Chapter Text
Offering tissues, a snack, and to keep the girl company had resulted in Ryn's jugular being torn into. It is no wonder that less people are willing to be kind in this day and age.
Standing in her bathroom, Ryn hissed as she disinfected the bite mark on her neck. The cotton pad came away bloodied. I knew the interview was a bad idea, she thought, reaching for a dressing pad to cover the wound with.
She had wanted to stay at home to work on her next story. Instead, she’d suffered through a vexing interview, gotten attacked, and was now wasting even more precious time dealing with the aftermath. Ryn sighed. I’ve got books to write.
After making sure that the dressing had stuck to her skin properly, Ryn snapped the first aid kit shut and headed for her laptop in the living area of her flat. Stopping partway, she took a sharp turn into the kitchen instead. A coffee first, she thought. Coffee made things better.
#
Earlier today, Ryn strode through the corridors of a TV studio building. She supposed the interview could have gone worse.
She had sat at the large table, directly in front of the two morning news presenters in their crisp and clean suits. It had started with the usual over-asked questions. Did you expect your newest book to be so popular? What’s your next big project? Then they started veering towards the less-pleasant ones. Do you think your upbringing steered you into writing the subject matter of your stories? Where did all this dark imagery come from? If this is what you’re writing at twenty-seven, you must have experienced some violent things during your childhood. If Ryn knew, she’d have told her therapist already. She wrote thrillers, and she had an imagination. Was that so hard to understand?
‘Why don’t you write more romance into your novels? It seems like it could make your stories more appealing than they already are,’ the male interviewer had asked. His shock of white hair was a stark contrast to the dark locks of his female colleague sat next to him.
‘And where would be a good place to insert that?’ Ryn had questioned.
‘Well, I figure anywhere would be good. Surely it can’t be that difficult to sprinkle in some romance to lighten the shadowy themes of your stories.’
Ryn had felt her brow twitch. ‘The more I add, the more words it’ll take, and the more pages the book will need. I’m already pushing it with what I’m doing and have to cut out a lot of content.’
‘Maybe you could cut some other parts out to fit the romance in?’ the female presenter had said.
‘That’s not my thing. There are plenty of authors who write romance if that’s what you’re looking for.’ Ryn’s gaze had been hard, and the presenters had finally seemed to pick up on how unwilling to compromise Ryn was. Thankfully, the advertisement break had just come up and saved them from any further awkwardness.
#
There had been no other occupants in the green room when Ryn left for her interview. She was the last on the list today, and she was thankful for that. It meant that she could just grab her things and go, avoiding any other social interactions whilst at the studios.
The door to the green room opened inwards with a soft squeak, and Ryn caught the sound of soft sniffling. It seemed to be emanating from deep within the L-shaped room. Shit, Ryn thought, I should have left my things by the door instead. She had a habit of leaving her belongings in the furthest parts of a room, thinking it was less likely to be stolen that way. The thief would have to take extra steps to get there, and there was always a chance that the thief was a lazy one.
The soft sounds of crying continued. Ryn didn’t want to deal with this. She wanted to go home, shower, and get on with outlining her next project. For a moment, she considered leaving her belongings. She could collect them another day, but that would mean having to make the trip here again.
Treading carefully, Ryn crept closer to the middle of the L-shaped room and peeked her head around the corner. She spotted a figure sitting on the floor. It was a girl wearing a light-blue summer dress. She had long strawberry-blonde hair, and a small braid—that began from the side of her head—was pinned behind an ear. The girl was hugging her knees with her forehead resting on them. Her shoulders lifted with every sniffle.
Ryn’s belongings sat on the chair next to the girl. No way around it, Ryn thought. She moved towards the chair.
The girl didn’t notice Ryn’s presence, or if she did, she ignored it.
Ryn picked up her small messenger bag and jacket, turned around and stepped away. The sniffles continued, causing Ryn to purse her lips. Two steps away from the girl, Ryn stopped, sighed heavily, reached into her bag, and stalked right back towards the girl.
‘Here,’ Ryn said, offering a pack of unopened tissues she had just pulled out.
The girl ignored her.
‘These are softer than the boxed tissues behind you.’ Ryn glanced at the cheap tissues on the table behind the girl. ‘I’ll leave them here,’ she said, putting her tissues on the floor like an offering.
No response.
Turning around to leave, Ryn couldn’t help but swivel right back and heave yet another sigh. She rolled her eyes at herself for not being able to walk away from a crying stranger and plopped right down next to the girl, sitting cross legged.
‘Hey,’ Ryn said softly, glancing at the girl to her right. ‘I don’t know why you’re crying, but I’ll sit with you till you finish. Unless you don’t me to, in which case tell me right now, so I can leave.’
The girl peeked her eyes out from behind her knees.
Ryn brushed her long raven hair tied in a low ponytail over one shoulder. It would be nice if it would stay in place, but it never did. As she sat there, waiting, she wondered if her fringe that was parted over one eye needed a trim soon.
With no reply from the girl, they sat. The seconds passed by, adding into minutes. The sniffles continued but became more spaced apart.
By what felt like after ten to fifteen minutes, the girl finally spoke. ‘Thanks…’ she whispered.
