"T-that's it... I'm finished..."

I panted, running toward a secluded forest.

"Or I will be, once I finally find a way to die..."

--

I used to be so happy go lucky when I was a child. I was aware that some other people had many problems in their lives to deal with, of course. Some with minor problems, and some with life-threatening ones. I was also aware that these kinds of problems could even happen to a kid like me. But I figured since I was a completely ordinary boy, my life would be ordinary too, forever and forever...

"No bad stuff like that would ever happen to me!" I thought. And you can't really blame me for thinking that. I mean, I can't be the only one that's thought this, right? That their life is so good, that anything bad wouldn't happen to them. So speaking like this definitely won't make me suffer any divine punishment, right?

One time though, I did become curious about this, so I decided to ask my mom about it.

"Will anything bad ever happen to me someday, too?"

"No, of course not. Because you have a guardian angel watching over you."

"A guardian angel?!" I said in shock. "Do other people have guardian angels, too?"

"Yes, especially good little boys like you." She answered, patting my head gently.

... Well, my mom forgot to tell about one thing. Guardian angels don't protect you against curses.

Yes, a curse. That's what I've decided to call it. I mean, what else could you call a disease that no one has heard of? A disease that no one has ever had anywhere on the face of the planet before you?

What is my curse? Apparently, it's a disease that forces my body to create way more blood than needed. Obviously, having more blood than normal isn't necessarily bad, but it creates it faster than I can gather "resources" to make more (like by eating and drinking stuff). Not only does it make me feel like crap, but if nothing is done about it, it could be very life-threatening.

The doctor told me that while they couldn't cure it, they could give me some medicine to mitigate it a bit. I would still have to drink a ton more fluids, and would have to visit them fairly often to have some of my blood drawn. However, it wouldn't stop me from feeling like crap. And it would be wicked expensive.

Unlike me, my mom wasn't concerned about the cost at all. She was just happy that her "precious baby boy" would be able to live a (kinda sorta) normal life instead of having to, well... die.

But, there was only one problem...

"We barely can afford to live off the pay you make already! How will you be able to take care of this?"

"Don't worry about a thing, I can just get one or two more jobs! No big deal, sweetie!" She gave me a thumbs-up, sporting a happy grin.

Of course it's a big deal! You'll be the one to end up dying!

But because of her limitless joy and enthusiasm, I could never muster up the urge to question her or talk back to her in moments like this. But still...

I can't let things end up this way!

Which led me to head to a certain forest...

--

When I was little, I loved to explore. I really just wanted to find a secret place, a place just for me and a place only I knew about. And my exploring led me to a secluded forest, a fair distance from my house. To be honest, I later realized that it wasn't that the forest wasn't known about or anything. To others, it was just "a forest", so they never bothered to check it out. But to me, it was more than that. To me, it was very special; a place filled with a lot of memories. Some good, some bad... But all of them were really important to me.

And that's why I chose this place. This is where... I'm going to kill myself.

Mom's always had such a hard life, having to take of me all by herself... And I'm just going to make her life harder from here on. But if I die...

I was scared. I mean, of course I was scared. It's not like I really want my life to end. And I already realized that it would make my mom very sad if I died. But...

"What other choice do I have?!" I cried out for some reason, even though I knew there was no one around to hear me.

I was already a ways into the forest, even though I hadn't really planned out what I was going to do yet.

"I guess I could try falling off the small gorge near here... But what it that doesn't kill me? I'll just end up hurting myself really badly..." I sighed. "Who knew doing something like this would be so complicated..."

This is still scaring me, but I'm a lot calmer about this than I thought I'd be...

I was still pretty much wandering around aimlessly, not really paying attention to where I was going. And because of that...

WHAM!

... I walked face-first into a tree branch.

"Owch..." I fell down, blood dripping from both my nose and a cut on my arm I got from falling. I wasn't surprised by this, because I bleed easily because of my disease. But seeing the blood made me think of something...

