“My room? What are you talking about? I’m not going to live here. Especially without Benji. I want to go home,” Rachel snapped back.
“And where is home exactly?” Matilda asked. “Everything you once knew was gone. Don’t you get it? You’re not human anymore. All your old friendships, all your old relationships, are all going to be different now. This is your home now and we are your new family.”
Rachel thought about that and was reeling from the implications. “This place, my home? These people, my family?” It was all too much for her to take at once. It seemed surreal.
Matilda suddenly stood and began to walk away. Rachel got up and followed her in a daze, unthinking. The two walked single file back through the castle and to the point after the drawbridge where the paths divided. Matilda started walking on the path that said, “North Wing.” The hallway was dark and damp, with a musty old smell in the air. The carpeting that lined the floor looked as if it had been there thousands of years, with hideous emerald green flowers on it.
This part of the castle didn’t resemble the elegance or lavishness that the other areas did. She couldn’t figure out why Matilda was dragging her down this hallway, which resembled a dingy dormitory. They passed door after door and as she peered inside she saw twin sized beds with metal frames around them. Each room was identical to the next. A group of people passed them in the hallway—they looked to be in their thirties or forties but she couldn’t really tell. All she knew was that they were older than she was. She felt alone and longed for the days at AHS and with her family. She felt her eyes begin to swell up with tears as Matilda pointed to a room at the far end of the hallway.
“This is your room. Welcome home,” Matilda said, smirking.
Rachel held in her emotions and walked inside. The smell of the room was anything but fresh, and the walls were painted a deep rust color. She could hardly bare to look at it. There was one window that was covered with a black and white paisley tapestry.
“I’m going to leave you now,” Matilda said as she turned to walk out.
Rachel had no words to express what she was feeling inside, but managed to say, “Fine, will I see you soon?”
“Most likely you will see me tomorrow. It all depends how quickly this war breaks into full force and if they need me elsewhere. If I don’t meet you after practice, you know I have fled the castle.”
“Well, where will I find you if you leave?” Rachel asked, scared.
“I can’t say, and to be honest, I don’t have an answer for you. My location can change like the wind, and at any given moment, my coordinates could change if my powers are needed somewhere else. It’s not definite I’m leaving, but I wanted to give you a heads up. You will be fine here. Keep up with the training sessions and you will survive.”
Feeling a bit overwhelmed and panicked, Rachel said, “Ok. Well, I hope to see you again tomorrow. And maybe you will know more about where your brother is and when I will see him again. I pray that you will have more information.”
“Perhaps,” Matilda said as she turned to walk out the door. “Goodbye, Rachel.”
The door creaked shut behind her and Rachel stood there, feeling alone and scared. The tears that had been swelling up suddenly came streaming down her face and she started hysterically crying. She walked over to her bed and put her face in the pillow and sobbed. She hated this place and wished she had never asked to be turned. She knew this was all a big mistake.
Then, she bolted up and started rummaging around her room for some paper. She cobbled together some scraps she found in the bottom of the small closet and bound them together with a piece of old rusted wire she found sticking out of her bed frame. She knew writing always consoled her, so she began to write in her makeshift diary.
Dear Diary,
I am lost here. I am stuck in this castle, and I have no idea where I am. I have no friends, no family and now, these people are telling me they are my new family and that this is my home. I feel completely disconnected. I want to run away but was warned if I do that, I’ll surely die. I can’t take this anymore. Benji is not here and I’m sitting in this room all alone. I have no idea what day it is or how long I’ve been here. If only someone could tell me and give me some guidance, but everyone here is either too busy, or doesn’t have answers.
They say I am not human too. It’s weird because part of me still feels human. I know that this training session will help me understand what it means to be a vampire, but I am doubtful I will ever fit in here. I don’t want to fit in here. I want to go home. Please God, please take me back home. Please say this is all a bad dream. I will do anything. I promise. Just please make this end.
XOXO,
Rachel
With that, she lay down, feeling exhausted from the day and went to sleep, hoping that when she woke up in the morning it would be in her house at 42 Pine Road.
Chapter Five
The doorbell rang and Rachel’s dad, John, ran to see who it was. His body was on edge from all the commotion with his youngest daughter missing. He and his wife, Betsy, hadn’t felt this worried or scared in a long time and now, hopefully, the person at the door would have the missing link in the case.
RING.
The doorbell rang again as he ran down the stairs in his bathrobe. He quickly peered out of the window and saw three police officers standing on his stoop, a sight he had unfortunately grown accustomed to since they had moved in just over a month ago. He reached for the knob and swung the door open.
“Who is it?” Betsy yelled down from the bedroom.
“It’s the police, you should come down!” he exclaimed.
As he opened the door he looked at the faces of the cops that were staring blankly back at him.
“Any news? Please say you found her,” he asked, looking up towards the sky as if saying a prayer.
The cops looked at each other and then back at him, “Unfortunately, sir, we don’t have anything new to report to you. We don’t have your daughter – yet.”
“Please! Someone find her!” Betsy’s voice cried through the doorway.
“Did they find her?” Rachel’s sister, Sarah said as she came barreling towards the front door.
“No, we do not have your sister,” the police stated again.
“Is there any way to track her down?” John asked, hopeful.
“We have traced her cell phone records and know where she was right before her phone went dead. She had been sending text messages, to you I think?” the police officer said, looking at Sarah.