Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #22 January 2016 | Page 21

New Year’s
Resolution

impossible since he had been working on the far east
side of the farm that day. These thoughts faded along
with the world, leaving a copper taste in Nathan’s
mouth as he died.

Dustin Coffman
Nothing beats Time Square at the turn of a
new year. As the clock nears midnight on December
31st, the eyes of the United States tune in to the
dazzling lights and bustling energy of New York City.
Anticipation runs high and shows on every smiling
face as the crowd patiently waits for the ball to drop.
New Year’s Eve in the Big Apple always features
big time music performances, balloons, confetti, and
fireworks. It feels like the whole world holds its breath
and cheers as the clocks strike twelve. This year is
no different. In fact, it is estimated that one million
people are in Times Square tonight. Among them is
Nathan O’Haver, who may look to everyone else as
nothing more than a well off business man, but in
truth, he isn’t a man at all.
Nathan just so happens to be a sharply
dressed vampire who is over two hundred years old.
Naturally, this wasn’t always the case; at one point in
time, Nathan was just a young farm boy in Nebraska
working on his father’s land, just a normal dirt poor
man until the strange drifter showed up one summer
night looking for work. Nathan’s father hired the
newcomer and put him to work at once, but there was
something odd about the guy that neither Nathan nor
his father could place. It only took three nights for
them to find out just what made this hired hand so
different. Nathan was working alone in the west field
when the accident happened. Something had spooked
his horse and without warning it had ran the corn stalk
chopper over top of him. Bleeding out from countless
wounds, Nathan knew there was no help coming as he
lay in agony on top the fallen corn. He was close to
death when he saw the newcomer standing over him,
with eyes on fire. Nathan knew as he drifted away
that the blood had drawn this creature, which was

Nathan had awoken with a hunger so strong
his whole body hurt. He couldn’t imagine anyone
ever being this hungry, not even the starving children
oversea. With no teacher or master around to tell
him how to hunt, Nathan gave in to his hunger. After
slaughtering all the workers on the farm and saving
his family, Nathan ran away and never looked back.
Time heals all wounds, and years later the idea of
family never crossed his mind again. His whole world
had been taken away from him by a stranger, but the
gift he had received had paid that price a hundredfold.
The world looked, smelled, and tasted a million times
better than it had when he was human. Nathan often
thought he truly was never really alive until the day
he died and came back changed. As he travelled the
globe, Nathan met others like him; some showed him
tricks and helped him use gifts he never knew he had,
while others tried to destroy him. Whoever his maker
was, he must have been strong, because Nathan’s
blood survived throughout all he had endured.
It is nice standing about the people in Times
Square, like a wolf in sheep’s skin. Nathan had always
wanted to visit New York but in his many travels, he
had yet to do so. It had always been on his bucket list,
and he had finally made time for it this year. Nathan
almost laughs as he looks around at how stupid most
of the humans look, wearing large foam purple hats
and waving foam fingers. Normally, this type of
behaviour would be okay at sporting events where
alcohol is involved, but a lot of people here are as
sober as a Jaybird. Then a strange thought comes to
mind, How many of these people could he kill before
someone stopped him? Nathan senses a few of his own
kind among the crowd, but they’re all young ones.
They couldn’t do him any harm even if they tried. Of
course Nathan had heard the rumours and whispers
about New York’s protector, a new-born who calls
himself the Street Devil. A part of him wants to go on
a killing spree just to see if the stories were true, but
of course that will not do, since he is trying to give up
such bad habits.

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