I never expected my life to take the turns it has and brought me to where I am today. The twists and turns and the roads I have followed have all led me to who and what I am today. I’m not quite sure where I should start my story at, but feel that just writing it down will be therapy for my soul. I’m a divorced, single mother of a beautiful and intelligent teenager. I married (and divorced) all before I was even old enough to legally drink. We have lived many places across the US, returning to my hometown in California after my divorce and then to Arizona to get a little distance from my parents. It’s safe to say that I needed to be able to stand on my own two feet and be a parent to my daughter with less interruption from them. We’ve lived in Arizona for nearly 7 years, in a suburb of Phoenix. I’ve been the PTA mom and always involved in my daughter’s schooling, while working full time and trying to get a degree (I need to set an example for my daughter). Life has thrown us many curve balls and sometimes we do very well and sometimes not so well, but I guess that’s just how life goes.
I’d like to say that’s where my story begins and ends, with me being a mother and just living a normal life, but it’s not. Being a single mom makes things a little difficult and sometimes when I have time to myself I can tend to let loose and just have a good time. That’s where all the trouble started.
One ‘girls night’ when a couple of friends and I decided to go out to a local dance club, I guess I let a little too loose. It had been an exceptionally busy month, with lots of stress, so when I unwound a couple of drinks turned into more with added tequila shots. This really cute guy kept them coming all night long and paid me lots of attention. I guess you could say I was in the ecstasy bubble of being his center of attention and when he asked me out to breakfast when the night was over I jumped at the chance, telling my friends that I had found another ride and would talk to them in the morning. To their credit, they tried to talk me out of it and even tried to drag me off with them, especially since it was very uncharacteristic for me to be acting the way I was, but I insisted and went anyway. I told them my daughter was at a friend’s house and I didn’t have to get her until the next afternoon, so I was going to enjoy my night of freedom.
I’m not one who goes off with random men and am usually pretty standoffish when someone pays too much attention to me, or tries to move too fast. Going off with a stranger that I just met is something that I would never do. I don’t even like internet dating, because I’m always afraid that it’s some serial killer trying to find his next victim. So going off with this guy was just insane in so many ways.
I remember getting into his nice black Mercedes with the tinted windows and all of the bells and whistles. He asked which restaurant I wanted to go to for breakfast, because after all I had drunk that night, I definitely needed to put something in my stomach, to help soak it up. I even remember going to Denny’s and eating pancakes and eggs. When we left the restaurant, he asked me where I lived and drove me home.
When we got to my house, he asked if he could come in for a night cap, of course I said yes. He had been a perfect gentleman all night, opening doors and paying for everything. As I unlocked the door, I started thinking that I didn’t really have anything to give him to drink. I slipped off my shoes by the door and dropped my purse on the table and walked towards the kitchen to look in the fridge to see what I had to offer him.
So glad that I found some soda, a bottle of wine and a couple of beers from a BBQ I had the weekend before, I turned around to ask what he preferred, only to find him standing right behind me. I wasn’t really alarmed, but quite calm about it. That’s when everything went blank.
I woke up the next morning to the phone ringing from my nightstand. I was in my bed, under the covers still wearing the clothes I had on the night before. I had a horrible headache and felt as if I had hardly slept. My daughter’s voice came across the line, “Mom, what time are you planning on picking me up? You said noon and it’s already 1.” I rolled over to look at the clock only to discover it was indeed 1. I told her I’d be there in 20 minutes, rolled out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt and ran out the door; the whole time trying to recall the evening before.
After picking up my daughter and apologizing profusely to her friend’s parents for being late, I went through the drive-thru, to get her some lunch. She was mad at me and showing it by giving me the silent treatment. Which of course wasn’t a problem because my head was still pounding, but was a problem when I tried to find out what she wanted to eat. Finally she gave in and told me what she wanted, I decided to stop by the local video store and pick up a movie for us to watch and have a ‘lazy day’ for the rest of the day. I told her we could just spend some quiet time together and she could pick whatever movie she wanted.
Later that evening, when I went in my room to change into my pajamas, I noticed a folded piece of paper on my nightstand. Thinking this whole time that the guy was a one-night stand, which I have never done before, and constantly berating myself for allowing such a thing to happen (even though I didn’t remember what happened). I quickly strode over to the bed to sit down and unfold the letter, hoping that it was a note saying sorry for leaving me, but I fell asleep and he didn’t want to wake me, leaving me his number to get a hold of him so we could try a real date.
His number was on the note alright, but it was definitely not a note I could have ever imagined. In an elegant scrawl, the note read, ‘I had a great time with you last night.’ At that first sentence, a wide smile broke across my face, which was quickly replaced with a scowl as I read on. ‘I hope you won’t be alarmed by the changes you will start to experience, but to be honest, I couldn’t help myself once I started and then after I had drained you almost completely dry, I realized that I could not leave your daughter motherless and gave you some of my blood to keep you alive. We should really get together and talk about things, so I can fill you in on everything and what the rules are. Your life will be drastically different now, but don’t fret, everything will be ok.’ It was signed only with a “C” and a local phone number.
I sat on the edge of my bed dumb-founded and alarmed. Was this guy crazy, or did something happen that I don’t remember? What the heck was he talking about? I tried desperately to remember the events of the night before and every time, I remembered opening the refrigerator door then turning to find him standing right behind me and that was it. It was like a black void for the entire time after that leading up to the phone call from my daughter. Leave it to me to bring home a crazy guy and not remember anything that happened. There was no way I was going to call him, it would be too embarrassing to admit that I don’t remember anything, even though I am pretty sure nothing could have happened; I had woken up fully dressed.
I was pulled from my daydreaming by my daughter yelling for me to hurry up so she could start the next movie. I joined her in the living room with my comfy flannel pajamas, pillow and a blanket. I would be an early night for me I had to recover from my previous night, whatever had happened to me the previous night anyway.
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