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Yerim’s eyes glance over to the pizza boy, fiddling with her thumbs as the clock ticks down. It's often this happens, it's often that the young vampire girls capture an unsuspecting boy and leave him to be a decoration in their mansion. The tradition rules over the entirety of her recent time. Everyday, she wakes up to the sight of weapons displayed all over the walls and uniform shirts boxed up in any main room.
Everyday, her eyes dart to the crossbow that her hands are forced to hold, her goal never matching up to its intentions. Her hands turn clammy the second the thought sprouts in her head, in a few minutes, she has to resort back to the unwanted goal. The goal she never wanted to reach.
The clock ticks down every second, the constant noise echoing throughout the silent dining room, it makes her sick. Her eyes move from the pizza boy to the jello neatly served in front of her, which her mind instantly decided is something she won't stomach. Her hands, still grossly sweaty and unnerved, mindlessly itch at her legs, she needs something to occupy the silent moment.
Yerim’s eyes glance over all the other girls, watching meticulously as they wait for the mere second to ennact their mission, the mission they do over, and over. Yerim despises it, despises how everyone else can stroll through the mansion confidently while Yerim stays behind in tears scrubbing blood off her fingers. She despises how they can be so calm and collected in this moment, how they aren't tormented with the idea of wanting to be normal, they can look at a boy for what they deem necessary.
The clock strikes down, two minutes, Yerim can feel her nerves rising with every second after that. The debate within her mind screams louder and louder, if her heart leads her, she’ll betray all she's ever known, all for a guy she feels mere pity for. If her mind leads her, she's betraying every chance she could possibly get at being normal, every next sacrifice digging a deeper grave of vampirism.
Carefully, Yerim’s legs sneak their way out of position, it's a frustrating reminder that she's forced into heeled boots, ones that go out of their way to shout with every step she takes. Her focus is sent to keep her stance as far from her heels as possible.
Every sound, every tick, every second fuels the anxiety brewing within her, her legs wobble and she has to readjust her posture in every step. She shakes uncontrollably as she tip toes towards the blindfolded boy, placed between Joohyun and Seulgi. She knows he's forced into that position, it was a precise seating arrangement run by every girl but her. Her shaking worsens as she slowly trudges behind Joohyun, who Yerim can swear feels like can sense the uneasy presence trembling behind her.
Another strike, one minute.
Her hands, itchy from the sequined sleeves she's decorated in, reach out for the pitiful pizza boy. She's ashamed she's complicit in this boy, and every one before him, being manipulated into having his time cut short. She's ashamed to save him and leave him, either option is a disaster left for her mind to process.
Time's running out, Yerim’s hands carefully notify the boy of her presence. She stares at the smirks emerging on everyone's face, every single girl feeling the embrace the moment besides her. Suddenly, the sound of a chair throws her off the loop.
Yerim's heart drops, her entire body shivering as more and more noises fill the room, blindfolds sluggishly being removed as Yerim tip-toes back to her seat, leaving the blonde boy unaware and unanswered. Joohyuns eyes immediately dart to Yerim, who is standing before anyone else and seemed to have her eyes uncovered before the rest of them. She can feels the question lingering behind the glare, ‘what are you doing?’
she rushes to mouth back an answer, ‘sorry, i couldn't wait to get on with it. ‘
a silent sigh escapes Joohyun, which Yerim can only interpret as a warning to not let it happen during the next ritual. Her body feels like its on fire, every worrying thought multiplying within themselves to put herself in even more fear than before. Yerim purposefully leaves herself behind, trailing after Sooyoung, who might not notice Yerim’s absence. Hopefully.
She turns back to the boy, watching as he pathetically devours the jello in front of him, her stomach knots in a feeling of pity and pure disgust. She's ashamed, she's been letting these rituals take place for years, and only now does she turn back and really understand what she's doing. Beyond tradition, beyond a thirst for human blood, she's putting strangers at stake, and she doesn't want to.
She has no time to wallow in her problems, she rushes over to the delivery boy, harshly yanking his head back and pulling her blindfold up.
The confusion that lays in his eyes drives a pit in her stomach, tears welling up in her eyes as she criticizes herself for how long she's taken to finally leave this all behind.
She whispers assurance into his ear, grabbing his hand before footsteps can interrupt her mind again.
