Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm Kate and I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression
Looks like Elise has quite the story here. She's certainly been through a lot to get to where she did and ultimately Elise is stuck simply out there and existing only to get revenge on the person who sent her into this spiral.
Anyway let's get right to: Kate's Line by Line Reactions;
Elise stared at Dinah’s body. Her eyes were wide and glassy with the stare of death.
All she wanted was to get ice cream with her friend.
That was all…
Chapter One
Well that looks like a truly horrifying ending that we have to look forward to there. We'll see what's going to end up happening to turn a simple going out for ice cream into something that horrifying.
Elise grimaced as the sun’s light hit her eyes. Sunlight didn’t kill her, it was just so unbelievably bright.
No use huffing and puffing in bed. She had to get up.
She had to find Ricky.
Ricky was the ice cream man Dinah had a crush on. He was the reason they even went to the “Kool Cream” truck in the first place. The flavors were alright, not too great. It was just so she could see him.
Elise threw back the covers and jolted out of bed.
She had work to do.
Well looks like there's a bit of a simple little crush going on. A rare sort of more benevolent plot thread it would seem and honestly I'm loving it. I'm sure things will turn sinister soon enough anyway.
Elise opened the front door. She could smell Ricky. She’d never forget his scent.
Another day of searching, of trying to end it all.
Ricky smiled at Elise, fangs tinged with blood, eyes alight with evil.
He looked just like the celebrities in Dinah’s magazine. Kind, beautiful, with a charming smile.
He walked towards her as a big cat would approach a smaller animal.
Her throat was dry with a dying scream. Sweat beaded down her face. She backed away, feeling for the exit.
His teeth sank into her neck.
Well that's a horrifying memory. Looks like Ricky here is definitely not someone to be trifled with. Things are slowly starting to really enter the realm of properly horrifying here. We'll see where it takes us in the end.
Elise rubbed her neck, the jolt of pain from Ricky’s bite still hurting. After her family died, it was just her in their house. She cleaned it. She took care of it. No one ever bothered her, because no one would ever come to the forest.
Further down the same forest was Ricky’s “abandoned” ice cream truck, filled to the brim with vampires and victims.
She could smell the blood a mile away.
Elise walked up to the rusty old ice cream truck, thinking of the moment Dinah was bitten. Dinah survived without becoming a vampire and she was never sure whether to call her lucky or cursed.
She opened the door, shushing away past memories.
She had to do it.
Well looks like Elise is being quite brave there to continue at the task of exploring the ice cream truck what with all that horror still fresh in her mind. I have a feeling as pure as her intentions are this isn't about to end too terribly well for the poor girl.
Elise stepped, trying her best to ignore the splatters of ice cream and blood, the sight of vampires feeding off humans. She tried, but the stench was just so overwhelming.
“Elise! Long time, no see.”
The hairs on her neck stood up. She knew that carefree, charming voice anywhere.
Standing in front of her was none other than Ricky himself.
“Care for ice cream?” He asked, holding out a vanilla ice cream cone stained with blood.
Her favorite childhood flavor, tainted by blood.
Oh dear. I absolutely love that image of having her favorite ice cream flavor be tainted by blood because that hits very hard there in terms of this vampire angle and how it looks she's forever tainted by that horrifying bite. A powerful moment this.
Elise jumped towards him, claws raised, fangs bared, but he grabbed both of her wrists.
“Don’t you like being a vampire?”
No. No, she didn’t. She didn’t like being alone and she didn’t like being fourteen years old forever.
But Ricky knew all of that already. He could see it in her eyes.
His grip grew tighter on her wrists, almost drawing blood.
Everyone was looking at her, even the victims. She could feel their eyes on her.
“Don’t you want to join my ice cream crew?” Ricky asked, this time fangs exposed.
“Never.” Elise said, breaking away from his hold.
Well that seems pretty clear that Elise is not a big fan of being who she is but it looks like she is determined to at least try and use what she has to do something good although it looks like Ricky is not having a particularly tough time subduing her here.
