Beginning of Everything

"Look! We can already see the forest from here!" one of my classmates shouted.

"Yeah, you're right!"

  I was on the school bus heading to the forest. Just like any other school, our school held a camp in the forest every year.

(Attention, students. The bus will arrive in just a few minutes. Please clean up your luggage. Make sure none of your belongings and trash are left in the bus.)

  Our homeroom teacher announced that we would be arriving shortly. I put the book I was reading into my bag, preparing to get off the bus.

  "Wow, the forest is huge!"

  "Hell yeah! This will be the best school trip ever!"

  "Hahaha.. I thought so too!"

  Most of my classmates seemed very excited about this trip. To be honest, I was also a little bit excited because it was my first time camping in the forest.

  The teachers led us into the forest and we started setting up our tents. Without us knowing it, the moon had replaced the sun indicating night has come.

  My classmates were gathering around our homeroom teacher who was lighting a bonfire. I walked away from the crowd, towards the river near our tent.

  The teachers may have deliberately set up tents near the river to make it easier for us to find water.

  I looked at my reflection in the flowing river water. I can see it clearly because of its clarity. I couldn't stop myself from dipping my face in the water.

  I kept dipping my face until I felt too fresh. My tiredness disappeared. I then looked around me but..

  "Where am I?"

  The trees around me seemed taller than before. Everything looked different except for the river water that still reflected my now slightly panicked face. I stood up from my squat, hurried back to the tent.

  It's no use, I couldn't find anything. The forest path looked different from before and it was quiet as if there had never been anything here before.

  I tried to calm down and digest the situation slowly.

  Was the water I dipped on my face making me hallucinate? Or am I dreaming in my sleep right now?

  That's what I first thought, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't hallucinating or dreaming. I couldn't think of an explanation for the situation I'm in right now.

  I stopped thinking about it and tried to get out of the forest instead. I made sure the knife I brought with me when I headed to the river is still with me.

  Not knowing what was waiting for me outside the forest, I kept walking looking for a way out.

  Until suddenly, I saw someone from a distance walking towards me. The person's hair was long, probably a woman. She was holding her stomach with both hands while struggling to walk.

  I approached her out of curiosity, and hoping she could give me some information.

  "Um, hello. Are you all right?"

  She ignored me.

  I looked at the part of her stomach that she had been holding. There were dark red spots on her shirt, just like the color of blood. That explained everything, about why she had a hard time walking while holding her stomach.

  "Do you need help? You're bleeding."

  The woman came closer to me. I backed away a little.

  "Blood.."

  "Yeah, you're bleeding. You have to clean it up, then stop the bleeding."

  "I need blood.."

  "Huh?"

  I was confused by the last sentence she said.

  "Give me your blood, just a little."

  "I refuse, why do you suddenly want my blood in this situation?"

  I noticed that she had quite long canines as she spoke. Don't tell me...

  "Are you a vampire?"

  "Yes, please give me some of your blood," she replied slowly. Her voice was powerless. She probably lost too much blood.

  "Okay."

  I decided to give her some of my blood. I still couldn't believe she's a vampire, but I couldn't just let her die. I needed information from her.

I scratched the thumb of my left hand with my knife that I brought before. I hadn't said anything yet and she was already sucking the blood straight from my thumb.

  "Not enough."

  She pushed me on the ground. She was surprisingly strong, even though she had lost a lot of blood.

  She then bit my neck, and sucked a lot of my blood.

  "Hey, hey, I didn't say you could do this."

  I pushed her away, then stood at a distance from her. Aww man, my neck hurts a little.

  "Thank you."

  She thanked me as she tried to stand up. She didn't look sick anymore.

  "Are you all right now?"

  "Yes, my wound has been healed because of your blood, thank you."

  "Are you really a vampire?"

  "Yeah, sorry for sucking so much of your blood."

  She answered me continuously in a flat tone.

  "Are you human?"  she asked me back.

  "Yes."

  "Why are you in a place like this? And why are you neither afraid nor showing any hatred towards me?"  she kept asking me questions.

  "I've been here before I know it, I don't even know why I'm here," I replied.

  "Then why don't you fear or hate me?"

  "Should I?"

  "I've never seen a human who doesn't fear or hate vampires like me."

  I processed the situation quickly, and ended up with one decision.

  "I lost my memory," I said.

  "Memory loss?"

  "Yeah, I can't remember anything but my identity. I don't remember anything about this world, about other humans or vampires."

  There was no other way but to pretend that I had lost my memory. I was quite confident with my acting skill.

  "It makes sense if that's the situation. I'll guide you out of the forest as my thanks."

  "Yes, please."

  "But can you tell me one last thing?"  she asked with a serious face.

  "Sure, what is it?"