As cold wind brushed over my face, I twirled towards the young woman standing by one of the burial grounds. Throwing my bag behind me, I started walking to her. Just when I was two feet from her, my eyes spotted a familiar face. After turning to one of the picture frames with a container with ashes, I quickly turned yo the name attached to it

"Mom?" She moved closer to me and pulled out a working card. "It's me, Janessa, one of your mom's colleagues from the hospital," she explained while looking at me apologetically.

"Janessa?" She nodded before turning to the picture frame. "I just heard of your mom's demise from that police officer," she explained as she moved her eyes to another man standing just a feet from us. By just a short glimpse, I knew who it was. "You?! Where you the one who did this without telling me?" I yelled staring at him angrily.

After holding his breath, he sighed and nodded. "I had to. We need to talk." Shaking my head, I stepped back as a tear glided down my cheeks. "Talk about how you cremated my own mom without telling me? Did you use Janessa to get me here?" Janessa attempted to calm me down by holding my hand but I turned to her angrily too.

  "Let's not create a scene here. I'll explain everything, but not here. It's about your mom's case." Biting my lips, I lowered my head and walked to my mom's frame running my palm over it in tears

Not as if everything wasn't enough, I couldn't even cremate her myself. Why is this happening to me? Looking at her smile in the picture, I saw a few chrysanthemum flowers stocked in the frame.

"I'm sorry for not coming earlier. That's why I'm here to make it up to you." While rolling my tongue, I dragged my hand down from the frame and started walking away from them in anger. My feet stumbled back when I heard a yell from behind.

"Her complete autopsy is out. Wouldn't you want to know what actually happened to her?" My trembling eyes quietly turned around to him as he stood beside Janessa. With an apologetic smile, she nodded.

Holding my tears in, the two of them marched towards me, pointing to a nearby restaurant. After a minute of contemplating, I decided to go with them. We stopped at the centre table and took our seats as the waiter walked to us

  "Welcome to City Restaurant. What would you like to have?" Janessa turned to him and nodded after exchanging eye messages. "We'll have three cups of coffee please." The waiter lowered his head to excuse himself. After a few minutes, he returned with our orders.

"Thanks," we appraised receiving our individual cup of coffee one at a time. I dropped my bag on the chair and turned to them with impatient gazes. "What is it?" After a heavy sigh, he placed his arms on the table and looked into my eyes.

"I investigated Kate Cooper's case because it's similar to your mother's. It's the same for Amy Sparks and several others. A man threatened me on my way back to drop the case. That's why I told you I won't investigate."

Saying these to me, I couldn't help but stare at him astonished. "You heard right. I couldn't trace his whereabouts because he came prepared with a hoodie. I'm guessing you know him too?"

As I moved my eyes to Janessa, I could tell from her eyes that she wasn't too surprised. "Yes. He's attacked me several times. I only managed to escape because he needs something from me-"

  "-you can tell me everything. I know he's a vampire." Widening my eyes, I had realized he knew the depth of the situation.

"So you believe me?" Sighing, he crossed his arms and nodded. "I do. That's why I called you to cooperate with you and find him. All the victims have bite marks on their necks. I only hid this from the police to protect my family."

"So why are you contacting me now?" After turning to Janessa, he stared at me. "I have a lead with your mother's friend. I just need more information to catch him." She fished out a set of documents from her bag with assuring eyes.

  "These are the list of doctors who worked with us at that hospital. I'm positive he's the one that was considered dead years ago after killing patients."

  My eyes flickered when I heard her conclusion. Was she talking about the incident at where Max worked before with him?

  The police officer run his eyes over the names and passed it to me. "Did he ever mention his name?" I nodded and took the document to look through the names for him. Stopping by Ian Morrison, my head jerked.

  "Here!" I exclaimed before passing the document to him. "Ian? That's the name of that criminal. I was right. He's not dead!" Sighing, he smiled at us after hearing this

  "Perfect! I just need to gather more information from the hospital. Could you contact the manager for his whereabouts?" She nodded and smiled at me. "I'll work on it. Here's my contact," the officer exclaimed. I nodded and grabbed my bag.

  "Your mother asked me to give this to you once you turn eighteen." Exposing a book, I nodded and dropped it in my bag before leaving the restaurant. After the bus stopped at my house, I stepped out and trotted my feet at the entrance.

"I hate you. Just wait till I find you myself!" I exclaimed throwing a stone against the mirror. It cracked open scattering all over the washroom. When I moved back, I accidentally stepped on a broken piece making me wince in pain.

 Blood was oozing from the affected part. I closed my eyes, crying uncontrollably. "Mom," I cried while removing the glass from under my feet.

  I walked slowly on the broken glass as it pricked me but my mind buzzed over my mom's death. Before I realized I had stained my room with blood while I walked from the bathroom.

