt I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop,” he said, gasping, looking at Stella lying helpless and bleeding before him.

  “Jason, I know you can do it.”

  “I’d be putting her in danger…”

  “Danger always lurks,” Aaron said, placing a comforting hand on Jason’s shoulder.

  Jason pressed his body taut against Stella’s and bent his head to just below Stella’s neck. Then, aroused by the scent of her blood and desperate to quench the parching thirst that was driving him wild, he formed his lips into a tight narrow line and brushed his mouth across her skin, euphorically grazing his teeth against the faint blue veins of her neck.

  “Stop, Jason, stop it!” Aaron yelled. “Take any more of her blood and you’ll kill her. Jason, lock it down!” he urged, preparing to drag him off the girl if he saw him go to drink her blood.

  Easing his body upwards, fighting the iron bar that seemed to hold him there, Jason pressed his knuckles to his mouth and backed away from the truck weakly, his breathing ragged.

  “I can’t do it… Time’s running out, Aaron, you’ll have to do it. Aaron took a decisive step to the truck and leaned in over her.

  “Gnawing a seatbelt must be the most bizarre thing I’ve done in my three hundred years of life. And that’s saying something…” His eyebrows shot up at the irony and his mouth twisted into a tight grin. Then he pulled Stella as close to him as the seatbelt would allow and started to shred the strap with his canine, his expression as fierce as his movements. Irritated by the synthetic odor of the seat belt he was grasping between his teeth, his dilated gray eyes drank in the dewy freshness of her skin as he resisted the seductive temptation of her sweet blood.

  “This tastes worse than shit!” he exclaimed as his mouth filled with a strong, acrid taste that clashed violently with the inviting scent of the blood he inhaled uneasily, enchanted by her smooth, soft skin.

  “Hell, it’s not supposed to be edible… Come on, Aaron, one last push,” Jason encouraged him.

  Aaron slashed at the strap again, putting all his strength into ripping the damn thing apart, his head jerking as the belt sprang apart; Stella was now free. Closing his eyes to block the tantalizing sight of a blood-stained Stella, Aaron rested his head, lips parted, just above her breasts as he tried to regain self-control. Finally, he turned his gaze away from her as he stepped back from the door of the pickup.

  In a flash, Jason grabbed the driver’s seat and pushed it back from the dashboard to free Stella’s legs. Cradling her in his arms, he tried to pull her gently out but felt something resist. Peering into the well he saw her foot wedged under a tear in the floor just under the accelerator pedal.

  Like a Shield

  "Jason, there’s a massive truck coming!” cried Aaron suddenly, hearing it bear down on them at high speed. “Jason! D’you hear me? What are you freaking dithering over, pass her to me!” Aaron screamed at him.

  “I can’t! She’s stuck! Her foot’s jammed, I can’t get her out! Go, Aaron, you’ve already done more than your fair share… I’ll stay with her now,” he gasped, gently leaning her back on the seat.

  “No, I won’t desert you!” Aaron cried, sliding into the pickup to reach down to Stella’s ankle to try to tug her foot free from the pedal, cursing at the twisted lump of metal and its refusal to budge no matter how hard he tried.

  “Aaron, just get out of here will you, there’s no point both of us getting hurt… Anyway, she’s my business not yours.”

  His friend ignored him and continued trying to prize open the metal with his hands but to no avail, his tension and haste just making things worse.

  “Aaron, move!” At the last minute, Jason shoved him roughly to the side of the road, and closed the door of the pickup. Then he placed himself like a shield in front of her, his expression softening as he looked lovingly at her face. He turned towards the road. His face registered shock as he saw the headlights of the truck loom suddenly around a bend down the road.

  The headlights speeding toward them illuminated their faces. Shocked and dazzled by the brilliance of the light, Stella opened her eyes and stared up at Jason, drinking in his hazy figure. She reached out to touch him hesitantly, and he turned towards Stella, capturing her gaze with his beautiful blue eyes. They were no longer turbid, nor were they now a soft or a burning red. She looked at him open-mouthed, unable to take her eyes from him. She had missed those eyes so much, those eyes she’d longed for almost to madness. Her heart leapt to her mouth, she was overcome with emotion as she felt herself once more surrounded by his strong, protecting embrace, beneath those deep blue, penetrating eyes.

  “Don’t worry, Stella, it’ll be over in a flash. I’m right here beside you, hold on to me tight and there’ll be no need to fear anything, not the dark, not death, not the cold,” he murmured as he felt her struggle and pulled her reassuringly to him.

