Now what was I supposed to do? Should I come out of the drawer, say hello to the woman inside the room, who was now reading a magazine, for what I could hear? That would surely kill the woman and as long as I didn’t need to eat, I didn’t find it necessary to do so, nor was it because of the work of reflecting on the moral problem that it must be to kill someone.

Drumming with my fingers on my belly, I began to wait for the woman to leave, to be able to run and cover myself with anything. What I would do next, I would solve it when I was already out. However, before I could even begin to think about what I would do when I left, I heard the woman's cell phone vibrate, and immediately, she got up and came up to me. I barely remembered to close my eyes, before hearing a metallic creak and the squeak of the iron as it spread. I felt his gaze examine me, uncomforting me to the point of almost opening my eyes, and telling her to please stop looking at me. I didn’t have to do it, because she started typing on the screen of his phone, and, finally, the opportunity I had been waiting for, finally showed up. The woman yawned and walked towards the door, leaving loudly.

As soon as I assured myself that she wouldn’t be back in a few seconds, I sat on the iron, so fast that I must have been dizzy if I were alive. I looked around. My little knowledge about hospitals told me that behind the door at the back of the room there should be a shelf with all the clothes of the corpses that were examined. Hopefully the shelf wouldn’t have a key, since usually it wasn’t only my clothes, but also everything I had on, my cell phone, the keys to the hostel room (the lady was going to get angry), my precious blade (if not the police had taken it as a proof) and... To my mind came a thought. If I was there, that meant that Caroline was also there, rotting slowly. I sniffed the air, looking for her strawberry perfume, so sweet that I had always disgusted it, but no, in that whole room, and even down the hall and around, there was no trace of Caroline's perfume. That woke up an alarm in my head. We had both died in the same place, why wasn’t she there with me?

A noise in the corridor elevator made me come back to reality, realizing that I was standing in the middle of the room, naked. I put one foot in front of the other, and in two seconds I was facing the warehouse door, looking at my surprised expression, which was reflected in the glass. It was good to know how fast I could be, if I wanted to. I took the handle and prepared to open the door, however, my reflection made me stop to observe me closely, admiring my new self, which I hadn’t been able to analyze when I was inside the cabinet. Now I was pale, much more than my old self, but it wasn’t unnatural, like the one who had turned me by accident. My hair was a total black, contrasting with my skin in a way that could only qualify as harmonica. As for my eyes, it was good to know that they didn’t shine at all times, but only in total darkness. Now there were only two violet geodes. My features were a little more marked, my lips were more red and, despite my dark circles, product of my continuous sleepless nights, that were still there, they made me look attractive. Well, yes, I was beautiful, yes. At least I wouldn’t be a disgrace for the species ... Would there be more? I denied, of course there was more, or should. The pale guy and I, we couldn’t be the only ones.

Leaving my thoughts for another time, I opened the door and looked for my smell, finding it in the third drawer of a wooden cabinet, where I could also recognize another smell that made me frown. It smelled of dirt and dust, also of something old, like the fragrance that comes when you enter a place that hasn’t been opened for a long time. Also, in the handle of the drawer where my clothes should have been, I could see black fingerprints, stained with dirt. The living couldn’t have seen them except with the help of an ultraviolet light lamp, but in my eyes the mark was clear, as if it were painting. Someone, who had previously been in that forest with me, had entered the hospital, to the morgue, and had rummaged through my stuff. Quickly I took the handle and pulled it, trying to control myself and do it very slowly so as not to completely pull out the drawer. The clench was battered inside, which confirmed that someone outside the hospital had touched my belongings. From inside I took out a bag in which I couldn’t recognize beyond my pocketknife, my room keys, and my cell phone, which were stuffed in other small bags, which seemed to have been taken from the set of evidence that had been collected at the crime scene. Whoever had been in that forest with me, had gone to the police station first to pick up my phone and my knife, bringing them here afterwards, but for what? For what purpose? I supposed it must be the pale man, who didn’t want to leave clues, although it didn’t make much sense. If humans didn’t know about the existence of vampires, they shouldn’t have predators or hunters. At least it was what I knew.

I denied, I didn’t have time to analyze who had brought my things, and, apparently, had also taken my clothes, leaving me with nothing to wear. I started to open the other drawers without much care and with great ease, as if they weren’t locked as they were. I ruined almost all the locks, but what did it matter? It is not as if the dead went to claim me. Finally, when I got to the last one, I found something that I could surely use: a dress of simple cut and sleeveless, of a very light lilac color, with small minimalist flowers, of a stronger purple. It wasn’t something I would usually use, not even for the beach, it was too feminine, but it would work, I wasn’t allowed to get whimsical with my clothes. When I passed it by my neck, I could smell drugs in it, it was something I already knew, of course, but had never tried, “angel dust” they called it. That girl had died from an overdose, I was wondering if that substance would affect the taste of her blood, or cause a similar effect on me...

By thinking about it, I became aware of my own hunger, or thirst, to be precise. The feeling was similar to human thirst, but somehow it was different. I could feel how, as I fixed my thoughts in the blood, my lips began to dry, and my throat began to demand liquid, although not precisely water. I returned to the door, and a red reflection returned my gaze through the glass. With a stupefied expression, I noticed that my eyes had changed color again and now they were turning red. Bright in the dark, opaque violet being normal, and red for when I was hungry, what was next? Black as the night having eaten? I buffet, surely this last one was also real, but I would have to find out, and soon. As much as I would have liked to delay the moment, lunchtime had arrived.