The World of Night
Change is at the door
Aside from living in the quaint, secluded, little town of Alyeska, Alaska there was nothing special about me. I had an average life with slightly sub-average parents. I had run of the mill video games and a terribly, terribly, obese cat. There was no ambition, no passion, no nothing! There was just life, one day seemingly identical to the other, and all relatively uneventful. Then all the monotony, all the boredom and everything average in my life melted away when Arthur came to the door.
My father and I were sitting in front of the X-box playing Halo 2, viciously arguing over which character to be.
“Damn it Dad! I want to be Master Chief!” I shouted giving my father a violent shove.
“No way! You’re always Master Chief, be the Arbiter for once, Charlotte!” He said, shoving me back.
“Alright that’s it! I am going to beat you down!” I picked up the red pillow off of the couch and swung it though the air, hitting my father smack in the back of the head.
“Oh, so it’s going to be like that eh?” He said, throwing down his controller and getting on his feet, “Well bring it on Little Kitty!”
“I told you not to call me Little Kitty!”
“Little kitty, little kitty. Little, little, kitty cat!”
“Alright that’s it! I’m going to go warrior princess on your a**!” I screamed at my father while taking a vicious swipe at him with my pillow. Astoundingly he managed suck in his considerable stomach, causing my attack to pass harmlessly by.
“Bring it on Lucy Lawless!” he said, returning my attempted blow, except he didn’t miss, he hit me right smack in the face! I fell to the floor and curled into a little screaming ball.
“Mommy!” I wailed.
The air itself seemed to freeze as my mother entered the room. Never had there been anyone who could instill as much terror into the hearts of men as she! She placed her pearly hands upon her shapely hips as she towered over us. Her green eyes burned into our very souls!
“What is going on here?” she hissed.
“Daddy hit me!” I sobbed through crocodile tears.
“Dean! Did you hit your daughter?” my mother asked, turning her malevolent gaze toward my father.
“Well, uh…I mean…um, she wasn’t playing fair!” he managed to stutter, hiding the pillow he had struck me with behind his back. My mother turned menacingly toward me.
“Is this true?” she inquired.
“Maybe.” I mumbled, curling up even tighter, thinking that perhaps, if I curled tight enough, I would just disappear altogether.
My mother sighed and massaged the bridge over her nose, this meant that she was contemplating about how to punish us.
“Okay you two, no X-box for-” suddenly she was interrupted from her punitive dictation by a knock upon the front door.
“Assume your positions!” My mother hissed at us as she made a mad dash for the kitchen.
My father and I leapt into action. I moved to open the door while my parents assumed the stereotypical pose of all parent, my father pretending to read the Sunday paper while my mother needlessly busied herself in the kitchen. For some reason, ever since I had been old enough, they let me answer the door, apparently they just didn’t care to deal with other human beings, so they left it up to me.
Even though my father was a rather portly fellow he somehow managed to stow away the X-box, leap across the room, grab the newspaper, realign the pillows, and sit down before I even reached the door.
I looked around to make sure my parents were in position before I flung open the door. I expected to see Heather or Melanie; perhaps even a less associated friend from the high school, but I had never seen this person before!
He looked like something straight out of an Anne Rice novel, tall and deathly pale. He had groomed longish brown hair and wore a loose fitting white hoodie along with a pair of worn blue jeans. In his right hand he held a long, carved wooden cane. Finally, obscuring his face were a great pair of sunglasses. The lenses seemed almost opaque, even in the porch light. With the sun having set a few minutes ago the darkening gray hue of the sky behind the man made him seem very ominous indeed.
“Can I …help you?” I said, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice.
He did not reply, he just stood there and though I could not see his eyes I could feel him staring at me. After a few moments he still had not said anything. I began to close the door, this guy was just plain creepy and I wanted to be away from him as quickly as possible.
Suddenly the door stopped moving, he had jammed his cane in way and I couldn’t move the door past it. I was seriously starting to freak out, what did this guy want?
