Parasite Life by Victoria Dalpe

Author:Victoria Dalpe [Dalpe, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781771483988
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Published: 2017-12-18T23:00:00+00:00

XVI.

When my alarm went off at seven, I rose like a shot and looked around. My door barricades looked to have held, which filled me with immense relief. Slowly, I cleaned up the obstacles I’d set out, finally cutting the tights to free myself from the room. I went to my mother in her bed.

After two consecutive days of not being a human feed bag, and eating all that liver, she definitely seemed a little more vibrant. Some color in her face, a bit more focus in her eyes. I couldn’t help but smile when I came in, proud of myself. The pride didn’t distract from my physical exhaustion, though. But I wasn’t as tired and weak as before. Apparently, Sabrina’s young, healthy blood was keeping me running much more efficiently than my mother’s, but for how long? I could sense the familiar fatigue at the margins, and a hunger waited there as well.

Now that it had a name, I couldn’t deny the hunger inside me. I noticed how it flared to life as I neared my mother. My body urged me toward her, toward what it needed. No wonder people felt uncomfortable around me. I was probably eyeing them all like potential meals. If I was going to live with this, I would need to learn to control myself. I took a deep breath and shook it off.

I walked my mother downstairs and settled her in the parlor in front of a roaring fire and the news, her breakfast on the TV tray beside her. I pulled back the shades, letting the pale light in. Winter was near, the trees black outlines, the sky a swirling pea soup.

“I think it’s going to snow today,” I said to her. I needed to hear my voice.

It was a regular morning, so she said nothing, and I didn’t prod. Instead, I got ready for school and tried to ignore the ball of stress surrounding school and seeing Sabrina. Outside, the air was cold and clean. I sucked it in greedily, liberally, enjoying the burn in my lungs. I headed to school, trying not to think of Sabrina, or the journal. Or what I was. And failing at all three. The combination of desire and shame was almost overwhelming. But I couldn’t hide from myself anymore. I lifted my chin, picking up the pace and crossing through the doors a second before homeroom rang.

When I got to the classroom, it was as if I was seeing the world with new eyes. I was a wolf among sheep, a fox in the hen house. A predator slinking along in my classmates’ unsuspecting midst. They couldn’t pinpoint why I made them uncomfortable, just that I did. I thought back to my mother’s journal, how she would lament my desire for affection, to be touched. It was no wonder now that I had pounced on Sabrina, I was starving for touch, for love, for food. When the bell rang, I walked to my first period as if my feet were encased in cement.

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