How strange the mind is. I'm surprised more people haven't pondered its workings in even greater depth. I've spent countless hours up at night, wondering about brains and memories and relationships within the mind.

Because if you ask me, the human brain works with relations. A computer may be smarter than a human, but it can't form relationships.

And it doesn't have to be romantic relationships either. Just words. Like in this statement:

What number is greater than three plus two but less than five plus two? The answer of course, is six. But a computer can't see the relationships between "greater than" and the first word that means and amount, then the second number, and which one goes where and how they should play out and what the equation should be-

A computer can't do that. A human mind can.

And the control you have with a human mind. I've read numerous books on the subject, mind control, hypnosis, self-hypnosis, therapy, etc.

None of them state that you have complete control of your body's inner workings.

There is argument about this, with involuntary reactions and whatnot, but I believe someone could kill themselves by telling their heart to stop. Just focusing on the muscle, and telling it to stop moving, like you would tell an arm to freeze or a leg to move.

I haven't tested this, because I fear the power I have over myself. I know it would work though. So if I ever get suicidal, I know exactly how I'd want to kill myself.

Ah. The human brain. A marvelous thing indeed.

And all of this I had pondered at the age of fifteen.

I remember the day of my transformation clearly. I was on a walk along the canyon, and like I usually was, thinking about the mind. I walked many miles without getting tired nowadays, officially having conquered pain.

I didn't feel pain anymore. Or I did, for a second, but then it would vanish once I got it under control.

You see, nerves are like muscles. You can bend them and shape them to your will.

All with the power of the brain.

I was walking, as I said. It was cloudy and rainy, but I wasn't cold. I was quite comfortable, actually.

But my feet were wet. And that, with or without complete control of my inner workings, would cause sickness.

But I had to finish my walk. That much was certain. There was only about a mile left, I could jog it, but at home there was homework and chores and friends to deal with. I decided to finish my round around the lake, which had swelled up to twice its normal size.

The lake was a beautiful thing. It literally came out of nowhere; one day there was a lake.

There was always a fairly deep and large dip here, but it never rained enough to fill it. The dip had no name, it was just there.

And then there was that year, where it rained so incredibly hard it had caused the houses of San Diego to suffer from so much water damage it cost the area over forty million dollars.

But there was a plus to the economic crisis; the lake.

Its shimmering beauty was gorgeous, and after the rains, it was just there. No one named it, it was simply the lake.

And it was a five mile walk around it, a walk I took every day.

Nobody knew I took this walk. My parents believed I was at friends' houses, or taking my sweet time going home.

I took this walk because I liked thinking more than any other activity. Just thinking. Just walking, and letting my mind wander. I was hoping that someday I might do something that would make all the hours I spent here worthwhile; maybe solving the economic crisis, or global climate change, or cure cancer.

Today would not be that day.

One puddle was incredible deep and mushy; my feet got caught and sunk like a rock in water. I tried fruitlessly to pull it out, but to no avail. I sighed, and calmed myself, letting my mind take over, trying to find the answer...

And I began to slowly lift my feet, letting the mud roll off gently, and soon enough I could walk again.

Or so I thought.

A large figure, marble white, blocked my exit. It wore no clothing except some sopping wet jeans, and a baseball cap. His, and I'm assuming it was a he, shaggy brown hair was pulled back behind him; either that or he had very little hair. The rain was thick; I had trouble making out any details.

He stepped forward, and I heard his voice. "What are we doing, roaming about the canyon? Shouldn't you be in school?"

His voice was sarcastic, demeaning. I ignored him, walking by quickly, ducking my head.

He was in front of me again. "Where are you going?"

"Home. My mom, I mean, my dad, is right up there," I lied, pointing towards some unseen area towards the northern side of the lake, "and he is waiting for me. I have to hurry, homework and all..." I tried to walk past him, but somehow he got there before me.

I took a slight step back, and turned around, thinking I'd walk back around the lake. I broke into a run. A sprint.

And then he was there again, right in front of me, sopping wet. My eyes widened, and I stumbled back another step.

"Please let me go back to my parents, sir," I said, trying to be polite. He was scaring me, moving so fast. I wondered if he was one of those druggies who attacked helpless woman, like my mom had warned me of whenever I went to The Heights, a shopping district that all the weirdos and sluts went to after school to fool around and do drugs, while normal people just watched movies.

"Now, you can't want to see your parents that badly," he said, his voice smooth.

'Not really, but I'm sure they'll want to see me," I said, trying to be funny, maybe he just wanted a good laugh...I tried walking past him.

