Serena’s story

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Vampires and ice cream!”. Gacha Club character designs are underneath my forum titled “My character designs<33”. Enjoy!*

Introduction

Serena Robertson stared at herself in the mirror. A photo of her Mom’s sister, Dinah, from when she was a teen was in between the crevices of her mirror.

Dinah was holding a mint ice cream cone in her hand, laughing at the camera. She went out to get ice cream with her friend, Elise and her sister, Serena’s Mom, that day.

She seemed so carefree back then. So young. So alive.

Mom told Serena that the eighties was the age of neglect. That parents didn’t look after their children and that’s why kids did whatever they wanted. She said that the stuff Serena had now wasn’t available to kids back then, so they went out. She said that the world was less dangerous back in those days.

But Serena still wanted to go out. To be free, like Mom, Dinah, and Elise were.

Maybe one day…

Chapter One

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN LILAC HILLS-SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2019.

Serena walked to her first class of the day, History, her clunky purple boots echoing down the halls. This was the first time she was dressing in nineteen eighties attire and she would be doing so for the rest of her life.

Serena found them in the attic chest, where Mom kept all of her old clothes. Both of her parents warned her against wearing them to school, but she was confident in how she looked.

She wouldn’t let her peers bother her. They just didn’t understand the glory of the eighties-

“Hey!”

Chapter Two

A girl dressed like a symphony of vibrant colors, like she stepped straight from the nineteen eighties, waved her over.

“Over here!” The girl called out.

Serena looked back to the open door of History class. She’d be late if she went to the girl.

It’d only be one time, though. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

She decided to approach the girl.

Chapter Three

“I’m Elise. What’s your name?” The girl asked. They were walking down the hall together.

“Serena.” She said. She didn’t know where they were going, but maybe they could make good conversation along the way.

They stopped in front of the library door.

“Follow me, I want to show you something.” Elise said, opening the door.

Chapter Four

They walked to the yearbook section of the library. Elise excitedly grabbed a yearbook and flipped through the pages.

Serena waited patiently, but throughout the waiting, she thought:

What is the importance with all of this?

Chapter Five

“I’m a vampire.” Elise said with certainty.

Serena crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Like I’d believe that.” Serena said. She had wasted her time following her. She thought that Elise was going to show her something cool, but instead she wanted to play pretend?

“No, it’s true.” Elise said solemnly.

Chapter Six

“Let me see that!” Serena said, snatching the yearbook from her.

There was a class photo from nineteen eighty-one. It depicted Mom, Dinah, and…

And Elise, exactly as she was presently, persevered in that very photo.

“See? Told you so.” Elise said matter-of-factly, slamming the book shut.

Chapter Seven

“Okay, so?” Serena asked. So what if Elise was a vampire? In all the books she read, vampires attacked humans. But Elise acted normal, so was there any real reason for her to worry?

Elise’s eyes sparked with fury, but disappeared in a flash. Maybe Serena imagined it?

Suddenly, Elise grabbed Serena’s arm and yanked her close.

Serena bit her bottom lip to stop the screams.

Chapter Eight

It felt her neck was on fire…like she was melting to the ground…losing power…how did no one else notice?

Everything hurt so…so…so bad…

Chapter Nine

Serena opened her eyes. She was lying on a grassy field, the sun shining, burning on her face.

“So you finally woke up.” Elise said. Her voice sounded so far away…and then Serena didn’t hear or see anything at all.

Chapter Ten

Serena blinked her eyes again and everything was crystal clear, she could feel leaves brushing her skin…wait, leaves?

She was in a forest where the trees seemed to caress the sky with their branches. She lay on the ground, Elise sitting above her.

Elise grabbed her left arm and pulled her up.

Chapter Eleven

“What have you done? What happened? Where are we?” Serena asked, feeling like her whole world had been tipped upside down. Who was Elise? Where was her school? How did anything happen?

“I’m taking you to my home.” Elise said.

“What? Why?” Serena asked, slightly annoyed that Elise had just made a choice without her consent.

“For information. Trust me on this.” Elise said, walking Serena along the path.

She’d run if she had the energy to, she’d scream if she were able to, but the only thing she could do was let Elise carry her along until they made it to her home.

