The Runner
By- Amber
Elizabeth Love layed on her bed looking up at her ceiling thinking about how crappy her life had gotten in the past 9 years, it had all started on her seventh birthday.
She had gotten off the bus wondering what her mommy had gotten her and smiled she had the best life in the whole wide world but as soon as she opened the door she knew something was wrong, she smelled blood. She almost ran out of the door but contrary to her name she wasn’t a sweet little girl she was a tomboy that wasn’t afraid of anything. So she took a deep breath and walked towards her parents’ bedroom but before she could get there her mom came running down the hallway screaming. She had blood all over her pretty white shirt and her face was scratched, when she saw Elizabeth (or Lizzy as she called her) she momentarily froze pure horror came across her face.
“Run” she screamed but it was too late, a man came behind Elizabeth and grabbed her she kicked and screamed just like Mrs. Jones had taught her to do in case someone tried to hurt her but the man just ignored her and carried her into her parents’ bedroom. At first she was confused, they must be in the wrong room mommy’s and daddy’s room wasn’t red but when she saw her dad laying on the bed with a huge hole in the middle of his head she understood. You need to be smart she told herself so she stopped fighting there was no way she could fight a man his size but maybe just maybe she could outsmart him.
“You’re wrong” the man said, Elizabeth just looked at him quizzically “you can’t outsmart me” he said smiling down at her. Elizabeth froze how he could know what she was thinking, part of her said it wasn’t it had to be a coincidence but another part told her she was up against something she hadn’t believed in since she was a baby. Monsters.
“Well that’s not very nice” the man said as he set her down by her dad, she tried not to look at him she had to be in control now, she was acting like a grown-up now her mom had always told her she was more of an adult then she knew.
“You killed my dad so you’re a monster to me” she said her voice cracking “I had to, he was causing too much trouble” he said as if that was reason enough and to him it probably was.
“Now you’re going to be a good little girl while I go take care of your mommy” he said as he finished tying her hands together behind her back, then he walked out of the room. There were some good things about being little like the fact that she could squeeze her hands from the knot the man had hastily tied, the she quickly and quietly walked over to her daddy’s night stand and took out the one thing her dad had told her to never touch she could hear his deep rough voice now “now listen to me princess don’t ever touch this, it could hurt you and we don’t want that to happen now do we” he had said and tickled her noise as she giggled. Well now was a different story she thought as she wiped her tears away and she wasn’t going to hurt herself she was going to hurt the man that had ruined her birthday. She got up and walked out to the hallway where her mom was and let out a startled cry, a seven year old could only take so much before she broke and seeing some man bite her mom with fangs that looked plenty real to her did it. The man quickly looked up at her and grumbled his lips looked like he had been eating berries and that’s what she told herself her was doing so she didn’t break down.
“Can’t you listen” he said in a quiet threatening voice that made her wish he was yelling instead, but that wasn’t the worst part the worst part was his eyes they were glowing his normal eye color was probably blue she guessed because now they were a neon blue. She took in a startled breath and then muttered one word “vampire”. He smiled and just nodded his head.
“No that can’t be true “she said, monster weren’t real how could this be happening but the proof was right there in front of her, her mom with two holes on the side of her neck. She didn’t think she just took the gun she had been hiding behind her back and shot, she had seen her dad shoot targets in the backyard so she knew what she was doing, sorta. The first one went in his stomach then she went wild, most of the bullets went into the walls around her the others went into parts of his body his arm leg and one his head. Each shot shook her little body but she didn’t stop until there were no more bullets, the man fell onto the floor.
She looked down at him and said “that was for ruining my birthday you jerk” and she calmly walked over to her mother and pushed her hair away from her face and gave her a kiss.
Then she whispered “you were right I am more grown-up than I knew” she got up and walked to her room and started packing, she had no other family and she knew she was on her own now. She looked down at her hand its little pudgy fingers were still wrapped tightly around the gun and for now real reason she packed that to. When she got into the hallway again she screamed, even though she knew that was a dumb thing to do she couldn’t help it. The man was gone well what were you thinking he’s a vampire he won’t die from a gun and with that thought she ran, fast, once she started she couldn’t stop she ran out of the house past the school and everything else she had ever known, her life was different now deep down she had always know there was more out there than she could see but now she knew and she had a job now .Vampire Hunter.
Elizabeth sat up and wiped away her tears there was no use in crying, yeah her life sucked but she was alive and now days that was all she could ask for. On that cold December day she had left Lizzy behind now she was Elizabeth she had no friends she changed homes, if you would call cheap motel rooms a home, ever month and most importantly she killed vampires. She told herself once she found the one that had ruined her life and killed him, slowly, she would stop but she knew that was a lie this was a till death do us part kind of job and she didn’t want to stop. This month she was investigating a string of deaths, all of 5 of them had had the blood drained out of them. The local police were saying it was a strange cult but Elizabeth knew what it was, a vampire and probably a young one, older ones weren’t so messy. She sighed and got out of bed even though she didn’t have a normal life she still went to school, just to learn she told herself but really it was to see other people, all the people she saw were dead or dead and walking and she didn’t count them as people. She dressed in black tights a mini skirt and a tight red shirt; she looked at herself in the mirror as she applied mascara and eyeliner. Most people that saw her jus automatically thought of her as gothic but then if they looked closed at her under all the black cloths and heavy make-up she was beautiful. She didn’t mean to be self centered but it was true she had long black hair that curved at the ends and a slim curvy body but the most beautiful and exotic thing about her were her eyes, they were blue with strange wrings of black around the pupil. Once people did get a closer look at her (which they rarely do) the first thought they had was weirdo, no matter who they were they always had the same thought. It really didn’t matter to Elizabeth what other people thought about her, besides by the time people had any thoughts about her she was already moved on. With a wistful sigh she walked out of the hotel room and started towards the school, Sunny High looked like its name it was a bright and cheerful atmosphere and its students never seemed to be unhappy in other words it was fake. The kids looked happy because that was what the teachers had told them to do, and in their defense no of them had ever had to deal with something that wasn’t fun and perky. Sadly she had to go to this school as part as her cover but she stuck out like a sore thumb as she entered the school three girls with bleach blonde hair perky faces and other perky things said “hi” to her at the same time.
