Flashback

  They say karma is a bitch.... but not many believe it neither did I until today, when my past is standing right in front of me laughing at my face, and even in this pin drop silence I could hear its laughter like ricochet piercing through my ears and hitting its core along with my subconscious which reminds me that I’m sitting here all by myself drenched in blood clueless and helpless, unable to process what just happened wondering what went wrong in my story for it to take such a drastic turn. It has always been a battle of bloodlines but who would’ve thought for it to turn into a literal bloodbath, with my hands covered in the only thing I was always running from.

I looked around, it was pitch black everywhere and the only light beaming over my blood covered hands were from the headlights of my own car, that very same car that he gifted me on my last birthday from his exclusive collection which was witnessing such a horror along with me.

A year ago I was a regular college student like everyone else unaware of the drastic change my life was about to take, unaware of the changes that one particular winter night in NYC was going to bring in my life unannounced. But when I look back I don’t regret it even for a bit, because no matter what the consequences may be but I’m glad that I got to meet him on this journey.

Now when I’m looking at the sight which is right there in front of my eyes, I feel like I’m in no hurry to run or to escape because that would mean that I am ready to move on but if you ask me I guess i don’t mind reliving it all again like some Netflix series that I don’t want to end. And with no rush to escape and no place to escape to I think I would be more than happy to take a trip back to memory lane.

Winter has always been my favourite time of the year due to several reasons but mainly because of its ability to be so dark and yet so merry simultaneously and also Christmas and hot chocolate was something worth dying for, one can’t deny that for sure.

Well it was a regular winter morning and I was getting late as usual for my morning lecture but who even goes to university for those boring lectures definitely not me and nor did my friends have any such fetish and I also believe in one thing very strongly which is that it is better to arrive fashionably late than early and sleepy so before leaving my dorm I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself for a minute straight and I think I looked perfect with those bangs beautifully covering my forehead up to my blue eyes and they were beautifully complimenting my blue eyes so much that I cursed myself for not gifting myself with bangs earlier. 

Anyway I left my dorm and while making my way through the NYU campus I somehow managed to entre my class despite the fact I was running like a mess. Professor gave me a death stare which was probably because this was the 4^th time I was late for the class this week but I just couldn’t help myself, I think I’m a bit clumsy.

 In all this chaos I saw my bestfriend Ella sitting in far right corner of the conference room, probably taking notes to save my ass from flunking into the exams, Ella has always been my guardian angel despite my troubled childhood she has always been sticking around, looking after me, nurturing me like a sister and I owe her for my life. After class we were talking over a hot chocolate from the cafeteria when I told her she can have the dorm all to herself as I would probably return late from the book reading programme that I was supposed to attend to and she can call Jake and hit it with him for an all nighter karaoke.

Ella blushed, “Shutup Charlotte we are just friends” .

“Well Duh friends who occasionally like to hook up with each other”, I teased Ella because that was my favourite part of the day and she blushed again.

Our remaining day went pretty well, and after an exhausting college the sun was settling in after absolutely not doing any work of providing warmth but it wasn’t his day I guess. Ella went straight to dorm and I knew I had to go to that bookstore even when all I wanted to do was climb up to my bed and wrap myself in my cozy blanket while I Netflix entire night but commitments are meant to be done so I took the cab and went straight to the bookstore, my friend was going to perform there with her band before the book reading and I was supposed to be there for moral support because that is what I do support my friends even when it sucks.

I guess I can be a moral support as long as I get a compensation for leaving my cosy blanket with a hot guy over there as I’m the only single in my group but that is by choice irrespective of few occasions where I feel awfully lonely just like today but I won’t trade it for a relationship which is worth giving a migraine considering my past love choices, well they were awful.

I’m bad with road directions that is the reason I often end up in different neighbourhoods even when I’m not supposed to and to my horror the cab driver was somewhat himself new in town and was depending on me to guide us both to our destination. It wasn’t very easy to struggle with directions of the only Universal book store in NYC but I somehow managed to reach to that exact bookstore which I was supposed to even though G****e maps were not very helpful with the location.

 As I entered the book store that place had something about itself, the lightings, the decorations, the music in the background everything was just contributing in some way or the other thus making that place more mysterious by adding more layers to its shell and something about that place was attracting me towards itself more like a strong pull and I was lost in my thoughts when I felt a hand on my shoulder and for a moment there I lost my breath for a second until I realized it was my friend who I was supposed to meet here and her performance was about to start in few minutes so I joined her other friends in the front row but I felt like I was not mentally present there, my mind was lost in thoughts struggling to pull myself out from the weird energy that place was exerting. “And now we have on stage is Alex and Trio”, someone announced on the stage which made me concentrate back to stage to see that my friend was about to start her performance and as soon as she hit the first cord of her vocals, all sort of negative energy just vanished atleast that is what I felt and also by this time  the entire book store was mesmerized by her soulful voice and the light music was complementing it the best way possible but now all I could think about was all the possible assumptions which could give me any logical reason for the extremely weird energy of that place..

