Eternity

AN: So this is the first piece of fiction that I have posted here on aff so I\'m not really sure what to write exactly. I hope you all enjoy this and I am here by stating that this plot is mine and mine alone. I bought it for five magic beand and an old cow down at the corner store. Anyone who copies this will be abducted by my winged monkeys which I will send after you and fed you to my pet chickens. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The begining of how it all started

The heat lightening flashed across the night sky as the dark figure ran across the field. It was a hot August night and there was the feeling of rain in the humidity, which enveloped everything in sight.

I was laying in my bed, pretending to be asleep, waiting for the sound that would signal me to quietly climb out my bedroom window and down the rose trellis. The bedside clock read 11:45, only five more minutes until I had to start preparing to leave.

It was tradition, one that my friends and I went through every weekend. School would pass through its dreary weekdays and then Friday night would come, a savior to all. Friday nights were special, they were when I could be myself.

Silently I stayed under the thin sheets on my bed. My parents were already in bed, they had checked on me a mere 20 minutes ago. It was insane to think, but my parents were always worried about me sneaking out of the house. It was ironic too that they thought that, after 11, I wouldn’t try to leave. It was always the same routine and my sleeping performance was flawless after years of Friday nights. I was fit to become a soap star or something with it. I swear, I could win Emmy awards for my performances, and to think that I have never had any training.

11:47, I was growing impatient with waiting. I needed tonight, I was hungry for excitement, and I wanted nothing more than to leave my boring life behind, even if it would be for a few hours. The flower-papered walls of my bedroom were growing tighter together, making it harder to take my next breath. The stuffed animals on the shelves made me want to scream, as did the cutesy pictures that my mother refused to let me take down. Nothing around reflected my true self.

I was a creature of the night. I thought, worked and felt better when there was just the silvery light of the moon. It was only this that allowed me to calm down and look at the clock again. It was time. Quickly and quietly, I eased myself out of bed, still fully dressed, shoved my feet into my shoes and grabbed my bag before sliding open the window.

There, the flame from a lighter could be seen moving slowly back and forth by the barn followed by a strange attempt of a wolf howling. That was the signal I had been waiting for. I threw my bag down to the grass below and soon followed it myself. Carefully I lowered myself down the trellis and jumped the last few feet, landing in a crouch.

“Claudia, hurry up or we’ll be late.” Hissed a low voice from the shadow of the barn.

I sighed as I picked myself up off the ground and reached for my bag all in one swift motion. Years of dance had been good to me and they allowed me to be graceful, especially when sneaking out of the house. Unfortunately, the same didn’t apply to Philippe. I could hear him swear into the darkness after a distinct crash of him tripping over the old stump in my yard. I couldn’t help but laugh but I quickly clamped my hand over my mouth and glanced at my parent’s bedroom window. I prayed that they had had a little more to drink than usual so that they would have went to sleep faster. Thankfully there weren’t any signs of life from up above and I removed my hand.

A pair of arms snaked their way around me from behind and I could feel Philippe’s warm breath on my cheek. “You should really be more quiet. You might wake up my parents.” I whispered while leaning back into him.

“And where would be the fun in that?” He asked, kissing my neck.

I spun around in his arms to face him and met his lips quickly with my own. “Come on. We’re really going to be late now.” I pulled away and started to walk towards the woods.

The old mill had been abandoned for many years even before we had all started going there. In the twenties it had been a fabric mill and a well-known mill too. It had made thousands of dollars a month, thousands being a lot back then, but then had went bankrupt when the stock market crashed. Now, over the years, it had been taken over by local teens, including my friends and me, and had a complete make over. There was music blaring, lights flashing and everything else that made weekends what they are.

I was what you could call a VIP. I had my own room, which was the main office back in the day, I decide who was allowed in and who wasn’t, I was basically the top dog. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

You see, I was the one who found the mill, although it wasn’t exactly on purpose. My brothers, Benjamin and Frederick, and I were playing capture the flag in the forest when I was 7 and when I was running to the tree house that was home base I saw it for the first time. I was awestruck to find the ivy-covered building, overgrown and hidden from the world. It was perfectly camouflaged from unsuspecting eyes, the earthen stones blending perfectly with the green of the foliage of the forest encasing it. Even though it was monstrous, three and a half stories, it fit perfectly into the landscape. It never seemed to be out of place. It had the rustic look that made you think that it had been there since the beginning of time. Needless to say, that was when I stumbled on my now happy little piece of heaven and it was where my brothers found me several hours later, after getting our father’s retired hound to sniff me out. Of course, they were the ones to start the weekend parties but their letting my go with them whenever I wanted, as long as I promised to stay in the office, bought my silence. Years later my brothers passed on their reign onto me and now I was queen bee.

However, as the years passed, the mill started to become more and more a pert of my whole life. I came here a lot to do homework, to think, to do whatever I pleased. There were only a select few who were allowed to come here after hours, those people too were chosen specially by me. Basically, that pleasure stayed with those who were in my elite circle. They all knew my deepest, darkest secret, which lay dormant in my dank soul until we all came together. They knew that once a week I needed to be with them, to feed the monster inside.

