Reflections

Short story about about a mother's death that leaves behind a twin boy and girl and their father's ill-fated decisions.

Pollux watched intently as the twins walked into the building, the sliver of silver moon peeking through the wisp of slow-moving clouds above. Tears filled his chocolate-brown eyes.

"They'll be of age soon," he said aloud as he ran a long fingernail across the steering wheel of the black Cadillac. "They will need to know who they are; from whence they came."

The glass door to the school closed, Pollux started the engine and pulled from the parking lot. He would be back as classes ended to retrieve his children. In the meantime, he had errands to run, thinking and planning to do.

His mind wandered as the vehicle bumped along the winding country road. He wished Eleanor was still alive. She would have handled this situation with such grace and compassion. He missed her. Milosh and Malena missed her. Milosh needed his mother to teach him the finer points of life, how to treat a woman and how to behave under stress. Malena needed her mother for more obvious reasons. All almost-seventeen-year-old girls needed their mothers, right? Moms were just better with hair, makeup and clothing tips. They were much better at mending broken hearts after a crush's rejection.

Pollux slammed on the brakes as the deer appeared in the headlights. Its big woeful doe eyes stared into his own; frozen. The brief moment lingered a bit longer than it should have, at least in the stalled driver's mind.

Heart pumping wildly, breath coming faster and faster, Pollux closed his eyes, exhaled slowly and tamped down the overwhelming desire that threatened to overtake every fiber of his being. Saliva filled his mouth as he licked his lips. Opening now bloodshot eyes, a mixture of emotions washed over him; relief, angst, fear. The deer was gone.

Driving on to his destination, Pollux called up old memories. Eleanor had been such a beautiful girl. Ivory white skin, eyes as blue as the deepest oceans, and long blonde hair the color of fresh straw that cascaded across her petite shoulders. Her joy and her smile were infectious.

Eleanor had been working the night-shift at The Kwik Stop during their courtship. The courtship was wonderful and glorious, as was she.

They attended many midnight movies at the Cineplex on her nights off. They talked about books, current events and enjoyed foreign cuisines. She was simple yet complex. Love came quickly, almost instantaneously.

When she found herself pregnant with the twins they were both ecstatic. The promise of new life seemed to solidify their love and devotion to one another.

Soon though, problems began to arise. Eleanor wanted to marry. Pollux did not blame the woman. He wanted to marry her as well but fear for their future outweighed that connection. What would a union of this nature entail?

She did not understand nor buy any of his excuses. They fought and argued as her belly grew larger and heavier.

Pollux could not stand seeing his lover, friend and companion in turmoil and tears. He had to tell her. He agonized over the words for days before he finally delivered the speech that could possibly cause the demise of their relationship.

He would never forget her light-hearted tinkling laughter. She had giggled in disbelief.

"Why do you not desire to marry me, Pollux?" She furrowed her brow. "After all, I am to be the mother of your children. This latest excuse is the most ridiculous I have heard. Do you yearn to be rid of me at once?"

He had clasped her hands in his and instructed her to remove a compact from her handbag. She obeyed and realized the far-fetched tale was, indeed, true. Her giggles turned to tears, her tears turned to tremors.

"I want to remain with you, Eleanor, darling. I profess my love for you beyond all else. I cannot marry, blood tests, you know?" Pollux begged her forgiveness. "Please, understand."

Eleanor had hung her head and ran a hand atop her swollen belly. "I understand." Sadness enveloped her, gradually turning to pain.

Pollux watched as Eleanor began to shift her weight in the antique Victorian chair. Her pretty face seized in fright as she clutched her stomach. "They're coming, dear," she exclaimed. "They're coming hard and they're coming fast." She wailed as she was ushered out the door and into the night.


Looking about at the advertisements and signs in the Twenty-Four Hour grocery store, Pollux thought of the items he would need for the ritual. Candles, matches, razor blades, alcohol, bandages and a package of hamburger meat. Pulling his pocket watch from his suit coat, Pollux frowned at the numerals. He needed to pick up his pace if he was going to prepare the basement and attend to Milosh and Melena in time.

