Private YouTube video titled Journal Entry 7, uploaded by user Michelle1980 on October 31st, 2015.
Michelle is sitting at the same table as the last video. She has apparently realized the lighting in the last video was too dark and now has a few cheap floor lamps set up around the room behind her. It appears to be the lobby of the lodge she claims she was staying at in the last video. There is a large fire pit in the middle of the room with a vent hood hanging above it. The fire is lit, although too small to throw off much light or, presumably, heat. The fire pit has a couch on either side. Beyond, there is a check in desk against the far wall. All of the décor is dated and heavily damaged or dirty.
Michelle looks much the same as the last video. She is wearing a purple tank top and her hair is down. She is much paler now, and her cheekbones are more obvious than the last time she has appeared on camera.
She smiles at the camera.
Hey, hello, to myself and anyone else who ends up seeing this. It is October thirtieth, so happy Halloween to those who celebrate. I haven’t since I was a kid. No one’s trick or treating at shitty motels. I guess I celebrate now, though. By default.
Okay, so, two week break. Biggest one between these videos of mine. I didn’t forget about you, don’t worry. I filmed all of my experiments, but then as I was editing them to put up they felt…boring, I guess? Or at least pointless. They didn’t add much. I’ve got the videos, I’ll keep them for posterity if anyone else wants to see my methods, but I think for now the only thing I’ll upload is this video. The results.
Start with the obvious…
She gestures briefly at her arms, and then behind her. There is a large picture window in the wall. Through the darkness, falling snow can just be made out.
Michelle leans over to the table next to the phone and picks up a small device. As she turns it to the camera it becomes apparent it is a digital thermometer. The read out says the room is fifty-six degrees.
Ask anyone who knew me and they’ll tell you I was a wussy when it came to the cold. I hated taking jobs north of the Bible Belt. But now, I feel fine. More than fine. Comfortable. As far as I’m concerned, it’s room temperature in here. And that’s not all.
Michelle picks up the camera and carries it toward the back of the room. The lens is pointed at the ceiling, sometimes catching Michelle. There is some jostling and then the squeak of a door opening, and the ceiling is replace with a threshold and then a dark sky. The camera adjusts to the new darkness and then Michelle holds it up again.
Fine! I feel great! And out here it’s…
She checks the thermometer again but can’t seem to hold it up to the phone camera properly.
Says it’s twenty-nine out here. Pretty balmly, huh?
Michelle cackles into the darkness. Then she moves back inside and sets the camera back up on its perch.
Michelle’s hair and shoulders are dusted with snow. It only started to melt after she came inside, and does so slowly.
For obvious reasons I haven’t been able to test extreme heat. I’m guessing that comes up a lot less. Even in the desert, once the sun goes down it gets super fucking cold. I’ve been trying to think where it stays hot at night…the south, I think? Yeah, I bet if I went to the bayou I could try out heat. See if I sweat. I’m guessing I don’t.
Let’s see, what else is fit to print…oh, yeah, how about eye sight? If there’s any light at all, I can see. Not perfectly, there is a point where stuff starts to get sort of blurry. And I can’t see in complete darkness. I guess that makes sense, scientifically. I’m still surprised, because I didn’t really think there was anything scientific about vampires, but whatever.
Actually, yeah, you want non-science? Here you go: I can see better at night. Not better in the dark, better at night. I got one of those eye charts like in an optometrist’s office and figured out how to use it off the internet. I tested in one of the basement rooms with no windows, something for storage. Used the same lamps both during the day and at night. Five minutes before sunset? 20/30. Good. Better than average, obviously, but five minutes after sunset? 20/50! At fifty feet I can see what a human can see at twenty feet. Absolutely incredible. And has nothing to do with science, so I don’t fucking know. I-
Michelle’s face contorts in pain for a fraction of a second. She bends forward at the waist a couple of inches. And then she is back to normal, like it never even happened.
My hearing is better, too. Internet says a human voice travels about 180 meters. I’m kicking myself because I should have done tests before, when I was alive. I don’t know how far I could hear then. But I’ll tell you what I do know, is that I couldn’t hear a human voice over three hundred meters away. Almost twice as far. No wonder the bastards can always hear us coming.
Smell…I couldn’t really figure out a way to test that, exactly. Not with good parameters or anything. But the other night an owl got a rabbit somewhere in the woods and I could smell the blood. I couldn’t find the remains to figure out how far away but, like…could I smell blood unless I was right on it before? I don’t think.
Let’s see, what other senses…touch and taste. Well, touch doesn’t seem much different. Taste…okay, so I can eat regular food there just doesn’t seem to be much point. And it all tastes pretty bland. I thought it would be heightened but-
Another wince, this one longer. After she straightens up, she stares at the camera for a second. Then continues as if nothing happened.
I still haven’t had any blood. Keeping my streak. And I don’t want it, either. It’s an addiction. It’s all in the brain. A vampire could live without it, and I’m going to prove it. Easy, peasy, lemon-
Another wince. Clearly frustrated, Michelle turns the camera off. Video ends here.
High Urban Fantasy Jazz 