Puberty Ch2

        Teenagers.
        The one thing he hated. The one thing that he despised more than his current occupation was… teenagers. He couldn't even remember his own teenage years but he knew that they were terrible none the less. 'Now Igor, just enjoy yourself! These are the best years of your life!' many adults he looked up to back then had told him. But no matter how hard he tried, the years were just too horrible.
        And not to mention that human teenagers were worse when it came to attitude. They were snippy, snotty divas who all think that they know everything. He wouldn't be surprised if MTV aired a show about how bad these next few generations have gotten, and they'd probably use Mina's school as an example! Teenage Pregnancies, relationship drama, girls fighting over everything.
        It was almost retarded.
        The one thing that got him the most was how they all use Facebook as a way of confronting one another. The school doesn't have any problems physically with these children, because all of them would rather rip on each other over status updates than actually confront someone. No one even sees the school's social workers anymore.
        Saddest thing was, it was all on the news. It's gotten so bad that it's on the news. And people are still joining the site! Thank god  the Count will never buy a computer. 'TV's are the only electronic device needed here,' the vampire would claim, no matter how much Igor had asked and begged for an Xbox. TV wasn't the only thing that entertained people anymore. That part of this century is over. Now they've moved on to video games, and smart phones.
        But… it wasn't all that bad. He still had those radio headphones, which he was currently wearing as he swept the floor. There was a cold dinner wrapped in the fridge ready for his Master's return. And after it was finished, Igor had nothing better to do than to clean the area the soup was spilled. Then he fed the cats, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the dining room, rearranged the furniture, cleaned the rugs, watered the dead roses, put the furniture back where it was to start with, and watch TV.
        All the movie channels had silly chick flicks Igor wasn't eager to see, so he decided to sweep the floors again… for the fifth time in a row. He pushed the remaining dust to the bigger pile in the foyer. Grabbing the dust pan the hunchback bent over to gather it all up when suddenly, the million pound door fell on him.
        Igor had no air in his lungs in order to groan painfully. He heard footsteps above him walk on the door and into the house. It was his master.
        The top of his master's head appeared in his sight while Vlad bent over, looking at the hunchback trapped under it. Igor blinked slowly and an annoyed look crossed his master's features. He could just imagine the vampire putting his hands on his hips about now if he could see everything properly.
        "Igor, what are you doing?"
        "Sweeping the floor…" the hunchback said from underneath the door, his voice muffled. Though he was sure his back was broken in about six places, the hunchback was more or less worried about the headphones which were now crooked on his head.
        "Clean up this mess while you're at it," the Count ordered while straightening his posture and walking away. Igor lay there pitifully for a moment before attempting to hoist the door off himself. After several moments and no avail, Igor had decided to wait for Vlad to come back, as he would no doubt do to ask where his dinner was. As if on cue, the Vampire's feet were in front of the door again, and Igor could suddenly breathe again as the door was lifted off of him.
        "Igor… where is my dinner?"
        "I wrapped it up in the fridge, Master. I  can go heat it up now, if you'd like," Igor offered, showing his thanks for getting the door off of him by being the best servant he could at the moment. He told Vlad to wait for him in the dining room and appeared there several minutes later with a heated up bowl of Chicken Blood Soup and a huge slice of raw beef. Vlad hardly thanked him as he began eating. The vampire had taken several slurps of the soup before noticing that Igor still stood in front of him, fiddling his thumbs like a child too shy to ask a question.
        "Eh… something wrong, Igor?"
        "No, not at all master!" Igor said enthusiastically, throwing the Count off a bit.
        "Then vhy are you still here?"
        "Oh… eh… well I wanted to ask you if everything was okay. What was that meeting about?"
        Igor bit his lip after he asked. He knew he shouldn't show interest in the Count's affairs but he was truly interested in what was going on. He flinched a little when Vlad set his spoon down and picked up a napkin to dab at the remaining blood that didn't make it into his mouth, looking at Igor with a more than irritated expression.
        "There is something out there Igor, and it's putting not only us, but the humans in danger as well with its presence here. The counsel has ruled that all ghouls that are able go search for the creature each night until it is found."
        Igor shuddered. It was that bad? Whatever was out there was causing even the counsel to be wary, this couldn't be good at all.