"Will that be all, sir?" the cashier, sporting the name tag OLIVE asked.

"Yes, I believe so," the shopper responded politely.

Her perfume was intoxicating, enticing. She flipped her long blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" Dark lashes fluttered.

Pollux was mesmerized by the slight curve and length of her slender neck. He blinked hard. "Thank you but no, this shall do." He gathered the plastic bags and practically ran across the tile floor to escape out the side doors.

Returning home, the night owl, for the first time, noticed how sad and lonely his house looked. Sad and depressing. Dark, shuttered, shades drawn. An ominous-looking fog clung to the rafters.

Shaking his head, Pollux wiped a tear. It had been much more cheerful when Eleanor was around. Fishing for the skeleton key to the entrance, Malena's tiny black kitten Agatha screeched and pounced from the scraggly bushes beneath the porch.

"Ready for a party tonight, little one?" he asked. The feline bounded inside as Pollux crossed the threshold.

Continuing his journey on to the gloomy basement, the anxious father cleared items from a scratched and dented wooden table. The peeling red paint pulled a sad smile from his melancholy countenance. "Red," he said simply as he ran an index finger across his bottom lip.

The razor blades arranged in a semi-circle, a large silver tray centered in the middle of the table and the hamburger meat, a small pool of blood oozing from its rawness awaited anticipated guests.

Roaming the enclosed space, Pollux used the matches he had purchased to light the hundreds of candles that were placed on tables, shelves and stair steps. Looking over his handiwork, he was satisfied.


Milosh and Malena slipped into the Cadillac each chattering about their latest activities and endeavors. Malena loved to read and couldn't wait to write and turn in the currently assigned book report. Milosh was on the chess team and boasted about conquering a difficult classmate. They both enjoyed Macelle Academy. Neither had ever questioned why they attended school at night when most children attended daytime classes.

They would discover this information and much more soon.

"Are you ready for your celebration?" The question cut through the twins' chatter.

"Yes, two a.m." Malena bounced on the back seat.

"The time we were born." Milosh beamed. "But actually you were born at two-oh-two a.m. I shall always be older." He stuck his tongue out at his sister.

Malena punched her brother in the shoulder. "Yes, but I shall always be better looking."

Pollux grinned at his offspring. They would turn seventeen in about half an hour yet they still acted like children. Refreshing.

Leading the pair down into the annals of the house, the father began to explain what was about to happen and why.

"You both remember your mother, do you not?" he asked.

"Vaguely," Milosh responded. "I remember her perfume smelling of flowers and her worrisome nature in bandaging my knee when I skinned it upon the hearth."

"Vagueness is a good word, Milosh," Malena agreed. "I remember her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, a reflection of my own. I also remember that worrisome nature as well. Why the question, Father?" Malena's eyes moved to the tray of hamburger. What an oddity, she thought. Should a cake not be there in its place?

"Your mother was quite the worrisome woman but she had right to be. After all, she was only human." Pollux moved to the table and picked up a razor blade, gingerly turning it over and over in his palm.

"Whatever do you mean, Father?" Milosh warily took a step forward.

"You were four when she passed, correct?" Pollux asked even though he knew the answer.

"Yes," the twins said in unison.

"She did not pass in illness as you've been told." Pollux averted his eyes. "I exsanguinated her."

"Father, granted we are in accelerated courses but we have never heard this likes of this word." Malena glanced at Milosh as he shrugged his shoulders.

Silence stretched and hung in the damp air.

Finally, Pollux returned his gaze. "I drained the blood from her body."

Mouths gaped and eyes grew wide.

"What do you -- ?"

