Happy Mothers Day

I lay in bed listening to the sounds of the raindrops hitting the window pane. I rolled over and checked the time on my bedside table. It read 8:15. It was safe to get up. I climbed out of bed and padded softly across the room to the bathroom. After splashing my face with cold water I decided to go downstairs and start on breakfast. But not mine. Definitely not mine. My stomach rumbled with the thought of breakfast and I realised I hadn’t eaten last night. But there was no time for that now. I would just have to be careful.

I had avoided looking in the mirror, I didn’t need to look at my reflection to know I had deep purple lines under my eyes, I could feel them. No sleep every night combined with hunger does that to a girl.

I decided to make pancakes and had just finished a batch, when I heard Mum get up and pad barefoot in behind me. I switched on the kettle to make her coffee.
‘Mmm…pancakes’ Mum said her voice still heavy with sleep.
I flipped over a pancake. ‘Yea, it’s a special occasion, so sit down and let me treat you’ I said, steeling myself before walking over to lay a kiss on her cheek.
‘Happy Mothers Day’ I said but quickly moved back before she could hug me. My control was strong but even I had my limits.  

‘Aww, thanks honey’ she said sitting down at the small kitchen table. ‘What time did you wake up?’ she asked, ‘It’s quite early for a Sunday.’
She tried not to look at the bags under my eyes when she spoke but we both knew that they were what she was referring to. She, naively, thought my lack of sleep was due to stress.
I smiled in despite of myself. ‘Oh, I didn’t sleep too well last night, I think it was the rain’ I said, trying to keep the smile from leaking out into my words. I finished making the batch and turned around to hand her a plate of pancakes with her coffee.

‘Thanks hun’ she said. I sat down on the small table across from her with a glass of water but didn’t take a sip. It was more for pretence then anything else. I wasn’t hungry. Not for pancakes anyway. They had been for her and Mum didn’t really mention my lack of appetite anymore.

‘So, what are you planning to do today’ she asked, taking a sip of her coffee. I hadn’t really planned to do anything, as always, but I knew if I gave her that answer she would complain that I had become a loner lately and that I needed to spend time with my friends more. Needed to be more like a ‘normal’ teenager. Again I bit the inside of my lip to stop the cynical laugh from escaping. Normal was no longer a part of my vocabulary and neither was ordinary, average, common or any other synonyms for normal. No, I was definitely extraordinary, uncommon.

‘Um…probably go out somewhere, library maybe’ I said turning to stare out of the window. By the look of the dark clouds rolling across the sky, it looked like it might rain later. Good.  I disliked the sun. Maybe I would go out today.
I looked back at my mum as she took the last bite of her pancake and rose to wash her dishes in the sink.  

‘I guess that’s better then –’

A sharp intake of breath cut off the rest of her sentence as she stared down into the sink. I stood up from my seat and opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong but that unmistakable and distinctive scent hit my senses and I stopped in my tracks. Mum had cut her hand on something in the sink and there was blood. Fresh blood.

I felt my incisors growing until they were sharp and pointed against my lower lip. Felt the adrenalin coursing through me as my body expected a feed imminent. My control was strong. So strong. I had made sure of it. But this was too much. Even for me.

I forced my eyes closed, clenching my fists and forced my body to calm down. This was my mum. I had to remember that. I opened my eyes and saw Mum grab a dishtowel of the table and wrap her hand up to stop the blood flow. But the scent was still so overwhelming. I closed my eyes again and when I opened them, Mum was watching me carefully.

‘Rose?’ she asked ‘What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?’ The concern in her voice was so natural that I knew I could never hurt her. She was more worried about me than herself and she was the one bleeding.

‘I’m fine Mum, the smell of the blood just made me a little light headed,’ I explained and hoped she believed me. For her sake. But Mum’s face had become a mask of shock as she stared at me. That’s when I felt the sharp teeth still protruding out of my mouth and knew they were showing in full view. I had forgotten to retract my fangs and now it was too late. She had already seen them. I ran my tongue over them and watched Mum’s face turn from shock to horror. They were too sharp to be fake so I knew that she could see they were real.

I felt a small pang of distress. I had tried to protect her, I really had. I barely left the house so that I wouldn’t be tempted to hunt anyone in the neighbourhood and I had always been careful when I was around her. Always fully fed. But not today.

I didn’t want to have to kill her to keep my secret safe.

And yet, as these thoughts went through my head, I couldn’t help but feel joy. I was hungry. So hungry. And I was facing wounded prey. I let my empathetic emotions go as I raised my head to fill my nostrils with that heavenly aroma. That sweet scent of blood. A small smile crept over my lips and I bared my fangs. Mum yelped and moved away from me towards the door but in her haste dropped the towel around her hand. Little splatters of blood hit the floor and the scent of blood grew stronger.  

‘R-Rose?’ she stammered still moving slowly but purposefully toward the door. A growl rippled from my throat and this time she screamed. I closed my eyes and revelled in the sound.

And then she ran.

Just like I knew she would. The smile on my face grew wider.
‘Happy Mothers Day’ I whispered, as I slowly walked out of the kitchen.

The hunt was on.