The next day was mercifully cloudy, and it allowed me some time to actually work on my painting. While working on it, however, I noticed that my shower was pouring water out of the nozzle without even being turned on. Figures. More going wrong. I laid down my paintbrush, and rummaged through my toolbox in search of a wrench.
I was just coming out of my shower, with the faucet fixed when I realized I had another unexpected visitor.
"Mariko!" I cried, and hurried to her side. It seemed impossible that so much had happened since I had last seen her - nay, since I'd last even thought of her.
I folded her into my arms, and tried not to burst out crying with another rush of inexplicable emotion. I let her go, pushing the tears away, and noticed that she didn't look the slightest bit happy with me.
.... "What?" .... Bewildered, I just looked at her, "What did I do wrong?"
"Wrong? What would make you think that? Why was I the last to know that you and Alex aren't a thing anymore?! .. And where have you been!?" She burst out.
I cringed and looked away.
"I am truly sorry, Mari. So much has happened. I've hardly been myself these last few days. How did you hear about Alex and I?" I sighed deeply and tried to meet her eyes.
"The gossip is all over Windenburg. How you're no longer human, you were seen drinking plasma.. and how you attacked Alex and wounded her gravely. It's hard to even cross the street around town without hearing something else about it. People are afraid your art career is over, and, to be frank - they're a bit afraid of you, too." Her voice raised a little more with each statement, and I tried not to flinch away from her.
Her voice evened out, and she sighed. "All of Windenburg has always known about the vampires of Forgotten Hollow, and for the most part, those creatures of the night have always co-existed with us humans peacefully. People are now worried that you will change the balance."
"I didn't mean to - " I began, only to have her interrupt me.
"- Dušan - I'm sure you didn't. But it happened. And you should have come to me! How am I to help you - to be your friend - if you don't even think of me in a crisis!" to my horror, her voice sounded near tears, and I reached out a hand to touch her shoulder.
"Did you ever think that maybe I was too far gone to even think of my friends?" I asked quietly, but then I thought of how I'd run to Sonia. I sighed deeply and looked away.
"I'm not very good at having friends." I confessed miserably. "I'm not used to it. I've been a loner most of my life, and losing my mother didn't help that. I'm not trying to excuse it.. but please, hear me out before you leave me to the wolves. Let me tell you what has happened since we last talked. Rumors hardly ever get the whole truth."
I took her hand, and guided her over to the fire pit, motioning for her to take a seat. I lit the fire - mostly for it's comforting presence, and started the story from the beginning.
She sat there quietly, sometimes watching me, sometimes watching the fire, but always listening carefully. Thankfully, she didn't try to interrupt, or I'm not sure I would have gotten through the whole thing. After I finished, we both just sat there for what felt like forever.
She stood up abruptly a few minutes later, and started pacing in front of my little tent.
"Dušan. Oh, Dušan. I swear, this is not your fault. Don't even think it. Damn that old vampire, anyway. How could you have known how dangerous he was...." she paused for a moment, then continued pensively, "I don't think any of us truly knew - he's always seemed to be harmless up in that old mansion, never bothering anyone. I had no way to know - to be able to warn you - that he had it in for your family. And as for Alex - she was only after your money, you know. Everyone knew it. Everyone - I guess, except for you. Perhaps it served her right for attacking you without knowing how hard you've worked to get where you now are. You losing control and feeding on her was probably inevitable.. and also completely forgivable, under the circumstances. How could you have known Vlad's warning was so true? ... You truly had no way to know."
I watched her pace back and forth, wondering at her apparent unease.
"Mari - just so you know - it won't happen again. I know I need to prevent hunger now. You're safe." I stood up, reaching towards her, but she stopped and pulled away.
"How could you think I was afraid of you?!" She burst out, clenching her fists.
Startled at her anger, I just looked at her speechlessly.
She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself.. and slowly continued, "Dušan - I have not been truthful with you. I should have been - but I think I was lying to myself, too. I have loved you from the moment I met you, but you couldn't see me. You only saw Alex - so I took the part of you I could have. The friendship. And I held on to it in silence. There are so many things I should have told you about this town, about Alex, about everything.. But I said nothing. And that's on me. I'm sorry. But it doesn't mean I'm afraid of you. Never that. I don't care that you're not human. I don't care that you still live in a tent. I never would have. I'm not like.. her." Her words stumbled to a stop, and she turned away.
Blindly, I turned, and nearly fell into my chair. What was I supposed to say to that?? I felt off balance, out of breath, stunned. How could I have thought I was meant to be with Alex. How could I have ignored Mari so completely! She turned back and watched me warily, then, she too sat down.
We both sat there in silence, watching the fire burn itself out. Finally, I stood up and walked to my garden.
I picked a lone rose out of a tangled bush, and held it out to her.
"I'm sorry, Mari. Please. Please, forgive me. I never meant to hurt you."
She looked from my face to the rose and back to me, then hesitantly took it. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.. and then left. Without another word. But - at least she had taken the rose. Maybe there was hope, yet....
I threw another log on the fire and sat there for the rest of the night. I don't truly need sleep anymore, and I didn't really feel like hiding away inside my tent, anyway. What was I to do now? If I'd thought I was confused before her visit, I'd been sorely mistaken. By morning, the fire had completely burned itself out, and I wandered off, walking mostly blindly about Forgotten Hollow.
I ended up at the "Point" - an area with a bench, and a dead tree that overlooked the bridge out of town. I sat down on the bench, deep in thought. The events of the last few days swirled in my head, and I let them fly. I thought of Alex's form on the ground - of the feeling of slipping into a darker form of me. I thought of Mariko's confession, and I wondered at the way her words had made my heart clench. How could I have been so wrong about Alex? About Mari? Would she forgive me, as her head nod seemed to have said... or was that wishful thinking on my part? I went back and forth in my head for a long while, then stood to leave.
To my astonishment, the cat from the other day was walking toward me purposefully.
"You're an idiot." I heard in my head. Blinking stupidly, I stopped and stared at the cat.
"... What?" I blurted out, and I would have continued, but the cat interrupted me.
"Yes, yes, I know you can hear me. And I know who you are. You are your mother's son, after all. She was my friend at a hard time in my life, and I always swore if I could repay her, I would."
Even more shocked.. I bent down towards the cat, letting it sniff my hand as if it were just any normal cat.
"You.. you knew my mother?"
"I said so, didn't I?" the cat replied in my head, haughtily. "Now - enough of that. You are what you were meant to be. Now you have to do what your heart dictates. You must go after her, of course."
"After who? .. My mother?"
The cat laughed in my head, and climbed up on the bench I had just been sitting on. I sat down next to it.
"No, of course not your mother. Your woman. Not the one you attacked, doofus. The other one. The one you are meant to love."
"I'm meant to... what? Who ARE you? How do you know all this? And what's this about what I'm meant to be?"
The cat merely stared at me for a long moment, then it left as suddenly as it had arrived.
Nonplussed, I stood up, noticing that sometime while ... conversing?... with the cat, the rain had settled in, and now I was getting soaked. I headed home slowly, my thoughts whirling in my head, and my heart still in knots. I had some deciding to do.
