Sitting at the piano, I let my fingers float across the keys like it was second nature to me. I closed my eyes, appreciating the sweet sound the motions produced. Classical music was a vice for me. I love other genres, sure, but classical is everything to me. This piano, after all, is one of the only things my father left behind.
"Daxxy?"
Spinning round, I was met with a tired-eyed pair of twins shuffling in my doorway. Both dressed in football-themed pyjamas, Andy was clutching his stuffed toy tightly to his chest and Angel was gripping onto Andy's hand for dear life.
I wasn't really a fan of football, but I watched it since they both seemed so interested in it. When they were younger, they were always trying to get me to play with them, but unfortunately I couldn't handle very long in the sun. They still force me out onto the pitch on particularly gloomy days, however.
"What's up? Why aren't you in bed?" I frowned, crossing my room to check if they were okay.
"We had a nightmare. We're sleeping in your room?" Andy intended for it to sound like a question, but it came across more as a statement.
Angel pouted behind him, batting her eyelashes at me to get me to agree. They were growing up to be quite conniving. They did this quite often now, preferring my room to their own or even to our mothers. I didn't really mind it, but I didn't want them thinking they could get their way all of the time, or they'd grow up spoilt.
"Did you really have a nightmare?" I asked, to which they both enthusiastically nodded, "Fine, but you need to go straight to sleep."
A grin split out onto each of their cheeky faces and they pushed past me, climbing up onto my double bed. Once they were settled in, duvet pulled right up to their chins, they looked at me expectantly. I sighed, shaking my head to myself. How had I become a human servant to my younger siblings?
"Just one song." I warned, sitting back at my piano.
One of their favourites popped to mind and I began to press the keys to the opening, hearing some happy chatter start up behind me. A single warning glance over my shoulder was all it took for them to zip it, sheepishly settling down again. Letting myself get lost in the song, I didn't even realise I had closed my eyes again until I was playing the final keys.
Lo and behold, the twins were fast asleep.
Some piano always seemed to do the trick in sending them off to sleep, even if they were deep into a sugar rush. I wasn't sure whether it was because it I bored them to sleep, or if it was soothing to them. Either way, it does the trick, so I'm not complaining.
Smiling softly at my siblings, I stood from my piano stool and slipped open my wardrobe as quietly as I could. Night times were my favourite because I could wear next to nothing outside without the fear of searing pain.
Slipping out some black shorts, a baggy vest top and some vans, I headed to the bathroom. Taking a quick shower, I slipped on my clean clothes and popped a pill bottle open, taking my dosage. Looking in the mirror, I cringed slightly at my reflection. I must admit, I look worse than usual today. The dark, harsh bags under my eyes seemed to be pleading for sleep and my skin was desperate for some sun, ghoulishly hanging to my body.
I knew, however, that neither of those things were possible for me.
This was my usual evening routine. Get dressed in clothes I can't usually wear and climb out of the window, all without alerting my mother. It usually isn't too difficult to avoid her knowing about the insomnia since she either works nights, or she's passed out from her extremely long day shift. Today was the latter, obviously. Otherwise, I'd still be with the twins.
Next in the routine: wander through streets until the early hours of the morning. I always finish the evening by watching the sun rise and climbing back through the window before anyone notices. I've had this routine for the best part of two years, so I knew my neighbourhood at night like the back of my hand. I never braved venturing far, but there was surprisingly a lot to do in my immediate area.
Passing through my bedroom, the twins were still fast asleep. Careful as to not disturb them, I climbed up onto the window sill and stepped through the window, straight onto the garage roof. Pushing open the garage skylight, I slipped through the open window and landed on my feet on the floor of the garage.
Picking up my skateboard from the corner, I unlocked the backdoor with my keys and swung it open. Next thing I knew I was gliding down the dimly lit neighbourhood streets on my board, flying past parked cars and house after house. I ollied over a curb and took a shortcut down an alleyway, finding myself on another street that led directly to the skatepark.
The streets look so different in the night, compared to the day. What some may find creepy or eerily quiet, I found calm and freeing. The abandoned feeling to the rows and rows of cars and empty streets filled me with a kind of euphoria that I rarely felt in the sunlight. Nobody had their eyes on me and I didn't have to hide or protect myself. I could just be me.
It wasn't long before I found myself at the skatepark, coming to a stop in front of the ugly iron gates. Slipping through the broken part of the gate, I crossed the park while carrying my board. Under the large ramp, you could find the teenagers who came here to smoke whatever they smoke, hidden under the ramp. I found it slightly ironic that they were hiding from peering eyes at night, while the night was the one time of day I could be myself.
I didn't know them by name, but I recognised a few familiar faces who came here frequently. At first, they gave me a bit of a hard time since they thought I would snitch on them or whatever, but once they realised I wasn't bothering anyone by being here and I just wanted to keep to myself, they left me alone.
Climbing up one of the larger ramps that the other people weren't underneath, I looked up at the sky. Being in the middle of town, out of the countryside, means that you can't really see the stars, but occasionally I'd spot the odd few pop up, fighting against the light pollution to shine bright. Tonight, I could even see a small constellation.
I set my board down, laying down on the cold metal ramp as I looked to the stars. With my arms crossed behind my head, I felt pretty chilled and contempt. My alone time at night was what got me through every day in the sun.
