Bad Nickie! No Cookie!

by Maureen Wynn
Copyright © 1997

This particular story was "inspired" (snicker!) by Cousin Lisa McDavid. Blame her, 'cause I would never do something like this to Nickie-boy. Really. :-)))

Nick stood sullenly in the shadow of the corner, unwilling to blot out the sun's rays by closing the shutters. He backed himself into the corner, and took another drink from his bottle, gazing moodily at the pattern the window-panes made on the floor. He was surprised when the door opened with a "whoosh!" and Natalie walked into the loft.

She looked at the opened windows, startled and apprehensive to find the shutters open in the daylight, then noticed Nick's figure half hidden in the shadows of the corner. She looked relieved at first, finding him still alive, then grew increasingly annoyed and angry. She stalked over to the corner, ignoring Nick's wince as she walked through the bars of sunlight to reach him.

"What do you think you're doing, Nick? Torturing yourself? Making yourself feel even worse than you already do?" she demanded, staring at him until his eyes dropped.

He sighed, saying, "You just don't understand, Nat! It's my fault..."

Natalie interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. "...that everything's gone wrong? That you're a vampire? That you can't stand in the sunlight? Nick, I'm getting tired of hearing this same old broken record!" she exclaimed angrily, turning away from him. She saw something on the couch which made her pause in thought, then she turned back to him.

"So you want to be punished, do you?" she asked icily. Nick looked at her, confused at her change of tone. "Well, do you?" she demanded.

"I... uh... I don't know what you mean..." Nick said hesitantly.

"Do you feel you've done something wrong, that you need to be punished for?"

Nick closed his eyes against his despair, and whispered, "This life is my punishment."

"Oh, that's what you think!" Natalie snapped. Nick's eyes opened again, and he was startled to see what Nat was holding in her hand. "Nat... what are you doing with that?"

"You're going to get a taste of what punishment really is, Nick," Natalie replied, heading toward the door again. Nick started after her, pulling back with a hiss of pain as he inadvertantly stepped into the sunlight. Natalie opened the door, then turned back toward Nick, brandishing her weapon, saying, "I'll bring this back tomorrow."

Nick watched in surprise, and a growing fear, as she stalked out of the loft, carrying his only remote control. He looked again at the bars of light running diagonally across the floorboards, trapping him in the shadow of the corner, and realized that it was going to be a long day...

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