Change Of Seasons

Kyrie was silent as ever as he walked along the edge of the river, watching the running water with distant and reserved glance. The warm air moved across the town, bending the grass, and causing the water in the river to move faster.

Further down, around the bend in the flowing water the sound of children, running and jumping form rock to rock could be heard. Every so often Kyrie would look back, his distant gaze becoming focused and confused, and then he would look forward again, moving onward.

Summer was coming to a close, and Ky's thoughts would wander again to the mysterious turn of the season. Moving closer and closer along the banks, the strange man didn't notice when his feet began to slosh in water.

Nor did he notice the person watching him from upon the hill.

Viola knew she had a problem when the voices in her head formed four very separate personalities. Before a few weeks ago, the voices would come in waves, sometimes one at a time, other times in a mass. But, slowly, they formed patterns, routines. The attacks would turn into a daily struggle. There were days when even the students struggled to hold her attention.... and that really scared her.

One voice had chosen to ramble inaudibly constantly, voice nasally and distinctly male. There were days where the vampire could make out what it was saying; it would repeat things mindlessly that she had heard from professors over a century ago. THe voice would make mistakes now and then, saying the moon orbited the sun or something crazy like that, but Viola refused to correct it any longer.

Then, there were the two "advice" givers. The two, one boy, one girl, both containing high pitched, urgent voices that rattled her teeth. Though they spoke the most, they weren't nearly the worst. In fact, the worst one was the one Viola barely heard from- the screamer.

The Spaniard shook the thought out of her head, trying the enjoy the breif moments of silence she was left with. In a few weeks, she would have to return to the school or turn in her resignation papers, either way being completely miserable. She would miss the kids, but... her head could definately use the break.

The wind blew up the grassy knoll, carrying the scents of children and men up to her pale face. THough she seemed dulled and blind to the world around her, she watched them all carefully through her dark eyelashes, smiling softly. The children would totter from stone to stone, their feet splashing haphazardly in the water below. The river was warm and low this time of year, leaving parents no worries when leaving the children alone.

They might not be able to drown, but imagine how easy it would be to take one. Maybe two. Maybe two. The male voice had returned. Bury your teeth in her neck, rip her vocal cord and have her bleed out into your mouth. It'll be so sweet and young, like champagne.

No, no. no. The other chimed in. don't eat never eat starve don't stay run run run runrun. Her speech patterns were always soft and rushed, making Viola's head spin if her tried to keep up with her.

"I think I'll just..." she whispered, standing up and glancing down the hill, "Check on the man in the river..."

No! Idiot, you'll kill us all!

Stop!
Viola didn't listen. In an instant, she was by the man's side, ankle deep in the river. She grabbed his shoulder, attempting to ignroe his soft heartbeat.

"Sir? Are you alright?" she stared at him with the same, blank face he had, unable to truly focus with the squabble in her head.

Kyrie, although startled by the sound of her voice looked up dully, only the slight spark in his eyes, the slightest alertness that wasn't usually there was the only sign of startlement that young man showed.

Although he had heard her perfectly fine, he remained silent, listening to the water slosh around his feet instead of answering. It looked like he had miss heard, or if not he looked like he was just dim. But on the contrary - Kyrie was neither of these things. He had heard her, and was processing the words, thinking about them far deeper than anyone ever should.

"Is anyone ever alright?" He proposed finally, his head canting to the side ever so slightly. "Am I? Are you?"