"So when I followed you, I thought I would find you doing something... Well, interesting."
Glancing to my left, alarmed, I could make out a face. It was dark, so it took a second, but I'm pretty sure that my new neighbour, Connor, was stood in the skatepark right now. This kid had followed me in the middle of the night to a random location. How weird.
"Like what?" I frowned, climbing to my feet defensively.
"Something related to your drug lord car? Joining the druggies over there for a shoot up? I don't know." Connor mused, finding this situation hilarious.
"Sorry to disappoint." I mumbled, leaning against the metal fence at the top of the ramp awkwardly.
Connor simply laughed, struggling to climb up to the top of the ramp to join me. I would rather he didn't. Why had he followed me? I couldn't logically work out why a person would follow their neighbour, who they had just met, after they'd snuck out of their window at night. I would expect him to tell my mum, not join me. How did he even see me leave? The streets were empty.
"Why are you looking at the sky anyway? Why the skate park? Couldn't you sleep?" Connor questioned, craning his neck to look at the sky, as if trying to spot what I had been looking at.
"I couldn't sleep." I shrugged, keeping my answer short and sweet.
"What about the sky?"
"Constellations."
"Do you do this every night? Look at stars and skate around streets?" Connor seemed to be genuinely interested, but I was still a little creeped out by the whole situation.
"No, not every night. Sometimes I take a walk in the woods, or draw things. It depends on how I feel, really. It's been a while since I took some time to look at the stars, so I came here tonight."
"What's so interesting about them?" Connor wrinkled his nose, still staring upwards.
I settled back into my position from before, looking upwards with my arms crossed behind my head. Connor joined me, copying my position to the T. It made me laugh that he thought his position would help him see what I see.
"Stars are interesting. You see, it's like you're looking into the past when you look at a star. Stars are mortal; like us, they have an expiration date. In fact, some of the stars we look at today have already exploded up in space, but we're so far away it hasn't reached our eyes, yet."
"So we're looking at dead stars?" Connor seemed very confused.
"Only a very small number of them are dead." I corrected him, "Think of them as ghost stars."
"Ghost stars sounds like a bad rock band." Connor said instinctively, still looking up.
I couldn't help the small chuckle that slipped from my lips at his sudden outburst. His mind was a strange place, it seemed. Connor froze at the sound, as if he couldn't believe that I had actually laughed. I laughed even more at that; did he think that I was incapable of laughing or something? I do have emotions. I'm not a sociopath.
We fell into silence once again, but a small smile still played on my lips. He was an odd kid, but I kind of liked having him around. I couldn't remember the last time I had hung out with somebody my own age, so it was nice to know that I could actually have fun with anyone that wasn't my sibling or parent. Connor, however, felt the need to fill any silence.
"I had my first day of school today." Connor let me know.
"How was it?" I felt like I should ask.
"Do you not go to school? I asked somebody if you did and they all began to gossip about you. Apparently you're known as a 'vampire boy' around town. I mean, I can understand where they're coming from: a guy who doesn't sleep, hates the sun and wears all black. With the pale skin and black hair, you're not doing yourself any favours. You're kind of a mystery and with the cold attitude thing you usually have on, it's no surprise people think that. Not that I'm excusing them being rude; I told them where to shove it today, but yeah."
I blinked at that.
"You love to talk, huh." I murmured, not really used to it.
"Sorry." Connor blushed, drawing his knees to his chest as he sat up.
Silence filled the air once again and this time, I was the one who felt the need to fill it.
"You don't have to do that, you know? There's no use fighting them on it. They call me a vampire because they're idiots. Most of those things can be explained by medical issues, things that are out of my control. Do I sleep in a coffin or turn into a bat, flapping around and sucking people's blood? Of course not, because the supernatural aren't real. What is real is the pain I deal with daily, on top of being a social outcast because people think I'm a freak of nature." I ranted, feeling the frustration towards the highschoolers he's referring to seep out.
"That makes sense. What are these medical problems you speak of?" Connor's curiosity was genuine.
"I have Erythropoietic protoporphyria, or EPP for short. It's a blood disease that causes an absolute intolerance to light. I could give you a detailed report on what it is but basically, my enzymes are deficient and that causes XP build-up, which reacts when exposed to direct sun light. Not only sunlight but other lights too, like certain laptop screens."
"Oh. What happens when you're directly under those lights?" Connor frowned.
"Well, my skin starts to get this prickling feeling and then the reaction causes this intense burning pain. It feels as if somebody is pouring boiling water on my bare skin, so it's really not pleasant. Sometimes there's no evidence that it even happened, which is why people think I'm a freak. It can develop into blisters, though, if I'm exposed for too long and, over time, multiple reactions can cause scarring to my skin."
Connor's eyes studied the back of my hands, and I let him take them gently to study the condition of them. It was the area of my body where you could most clearly see the scar tissue that had developed, since my hands tend to take the brunt of the light exposure. Hence, gloves.
"Oh. That looks really painful."
"It is, but that's why I wear all of that UV protection clothing during the day. I've checked the lights around the city and have to avoid certain neighbourhoods because their street lamps will burn me. Now add Insomnia and Anaemia to the list of medical issues and you've got yourself a 'Vampire Boy'."