Diving back into an old...old fave.

Ah summer. Or I should say, "Ah, the weeks before summer starts." The weeks before summer starts is the most magical time. There you make all these plans-mostly reading and art projects for me-plans that are meant to be the things you always wanted to complete, but school and jobs got in the way.
But then summer hits and work and other things happen. Don't get me wrong, the summer I've had has been wonderful. The movies, the shopping. Seriously, I spent way too much on my Monster High dolls these last few months. But it has been tons of fun. The reconnecting with friends. And I still have a month to go! But in my virtual checklist, I haven't done squat. LOL
I do seriously plan on holding my mom to our Zoo photo shoot day. Plan A was to go to the aquarium and the zoo. But let's keep it realistic. LOL
Anyways, so, the projects. I always have a huge list of new reading that I want to get done. I have read a few new books, but none of the main ones I wanted to read. Mainly, I just find myself digging into some very old favorites.
And the one I'm reading now is from my days of middle school. I think the first time I cracked it open...I think I was in fifth grade?
Anyways, "The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West." It's the most beaten up paperback from 1988. Probably one of the obscure fantasy books that you find hidden away in Borders' bookshelves somewhere. The book is out of print, but you can get it on Kindle. My mom bought her...er..my copy on Amazon for about 50$.
The only reason I picked up the book in the first is because I had read the children's series by the same author. "Unicorns of Balinor." A fun series, but an age limit of 12 easily. In high school I tried to go back and read it, but the dialogue is simplistic, story line familiar, and the descriptions are like eating candy. Everything is soft, sweet, and a tiny bit sappy. LOL Perfect for a certain age group.

But "Heavenly" is so not for kids, which is why I can come back to it so easily.
So, I guess all I can say is, screw plans. The summer is about enjoying your freedom and doing whatever you feel like. And that mean being able to break rules that you have set for yourself.

Season Finales

I have noticed that this years season finales of my favorite shows has had a particularly good run this year. So I just wanted to take some time to discuss them. Surprisingly most of them are all first timers in their finales, but left me at the edge of my seat. And the rest are my old favorites.


WARNING BEYOND THESE WORDS THERE BE SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN NON CARING.


Revenge- This was my surprise love of this year. I remember EW's special ad in the magazine and thought that it was a tired concept. Rich people and backstabbing and plotting. Boy was I wrong. I could easily rate this season finale along with The Vampire Diaries'. And I am so glad that it's coming back for another season. They ended it perfectly, I was wondering how this show would maintain longevity, but they sure managed it. With the explosion and Emily wanting to find out more about her mother and suicide attempts. It's all so soapy and delicious.

Supernatural- Whew, my time old fave has had two really up and down seasons. I almost find myself wishing it had ended when the Kriptkeeper left. But then we would have missed out on some really good gems that these last two seasons gave us. The one thing about the show that really bugs me is Cas. I do not like this new crazy, tree hugger Cas. And I'm really hoping now that he and Dean are in Purgatory he's back to normal. I liked Evil Cas more than this.
Anyways, not much to say about the finale, Bobby truly crosses over, or at least I think he does. I really don't see this show killing off a character that has been around as long as the boys themselves. Sam and Dean manage to kill Dick. The whole human factory-Solyent Green thing just wasn't floating my boat. IDK, I don't think we're THAT oblivious. Anyways killing Dick opened a worm hole or something and sent Dean and Cas to Purgatory. Then Crowley-I wish they could decide what to do with him sometime-laughs at Sam and says he's all alone now, and he has the profit. I don't really care about this profit either. GIVE US CHUCK BACK! If we're talking about profits. But, like a good fan girl, I'll follow this show to the grave, just because, it was once awesome.

The Vampire Diaries- Elena's a vamprie now. Done. Awesome.
Oh and Alaric's dead. Waaaaaaaaah!

Bones- Another show that seems to be suffering from age. And what bothers me the most is that it had something super awesome with this season. And they just let it drop! Total frustration! Pelant is the most interesting thing since Gormegon, before they had to rush the season finale.
Pelant plants evidence implicating Bones in a murder. So keep herself off the books and out of the system, her runs with Christine leaving Booth behind looking like the saddest puppy dog, since Supernatural season 2 when Dean was crying over Sam the first time he died. Pelant also messes with something in Booth and Bones' house. Very curious. And looking forward to how they resolve this.

