Quote:
For a single night, strange bats descended on Destiny City after construction disturbed their nest! They flew over Destiny City's Fall Festival and a few nearby locations, descending on the local populace and attacking anyone they could. Being bitten by these bats leaves two small marks that will itch for a few hours. Then, anyone bitten will feel exhausted and fatigued. They become extremely sensitive; skin feels like it becomes overheated in sunlight, and bright lights are painful to the eyes. The victim will feel constantly cold and hungry, no matter how much they eat or drink. They may also be prone to agitation and bouts of violence. These afflictions may last only a few hours or a few days and then suddenly disappear. Destiny City can find no explanation for the sickness, and it has been unofficially dubbed 'The Vampire Sickness'. If you were bitten, how are you handling this? Is someone you know suffering the affliction? Are you convinced it's a conspiracy or joke, and just media frenzy?
The Fall Festival, when she'd finally gotten her head out of her books and heard about it, was a breath of fresh air. There Becca had been, whining to herself about how lonely and unprepared she was for Halloween this year, and then here was a chance to get out and do something social with it. She had a costume still, the one she'd bought from that cheap costume shop she hadn't been able to resist poking her head into, and there was something to the idea of putting on the superhero costume and going out into the crowds in search of excitement.
There had been so many more booths than she had expected! It had even been tough to conserve her money and keep from splurging at every single one of the booths. The haunted house had even been amazing, though she had to admit she'd never been the biggest fan of the things, and she'd gotten a good enough scare to last her a while. One without the menace of a stalking shadow, at least, thankfully. All in all, the festival had seemed like an answer to all of her Halloween hopes and worries. Unfortunately, that hadn't lasted much longer than she'd had the time to think it.
The bats had come out of nowhere, descending on the crowds like something out of a horror movie. She'd always thought that had been a myth, that idea of bats coming down on you and getting in your hair, and she was sure she'd even read as much somewhere more than once. These creatures hadn't gotten the memo, though, whatever the case of that might be, and they'd seemed relentless in their drive to get back at the many people who'd disturbed their home. Rebecca hadn't known whether to go with fight or flight, herself, in the face of those strange things, but in the end she'd done her fair share of both.
She'd gotten herself bitten for her troubles, too, because when it rained it really poured in this strange city. For a whole day she'd thought she was going mad. The bite itched incessantly, sunlight shone down on her so intensely she thought she was burning beneath it, and her eyes strained in the light, soothed only by the dark of night. Exhaustion tugged at her, the cold seeped into her bones and settled there, and dear God the hunger.
But the day passed, eventually, and with it the strange sickness that no one seemed to know anything about. As news stations began reporting on it and rumors flew around, calling for answers about 'the Vampire Sickness', she couldn't help but be a little glad she wasn't the only one who'd made the connection. Not crazy, then, unless the whole city was. Still, she was very careful to avoid letting her mother know she'd been one of those affected by the event in their phone calls, and she covered up the fact she'd been bitten at all entirely.
She'd have thought it was a joke, if it hadn't happened to herself, and she didn't want to face the doubt on anyone else's face. The way this Halloween was going, she was having so many doubts of her own about whether she actually wanted to keep celebrating. Maybe it would have been better to stay on schedule and leave the ghost stories out of her reading. And maybe Fall Festivals built near old abandoned mine shafts (that had been a shock to read) were to be avoided at all costs from now on.