        "What about Mina?" Igor dared to ask, looking at Vlad again. However, Vlad's expression didn't get any more annoyed than it was. It actually softened even, like he was having a harder time with this situation like everyone else.
        "Mina won't be able to come over for a while Igor. If she does, be polite and escort her home."
        Now Igor was worried.
        What on earth was out there that had everyone so freaked out?

---

        "No, Stacy, I'm not kidding! He just threw me out! Didn't even give it a second thought…" Lucy said sadly into her phone. While one hand held the house phone to her ear, the other hugged her knees close to her chest. Her old high school girlfriend sighed from the other end, then screamed something at the dog before returning to the phone, "Sorry, Lucy, the damn dog tried licking pudding off the baby again… and I'm so sorry to hear about that…"
        "It's awful! I'm wearing waterproof Mascara , yet I've completely cried it off!" the blonde whined.
        "So what are you going to do now? You've been gone for quite some time… and you and Bobby lasted nearly five years… I don't know what I'd do if Eddy just up and left me with the baby. I mean sure, I love Charlie, but I can't take care of her on my own! I need his help… and I'm worried about you."
        Stacy's preaching nearly put Lucy to sleep. She shook her head after realizing that her friend hadn't said anymore than that, and struggled for an answer. She didn't know what she was going to do now other than to just try to get over it. Keyword: Try. Lucy tried a lot of things but Mina was right, no matter how stubborn the older sibling was to admit it. Mina told her it was a stupid idea. Her life felt practically ruined by this point, there really wasn't anything left to try other than to…
        "Lucy?"
        "Yeah?" she called to her father through the closed door, glancing at the clock. It was two-thirty in the morning.
        "Have you seen Mina yet?"
        "No, daddy," Lucy said quietly, remembering that her younger sister had disappeared quite some time ago.
        Her father stood on the other side of the door, looking more worn than before. His eyes were now bloodshot and he looked as if he was having trouble seeing. Lucy grimaced at the sight, realizing that she had made him look this way a few hours ago. However, he looked even worse now while trying to stay up and make sure Mina got home. She really owed him one, and he really needed sleep. Thinking it over, Lucy quickly told Stacy to hold on as she set the phone down, and uncurled from her position on her old bed.
        "You should get some sleep, dad. I'll go down stairs and wait for Mina in a minute. If she's not home by three, I'll go looking for her."
        "Thanks, Lucy," her father yawned, obviously too tired to even thank her properly, and continued to walk down the hall to his room. Lucy swore she saw him walk away with his eyes closed and immediately felt worse.
        Lucy was pulled from her thoughts hearing her name repeatedly called from the phone she had set down. She picked it back up again, announcing she was back only to be interrupted by Stacy.
        "Sorry, Luce, but I have to go. The baby is starting to fall asleep again as much as I love you, I think I love sleep more, so I'm getting off here."
        "Fine, bye Stacy."
        And the conversation was over.
        Lucy leaned back in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Thinking a little harder on it she did come to realize that she was a little more than a brat. Okay, a lot more. Wow. Mina really was right. Lucy was crazy. She scowled up at the ceiling, realizing now with her predicament in one hand and her personality problems in the other, she had a lot to fix if she ever wanted her life to get better than it was. Not that it was bad, but feeling this down on yourself isn't the best thing to do, and being stressed out isn't the best thing for her body.
        The clock now stated that it was two forty-five, telling Lucy that it was about time she started heading downstairs to wait for Mina. She stuck her head into the hallway, getting the feeling she should make sure everything is fine before completely stepping out of her room. She had only taken one step into the hallway before she heard something coming from Mina's room. It sounded odd, like claws scraping wood. Lucy gulped, staring at the door to Mina's room that had been left ajar. She knew fully well that in scary movies, going to check out that noise was the last thing she should do. Finally the scratching stopped, and after a pause, the sound of the window sliding open filled the hallway. Lucy almost retreated back into her room before she heard the small, feminine 'oof' of her younger sister as she fell in through the window and probably landed face first.
        Rolling her eyes, Lucy charged to her sister's room and pushed the door open further while grumbling, "Wow, Mina, you seriously had me thinking some creepy monster was trying… to break… in…" Lucy had flipped the switch to her light and trailed off in her sentence, staring at the mess of her sister in her room.
