Free Vampire Manifesto by Rashaad Bell

in the background. Their voices were muted; it was difficult to make anything out. I had buried myself in Ethan’s embrace; everything else was just static cling, the entirety of the world second in my mind. This was important. This moment right now. I couldn’t envision it more clearly, more perfectly.
    The bullshit that made the world go round was irrelevant, superficial. Once you were able to make that connection, able to pierce through to the heart of it, everything else made perfect sense. The past is irreversible. The future was paradox, always present, yet never promised. There was only the moment. The Right Now. There was nothing else.
    It was all so strange, the closeness that I felt with Ethan. Even though we had just met, it was like our souls had become intertwined, as if in another place, another lifetime ago we had been the dearest of confidants, only just now having the luxury of reconnecting all over again.
    “ Where do you live Ethan? I’ll drive you home.” Abigail volunteered. She was concerned, I could tell she didn’t want to leave me alone, that she wanted to stay with me. There was a reason she was my best friend.
    “ It’s okay, I’m good.” Ethan replied. “I’m not that far from here actually. I can walk it.”
    I frowned. “Really? You live down the street from me?”
    “ Well, it’s really more like, down the street, up the block and around the corner.” He responded whimsically. “But it’s all good.”
    “ That sounds like too far to walk to me.” Abigail countered.
    “ It’s nothing I haven’t done before.” He answered. “Besides, it’s late, I should be heading back.”
    He kissed me softly. “That is if you’re okay? I could stay a little while longer if you like; wait till you fall asleep before I go.”
    I wanted him to stay. I wanted to fall asleep in his arms, but I was just being selfish. It really was late and I didn’t want him walking home by himself at all, let alone heading out even further into the early morning.
    “ No, it’s okay.” I grumbled. “You’ve already been inducted into enough of my madness for one night. Will I see you tomorrow?”
    “ Sooner than you think.” He responded. “We’ll talk more then.”
    He kissed me on the forehead once, backed away and disappeared into the night. No goodbyes, no waiting for a response, just a quick little back pedal out the driveway and a brisk walk down the street.
    I watched him for a minute and when I couldn’t see him any longer I made my way towards the door where Abigail and Aiden were waiting patiently.
    We went inside and I locked the door behind us setting the alarm. I had never done that before, actually taking the time to punch in the code for the house alarm. I never thought we needed it here and Mom was always yelling at me for not using it. To me, it was just a waste of time, yet time has a way changing everything.
    Abigail turned to Aiden. “Hey, can you give us a sec?”
    “ Uh, yeah, sure.” He answered warily.
    I could tell he wanted to talk, but there seemed to be something going on between them, their own personal language expressed with eyes alone. Unspoken dialogue. They were so good at it, there were times I could swear they were having whole conversations without having to speak a word.
    “ If you need me lil sis, just holla.” Aiden hugged me, then jetted up the steps, taking them two at a time, until he was out of eyeshot.
    I slumped down on the couch, Abigail following after, sitting next to me.
    “ Alright, so what’s going on, what happened?” I could see how sincere she was. It was welcoming to be around her. Abigail was anything but fake and it was easy to see why my brother was in love with her.
    “ Someone tried to steal the car.” I sighed.
    “ What?” Abigail was astonished.
    “ Yeah.” I continued. “They had a gun and everything.”
    “ Oh my God, are you okay?” She grabbed my hand, still in shock.
    “ I’m fine now, I guess. There was some