“Wait!” he said in barely more than a whisper, “Can you… can you show me where the high school is?”
That was all he wanted? I felt so relieved, “Uh, yeah just go up four blocks and-”
“No, you don’t understand,” he murmured, un-jamming his cane from the door “I need you to show me!”
“Wha…? Oh my god!” I said, finally catching on “Oh my god you’re blind! Please step in, I need to put my boots on.”
Timidly he stepped onto the welcome mat inside the foyer. In the illumination from one of the many lamps my mother placed around the house I could, for the first time, properly see this stranger. He actually looked very young, probably no older than me, and had smooth features that made him look, I could not believe I was thinking this, a little bit handsome. He was also very tall, at least six feet! I also saw his cane in the new light, three deep grooves curled up from the base of the cane until they reached the top, where had been carved a majestic lion’s head with little yellow gems for eyes that would flash in the light from time to time.
“Charlotte! What’s going on in there… Oh, who is this?” My mother said coming out of the kitchen.
My mother came striding up to the stranger, and though he was tall she was still taller. She did what she does to all men that she has never meet before, she stood towering over him and arms crossed, giving him that cold, soul judging stare, as she tried to assert her dominance over him. I covered my eyes, afraid that the stranger would somehow manage to enrage my mother.
“Hello milady, may I have the pleasure to know whom I am addressing?” He asked quietly, sticking his hand out toward my mother in greeting.
My mother, quite taken back by such and astounding show of manners, almost forgot to respond. “Oh, uh, I’m Vera! And you’ve already meet Charlotte. Oh and over there is Dean!” she said pointing into the living room. She raised a suspicious, thin eyebrow when he did not follow he motion.
“He’s blind mom!” I said flatly.
“Oh dear, please come and sit down!” she said seizing his still outstretched hand and leading the stranger into the living room.
“But my boots, shouldn’t I take them off? They’re quite enameled with snow!” he protested softly.
“Nonsense, you’re fine, now sit down.” My mother said, forcing the stranger into a seat.
“You seem to be quite kind towards strangers, or is this amicability only extended toward the infirmed?” the stranger asked, his voice never more than a whisper.
My mother laughed when he said this, thinking that he was attempting humor. Since my dad had yet to take note of the stranger it seemed that only I caught the hidden venom that he had put into his words. Apparently he didn’t like being treated special because he was blind.
“Hey, don’t I know you?” my father said finally looking up from the paper that he hadn’t been reading “You live with those people in the house on the hill, the Lionsmane’s! Your that boy of theirs, uh Albert right?
“It’s Arthur, and yes I live in the house on the hill.”
I decided that it was time that I saved Arthur from a savage questioning courtesy of my parents “Hey Arthur, I’m ready to go! Mom, dad, I’m showing him where the high school is okay? I’ll be back soon!”
Pulling Arthur from his seat we quickly rushed out the door before my parents could object. The pace going to the high school was slow and relatively quiet except for the occasional tap of Arthur’s cane upon the snow covered sidewalk.
“So… Arthur, are your parents as bad as mine?” I asked.
“My parents were definitely different than your parents, but yours aren’t bad, I think they care for you more than you suspect.” he replied.
I was about to make a snide remake about how stereotypical what he had just said was when I noticed the odd stress he had put on ‘were’. What did he mean by that? Before I could ask we rounded the bend and were confronted by the high school, its red brick bulk looming out of the deepening gloom.
“Ah here it is!” Arthur exclaimed, though how he knew we were here escaped me “Thank you for showing me to the school, I suppose-”
Arthur cut off in mid sentence, for a few moments all he did was c**k his head at different angles while sniffing the air. Suddenly his hand snapped out and seized my wrist, his grip was like a steel trap!
“Don’t say anything, just run!” I heard him whisper in my ear.
Pulling me along at a breakneck speed Arthur raced back towards my house. I was about to punch him in the face and ask what the hell was going on when I heard it. A wolf howled in the distance, then it was followed by more howls, each coming successively closer to our position. Wolves were coming into the town! I suddenly found myself running alongside Arthur as we madly dashed for the safety of my house.