  His icy breath caressed her neck and his nose nuzzled her skin, his nostrils flaring as he drank in her scent. His fingertips brushed her lips. His yearning was so overpowering that he stole a kiss. He sucked her lower lip and tasted the sweet blood as it filled his mouth. His instincts, his thirst awoke. Then, alerted by his perception, he turned his head to find his eyes glued to the glaring lights of the truck as it sped mercilessly toward them. Jason arched his body over Stella to shield her, determined to protect her from the collision.

  The truck driver slammed on his brakes as soon as he saw the darkened pickup skewed across the road but then skidded wildly and lost control, his efforts to avoid it wasted.

  Jason took the full force of the blow as the truck collided with the pickup. He tried to shield Stella from the shards of glass cascading into the front seat. Hearing the shriek of crunching metal around him, he t
urned his head slightly and saw that the truck had was skidding out of control after glancing off one of the majestic roadside trees.

  The force of the impact propelled the pickup straight into Aaron.

  “Aaron, move!” Jason screamed, but the pickup flung Aaron into the bushes.

  “No, Aaron, no!” Jason shouted in a strangled voice.

  The truck dragged the electricity pole off the hood of the pickup, stretching the cables still attached to the remaining poles to the max. Then, like an elastic band, the cables snapped and whipped through the windshield, instantly killing the driver. The truck continued its crazy driverless flight, veering into two other poles and pushing the pickup to the edge of the road where it crashed head-on into a tree. Then, the vehicle lumbered on, before losing momentum and shuddering to a halt.

  Jason sailed through the windshield and landed in the dirt a few yards in front of the pickup, with his face on the ground. He could feel his mouth fill with the earthy taste of soil mixed with blood, this time his own as his lips bled from the gritty cuts. His muscles were powerless to heave him up, he even lacked the energy he needed to open his eyes properly. Stunned, he could only lie where he was, on the ground. An inert Stella flopped against the steering wheel, her face turned to the side and the driver’s window.

  As dawn started to streak the sky pink and the moon began to dim, only the idling of the truck’s engine broke the eerie silence. Suddenly the sound of another engine heralded the arrival of Donn’s Bentley, who had been tracking the signal of Stella’s cell phone.

  Spying Stella’s crooked, bloody body lying on the airbag that cushioned the steering wheel, Donn leaped from his car to run to her. He opened the door on the driver’s side in a flash. He reached down into the well and used all his inhuman force to widen the gap and release her foot from the metal trap. He slid his arms around the unconscious girl to lay her carefully back on the driver’s seat. He was alarmed at how much blood she had lost, how slow her heartbeat was. He took her in his arms, laying her gingerly on the backseat of his Bentley. Stella heard the roar of the engine and the car accelerating, she opened slowly her weary eyes but had to struggle not to let them close again. She turned her head slightly and saw it was Donn driving. He looked so lovely she thought it was a mirage, then she smelt the blood and felt it running down her face. She thought she was going to faint and looked upwards to the roof of the car. Suddenly everything went black and she lost consciousness. She tried several times to open her eyes, and when she managed it she looked anxiously towards Donn, who was driving recklessly along the I-93 towards Massachusetts General Hospital. He turned, looked at her tenderly and whispered softly, separating delicately each word: “My little babe”. Stella closed her eyes again to the sound of his velvety voice, she huddled up on the seat and drowsed off, imagining herself already between Donn’s powerful arms.

  The Broken CD

  The neon lights of the hospital were glaring. The sterile air settled in around her, cold and heavy. A continuous beep sounded from somewhere in the room. The bed was hard and the pillow flat, the room white and bare. A bunch of black and white roses stood on the table at the foot of the bed, it seemed like a play of light and shade, flame and embers, hunter and prey. From time to time memories flashed into Stella’s mind of Donn driving her to the hospital that night. Donn was bending over her. He squeezed her hand, never taking his eyes off her, his expression cool and controlled despite his inner worry about her safety.

  “Have you been here this whole time?” Stella asked, her voice cracking.

  “I’ve been sitting here watching you, yes,” he answered, his face softening into a smile. He stroked her hair, pushing it back from her face, and planted a kiss on her forehead, breathing in her scent deeply. When he squeezed her hand again, he felt Stella’s closing weakly around his. Then she sank back into a state of unconsciousness; J. and Aaron had faded into a memory and she had no idea what had happened to Vuk.

  A couple of days after the accident, she had almost completely recovered, apart from a few scratches; she was back on her feet and back home. Vuk’s pickup had been brought to a junkyard for demolition. Stella told the authorities she could not remember anything that had happened. The hospital tests reported no alcohol in her blood, so the police came to the conclusion that the accident was caused by the electricity pole falling onto the highway. They did not connect the accident with the fire at the gas station. Stella was relieved; not wishing to alarm anyone, she asked the hospital not to tell her parents about her injuries, and begged Scott not to talk to her father. The only person she did tell was Jamie, who stuck by her bedside every spare second.