Once Upon a Time- Out of all the season finales I saw in these last weeks, this would be my least favorite. I'm not saying I didn't like it, I did. But it followed the most predictable formula. It ends with everyone remembering, and Rumpelstiltskin releasing magic.

Grimm-  This was another surprising finale that I loved. I am dying to know what happened to Juliet. I thought they were going to kill her off when she refused the proposal, but this is much better. Can't wait to see what happens with that. I also love Nick's freaky awesome fighting skills. And I also want to know what the heck the Captain is. He hasn't shown himself yet, just waiting for the moment when he does. I'm thinking he might be a Reaper? Anyways, also looking forward to seeing where this show goes. And I must give it props for not only surviving Friday death night, but succeeding. And maybe I just might have to go up and be an extra sometime. LOL

So, there you have it. The best finales I have seen this season. And I am now eagerly waiting for next fall! But first take the time to enjoy SYTYCD and Master Chef.

I have made a revelation.

For the past six years or so I have been at odds with myself. It all started with a simple trip to Goodwill during my Sophomore year of High School. Sitting in the toy bin was one Jurassic Park toy. It wasn't even a particularly good one. It was a Re-Ak-Attack Dilophosaur. It was the line Hasboro bought from Kenner, and all us JPToys fans agree, that Kenner had the far superior line of JP toys. But ever since then, I have been a collector of collectible toys for children. All the while a little part of my brain chastising me in the background.
"You're too old of this."
"It's time to grow up.'
"Act your age."
And so on. And I wanted to! Believe me. I want to act like other people my age. I don't want to care about this stuff. Or stuff my brain with random useless knowledge about the JP line. Like a foreign toy company Dakin was the original toy company for the movies. But they passed. I have the few toys that they did put out.
See? Useless.
And for awhile there I thought I was getting better. My scoping of Ebay started to wain, and it helped that Goodwill finds were getting few and far between. I think the last time I found something JP related was when I was still in Chemeketa.
I thought, "Yay! I'm getting older, and now more mature!"
ERRRR! Wrong!
I have found a new obsession.
Those would be The Monster High dolls. I know! Me? Collecting dolls?! Oh and not just that, I "play" with them too. Well, mostly I just brush their hair. But there is something soothing about it. LOL
And right now I have a pretty impressive collection. My favorite doll I have at the moment is Abbey Bominable. Just because her personality is so funny.
Anyway, this brings me to another point, why wasn't stuff like this popular when it was age appropriate for me? I was tortured beyond measure for loving dinosaurs, and the Dark Side of stories. If you get my drift. And now, there are tshirts with dinosaurs on them meant for little girls! I sigh at the unfairness of it all.
But I guess this is just something that I need to finally come to grips with. I will never be my age. The closest I got to acting my age is taking down all my SN posters off my bedroom walls. And I kinda liked it. My room looks bigger now.

So, "Hi, my name is Lydia Atsma and I love children's toys, and I love collecting them." There. I said it.
Actually, I'm not the oldest collector I know, go on Youtube, mothers, yes mothers, will buy two dolls, one for their kids and one for themselves. LOL So I'm not totally alone. LOL
And I've also figured something else out. Toys are more adults anyway. There's no way I would give a six year old a MIB Lost World Thrasher. Well not because the toy is now about 13 years old, but because all those pieces they would lose! No, toys are really for adults. I just talk about it more than most do. LOL

New Rubberboots

This is a hard one.

This past week I lost my horse Penny.

I was always planning on talking about my horse in my book, but never in past tense. But life is that way sometimes. And as much as it hurts, we have to keep going.

LIFE SUCKS.

THE END.

That message is one that everyone needs to hear and understand. It should be the main lesson taught in schools and by parents all around the world.

