Jeremy's World

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to share my attempt at a short story for the writing prompt: Jealousy. Let me know what you think in the comments. Don’t worry I will keep reviewing books and help you read great ones. So read on without further ado.

Everyone attending the charity ball are in high spirits except me. I want to rip off a certain woman’s throat. Usually, I don’t have such violent thoughts but it is completely justified at the moment. The woman is the date of the man I am pining for, Eric Carter, a vampire. Under different circumstances, she may have become my friend. She is extremely good-looking with red hair and green eyes. Her clothes too accentuated her beauty. I have no right to be jealous as I am the one who pushed Eric away. We can never be together and that’s something he never accepted. It never crossed my mind that one day he will move on. I don’t begrudge his happiness, but it does break my heart to see him with another person. Especially a woman who happens to be a vampire.

As I stand looking in sorrow at what I may never have, he turns and spots me. An emotion I can’t decipher flickers on his face before it smooths over. He tugs his date closer to him and presses a soft kiss to her cheek. For the first time in my life, I curse at myself for being what I am: A Phoenix. Yes, the mythological bird that is best known for its ability to be reborn from the ashes of its body. What the legends leave out is that a phoenix can take a human form. We only do that when an exceptionally bright soul sings to us. In my case, it’s Eric’s soul that sung to me.

I wonder why the universe decided to be so cruel. You see, though a phoenix can take a human form it isn’t human. As a result, our skin emits sunlight when we are happy. In essence, we glow as bright as the sun but we don’t burn the humans around us; we blind them. Now, imagine a vampire anywhere by my side. It’s a death wish and so I am drawn to a person who won’t survive if I allow myself to be happy and decide to be with him. The pain of knowing this never fades away but I have learned to live with it.

Eric was under the delusion that I will be able to control myself and that I won’t harm him. I will never hurt him intentionally but what can one do if it’s in their nature? Once Eric realized that he cannot convince me, he moved on. It took him a few months but here he is now, dancing with a cute red-head. Finally, I made myself look away and turned my attention back to my friend, a werewolf, who is looking at me knowingly.

“You can try the spell the wizard suggested, you know?” Solis asked.

“I don’t want to risk Eric’s life. Besides, he doesn’t want me anymore, Solis. He has moved on and I am happy for him.”

“Tell that lie to someone who doesn’t know you, John.”

“What if doesn’t work?”

“Ah, so that’s why you are refusing to even consider it. What’s the worst that can happen? The spell makes a vampire immune to the sun. We will test it out on one of my enemies. Once we are sure that he won’t die from being exposed to the sun, we can decapitate him and set him on fire. That will kill him.”

“That won’t help me win him over again, will it? So, what’s the use?” I ask in frustration. To prove my point, Eric’s eyes were roving over the woman’s form and he ducks down to kiss her lips. I know that I won’t be able to survive watching that and I rush out of the building. Solis, the ever loyal friend, follows me out.

“I will start the car and bring it out. Wait here and don’t do anything stupid.”

I mutely nod to show that I understand and gaze up at the night sky.

“Why did you rush out?” I freeze as I recognize the voice. It’s Eric. “Are you not able to be happy for me? You pushed me away. The least you could do is not ruin my date by looking like I stabbed you through the heart.”

“I am leaving. Do me a favor and leave me alone.”

“Then stop stalking me.”

“I hate to break your bubble but my world doesn’t revolve around you. I was invited by Lisa. She is my friend too.”

Before Eric can retort, Solis’s car slides to a halt beside me. I get into the car and Solis drives out of there without asking me anything. He doesn’t interrogate me during the ride and that makes me nervous. Solis isn’t the type to let things go without explanation. Normally, he would have been asking me why the heck I was chatting with Eric and if I am out of my mind. The more time we spend in silence the more I fidget.

“Stop fidgeting. It’s distracting me and I don’t care if you want to die; I want to live.”

Needless to say, I stop fidgeting immediately. “I blew up at Eric.”

Solis snorted. “I gathered.”

“I am idiot.”

“You are becoming human.”

“I think I am ready to check out that spell. Not for him but for me. I want to make some vampire friends.”

“Yes, that’s what this is about. Making friends, I know,” Solis said, not at all convinced. Once we reach my home, he hugs me for a long time before letting go. “Sleep well. I will check on you in the morning.”

“I will probably be asleep. After all, we have another charity ball to attend tomorrow night.”

“You said you wanted to check out the spell so don’t you dare sleep late. We can skip the damned ball if you want.”

“Okay.” I watch his car leave till my superior vision can’t make out his car. Then, I head inside to get some much needed sleep. I can function without sleep for weeks but I haven’t been able to sleep the past few months. The exhaustion has finally caught up to me. Therefore, the minute my head hits the pillow, I am dead to the world.

***

“Wake up, John, we need to meet the wizard,” Solis’ voice rings out.

Damn the werewolf, he is far too chirpy in the morning. I sit up groggily and blink at him blearily. “Why the heck did I give you a key to my house?”

“Because you wanted to me have access to your dead body if you are murdered in your bed. After all, you have a lot of enemies.”

“What is the wizard’s name?”

“Cyrus Finley.”

“Strange name. Anyway, let’s go. I want to know more about the spell he suggested.”