It seemed like eons before we reached the house, and when I moved to open the door I could see shapes moving in the growing darkness. We both rushed inside, I was panting for breath, for this was more activity than I was used to, but Arthur stood there as placid as if he had been standing there from the start! Suddenly he made a move to go back outside.
“What are you doing?” I hissed “What do you think you are that you can run from wolves?”
“What indeed?” he asked, flashing a dazzling white smile at me. There was something off about his teeth, I observed before the smile faded, his canines seemed a little to long and a little to sharp! I was stunned as the realization struck home, Arthur, taking advantage of this quickly pushed me aside as though I were made of paper and slipped out the door before I could protest.
“What happened?” my mother asked, peeking into the foyer.
“Wolves!” I said with a little hysteria “There are wolves in the town!”
“Oh my God!” She gasped “Where’s your friend, Arthur?”
“He, he went back out!” I shouted, my nerves were beginning to unravel “I couldn’t stop him, he just went!”
My mother called wildly for my father to phone the local police station, as her attention was diverted from me for the moment I slipped away upstairs and into my room. I examined my self in the mirror, Long black hair, green eyes, normal build, nothing special about me! There were no cute splay of freckles across my face, no glint of deeper knowledge in my eye, nothing!
Mom came upstairs and told me that, somehow, Arthur had been safe in his home for awhile now. I was hardly surprised given what he was, but what did he want with me? Or perhaps he didn’t want anything with me, I thought as I checked my neck to make sure, but then again his kind never just did that kind of thing to us only to leave us be.
For the rest of that night I couldn’t sleep, even though I switched the nightlight on, as if that could protect me. Every thought I had was centered on Arthur, and it all made sense now. He was deathly pale and handsome, didn’t show up until after dark, had to be invited in before he would set foot in the house, and wore sunglasses and light clothes in Alaska during fall! It was quite obvious that Arthur was a vampire…and he wanted me!
A Bloodsucker At School
Change is at the door
Aside from living in the quaint, secluded, little town of Alyeska, Alaska there was nothing special about me. I had an average life with slightly sub-average parents. I had run of the mill video games and a terribly, terribly, obese cat. There was no ambition, no passion, no nothing! There was just life, one day seemingly identical to the other, and all relatively uneventful. Then all the monotony, all the boredom and everything average in my life melted away when Arthur came to the door.
My father and I were sitting in front of the X-box playing Halo 2, viciously arguing over which character to be.
“Damn it Dad! I want to be Master Chief!” I shouted giving my father a violent shove.
“No way! You’re always Master Chief, be the Arbiter for once, Charlotte!” He said, shoving me back.
“Alright that’s it! I am going to beat you down!” I picked up the red pillow off of the couch and swung it though the air, hitting my father smack in the back of the head.
“Oh, so it’s going to be like that eh?” He said, throwing down his controller and getting on his feet, “Well bring it on Little Kitty!”
“I told you not to call me Little Kitty!”
“Little kitty, little kitty. Little, little, kitty cat!”
“Alright that’s it! I’m going to go warrior princess on your a**!” I screamed at my father while taking a vicious swipe at him with my pillow. Astoundingly he managed suck in his considerable stomach, causing my attack to pass harmlessly by.
“Bring it on Lucy Lawless!” he said, returning my attempted blow, except he didn’t miss, he hit me right smack in the face! I fell to the floor and curled into a little screaming ball.
“Mommy!” I wailed.
The air itself seemed to freeze as my mother entered the room. Never had there been anyone who could instill as much terror into the hearts of men as she! She placed her pearly hands upon her shapely hips as she towered over us. Her green eyes burned into our very souls!
“What is going on here?” she hissed.
“Daddy hit me!” I sobbed through crocodile tears.
“Dean! Did you hit your daughter?” my mother asked, turning her malevolent gaze toward my father.
“Well, uh…I mean…um, she wasn’t playing fair!” he managed to stutter, hiding the pillow he had struck me with behind his back. My mother turned menacingly toward me.