Today we are finding that Political Correctness, or PC is ruling our lives. We don’t want to say or do anything that might “offend” someone. Even red ink has been banned from some schools fearing that it might ruin a student’s self-esteem, when what it should be doing is pumping a student up. Showing them what they need to fix, because nothing is better than seeing little to no red ink on your paper. That right there is a great confidence booster. But I guess this is coming from someone who loves to write. So I might be a bit biased.

But this story isn’t about red ink, or being PC, it’s about death. Death and its solid certainty; but especially its unexpectedness.

I always saw myself as a person who had a firm grip on the inevitability of death. Being around farm animals my whole life, I saw myself as someone who knew it backwards and forwards. That no matter how much love and care one can give a sick calf, she might still die. That yes, I would feel the disappointment in myself, but I could still put the body away, and not have it affect to me too bad.

Most of these stories that I tell have long since passed, since I am now a fulltime college student, living away from home. But this one is fresh, and very raw.

When I talk about understanding death, I’m not saying that I have all the answers, about it. All I’m saying is that I know how unpredictable life can be and how suddenly it can change. And that happened to me just this passed weekend. April 2, 2012.

It was a Monday morning, just starting the week, and a new term at school. I was still home because I didn’t have to go to class yet and I couldn’t wait to enjoy my one more day of break. Especially since I had had a long work schedule earlier.

I got out of bed and was going to let Sailor out for the morning. I walked down the back porch stairs and went to put on my shoes. Habitually I looked outside, I wanted to check the weather, and see if anything interesting was happening. But not much goes on around 7 in the morning.

The first thought when I saw her lying there was, very un-me. In fact I have been struggling with why I thought that for the past week now.

      “Oh great, who died?” the tone in my mind was sarcastic and harsh. Not something I usually think. Especially since I knew right away the body wasn’t that of a cow.

At first I thought that it must be one of the llamas, but something about the shape of the legs made the color drain from my face, and a tiny far off voice in my head go, “Oh no.”

I let Sailor out. That “Oh no” voice knew it was Penny. But everything else was in shock and denial. I looked out for her in the field as I made my way over to the barn. Desperately looking for her to be in the field. But for once in my life, I was able to spot every llama in the field. Never had that happened before.

But I still couldn’t believe that this was my horse on her side in the barn, still. Very still. Most people freak out when they see an animal lying still. But I seem to have this sixth sense in my mind that can differentiate a dead animal from a sleeping one. The stillness. It seems to speak to me in weird way. I can’t really describe it. But I can tell. And I knew she was dead.

The rest of me just had to catch up. Mainly my “pet loving” part of my brain. My “farm brain” knew it, but my pet side, specifically reserved for them, hadn’t yet. I’m sure this is making no sense. But you’re getting a look into how my brain functions.

I stood there for a good ten seconds, my mouth open, and one tear flowing down my cheek. I didn’t even know I was crying, I was so shocked. I wiped it away and called Sailor back, I wanted to go inside and try to process what I had just seen.

My farm brain now kicked in. trying to catch any signs of odd behavior from her. There were none. Which made the fact that she was so dirty important.

That was one of the reasons I thought she was one of the llamas originally. She was just caked in mud. When I had last seen her, no I wouldn’t take her to any shows, but she was no way as dirty then as she was when I saw her next.

We believe she fell in the creek, and got colic. But it’s just a guess.

The rest of the day was a haze. I sat in my room looking through my scrapbook pages of her and remembering her.

One memory really stood out. I couldn’t have been more than 13 or 14, and it was a gorgeous evening, in the late spring. I was out riding her in one of our fields and I was just talking to her. I remember some conversation about dresses for graduation, but not much else. And I remember her ears cocked in my direction as I spoke.

But all too soon I grew to be too big for her, and school soon took over my life. I only saw her when I fed her, and the occasional brushing in the spring when her coat began to shed. Every once and awhile I would go for a bareback ride, but not much else.

When I thought back on that, I began to see how little time I spent with her and guilt hit me. I didn’t feel I had the right to cry over her. I hardly saw her anymore. I also felt bad that I wasn’t there for her in her last hours. That I wasn’t there to comfort her. But some things I have to realize are just out of my control, and that the feelings are just more pain and grief from losing a friend.

