Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies
The phone began to ring. Rachel looked over at the caller ID and stifled a groan, debating whether or not to answer it. Finally, guilt won out and she picked up the receiver seconds before the answering machine could click on.
"Hi Mom."
"Oh good, you're home." The relief was clear in Erin's voice, as was the undertone of wariness that usually accompanied such calls now. "I thought you might like to come over for dinner tonight. I made that chicken casserole you used to love so much."
Even worse, now there was hope. Rachel closed her eyes and swallowed, the slight coppery tang of blood still sliding down her throat. "Sorry Mom, but I already had dinner."
"Oh." Now, disappointment. "Well... maybe some other time. Honey?"
"Yeah Mom?"
"The last time you were here... you felt chilled. Are you sure you're not coming down with something?"
Last she checked, vampirism wasn't a disease. "No Mom, I'm fine."
"Oh, okay." Silence. "It's just that I worry about you, honey. You've been so... distant this past year."
"I know." Rachel swallowed again, this time to hold back the tears. "Work's been crazy. That's all."
"Are you sure that's all it is?"
That, and I've been dead for the past year, but have been too afraid to tell you. "I'm sure."
"Well... we miss you."
A tear slipped down her cheek and dripped unnoticed onto her shirt, leaving a small, red-tinged spot on her chest. "I miss you, too."
"Then maybe you can come by this weekend." The hopeful voice was back, and in many ways, it was worse than the sadness. "We could grill burgers or something and eat them out by the pool, like we used to."
There were flashes of family gatherings over the years: holidays spent talking and laughing, chasing her younger cousin around the pool, beating her father and uncle at old board games, cooking with her mother and aunt. Fun times. Treasured times, full of love and light. But they were the past. Her future held only darkness. An eternity of darkness, of loneliness. Darkness she could not - would not - drag her family into. Yet she couldn't bring herself to dash her mother's hopes. She never could.
"I don't know, Mom. If I'm not busy... maybe."