Bloodlines

The rail yard was cold that night. It had rained that morning, and the ground was still wet. Thick fog covered the ground, wispy like in those old horror movies. The moon, bright and full, peeked through the few openings in the clouds overhead, dew forming on the sides of the metal freight cars. It was quiet, hardly a sound to be heard as the night drug on. Two young lovers had driven out to the rarely active rail yard to get some time away from the town. The idea was that, a least for tonight, they would have nothing to distract them from one another.

It was late November, just a few days before Thanksgiving, and people all over Five Hills had already begun setting up their Christmas lights and decorations; the young couple included. They were fairly well-liked, having just moved in, and been very friendly to their neighbors. Jorge Alvarez and his fiancé, Natalie Jacobson, had moved north from Los Angeles in early July. Five Hills was a coastal town in Washington that had been on the decline for a few years due to the recession but was finally making a comeback.

Jorge was a dentist, tall and tanned, with dark hair and rich brown eyes. Natalie was a social media starlet, petite and demure, with fiery red hair and sparkling green eyes. Talented with various kinds of art, she ran a blog, had a web series with some friends, did a little pinup modeling here and there, and was working on a graphic novel of her own. The two had met on a dating site just before Natalie's internet fame started to take off. Every now and again, she managed to pull him in front of the camera in little ways that had to be looked for – and her fans had started calling this her 'hidden Jorge'. They had moved when a position opened at a private practice in Five Hills, and Jorge took the job.

Tonight they were getting away from it all. From their neighbors, from the phones, from the computer and the cameras they would escape – and just be by themselves for a night. They were getting ready to leave as the temporal barrier from Friday night to Saturday morning was crossed. The remains of their late-night picnic had been packed away, including the half-empty wine bottle. They'd made love for the first time in a month, and Natalie now sat in the middle of the pickup truck's bench seat, curled up and leaning on Jorge. She smiled softly as her thoughts drifted, bouncing around from one subject to the next as they often did.

She thought of that night, how wonderful it had all been. They had been trying for a child ever since they moved, and she was certain that tonight she would conceive. She could feel it. Then she thought of their wedding, which was being planned. They had decided to be married at midnight as it changed from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day just so every anniversary could be a huge party. They were both excited about the wedding, but Natalie most of all; it would be like the whole world was celebrating with her. She had never expected to be so giddy about it, but after a five-year relationship, she felt she had earned the right. She especially liked Jorge's idea: one would say 'I do' on New Year's Eve, and the other would say it on New Year's Day.

Everything was fine right up until Jorge reached to turn the key and start the truck. It turned over just once before the driver's side window exploded in a shower of glass. He was grabbed by the throat and pulled out through the shattered window; his seat belt snapping in the process. Natalie screamed, instantly throwing herself to the other side of the pickup's cab. Out the shattered window she could see a dark figure lift Jorge by his neck, and then throw him against one of the boxcars. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and didn't move afterward.

Then that same figure turned to her, and she screamed again as she saw the glowing red eyes. A deep, dark baritone laugh came from it then as those red eyes bore into her own green ones. Then the figure lunged toward the truck, ripping open the driver's door and smashing the cab light as he dove in with her.

She screamed again, used her legs to push the man... or God help her, creature... back out of the truck's cab. She sat up, grabbed the keys and turned them. The engine fired right up, and as the red-eyed thing cackled madly, getting up slowly, she pulled the shifter in a rush to first gear and slammed her foot onto the gas. The tires span in the dirt, but there was only one thing in her mind - she had to get help. Jorge had to be alive, right? He was just unconscious. Maybe she could flag down an officer.

It... wasn't meant to be. She got out onto the road, and she found an officer alright, but not in the manner she'd been hoping. The little Dakota pickup had rushed out in front of the officer's patrol car after slamming through a pair of locked chain-link gates. Not having expected it, or having time to react, the patrol car had slammed into the rear of the truck, and she'd been ejected from it onto the hood of the car as the truck span around.

She would awaken on Thanksgiving day, surrounded by friends and family in the hospital. However, she would never be the same again. Her fans, after learning what happened, made a huge push to show their sympathy, which included donations that crested just over sixty thousand dollars. She barely touched any of it unless she had to, though she did give her thanks. The only thing that gave her any kind of solace was the fact that, on New Year's Eve, she discovered that she was pregnant. She wept in joy despite herself, and her old self began to shine through.

Natalie started working on old projects again, smiling more and even did a small modeling gig, pinup style like she used to, when her baby bump began to show; just to show how proud she was to be an expecting mother. She had also begun looking for a place in Los Angeles again, deciding to move back there now that she had no real reason to stay in Five Hills. She found one just after she had her baby, a son, whom she named Jorge after his father.

Unfortunately, she would never get the chance to move back to Los Angeles. The morning after she hired a moving service, she was found dead on her bedroom floor. Her newborn son had not been in the house that night. Little Jorge's maternal grandparents had been taking care of him while Natalie got ready for the move. The child would grow up never knowing his parents.

I am that child.