“Is this true?” she inquired.
“Maybe.” I mumbled, curling up even tighter, thinking that perhaps, if I curled tight enough, I would just disappear altogether.
My mother sighed and massaged the bridge over her nose, this meant that she was contemplating about how to punish us.
“Okay you two, no X-box for-” suddenly she was interrupted from her punitive dictation by a knock upon the front door.
“Assume your positions!” My mother hissed at us as she made a mad dash for the kitchen.
My father and I leapt into action. I moved to open the door while my parents assumed the stereotypical pose of all parent, my father pretending to read the Sunday paper while my mother needlessly busied herself in the kitchen. For some reason, ever since I had been old enough, they let me answer the door, apparently they just didn’t care to deal with other human beings, so they left it up to me.
Even though my father was a rather portly fellow he somehow managed to stow away the X-box, leap across the room, grab the newspaper, realign the pillows, and sit down before I even reached the door.
I looked around to make sure my parents were in position before I flung open the door. I expected to see Heather or Melanie; perhaps even a less associated friend from the high school, but I had never seen this person before!
He looked like something straight out of an Anne Rice novel, tall and deathly pale. He had groomed longish brown hair and wore a loose fitting white hoodie along with a pair of worn blue jeans. In his right hand he held a long, carved wooden cane. Finally, obscuring his face were a great pair of sunglasses. The lenses seemed almost opaque, even in the porch light. With the sun having set a few minutes ago the darkening gray hue of the sky behind the man made him seem very ominous indeed.
“Can I …help you?” I said, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice.
He did not reply, he just stood there and though I could not see his eyes I could feel him staring at me. After a few moments he still had not said anything. I began to close the door, this guy was just plain creepy and I wanted to be away from him as quickly as possible.
Suddenly the door stopped moving, he had jammed his cane in way and I couldn’t move the door past it. I was seriously starting to freak out, what did this guy want?
“Wait!” he said in barely more than a whisper, “Can you… can you show me where the high school is?”
That was all he wanted? I felt so relieved, “Uh, yeah just go up four blocks and-”
“No, you don’t understand,” he murmured, un-jamming his cane from the door “I need you to show me!”
“Wha…? Oh my god!” I said, finally catching on “Oh my god you’re blind! Please step in, I need to put my boots on.”
Timidly he stepped onto the welcome mat inside the foyer. In the illumination from one of the many lamps my mother placed around the house I could, for the first time, properly see this stranger. He actually looked very young, probably no older than me, and had smooth features that made him look, I could not believe I was thinking this, a little bit handsome. He was also very tall, at least six feet! I also saw his cane in the new light, three deep grooves curled up from the base of the cane until they reached the top, where had been carved a majestic lion’s head with little yellow gems for eyes that would flash in the light from time to time.
“Charlotte! What’s going on in there… Oh, who is this?” My mother said coming out of the kitchen.
My mother came striding up to the stranger, and though he was tall she was still taller. She did what she does to all men that she has never meet before, she stood towering over him and arms crossed, giving him that cold, soul judging stare, as she tried to assert her dominance over him. I covered my eyes, afraid that the stranger would somehow manage to enrage my mother.
“Hello milady, may I have the pleasure to know whom I am addressing?” He asked quietly, sticking his hand out toward my mother in greeting.
My mother, quite taken back by such and astounding show of manners, almost forgot to respond. “Oh, uh, I’m Vera! And you’ve already meet Charlotte. Oh and over there is Dean!” she said pointing into the living room. She raised a suspicious, thin eyebrow when he did not follow he motion.
“He’s blind mom!” I said flatly.
“Oh dear, please come and sit down!” she said seizing his still outstretched hand and leading the stranger into the living room.
“But my boots, shouldn’t I take them off? They’re quite enameled with snow!” he protested softly.
“Nonsense, you’re fine, now sit down.” My mother said, forcing the stranger into a seat.
