As Alex walked home, his mind was still reeling from the strange events of the previous day. He couldn't shake off the feeling that something extraordinary was happening to him, something beyond his comprehension. Just as he reached the familiar street leading to his apartment building, a sudden and intense headache struck him like a bolt of lightning. He winced, clutching his temples as if trying to keep his thoughts from spiralling into chaos.
His hazel eyes widened in shock as he noticed the faint crimson glow returning to his hands. "Not again," he muttered, the fear from the previous day resurfacing with renewed intensity. He tried to ignore the tingling sensation in his chest, hoping it would disappear like an evanescent dream, but it persisted, spreading through every fibre of his being. His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt a rush of panic threatening to engulf him.
Swiftly, he turned on his heels and hastened back to his house, his footsteps echoing through the empty street. He needed to find a sanctuary where he could unravel the mysteries that plagued him. As he entered his apartment, he found himself alone. His mother, Maria, was still at work, leaving him to confront the enigma that had woven itself into his life.
Closing the door to his room, Alex sought solace in the familiar surroundings. The soft glow of the setting sun filtered through the window, casting warm shadows across the walls adorned with memories captured in family photos. The sight provided a brief respite, grounding him momentarily in the reality he knew.
However, his hands still glowed with an eerie crimson light, a stark reminder of the unexplainable changes that had consumed his life. He sat on his bed, holding his hands up in front of him, watching the ethereal glow with a mix of fascination and trepidation.
"I can't ignore this anymore. I need to know what's happening to me," he whispered to himself, the urgency in his voice betraying the fear that lurked beneath the surface. Determined to seek answers, he turned to the only source he had – the vast expanse of the internet.
With shaky hands, he typed "red glow in hands" into the search bar, his heart pounding as he waited for the results. The screen was filled with countless articles, most of them dismissing such phenomena as mere superstitions or myths.
"Maybe I'm just overthinking it," he thought, hoping to find a logical explanation. But his curiosity urged him to dig deeper, and he continued scrolling through the search results.
Then, he stumbled upon an article that caught his attention. It spoke of ancient legends and mysterious beings – vampires. At first, Alex scoffed at the idea, dismissing it as pure fantasy. Vampires were creatures of the night, figments of imagination, right?
Yet, the more he read, the more he found himself drawn into the uncanny similarities between the descriptions and his own experiences. The legends spoke of heightened senses, an insatiable hunger, and an otherworldly glow that vampires possessed.
"No, this can't be real. Vampires are just stories, bedtime tales," he tried to convince himself, but doubt gnawed at his certainty. The evidence seemed too striking to ignore.
His mind became a tempest of conflicting thoughts. Fear, curiosity, and denial collided with him. Could he be one of them? Was it even possible?
The articles stated another fact that confused Alex even more. A Vampire was born into a Vampiric family. So, that presented some possibilities that Alex couldn't even imagine before. Either his mother or father or even both were Vampires.
"But how could my mother be a vampire? "Alex questioned almost to himself as he sat there brooding. His mother couldn't be one. But what about his father? His mother had told him that his father had died a few months before he was born due to a disease. But now it seemed that he again had to have a genuine conversation with his mother.
A rush of emotions surged through him – fear of the unknown, excitement at the possibility of something extraordinary, and a profound yearning for the comfort of normalcy.
As the evening sun dipped below the horizon, the glow on his hands gradually subsided, leaving him in darkness. The room seemed to close in around him, and he felt a profound sense of loneliness and isolation.
In the silence of his room, Alex's thoughts swirled like a vortex, torn between acceptance and denial. He knew he couldn't keep this to himself any longer. But the truth was so absurd that he didn't want to talk to anyone about it for fear that they would label him a madman. Their world was technologically advanced and even concepts like religion had been nearly extinct. So, if he were to confide with someone that he was a vampire then he could imagine their response to be nothing but scoff and jeer.
So, he waited for his mother to come back home. So, he could satisfy his burning curiosity and at least unravel even a bit of the mystery that had suddenly surrounded him.