Beyond the Evening Twilight

Chapter 11

      I had awoken to the sound of my cell phone ringing.  The sound echoed off of the walls in this mostly empty room.  I tried my best to grasp the phone in my hand with numb, frostbitten fingers.  Holding the phone to my ear, I tried my hardest to kept my teeth from chattering.
“H-hello?”  To no avail, I was freezing.
“Damnit Angel!  Where the hell are you!?”  Despite the fact that I could no longer go home, hearing my mother’s voice made tears fall.  I did not tell her everything yet, I knew she was mad and I did not want to upset her further, for now anyway.  I explained to her that I would be home shortly and to have the back door open for me.  She sounded puzzled, but complied.  I could tell that she was fuming.  After I had hung up the phone, I stood slowly.  My joints pained me as I rose for they had long since frozen.  I looked to the door and saw beams of sunlight coming through.  Opening the door, light had flooded the room and the sunlight blinded me.  I reached into my pocket and pulled out my sunglasses.  Placing them to my eyes I walked sullenly out, and down the faded footpath.  I was in a hurry to get to my mother.  I have not felt this way in a while, so helpless, like I needed my mother. 
         Taking as many back roads as possible, I reached the back lot to the apartment building and stood for a second contemplating if I should go.  Just as I had turned to walk away and never look back, I heard something that made me jump.
“Angel!  Honey, it’s freezing outside, get your ass in here right now!”  She was standing on the back steps waving for me to come inside.  This was not something that I wanted to do.  I did not want to break my mother’s heart, but this, I think after being my mother for 16 years, was something she needed to know.  I trudged slowly through the parking lot and stopped at the bottom of the stairs, gripping the railing tightly.  It was now or never, and all or nothing.
         I walked quickly up the steps, my feet hitting heavily on the warped old wood.  I passed by my mother on the way in, and hid my face from her as best I could.  She reached out for my shoulder, I knew she wanted to throttle me, but I continued walking.  Pulling every shade in the house, I walked to the living room where she was standing with her arms folded.  I removed my sunglasses and as soon as she saw my face, her look of anger changed quickly to a look of confusion and worry.  Her arms dropped to her sides and the first thing that came out of her mouth was:
“Are you doing drugs again?”  To that question, I had lost all composure.  Tears started to warm my face as I approached my mother, draping my arms over her shoulders.  I buried my face in her shoulder and was trembling.  I heaved heavy sobs in her arms and I found myself at a loss for words.  She did not say a word until she thought that I had calmed down a bit.  I once again looked to her face and she saw it.  Her hand rose to her mouth and her eyes widened as she backed away slowly.
“No mom…” I trailed off, my voice become a whisper.  “Please don’t…”
“Angel…what in the hell happened to you?”  I looked at her for a moment and watched as tears began to fall. 
         We sat at a table situated off to the side and talked for hours.  I had told her everything.  Despite its fairy tale effect, she had believed every word of what I had said.  She was crying and nodding her head as these unbelievable words had just poured from my mouth.  I paused for a moment and sighed deeply.
“I can’t stay here mom.”  She blinked in disbelief and more tears came as she tried to choke them back.
“Sure you can…” my mother said as she bit her bottom lip and tried to hold as much composure for me as she could.
“No, it would not be the best for either of us…I-” I choked back tears.  “I am a vampire, a freak.  I will live forever…you know what that means, don’t you?”  She shook her head implying that she did indeed know what I meant.  “I need to leave, it’s in the best interest of us both.”  She rose and walked to me, and I stood.  She wrapped her arms around me as I did her.  Tears fell on both accounts and we just stood there silently.  “I don’t care what you tell the rest of the family as long as you tell them that I will never be around again.”  I said trying to regain composure.  “Tell them I died or something…you are creative, you’ll think of something.” I said this to attempt to lighten the mood, I wasn’t sure if it had worked.  She paused for a moment and sighed heavily.
“Oh god damn.”  She said in her usual sarcastic tone.  “We never get a break do we?”  She shook her head and smirked slightly.
“No mom, we don’t.”  I said.  I looked at her for a while.  Shaking my head, I disappeared into my room.  I had taken all of my clothing and possessions and thrown them into a big suitcase.  There was a knock at my door.  I turned around and it was my mother.
“Here.”  She handed me a wad of cash.  Instinctively, I leafed through the bills and realized that there was about one hundred and fifty dollars.  I shook my head from side to side.
“I can’t take this.”
“Yes you can and you had better, damnit.  I am still your mother and you damn well better listen to me.”  I looked at her and smiled softly.
“Mom, I love you so much, don’t you ever forget that either.  Take it to your grave and no matter what you do, please don’t forget me.”  I began to sob once more and held her tightly to me.  After a moment my mother handed me something else.  It was a glossy photo of her and I last summer together at the lake.  I placed it in my suitcase carefully.  She dried my tears and told me not to worry about a thing.  Even if there were a reason to worry, she would be the first to assure anyone that there was nothing to worry about.  Leading me to the back door, she had told me how much she was going to miss me, and all of the things we used to do together.  She was making it difficult for me to be able to leave, but I knew that I had to.  I walked out the backdoor and down the steps in to the evening air.  Across the lawn and onto a back road I walked slowly, trying to think of a way to make everything work, but it would never.  I could feel her still watching me as I walked down the road with the suitcase in my hand, getting further and further away.  From all the crying I had been doing, my eyes burned, yet tears still fell.  I mean it is not every day that you have to say goodbye to your mother and family and old life forever.  It just did not seem fair to me, but I could never turn back, ever again.