And then I was on the ground, ten feet from where I was previously, and my arm was broken behind me. The sensation was numbing, and I told my nerves to stop relaying pain. It vanished instantly, but I couldn't feel my left arm.

Then I was on the edge of the lake, and my leg was under his foot. With a gesture that he seemed to take with ease, there was a horrid snap as my leg broke. I screamed for one short second before cutting myself off, hiding that pain too.

I desperately fled into the lake, taking off my jacket and swimming as best as I could with only an arm and a leg.

I was out of the water, on the other side of the like, with my side screaming at me. That pain I hid too, staring put in horror, trying to find the man who was tossing me around so fast I couldn't feel movement...

And he was in front of me, grinning evilly.

"Stop it! Let me go! Leave me alone!" I yelled at him. He eyed me curiously.

"Brave words, spoken calmly for someone who can't move."

"I can move," I said despite myself, and lurched up to stand on one foot. To rub it in, I hopped a little. The fractures and splits in my body shifted uncomfortably, but not pain fully.

"Isn't that strange..." he said, cocking his head to one side and staring at me like I was a piece of meat. Then, slowly, deliberately, he leaned in to rest his chin on my collarbone, which I felt was also broken. He inhaled deeply, I brought my left hand up and slammed my fist into his head with a might THWACK.

And caressed my broken hand whilst shutting down the pain.

Then the man's teeth sunk into my neck.

Oh the pain! More than my leg, more than my hand...

I told my nerves to stop it, to stop the burning feeling that was spreading around my body, to stop the madness-

And it did. I was completely free from the horrible fire that promised incredible pain. I pulled my neck away from him.

He blinked at me for a moment, mouth open and bloody, astonished. I wiggled to my feet, and tried to hop away, but he threw me to the ground again. I used my right broken hand to cover the wound that was pouring blood around the ground surrounding me. I pressed my cracked knuckles deep into the bite, trying to stop the monster, the vampire, from getting to my blood again.

"What are you doing?!" hissed the vampire, slightly crazed, eyes ablaze with red, glowering over me. "Aren't you in pain?"

My neck was empty. I couldn't move anything...but I told my mouth to move, I told my lungs to force air up my throat. "No."

His mouth stayed open, except to form the words. "But, the venom, and the bones, and...what are you?" he asked finally, looking at me like I was some strange radioactive creature with ten eyes and a tentacle.

"Human." With a vast understanding of how a mind works. But he didn't need to know that.

"You can't be...the pain should be..." Then he stopped. And grinned... "You are a lucky girl," he said, a crazy smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Hardly. Here I am, in the rain, covered in blood with some insane blood-drinking thing telling me I should be in pain, while I'm lying here-dying. I think I must be one of the most unlucky girls in the world. And what are you? May I ask? Some homicidal freak that's going to eat me? You can't waltz around killing innocent children, trying to get all turned on or whatever you're trying to do. Do I go around sucking peoples' necks out? No one does. And here you are, all high and mighty, thinking you can go along and trash me completely before sucking my bloo-"

In some cases, rambling works. It helps someone think of an escape, confuses the kidnapper or rapist or whatever, let's someone realize you've gone missing...It didn't work with this guy.

In response to my gentle teasing, he ripped away my arm, dislocating my shoulder, and attached his mouth to my neck again.

A second later, he pulled back, spitting red. "Damnit," he cursed, glaring at me.

"Damn what? If you are going to curse around a youth, you should at least clarify. 'It' doesn't tell me a lot of things. What are you damning? Are you cursing my blood and it's...inedible-ness? Because you can't drink blood you know, it's not healthy. Or maybe you are cursing me for talking so much, or for not feeling the pain you so obviously think I should feel, or-"

"Shut the hell up. I'm cursing the venom. It's too late," He growled. Huh. Whatever that meant, I was off the hook. I wasn't going to well...die. Wow. Rambling worked. I tried it out again, wondering if I could get my so called 'good luck' to improve in any way.

"Then you could of very easily said, 'Damn the venom!' or, 'Damn that blood!' or something like that, you know what I me-"

"Shut up or I swear I will kill you right now."

"Well, that isn't very nice. To be quite honest, you sound like an asshole right now. Just sayi-" And I was on the other side of the lake. I felt my collar bone split, and I quickly turned off the pain there.

I realize now that these weren't a normal person's reactions to almost killed by a vampire. A sensible person would scream, run, and then die.

