Franks POV

Post-traumatic stress disorder-A disorder in which a person has difficult recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Otherwise known as PTSD, this disorder can affect anyone who has been affected by a strange event. From someone who was raped in an alleyway, to a poor kid who just can’t seem to stop getting bullied. Somewhere in that spectrum is “Angsty teenager boy who lost his father in a shooting, and just can’t seem to shake it.”

Now, imagine being that angsty teenage boy to come home from a terrible day at high school, flip on the TV to see a news report titled “Frank Iero, Sr. gets killed in shooting.” And just to add to the mix, throw in that Frank Iero, Sr. is your father, who you don’t live with.

How are you feeling now? Pretty shitty, right? You would probably drop your bag, break into tears and immediately call your mother, who isn’t home from work yet? Be terribly depressed at school, resort to self-harm, and visit his grave daily, correct?

That is exactly what this angsty teenage boy is doing right now. At my father’s grave, with a bunch of blood red roses to give. There aren’t many flowers, just a few other bunches from my earlier visits. My brown eyes produce tears that stream down my pale face, as my efforts for holding them in do no good. The tradition for the funeral was to stake the corpses heart, before the sun goes down. Vampires are a serious problem here, and it is a law, legitimate law, that your heart must be staked when you die.

My eyes clear a bit, allowing me to look around the cemetery. Autumn was nearly here, so many leaves were falling towards the ground, but you can’t see them too well considering it’s past ten. I kneel down to set the roses down, and brush some leaves off of the tombstone. I shiver a bit as the wind blows past me, nearly knocking me over; I am only 4’ ”6.

I stand back up, looking down at myself, and I don't like what I see. My pale hands poke out from a black sweatshirt, with his hood over my head. Most of my legs are covered by ripped jeans, though you can see my white ankles clearly, in the space between the tennis shoes and pant leg. If you can’t tell, I'm not very tan, as I don't go outside much after it happened.

A rustling noise coming from my left startled me, and I immediately looks to its source. There stands a tree, with a shadowy figure hunched over on one of the branches. From what I can see... it looks like a man? Someone much taller than me, at least. I reach up and slowly take off my hood, and creep up to the oak.

"I know what that feels like, you know," It says with a low, gravelly voice. I can't tell if it's a boy or girl, but I'm leaning towards boy. "Losing someone that you love. It takes a lot of energy out of you." Yep, definitely a guy. It's dark outside, so I can't see much of his facial features except for flaming red hair.

My feet carry me back as the man jumps down from the tree. His clothes are ragged, his leather jacket ripped in several places. He has dark brown eyes, and small features. The man stares me down, towering over me. He had to be at least a foot taller than me.

"Follow me." He mumbles, his voice a tad higher than I had expected it to be. When I don't react, the man slightly cocks his head to the side, and smirks.

I look at the smile, and notice two things. One, wow! This guy has tiny teeth. The second, which I probably should have noticed first were his canines. Or, fangs you could say. Fangs! This dude was a vampire? Shit, you aren't supposed to be around them.
The vampire must have noticed the dilation in my eyes, because his hand shoots up to cover his mouth. I hear him utter a few profanities. "Wait-" He tries to reach out and touch my arm, but I manage to jump away before he can make contact.

I'm still to scared to scared to speak, so I look the vampire up and down once more. He just looks like a regular teenage kid, and vaguely familiar for some odd reason. I bend down, pick up the journal I didn't noticed I dropped, and stand back up, not losing eye contact with the vampire.

I begin to walk backwards, towards the exit. I would be safe on the streets, they say that vampires can’t stand too much light. The streetlights would keep him safe. Just as the vampire turns away I breaks into a run, not stopping until I reach the door to my apartment building.

Notes

first chapter, woo. lets see how well i do when writing two fanfics, WITH school. the next few months will be fun.