Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 5: Forbidden Friends

Raven was overcome with guilt. She sat on the edge of her bed in deep thought. ‘I never should have yelled at Onyx like that. He doesn’t know any better,’ she thought, ‘and neither does the human child, more than likely…’ She stood up from her bed and walked towards the door. ‘I need to apologize to him. I should have handled things differently.’

Raven walked into her son’s room, not bothering to knock. “Onyx?” She looked around the room, but there was no sign of her son. “…Onyx?” she called his name again. “Oh no… he’s gone,” her voice dropped to a low whisper. “What have I done?”

---

Garrett’s wife was devastated. “How could someone do this to him!?” she cried. 

Her elderly mother, Elizabeth, frowned. “I…I don’t know, Elaine… there surely was some explanation to why the woman would have-”

“There’s no explanation!” Elaine snapped, stomping her foot on the ground for emphasis. “Garrett is an innocent victim of a brutal vampire attack, and you suggest there’s a reason!?”

“Calm down, Elaine,” her father, Elliott, interrupted. “She’s only trying to understand why this happened!”

Elaine’s brother chimed in. “How long will it be until he regains consciousness?” 

“Do I look like I know the answer to that, Elias!?” Elaine yelled. “If I did, perhaps I wouldn’t be so upset!”

Elias winced, but did not reply.

Elaine sighed. “I’m just very upset right now, okay? All of you should get some rest, it’s very late,” she said. “I’ll stay up and keep an eye on Garrett.”

Her parents nodded silently, and walked off to bed. Elias remained.

“Are you sure you don’t want someone to stay up with you?” He asked softly.

“No, I don’t.” Elaine replied sternly. “Go to bed, Elias.”

He frowned and left the room.

“I’m so sorry this happened, Garrett…” Elaine whispered. “I will get my revenge on that woman, I promise you.”

The door to their bedroom opened again, and Elaine turned to see her children entering. 

“M-Mom,” Amelia began quietly. “Is… is dad going to be okay…?”

Alexander waited for his mother’s answer, but did not say anything.

“YOU!” Elaine yelled. “All of this is YOUR fault!”

Amelia flinched at her mother’s outburst. “W-What-”

“I saw you sneaking across the street to their house earlier today!” Elaine snapped. “You’re friends with that woman’s son, no doubt!”

Amelia’s bottom lip quivered. “You told me that vampires were just in fairytales, mom. I didn’t know he was one until–”

“I was trying to protect you from the truth, and this is why! Look what his mother has done to your father!” Elaine exclaimed.

“You are to never see that boy again, do you understand!? NEVER!” 

“It wasn’t his fault, Onyx didn’t do anything!” Amelia retorted. “Why are you mad at him for something he didn’t do!?”

“Don’t backtalk me!” Elaine yelled. “My decision is final! He and his mother are dangerous, Amelia, and it’s my job to protect you from them!”

“He’s not dangerous!” Amelia cried. “You’ve got him all wrong!”

“ENOUGH!” Elaine screamed. “Go to your room! Now!”

Amelia could no longer control her emotions, and she burst into tears as she turned and ran out of the room. 

“A-Amelia…!” Alexander began to run after her, but he could feel his mother’s eyes practically burning holes through him and came to a halt.

Amelia ran as fast as her legs could carry her outside onto the balcony. She stared out into the night, feeling helpless. “It’s not fair!” she sobbed. “It’s just not fair!”

“Amelia!” a voice called from below. Confused, she glanced around. “Huh…?”

She looked down over the edge of the balcony. “Onyx!” She exclaimed. 

Onyx looked up at her, the tears streaming down his face glistening in the moonlight. “Amelia, come down here! I-I need to talk to you…!”

Amelia ran back inside and down the stairs as fast as she could, hardly caring if her mother could hear her. She burst through the back doors and slowed down a little, walking to her friend.

Onyx tried to smile. “Amelia, I–”

Amelia wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her. “Onyx!” She sobbed into his shoulder. 

“A-Amelia?” Onyx gasped, a little shocked at her behavior. 

