Once Upon A Dream:

A Collection of Oneshots

1. Blood Ties

Five o'clock AM, the sun had yet to rise. The gray sky outside was shrouded in darkness. Life had yet to stir, not even the early birds, yet. The unoccupied kitchen with its chilled floor tiles was the center of this small urban apartment. Two rooms, one bath, and one kitchen, located in the upper decks of one of many Lower Class apartments, this place was enough for its intended purpose.

The small place housed two residents, and one of them was about to be awakened by a piercing scream. The screeching rocked the thin walls and slammed into his eardrums, snapping his eyes open like an instant On-off switch.

"She's awake."

He got up faster than most people who's had early morning shifts. In a T-shirt and trouser, the man burst into the bathroom - not the other bedroom - and turned the lights on.

In the bathtub was the second resident of this humble abode in fetal position. Her clothes were soaked in liquid from either cold sweat or pee, and her long auburn hair was a complete mess. When the beams of light engulfed the darkness, she snapped with a loud yell and squirmed away with no avail. She couldn't open her eyes until that familiar silhouette appeared amidst the light.

"Are you alright?" The man's words were soft and kind, devoid of the grumpiness most people would exhibit from rude awakenings.

"I-I ... thirsty... please, let me.. let me.." Her eyes were bloodshot as they looked at the man frantically. Those eyes were almond shape, yet devoid of the human warmness in them. In fact, there was a crimson ring enclosing the iris within, and the eyes had a bestial look. Her small mouth was moving as her tongue seek out hungrily for that thirst, barely concealing the fangs that had grown in her mouth.

Was she human?

He often wondered about that, for this was not the first day for this to happen. He glanced at the handcuffs that ensnared her left arm to the heating pipes which snaked out of the wall like a bad pipedream. It would hold for now, until the day she could tear apart the walls with just physical strength.

"Yeah, hold on a sec, I'll get you what you need." He smiled at her. His heart pained at seeing his beloved in this fashion, but the man did his best to hide that feeling from his smile.

The woman didn't smile. She only looked on at him with want, her thirst the only concern in her eyes. In fact, her eyes constantly wavered between the man's face, his neck, and his exposed arms. She probably didn't understand why she was this way, but he knew, and could only look back at her with a sad smile.

He left her behind, and kept the lights on. It was the only way for her to stop screaming - because she would be cowering from the intense white light and her voice reduced to a whimper.

The man entered the cold kitchen, and shivered from its lack of heat. The icy tiles stun his bare feet, telling him that this poor excuse for a home was not meant to withstand winter.

"You should get rid of her." A voice crept out from the darkness with a slither.

The man opened one of the drawers and rummaged through it for the important things he needed.

"Why keep her for this long when you are the one that's suffering?" The voice continued, taking shape of a woman much older than either the man or the woman in the bathtub.

"She's suffering the most." He replied as he pulled up a long piece of rubber tie.

"Oh really now? You're just pitying her aren't you, like how you used to look after stray dogs and cats abandoned by their owners." The voice was cold, just like the kitchen tiles. No, they were colder than that, with frost covering every syllable.

"That and this is totally different, she's a human being." He managed to find the needle and a clear glass tube, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Human being you say? Is that really what you think? Is that really what you think when you see her eyes? Don't tell me you didn't see those sets of teeth she's got."

"She's still a human, and as long as things remain as they are, she'll be fine." The man said with conviction in his voice.

"Your so-called treatment won't work. You, more than anyone, should know that." The cruel voice had not given up. It had increased in volume and continued to assault at the hidden anxieties within the man's heart, as if it could read his mind and heart like a book.

Assembling the syringe and the tube in place, the man tied the rubber tie around his left arm two inches above his elbow. It was a difficult thing to do by himself but he's gotten used to it. Afterwards, he extracted a bottle of isopropyl alcohol from the nearby cupboard and poured a little over his arm. Wiping the residue off with a napkin, the man clenched his left hand and without hesitation, stabbed the syringe needle into his skin.

Making sure that the needle had found his vein, the man slowly maneuvered the tube into the syringe's back end, and after the pressure of the push disappeared, crimson blood gushed into the tube like flowing water. Eventually, the tube was completely filled up, and he quickly removed it. Following the removal of the needle after the tube, the man fumbled around and grabbed a piece of band-aid to cover up the puncture while he untied the rubber. The procedure was standard, but something that was very difficult to do to his own body. Still, it was enough to accomplish his goal - the tube that was filled with the red waters of life.

"I am well aware that this treatment will not last, but as long as I curb her desire for obtaining the blood from any other sources other than what I am giving to her, I can draw out the change as long as I can." He stared at the tube and its contents. Grabbing a cup from the dish rack, he uncapped the rubber top and poured his blood into the cup.

"You are a fool. You'll regret it, stupid son of mine." The cold voice continued to assault at the man's heart. He knew he would never escape that voice or the truth it spoke despite her death.

As the man brought the cup forth to the young woman, her eyes lit up like that of a feral beast and without stopping herself, emptied the cup within seconds. As if that was all she needed, the girl's whimpers had ceased, and her eyes seemed to have returned to their human look.

As if returning from a daze, the woman's eyes focused, and blinked against the light only to see the figure before her. Not even realizing that she was handcuffed and restrained in the bathtub, the girl stuck out her free hand, thin as it was, and stroke the man's cheeks.

"B-brother, is that you?" Her fingers were covered in his blood because of how sloppy she drank the cup. Even her lips were tainted red, but the man couldn't help but look at her with warmth. Unable to control himself, he felt his eyes water and hot liquid streamed downwards toward the cold earth.

"Are you... crying?" Her words were like the ray of light to him. They were just as they always had been, since their youthful days, and since before the outbreak. Still, he knew that drinking the blood was only a temporary alleviation. Soon, by nightfall, she would revert back to how she was from before, and each day, the transformation occur slightly earlier than the day before. It was only a matter of time.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Anyway... what was I going to say? Ah right, good morning, Aria." He wiped away the tears with his hand, and beamed at her happily.

"Good morning, brother." She smiled back, and that was all that he needed.

The man's conviction of what was the right thing to do continued to push him forward, because that was the only thing he could hope for if he were to ever see the light at the end of the dark tunnel.

"To answer your question mom, it's obvious. You should also know that I just can't abandon my own sister like that, not when there's still hope." The man whispered to the unkind voice with sorrow and love despite seeing only empty air.

That's right, within the despair at his younger sister's transformation, there was still hope. As long as they could last another day, tomorrow will come, and with that, hope.