The few days leading to my birthday were extremely weird. The first red flag was the fact that both my parents were aware the whole time that it was coming up. They hadn’t remembered since I was pretty young and now mom would just try to subtly bring it up in conversation so that I know she’s got it this time. I wasn’t mad about that, I was just really surprised.

Kyle had already made it clear that he was doing something for my birthday and he couldn’t stop talking about how the eighteenth was really special, a rite of passage into adulthood, the first clear view into what the future held.

He really wanted me to be there on my birthday night, celebrate the year expiring with him.

I was used to just letting my birthdays go by. It was the same routine every year. It started with my parents being completely oblivious, then I’d just let them stay in the dark, just let it marinate that another full year had passed by and nothing had remotely changed, then Luca would burst the bubble when he finally came and sang “for he's a jolly good fellow”.

After that I’d get a guilt present, something that was very generic or last minute, then some words about how I was turning into a fine young man from my father. At some point I just really became numb to it all. The day leading up to it, my birthday and the day after just became something that I had to get through, an obstacle of sorts I had to face, but now that Kyle was here, I had a feeling things would finally be different.

Two nights before, I went out to see Kyle.

‘I'll come, i know you have a surprise for me,’ I said.

‘I don’t know, I'm just worried that maybe you might be doing something else.’

He was doing his usual skipping stones routine.

‘You don’t have to worry about that, my schedule is perpetually clear,’ I replied.

‘What about your parents?’

I immediately pictured both their faces as the day just went on as normal as ever, not a single care to give.

‘What about them?’ I scoffed.

‘Aren’t you doing something with them?’ he asked.

‘They won’t even rememb—’

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Then it actually hit me that they did remember this time, they had been subtly dropping hints all week long.

‘What?’ He asked.

‘Nothing,’ I replied.

He sighed.

'You won't be able to come, will you?'

'They remembered my birthday for the first time in a long time, I might be occupied. They never really cared before, but then again, they never really care about anything me related,' I replied, looking into the distance.

‘I just wish things weren’t like this for you, you know,’ he said.

‘It is what it is,’ I replied.

‘But really, like, I just wish all this had never happened. Or no one had seen it happen, or—’

‘Kyle, you’re now the one obsessing over that,’ I interrupted.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

There was a long pause while the only entertainment we had was all the night critters. Then he sighed again.

‘Its just that, I want you to have a great birthday,’ he said.

‘I will, okay?’

‘Just promise me you’ll come tomorrow instead, that way we can watch you grow old, thats much better,’ he was looking at me with the most endearing eyes ever and they became even softer as he let out a chuckle.

‘I’ll be here,’ I said.

That night I had the strangest, most intense dream I’d ever had in my entire life. It started off with me and Kyle standing next to each other, at first we were bqck to being young boys, then we grew up instantly. Suddenly, I was back to that day when it all happened, I could feel it, smell it, sense it all. I was reliving it in perfect detail.

It was a hot summer day. We’d been playing out back at Kyle’s house that day. His mother used to bring out the little inflatable pool and we would frolic around in it. On that day it hadn’t been touched. We’d been running around a lot, playing all sorts of games from hide and seek, to playing an intense game of tag, working on our speed which at that point was still laughable. Kyle said he wanted to show us a new trick, that he could leap over the pool and run onto the other side seamlessly.

It all happened so quick. There were four of us there. The two of us plus Teddy and Jillian. They were both standing a considerable distance away from the pool, just as I was. I wanted to mess with Kyle, get to the pool just as he did so that we would crash into each other. I told my self it would either happen as i planned or if he were to leap over the pool as he said he would it would all be just fine.

All our faces were so vivid, so clear in the dream, including Teddy and Jillian who I hadn’t seen in forever. I didn't know what to make of it, maybe my brain just imagined what they’d look like now that they’d grown up—or maybe these were the faces of two random strangers I’d just assigned the memory of these people in this traumatic experience.

The pool was also bigger now to suit everything that was going on. There I was, running towards the pool, it took me a shorter time to get there, I guess I’d always just been faster, even then.

Something happened , because it was almost as if he was coming at me in slow motion. I was seeing him with from a very trippy perspective, it was almost as if he was an entirely different person. His eyes were familiar, yet very strange, the motion of him running towards me was something that was hard to comprehend and when he collided with me, it was as if we had caused some sort of explosion. It was as if we were two chemicals that had reacted badly and now everything was just a mess.

There I was, on top of him. His eyes looking at me as if he knew, as if he was aware that I was about to go fully rabid, but also confused. The reaction was still happening, we were both stuck in this moment, at least I thought I was. I suddenly had that sensation you get when you’re about to have sour candy, that tingling. Then I felt the pull, I hadn’t been able to make my fangs protrude all this while, it had been painful all along, but now it just happened with incredible ease.

I was still locked onto Kyle’s face and he seemed paralyzed....frozen in place as all this happened. His eyes widened, but he did not budge. One minute his eyes were ajar, the next, they were tightly shut. One moment I could feel the water moving haphazardly around us, then it was all red. My teeth sank deep into his neck and when I looked up, Teddy and Jillian were staring at me in sheer terror. Kyle was motionless in the bloody water, but not like before, now it just seemed like all his strength had been drawn out of him.

I could feel the blood running down my face. I could see the mess I’d made, feel the aching of my teeth which were still protruding as if I’d still have to finish off my prey. My prey, my friend. Kyle. He looked so very helpless. Suddenly everyone was there, my mom, my dad, Luca, all the other kids, now all grown up, other people I could not recognize and the elders, watching me and doing nothing.