The Summer I Died: Chapter 1

I remember my death quite well.

It was summertime of 1779. I had just moved to the Americas from Ireland looking to start a new life.
The air was humid and warm-causing small beads of sweat across my forehead as I took an evening stroll.

It wasn't long before I noticed the shadow following closely behind me. I sped my feet up, hoping that it wasn't some murderer out to get me for no apparent reason.

Out from the corner of my eye, I saw that the 'stranger' was keeping up with me fairly well... no matter how quickly I tried to move.
Finally, after getting frustrated from tripping over the stones in the road due to my high heels, I turned and stopped-waiting for this shadow to come into light.

"May I inquire as to why you are following me?" I asked as politely as I could. The streets were semi-dark with the exception of the full moon casting it's pale eerie glow over everything.
"I'm going to make a deal with you, m'lady." The stranger's voice came to me full of sophistication and reassurance. Within a few seconds, a man stepped in front of me, allowing me to look him over. He was quite handsome; a tall, dark haired man that was well-groomed. His voice carried a gentle english accent of a gentleman and his eyes were a soft green, easily captivating me.

"What kind of deal, sir?" I asked, staring up at him with a shy smile.
"To live or die..." He said, his features suddenly becoming darker. The soft green in his eyes were gone-now replaced with black... The gentleness in his voice gone as he lunged at me in attack.
I was too slow. He shoved me hard into a building wall and leaned into my neck. I tried to struggle but I was stunned in place, unable to move, fight or scream.

The sharp pain in my neck came shortly after... It didn't take long for him to get his fill. As I began to sink to the hot dirt, I felt him pull me back up to meet his eyes. They were a gentle green once again-breathtaking as they had been before.

"Do you want to live? Become a creature like myself?" He whispered seductively in my ear.
I was unable to speak through the seriousness of my injury, but I think he knew what I meant when I slowly nodded my head and gripped on to his shoulder.

"First you have to die... to live..." He said as my body slowly started it's change.

As I began to die, I looked up into the full moon in a trance. The summer air seemed to have gotten even warmer in the hour's time I had been out there. I could see the flowers around me-tulips, roses, and lilies all tucked in for the night... ready to bloom the next day.

When taking on my final changes, I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. When opening them again, I found that I had died and been re-born.

Now 300 years later, every summer I look back on the memory.... the summer I died.


Author's Note: This was just a quick short story I wrote off the top of my head. I've been thinking about building an actual long story based around this. Would love some honest critiques please