When We Were Still Human by Vaughn Foster (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

But as she thought of the good times, the poignant truth that everything was fake pressed harder. She didn’t have a brother. She was the only child of two incredible, loving parents. She had co-workers, and professors, and friends who were probably worried sick in the midst of conspiracy stories and news broadcasts.

Acceptance had been getting easier, but what hurt more than anything was the fact that she didn’t know why she was still there. Every day was the same and every day she was wasting her life. The hunger was tamed, but Crystal kept saying that she wasn’t ready to leave. Life was good, but each denial scratched a deeper ravine between Val and her mentor.

“What’s up, sis?”

Val glanced to Ligel and shrugged. She could practically feel the lines in her face, but he would have seen through her, even if she tried to hide them.

“We’ve explored these woods for miles on end, and she won’t even let us go into the city,” Val replied listlessly. “I’ve learned control, and in terms of ‘danger,’ I'm more than capable of handling myself against a wandering black bear…” She sighed, allowing her body to slide to the ground and rest against the tree. She held her clawed hand in front of her face and stared at the sunlight reflecting off each of her sharpened nails.

“I don’t know, man,” he sighed, moving to sit next to her.

“Like, I love your mom, she’s amazing, but still… It’s been over a year and we’re just spending all this time out here in the woods. We’re running around in trees when we could be assimilating into society, ya know?

“Humans are overrated; it’s not like we’re missing all that much. Besides, it keeps us busy, I guess."

Something in Val's face must have shown how she really felt because regret and shame instantly flooded his face. "I didn't mean— Val, I’m sorry, I completely forgot—”

“It’s okay.” That ever-familiar forced smile cut through her cheeks again. Just like it had that morning, and dinner before that, and the day before that. She coughed a little and pushed the tears back, just like she always did. He hadn’t meant to, but he had brought up the poorly buried memories of her old life. Her friends, her parents— Jason.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

When she opened her eyes, she took another deep breath and tried to steer the conversation back on topic. “But seriously, when are we going to see more besides trees?”

“I don’t know, Val… You’ll have to talk to Mom.” He turned away and started fidgeting with a broken twig.

She felt like a pouty schoolgirl. Ligel obviously thought she was overreacting. He wasn’t even bothering to look the least bit attentive. He had lay down on the carpet of dead leaves and was staring off in the distance. She couldn’t really blame him. He was only a kid, and this was the only life he had known. He’d seen civilization, but to him, there was nothing alluring about it. His laid back nature and love for his mother quelled any thoughts of breaking free of their wooded boundaries.

Val’s train of thought was disrupted. From her peripheral, she caught the slightest sigh of relief escape from under his breath. She thought back through their conversation and realized that his eyes had been averting hers the entire time.

“Li.”

“Val…”

“Don’t ‘Val’ me, I know you’re lying,” she said, ripping him up by the collar. “As soon as I dropped the subject, you sighed. What is it you’re not telling me?”

“Nothing!” he squealed. He tried to wriggle out of her grip, but she lifted him higher.

“Tell me!”

“Okay, okay, just put me down.” He relaxed when his feet touched the earthen floor. Val stepped back against the tree and crossed her arms.

“Well?”

“Just don’t tell Mom, okay? She didn’t want you to freak out.”

She raised a brow. “Freak out about what?”

“Well... It’s just that ghouls aren’t the only thing out there.”

“What?!”

“Yeah... Remember maybe a month after you moved in and Mom explained that we’re called mirage?”

Val nodded in agreement. “Humans don’t notice us unless they’re concentrating, and even then, we'll probably slip from memory.”

“Yeah… Well, mirage isn’t just a term for ghouls. It covers a ton of different bloodlines.”

Val blinked, trying to keep up with what he was saying. “What are you talking about?”

“Bloodlines—ya know, races or species. It's a a more specific term or whatever, I don’t know.”

“Okay… So, what other kinds of mirage are out there?”

“Fairies, dragons, lycans, dwarves…Pretty much anything that’s not supposed to be real.”

"Nosferatu!"

"Please, sir, I don't understand."

Val swallowed. "Vampires too?"

“Straight shot to psych ward”

"He was nuts."

Ligel shrugged. "Probably."

Val shoved back the torrent of thoughts charging to break free and forced herself to stay in the present. “So, um... So why wouldn’t your mom want me knowing about this?” Val asked, sitting back down.

“I don’t know. She said she didn’t want to give you more than you were ready for. You were just starting to get used to this ghoul thing and if you found out there was more, you might end up back at square one.”

“That’s why she has us train every day…” The realization was so obvious, Val cursed herself for not thinking about it earlier. What was the only reason for invincible killing machines to perfect their combat abilities every day? In the event they encountered something that really could kill them.

“Yeah. But please, promise you won’t bring it up when we get home. She’ll murder me if she finds out I told you.”

“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. Right now, all I can think about is dinner. I’m so hungry.”

“How can you still be hungry! You ate like everything at lunch!”

Val laughed and ruffled his hair as she