TW: death, injury, transphobia, homophobia, beating someone to death (not graphic), fighting, breakup

It had been 2 and a half years ago, possibly longer. Happened in June. Damned June. Mei was 21 at the time, the best moment of her life. Well, until that night.

Her birthday would be in just a few months, she also had a girlfriend. Mei was studying at art school, preparing her career as an artist, out and proud about her sexuality to her parents, friends, and family, with not a worry other than the exams that she'll have next year. Her hair was long, mid back, highlights dyed a pink-ish tone that extended over her hair until the ends where fully vibrant with color, her skin was darker than now, not a sickish pale, but actually alive, golden skin.

The day had been so much fun. Mei had gone with her girlfriend to a pride parade, had stayed there all afternoon until the sun fell. Even if her and her girlfriend's places where in opposite directions, Mei insisted on walking her home, later getting back to the place where the parade had ended. For the occasion, the girl had been wearing a rainbow flag as a cape, along with shinny makeup, the ace and omni flags painted in each of her cheeks. Her clothes included rainbow socks, blue shorts and a white t-shirt that read "Love is love", with a pin with her pronouns in it.

It was all very clear in her mind, every second of that day, all until the second punch.

To get home, Mei had to go through a small alley. Unlike the other streets, it was much darker, the only people going through it being her and some other two men who walked on the opposite direction. Mei could've just ignored them, let them pass by, not start an argument, keep the head down. But not today. The adrenaline from spending the whole afternoon screaming and laughing and partying was still rushing in her veins. And so, when one of them pushed her against the wall "by accident" when passing by, her stupid little brain had nothing better to do than scream:

"Hey! Watch your way!"

The two men turned around, eyeing her up and down, a stabbing glare in both their faces. Mei backed up a bit but tried to keep on a strong face.

"What did you say to me, fag?" One of them asked, the one on the left.

"I said, watch your way," Mei repeated. When she was younger, Mei was a fighter, a strong person with morals and ideals, someone who would fight for what she believed. That got her killed, "And watch your mouth as well. We're literally in pride month."

"Hear that, Chad? He says we should 'watch our way'. How cute."

"He?" Mei was genuinely confused. Why had she been called 'he'. Oh. Oh, the pronoun badge...

"Yeah, tranny," Well, that's straight up rude, Mei thought to herself, "Got anything else to say?"

"Well, yeah, first of all-"

She didn't have the opportunity to finish the statement. A fist came out of nowhere, hitting her nose, creating the biggest amount of pain she'd felt until the moment, but from there it'll only get worse.

Due to the force of impact and her small size, Mei was thrown backwards, loosing balance, falling to the ground sideways. Her eyes became teary, fer face warm a wet. In an attempt to brush off the tears, another warm liquid stained her hand. Blood.

Looking up from the ground, the defenseless girl noticed the two men had gotten next to her. A sadistic smirk had appeared on one of their faces, possibly Chad's while the other was hidden away by the shadows of the night.

Next strike was a kick on the stomach, sending shocks of electric pain through her system, blocking her throat with the wish of vomiting that never came.

After that, memories became scarce. A brain's coping mechanism is to try and erase traumatic events. Didn't work 100% in this case.

Most of it was flashes. Flashes of pain. Flashes of blood. Flashes of laughing voices and weak groans, products of the torture. But no screaming. Only blood, pain, red, black, a crack, lack of air, silence, cold.

Later, Mei would learn she had been hit in a rib, breaking it, piercing into her lung, the cause of death. She had been dead.

Apparently, the only reason she still had a conscious mind was because another vampire had been walking down that same street and "saved her" by turning her into one of his own. It looks like the hospitals couldn't've done anything. Some days she still wondered if it would've been better off if he'd let her die off. Human lives where often over-rated.

After that, of course, came heartbreak. Her girlfriend left her. Her family tried to bring the vampire who had saved her to court. Her first therapist did nothing but worsen the situation by forcing her to open up about something that hadn't yet sunken in. The attackers where never found.

