Monday morning, perfect. The sun was already peeking through my curtains, the heat made my forehead glisten with sweat, which I wiped off with the back of my hand. I rocked myself a couple times, making my way out of my bed. I slowly walked towards my bathroom, flipping on the light switch with my eyes still closed. I opened to see my long blonde hair pulled on top of my head, the strands that I had missed laid on my shoulders. I wiped my hands under my eyes, black makeup left over from the day before laid underneath my blue eyes. Yawning, I turned on my shower and went through my normal routine of getting ready. I walked down the stairs, putting my phone into my back pocket, I was walking through my kitchen, when I heard a familiar knock at my door.

His name was Darren Shan, he has walked me to school everyday for the past five years. I've had a elementary crush on him, ever since I kissed him in the fifth grade.

"Hey Ronnie" he smiled, his tall figure blocked me from the glare of the sun, so I could see his perfect smile. His brown hair fell down on his forehead, coming down until his eyebrows and above his deep brown eyes.

"Hi Dar," I answered still standing in the doorway.

"You ready?" He asked, flashing that familiar smile thats been close to me for years.

"Yeah, let me grab my bag, and we'll go." I said, jogging to the kitchen, grabbing my bag off of the table, and then shutting the door behind me. We walked side by side, Darren's hand in his pocket as he walked, looking down as he kicked a rock down the sidewalk.

"Do you feel like, your whole life is planned out for you?" he said randomly, I looked to the side and then back forward,

"I don't know, I never really thought about it. Is something bothering you?" I said, scrunching my eyebrows together as I asked.

"No, I'm just bored." he said stopping in front of our class.

"Are you coming?" I said, motioning towards the door.

"No, I have to go meet Steve, I'll catch up with you later Ron!" he said walking down the hall. Wow, Darren skipping class? That was weird.

His name was Steve, he was Darren's best friend, other than me. He was average sized, a little built. His silver hair was always styled up on top of his head, his grin was mischievous, he got Darren in trouble, a lot. And his family was never happy about it. I didn't have a problem with him, he interested me, and none the less, was very attractive. I sat in class, leaning my head on my hands as Ms. Phan wrote on the board. I need to get out of here! I thought, the bell rang and I let out a sigh of relief, grabbing my bag and walking out of the classroom. I looked around and Darren was nowhere to be found. This never happened. Worried, I walked through the schools hall, peeking in every nook and cranny. I finally found him, sitting right next to Steve.

'What happened?' I mouthed, looking behind me to make sure no administration caught me. Darren was a mess, he was white in the face, and his eyes were blank.

'I'll tell you later,' he mouthed, looking around. I nodded and pushed my lips into a straight line,

'Sorry.' he mouthed sincerely, Steve stared at me and then waved, noticing that it was actually me, and not some girl he hasn't seen before. I walked home alone, my i-pod in my ears, opening the door as I got home. My mom was standing in the kitchen and smiled as I walked in the door, sitting down at the table.

"Hey, where's Darren?" she asked, looking around the corner, seeing if he was behind me, and just running a little behind.

"He got in trouble." I said looking at her.

"Ronnie, are we talking about the same kid here?" she said, knowing that Darren never got in trouble.

"Yeah, I know, I was pretty shocked too," I said standing up, "I'm going upstairs in my room." Walking up the stairs, my phone vibrated in my pocket, I smiled when I read it, One Unread Message from: Darren:) I clicked read, laying down on my bed, 'I am grounded for two months, my parents went crazy, and now I can't hang out with Steve anymore.' he wrote. I thought for a second and then replied. 'I'm sorry Darren... I know its going to be hard not to hang out with Steve anymore...", his reply came quickly, which usually never happened. 'No it won't be hard, because I'm going to a freak show with him right now. I'll catch you later! :)' he said. I sighed and exited out of the conversation.

Next thing I knew, Darren Shan was dead. It's like my heart was ripped out of my chest and buried with him. I would never see him ever again, never have his support, never be able to see him in the morning ever again. I sat on my couch, next to Steve who stopped by and sat next to me, right before I was ready to get ready for his funeral. My legs were crossed and I wiped my tears and nose with the back of my sleeve, my whole body shaking with each sob. Steve sat there, emotionless, not even taking his eyes off of his hands.

"I loved him. I really did. God, now I never get to tell him." I said pounding my hand down on my knee. Steve looked over to his side,

"He loved you too, Ronnie," he said turning to the side, and leaning towards me, and placing his hand on the back of my neck. He pressed his forehead against mine and looked deep in my eyes. I could hear in his voice that he was holding back tears, as he spoke to me,

"we can get through this together. Were the only two people here who aren't total idiots. Darren was crazy about you... but you can't get hung up on it okay?" he said strongly. Shivers ran down my spine, as I nodded and pulled away.