Penny and I had some great years. Most of the time I would curse her name as she would make me chase her around the field to catch her, but she was just making me earn it. That in turn sparked my idea for my “Bad Pony” art studio. And once I had the rope on her, she would begrudgingly enough follow me wherever I would take her.

Her favorite times where when I would take her inside the calf house during bad storms. She would get lots of water, hay, and grain, and she would get to torment the calves. Her favorite past time was to torment cows. I think before I owned her, she had had cattle experience. She knew how to get those dumb bovines to move.

I always knew her day would come. That’s how I am with every pet. But the fact that she passed so sudden was a big blow.

But like I said before, life sucks, and it hits you hard. The only way to recover is to keep going. Believe me, when she died, all I wanted to do was go to bed and never move again. But the best thing for anyone to do is keep busy and keep your mind occupied.

            I don’t know if I’ll ever own another horse again. I want to, I love horses, and it makes me very sad to think that Penny would be the only one I’d ever own. But I don’t know where life will take me.

            For now I’ll cherish the 11 years I had with her, and be happy that my childhood dream of owning a horse came true.

Twilight- The Debate Continues

I have become a person who has long been unashamed to let people know what I think, or in this case, what I love. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, LOTR (both books and movies), X-Men, Batman, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Bones, Wicked, Sweeney Todd, literally, the list goes on and on.
But, I have another love, and this one is more controversial than the the others, especially when I'm with some of my friends...most of whom haven't read the books or seen the movies. Argh, more on that point later.

I have said this before, and I'll say it again, I am a huge, loving, and squeeling girl- fan of the Twilight Saga. I own evey book, in first edition, have read each a couple of times. And guess what? Breaking Dawn is my favorite out of the four! A close, close second is Eclipse.

Now I defend Twilight viciously for several reasons.

First and least important is because these books taught me to love reading again. I have said this before so I won't recount the whole thing again. After five years of assigned and depressing readings, and text books, I had lost my way as far as personal reading goes. And these books reminded me of why I once read at least five books a month.

Second, when I argue with people, most of these people have never taken the time to read any of the books, or watch the movies beyond the trailers. And they take it at face value. Maybe this is just something I do, but before I put myself out there to stand on one side or not, I want to know what I'm defending. I'm not going to heave myself over to one side and come out looking like a fool if I got something wrong. And it pisses me off when people do that! Come on, don't you want to win your argument? It's like when I had an argument with someone who found The Hunger Games too violent and was appalled at the story line. "Hello," I said, "The front flap cover distinctly tells you it's about children and war. What were you expecting?" To me, it looks like someone just bought the book based on what others had said, and didn't even take the time to see if they would actually like it! My goodness! Those books were 16$ for a hardcover! That's an expensive experiment.

Third and most important to me, is these feminists who think we young ones will read these books and grow up thinking this is what life has waiting for us. Our meal ticket out of work, rich vampires to pay for everything, we'll live forever, beautiful and perfect. First of all, give us some credit. We're smart enough to know it's only a fantasy. Seriously, you're a feminist and you don't even believe your own gender is smart enough to tell the difference between fantasy and actuality? Major LOL. You've got a lot of work ahead of you then.

Part two to my third point. Bella is a bad example for us girls. She gives up college to get married, and retains a dangerous-life-threatening pregnancy. Well, if you had READ the books, you would have seen that she had changed her mind and wanted to go to school before changing into a vampire. It was the pregnancy that threw those plans out the window. Don't you love it when people take things out of context? I certainly do. Said with much sarcasm. So, about the pregnancy, there are things in this world that need to be fought for. And this has nothing to do with pro-choice. This has everything to do with protecting something you love. And not being bullied by those around you to influence your choices. I see the baby as a metaphor to Bella's becoming a grown up and fighting for what she believes is right. She also finally sees that Edward isn't all perfect, and learns to work with him and not let him bully her. That's what I always liked about Bella...another thing taken out of context-she's completely infatuated and doesn't think for herself. Read the books and see the ways she defies him at every opportunity. She knows how to handle herself around him.

