It was a breezy Sunday night in May, I had just crawled in my big fluffy bed ready for the next day to come. “Just 2 more weeks, you can do it.” I said to myself as I fell asleep with the breeze from my window blowing on my face. I slept peacefully until I awoke to a noise coming from my closet which sat directly across from my bed. I sat up long enough to look around. But nothing seemed to be there. “I must be dreaming.” I thought, laying back down when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something walk past. I looked around again and decided I just needed a sip of  water. I took a sip of my water and laid back down. That was when I saw a figure above me. I looked up and there was a girl who hissed and jumped on me. I screamed for my mother as the thing grabbed my leg and bit it as I kicked her in the stomach. “Why I oughta!” She said putting a pillow over my face. I pulled the pillow off my face and saw it standed over my bed. I closed my eyes and put the covers over my head wishing for this to end. I waited for so long it seemed like an eternity had passed by. Then I opened my eyes, and it was morning. I thought it was all a dream. Until I saw a small bite on my leg. Then my mother Deb walked in. That was the moment I wished I was dreaming.

I sat in school during the next morning, still wondering how that happened. Then I thought my evil cat did it, but she couldn’t get on the ceiling. During class, I sat there thinking until everyone stood up to get roles for the play we were doing in English. I stood up and my teacher looked at me and said “Oh, you can sit down Rachel.” I was confused and sat down “Well what am I gonna be?” “You can be the doorknob.” He said.  How wonderful, I thought in my head. It was around lunch when I decided to tell my friends about the mysterious bite on my leg.  “Guys, something really weird happened to me last night.” They all silently stared until Weslee burped. “I was bitten by a vampire.” Waving her pencil, Hailey yelled “OH MY GOSH RACHEL STOP.” Jordan burst out in laughter along with the others. But Weslee just shook her head. “You’re stupid Rachel.” I couldn’t believe all the laughter so I showed them my bite. They all brushed it off and convinced me it was just a bug bite. Maria was the only one to believe me but she believed everything. Throughout the rest of the day I thought about what I would do if the thing showed up again tonight. But after a lot of thinking, I decided I had imagined everything. After all, how could a vampire bite me? I mean they don’t exist right? That’s what I thought until I got bit by one. 

My family and I were sitting at the dinner table later that day enjoying some hot pizza. My dad asked me what happened at school today. I sat and thought what exactly to say until I realized I needed a second opinion. “Are vampires real?” I casually asked. My parents just looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re kidding right?” Deb asked me with a look of shock on her face. “Actually, no. The weirdest thing happened to me last night. I was trying to sleep when I was ATTACKED.” I said very loudly. “Mhm, okay.” My dad said as he continued eating his pizza. “I’m serious!! Look it bit me!” I showed them my leg with the two little holes in it. My parents yet again looked at me concerned. “Rachel, you’re overreacting. That’s obviously a bug bite. You probably just had a dream. Vampires are not really. You have nothing to be worried about.” Deb said, trying to reassure me. I guess she was right. I could’ve been bitten by anything, I thought to myself. 

It was bedtime yet again and if I’m being honest, I was terrified to go to sleep. I made sure that I had my cat in the room with me while I fell asleep so I would feel more comfortable. And hey, with my cat in the room, at least something had to believe my vampire theory if it decided to come back. It was around 1 in the morning when I woke up to creaking in the hallway. I sat up very suddenly and saw that my cat had been standing by my locked door, looking under it while hissing. That’s when I knew that what had happened to me was real. I decided to be bold and walk out in the hallway. But there was nothing there. (I’ll give you an idea of the layout in my house. We lived in a cabin kind of house so when you exit my room there is a door to the left that leads to my parents room. Across from my door there are stairs leading downstairs. Then to the very right of me we have the laundry room and right next to that room is the guest room.) At least nothing I could see. My cat had run out of my room and down the hall to the guest room so I followed him, wondering why he went in there. He scurried under the bed, which is something he only does when there is an unfamiliar person in the house. I started to get scared so I headed back down the hall to my bedroom. That was when I heard a thud from behind me. I froze in my tracks. I had no idea what to do, so I slowly turned around to see the same figure I saw last night standing there. I wish I could see its face but all I could see was a black figure. Which is what made the situation even creepier. I could suddenly move again and I dashed back to my room and locked the door behind me and turned on the lights. All I could see were feet under the door. After a minute, the thing walked away. I sat there with the lights on for hours, trying to figure out what exactly just happened. Eventually I fell back asleep though. 

