Ezzie stepped into the room and had the strange sensation of walking through a sheet of cold water that made her shiver. She was already always so cold, and Ava was gone, and in the center of the room a fountain splashed bright red blood. The cement beneath her feet was cracked and bright purple flowers and green moss grew through the cracks. Above the sky was fully visible and three girls sat around the fountain, drinking blood out of chipped cups.
They could have been her sisters.
All three were rosy cheeked and chubby and healthy looking. They talked and laughed amongst each other, all while drinking blood, and Ezzie’s empty stomach ached, and the sadness and emptiness—that Ava called depression—filled her.
She was a defective immortal. All she wanted was to fall into an eternal sleep and never wake up. She had nothing. Her sisters had abandoned her.
The girls around the fountain smiled when they saw her, rosy faces brightening.
“Come drink with us!” one of them insisted, holding out her chipped cup for Ezzie to take.
And Ezzie’s stomach grumbled. Oh how she wanted to drink that bright red blood, but she just couldn’t.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?” asked one of the other girls.
“I just can’t okay,” said Ezzie, wanting out of this place and away from the temptation of blood, and she felt dizzy and faint. Ava’s sweet blood had only been a tease. If she explained the emptiness and sadness she always felt to these three girls would they understand? If she explained it to Rosalie, Amelia and Luna would they understand? Would they forgive her and welcome her back? Or would they still shun her? Would they call her a defective immortal because Ezzie certainly felt like one. If she explained that in the mortal world there was dangerous sunlight and no fountains of blood or rivers of it, that they’d have to use barbaric violence on others to get that sweet tasting blood, would they forgive her for destroying the controls on that rollercoaster?
Ezzie just didn’t know.
The three girls—all in flowy white gowns and with blond hair—frowned at her.
“But you look like you’re starving,” one of them said. “Why not just take a small sip? You’ll like it.”
She was sure she would.
“I’m just… sad okay,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m depressed. I feel empty and sad all of the time.”
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“Oh.”
“That doesn’t sound good at all! You poor thing.”
“Come drink with us! It’ll make you feel better!”
“Do you—” Ezzie paused, “Understand?”
“Of course we do!”
Would her sister’s understand though?
“There are no fountains or rivers of blood in the mortal world. There’s only a bright sun and barbaric violence.”
“What’s violence?” one of the three girls asked.
Rosalie knew.
“It’s simply barbaric. It requires ripping out throats.”
“Well, we don’t want to go there then.”
Is that what Amelia, Luna and Rosalie would say if she explained it?
Ezzie approached the fountain and all of that blood. These three girls seemed to understand. Would it be okay if she drank some blood? Maybe just a small sip? She felt so faint and dizzy, and her empty stomach ached.
And where was Ava?
“Have you seen my friend?” she asked, approaching the fountain and the three girls closer, closer to that temptation of blood. It looked so good.
“No,” said one of the girls, and all three laughed.
“Drink with us!”
These girls were so welcoming, and Ezzie thought that maybe, just maybe, her sisters would forgive and welcome her back if she explained herself. Maybe not all was lost.
“It’ll make you feel better.” The girl once again held out her full cup for Ezzie to take.
Maybe just a small sip wouldn’t hurt. She hadn’t drank her vial of blood in awhile now, and Ezzie took the cup from the girl.
“Well, okay. Just a small sip,” she said.
The girls all smiled.
“Good. We don’t want you to feel sad.”
Ezzie paused, then took a sip. The blood was warm and sweet—not as sweet as Ava’s blood had been, but still sweet—and the blood filled her empty stomach, but she was still thirsty. And she drank more of the sweet blood. It filled that emptiness and sadness she always felt. These three girls understood depression. Maybe her sisters would understand too, and then Ezzie found herself in a blood craze, with total lack of self-control. She drained the cup, but was still thirsty, so she went to the edge of the fountain and cupped blood with her hands. She drank fast and greedily, and suddenly felt like she couldn’t stop. She needed to drink more and more of that warm, sweet liquid. It filled her up. It made her faintness and dizziness pass.
She couldn’t stop. All of her guards were gone. All of her caution, and the world became the sweet blood, and blood dripped from her fingers and down her wrists, but Ezzie needed more.
She needed more and more.
Perhaps it was okay if she drank blood. Perhaps her sisters would understand if she explained herself. Perhaps Ava was right. Perhaps there was no point in starving herself anymore.
“Wow. You’re really thirsty!” one of the girls said. The one who had given her the cup, which she now held.
Ezzie wiped off her mouth and stepped away from the fountain, suddenly feeling nauseous. Her stomach wasn’t used to all of this blood at once. She wiped her hands off on her holey jeans.
“Yes,” she said, heart pounding in her chest.
And then she was puking up red. It splashed on the cement, and she wiped off her mouth again, feeling sick. She had to get away from all of this blood. It was too much. She ran from the fountain, and the three chubby and healthy girls who could have been her sisters, and to the edge of the courtyard and to an arched doorway. She went through the archway and again had the feeling of walking through a sheet of cold water, and she stood in the corridor at the other end of the massive room, back in the oasis, and Ava stood there.
“W-what just happened?” she asked, her stomach still lurching from all of the blood she’d drank. Those girls had understood her depression, had not wanted to go to the mortal world with that bright sun and barbaric violence, had welcomed her with open arms, and Ezzie was now starting to believe that perhaps her sisters would do the same thing if she explained herself, and maybe Ava had been right all along.