Philippe Cartier was, of course, my first to tell my shameful secret to and the first to agree to these weekly meetings and the main person I counted on to be there. At eighteen, Philippe stood a while head taller than my 5’6 frame and never missed an opportunity to flaunt it. With his fiery red hair and golden eyes, he could sometimes resemble a circus clown, especially when he was being his clumsy self. He was my best friend ever, our mothers were friends, our fathers were friends and so were we. Some often mistook us for being more of a couple. I do have to admit that we kiss, we hug, and we lost our virginity to each other when we were sixteen, we were never emotionally attached as most couples are. Yes we grew jealous of each other when we were dating someone, but that never lasted long. I always watched his soccer games, and a few practices. I knew I could depend on him for anything and if need be, I know he would marry me at the drop of a hat, but we were always truthful with each other and we knew our hearts truly belonged to someone else. He was my tin man, my knight in shining armor, my best friend and nothing more.

Estella was the little sister that I am extremely happy I never got for Christmas. She was, in fact, Philippe little sister and at age fifteen, knew much too much for her fragile mind. She was always there with a shoulder to cry on and knew that she could ask me anything. Her resemblance was exactly like her brothers, amazingly red hair and eyes that sparkled in the dead of night. She was also an aspiring witch. She studied old textbooks on the subject and learned all about the healing properties of plants and minerals. She too was a party to our circle, bringing her whole self into it and keeping my secret locked deep in her heart.

Clarissa Andrews was soon to follow, being my best girl friend since we were in diapers and the third leg of the tripod that I depended on. She is the classic beauty with chocolate eyes and deep brown hair. She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn with her class and elegance. I really hate her for her near perfect complexion, but she’s obsessive over it, something I’m not, that really pays off. However, as beautiful as I think she is, Clarissa herself thinks herself nothing special. I think it’s the middle child syndrome that makes her brain function that way. She’s the exact middle of the five children in her family. The oldest being almost thirty and the youngest barely five. Clarissa’s and average student I would say, we always help each other out, depending on the subject. She’s the science and math while I’m English and arts. We also do the drama productions together at school and take dance a few times a week. Her, Philippe and I are basically attached at the hip, the three of us together unstoppable.

The last few people that are a part of our circle, our clan, are my brothers and close friends of theirs that I would trust with my life. We’re all extremely close and I would have it no other way. They are the only ones in the world who know who I truly am, save one. They all know and accept and act like a true family despite the real Claudia, the vampire I have become.

It all started the summer I was sixteen. I had just graduated grade eleven and my parents decided that, due to the high marks that I received on my end of term report card, my parents, brothers and I would all take a family trip to Montreal to visit my father’s family. However, this was just a front to make it seem somewhat special. My mother had decided months before hand that it had been several years since we had taken that nine-hour drive into Quebec and through the major traffic jams of three large cities, so why shouldn’t we go as soon as we were all able to go. Hence, as soon as both my brothers and I finished out last exam, we were forced into another form of stress: traveling in close confines for more time than necessary.

I had been sitting with my bare legs tucked under me on the seat when my brother Frederick suddenly decided to try and shove them off by sitting on them. “Freddie! Get onto your own side! My feet are there and I don’t need your ass on them!” I whined at my older brother, kicking at him as I tried to push him back. He seemed to think that, just because he was five years older than I was, he was able to do as he pleased whenever he came home for the holidays.

“Claudia Marie, put your feet on the floor. I just had the car cleaned. Frederick, leave your sister alone please. We’re almost there and you two have been fighting ever since we hit Toronto. Just stay quiet for another half-hour.” My mother said from the front passenger seat. She hadn’t even glanced up from her fashion magazine.

My brother just smirked at me, until my other brother Benjamin cuffed him upside his head, knocking Freddie’s sunglasses askew. I heard a muffled ouch from Freddie and mouthed a thank you to Ben who was sitting in the back seat of the mini van by himself. Freddie never said a word against him, finding it more amusing to take his snotty ‘brotherly-love’ out on me and poked my side. Of course, Ben was always on my side when it came to these matters and simply cuffed him harder, leaving Freddie to rub his sore head. I love oldest brothers; they always stuck up for you. Granted, both were always cornering any guy I showed interest in and said that they would become the leading sopranos in the school choir if they ever hurt me. Thus resulting in my never having any more than a few dates with a guy.

Grateful towards Benjamin, I slipped on my headphones and turned on my CD player, only to find that the batteries were dead. But before I had the chance to ask it there were any extra’s, Ben handed me his bag and tapped the front pocket. It was his way of apologizing for getting me in trouble with our mother. “Thanks.” I muttered, and quickly replaced the used batteries with the new. I then shut my mouth for the rest of the trip, which was my way of apologizing.

