Emerald wasted no time getting back to his room, collapsing onto his bed. He lay there, lost in thought, until his mom's voice echoed up the stairs. "Hey... heyyy, Emerald! Dinner's ready, come on, we've got the special pasta! Hey, come on!"
"Jeez, Mom, I'm coming! Just a minute, I'll be there!" he yelled back, a hint of exasperation in his tone.
He dragged himself up and headed downstairs. The scent of homemade pasta filled the air, a familiar comfort. He joined his family at the dining table – his two sisters, one younger and one older, already digging in with gusto. His parents, however, were deep in conversation about his future, his father's voice laced with concern over Emerald's perceived irresponsibility.
"What a strong perfume you're wearing, and it's a bit... sus," his younger sister piped up, breaking the parental monologue.
"At least I'm not stinky like you," Emerald retorted, his frustration from the day's events bubbling to the surface.
"Isn't it... a girl's perfume? Why are you wearing a girl's perfume, brother?" his older sister questioned, her eyes narrowing playfully.
Emerald's mouthful of pasta nearly shot across the table. "It's a girl's perfume? I didn't know that!" Before he could be bombarded with more questions, he quickly wiped his mouth, pushed his plate away, and left the table. His sisters burst into laughter, while his dad's expression remained stern.
Upstairs, Emerald could hear his father's voice, hushed but firm. "Look at this now, what a mess you guys have made! Don't you know how to keep your mouths shut?"
His older sister's calm voice drifted up, "Never mind, he'll come down when everyone's asleep. No matter what, he's not the type to eat so little." The faint sound of his family resuming their meal and laughter only added to Emerald's simmering annoyance. He slammed his bedroom door shut, the scent of a floral, unfamiliar perfume lingering around him, a silent, fragrant reminder of the bewildering night before.
Emerald spun in his chair, a rare, unadulterated joy lighting up his face, a doll-like smile stretched across his lips. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the feeling began to fade. The spinning slowed, then stopped, the silence in the room as profound as the quiet in his own heart. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his messages, stopping at a particular contact. He scrolled further back, through old conversations and shared memories, a soft laugh escaping him at times, his eyes growing gloomy at others. As the hours passed, he eventually drifted off to sleep, his phone slipping from his grasp to the floor. The contact name on the screen read simply: 'snowflake'.
As the night deepened, a shadow materialized in his room. It picked up his phone, scanned through his chats, then gently placed it back down. The face of the shadow slowly illuminated in the moonlight. She gazed at Emerald, a soft smile on her lips, and whispered, "A heart which echoes for the lost time, what a boy, truly worthy of being mine." It was Genna.
Genna moved to the window, looking up at the moon. As she stared, the full moon in her view seemed to recede to a half-moon, and her thoughts drifted back to a lecture hall.
The lecture hall was quiet, the professor's voice a steady hum. "The peculiarities of a human mind are undefined," he lectured. "No matter how you view or feel it, you'll never truly understand. Their heart is something that truly adapts to anything: love, rage, grief, pain, fun. It will shift as the individual gains knowledge and experience in their valuable time. Unlike us vampires, they don't examine every single outcome; they just accept what their instinct reveals. Pain teaches them to be stronger, love shows them the opportunity to live in this harsh reality, grief and rage make them accept that the past and a twisted heart cannot be redefined. They simply lose it, no matter how hard they try. If it's defeat, then so be it. Humans always believe what's to come is better. On the other hand, they don't forget what is dear to them, no matter how hard it is, no matter how long it is, they will tend to tease their memories with the present."
Outside, the full moon seemed to smile down at Genna. She smirked, a soft murmur escaping her lips. "No matter how hard it is, no matter how long it is, they will tend to tease their memories with the present... no matter how hard it is, no matter how long it is, they will tend to tease their memories with the present..." Tears welled in her eyes, melting like snowflakes on her cheeks. She then vanished into the night.
After a fitful sleep, Emerald awoke to absolute darkness. The only sound was the low hum of the fan. He fumbled for his phone, surprised to find it on his study table. He just sat there on the bed, staring at the phone, until finally, he uttered, "That damn vampire."
Emerald got up and navigated his way downstairs through the darkness, finding himself in the kitchen. Without wasting any more time, he began to eat the pasta his mom had left for him. As he took the first spoonful, he froze. Tiny pinpricks of salt began to well in his eyes, but he held them back, refusing to let them fall. He continued eating the pasta, then quietly washed the plates and returned to his room for a proper night's sleep.
Nothing else could bother him. He was completely overwhelmed by his mother's act of love—the pasta he'd eaten in the middle of the night was warm, defying the cold winter air it had been left in.
(To be continued)