Pollux held up a hand as he looked at a dusty clock hanging on an opposite wall. "Your mother was only human," he repeated. "When you turned four she wanted to send you to a preschool in town; a day school. I refused. I could not allow sunshine to touch my babies, could I?" He paused, mainly for effect. Confusion migrated from his children and crawled up his spine. "I reverted to my old ways; ways I had attempted to abandon for your mother's sake. As my anger and rage grew, so did my desire for blood. I forgot our love and attacked her. Her life-sustaining blood satiated my desire and has prolonged my life but I have regretted that ill-fated decision for many years."

Milosh and Malena clasped hands.

"You each are part me; part your mother. This ritual tonight," he waved a pale hand across the basement's expanse, "on your seventeenth birthday, at precisely two a.m. will reveal your powers, if any, who you are and what your future holds."

"So you are a, umm," Malena shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "...a vampire?" Silent tears trailed down her cheeks.

"In a sense," Pollux exclaimed. "I have the ways of a vampire, a werewolf and some tendencies of a zombie. My people categorize me as a Taga. I am a mixture of many different things, passed down from generation to generation."

"So, this r-r-ritual," Milosh stuttered, "what does it consist of, Father?"

Malena cringed at the name 'Father'. She was in shock. Could she ever call this thing, this monster, her Father again? Had her parents really been in love or was it a mere animalistic coupling?

Without answering his son's question, Pollux grabbed Milosh's wrist and slid the razor blade across it. Milosh screamed, withdrawing his arm.

"Have you gone mad?"

The clock struck, exactly two a.m.

Malena scooped the alcohol and bandages from a chipped counter, kneeling in front of her brother.

"Leave," she said angrily. "Leave this home at once, Pollux," she spat the given name with distaste. "We will sort through these events and come to an understanding of your proclamations but for now, it's best you be gone."

Pollux stepped into a shadowed corner and watched his daughter.

Malena stroked the wound gently and compassionately, allowing the blood to flow over her long, thin fingers. "Does it smart much?" she inquired.

"Not much," Milosh replied.

"How about now?" she asked as she placed her mouth to the gash, sucking and gnawing wildly, uncontrollably.

Milosh fell to the cold cement floor, writhing, kicking, flailing about. Soon enough, he was still, breathless.

The teenage girl turned to her father, blood dripping from her tongue, smeared across her cheeks and starched white uniform top.

Pollux smiled; a simple, knowing smile.

Author's Note

Please give an overall review of this short horror story. Thank you!

Reviews

[alifeacoustic]

Ooh, not your usual type of story here Melissa. A little more dark and mysterious, I like it. This has the style of a series of short story books I read as a teenager. I wish I could remember what they were called. Something like late night shorts or something. There was loads of volumes of them and they all had that dark twist in the tale like this does.
I like it. It's refreshing to see authors try new styles of writing and dip their toes into other genres. Very well done :)

[MelissaAndres]

Thank you, alifeacoustic! I am glad you enjoyed it. Thank you also for comparing my writing to something you read as a teenager. I try not to write like anyone else but when something I have done is compared to something that has been published I take it as a compliment! I appreciate your nice comments!

[alifeacoustic]

As it was meant Melissa. :)

[annalysiar]

Interesting. It shows promise I like it

[MelissaAndres]

Thank you, annalysiar!

[Celie Rose]

I liked your story. The twins coming of age, the ritual that would explain everything, whether vampire or not. "seventeenth birthday, at precisely two a.m. will reveal your powers, if any, who you are and what your future holds." Malena was unable to control urges for her brother's blood. Her father knew this. Good job. Keep writing

[MelissaAndres]

Thank you, Celie Rose! I am glad you like this. I just wanted to do something a bit different than I normally do. You never know what might come out of my crazy mind! Haha! :)

[wordman]

it is certainly on the dark side,you wrote and portrayed the characters
very well,it could easily be a true story.overall i`d say great

[MelissaAndres]

Well, I don't know if this could be a true story -- at least if it could be I hope I never meet the people that lives resemble it! Haha! I am glad you enjoyed it, wordman!