Here is another vampire story written by one of the entrants in the teen writing competition. Thanks for sending us your story Sahil!! Comment below on what you think of this scary tale!!!

Vampire’s Dawn

By Sahil Suresh

They never forgive…They never forget…They rise at dusk only to find their next victim. Who will it be you may ask? You will have to find out for yourself…

I woke up the next morning weary and infuriated. I resented having to rise up at 6:45 in the morning and go to school. I reviled my life. My only wish was if I could have some venture in my life…just for once. Little did I know that I was going to have an adventure real soon. “John Odysseus this is the last time I am calling you. You either get up or stay in bed!” yelled his mom. I replied with a grunt. I’d rather stay in bed and I knew my mom couldn’t do anything to stop me. I have three siblings so my mom always has her hands full. My dad was always on a business trip and infrequently spent time with me… but I really didn’t care. I like it this way. Eventually, my mom found me and wasn’t really thrilled to see me in bed. I got my backpack and my homework and got all set for school.

I was fifteen minutes late for first period and this wasn’t the first time this happened. “John I have had enough of this…You are going to sit right up front next to me.” Said the teacher in a tranquil tone but to me it sounded exasperating. I hesitated at first but I had no choice. Still, this was the ideal place to take out a thumbtack and sneak it under the teacher’s seat. Yow was the last thing I heard from my teacher, Mr. McElroy because the next thing I knew I was on a one-way trip to principal Alucard’s office. Every time we asked if Alucard was a general name he would say it was in Europe. Truly, I think he’s hiding something. “You again?” murmured Mr. Alucard as I walked into his office. “Yeah.” I grumbled. He knew that I was infuriated and went a little easy on me. “I’ll just make a slip for your parents to precursor and you can return it to me tomorrow”. “Fine” I grumbled. “Life isn’t always facile John”. “Yeah, I know” I muttered, although I scarcely knew what facile meant whatsoever.

At lunch he sat next to his best friend Rellik. Rellik was a foreign exchange student and also one of my best friends. My other friend Matt came to join me. Rellik was the smart straight “A” student whereas Matt was the athletic and agile one. I explained how I had to go to Mr. Alucard’s office to my friends. Matt enjoyed the part where I snuck a tack on the teacher’s chair but Rellik was hushed.

On the way home I asked Rellik and Matt if they could hike Mt. Wachusett with me on Saturday (tomorrow). They accepted. When I got home my mom was standing at the doorway and she didn’t look satisfied. She had gotten a phone call from school about the thumbtack incident. I gave her the slip and she grudgingly signed it. I knew I was grounded. I marched up to my room. At least tomorrow would be pleasurable since I would get to hike Mt. Wachusett with my best friends. I picked up my dictionary and looked up the word facile. Facile: simplistic. I smiled. Maybe life is simplistic. I took a long nap and waited for this day to be over…

The next day I got my backpack ready for the trip. There was a bang on my door. I opened it and found my little twin sisters, Ginny and Jenny staring up at me. My twin sisters didn’t resemble me. They have red hair whereas I have brown. They have green eyes and I have blue. No one could tell that we were related. The only way we were similar was the fact that we had the same mischievous smile and that was the smile on their face right now. “What do you want” I asked. They replied with the two words I dreaded. “SLUMBER PARTY” they yelled together while jumping up and down giddily. I raced down the stairs. There was no way I was going to miss this hike with my friends for some stupid slumber party. My mom told me I could go hiking and she would not come so she would have to get someone to cover for her. I had to be content with that final part since it could have been worse. She said I could only go once I finished my homework which was really hard to do especially with Ginny and Jenny bouncing all over the place. At noon my younger brother Mike came home from a birthday party only to be aggravated by Ginny and Jenny’s uncultivated yelling. Mike was 9 and 4 years older than Ginny and Jenny and 3 years younger than me. He was always mistaken for a 7 year old because of his babyish face and has brown hair and blue eyes like me. My mom and Mike went on an all out fight about the sleepover and with Jenny and Ginny riotously hopping all over the place you would go insane. After an irritating hour or so, Rellik and Matt arrived with their luggage for their trip along with a guest I was really flabbergasted to see: Mr. Alucard. “Hello there John, quite a simplistic or should I say facile day we are having aren’t we he said as he grinned. Have you been studying that word” he asked. “Yeah” I said trying to sound agitated. We got into Mr. Alucard’s black Ferrari and drove off to Mt. Wachusett…