Without pain, one can focus easily on how to escape. The high-and-mighty attitude of this man told me that he would be easy to annoy, easy to distract. I was able to respond effectively...I think.

"I'm keeping you, so shut up. You aren't going to die. You're...special, I guess. I'll give you to the Volturi, how does that sound?"

Idiot. Like I knew what he was talking about.

"Well the word itself is fun to say. Volturi. Kind of rolls off the tongue, don't you thi-"

And we were off. In less than a second, he had picked me up and we were flying. Or, that's what it felt like.

It seemed we were heading westward, but I couldn't be sure. His legs moved with blinding speed, so fast that I couldn't really see any movement at all. The scenery passed without me recognizing any of it; we could be in New York and I wouldn't notice.

About a day into our journey, I noticed a change in my freckled skin. My freckles were still there, but the skin under was pale white. As I watched, I saw the freckles slowly disappear. I also noticed my gut shrinking, I was getting skinnier, and I felt my hair grow longer and straighten. I saw clearly that I was changing into one of him.

Three days later, and he says my transformation is complete. He stops in the middle of a desert, looking at me, a cruel grin plastered over his white face.

He looked different now, with my new eyes. He had explained to me some of the traits of a vampire as we ran, going into detail about how I should've been writhing in pain, crying my eyes out, wishing for death.

"The beauty of the mind," I said in my new voice, after telling about my wonderful connection to my brain. With this added mind-power, I had more control over myself and my inner workings than I could've ever hoped for.

A burning began in my throat around the second day, something I quickly got rid of. I didn't ask about it.

Eventually, he had told me his name. Roger, it was. He didn't seem or sound like a Roger, but I didn't annoyingly tackle him about his name.

"We're here," he said, as I drifted out of memories from my transformation. I looked around. We were on a cliff, and down below us was a large plain of sand, with a few stray trails running across it. "Now, what do you smell?"

I inhaled deeply, and nearly choked, the burning feeling in my throat consuming all my thoughts.

"What is it?" I hissed, angry at the smell. It had enraptured my mind completely, taken away all my senses. I felt hatred towards it; my mind was my own. This smell, a measly smell, should have no power over me.

"Go find out," Roger stated simply, and I slowly began my descent down the cliff.

There, on a faded trail, were two lone hikers. They didn't see my sparkling skin as I drew close, they didn't see me at all.

A wind passed by, blowing their scent into my nose. I gasped. The most delicious food, the sweetest drink, gourmet excellence, right in front of me. Their blood, I realized. I needed it. I lunged forward.

They saw me. The female one screamed, while the male stood protectively in front of her, eyes agape.

My skin, I remembered. My skin....me....my head.

I turned off the torturous burn in my throat, and the urge was gone. The smell was gone. Just a faded memory, one I sought to erase.

"What are you doing?" hissed Roger, joining me in an instant. The woman screamed again.

"I can't kill people," I whispered, horrified at what I almost had done.

"Fine then, later," he growled, and began walking slowly towards the terrified couple.

"NO!" I screamed at him. He didn't respond just drew closer to the pair; I remembered when he had nearly killed me...

"STOP! STOP IT! STOP MOVING!" I screamed, my hand reaching out in desperation.

And he stopped. Frozen, completely, unmoving. An instinct took over, telling me what to do, what to say...

"Step back," I whispered, and my hand twitched ever so slightly toward me. He did so.

"Forget me," I whispered again, curling my fingers down halfway. I felt his mind bending to my will, like warm clay. "Don't move for twenty seconds," I finished, then released him. I quickly turned to the couple. They were shaking. I lifted my hand, feeling the same instinct take over. I understood it now, however, and needed less of its guidance. "Stop," I said, just because the command was familiar. "Forget," I said again, transmitting what they needed to forget, and why all of this was happening. I began running then, east, still holding onto their heads...and I felt Roger get up and leave after his twenty seconds were up. After I heard him travel many miles away, I released the couple to walk, unremembering of their close encounter with death.

I ran faster, frightened with the power I had been given. I only needed to control my own mind, nobody else's, never anyone else's...

To be able to take someone's will away from you...the very thought made me shudder. If there was one thing I respected in the world, it was the human brain. To enslave it so easily...

I ran, away from the world, just away, to the east...back home.

Home. I couldn't go home like this.

After three days of running, I met the east coast. Too sunny, I headed north.

I needed clouds...Seattle. Rain existed all the time in Seattle.

With new inspiration, I sped off at lightning speed towards the safe cover of clouds.