The next day at school I decided to tell my friends about the second sighting of my little vampire. I hurried to the lunch table and threw my lunch down. Everyone at the table stared at me. “It happened again.” “What are you going about now?”  Jordan asked. “THE VAMPIRE!!” I said frustrated. “Rachel there’s no such thing as vampires.” Jordan replied laughing. “This is serious Jordan. This thing wants something from me and I don’t understand what. Why couldn’t it have gone after someone else? I’m not that special!!” “OH MY GOSH RACHEL STOP!!” Hailey once again screamed for no reason. “Hailey stop yelling.” Weslee said as she slapped Hailey on the head with a popsicle. “Okay Rachel, you wanna keep going with this vampire story? That’s fine. Just know that none of us believe you.” “Weslee I’ve never been more serious than I am now. I swear there’s a vampire after me and I need to get rid of it.” I said folding my arms angrily. “Alright fine. I will help you get rid of this vampire tonight. Only because there isn’t one. But if it’ll make you shut up about it, I will help you.” Weslee said. The bell rang and Jordan picked up her tray ready to walk away. “Have fun catching your vampire that Rachel clearly made up. I’m heading to class.” Jordan said. 

My last class of the day was English. Considering I was the doorknob in our play, I had a lot of time to read the script. I had never read it before so I decided to check it out. The first thing that stuck out to me about the play was that it was coincidentally called “Dracula”. How ironic for me! Throughout the play I read some things about garlic and holy water but I knew that was a joke. There was no way garlic could get rid of vampires. Somewhere in the play I read something about toast too. Or maybe I was just hungry for toast. I don’t know, but anyway, I let Weslee know about my findings in the play so we could prepare for the vampire tonight. She surprisingly started to take me seriously but maybe that was just so I would stop talking about vampires. I was in the middle of texting her when my english teacher said my name. I looked up quickly and hid my phone. “Rachel! Great, we have your attention now. So there’s no doorknob today in the play, so I’ve decided that you can be the candlestick!” “Um...okay.” I stood up to be the candlestick even though I don’t think it’s possible to play a candlestick. 

I got home from school that day and saw my mother sitting on the couch. “How was your day today?” She asked me. “Oh yanno, just thinking of ways to get rid of a vampire.” She looked at me and laughed. “Rachel I told you yesterday there’s no such thing!” “But mom I saw it last night! Weslee is coming over tonight to help me get rid of it.” I said seriously. “Whatever. All I can say is that there is no vampire. It’s probably just your imagination playing tricks on you.” I disagreed and walked upstairs. I made sure that when I got upstairs, I locked my window in my bedroom. I know a vampire sounds insane but I know what I saw. I just wished people would believe me. I thought to myself. “You believe me don’t you?” I said to my cat who sat on my bed. “You saw it last night, that’s why you ran away.” I was frustrated about the whole situation. Was I just making this up in my head? Or was there really something for me to be afraid of?

Later that night, Weslee came over with some garlic around her neck and a squirt gun because that totally gets rid of vampires. Especially the ones on toast. Mmm, toast. Anyways, she walked inside and came up to my room. “Rachel, what are you wearing?” She asked. I stood there in a construction worker outfit. “My vampire catching suit. Duh.” I said slapping the goggles back on my lemon head. “That’s a construction suit. Get in something else.” I threw my goggles at Weslee as I walked in the bathroom. Five minutes later, I came out with a bee suit on. It was beautiful and complete with antennas. “I’m honestly starting to think you don’t know what a vampire is.” “Actually Weslee, I was the one who was bit by one. Thank you very much. Plus everyone knows that vampires are scared of bees!” I shook my head and crawled in bed, I was so ready to see this vampire. When I saw it….why I oughta.

Around midnight I heard the creaks. I immediately woke up. “Weslee. WESLEE YOU CAT, WAKE UP.” Weslee didn’t seem to move. I grabbed a net when I saw a figure open my door. I screamed and ran to it. I heard a yelp from the figure and wow it sounded like Weslee but she’s sleeping. I hit the figure with my net. “Rachel what are you doing?!” Weslee yelled very loudly in my ear. Which explained a lot. “Oops. I thought you were the vampire.” Weslee slapped my head and broke my bee suit. I yelled at Weslee and cried. But then...there it was. That thing on my ceiling. “Do you see it? It’s the vampire.” I said. “No kidding.” Weslee said and rolled her eyes. “That was rude.” I slowly walked towards the vampire with the net in hand. I stopped when I got close and threw my net. I pulled out some perfume and sprayed it in its face. “OW.” The vampire said in a familiar voice as it fell on me. It immediately attacked me and I screamed as Weslee laughed. My mother walked in a turned on the light. “MOM!” I screamed. “You 2 are so funny. You always wrestle.” She said laughing as the vampire put a pillow on my face. “THIS ISN’T WRESTLING THIS IS MURDER!” I screamed as Deb closed the door and turned the lights back off.  Weslee ran to me with the net and hit the vampire with it. All we could hear was rustling in the net until I turned on the light. “Rachel, do you know who your little vampire is?” She asked laughing. “Uh, no.” I walked over to it and saw Jordan lying there with fangs and a bee suit on. “JORDAN? You’re my vampire?!” I couldn’t believe it. Jordan sat up and waved her fist. “Why I oughta.” She said. Weslee asked her why she did it and she just stared and claimed it was her true nature. She obviously just wanted to mess with me and freak me out. At least that’s what Weslee thought. But I knew why she did it. She just wanted some toast.