Here is Chapter 1 of my short story. I call it “First Vampire”
The hunter’s moon rises flooding the dark green forest with a brilliant orange light. The forest is quiet even though a black figure quickly runs through it. His red teeth and glowing red eyes tell the story of his red heart.
~~~~~
He was a young boy of twelve cycles around the sun. Like all boys his age, he was preparing for the quest. Like the snake that sheds its skin to become something new, the boy would shed his first name and become who he was supposed to be. He had dreams of this moment. He had nightmares of this moment.
All this last year, his dad was taking him more and more to the hunts to watch. After the hunters had left for the day, his dad would take him at night to track the hunters. They would walk for hours until they found the clearing where the hunters were. The hunters would be sitting around a dead moose, hands inside the chest searching and a prayer being sung. Then the boy saw it. The hunter would pull out the bleeding heart. He would lift it to his mouth and bite deep into it. Blood would be running down his neck and chest. A loud thankful whoop would fill the night. The boy stared at the blood. there was no red berry like it. there was no red moon like it. he assumed that there was no taste like it.
Back at the camp, his parent told him of his quest. They told a story passed on for thousands of generations which explained his new responsibilities, his new prayers and his new songs. He listened to the story of the First Man and First Woman who went into the woods and built a fasting lodge to capture their dreams. He listened as the First Man and the First Woman entered a dream and spoke with all their brothers and sisters of every animal. They shared their fires and wisdom. They shared their stories and smoke. They shared their blood and songs. They accept the First Man and the First Woman and gave them a new name: Anishnabae.
The next day the boy got up early and walked into the woods towards the place where all boys went to become men. He took nothing but the clothes on his back and his dreams. He walked for hours in the woods and stopped at the river to drink. He looked at himself. This will be the last time I am boy he thought. So he jumped in and swam around like an otter. He enjoyed the warm day and the cool water. He invented games for one. He dove for rocks pretending they were children needing saving. He was a warrior. He was hailed as the greatest warrior when he got home. As he was singing a song of his greatness he was unaware that he was being watched.
He got out and dried himself on the other side of the river. He slept and had a dream of a hunt. He was hunter tracking his prey. He was running through the trees. They were a blur beside him. He was running and then like a rabbit, he began jumping from side to side, springing off the trees. He could see the back of man running ahead of him. He leapt on him and brought him down and ripped out his red, delicious heart and he ate. He awoke with a gasp. He was scared. What could this dream mean? He got up and left right away.
He was coming to the hill where he knew he would have to build his fasting lodge. He went to the nearby forest and began to look for branches. After he had collected enough he began to build. It was perfect. His remembered his mother laboring with for hours on how to build a fasting lodge. At the time he didn’t understand but now he was thankful for her patience and her insistence. His learning had begun. When the sun went down he fell asleep. He didn’t dream this night. He slept hard and long into the next morning. He awoke and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He heard birds singing in the trees and he looked for them. He spotted hawks, crows, robins and some others he didn’t know yet. He listened to them squabble and fight. Sing and warn. He watched them swoop and dive and climb and rest. He noticed trees that had fallen in years past. He noticed nests that had crashed with the trees and new nest in new trees. He realized that the birds were warriors. The world would change around them but they would continue to build and live their way of life. Change didn’t dishearten them.
His stomach growled. He was beginning to get hungry. He knew it was a test. He knew this was the first obstacle to the dream world. If he ate, he would have to start all over. The normal journey lasted four days but he had heard of other boys who went for three times the normal journey until they entered the dream world. He was determined to do it four days. He wanted to go back and sing the new songs with pride. He wanted his parents to wear on their faces the secret pride he had seen in other parents when they said “four”. But he was hungry.
He began to look at the birds again and the ground and the bushes. He thought he saw berries in the bush. Two red ones but then they disappeared. Maybe he was close to the dream world.
The day passed slower than he expected. Then sun was hotter than he ever remembered and he was hungrier than he had ever been. He fell asleep in the late afternoon. When he woke up it was dusk. The sun was just setting behind the hill. He could see the purple sky and he wondered how long the journey to the dream world took. Maybe he didn’t need to go. This sunset was beautiful and he thought maybe it was enough.
Then he heard the howl. It was loud and close. His heart jumped a little. He could hear cracking branches in the forest nearby. And he could see the two red berries he saw earlier and they were getting closer. A man walked out the forest. He was muscular and naked. His teeth were red when he opened his mouth to speak.
“Hello little one. Are you ready for the dream world?”
Was this it? He wasn’t told about a guide or a guardian. Was it a test?
“Who, who are you?” he asked.
“I am your brother and I have come to take you the dream world. What’s the matter? They didn’t tell you I was coming? It figures, they probably didn’t want to scare with my appearance. I take all the new warriors to the dream world. It’s a thankless job but one I am happy to do.”
With that he smiled and blood dripped from his teeth. Black blood. Old blood. The boy’s stomach growled.
“I don’t think you’re sent by the dream world at all.” the boy was very afraid and his words were not convincing.
“Suit yourself little one. Stay there and rot on your hunger and miss out on what I need to show you. I am not coming back it is now or never.” he turned to go and they boy yelled at him.
“Wait. Prove to me your from the dream world.”
“Come here and I will show you” the man said through a smile.
The boy stood up and stepped out. He puffed up his chest to show he was not afraid. But his legs trembled. The man stopped smiling.
“I am Windigo” and he rolled on the ground and turned into a wolf before the boys eyes. Then he rolled again turned back into a man. He howled. It was loud and fierce. The boy turned away and the man jumped on him and bit him on the neck.
His teeth sank in the young flesh like it was water. The boy felt hot blood run down his neck and realized this was not the dream world this was real. He pushed and fought and threw wild punches into the man. Finally he made a claw out of his fingers and went for the man’s face and scratched him. The man was startled and let go of the boy’s neck. The boy pushed hard and fell back into his hut.
The man laughed.
“It’s too late. I am coming for you. I have your blood inside me.”
The man came forward and the boy grabbed a thicker branch and put it in his hand. The man jumped into the hut and boy thrust his arm out with the branch and pierced skin. The man yelled and the boy pulled out the branch and stabbed again and again. The man’s blood began to spray and the boy was covered in it. He could feel it warmth. He could smell it in his nose. He could taste it in his mouth. His hunger was satisfied.
His vision began to blur and he passed out.
But I digress, as hard as it would be to meet the 77 people I have as friends, it is just as hard to keep up with all of them on facebook. I feel bad if I do not comment on someone’s facebook status. But I looked at it, isn’t that enough? I am not always witty and sometime I just have nothing to offer. Sometimes after a long day, writing a sentence about why I like your status is a hard thing to do. I barely keep up with my blog. I am not a prolific writer, but I hope that I have something interesting to say.
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