“My mom said… w-we can’t be friends anymore, Onyx…” Amelia choked out. “But I won’t listen to her! I won’t leave you!” she cried. “I don’t care if everyone else hates you, you’re my friend and nobody’s going to change that…” Struggling to compose herself, she let go. “…Sorry…”

“No, don’t be sorry,” Onyx said. “My… my mom said the same thing… she said humans are dangerous and I can’t trust them.”

“My mom said vampires are dangerous…” Amelia frowned. “But you’re not dangerous. I know you’re not.”

“I know you’re not dangerous, either,” Onyx replied. “You’re my… friend. You would never hurt me, right…?”

“Never,” she nodded. “And you’d never hurt me?”

 “Of course not.”

Amelia clenched her fists. “Then who cares what our parents say!? What do they know?”

“But Amelia, what will they do if they catch us…?” 

She grinned. “We’ll just sneak out together! They’ll never know if we do it at night, when we’re supposed to be asleep!”

“S-Sneak out!?” Onyx exclaimed. “I-I’ve never…”

 “Neither have I, but what choice do we have?”

He nodded. “You’re right...”

They stood in silence for a few moments.

“Let’s go to the park! It’s several hours before we’ll have to be up for school, so they won’t notice we’re gone!” Amelia suggested.

“Yeah!” Onyx lit up. “Let’s go!”

The two friends walked down the brick path a short distance from Amelia’s house leading to the park. “What should we do?” Onyx asked.

“Hey, let’s go play on the jungle gym!” She excitedly replied. “We can be pirates!”

Onyx grinned, and together they ran off to the playground.

“There’s another enemy ship! Fire the cannons!” He yelled.

“They’re headed right for us!” Amelia gasped. “POW POW POW! I got them, Onyx!”

“Now our treasure is safe!” he triumphantly exclaimed. “Land the ship, Amelia!”

“Aye-aye, captain!” she giggled. “Hey, let’s go play on the monkey bars!”

“I wonder who can make it across the fastest?” Onyx pondered out loud. 

“Me, duh!” Amelia grinned.

“Oh yeah? Prove it!” Onyx retorted.

Once they were done competing on the monkey bars, she led him over near a tree. “Hey, Alexander says if you reach down in one of these logs you’ll find a frog!” 

‘Ewww…’ Onyx thought. “Well? Is there one in there?”

“…No,” Amelia frowned, seemingly disappointed. “I guess he was fibbing…”

Onyx was secretly grateful there were no frogs. “Hey, I’m getting kind of tired… let’s go sit down somewhere.”

Amelia nodded. “Okay.”

They located a park bench to sit on and quickly found themselves deep in conversation. Amelia was off on a big story. “And then Alexander caught it on fire!” she exclaimed. “The teacher had to put it out! And that’s why he’s not allowed to do science experiments in class anymore.”

Onyx laughed. “Your brother is really funny!”

“He is, but sometimes he does really stupid stuff,” Amelia said. “…Like catching the experiment table on fire.”

“I kinda wish I had a brother or sister,” he said quietly. “It gets lonely when mom’s at work…”

She frowned. “What about your dad? Doesn’t he come around?”

Onyx tensed up. “…I don’t even know who my dad is… mom doesn’t talk about him.”

Amelia looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry,” she replied, feeling guilty for bringing the subject up. “I’m adopted… I don’t know anything about my real mom and dad,” she said. “But that’s okay, because I love the mom and dad I have now.”

“You’re adopted?” His eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Is Alexander?”

“No, he’s their real son. Well, I’m their real kid too, but… you know what I mean. Not by blood.”

Everything fell silent, and Amelia scooted over closer to Onyx, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“…I don’t care what anyone else thinks… I think you’re great, Onyx, and don’t let anyone tell you you’re not,” Amelia said quietly. 

Onyx barely noticed himself taking her hand in his own. “Yeah…? I think… y-you’re great too, Amelia.” He smiled sheepishly. 

She yawned. “I think we’re gonna be friends forever, you know…?”

Onyx’s smile widened. “Me too.”

He received no further reply, as Amelia had already drifted off to sleep. He smiled down at her, and there was a fluttering feeling in his heart. ‘Even if humans and vampires are enemies, even if our families hate each other, even if this is forbidden… I’ll risk everything just to be your friend.’