        Mina was just starting to stand from her crumpled position on the floor, her jacket and backpack thrown to the site like they had been tossed in first. Lucy paled while looking her over though, her eyes scanning the ripped half of her shirt that now looked as if it hung in strips. Blood stained the edges that had been ripped but Mina's skin was perfectly fine, smooth with not even a scratch to indicate where the blood had come from. Her hair was matted with twigs and leaves, and when Lucy finally looked at her face, her eyes were completely glazed over. Staring back at her was hardly her sister.
        Lucy backed up a step each time Mina took one forward, slowly leaving her room while Mina flexed her hands. Her little sister's lip twitched in a scowl that showed teeth while Mina's slow breathing sounded like growling. When Lucy's back hit the wall she began heading to her left, slowly back towards her room. Her eyes never left Mina, who seemed to not notice her sister's presence any longer and instead just headed straight into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Lucy blinked a few times, staring at the bathroom door a few moments. Just as she decided to turn around and go tell their father that Mina was home, she stopped dead in her tracks when Mina started screaming.

---

        All she remembered was coming home. That was it. From the minute she left Vlad's house to the second she slammed the bathroom door behind her, Mina couldn't remember a single thing form the night prior. But the sight of herself in the mirror wasn't what made her scream.
        It was the blood she found in her underwear.
        Why was she bleeding there? What could this possibly mean? How long had this been going on? And most of all, was she dieing?
        Lucy had practically knocked the door down to come to her sister's rescue only to find Mina sitting on the toilet, legs closed, and holding up her blood stained underwear. And then she started laughing so hard she actually fell.
        It was now the next morning. Her father was sitting across from her trying to pay more attention to his morning paper than the conversation going on in front of him. At first he had been involved a little, trying to get information out of Mina like, why was she so filthy coming home, and why had she come home so late? Mina honestly had no cover story to make up for last night and settled for the truth: she didn't remember. After arguing about it her father finally decided that she was telling the truth, only now she was grounded for the weekend and was to stay in her room at all times. Some Friday this turned out to be.
        Lucy was now beside her, trying to calmly explain what had happened to her underwear.
        "You just had your first period, that's all."
        "How come nobody told me about this?!" Mina wailed, dropping the spoon in her cereal and burying her face in her hands. Lucy laughed, again, for the hundredth time, but it was light hearted and wasn't at her sister's expense for once. Mina pulled her fingers a part slightly to look through the gap suspiciously at her older sister who was trying very hard to be nice.
        "Well I moved out, and technically, it's dad's job to tell you about these things."
        "Dad!"
        "I'm out of this conversation," their father said immediately, rolling up his news paper and grabbing his mug of coffee, "I'm leaving for work early because I… have  a lot to do. Lucy, calm your sister down."
        And he was gone. Considering the situation, Mina had completely understood his out of character behavior. But why was she never told about this?!
        "Why now?"
        "Because it happens to everyone around now," Lucy replied nonchalantly, "Some sooner, some later. Oh, and the best part: It happens once a month."
        Mina groaned again.
        Lucy didn't stop though, "Be lucky you didn't have any headaches or cramps though. You'll start having them for a week or so before you even start-"
        "Enough. I get it. I'm doomed."
        A horn honking outside had Mina's head shooting out of her hands and looking around wildly before settling her gaze outside the window. The school bus sat there with the doors hanging open, and the honk warned Mina that if she wasn't outside in the next thirty seconds, those doors would close and she would miss her ride to school.
        Lucy watched bewildered as Mina, in record time, ran to the kitchen to throw her dishes into the dishwasher, ran upstairs for her backpack, stopped halfway out the door and came back to the dining room to grab her forgotten mp3 player on the table, and sprinted out to the bus. And she made it. Mina jogged up the steps  of the bus and ignored the impatient look the driver gave her as she took the closest empty seat to her, and put her earphones in place. She settled for a song rarely played on her small device but one that she loved nonetheless, and leaned back waiting for the school to come into view.