We each took a voucher from the booth and since it was late in the day we decided to take the undeviating itinerary. “So John, have you been doing your homework lately” Mr. Alucard questioned. “Yes” I lied trying to sound convincing. Rellik could tell I was being deceitful but Matt had no clue. Mr. Alucard consistently asked us questions which drove Matt and I nuts but Rellik answered the questions with ease. So far my trip was not going well but that all changed when we reached the summit. That was when Matt finally asked a question…the one that had changed everything: What does Alucard mean? “It’s quite simple really if you were smart enough or if you were doing your homework” he said. “But our homework was about history and belief of vampires how could you…” my voice trailed off. It was then that I realized my flaw: He was not Mr. Alucard if you read it backward it would interpret…Dracula! Mr. Alucard was grinning now. “That’s Count Dracula to you John” he replied effortlessly and with no emotion. “Get ready guys” I yelled but only Matt got ready while Rellik stood there with a bizarre smile. “You read Mr. Alucard’s name backwards now read mine” he exclaimed. Rellik backwards was…KILLER but that was all I got to say because the next thing I know I was heaved against a tree by him. I saw a woman and her dog coming up the trail. The dog barked at Dracula but the dog was soon to be torn to shreds by Dracula. The woman screamed in horror but Dracula sank his teeth into her and the life was drained out of her in seconds. I got up and got ready. Killer came at me but I was ready and dodged his blow and sent an uppercut slamming his stomach. He groaned and slumped to the ground. I looked at Dracula who stared in awe at my performance. That’s when a small bag caught my eye. It was from the woman’s backpack and it was one of those trail mix bags: VINEGAR flavor. Luckily I knew Vampires hate Vinegar and was driven off by it. I just have to open the bag and Dracula will be driven off. I grabbed a huge sharp root from a nearby tree and stuffed it in my pocket. I took out my red jacket from my luggage and held it in the air. “Ugh I wish I hadn’t fallen from the tree, now my sweater is saturated in blood, oh well I don’t need it” I said as I threw it in the forest. Just as I intended Dracula ran for it while I ran forward to get the bag of Garlic trail mix. I used them like grenades. “Hey Dracula you forgot something” I called and threw a chip at him. The garlic smell reached him. “Aargh” he cried as the garlic made its way to his nose although he still didn’t depart yet but I was prepared for this. I took out my razor-sharp stick and lunged at him. He scratched me dozens of times but I didn’t stop I drove the stick into his heart and instantaneously he turned to ashes. It was over. No, it wasn’t because if it was, Matt would be here but he was nowhere to be seen. “Don’t move” said a voice. It was Killer holding a knife at Matt’s neck! He was covered in bruises and was glaring at me furiously. “Can’t we settle this over trail mix” I said. “Shut up” he said coldly and halfheartedly. “Make me” I taunted. He threw Matt to the ground and charged at me with all his might. I got ready to dodge but I was too slow and weak from fighting Ct. Dracula before. He drove his fist into my jaw and I heard a cracking noise on the impact. With a moan I drooped to the ground. The final thing I saw was Matt approaching from behind and striking Killer on the back of his head. I woke up to see myself lying on a stretcher. I saw my mother talking to the doctor all teary-eyed. Matt was on another stretcher. A young man approached me. “You’re lucky we came here when we did otherwise you’d be dead now” he said. “Yeah I know” I said. (And I knew this was one night that would never get off my mind).

“So how did you do it” I asked repeatedly to Matt at lunch in school. “A cell phone duh” he replied. “When Killer pushed me down he went after you so I had time to get out my phone push 91 and after I came up from behind and punched him I dialed 1 and pressed call” he said triumphantly. “By the way, I was thinking, you want to hike Mt. Washington this weekend” he asked. “No way, I’ve had enough hikes for a while” I said. Well, that ends my story. I guess the moral of this story is to be careful what you wish for since I DID wish for an adventure and I sure got what I wanted. Be Careful Of What You Wish For…...End