#ThursThreads, week 571

Prompt: https://siobhanmuir.com/thursthreads-tying-tales-together-week-571/

The hallway was long enough for my head to stop hurting so bad. Billy walked behind me and to my side, as if he was making sure I wouldn’t run. 

Run? I wouldn’t have known where to run. I hadn’t exactly chosen this new life.

Neither had Billy, for that matter. He just happened to be Johnny-on-the-spot when I was attacked. He ran them off, but the damage was done. 

I’d been delirious with pain and fear and have no clear memory of how we got back to Billy’s place. At some point, I tasted blood in my mouth, the hot, coppery liquid lighting me on fire, and then it was all chaos.

In the week that followed, Billy had been my lifeline. He taught me about who I was now and what I needed to do to survive. Twice, he and I went out so I could learn how to feed, but I found the whole thing repulsive, and only drank what he’d forced me to. 

We reached Her door. Billy hadn’t told me anything about Her other than to not piss Her off. As if I knew how to do that. 

As I reached for the doorknob, Billy grabbed my arm, hard. I slapped it away – I’d had enough of that shit in my life – and glared at him. 

“Good,” he said. “You can get angry. You’re going to need that if you want to make it in this life. But not now. Not with Her. Got it?”

#ThursThreads, week 568

I’d forgotten to post this two weeks ago, and it won, so I figured I should keep it around.

Prompt: https://siobhanmuir.com/thursthreads-tying-tales-together-week-568/

The snake slithered around my neck, its scales soft and dry against my sweaty, sticky skin. I don’t know what it thought I was, but as long as it didn’t think I was food, I was happy. Eventually, it climbed back up into the trees to do whatever enormous snakes did.

Unfortunately, the guy who’d tied me to the tree didn’t do me the same courtesy.

He didn’t really do much of anything, really, except be extremely thorough in his knot-tying. He never spoke, he didn’t grunt with effort – hell, I wasn’t sure if he breathed.

When he was done, he walked away from me and disappeared into the forest, having done his job remarkably well.

I should know. This was my sixth, no – seventh time she’d left me for dead.

The first time was after I’d forgotten to bring her the bike she’d wanted for Christmas. She didn’t leave her mom’s side the whole day, and the next day I’d woken up under what felt like every blanket in the house. It wasn’t as good an assassination attempt as leaving me tied to a tree in a forest filled with venomous creatures, but to be fair, she was only seven.

Each time had gotten more dangerous, more difficult to escape from. This time though – this was her best. I knew she thought I should have been there to see her every morning as she grew up, but she didn’t understand, not yet.

Still, she was my star pupil.

#ThursThreads, week 570

Prompt: https://siobhanmuir.com/thursthreads-tying-tales-together-week-570/

Billy flipped the light switch, and with my head feeling the way it did, the naked 60 W bulb hanging from the ceiling felt like the sun.

Thankfully, it wasn’t.

“What the fuck, dude? Turn that shit off.” I tried to bury my head under the pillow, but Billy yanked it away and laughed.

“Shut up, you baby. You’ve got supernatural eyes now. The pain should already be gone. Anyway, it’s time to get up. She’s here.”

“What? Already?”

“It’s already 11 pm. Let you sleep as long as I could.” He tossed me my clothes. “And get dressed. You’re hot and all, but She has big appetites in a lot of ways, and I’d like you to survive the night.”

I pulled my shirt over my head and tried to untangle the rat’s nest that was my hair. That wasn’t going to get better without a shower and a lot of brushing. The shirt was a little rank, but not too bad. I grimaced at the thought of putting that underwear on again, though, and decided against it. If She had an issue with me going commando, might as well find out quickly.

Billy sat down on the bed next to me and pulled off his hat. Now he spoke with some concern. “Have you been drinking enough blood? The first week is rough either way, but you need it.”

I thought of the night before and how I’d finally gotten something of value from my parents, and nodded.