Before I knew it, we had traveled through the rush hour traffic and were pulling into the short drive of my Aunt Edith’s house. She was my father’s half-sister, being older and from my grandfather’s first marriage. It felt good to finally get out of the stuffy van and to stretch my legs for the first time in hours. I breathed in a deep gulp of polluted air and held it as I raised my arms over my head to stretch. I loved the big cities. Coming from a small rural community, I was rarely completely surrounded by people and noise. It was nice to be able to just submerge myself in the sights and sounds of the hustle and bustle of a fast-paced life. But before I was able to fully appreciate the smoggy atmosphere, I had the air from my lungs squeezed out of me by my Aunt Edith.

“Claudia darling! My how you have gained weight. Lucky for you it went to you breasts more than your tush. Are you still a virgin? I hope you take the proper precautions when having sex. You wouldn’t want to gain fifty pounds during those long nine months, if you know what I mean.” Aunt Edith exclaimed, not taking into thought that my parents were standing right behind me, nor that my brothers were listening beside me. Of course, Aunt Edith was always extremely verbal, despite who was around her or what the topic was. We had all learned at a very young age that it was usually better to just smile and nod.

“Hello Aunt Edith.” I responded, not wanting to answer any of the questions or acknowledge the comment on my weight. “Still seeing that male stripper?”

“Why yes, I’m still with Leonardo, how nice of you to ask. He’ll be here tonight too if you want to see him.” She never even blinked an eye as she went on to hug each of my brothers. “Benjamin, Frederick, how much you have grown. I’m sure you have females lined up around the block to date you. You might want to do something about that skin problem Ben. I have a nice night facemask that works miracles. I’ll give you some tonight. And Frederick, you might want to switch colognes. The one you’re wearing does nothing to hide your natural odor. Oh how I’ve missed you all!” She exclaimed while pulling us all in for another bone-crushing hug.

My brothers said their ‘hellos’ and went to get their bags from our parents. In all honesty, I think they are a little put off my Aunt Edith’s forwardness. They always seem to bring home the non-verbal, big haired bimbo’s rather than the intelligent ones who speak their minds.

I quickly followed their lead and grabbed my duffel bag and walked into the house as my father’s sister welcomed my parents. It was always extremely messy in my aunt’s house. She rarely home, except to sleep and sometimes eat, preferring the nightlife and her flavor of the week’s house to her own. This led to her having dishes piled in the sink from the last Monday’s breakfast, dirty laundry on the floor, and dust everywhere. However, the bedrooms and bathrooms were always somewhat passable and the sheets were clean, along with the towels.

This time it was an exception. Apparently Aunt Edith had hired a housekeeper before our arrival, or her son had been home recently from Africa and had cleaned himself. I opted for the latter of the two after noticing a well-worn safari jacket hanging on the hook by the door. “Hello David.” I yelled into the recesses of the house as I ran up the stairs after Freddie, not wanting to get stuck with the same bedroom as last time. The last time we were here, I was in the room with all the African masks hung on the walls and wasn’t able to sleep the whole time.

Thankfully, there was already someone in there, my guess was David, so Freddie and Ben had to share the room with two twin beds while I got one of my own. I suppressed the urge to laugh as I flopped down onto the Queen size bed I got to myself. Victory was mine.

That night, we all ate in the dining room, a wonderfully delicious meal that David made from a recipe that he got from a local woman in Africa and after dinner we all played dominos. It’s a funny thing the game of dominos. My aunt had gotten this huge set of them some time ago and had become absolutely addicted to a game called ‘Chicken Foot’. It was a little difficult to comprehend at first, but once we all got the hang of it we were laughing and carrying on like kindergarteners. Even Leonardo, who I had only met briefly a few times, usually in passing on the stairs or at the door to my aunt’s bedroom, was loosening up and acting like he was a true member of the family.

“Ha! Chicken foot you yellow bellied sap suckers!” Yelled David from the head of the table as he placed his double fifteen horizontally across the other playing piece. This was met with many a moan and my extreme happiness. I had been holding a fifteen for about twenty minutes and it was my last domino. I also was sitting right next to David and it was my turn.

“I’m out!” I called as I played my piece. “I win again!” this brought another round of moans and a comment or two about how I was somehow cheating. “Tally up the scores and I’m going to bed.” The clock read well past one in the morning, “I figure I should quit while I’m ahead.”

“Alright Claudia. But will you go and pour me another cup of tea before you go upstairs?” Said my mother as she tried to count how many points she has left in her hand, losing count after fifty.

“It’s not fair Dad. How did Claudia get only seventy-two points this whole time and the rest of us are almost at three hundred, if not over?” Asked Ben as he looked over my father’s shoulder while he added up everyone’s newly acquired tally.

“It’s easy Benjamin dear.” Answered my Aunt Edith, “Claudia has always had a four leaf clover shoved up her ass.” She of course decided to say this as my mother took a mouthful of the long cold tea and was promptly showered in the frigid liquid as it came out my mothers nose as she tried not to laugh.

Oh yes, it was just a normal night with Aunt Edith for sure.



Well, i hope you liked this. I will be adding more soon, it\'s all planned up in my head. i just wish that i could place it onto paper before i forget what i want to put. Oh the life of writing!