The last bell of the day echoed through the corridors. I shut my French book and put it in my bag, making my way out of the crowded, hostile school. I was hoping to see Caleb, just catch a glimpse of him before I left, but I didn’t. He must have left early.
I took the bus home. My mother worked late so she couldn’t pick me up, and it was a long walk with all the books I usually carried. I sat in the front, by the driver. I could still hear people whispering. Everytime someone laughed, whispered, said something, I was always convinced it was about me. It was not a long ride, but the minutes seemed to drag by like hours.
I finally got home. A small, old battered house, almost out of town. I sat on the ancient, red couch in the small living room and took out my Bio book. We had homework on the first day. Old Quilt high school did not joke around when it came to Academics. I must’ve spent an hour working on homework, when suddenly a knock came on the door.
This was odd. My mother would not be home for at least another 3 hours, and my aunt was on holiday in Europe with my grandmother. Either way, I made my way to the door and opened it.
I could not believe my eyes. It was Caleb. In all his glory.
‘Good Day’ He said. ‘I hope I‘m not interrupting anything, I just wanted to say hello and say that it appears that we‘re neighbors.’ I gaped at him.
‘We don‘t have any neighbors.’ I said. ‘The closest house is a twenty minute walk, and it‘s the old mansion. It’s in ruins.’
‘Well, that‘s my new home’ He said, chuckling lightly.
I couldn’t help staring.
‘You‘re kidding! That place has been deserted for over three decades!’
He couldn’t help laughing again, he must find me hilarious.
‘We bought it. I bet you haven‘t passed by recently because in the past year it‘s been completely rennovated. And well, it‘s our home now.’
He was right. No one ever went to the old mansion. It was in the forest right out of town, and most people avoided it like the plague. Old superstitions again.
‘So, did you just drop by to say hello?’
‘No, actually, I wanted to -’
At that moment, I heard laughter and yelling from the rooftop. My aunt was back. And she didn’t know we had visitors so she didn’t use the front door. I glanced at him nervously.
‘You need to go. Now!’ He looked at me surprised and kind of hurt, but then he left. My aunt walked down the stairs, barely aknowledging me. She opened the fridge, picked up a milk carton and poured herself some milk. Then she stopped dead in her tracks.
‘There was someone here.’ She said. Then she looked at me suspiciously. 'Eva, what did we say about visitors?’
‘I know. It‘s not like I invited him, I-’ She narrowed her eyes at me.
‘Him?!’ Her nostrils flared. That was never a good sign.
‘Yes, the new boy’ I glanced at her worriedly. ‘He doesn‘t have any friends. He just wanted to come by and say hi, I guess.’
‘All right. But don‘t let him make you do something you might regret. Besides, soon enough the townfolk will fill him in in our queer ways.’ She laughed like she was relieved I wouldn’t have a friend. And in a way she was. She didn’t trust people. Mostly because of the way they had always treated her. She thought the only way to protect me was to keep me away from them. That hadn’t been a problem, at least until now.
‘He lives in the old mansion’ I said, as I watched her cut the tomatoes evenly for salad. She paused for a second and gritted her teeth. She didn’t say anything, just kept on cutting.
‘Well, I‘m going to do my homework, now’ I called out, as I walked up the stairs.
‘Aren’t you going to ask me about my trip?’ My aunt called out from downstairs.
‘Tell me later. That History essay is begging to get started.’ I yelled, as I shut myself in my room.
A few hours later, my mother got home. She immediately came to my room looking very excited about something.
‘Honey!’ She said. ‘My friend Maya will be coming over. With her son, Victor. Remember Victor? Thought you‘d like that.’
I smiled at her. I did remember Victor. Maya and Victor were the only people close enough to visit with the same...heritage, apart from my grandmother. In fact, the only time when I was able to have something close to social contact with anyone my age had been when I was with Victor. And now Caleb.
‘Well, what‘s the occasion?’ I asked happily.
My mother’s face darkened. ‘There seem to be some people...of our kind close by. Thought we‘d better stick together.’
‘But...we‘re the only...well you know...for hundreds of miles!’ I said surprised. We never spoke the words if we could help it. It was sad, but we weren’t happy with our heritage.
‘No honey,’ She said. ‘They‘re not witches.’ I shuddered and looked around. We never said out loud what we really were if we could help it.
‘They‘re vampires.’ I looked at her bewildered. But vampires did not exist! Neither did witches. I thought, as I smiled to myself at the irony of it all.
I know. You're thrilled. Haha.