‘No problem,’ Ryn said.
The girl lifted her head fully and rubbed at her face with her hands. Her sniffles had mostly subsided by now, but her face was a mess of smeared makeup and puffy eyes.
Taking one glance at the girl, Ryn reached for the packet of tissues she had left on the floor and held them towards her.
‘T-thanks,’ the girl said. She cleaned herself up as best she could with the tissues. The girl looked like she was waiting for questions, but none came. ‘I… I was stressed—am stressed, tired, and hungry…’ she said quietly, still hugging her knees. Her tummy grumbled in reply as if to back up her explanation.
Ryn looked at the girl when she spoke, but the girl didn’t look back. Eye contact was elusive between them it seemed. Reaching into her small bag again, Ryn pulled out a protein-peanut bar and offered it to the girl.
The girl stared at the snack bar held towards her, then flicked her golden eyes towards Ryn’s dark ones. Finally, they made eye contact. Espresso brown and molten gold.
‘T-thanks,’ the girl said, taking the offered food from Ryn. She stared at it, considered for a moment, then tore open the packaging and took a bite, then another, and another.
Ryn had her eyes trained on the wall as she herself never liked to be stared at when she ate.
Another grumble from the girl’s stomach had Ryn turning to meet embarrassed gold. ‘I don’t have any more,’ Ryn said. ‘But I could go buy you something, if you want?’
‘I—no. It’s fine. It won’t help anyway…’
Why won’t it help? Ryn wondered with a frown. Oh, maybe she’s… ‘Are you thirsty? Sometimes you can feel hungry until you drink something. Thirst can get mistaken for hunger signals.’
The girl’s breathing had gotten heavier at the mention of thirst. She gulped loudly.
‘I’ll go buy you a drink,’ Ryn said, making to get up, but a hand on her wrist stopped her. The girl’s skin was cold. ‘I’ll be quick. Promise.’
The girl tackled Ryn to the ground.
‘Are you al—’ Ryn only realised that the girl didn’t faint on top of her when she felt a piercing pain on the side of her neck. She grunted. The shock had prevented her from screaming. When she panicked, she was the type that would go silent. Tears blurred her eyes from the sharp sting in her neck that only continued. She could feel a wet tongue rove over the wound and lips that latched on like a leech. Flailing and failing, Ryn tried to extricate herself from the tight hold of the girl, but the hands on her wrists did not let go.
Ryn tried to roll over. It didn’t work. She tried to kick. It didn’t work. ‘Let go!’ Her voice came out raw and desperate.
The door flung open with a bang. Three women rushed into the room. Two of them pried the girl off of Ryn, and the other pressed a folded beanie to her wound. A firm pressure was applied to staunch the bleeding.
‘You’re all right. It’s okay,’ the newcomer helping Ryn said.
‘Daniela! Get a hold of yourself!’ The blonde struggled to restrain the snarling girl even with the help of the brunette.
‘Bela!’ The brunette shouted.
‘I don’t have any! Ophee?’ Bela gave the woman, who was helping Ryn sit up, a hopeful look.
‘Here!’ Ophelia withdrew an insulated tumbler from her tote bag and threw it towards Bela who caught it with one hand. But as Bela’s hand came away from Daniela’s to grab it, Daniela made a leap at Ryn.
Daniela didn’t get very far with both women instantly pinning her down to the floor. It looked painful, but the girl didn’t seem to register pain.
With a loud thumping heart, Ryn almost slipped from scrambling backwards, away from the attack. She felt drops of cold sweat slide down the back of her neck when she laid eyes on the crazed girl. Daniela’s hair was messy, the short braid had come undone, blood smeared her mouth and dribbled down her chin. Most terrifying of all was how the rings of gold had almost been eclipsed by her enlarged pupils. And they stared, completely locked onto Ryn.
‘It’s okay.’ Ophelia said, trying to reassure Ryn who was standing on shaky legs. Then she gently peeled the beanie away from Ryn’s neck. ‘The bleeding’s mostly stopped—’
Ryn dashed towards the door, almost hitting the corner in the middle of room on her way out.
‘Hey!’ A middle-aged woman who was about to enter the green room had been bashed into by Ryn during her frantic exit. She glared at Ryn who had stopped outside the door, dazed.
Ophelia rushed over towards the woman. ‘Sorry! They’re practicing for a drama series audition right now! Let’s not disturb them. It’s a role for a vampire character.’ She spun the woman back around and shot Ryn a concerned look.
‘That blood looks too realistic, Miss. Manager,’ said the woman, staring at the red liquid leaking out from under Ryn’s hand.
Ryn pressed her hand harder to the wound.
Ophelia laughed awkwardly. ‘You know how makeup is nowadays. Just give them a few minutes, okay? They’re taking practice really seriously.’ She looked at Ryn again. ‘Are you all right?’
Gulping, Ryn backed away, then she turned and fled.
‘She’s probably just too immersed in the role and needs to cool down,’ Ryn heard Ophelia say to the woman behind her. ‘Let’s go get a coffee.’’
‘The young ones sure are going all out these days,’ the woman said. ‘Have you tried the new blueberry muffins?’