...

The narration only got halfway through, barely to the part where she stepped in the alley before Mei broke down crying. It had been so long since she had said it out loud- forgotten how terrible it felt to live back all those memories. Cas stood up to give her a hug, but physical contact felt like fire, burning, hurting her skin. Mei pushed Cas away, making her way into the couch attempting, and failing, to continue the story.

Soonly, the vampire gave up, but Cas had managed to get an approximate idea on what was going on. Mei had gotten either beaten up and transformed into a vampire or something along those lines, and it was tied into homophobia. So many things about her made sense now, actually. Why she was so reserved. Why she was so anxious so often. Why she hid away. Why she had panicked so much. Why she felt insecure about being a vampire. And- that tattoo. That ";" tattoo she had in her neck- it was a way of hiding away the bite scars, wasn't it? The tattoo itself... Apparently, the symbol was a live that could've been ended, but the person decided to keep on. But- Mei had actually died... what did it actually mean then?

Another issue was- well, Cas didn't know what to do, how to react to this new information. Yes, it was good that Mei had entrusted them with this information, but- what are you supposed to respond? To be honest, Cas was in shock now. His girlfriend was crying, on the couch of her appartement, and had handed him over this newly discovered trauma. A single word came into mind:

"Sorry."

Mei looked up from her seat, eyes black with tears.

"Sorry?" She repeated, doubt and a pinch of annoyance in her voice, all of this topped with the cracks caused by the crying, "What for? You didn't do anything wrong..."

"I'm- I'm sorry for you. I'm sorry you had to go through all of this. And I'm sorry I can't help."

"Oh. Yeah..." Mei sighed, looking up at the ceiling and brushing off her tears.

"But hey, it all happened a long time ago. Everything is alright now," Cas said, using an enthusiastic tone, attempting to be supportive, "How about we try to go and get some food and-"

Cas was stopped from talking by Mei's stare. They could feel daggers being shot from them.... Why? What had-

"'It all happened a long time ago'? Seriously?" She asked, bringing her hands to her head, pushing the few wild strands of hair back, "Uh, I'm so stupid..."

"What's- what's wrong...?"

"'Everything is alright now'. Yeah, sure. I knew- I knew this was a bad idea, I knew it was a bad idea, but still- I'm so stupid. So fucking stupid. I-"

"Mei, what do you mean?" Cas asked, but he got no answer. Mei was pacing, still murmuring things under her breath.

He tried again. And again. But Mei wasn't paying attention. Until-

"Mei!" They exclaimed, making the vampire freeze, "Could you just tell me what's wrong!?"

"What's wrong? You! And me! Us, Cassey! We- This was all a mistake!" She replied back, raising the tone of her voice even more, "Can't you see it?"

"No, excuse me if I can't," They huffed, crossing his arms.

"I- I made a terrible mistake by calling you after you left me your stupid number on that napkin all those weeks ago," Those words shot through Cas's heart, triggering tears on his eyes.

"W- why? Why are you saying this all of a sudden?" they cried.

"Because! I was fine! I was doing alright! My mental health was stable, I was adapting, I was happy. And now- this is the worst I've felt in months. Many, many months," Mei's voice lowered down, words feeling trapped, stooped down by the knot on her throat, "Cas... We- we are over. Go away."

"What!?" Glass shattered inside Cassey's chest.

"Go away!" Mei yelled, anger growing once again in her voice, "We are over! I'm breaking up with you! I- I can't deal with all these feelings, not now. Please. Please, just- just go. Please."

The feeling of shock, of confusion, of panic, of doubt, of loss, of it all was too strong for Cas to fight it, to process it, to argue back, to attempt to fix stuff. He simply strolled away, carrying a sudden weight under his shoulders. They just- walked away. Opened the door. Closed it behind it. Cried on the way down the elevated. Brushed the tears when getting out. Looking back at Mei's building. And getting on their way back home.