Solis rolls his eyes. “That’s what I have been saying but when do you ever listen?” he grumbles. “I am driving.”

I don’t object and follow Solis out to his car. The journey is long enough for me to wake up properly. Cyrus apparently wants to meet them in a clearing. So, we trek into the neighborhood forest trying to find the clearing. After a few minutes, we find it. Cyrus stands waiting for us.

The moment I look at Cyrus; I know that I will grow to love him. He appears to be powerful but friendly. As I walk towards him he smiles at me.

“You must be Phoenix. I have heard a lot about you. Let me explain what the spell entails and I don’t want to know why you need it. Solis has assured me that you are trustworthy,” Cyrus said.

I merely nod at him to go on. Solis too leans forward to hear how the spell works. He is curious about magic but never openly says so.

“First of all, in order for the spell to work, I need your blood. Secondly, there is no way to reverse the spell. So, be careful and think twice before using it. Lastly, the intended user must drink the enchanted blood.”

“As the intended user is a vampire that shouldn’t be a problem,” Solis says.

“The vampire needs to drink it willingly.”

“Shoot. We can’t test it on someone then, can we?”

Cyrus throws an affronted look at Solis before saying, “The spell will work. There is no room for doubt.”

“Alright, I accept. I will give you my blood. How long will it take to enchant my blood?” I ask.

“About ten minutes.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

I sigh and let him take a vial of my blood. Strange as it may seem I completely trust Cyrus. He begins to cast a complex spell and the vial glows a bright gold before returning to its normal state.

“Here, take it,” Cyrus says holding out the vial to me. “The blood must be drunk before 24 hours; otherwise, the spell will wear off. It’s a precautionary measure as I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.”

“Thanks, Cyrus. I will forever be grateful. You can call me whenever you need help.”

“Yep, I will come too,” Solis chirps in.

Cyrus merely smiles and walks away. After all, a mighty sorcerer like him won’t need our help. He is too polite to point that out. I sigh and turn to Solis. “Do you think I have a chance to get him back?”

“Who? Eric?”

“No, my other ex-boyfriend. Of course, I am talking about Eric, moron.”

“I don’t know but I do know that you will never forgive yourself if you don’t try.”

“I only have tonight to convince him and I don’t think the odds are in my favor.”

“Let’s see what happens.”

***

I stand frantically knocking on Eric’s front door wishing that I hadn’t come. The more time I spend knocking the more frustrated I feel. Eventually, Eric opens the door and scowls at me. “What do you want?”

“We need to talk.”

“No.”

“Eric, please listen.”

“You never gave me a chance to discuss our problems. Why should I hear you out and why now?”

“I am sorry if I seemed to brush you off. I wanted you to live, that’s all.”

“Why are you here now then?”

“I found a way to not accidentally kill you.”

“Too late.”

“Eric, give me a chance.”

“I did and you blew it. Now, I have a girlfriend. So, get lost.”

Hearing that is like being slowly cut open with a knife but I shut up. I don’t want to ruin his happiness and so I turn and walk away. But just as he is closing the door, I rush back. “Look, I understand that you won’t give me another chance but I still want you to have this.” I fish the vial of enchanted blood from my pocket and hold it out to him. “It will make you immune to sunlight. You have to drink it before dawn. The enchantment wears off at 9:00 A.M. So, you won’t get another chance.”

“You are pathetic. Do you think that this will make everything right? It won’t.”

“Think what you want. I love you and I always have. Even if I don’t get to have you, I want you to be happy and free. Ultimately, it’s your choice. Drink or don’t. I do not expect this to change anything between us.”

I walk back to my car in a daze. I don’t remember driving back to my home. Everything is a blur. My life has no meaning anymore but I will live on. I have an extremely loyal friend and that will be enough. Not today but someday in the future. I slump into my bed and close my eyes willing myself to slip into oblivion.

***

The next morning dawns and I reluctantly climb out of my bed after a few hours. I step out my room and crash straight into Eric.

“Why did you not say that you loved me when I was begging you to be with me. Why did you have to say that when I was trying my best to move on?”

“You wouldn’t have left me if I had revealed my feelings for you. I wanted you to move on and live but it hurt to watch you with another person. Also, I only heard about the spell a few days ago. I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to be dashed to smithereens but seeing you with that vampire drove me to give it a try.”

“You were jealous.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“What?”

“I wanted you to be jealous. I didn’t kiss her and she isn’t my girlfriend. She is my cousin, Carla.”

“You made me deliberately jealous?”

“To find out if you cared about me at all.”

We stand staring at each other for a few minutes. “I do have a potential date though,” Eric says and a sense of possessiveness raises its head in my heart. I push him against the wall and kiss him senseless.

“If you ever look at another man or woman again, I will murder you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir. Now, please return to what you were doing and shut up.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” We start making out again.

“And that’s something I never want to see again. I need a brain bleach.”

We both turned to see who is disturbing us and I start laughing at the look on Solis’ face. He must have come to check on me as I didn’t text or call him last night. Eric apparently has had enough interruption an tugs me back to face him again. Solis flees before we start making out again and calls out, “I am happy for you, John.”

My life is looking bright as the sun.

The End.