RANIA AND HER VAMPIRE COWORKER [1]

From: Magnific

[friends]

“Actually, I’m a vampire.”

There he was, standing in front of me with his jeans and dark midnight blue jacket under the light of park lamp. There was some trace of blood on his clothes, but it didn't look obvious because of the lack of light. He looked at me like he was staring at some boring TV commercials, and spoke with zero hesitation or humor in his tone. I stared at him with mouth half-open, unable to process what I had just heard few seconds ago.

“Excuse me?”

He was still in the same position as he was few minutes ago, for a moment I thought he was a soulless statue with no movement. Once again, he said, “Yeah, I am a vampire.”

I frowned and my eyes instinctively scanned him from head to toe, trying to make sure that the man in front of me was a human, not a ghost or something. “What the hell are you talking about? As in, vampire, that creature who sucks people’s blood?” I asked in disbelief, hoping every nonsense I had just heard wasn’t real.

“Yeah, that creature.”

We were standing in a quiet park with nobody else around in the middle of the night. To make sense of what was happening right now, let's look back to what happened half an hour ago.

I finished my shift and was about to go home like usual by walking in the park near my restaurant. But as I head outside, the air felt strange. The street was quieter than usual, so quiet that it creeped me out a little. Usually, I didn’t really feel scared in this park because plenty of people would still be outside. But tonight was a little bit different. Maybe because it had just finished raining and everyone would rather stay home than be outside in this freezing midnight air.

But as I walked towards my house near my workplace, I unfortunately witnessed a strange man near the dim-lit park by our restaurant. The man was holding a huge dead rat, and he was devouring that egregious thing as if it were a super delicious chicken.

I was about to call the police and scream that a weirdo was devouring a rat in the park, but when the said weirdo noticed me and I saw his face, my legs almost collapsed.

That weirdo was, in fact, my coworker, Faris, who started working at the restaurant a month ago.

He was a young man who wasn’t really outstanding in any particular way, just a simple guy you could find anywhere in the street. Although, one could say his appearance is nowhere near ugly, with refined jawline and a figure as tall as the doorway in our restaurant. Sometimes I saw customers stare at him more than twice after he served their food, with glittering eyes as if they had just witnessed a celebrity.

I didn’t talk much with him when work together other than saying hello and talking about work, mostly because I was almost decade older and didn’t really know what kind of topics I could talk with him. But then again, I didn’t talk with my other coworkers either, they were all just people I had to work and share some space with for few hours, not my friends.

That’s why, I didn’t know what to make of this new information: that my ordinarily good-looking coworker is actually a weirdo and possibly a cannibal, or maybe serial killer. Which one was worse, I didn’t really know, but one thing for sure was that I’m doomed.

Why did I choose to walk by right when my coworker was eating a rat?

I froze for a moment with phone in my hand, ready to call the cops. But then Faris stared at me, with rat’s blood smeared on his mouth. I could smell the rat’s dead body as he got up and slowly walked towards me, closer and closer.

My heart beat faster, feeling as though it were about to be detached from my body, as my serial-killer-vibe coworker walked over with no expression on his face. I was ready to get killed and die in this park alone. My mind filled with thoughts about what kind of news headline would appear after everyone found my body tomorrow, but then my coworker said the truth with his dead fish eyes.

That he was, in fact, a vampire.

Vampire. That thing that usually only appeared in fictional medias, not something I would actually encounter right in front of my eyes.

“I’m really a vampire,” he told me once again, wiping his mouth and hands with a wet tissue that had somehow appeared from his pocket. “But I don’t really like drinking human’s blood, so usually I would just drink animal blood.”

Still unable to believe and process whatever this mess that was happening, I stared at this man, I mean this creature, in front of me. “And you’re telling me your identity just like that? Like, are you not scared I will tell everyone about you? I was about to call the cops to arrest you, you know.”

“Not really,” he said nonchalantly as if the highly confidential identity of his were nothing important. “I don’t think you will tell anyone. You don’t have friends anyway. And even if you do tell someone, they will probably just think you are just a crazy lady.”

My jaw dropped even further as I heard each word coming from his mouth. A cold harsh truth just went straight through my chest. I couldn’t believe this guy in front of me had just indirectly said I was a 33 years old loser with no friends. Even if I told people that my coworker was a vampire, nobody would believe in anything I said. I wanted to whack him with a hammer, but I couldn’t really do that because he wasn’t far from the truth.

“Wow, do you have another hobby other than sucking animal blood? Do you realize your words are hurtful and offensive?” I said with trembling voice, I felt my confidence and my heart crushed in matter of few seconds.

My legs felt a little bit sore from standing for too long and from the sheer shock of discovering that my coworker was a vampire, so I decided to sat on the ground, without caring if it was wet from the rain.

He stared at me. “I’m sorry if what I said offended you. I just wanted to say that I believe in you.”

He threw the dirty wet tissue to the trash bin and sat down on the pavement beside me. We were lucky nobody was around, otherwise we would look like two weirdos who sat on the dirty park’s pavement during midnight.