        The thing about high school Mina has yet to understand is why everyone acted so stupid in the halls before class. In elementary and middle school, everything was organized throughout the day, giving them little time for what drama existed and keeping all the kids in line. In High school, however, students had several chances throughout the day to act stupid and rampage in the halls, for girls to fight over pants in the bathrooms, and for everyone to watch and laugh at the nerds being picked on. Like Martha.
        Mina noticed that there was a rather large crowd around her locker today. She eyed it with little patience and decided the best way through was to literally shove everyone out of the way. Using her large backpack as a battering ram, she made it through just in time to end up in the middle where everyone's attention was at. Mina growled, taking a few steps towards the figure holding Martha hostage against the lockers while he traumatized her, and dropped her heavy book bag on his foot.
        Immediately Martha's bully retreated, hopping on one leg while he nursed the other and cursing her loudly. Eventually he stopped and glared at her with a scowl that bared all of his teeth.
        "Mina," he said her name with such malice, looking like he was about to strangle her.
        "Nick," Mina shrugged, picking at her nails as if the action were more interesting than conversing with the bully. Nick glared at her past the red strands falling in his face, regaining his composure and standing straight while slicking his hair back with one hand and smiling at her. Mina looked at him with a  bored expression, wondering what on earth he thought he had up his sleeve this time.
        "You know you have a locker for a reason, Mina," he said, picking up her dropped backpack, "So you don't have to carry all your books around all day. Oh, and by the way, I think you dropped this!"
        On the last word Nick had actually thrown Mina's backpack at her, hitting her square in the stomach and knocking her on her backside. The Asian twins took their place on either side of nick, laughing at Mina's expense. The small redhead growled, struggling to sit up with the weight of her own backpack on her chest as the crowd dispersed and began heading to first period.
        "Are you okay?"
        Mina looked up to see Martha hovering over her, grabbing the straps to her bag and pulling it off of Mina so she could get up easier.
        "Thanks," Mina grumbled, dusting herself off and hoisting the heavy bag over her shoulder, "What was he doing to you anyway?"
        "Well if you wouldn't have shown up when you did, Nick would have stuffed me in your locker again."
        Martha shuddered visibly at the thought and Mina's scowl only deepened. Martha's thin frame could easily fit in any locker with room to spare, but it was her height that made it uncomfortable and hard to get out when someone tried to free her. Mina shook her head and jerked her chin in the direction they needed to be going, "He won't do anything of the sort. Anyway, we need to get going, I don't think I finished my math homework last night."
        The rest of the school day went about the same as it normally does so far. Mina was even surprised to find out that she had in fact finished her math homework. The only downside is that even if she finished it last night, now that she had forgotten doing the assignment at all, Mina hardly understood the lesson. And they had a quiz Tuesday. Great.
        Deciding it would be best to take her algebra book home for the weekend and try to do the homework a second time to teach herself how to do the lesson, Mina had kept the heavy text book in her bag all day. By the end, she had homework in all of her classes for the weekend.
        By the end of the school day, Nick had decided he'd try to pick on Martha and Mina again. Between the time it took to go from her seventh period class to the bus, Mina had successfully gotten back at Nick for this morning and had retreated onto the bus before he could stand back up and wipe as much mud off of himself as he could. Martha followed suit but unfortunately she still rode the same bus as Nick, while Mina rode on a whole different one. Lucky for her, High school meant more students, more students meant more busses, and more busses meant more routes, and Mina's became separate from Nick's. Too bad Martha wasn't so lucky.
        Once she walked in through the front door to her home again, Mina noticed a note on the table. Apparently Lucy had somewhere to be, and won't be home before dad would be. Mina didn't mind her sister's absence and continued on up the stairs to her room, digging into the dirty laundry hamper in her closet to look at the clothes last night.
        They were still covered in dirt, with leaves and twigs stuck in various places she couldn't remove them from. She was actually planning on just throwing the shirt away, since the pants were still salvageable. However Mina just sat on the bed with the shirt in her hands, staring at the blood stains and rips that took over the whole right side of the shirt. Mina replaced her current shirt with the one from last night and stood in the mirror, looking at where all the rips took place, and noticing that the skin there was perfectly fine.
        If it weren't for the barely noticeable stitch-like scars trailing the areas were her flesh was exposed the most.
        What on earth happened last night?