A Fresh Face Chapter 4

About an hour after dinner Kylie and I decide to talk and walk around town. My house is behind a main street with many boutiques, restaurants, and offices. We call it Uptown Douglas or Titus, after the street name. I see a lot of people from school up here. Romeo's is a very popular pizza joint in the middle of Titus. You've also got Lick Me, an ice cream shop, Titus Street Tavern, Dreamy Steamy for coffee and Joann's for Sandwiches. I get my hair cut at the Primp My Hair Salon and if I'm lucky a nice pair of jeans from Kiko. Many of the owners have known Kylie and I since we were tots. When I get my own house, one day, I want to shop at The Magical Mermaid. They have nautical, beach and island inspired decor.

For a Saturday it's kind of quiet on Titus. Well, the streets are. Titus Street Tavern is jammed pack with people!

"The game!" Kylie yells out.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot. My Dad's definitely glued to the TV. My mom is most likely cleaning up our already clean house because she can't just sit down."

Kylie laughs, "That's very true. All I ever see is your mom cleaning something."

I peer into Romeo's across the street, "Looks like our whole football team is in there. Let's see if Jake is too." Jake is like the only cool guy on the football team and a pretty close friend. Kylie, Jesse, Jake and I all used to play together as kids. We all still talk to Jake but since he started football in 9th grade he found a new crowd. He doesn't forget about us though and that's why were all still friends.

"I think I see him," Kylie says as we hurry across the barren street. The bells clash together as we walk through the door but no one seemed to notice.

"Kylie! Twyla! Nice to see you guys!" We appear on each side of Jake. This meat head Allister stares me down, as if they were talking and I interrupted. He's had it out for me since elementary school. I just ignore him most of the time. I slapped him in eighth grade for making fun of Kylie. She sat in ketchup with, yep, white jeans. He just wouldn't let her live it down. He called her Period Blood for the rest of the year, so now when it's that time of the month Kylie asks me at least 20 times a day to check her backside. I just smile at him and turn away.

"Who's winning?" I ask.

"We are! And I don't think they'll catch up to us. It's 8 to nada! Want a slice a pizza? We ordered 3 pies."

"Sure, I'll take one. Pepperoni?" Jake hands Kylie a greasy slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Twyla?" he prompts me.

"Oh, no thanks. I'm still full from dinner." I pass. Kylie glances a "sorry" look my way. I let her finish her slice and mouth the word "smoke" to her.

"We'll be right back." Kylie tells Jake. We hide inside a dark, cold alley a few stores down from Romeo's. I zip up my hoodie and Kylie does the same.

"I can't wait til the nights aren't cold anymore. It's getting better, but still." I say while releasing my hit, smoke filling the alley. I pass my new favorite bowl to Kylie, the swirly green one.

"I know, man. I got goosebumps." Kylie shivers and takes her hit.

"Look at this!" Allister bursts into the alley. Kylie gasps, choking on her hit. My beautiful bowl falls through the air. I catch it, without realizing, only a few inches from the ground.

"Get out of here Allister! Go back to your football. That wasn't cool!" I didn't expect him to turn around but it's worth a try.

"Two lovely little stoners in a dark, dead end alley. This should be interesting." Allister walks closer. We back up as I take another hit.

"Twyla," Kylie nudges me. I hand her the bowl.

"Don't drop it, again."

"Period Blood, how's it goin'?" Allister get's closer. Kylie hands me back my bowl. I ditch the bud and throw the bowl in my running bag.

"Fuck you!" Kylie spits at his feet. Allister pushes her up against the wall, groping her breast.

"You get the fuck off her!" I kick Allister's knees out and punch his teeth in.

His hands fly to his face and he mumbles, "What the fuck! I was just fuckin' around!"

The smell of his testosterone rich blood fills my nostrils and I stare hungrily at the blood on my hands.

"Twyla, what's wrong?" Kylie's voice sounds distant, though she's 4 feet away from me.

I'm high and I haven't fed in a couple days. This is bad, very bad. My fangs sting my gums as they come out of hiding. I no longer hear what Kylie is saying. Allister looks fearfully up at me and before anyone has any time to react Allister is on the ground, my fangs latched into his jugular. My hand muffles his dying screams. Kylie has her back against the wall, too afraid to move. I know if I stop before he dies he'll rat me out, so I keep drinking. His heartbeat slows and then comes to a stop. I release my grip on Allister and my fangs go back into hiding. I stand up to see Kylie crying.

"Kylie, I couldn't help myself. I.. I don't have control of this yet. Oh, what did I do! Fuck!"

"Is he dead? Wha.. what are we gonna do Twyla?" Kylie stumbles on her words.

"Yes and we? No, you've been through enough. You go back to Romeo's and let me handle this. Tell them I wasn't feeling well."

"I want to.. to help you, Twyla. I'm not leaving you." she stares mortified at Allister's pale limp body.

"Kylie, go home!" I push her towards the front of the alley.

She walks back, closer to me, "No! I said I'm not leaving you!"

"Fine then, is the coast clear?" I ask of her.

Kylie peeks out of the alley and gives me the "come on" wave. I sling Allister over my shoulder and run towards Kylie scooping her under my other arm and take off.

"Won't people see us?" Kylie yells through the wind we create.

"No we're moving too fast," I turn into the woods. What is usually a thirty minute hike to the other side takes me under five minutes. The road we come out on is Highland Road, a back road to a small country town called McBride.