   When I raised my feet, beneath it was bleeding profusely. I couldn't even walk properly so I sat down at the edge of my bed. I wiped the tears which fell off my puffy eyes with my hands but they kept on flowing. I grabbed the first aid box from my drawer and nursed myself. No one even told me I had a sister, much less a maniac pursuing me to kill me. Was my fate that cursed, to become an orphan?

When my eyes fell on the book Janessa gave me, I picked it up and looked through. It was a blank book with only newsletters dating several years ago.

  What's this for? Why did she leave this with her? Sighing, I closed it and dragged my feet to my room to sleep.

Stretching my hands on the bed, I woke up late again. When I got to the school, I marched to my locker room to pick today's books. But as I got to the very entrance to the room, I saw Nathan standing by Kate's locker hesitating to move his hand up.

When my eyes wavered, I attempted to walk in,but he stepped back and walked out after a sudden thought. "What's with him?" After taking a deep breath, I moved forward and dropped my books in my bag. Rushing along the hallway, I got to class no sooner. But when I entered, everyone was seated but Adrian was absent.

"Where's Adrian?" I accentuated. Walking to my seat, Jess turned to the empty seat. "Did you fight with him?" I shook my head sitting down. "Everyone's talking about your kiss with Nathan. I think he's also aware." Lowering my head, I remembered the lady glare he looked at me with. Did he already know then?

As she said this, Catherine walked into the class. It became noisy the moment we saw her entering.

"Way to go!" She didn't talk much and just walked to her seat. After dropping her books on the table, one of the girls hit her table and started laughing. "The attention seeker is back!" The other students started laughing too. I got up and pushed the girl aside. "Oh? The murder suspect is here to support the one who pushed her. Is it a new trend?"

When the teacher walked in, she quickly took her seat. But Catherine got up abruptly and rushed out of the classroom. "Does anyone want to leave?"

 Turning to each other blankly, they moved to the teacher's gaze with shaking heads.

  "Who's absent today?" They began rattling together. "Catherine Morrison and Adrian Morrison."

I didn't wait for the class to end. I got up and rushed out. The students started to cheer, but I heard others calling out to me. I banged the door and took to my heels to the woods, and rested by the bus station.

It was very quiet today and the moon had settled. When I knocked on his door, I got no answer. I jumped through the window hoping that he was okay. No one was in the hall. All the windows were also shut tightly.

I turned on a torch in my bag and searched the house calling out to him. I checked room by room and when I got to the last one, it was closed.

  I entered realizing Max was seated on chair surrounded by a table facing me with his back. "You're here, I was looking for you." Moving closer, I heard a beep on my phone. "Are you okay?" From Jess and Tricia.

Anxious about my dream, I stepped out of the house into the woods. It was exactly the same from my dream. I knocked the door but got no answer. I dialed his number but it went straight to voicemail.

  Not long a message was popped up in my phone. "Sorry for the impromptu. I had something to do. I'll be back by tomorrow." This was pretty strange because he had a different way of telling me something. Either he'd call on the phone or tell me the day before. I needed to tell him about Ian.

After a heavy sigh, I left.

After a few hours of sleeping, I woke up around six in the morning. I took along a long brown coat and long boots since it was still snowing. I was greeted with Tricia and Jess my the hallway.

"There's a surprise for you," Jess appraised pulling me to a room. "Wait! What are you talking about?" I asked resisting her pull. After getting me into a room, they closed the door in my face and left me in a dark room by the locker room.

"Tricia, Jess, get me out of here!" I debated hitting the door with my hand but no one opened me. Realizing it was useless, I scanned the room for any escape.

  It was extremely dark to make my move around the room. As I thought about how to leave, the lights suddenly turned on. The walls had posters all over with, "Will You Be My Girlfriend." In front of me stood Nathan with a bouquet of roses with a bright smile on his face.

So that was the surprise? I thought as he walked to me. I wondered why he still insisted on that when I refused him. There were more things I needed to handle.

"So what do you think? Oh sorry, these are for you," he commenced before directing the roses to me. I looked at them contemplating on what to say to avoid any uncomfortable situation. I received the bouquet and smiled lightly, "Thanks. But," I muttered but he didn't let me finish.

"Yeah. You requested for time. But I felt you were under pressure then. With everything settled, I think it's the right time," he cajoled while smiling at me.

  I felt guilty because I saw him only as a friend. Dropping the flowers in my left hand, I turned to him. "I think you're mistaken. I'm sorry but I only see you as a friend. I'm sorry if I might have misled you. I don't want this to ruin our friendship," I replied and looked down while giving the roses back to him.

"I hope we can still stay as friends?" I added smiling. But his expression changed totally after my confession. "It's Adrian right? He's playing with you," he retorted before dumping the flowers on the floor. He grabbed my hand fiercely making me scream in pain.

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     What do you think ? Why is Nathan insisting that Adrian's playing with Clara? Does he know something Clara doesn't? Don't you think he's expecting too much from her.