If I fall down the gorge and kill myself, how much blood will come out then?

I don't know why I thought this, because it made me start to freak out.

I'm scared... I'm scared... Scared... Scared! SCARED!!!

I curled up in ball, shaking in fear. I thought about how much it would hurt if I survived, or if it would hurt before I died, or about how someone would react to seeing my dead body lying there...

Thinking about all these things... This is terrifying! I-I... I don't want to do this anymore!

"Grr..."

All of a sudden, I heard some growling noises, coming from the bushes. There were some glowing eyes coming out of them.

"W-what is tha-..."

Before I could finish, something jumped out of one of the bushes. And another jumped out of another bush. And another. And another...

W-wolves?!

They all eventually came out and started circling around me.

What are they doing here?! I know some animals live in this forest, but only deeper in!

They continued to circle around me, beginning to drool.

I-I need to run... B-but I'm too scared to move!

One of them began to walk toward me slowly.

I'm going to die... And just when I was reconsidering killing myself...

"Will anything bad ever happen to me someday, too?"

"No, of course not. Because you have a guardian angel watching over you."

So much for that... I'm gonna die here, and no one's going to sa-...

WHAM!

... I couldn't believe my eyes.

Jet black...

That was the color of the long locks of hair passing over me, belonging to the girl who jumped over me and kicked the wolf in the face.

"I won't let you mongrels hurt Yaun..."

Huh?! How does she know my name? Who is this girl?

All of the other wolves growled at her angrily, beginning to circle her this time.

"Oh no!" I cried out.

The wolves jumped toward her, ready to take a bite out of her...

... but she easily knocked each of them down with a flurry of kicks.

"W-wow..."

She stood over the wolves, them slowly getting up. The girl didn't seem to be scared of the wolves at all, rather they seemed to be afraid of her instead.

"Get lost." She stated in a furious but calm voice, sending the wolves hightailing it out of here.

"U-um..." I started. "Thank you for saving me, uh..."

The girl turned around, showing me her face. She had to have been the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. And near her forehead, some of her hair circled around, almost looking like a halo.

She's almost like... A guardian angel...

"Are you okay, Yaun?" She asked me in concern, coming closer to me slowly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm alright, more or less. But how do you know my name? Have we met somewhere before?"

"O-oh no, you're bleeding! And so much, too!"

"A-ah, don't worry. This is norma-..."

All of a sudden, a look of horror appeared on her face. She bent down suddenly, covering her face in her hands. Also, it almost seemed like her eyes changed color for a second.

"N-no, I can't... N-not now!" She screamed, still hiding her face from me.

"W-what's the matter? Are you feeling alright?"

Could she be hemophobic?

"S-stay away... I don't want you to get hurt, Yaun..."

"Hey, it's okay." I went closer to her, and patted her shoulder gently. "You don't need to be scared of anything..."

"Don't touch me!" She shouted, springing up suddenly and knocking me down again.

She looked at me again, except this time her gray eyes had turned a deep red color, and her teeth had become thicker and more sharp.

"I-I can't control myself anymore..." She uttered, tears beginning to run down her face. "I'm so sorry, Yaun!"

"W-wha...?"

Before I could do anything, she lunged at me, grabbing at me by my shoulders, and moved her mouth toward my neck. And then...

BITE!

To be continued...

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Writer's Comments:

Sorry about not putting up anything for October; I'd decided to take a month hiatus because I was on vacation and I wanted a small break after just completing a saga. As for this month, I had something else planned for it, but I've been busy with other things, so I haven't had time to do it. Instead, you can have this.

This is a new series I've thought up, and I pretty much decided how I wanted the first chapter to go, so I decided to write it immediately. So I did. It ended up being simpler and shorter than I had intended (mostly because I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted the chapter to end), but oh well. To be honest, I haven't really thought out the plot for this series yet, so I might end up re-doing this chapter in the future. Maybe. Who knows. Well, whether or not I do... enjoy this chapter!

- CS-Masyet