"Alright, lets go." I said my eyes puffy and red, I tried to force a smile, but I couldn't. I slowly walked up the stairs, as the sun was near sundown. I never know what was in store for me that night. I had no idea.

I walked through the funeral, right next to Steve, who kept his eyes on the ground the whole time. I couldn't cry anymore, thats what I thought at least. I walked up to Darren's mom and dad, giving them each a hug and then stared at Darren's coffin. Was I going to walk up to it? No. I couldn't. I didn't want to see Darren like that. I didn't want to remember him lying dead in a coffin. But I wanted to see his face, one last time. I wanted to tell him. Even though he couldn't hear me. I walked up to the coffin, I knew I was close enough and closed my eyes tightly for a second, trying to force them open, and when I did, I instantly started crying. I couldn't stop, it was like I had waterfalls for tears, which ran down my face. I placed my hand on his, trying to keep my chin from quivering.

"Bye Darren... I love you." I said turning away from the coffin and sitting on top of one of the grave stones, watching as Steve walked up. I saw his face change, it was sadness, and pain. And then it turned into anger, and rage,

"Hey Darren! Shan! Are you awake! Ass-wipe! Come on!" he said shaking Darren in his coffin. Has he gone completely insane? One of the men in the crowd pulled Steve away, I recognized him as a teacher of Steve and Darren's. I walked out after him, quickly grabbing his shoulders and turning him around,

"Have you gone completely mad!" I said yelling in a whispered tone, "What the hell has gotten into you?" I asked quickly. Steve just pushed my hand off of his shoulder and walked away,

"You wouldn't understand, you couldn't." he said. I stood there in awe. And next thing I knew, Steve was missing. I felt like the most alone person in the world. I lost everyone who was important to me, anyone who made a tiny bit of an impression on me, anyone that mattered.

"How could you leave me here alone!" I yelled in my room, slamming my door a couple of times after it had refused to shut the first times. Rage filled my body, I was heated, I felt like I could burst out of my own skin, I felt as if I could explode. All the energy stopped as I fell limp to the floor, screaming as I sobbed, my head buried in my hands. I looked at the clock, my vision blurred from the tears that were still present in my eyes. Midnight. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't do anything. I stood up and walked to my closet, slipping on a black jacket and some jeans and walked out of my house towards the graveyard. The grass crunched underneath me, I looked behind me as I walked, making sure that no one was following me, the graveyard was creepy enough, especially when you're alone. I turned the corner and peeked at Darren's grave. My heart dropped, I quickly ran behind a tree. Someone was digging up Darren's grave. I closed my eyes tightly, my chest rose and dropped rapidly as my breath slipped in and out of my throat. I peeked around, seeing two heads pop out of the grave.

"Darren...?" I said quietly to myself, extremely confused. Next thing I knew, I was pressed against the tree by a set of hands,

"Hello Precious" the man said, looking me in the eyes,

"You look delicious." he said, I tried to scream, but it was muffled by the man's hand. He was suddenly thrown back, by another man, they fought for a good minute, I stood there in shock. I wanted to run, I wanted to get out of there but my legs just wouldn't let me go, they wouldn't let me run. Darren came up behind me, and grabbed my hand,

"Come here." he whispered pulling me into the grave. I looked at him, my mouth wide open, "You... you're alive you can't be this can't be true." I said tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"Its, complicated." he said, looking down.

"RUN!" the other unknown figure yelled as the other man tackled him into the grave. Darren pulled my behind him, running quickly. I was picked up by the man, and quickly moved to another area, my breath was pulled out of my body, I couldn't even catch my breath. The other man was hit by a car and sent flying.

"Who... who are you?" I said looking at the man, who was standing in the middle of the field we were standing in.

"Crepsley, nice to meet you, and thank you for making everything so much more complicated." he said, I looked at him,

"What do you mean more complicated?" I asked looking at Darren,

"Were vampires. And now, that vampire will tell you about Mr. Tiny and- well I'll explain later. But now I have to get Darren out of here, and get you home." he said.

"Wait! Just let me talk to Darren..." I said looking at him. My tears were making it so hard to see him,

"You're a vampire?" I asked, he looked at me and nodded his head.

"I thought that when I died I would never be able to ask you this..." he said. I stepped closer to him, looking down and then right into his usually familiar eyes, which were now tinted with a light color.

"Can I kiss you?" he whispered, I started to cry and nodded my head,

"Yeah, you can kiss me." I said leaning into him, I closed my eyes as our lips met, his hands rested on the small of my back as his kissed me. He was cold and he tasted sweet. I never wanted to leave here, I never wanted to leave him. I don't care if he's the undead, I don't care about anything.

"Ahem, we need to go now." Crepsley said, as Darren and I pulled apart. I placed my head on his shoulder, and he grabbed my chin in his hand and looked me in the eyes, "You'll see me soon, I promise."

Wow, this IS complicated.