And guess what? I could still go on and on. But I'll let someone with an actual degree in writing talk about that instead. The Huffington Post has a three part article on "What Women Want" and its connection to Twilight. It's eloquent and only gets a little judegy with it comes to "Dragon Tattoo," which I agreed with every point there anyway. So, you can stop here, or continue reading. Each article is about as long-winded as my blog post is here. LOL
Part one
Part two
Part three

So, this may or may not be my last post on Twilight, probably not, I might have one more in me after I see the final movie. But this is definitely, maybe, LOL the last time I will get on the podium to defend it. Really, it's amazing how much guys get away with in their fantasies...argh here I go again. Just read the articles, and you'll see. LOL

I just gotta say it...

SEE?! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!

The following is a rant.

There, I got it alllll out. Seriously. How long has Supernatural been on air again? I think we're in its 7th- holy crap really?- Season.

Just recently Supernatural has been made available on Instant Play on Netflix. ALL....6....SEASONS. Yep. And all of a sudden I have friends just popping out everywhere saying, "Wow, this show is awesome." "It's well written, well acted, and the effects aren't bad either."

head desk, head desk...

Ya' think?

Ever since this show was on the chopping block, way back in 2005 in its 1st season, I have been trying to get people to watch this show.
For all the reasons stated above. And now the show is in its twilight years, the writing isn't at its peak, still decent, and people are just now getting it?

Sigh....
At least I got some people to watch it.
Actually more than some. I have had 3 people independently tell me that Kripke himself should write me a check after how many people I got to watch his show.

Just make it out to cash Kripke, and you're welcome!

The Society continued

You know how people say that even they change one person's view on things, or how they say they can impact one person's life they'll be happy with their work on their cause?

Well as far as I know, one person has really liked my story, so that means I'll continue posting chapters so that they can continue reading my story. And for anyone who is anonymously enjoying it, this is for you too.

Ok, where we left off from last time.
Alexis, or Alex as she prefers, Williams is a senior in high school and ready to be done with it. She thinks the next year will be just the same as they have been before until she meets two newcomers....

And now, the continuation of The Society: Renaissance.

Thats right, I'm all official and stuff. That's just how I roll. LOL

And one more note, I posted 2 chapters today. ;-) Cause 2 is really short. LOL

***

Chapter 2

Friends

Lunch rolled around and this was the time that I wanted to take to get to know Janelle.

“Ready for lunch?” I asked. “I brought a tuna fish sandwich, and a juice. What did you bring?”

“What? Oh, nothing. I'm on a...special diet.” That’s funny. I could never concentrate on the rest of my classes without food. Then again, she seemed more than human to me. As we sat down to lunch, her brother came over. He didn’t have any food either. Strange. Especially since he’s a guy!

“Hey, Janelle! Who are you talking to?” his voice was the richest thing to listen to. Almost like dark chocolate melting on your tongue: deep and satisfying.

“Oh, this is my new friend, Alex.” Her emphasis on “friend” made me uneasy. Who were these people? From the Mafia or something? What my thoughts should have been was, “What were these people?”

“So, Joseph,” Janelle exclaimed, “Alex turns out to be a very smart and intuitive person. I think that we shall have a great time getting to know each other, and maybe become good friends.”

“Well that is a good thing to hear!” he seemed genuinely happy for her, which gave me a tingly “Stepford” feeling to all of this.

“I’m sorry Janelle, but who is this?” I asked.

“Oh, right! I’m so sorry, please forgive me. This is my older brother Joseph.”

“Older? But aren’t you guys both seniors?”

“Oh yes, older by two minutes. He’s my older twin brother.” As she said this, she looked up at him and smiled, and he smiled back at her. Ah yes, they were twins all right. They even had the weird “psychic” thing going on between them.

“Cool. I have never known twins. It’s a good thing that you guys are boy and girl, otherwise I would have trouble telling you two apart.” I exclaimed. Then asked, “So, you guys are new. Where are you from?”

“We’re from California, a few hours away. Family decided that there would be better…work opportunities here. So we moved.”

“Wow, it must be hard relocating like this. Having to start all over in making new friends and all that.”

“Well, I don’t know about me. But I definitely know that Joseph will have no problem making new friends.” As Janelle said that, she waggled her eyebrows and smirked at me.