Panic floods her body as she leads the way, everything feeling so loud, and so slow, and so, unnerving. She feels disgusting correct and horrifically wrong, like God is tormenting what she should honestly be doing. Even with her inner turmoil, her legs push themselves out the door, scrambling to the car that pitifully parks itself in front of the mansion.
The night is dark, her mind is even darker, and her entire being is full of panic and excitement. The resistance she's never once dared to take, the feeling she never wanted to give in to, it engulfs everything she is right now.
She turns back, observing the four vampires she withstood, every disappointed look mixing up into fear and happiness in her mind. Yerim’s hands throw the car door open, shoving him into the car as she dodges an arrow that was originally meant to be from her measly hands, ones that didn't match the goal. She shouts at him to drive, terror driving her as she throws herself into the passenger seat, barely missing the axe that lodges itself onto the roof.
—
Yerim flies to the right, gripping onto any available surface as the delivery boy swerves every millisecond that he operates a wheel. As disgustingly glad as she is to resist what she despises most, the horrendous driving she's forced to endure puts second thoughts into her head.
“Sorry!" he apologizes, drifting on another turn to go after the nearest telephone available. Every apology that escapes his mouth feels insanely disingenuous as she swerves again and again after every one.
“It's—” she starts, pausing as he dangerously speeds up for no apparent reason, it's not like the telephone box was bound to run away. Her stomach churns, its been a good while since she's last been in a vehicle of any sort, and this is the worst reintroduction she's had to driving.
He eventually slams his breaks, making Yerim fly her face into the dashboard with an uncomfortable sound. She hisses as the sequins brush up against her cheek, making the pain even worse with the scratched of her sweater. Still, she feels bad that she's sent the delivery boy into a panic even worse than hers from before, and continues on with her words, “it's alright."
He briefly smiles at her, as a silent thank you before the two scramble out the car to bolt straight to making a police call.
Yerim doesn't know what she's doing anymore, she's sure the rest of the girls are behind her, most likely not as fast with no car to accompany them with their chase. Yet, Yerim knows they're determined, they'll kill one delivery boy, they’ll certainly kill another, Yerim shudders as she thinks about watching the girls she once loved sink their fangs into his neck.
Her hearing fades in and out, half of it just a piercing ring that leave her anxiously tapping her nails against the telephone box, and the other half being the boy she just saved rush through their previous events in a quivering voice and a less quieter person responding to his claims. She's not really sure how the supposed police is responding to him saying vampires were just about to kill him, but she's only glad to get herself away from what she's despised for so long, she intertwines her hands in pure joy as she waits for him to finish up his call.
After a while of incoherent words that Yerim doesn't bother deciphering, the two stand in unnerving silence, accompanied by the occasional car whizzing past the street and the buzz of a streetlight that towers over them.
The delivery boy sighs after the silence becomes too awkward and unbearable to be in, “I just want to say, thank you for—”
He swallows anxiously, probably remembering that Yerim is also grouped in with the vampires that just attempted to murk him. She understands, and gives him time to collect his next words, even if a pit opens back up in her stomach while waiting.
“Thank you for saving me," he says, basically murmuring half his words, she stares at his gloomy demeanor. His hand is still gripping the phone, even though white starts to engulf his knuckles.
She slightly smiles, still on edge as she turns to look at him, “don't worry about it."
The silence becomes comfortable after a bit of time, there's not much to say between two strangers waiting out the arrival of the police.
A car door slams shut, Yerim is pretty sure police have blaring alarms that yell out their arrival, but she could always be wrong.
She could be wrong about a lot, she realizes, she's never really gone outside at all before this moment, one she shares in pure fright with a stranger she was minutes away from sacrificing. It’s pitiful, she glumly understands, it's pitiful and no one understands.
A choked noise escapes the throat of the delivery boy, she quickly stares up at him, taking into the pure panic that seizes over him as a whole. He's shaking, his eyes widen so far they seem like they could pop out his head.
Footsteps are added to the list of sounds around the two, only, they’re loud, and drown out everything else in Yerim's head. She whips her head to see what could be making that noise.
Joohyun’s glare burns into Yerim's eyes, a level of disappointed that left holes in her chest and panic in her mind.
When she returns home, two shirts are left on display for the night.