“You seem to be quite kind towards strangers, or is this amicability only extended toward the infirmed?” the stranger asked, his voice never more than a whisper.
My mother laughed when he said this, thinking that he was attempting humor. Since my dad had yet to take note of the stranger it seemed that only I caught the hidden venom that he had put into his words. Apparently he didn’t like being treated special because he was blind.
“Hey, don’t I know you?” my father said finally looking up from the paper that he hadn’t been reading “You live with those people in the house on the hill, the Lionsmane’s! Your that boy of theirs, uh Albert right?
“It’s Arthur, and yes I live in the house on the hill.”
I decided that it was time that I saved Arthur from a savage questioning courtesy of my parents “Hey Arthur, I’m ready to go! Mom, dad, I’m showing him where the high school is okay? I’ll be back soon!”
Pulling Arthur from his seat we quickly rushed out the door before my parents could object. The pace going to the high school was slow and relatively quiet except for the occasional tap of Arthur’s cane upon the snow covered sidewalk.
“So… Arthur, are your parents as bad as mine?” I asked.
“My parents were definitely different than your parents, but yours aren’t bad, I think they care for you more than you suspect.” he replied.
I was about to make a snide remake about how stereotypical what he had just said was when I noticed the odd stress he had put on ‘were’. What did he mean by that? Before I could ask we rounded the bend and were confronted by the high school, its red brick bulk looming out of the deepening gloom.
“Ah here it is!” Arthur exclaimed, though how he knew we were here escaped me “Thank you for showing me to the school, I suppose-”
Arthur cut off in mid sentence, for a few moments all he did was c**k his head at different angles while sniffing the air. Suddenly his hand snapped out and seized my wrist, his grip was like a steel trap!
“Don’t say anything, just run!” I heard him whisper in my ear.
Pulling me along at a breakneck speed Arthur raced back towards my house. I was about to punch him in the face and ask what the hell was going on when I heard it. A wolf howled in the distance, then it was followed by more howls, each coming successively closer to our position. Wolves were coming into the town! I suddenly found myself running alongside Arthur as we madly dashed for the safety of my house.
It seemed like eons before we reached the house, and when I moved to open the door I could see shapes moving in the growing darkness. We both rushed inside, I was panting for breath, for this was more activity than I was used to, but Arthur stood there as placid as if he had been standing there from the start! Suddenly he made a move to go back outside.
“What are you doing?” I hissed “What do you think you are that you can run from wolves?”
“What indeed?” he asked, flashing a dazzling white smile at me. There was something off about his teeth, I observed before the smile faded, his canines seemed a little to long and a little to sharp! I was stunned as the realization struck home, Arthur, taking advantage of this quickly pushed me aside as though I were made of paper and slipped out the door before I could protest.
“What happened?” my mother asked, peeking into the foyer.
“Wolves!” I said with a little hysteria “There are wolves in the town!”
“Oh my God!” She gasped “Where’s your friend, Arthur?”
“He, he went back out!” I shouted, my nerves were beginning to unravel “I couldn’t stop him, he just went!”
My mother called wildly for my father to phone the local police station, as her attention was diverted from me for the moment I slipped away upstairs and into my room. I examined my self in the mirror, Long black hair, green eyes, normal build, nothing special about me! There were no cute splay of freckles across my face, no glint of deeper knowledge in my eye, nothing!
Mom came upstairs and told me that, somehow, Arthur had been safe in his home for awhile now. I was hardly surprised given what he was, but what did he want with me? Or perhaps he didn’t want anything with me, I thought as I checked my neck to make sure, but then again his kind never just did that kind of thing to us only to leave us be.
For the rest of that night I couldn’t sleep, even though I switched the nightlight on, as if that could protect me. Every thought I had was centered on Arthur, and it all made sense now. He was deathly pale and handsome, didn’t show up until after dark, had to be invited in before he would set foot in the house, and wore sunglasses and light clothes in Alaska during fall! It was quite obvious that Arthur was a vampire…and he wanted me!
A Bloodsucker At School