Then we all laughed at this, and at that moment I decided that all of my conceived thoughts about them previously were completely insane and decided to drop it from there. This is an excellent time to remind you that you should always, always follow your first instinct.

***

Chapter 3

Offer

The weeks slowly passed by, and then those slowly turned into months, and nothing completely weird or strange ever happened with the Tanners. In fact, they were model students. Maybe too perfect. They attended school regularly, sat and watched the teachers like they should. Never took any notes, flew by every test, charmed every teacher.

But they never showed up when the sun shone all day. I would wake up in the morning, see the sun stream through my window and know that they wouldn't show up for school. And sure enough, their desks would sit empty next to mine, and I would eat alone and people watch during lunch.

I suppose that I did notice these much too perfect attributes, but never really put any real thought into these things. I guess I just came to the conclusion, that since their grades were so good, that they decided that they didn't need to waste a day indoors.

The days continued to pass by and I grew evermore oblivious to my new friend's charms and abilities.

December came and a few weeks after that, Christmas Break, with the end of school for the year. I felt a swelling of relief at the end of day and couldn't wait to do some shopping for Christmas.

I told mom and dad earlier that day that I was going to stay late after school to do some Christmas shopping. I was really looking forward to spending the day with myself in the mall. I guess as I happily cruised down the interstate, that I should have noticed that yellow Mustang trailing a few cars behind me. But I was only human, with human senses, and a human attention span.

I didn't even notice that there was trouble until it was actually happening before my eyes. I had spent more time in the mall than I had planned, and it was getting dark. Thanks to the Christmas crowd, I was forced to park in the upper level of the parking garage. I didn't like this at all as I made my way towards the top level. Entering the elevator felt like I was entering a tomb; the closed in space around me, the flickering fluorescent light above me.

Something just felt...wrong.

The elevator halted and the doors opened. It was dark, and my car was one of the few left. I saw it, all the way across the parking lot. Taking a shuddering breath, I made my way out of the elevator. Now wishing for those flickering lights to remain with me. I quickened my pace, but I should have known that once you're a target, sudden movements only attract more attention to the prey.

The figure swung out from behind an SUV parked three spots from mine. All black, and blocking my path. I froze.

I didn't know what to do, my arms were full of packages and there was no one around to scream to.

“This is how it's going to happen,” the man said quietly. “You're not going to utter one peep as I take everything you have on you. And if you do,” he reached behind himself, and I heard the click of a gun. “I'll force your silence.”

I swallowed, but it got caught in my throat. There was no way I was going to let him bully me. I know, stupid. But I was sick of it. I was sick of people just thinking that they could tell me something, and I would do it unquestionably.

I glared at him, which I’m sure he didn't see, since it was too dark.

“No,” I said equally quietly, “This is how it's going to happen.” I could see him pause. “You're going to turn around and let me pass.” instead of fear, inexplicably, I could feel anger bubbling up through me. “And if you don't. You will suffer the consequences.”

I could feel him thinking about my words, trying to decipher my tone, to see if I was bluffing. Which I was. But there was no way for him to know that completely. I took two steps towards him.

“Show me.” he said.

Then I knew it. I had sealed my fate. This was no one to be tangling with, and I had just kicked the bee's nest.

Not knowing what else to do, I continued to move towards him, fear was now mixing with anger, and my heart pounded within my head. I had no other ideas. If I turned and run, he would know I had nothing and shoot me. If I kept walking towards him, he could grab me and shoot me. All I could do was pray that he would fear my words. But with every passing step, I knew that that wasn't the case.

It was the end of me when I heard him chuckle.

“I knew it.” he sneered.

His hand struck out of the darkness, and his arm locked onto my neck.

“You don't have anything. I can just shoot you now and,” the cold barrel pressed to my temple, his breath was rancid on my cheek. “And there is nothing you can do about it.” the gun cocked in his hand.

“That might be true...” said a voice behind us. The man whirled us around, and I gasped for breath.

No one was there. But I could have sworn that I recognized that chocolate timbre.

Then from behind again, only closer: “But that doesn't mean we can't do something.”