At the end of the performance I moved towards my right to nearest book shelf which was of fiction category and it has always been my favourite genre as it always allows me to escape into something that doesn’t exist the possibility to vanish and then come back again to reality. So I was checking the entire rack of fiction series and I saw there were many interesting books such as “The Twilight Series”, many of the great works of Paulo Cohelo such as Brida, Alchemist and many other such books which might be waiting for a perfect reader for themselves when a book cover caught my attention it was full black in colour with its title written in silver text which read “The Creature of the Night” and I picked it instantly like a reflex and so while turning its pages I was trying to figure what it was about when I felt a hand as cold as ice on my Shoulder, I froze in that moment like a storm has hit me but then I slowly turn around and to my surprise it was the owner of the book store. “No one is allowed to read a book from the shelf you need to buy it if you want to read this one”, he said. I hesitated yet replied, “I wasn’t reading I was just exploring at cover and found it interesting to this he laughed, “I’m sorry I must apologise for catching you off guard, I was just pulling your leg and honestly I was trying to find an excuse to talk to someone as beautiful as you”.

 Hearing him say those words calmed my nerves and I relaxed a bit, this was the first time I got a chance to look at his adorable face.. he was hot and his black smooth hair, green eyes was worth skipping a heartbeat and I think I just did that’s when I snapped back into reality.

“ Hey...I’m Elvin Heather” he said , “I’m Charlotte Jones”, I replied in a single breath saving myself from another embarrassment. There were few awkward smiles that we were sharing when I noticed that he was staring at the book in my hand to which I mumbled, “I am pretty much attracted towards dark stuff or more into the folk tales of night, I find it fascinating” hearing my words he laughed like it was some sort of joke, I felt embarrassed, guess he noticed and in an attempt to turn it around he said, “Don’t tell me you actually believe in such stories and I snapped immediately in a defensive tone, “ I obviously know that it is not true and they are not true but I desperately wish for it to be” and with that I lowered my gaze trying to avoid any further conversation but he was continuously staring me with chuckles in between and nervousness made me speak endlessly about how much I was obsessed with vamps and that I would give anything on this earth to be one.

Suddenly he stopped laughing in between with a stern look on his face and said, “ you should watch out what you wish for” but I ignored his words by saying as if there was a chance for it to be true, he chuckled and we talked for a while and then I had to say good-bye to him as my hostel deadline was not very pleasing.

 Thus, we gave each other a friendly hug and departed but while I was hugging him even for nanosecond I felt something strange like his whole body was cold which was sort of weird but as I was getting late for my hostel it slipped from my mind immediately. On my way back I couldn’t stop thinking about him the entire way back in the subway, I couldn’t forget the way those green eyes were checking me out, the way his deep voice was making me feel, with dull and exhausted legs I reached my dorm, Ella was sleeping there peacefully and seeing her like that it reminded me how tired I was and went to sleep as soon as I hit my bed.

Next few weeks went pretty normally and a bit hectic with all the internals going around not getting enough time to hang out with my friends after college hours. Most of the time Ella and I used to scan the bookshelves from the library to make sure that we don’t miss any details for our internals, friendship or no friendship both of us were pretty competitive and that was there reason we were always motivated by pushing each other up to our limits.

After weeks of spiralling finally my internals were finished and I had all the time to spend with my friends so I stayed late after my classes and was chilling with my buddies except Ella, she went with Jake on a little road trip for the weekend and since I was supposed to be alone at the dorm I couldn’t care much because of which I lost track of time until I looked at my phone and realized I was definitely going to miss my hostel deadline as only 10mins were remaining for my curfew time and hostel was at 12 minutes walking distance so I started running as fast as I could the roads outside very empty and dark as not most people stay out on winter nights for so late and the darkness out there was creeping me out but I had no choice, I was running with my full ability despite facing difficulty in breathing I kept running when suddenly something happened, it was hard to believe but I saw it with my bare eyes which forced me to stop in the middle of the road, it seemed like someone just appeared in front of me out of nowhere like he apparated or teleported I guess,and that made me numb for few seconds I was about to shout when suddenly he came a bit closer and I could see his face under the dim yellow street-light and I recognized him instantly, it was him the same guy from the book-store “Elvin”, I shouted. “What are you doing here and what the hell was that” I almost shouted but he was calm as an ocean with that same dignified look on his face with those same passionate green eyes and said “I was thinking about what you said that day at the book store lately and was also following you for couple of weeks and I think it’s time you and me should have a little chat”. “You what?”, I shouted again “Do you realize Mr. Elvin following someone is super creepy and also magically appearing like this out of nowhere tops the list , who do you think you are”. He smiled and said, “I’m someone who has the same traits you’ve always wished for”. “Okay, I don’t have time for your games I’m getting late my deadline is about to end so please leave my way” and I started moving when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards himself I felt a sensation of current going through my entire body at his touch, his grip around my wrist was so strong that I felt as if my blood has stopped pumping across my wrist, he brought his lips close to my ears I could feel his warm breath on my neck and my entire body was acting against me when he whispered “I know you are getting late and I’m letting you go for now but meet me outside your hostel garden after midnight in the night” he loosened the grip on my wrist when I nearly whispered in a shivering tone, “you can’t enter a girls’ hostel” he smiled like he was mocking or teasing me and said, “I’ll be waiting for you honey and don’t disappoint me you will find answer to all your questions” , and he disappeared exactly in the same way he arrived leaving me there in the middle of the road under that dim yellow light alone with lots of questions and confusion.