  The rain continued unabated, gloomy and tedious, reflecting Stella’s mood like a mirror. Things were not going well with Vuk. In fact, things could not possibly have been worse between them. Stella had not wanted to see him at the hospital that night, and had since tried to avoid him every way possible, but he was not giving up easily. He wanted desperately to talk to her, but she would not cave.

  In an attempt to avoid him, Stella had stopped going running and even going to class, leaving home only in the evening to go to work.

  She wanted to be by herself. It was as if the time had ceased to exist and day and night had become indistinguishable. She answered neither Vuk’s calls nor Donn’s. He had registered her phone number from her mobile when she was lying in the hospital, unconscious.

  As she sat at home one afternoon, the doorbell buzzed. Stella was on the phone with Jamie, trying to see when she could get her notes from the classes she had missed. Jamie was organizing another Friday night party, and asked Stella to stay overnight. She accepted Jamie’s invitation.

  At the sound of the doorbell, Stella froze, immediately on edge at the mere thought that it might be Vuk. There was no way she could bring herself to forgive him for what he had done. She glanced out the window of her room to see who it was and saw that it was just a FedEx deliveryman. She opened the door.

  “Hi.”

  “Miss Whitely?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I have a package for you. Please sign here.” He handed her a pen. She signed and took the package from him.

  “Thank you, have a nice day,” she said, closing the door. Burning with curiosity, she went into the kitchen and opened the package. Inside was an iPhone 6. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She tried to suppress a smile, but then broke into a loud laugh.

  “Oh, my God, it’s not even out yet,” she cried aloud, and immediately realized who it must be from.

  In fact, there was a note taped to the phone box.

  In the hope that you will now answer my phone calls.

  Donn Brooks

  Stella smelled his delicious scent impregnated in the thick paper. She opened the box and found the phone ready for use with a new sim card inside. There was one new message. The name of the recipient was also the only contact in her address book: Donn again. Stella opened the message.

  I hope the cell phone is to your liking and I can’t wait to hear your voice.

  Thank you but I can’t accept this…

  It would be rude not to.

  The phone is in your name now, Stella.

  Please let me pay you for the phone

  I don’t believe the phone has a market price yet :)

  How can I repay you?

  Make good use of it, with me. I admit that I’m having trouble answering that question, without thinking filthy thoughts, little girl… ;)

  So, did you track the delivery man to find out exactly when I’d get the package?

  No, I just asked him to text me when he delivered it to you… I have to go into a meeting now. Talk to you later, Miss Whitely.

  It was Thursday, late afternoon. Stella had on a dark gray strapless dress and a pair of black boots. She was about to leave her house to go to The Pats when she heard a knock at the door. She was sure it was Vuk this time. He had been doing this for days. He would knock on her door in the eve
ning to try to talk to her, but so far he had been unsuccessful.

  At the sound of the knock, Stella’s face became anguished, her countenance glassy. Her cheeks became flushed and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Her heart began to beat faster, her breath quickened behind her parted lips. The stereo in the kitchen was playing one of Vuk’s CDs: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door by Guns N’ Roses was blaring out. Stella snuck to the window and peeked out at him without letting him see her. His eyes were glazed, surrounded by dark, puffy circles. It seemed he had been drinking and had not slept well in days. He had just lit a cigarette, and held it between his lips, his eyes slightly closed, smoke wafting over his face.

  “Hey, babe… come on! I know you’re in there.”

  A moment passed. Then he knocked again.

  “Stella, it’s me, Vuk. Come on, open the damn door.” He leaned with one hand on the door as if it was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

  Silence fell. Stella didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

  “Stop avoiding me, Stella. I won’t stand for being ignored by you!” He moved his head closer to the door, the tone of his voice hardening in his anger. He looked beat.

  There was no response.

  “Stella… Jeez, I feel like crap.” His voice died in his throat, his breathing was hoarse.

  “Is that how you feel?” murmured Stella. Her heart went out to him slightly and she leaned toward the door on her side, her hand resting against it at the same height as Vuk’s was on the other side. The boy straightened up and raised his head, staring at the door with a spark of hope in his eyes.

  “Stella, let me see you,” he pleaded bluntly, in anguish.

  “No!”she denied herself.

  Vuk closed his eyes and sighed in resignation.

  “Open the damn door! Don’t treat me like a stranger,” he snapped. In his desperation to see her, he punched the door, causing it to shake.