The robber whirled around, and there stood Joseph and Janelle, glowing in the dark, both smiling, Joseph’s eyes shown black, and Janelle's, red.

Faster than anything I could ever see, Joseph struck. I heard the bullets leave the gun, but nothing seemed to faze Joseph as he attacked the armed robber. In a few seconds, the he was gone and Janelle held me tight. But for some reason, I did not feel safe in her arms. I struggled to free myself from them. It was as if a deep suspicion about the Tanners seemed to come to the surface of my mind.

I turned to see Joseph, holding the man by his throat, toss him over the edge of the garage. I turned to run for my car. But like the fear that surfaced about the Tanners, so did the knowledge that I would never make it in time. But I didn't hear footsteps behind me. And for some reason, when I reached the door of my car, I stopped and turned to look back.

Conflicting emotions shot through my system, fear, gratitude, terror, curiosity, and the strangest of all a longing. The longing pulled at me the hardest. Calling me, calling me...calling me...home? A tug at my heart, a knowledge now seeming to think that everything I’ve been doing up to this point...is not what I’m supposed to be doing. That, the answer to what I should be doing lay with the mysterious Tanners.

I thought about what these feelings meant as I put my things into the back of my car. The instinct to find out more about them, calling to me ever more. With a sigh, I rose up and slammed the door shut. They stood there, in the middle of the roadway. Looking ever patient. With another sigh, I walked over to them.

“Alex, we didn’t come here to this city just by chance.” Janelle whispered.

“Oh?” I asked. Folding my arms across my chest. My skeptical side rising to the surface. All right, I thought to myself, what kind of expensive cult are they going to ask me to join, and how much will it cost to experience Level 5? I snorted at that thought. Don't make jokes now.

“No, we could sense you from hundreds of miles away. Our family did. And Alex, we want you to join our family.”

I still wasn't buying any of this.

“You’re springing this offer on me now?! If I was so special, why wait till I have a near death experience?! And what family… Are you from the Mafia or something? Oh great!” I said throwing my hands in the air, my voice rising. “And now you're going to kill me. Just great.” Anger was starting boil through me again.

“Not technically…” I heard Joseph mutter under his breath.

“What?!” I squealed.

Janelle elbowed Joseph in the ribs. “Don’t!” she whispered fiercely.

“Alex, Alex, no we’re not from the Mafia…” Janelle explained soothingly, looking back at me.

“Then what?! And what do you mean by ‘sense?’” I squinted at them, and they looked at each other, exasperated expressions covering their faces. It seemed like they had done this too many times.

“We are from a secret sect called The Society. We’re a sect of…. vampires.”

“Vampires?” my voice started smaller and rose more and more. “Vampires, vampires, VAMPIRES?” I could feel my eyes bugging, and my brain not able to decide whether to burst out laughing, or run screaming from these delusional people.

“And by sense I mean that,” Janelle continued, unfazed by my outburst. “...Well I have the gift of knowing people from the inside, like mentally. And Joseph here, well he can sense people physically.” She gave him a sideways smirk at that comment.

“And why do you want me?” I asked, just deciding to go along with it.

“Well, our job consists of finding others like you. Due to our gifts we can be able to pull out individuals who would be the best for our cause.”

“And what is your ‘cause’?” I asked mockingly, giving them the air quotes.

Janelle took a deep breath before she explained her motive. And then that’s when I knew that I had to sit down before I heard this. So, I did, right onto the trunk of my car, it shifted heavily under my weight.

“We are a league of vampires trying to rid the world of the shape shifters, the ferals, and Hunters. The shape shifters of this world are the reason why there is so much chaos and war about us. They cause it by their ability to look like anything and anyone. Their goal is to turn the entire human race against each other to rule the world some day. They have been doing it for hundreds of years now. Which is when our leader: David set up this sect. Not even the highest government agency knows about us.”

“And Hunters, and what…ferals?” curiosity was now taking over. It sounded like a movie, a movie, which I could be a part of?