"Twyla, I'm getting sick! Can you slow down?" I dart into the woods on the outskirts of McBride and run for another minute then come to a stop.

"We can only stop for a moment. We have to go further." I drop Allister's body.

"Twyla, we're 45 minutes away from town. It took us less then that to get here, on foot! You could run laps around the woman and men at the Olympics." Kylie stares, glassy eyed at Allister.

"That's how I get around Douglas. I leave my car at home and just run. It's liberating. Well, I think you're right. We are in a different county, let alone a different town." I squint down at Allister's body. "Um, He's not ripped up enough."

"What?" Kylie's face turns white.

"I have to rip up his body a little more. Go hide behind that tree. I have to make it look like an animal did this." Kylie nods her head and walks behind a large Oak, plugging her ears.

I make sure she's not peeking and assess Allister's body. I step on his shoulder. Making sure I won't trip myself, I get a tight grip on his forearm and carefully rip, making sure not to get any blood on me. I slightly stumble back with Allister's fleshy arm in my hand, blood dripping from the break. I walk to the other side of his body and kneel towards his abdomen. Through his t-shirt I bite down and rip a juicy hole in his muscle. The tiny bit of left over blood leaks out. Lastly, I rip out his neck. Licking the blood off my hands and lips, I tell Kylie it's okay to come out.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! I'm gonna puke!" Kylie falls to her hands and knees and up chucks her pepperoni pizza.

"I'm so sorry you have to see this, Kylie."

In between heaves Kylie says, "No. It's okay, I wanted to help you."

"It's really.. not okay." I stretch a pair of disposable non-latex gloves over my hands. "Alright, we have to take his wallet and make sure we have his ID, and we need his cell phone too." Reaching into his pocket I feel his wallet. His ID is in it, good. I throw the wallet in my running bag and dig for his phone. Got it. I make easy work of the phone and smash it with a large rock, leaving it in pieces in the dirt. He's got a pocket knife and a few pills, steroids I'm guessing. Kylie just stares at me, emotionless, not sure what to make of all this.

"Can we go back now?" Kylie looks nervously around the woods. "It's scary here at night."

"Check me for blood," I ask, lifting my arms out.

She wipes a spot off my cheek and walks around me once, "You're clean. What about me?"

"Yeah, you're fine. Hop on my back." I hand her my running bag. She slings it on her back and hops onto mine and we're off again.

Once we're back in town we stop in to Romeo's and everyone is still there, just as we left them, eyes glued to the big bright screen. We're still winning, haven't scored any more points, but the other team managed to get a few in while we were gone. I was about to ask for a soda then remembered it's not such a good idea. It's a force of habit, a really annoying one. I reach for a breath mint in my running bag. Those don't seem to bother my stomach. Gum is a different story for some reason.

"Hey, what took you guys?" Jake walks up to us.

"We ran in to some people from school," I make up quickly. Kylie nods.

"Oh, who's that?" Jake prods.

"Uh, no one you know. Kids from my bio class." I quickly come back with.

"Try me. I know like the whole school." He persists.

"Mmm, Stephanie Learson and Collin Perkins?" I pull those names straight out of my ass. Those people don't even exist. Kylie looks nervously at the TV.

"Hmm, nope, you got me there. That's a first! I can't believe the other team scored!" Yes! He dropped it.

"Well, we're still winning so that's good." I fake a smile.

Jake nods and looks around the pizza shop, "Hey did you see Allister out there? He left a few minutes after you guys did."

"Nope. He must have walked the other way because we sure didn't see him. Nope." Kylie gives me a strange expression.

Jake glances around again then takes a seat, "Okay, well, I'll wait a little longer. Maybe he ran into someone else." Yeah, or something...

"Hey Twyla, didn't you want to jump in your pool if it wasn't raining tonight?" Kylie is desperate to get out of here.

"Oh.. Oh yeah. It's a great night for a swim. Let's go. See you at school Jake."

"Alright guys, bye." Jake barely turns his head away from the game.

Kylie and I walk very hurriedly down the street. The brisk Spring breeze seems to whip us in the face.

"Holy Shit, Twyla!" Kylie stops me in my tracks. She puts her hands on my shoulders, "What's gonna happen? Will people find out? What happens if someone finds him?"

"Slow down! Nothing's gonna happen. Do you remember that party Jake took us to last year at Allister's house?" I continue to walk back to my house.

"Yeah, sorta." She walks with me.

"Do you remember seeing his parents there?" I pick her brain.

"Oh! No, I don't. They were in Vermont of something!" She remembers.

"Yeah! Allister's parents are always gone and I heard him mention something in Business Math about them going to Colorado for two weeks. That was a couple days ago. We have at least a week before anyone finds him. Plus, I have a special place I'll take him to in a few days. It's really far away and trust me, you don't wanna come."

A slight look of relief lessens the wrinkles on Kylie's forehead.

"You sleepin' over or what?" I nudge her.

"Yeah, I will. Just don't try anything sly!" she scowls at me.

"Don't worry, I won't be hungry for a few days." I laugh, as Kylie rolls her eyes.

My house is filled with the sounds of Football and the smells of salsa and cocktail wieners. My mom is doing a crossword puzzle as my dad flails around in front of the TV. Kylie and I walk straight into my room without being noticed, the way I like it.