Elise ran out of the truck, heart beating, her hunger rising.
She couldn’t fight him with her claws. She wasn’t strong enough. She…
Elise was in the woods. She was surrounded by trees.
Why didn’t she see that before?
Elise pulled a low-hanging branch off a tree, brushing away excess dirt.
She could have just impaled him. But then, she was just one vampire against a whole group. Would she ever find enough branches?
Elise threw the branch on the ground.
Well looks like she was about to go right to the stake method but things weren't quite as doable as she thought and now she's feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole ice cream crew. Oh dear, the plot is certainly thickening.
She’d never kill them all. Even if she did find enough stakes, she might be too late. The truck switched places. Elise was only one vampire, and not even a strong one. She had to find help.
And she was so, so hungry.
“Hold on. We’re going home.” Elise said, grimacing as she held Dinah in her arms.
“My arms feel so…so weak!” Dinah sobbed, tightly holding on to her neck. Elise didn’t feel too bad, so she could carry Dinah out.
“I know. You’ll be home.” Elise consoled, opening the door and jumping out.
It was weird, but it felt like she could sense Ricky’s presence.
Well looks like Elise is struck in quite the horrible predicament there and on top of it she's just having more flashbacks to back when things went horribly wrong. Loving how the tension is really cranking itself up to eleven here.
Under the leaves, something soft and innocent lurked. A squirrel, probably.
It smelled like fresh, bountiful blood.
Elise brushed back the leaves and squeezed the squirming squirrel in her fist.
Its black, eyes bulged. Its small mouth gaped open, revealing tiny sharp teeth.
Then it stopped moving.
Elise greedily drank the blood of the squirrel that became more of a limp, bleeding fur ball.
They were leaving, she could sense it, but she wouldn’t give up.
She would kill him and the others one day.
Well it looks like she's doing her best to rest and feed up here as horrible as it is for the poor squirrel. It looks like this is only a setback for the moment because of the sheer number of people she would have to fight alone.
Elise slipped inside, careful not to make the front door creak. She didn’t want to wake her family.
She’d outlive all of them.
It was no use dwelling on it.
What was done was done.
Elise ran as fast as she could. She had to get out.
She couldn’t stay any longer.
Well looks like she's using the highly effective live to fight another day approach which honestly given how that confrontation went earlier really seems like the best approach to be taking.
“I heard the door open last night.” Eli said.
Elise took a sip of orange juice, not replying. Her little brother couldn’t have heard her open the door, could he?
“What happened?”
“Nothing much.” Elise said.
Well that looks like a bit of a lie there but it seems Elise is doing her best to keep her brother safe perhaps in this world of many vampires and monsters roaming about.
Eli and her Mom and Dad never found out the truth. Elise was sure to run away the day after Eli told her about the door he overheard opening the other night.
Dinah was dead. By the time Elise had made it back to Dinah’s house, she had collapsed on the front door step and Elise had to make up a somewhat lie to Dinah’s Mom and Dad about there being a crazed man that had killed her.
Elise’s family had died long ago. She only lived so that she’d kill Ricky and his friends. Ricky and his overinflated ego.
However, Elise wasn’t partial to turning people into vampires. If they could handle the life of vampirism and help her out, then she’d be fine with it.
She wasn’t a monster. She was doing everything right. She was the right person.
She was nothing like Ricky.
Well that's quite the sad note to end on. It looks like poor Dinah would never make it and now Elise is doing something along the lines of Ricky's own twisted morals to try and get even. Its an interesting point to end on and I think a great point to end on.
Aaand that's it for this oneee!!!
Overall
Overall a powerful little tale, really tapping into how Elise was shaped into the person she is now and how she was forever changed both by the past and even now in the present!
As always remember to: Take what you think was helpful and forget the rest!
Stay Safe and Have a Nice Day!
Kate
Kate
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