“Yeah, whatever. So, what should I do after this, now that I know you are a vampire? Shouldn’t you blackmail me or something?”

“Why would I blackmail you?” He looked at me while raising his eyebrows. “You don’t have to do anything.”

For a few moments, there was silence. I couldn’t really understand his mindset, because why didn’t he want me to do anything? Usually, if someone accidentally discovers their weakness, don’t they beg to that person to keep the secret, or maybe silence them with money or whatever?

“Really? Why are you so sure I won’t tell anybody? We haven’t even talked for more than two minutes before this. Who knows, maybe I will start by telling my family first.”

I smirked.

“It’s okay if you tell your family. They won’t believe you anyway.”

Damn.

I hate to admit this, but it feels like he saw right through me. I wasn’t really close with my family, and I hated calling my parents because whenever I did, they would only yell at me to find a man and get married soon before my expiration date. If I told them I have a vampire coworker, they would probably send me to an ustad and exorcize me.

“Shit, you’re right.” I grabbed my hair in frustration. “Why does it feel like you know me so well?”

Then, a sudden realization hits me. Yeah, why did he know me so well when we barely spoke to each other?

“Wait, did you stalk me?” My eyes wide in anxiety and my volume went higher. “Aren’t vampires usually love to stalk people? Like the ones in those movies?”

He looked at me, and I swear to God I thought I was delusional, but I saw a tiny corner of his lips curve upward.

“Of course not. I already told you before, it’s because I believe you.” He rested his hands on his knees and stared at me. “I’ve only known you for a month, but I observe you sometimes. You aren’t the type who loves to blabber about other people. Whenever our coworkers talk about gossip, you only listen and do your own things. I think you are an admirable person.”

I looked at his clear, black eyes, like a deep dark ocean competing with the cold night. But as I looked at those eyes, I couldn’t find a single trace of insincerity in it.

Did he really mean it?

Was that how he thought of me?

A gentle night breeze blew past, accompanying this silent night, with just the two of us. My long hair started to blow into my face, so I tucked the loose strands behind my ears so it won’t annoy my vision.

Wanting to break this sudden awkward silence, I started to open my mouth. “W-well, if you said so… Thank you.” I said with my voice unable to reach its normal volume for some reason. “I won’t tell anyone.”

He heard my defeat and showed me the gentlest smile I had ever seen from humankind. I didn’t know that he knows how to show other emotions towards other people like this. I thought he was just a soulless, robot-like young man who only focused on his work without caring about anything else.

“But I have another condition.” He said, still maintaining his smile.

Oh shit, just when I thought he was a nice, kindhearted guy, he crumbled that fantasy himself. Was he really going to blackmail me?

“What is it?” I clenched my hands, feeling a bit uncertain at what kind of request he was going to ask. Maybe we shouldn’t have expected a vampire to be nice after all, especially those who devoured disgusting rats.

“I want to be friends with you.”

Huh?

For a moment, I thought I misheard him. I was expecting some devious request, like him wanting free blood by sucking my veins, or forcing me to be his accomplice and kidnap animals for his food. But he just wanted to be friends. A line straight out of a teenager novel? I wasn’t expecting that.

“As in, you want to be friends with me? Really, that’s your request?”

“Yes,” he said calmly, unaware that I had been caught off guard and was trying to regain my composure.

“Why would you want to be friends with me? I’m a lot older than you.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“Did you forget that I’m a vampire? I’m actually half a century older than you, even though I look young. I’m from the same generation as your grandparents,” He laughed a little, as if it were a totally normal thing to say.

Seriously, this guy. I was at loss for words at what to say. It wasn’t that I refused to be his friends, I just didn’t want to get entangled with him any longer. I love my comfort boring mundane life, and I would prefer to stay in my zone than experiencing any major inexplainable changes.

“But still, we’re different ... I mean, don’t you have vampire friends?”

As he heard my question, he smiled, but it was different from the smile he had shown me before.

There was a deep sense of melancholy and longing emanating through that tiny smile.

“I don’t have friends anymore. My friends are all dead and gone, but I am still alive, wandering by myself. I never had vampire friends.”

I looked at him as he stared down, with a touch of tenderness and grief in his eyes.

So, was he lonely? 

Just like how I am?

“Well…” I cleared my throat, coughing a little as I tried to sound confident. Seeing his sad face made me weak, after all. “If you say so. I don’t mind being friends with you.” It took everything in me to be able to say that corny line in full sentence without feeling ashamed of myself.

He stared at me, his eyes widened as big as a marble, like he was more shocked than I had been. I hadn’t realized that despite being almost a century old, he still had his childish side. What kind of life had he lived until now? Why did a non-human being like him have more sincerity and compassion than most humans I had encountered in this life?

“Thank you, Rania. We’re friends now, right?”

He showed me the warmest smile I had ever seen, one that I probably won’t forget even after I die.