It's been years since that fateful day. You were now twelve. Your mother never bothered to smile at you or anyone else after all that occurred. She still said she loved you and she still looked at you with soft and caring eyes, but you never saw that warm smile of hers ever again. You.... missed.... it.

You wouldn't have done what you did if you knew things would turn out like this.

Four years ago, you and your mother went out for a picnic. You had food prepared and everything. About fifteen minutes into the picnic, you were both interrupted by some adults and their children. They harassed your mother, insulted your food and all the warmth that you were feeling slowly disappeared. You were smart, you knew that what you were doing was wrong, but you would do anything just to make your mother's sadness go away.

You told some secrets. You told everyone who dared to interrupt your bonding time with your mother someone's most terrible secret. Everyone knew each other so it would surely stir up some gossip and hopefully, it would get all the eyes off your mother.

Things would have went well if Ed Michelson wasn't a snitch.

You told Mr. Michelson that Mrs. Michelson had a playmate. You told him that his wife liked to play with Mr. Henry when he left for work. You were pretending to be innocent, but you knew that this would hurt him.

He deserved the pain. He was the one that started to harass your mother first....

You were stupid not to think about the consequences.

When your father came home that night, he did something unthinkable. He hit her.... he hit your mother. He was upset, yelling about his reputation. He didn't take the time to think that he so called good image was already ruined and that it wasn't even yours or your mother's fault. It was when your mother couldn't take it anymore that he realized what he had just done. He looked weird... he was showing a feeling that you didn't know much about. You would later realize that he was feeling guilt.

Your father couldn't look you or your mother in the eyes after that day. He refused to. He began to act nicer to the both of you and it was a great change, but it didn't make your mother feel better. You honestly thought it made her feel worse because she would always whisper... under her breath...

"I don't need your pity."

Since that day, you just had this bad feeling. Things just didn't feel right anymore.

You were at the park currently, thinking about what happened all those years ago. It was extremely dark... as always.

"What's wrong? Do you not feel good again?" Cain asks.

You look at him and you nod.

"Yes.... my mother told me what was wrong with her today...." You mumble.

"And what might that be?"

"Depression. She has to take pills now." You feel a cold hand rest on your shoulder.

"I see..." Cain says.

"She spent all of these years.... hiding her true feeling from me. I don't understand it... why? I hear her stomach growling, but she won't eat. She's always tired, but she won't sleep. She just sits there... crying for hours. She told me that she's been having nightmares and that when I'm in the room... I make them worse... it was never like that before... " You look up into Cain glowing red eyes. "...it's just been getting worse." You furrow your brows.

"Your father beat her (y/n). You told me that she still loved him right? Wouldn't you be upset if your mother had beat you?" Cain sighs. "You should keep her company. I was never close with my mother and I have many regrets. Don't make the same mistake as I have."

"Okay..."

The next day, everything went like normal. Your father left for work, your brother went to school and you stayed home.

You were homeschooled.

It took a lot of begging from your mom to get your father to hire a teacher for you. Your mother didn't want you to attend a public school or a private school because kids could be mean. She said they would bully you and tell you things that she doesn't ever want you to hear. Your mother still doesn't understand that things like that don't hurt you.

Your teacher's name was John Elliot. Mr. Elliot was a very odd man. He's around his late thirties. He was polite and strict and he just loves children with good manners, but that's only when adults are around. Once they leave and you two are all alone, the real Mr. Elliot comes out. He's not abusive, nor is he some type of sexual deviant... he's just incredibly paranoid... it used to not be that way though. When Mr. Elliot started teaching you, he was always polite and strict, teaching you things like math, science, history, language arts, and a little bit about human feelings, but then things started to change when he came back with these strange markings on his neck. It was two puncture wounds and they were deep. The flesh around the wound was all puffy and gross.

He said that he tried to clean it, but it did nothing. He also said that he tried to bandage it, but the wound would itch and tingle under the gauss. You're pretty sure he was just being crazy.

He was shaky all the time, turning on all the lights in the house just to keep the "monster" away.

"Alright! Today we are gonna learn about monsters." Mr. Elliot says. "You've learned enough book smarts, especially with all that reading you do."

"We've been learning about monsters a lot lately ... when am I going to learn something useful?" You ask, your face remaining the same.

"Listen. You... you never know when they are going to strike. You have to know all of their weaknesses to defeat them." He says.

"You don't even teach me anything about monsters. The only thing you've told me about is vampires and they're not even the ones that are considered scary. It's just knowledge that you could easily learn from a B-rated movie. 'Can't go out in the sun, doesn't like garlic'...." You say in a monotone. "Perhaps it's about time you go home."

"No... I can't.... the monster is probably waiting for me!" Mr. Elliot cries.

"If you won't leave willingly, then I'll just have to tell father that you like to sit and his office and pretend to be him. He'll surely be mad that you were touching all of his important documents..."

"You enjoy torturing people don't you?" John grimaces.

"No. I don't enjoy anything... You should know that. Now why don't you go home." You grab his arm, leading him to the front door.

"Where are you going to get your education from? You... you need me." He sobs

"That is not how you talk to a twelve year old girl John. Don't bother coming back. The library is all I need." You go to slam the door, but stops it with his foot.

"The monster.... it knows your name..." John whimpers.

You both stare at each other through the crack of the door. He was literally snot crying. It was pathetic. You tsk, shaking your head.

"Go home... Mr. Elliot." You sigh, kicking him hard in the shin and closing the door.

"(Y/n)....?" A soft voice calls out. You turn around just to see your mother wrapped up in a fluffy blanket. "What was that?"

"Don't worry about it." You softly say, walking up to your mother. "Why don't you go back to bed..."

You guide her back to her bedroom and you watch her fall asleep. After making sure that she was asleep, you went to the upstairs library. There were two of them... a downstairs and an upstairs. The downstairs was where all the newer books were... you weren't really fond of them. The only new books that had an significance were the book about core subjects like math or books about medicine since the medical field has become more advanced during the years.

You didn't have a phone or a computer like your father and brother so books were all you had when it came to entertainment. You liked children's books the most. They had this innocent feel to them and they gave the reader a sense of wonder... you probably would never be able to feel such magical feelings, but you still liked the books. You also liked romance novels. Love was a feeling that interests you the most. It's such a weird feeling. Could someone really fall in love with someone they haven't ever met before.

All these books about love at first sight and there teens running away together... they were stupid. Even though it is an ridiculous concept, the thought of falling in love with someone made you feel... some what excited. It was strange, but it wasn't bad.

You hum, looking up at the clock that was in the wall. It was almost noon.

Usually, you would be listening to Mr. Elliot rant on different vampires he's read about on Tumblr, but he's gone now. Your routine usually consisted of waking up, school, studying, and then a night chat with Cain, but a big portion of your routine was missing. You had hours until night time so you read until it came to that time, reading random books from all over.

Eventually, you fell into a dreamless slumber.