“The Hunters are the humans who know about us and our weaknesses. They think that all we want to do is feast on the necks of innocent humans, when most of us happily snack on something more… animal like. The ferals are other vampires who have gone rogue and attack humans and kill them. Being that they are insane makes them a threat to our secrecy and means that they must be eliminated. But the shifters are our main concern. And their leader Charles is the most dangerous and is at least as old as David. Making them long-long time enemies.”

            “Wow, that is some crap that you guys are pedaling,” I said. “I need a little more proof than that.” Boy, I wish that I hadn’t said that. As soon as I did Janelle and Joseph looked at each other gave a big huff and smiled. At first, I didn’t get it, but as I looked closer two small pairs of fangs dropped from their top gums and they proceeded to hiss and snarl at me, with Janelle's eyes giving off a faint tinge red in the reflecting light, and Joseph's turning to black pits. Just like what I saw in class that first day of school.

I didn't know how to react to such a display. So I asked weakly, “But why me?”

“Because,” Janelle answered calmly, “you have huge potential for amazing gifts in the vampire life. And this gig is not without its perks: money, power, super powers. I mean look at my brother; he got hit, how many times was it? Five? Six? And not a mark on him.”

“It was actually eight…” and then they both broke out into musical laughter. It ended abruptly though and then Janelle became very serious.

“But as with anything that sounds this good…” she said.

“…There is always a price to pay.” I finished for her. I may have been new to this vampire gig thing, but I knew nothing like this could come for free. I’d seen enough T.V shows and movies to know that. I sighed deeply and continued:

“What is it?” I braced for the answer.

“Your family must think that you are dead, and you are never to see them again, not to their notice any way. Technically spying on them isn’t allowed, but I still check in on my family every once and awhile.”

“Where are they now?” I asked with a quivering voice. Just the thought of losing my family forever seemed extremely painful.

“Well our oldest brother just celebrated with his wife their first great granddaughter. So we’re actually pretty young for vampire terms.”

“Wow….” I had no other words for that.

“I know… but it’s not like you live alone for all eternity. Many vampires find their own mates. And with vampires you never worry about losing each other. We pair for life.”

“There’s just a bit more you should know about vampirism…” Oh boy, I thought, what now?

“The physical change into becoming a vampire is extremely difficult and painful. That is why we hunt down the ferals. They are the humans who lost their sanity from the transformation and turned rogue. Brand new vampires, or fledglings are extremely difficult to handle and some break lose before we can execute them. Silver, fire, and other vampires are our worst weaknesses too. And like I mentioned before about the Hunters, though we may be almost impossible to destroy, one silver bullet or arrow to the heart will kill us. Those are the mains things that a Hunter goes for in us: silver bullet to the heart, and lights us ablaze.” At that moment, I saw the red flare up again from behind her piercing eyes and it scared me.

“But what about your bodies should you get hit elsewhere? Don’t they need healing?” This question brought out a delightful laugh from Janelle and Joseph chuckled along.

“No silly. Our bodies are dead. The silver in our system is what incapacitates us; it hurts like hell, but if it doesn’t hit the heart it won’t kill us. That is also, why the transformation is so painful. The vampire blood in your system is altering everything about you and killing your body.”

“How long is the process?” I croaked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“It took me three days, and Joseph only two. Bah, he is so lucky. One more minute and I could’ve ended up feral!” They both laughed at that, but I saw the underlying meaning in that. She wasn’t kidding and she seemed to be very lucky about her situation.

I took a deep breath and exhaled forcibly. “How long until my decision is needed?”

“Uhhh,” Janelle contemplated her answer. “I think one month should suffice. The Society knows that this is a huge decision and that you need proper time to come to grips with all this information that we have thrown out to you.”

When Janelle said that, they began to turn and leave, but I still had one more question that I wanted answered.

“Wait Janelle!” She and Joseph turned towards me in perfect unison.

“Yes Alex?” She seemed to guess my question. And answered before I could get it out. “Yes, it was, I decided in a heartbeat. But you have to know something Alex. Our family situation was much different from yours. We weren’t all as close as you and your family is. Just keep that in mind.” Then they were gone. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the dark leaving me alone with my thoughts.

“Still,” I mumbled, “was it really worth it?”