“Don’t you all have anything better to do then be overly perfect” I asked in a distasteful voice, but the girls just ignored the comment and went on and kept smiling at her. She made a face and walked to her first period class she was getting ready to walk into the room when she heard loud voices and being who she was she had to see what was going on. She swiftly but quietly walked up to the scene with practiced grace to on lookers she would look almost like a stalking cat. When she saw what was going on she felt her stomach drop and then felt burning anger the kind that made her vision red and the inside of her mouth taste like copper. A bunch of tall and well built guys obviously jocks were gathered around a boy, he was laying on the floor with his books spread around him. At first glance of the boy she was confused he was well looking not that it mattered to her she told herself quickly, he had long dark hair and deep blue eyes and he was surprisingly well built as well. It was hidden most people probably couldn’t see it but Elizabeth was trained in finding someone’s strength, something about his looks were familiar but she wiped it away. He was glaring up at the boys with obvious hatred but he was just sitting there glaring up at them, it was more than she could take she walked slowly up to one of the jocks he was tall with dark hair.
“Leave him alone or I will make sure you never walk again” and she said it in a pleasant voice, the stupid boy just slowly looked at her up and down and slowly broke into a wolfish grin.
“Or what, you gonna slap me” he said and his friends all broke into laughter. The boy in the middle of the circle was simply looking at her but he had a look of admiration on his face. Not the kind of look a guy wears when he is looking at a girl he thinks is “hot” but the way someone looks when they are looking at amazing art. She felt a blush rise on her cheeks and in surprise lifted her hand to her face; she hadn’t blushed since she was a little girl what was wrong with her. She quickly got back into the conversation.
“No I’m going to break both your legs and laugh while you scream in pain” I said in a quiet voice only he could hear. The jock just laughed at her but the boy that was surrounded laughed it was a nice laugh it seemed to float over Elizabeth’s body and she shivered.
“You better watch out Mike I think you might have met your match” he said in an attractive voice, God Damnit what’s wrong with you he is a guy guys are bad no matter what. Mike just laughed and kicked the boy.
“Shut up Ethan there is a lady in our presence and I like a girl with a spark” Mike said looking at Elizabeth up and down as if he was observing a new house. As soon as Mike kicked Ethan Elizabeth went into action, she kicked Mike in the legs making him fall down the look of surprise on his face was so hilarious Elizabeth almost stopped to take a picture. She quickly grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back and applied pressure.
“Listen buddy you make one move I will break your arm with a smile on my face” in a menacing voice, at that moment one of the other Jocks approached her from behind he was probably trying to be quiet but compared to vampires he could have been an elephant. But before he could reach her Ethan quickly reached out and grabbed his arm with a vicious pull that brought him to the ground, at which point he twisted his arm and put him in the same position Elizabeth had Mike in. She looked over and gave him a thankful smile or at least what she hoped was a thankful smile but before she could say anything a deep booming voice echoed of the walls “ok everyone clear out there is nothing to see Ms. Love, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Walton please come with me, the rest of you go to your first period class. Great she thought to herself first week of school and I’m getting in trouble looks like I’m right on schedule and broke into a smile that she knew could make strong men fall. She let go of Mike and started towards the office Ethan popped up beside her and walked beside her. “Thanks for saving me back there” he said with a toss of his hair that was so adorable Elizabeth smiled but then got control of herself again and simply nodded.
“No problem” she murmured as she snuck another glance at him, he was tall and stronger than she had initially thought his dark hair was shiny and made his face even more beautiful his green eyes were sparking like he was enjoying a good look and his lips let’s not go there. They finally got to the office and they all sat down on the bench that was outside the door of the principal’s office, Mike was rubbing his arm with a pained look on his face and she started to laugh quietly.
“What’s so funny” Mike said in a voice that was supposed to be menacing but it only made Elizabeth laugh harder. Soon Ethan joined in and before long they were both laughing so hard he were leaning over, Elizabeth sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I’m Ethan” he said as he stuck his hand out to her, she slowly took it and shook she loved the way his hands felt she thought absently then shook herself.
“I’m Elizabeth” she said without a smile hoping he would figure out that she was done talking, even though she strangely enjoyed his company she couldn’t get close to people not that she wanted to get close to him she told herself sternly. Thankfully the principal chose that time to call them into the office she smiled as she got up, this should be interesting the jock the school loved and the two misfits, wonderful.
~ Not yet finished, just wondered what others think about it..so here you go~
