Revolutionary

Well, Gerard was wrong when he assumed that he’s the only one who advocates for human rights. The west coast of the United States was currently erupting into a small revolution for equality. A synthetic blood that had been developed in Japan was being exported to the United States. Human rights laws were implemented in Nevada, California, and Wyoming where synthetic blood had become the new norm.

Of course Gerard didn’t know about this revolution; no one on the east coast did. It was the 1860s after all; news had a hard time travelling across countries, especially when the government doesn’t want their civilians to hear about it. Currently, President Andrea Nokamivoch didn’t consider Nevada, California, and Wyoming to be part of the United States. She hadn’t approved the human rights laws, and prevented everyone on the east coast from hearing about the uprising. She was afraid that the movement may inspire the residents to bring the revolution into the east, and she did not need that kind of trouble on her hands.

Even with the secrecy surrounding the revolutions, Gerard wasn’t the only one who found a deep love and respect for humans. In fact, a boy at Gerard’s school right in Northern Jersey felt the same way, well almost.

Ray Toro was always a strange boy growing up. He never fully acknowledged his vampirism and his parents never had the time to teach him about it. Instead, one of the Toro family’s slaves, Nadia, became a motherly figure to him. She would tell him stories about what it was like before vampire industrialism. When humans and vampires still had respect for each other. Of course this time was long past; it had been almost two hundred years since humans were still free to live for their own purposes. The 1600s were like a fairy tale compared to today. Ray would often find himself in tears when Nadia told him stories of her life before she was sold to his family. She would tell him about the cruelty of the guards, and how they often beat or raped the humans there for their amusement.

After growing up with these stories, Ray nearly felt sick every time he sat down at the dinner table. He knew that if he didn’t drink he would die; however, it still pained him to feel the human shaking as he bit into its flesh. Sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he would see the face of his meal. Usually the human’s mouth was wide open and their eyes were bulging. Sometimes the human wouldn’t do anything, just accept its fate. The worst was when it cried. When it cried in pain and mouthed words like ‘help me’ Ray would immediately stop feeding. This was much to the (highly apathetic) distaste of his parents.

Nadia died when Ray was sixteen. Before she passed she knit Ray a sweater out of some old drapes and quilts she had found in the attic. She had known that Ray hated being a vampire, so she made him something more human, more alive. Vampires only wore black, but this sweater was made of reds, yellows, blues, and whites. He almost felt human whenever he wore it. His parents thought it made him look like an idiot, but Ray didn’t care about their opinion. He's never once done something for his parents sake, and now didn't look like a good time to start.

So now, Ray was doing what he did every evening. He tied a noose and nailed it onto his doorway. He then continued to properly hang himself. His brother, Ed, walked past the doorframe. “Mom, he’s doing it again.” he yelled. Ray sighed. He wished that he could die like a human; he wanted nothing more than to be one. “Raymond Manuel Toro, you get down from there immediately, you’re going to be late for your first day of school.” Ray undid the noose and rushed outside to catch the horse-drawn bus.

Oh god, vampire school. Where can one begin? As if the brainless, immoral students weren’t bad enough the classes were disgusting. Ray unfolded his crumpled schedule as he stepped onto the bus. ‘Human Hunting,’ ‘Human Dissection,’ ‘Feeding Techniques,’ Ray groaned as he looked at his classes for this year. “Hey, faggot,” a boy called from the seat behind Ray. The bus was always a source of anxiety for the quieter kids like Ray or Gerard. “I have lunch with you, faggot.” He snickered. “I can’t wait to see what you eat since you’re such a pussy.”

Now other students overheard the one-sided conversation. “Speaking of which, why are you wearing that pussy sweater? I bet it’s made out of your human girlfriend’s pussy hair.” He laughed stupidly while Ray kept a stoic face, refusing to react to the boy’s ignorant comments. Another boy piped in, “That’s so gross man, why would you wear a sweater made out of pussy hair?” Some other kids erupted in a chorus of insults, most calling him a “pussy human lover.”

Now Gerard was on this bus too, and Gerard was usually a naturally level-headed guy. He was sitting two seats in front of Ray and he could hear the bullshit that was going on behind him. He had talked to Ray once or twice, probably asking to borrow a pen or something. He most commonly knew him as “the kid with the weird sweater,” but now Gerard was upset. As soon as he heard that phrase, ‘pussy human lover’, as soon as he heard the resounding echo of Mikey’s voice in his ears, Gerard knew he had to say something.

“Guys, relax.” He said turning around to the taunting boys. Ray’s eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped; no one had ever stood up for him before. “What’s it to you, fag?” A pizza-faced boy snickered. “He just doesn’t deserve the shit you guys are giving him right now, so lay off.” Gerard concluded, turning around to sit back in his seat which was surely giving him a splinter. “Who the fuck do you think you are, Way? You can’t tell us what to do.” The boy who had started the teasing spoke up. Gerard closed his eyes and breathed deeply, not that he really needed to, but it helped him relax.

The teasing continued. The boys’ profound, unadulterated idiocy was really getting to Gerard. He heard the voices getting louder and louder; whether it was actually happening or if it was just a figment of his imagination he may never know. Now, he was going to do something about it.

Gerard’s eyes washed black, his extra pair of fangs located on his lateral incisors shot out just as far as the fangs he uses for drinking. He stood up in his seat, shouting with a voice deeper and more confident than his usual tongue he said “Alright, that’s enough.” He clenched his teeth together out of frustration. “Leave that fucking kid alone, or I will come back there and rip each and every one of your goddamn throats out.”

His anger wasn’t his own. It was pent up from years of weariness and rage that the filth of the other vampires had burdened him with. It was all his misery for humanity, all his hatred towards vampire-kind. It was fueled by anger, disappointment, and agony.

Everyone on the bus was silent. Their eyes were wide with fear and jaws open so wide you could see last night’s leftovers. Gerard looked at Ray, his outburst, although pertaining to the boy, it had next to no motive regarding him. Ray either didn’t realize this or was too happy to care. He smiled and looked up at Gerard with a newfound sense of friendship.

Notes

Yeah, boring chapter I know, but Ray and Gerard are friends now; whoop whoop. Okay, stay beautiful readers. -xo