Happy 25th birthday to my brother Darren!

25 years ago today the world decided to give me a new baby brother. I assume I was only a little bit unhappy about that because, as my mom tells me, he was breastfeeding and I decided to shove him out of my mom's arms and he wound up getting stitches by his eye. I was only about a year and a half old so you can't hold it against me. 

He turned out to be a pretty awesome addition to my life. We Spent almost 8 years being the best buddies, then we spent the next 18 years picking on our littlest brother. He is a brilliant young man and even though he is younger than me he has always been protective of me (it helps that he is way taller and bigger than me). He has come so far in his life and I am very proud of him for accomplishing so much with his life. Happy birthday brother!

24 June 2014

The Invited Guest

When the Zombie Conflict began there was mass chaos everywhere. It was made all the more worse when people started blaming vampires for all of the zombies. Thanks to shows like True Blood and Being Human, vampires felt very comfortable being open and understood. We helped people see that we weren't the ravenous blood thirsty fools you see on screen. We were more like alligators and snakes, one simple feeding on any human or animal kept us going for weeks. We also could be out in the daylight and no, we do not glitter. All of the nonsense about vampires that Dracula and Lestat helped create was explained away very quickly when we exposed ourselves to humans. It all washed away very quickly too when the initial zombie outbreak occurred in Los Angeles.

To be fair, I completely understood why people blamed us. One monster comes out of the shadows and a year later so does another. Hysteria makes all creatures lose sensibility. Because humans were so afraid of us now, we were not able to properly help them. Sadly zombie bites, blood and other bodily fluids affect us as much as it affects humans but we die much quicker. Lucky for humans we do not return as one of the zombies. We are already dead so how could we? Only our souls live within us, not a beating heart. We have an incredible amount of strength and our skin is as tough as a crocodile but it still can break and frankly when you rip off a head of a zombie fluids go everywhere. I learned the easy way to be careful around zombies because I watched my mentor and maker die from one. I watched as he jumped from zombie to zombie with his lightening speed and grace of a gazelle. Within moments he began to slow. His eyes were bright red and blood began pouring from his mouth. It took ten minutes for that to happen. I never saw him actually die because the zombies got to him before he could die.

The struggle to survive for vampires was far worse than that of the humans. The humans thought we started the virus (which was untrue and unfounded but like I said, no sensibility in hysteria)

and they would carry stakes with them wherever they went. As if staying away from frightened humans wasn't enough, we also had to make sure not to drink from an infected human. Humans can be bit or get fluids in their mouths and eyes and not show signs for days. They may just seem malnourished or tired to most. Vampires can smell the infection but lots of vampires throw caution to the wind when they are too hungry to care. Then in a flash, fountains of blood gush from their mouth, nose, ears and eyes and the infected vampire would fall to the ground, becoming just another body like the fearful humans.

I think eventually humans stopped fearing the vampires as much, at least that was my experience with them. With zombies increasing in numbers with every major city that fell, vampires were far from a problem to humans. I spent much of my time alone when my maker died. It wasn't too difficult for me because I am a 2000 year old vampire. I am used to watching everyone die and I have survived many wars, diseases and plagues. My body is very adapt at going months without nourishment and even years with out a proper feeding. In my months of traveling alone I had come across military grade riot gear which immensely helped me stay dry as I tore the zombies heads off and smashed them beneath my foot. I was a survivor, a lucky one, but a survivor nonetheless.

One evening, I could hear a small group of zombies banging on wood. There had to of been at least five and they must have found something good because they were in a frenzy. As I walked up to a house in a clearing I could see why there were in such a frenzy, they were thrashing at a door that definitely had a few humans behind it. To my dismay there were ten zombies. I knew I needed to get in and help the humans but that would not be easy. At times like these humans tend to trust nothing that moves. I dashed up the side of the house to a window. I ran from window to window until I saw children in a room. None of them were infected but they were certainly terrified. I begged them to let me in.

“Please open the window and invite me in! I can help your family with the zombies!” I announced to the children and yes the old rule is true, we must be invited in to a home. So long as someone takes ownership of a home we must be invited.

The children were extremely frightened now and who can blame them? If a vampire appeared at your window as your parents were fighting zombies downstairs wouldn't you be a bit scared? I asked again.

“Please children I promise I will help you. I will not hurt you I swear!” the oldest child looked around at her siblings and back at me. She ran to the window, unlocked it and let me in.

“You may come in. Please don't hurt us!” she whispered to me.

I patted her head and ran down the stairs. I slammed myself against the door and all the humans stopped moving for a second. I think they wanted to be angry but I just wouldn't let them.

“Go grab anything sharp! Grab something to cover your face! I will hold the door open just a crack and I want all of you to starting stabbing them in the head. There are ten of them so be careful and don't fall. Please find something long if you can to stab them so they can't grab you. NOW GO! I will distract them here!” without hesitation the humans ran. There were five adults and they wouldn't have lasted much longer.

Within minutes we had secured the door. That's when the questions came.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Annia. I saw your family needed help. I am not here to harm you,” I explained. I let them speak privately for a moment, as if I couldn't hear them.

“How old are you?”

“I do not know exactly but over 2000 years old,” again they whispered to each other.

“You may stay but you must help and you must prove you are worthy of your stay,” responded the gentleman that looked like he was in charge, “we will take shifts sleeping and watch you.”

“Here,” a woman who looked the same age as my former living self handed me a glass. It was filled with blood and she had a bandage over her hand. I guess in the questioning process I was too concerned with answers than my senses.

“This is wonderfully kind of you. Thank you so incredibly much! I won't need this often, with this much I could go a year without feeding!” They must have trusted that I wasn't going to hurt them since I hadn't already.

“I am Anne and this is my husband Henry. That is Liz and Charlie and over there is Max. You can meet the children tomorrow, they need to rest,” the donor to my thirst replied.

Over the next week, I spent every waking hour securing the home in the open field. I dug a trench around the entire perimeter with a draw bridge in case the household needed to get out. In the trench I stuck countless sharpened posts for the zombies to fall on. I attached a string to the gate that rang a bell if someone outside needed help. I planted all of the seeds the family had been holding onto. I hunted and got supplies when they needed them. I was motivated, strong and I didn't need sleep. Eventually I gained their trust. No one knows when the zombies will be taken care of. No one knows if the zombies will be taken care of. All I know is that I was a lone vampire just trying to survive the chaos of the Zombie Conflict and a group of kind people invited me in. We helped each other and we are building more homes onto our land. I suppose I can say that being alone isn't all it's cracked up to be.

25 June 2014

Une Feuille Tombe

A leaf is falling

Spinning from it's home

Tucked high a top a tree.

Swirling past blue robin's eggs

And fluttering like a butterfly

The wind tore it from safety

Ripping it off fresh bark.

The glistening green leaf,

So lush and youthful

Falling dizzily

An emerald kiss from the sky.

Quickly spiraling

Lightly landing

On fresh cut grass.

Its journey has ended,

The leaf's life is over,

No longer falling

Just waiting for the green to fade.