Chapter Twelve

Elise stopped at a house in the middle of the woods. Not an abandoned shack, just a regular house. It appeared that Elise took care of herself well.

“Are we the only ones here?” Serena asked. She could only hear the birds chirping and even that was uncanny. She could feel her energy coming back, but did she really want it to come at such a time?

“Yes, but don’t be afraid.” Elise said with a smile.

Chapter Thirteen

Elise and Serena walked up to the front door of the house. Serena fidgeted her fingers, thinking of all the things that could happen in the woods. What if Elise killed her? What if she never saw her family again? What if-

The door clicked open. Serena had her energy back, but it was much too late to run, for Elise had already brought her inside.

Chapter Fourteen

They stepped over the threshold, Serena let go of Elise. Before Serena could say a word, Elise began to speak:

“I was Dinah’s best friend back in the day. We went out for ice cream together, we were in band club together. I knew your Mom too, but I wasn’t as close with her as I was with Dinah. Now, me and Dinah on the other hand…we did everything together.”

The inside of the house had polished, bare, white walls and a clean blue couch. There was a single wooden coffee table on a white rug. The hardwood floors had not a splinter in sight. It didn’t look abandoned at all.

Yet Elise’s eyes held years upon years upon years of regret, of sorrow, of tears.

Serena’s heart felt tinged with sympathy. Sure, Elise was a vampire, but as a vampire, nothing was ever certain and she was sure that Elise had her losses that went deeper than any wooden stake.

Chapter Fifteen

“Until that day at the ice cream stand, when Dinah said hello to the ice cream boy. He smiled at us and told us to follow him, to go inside the truck with him.”

“Then what?” Serena asked, morbidly curious of what Elise had to say, fearing her answer but at the same time, pining for it.

Elise walked up to Serena until they were eye to eye.

“Then he killed her.”

Chapter Sixteen

“He just sunk his teeth right into her neck and drank her blood. He didn’t kill me, though. He made me one of him.” Elise gave a bitter, harsh laugh.

There was a prolonged, awful pause in the air. Serena didn’t see anything in Elise’s eyes, all of the emotion had drained away. She heard Mom briefly talk about Dinah, about how they were so close, about how she wondered where Dinah went, but it was never for long. The subject was always changed, it was as though she didn’t want to think of Dinah anymore.

Yet Elise didn’t have that privilege to “move on and forget”. She was stuck as a young girl, stuck in that moment of helplessness, still attached to the day Dinah died.

“We’re going to stop him, the two of us.” Elise added, her eyeshadowed eyes glittering viciously.

“He’s still here?” Serena asked, wondering how such a creature could have the audacity to even stay in the same neighborhood.

“He’s still here.” Elise replied.

Chapter Seventeen

WALKING HOME

As Serena got out of the woods, it was time for her to go home. The blazing sun felt slightly hotter on her skin and when she walked, she felt as if she were in a daze.

Yet there was a mixture of anger and frustration swirling within her daze. Why should she go home? Why should she live in ignorance and dream of a colorful time period when a vile boy had taken everything from her mother, from Dinah, from Elise, her peculiar new friend? Where was the ice cream boy? The boy who was supposed to bring light and instead brought fright? Where was he? Where? Where?

Why did he have the right to live?

Chapter Eighteen

“There! There is his ice cream truck! I see it!” Elise cried out from behind her in a crazed manner.

Serena’s daze cleared out, her stomach felt empty, as though it were spiraling on and on and on.

Serena could see the white and blue painted ice cream truck in the woods, the bare, bending trees a sharp contrast to the carefree, jingling truck with a selfish boy who had selfish friends and drank blood from humans purely for the pleasure, for the feeling of their pain.

Their blood smelled bitter and overwhelming and oh so much.

Chapter Nineteen

Serena ran towards the ice cream truck, screaming for them to stop, waving about her hands in the air. She could hear Elise running behind her, the girl reduced to nothing but a life-stealing shell, her heart all rotten, and then, in that moment, Serena stopped questioning her.

Elise used to be normal. Elise used to be ordinary. Elise used to be boring. She dressed in glitters and boldness, but she was happy. She was like any other kid her age, but she was free.

How dare that ice cream truck drive away.

Chapter Twenty

FLASHBACK

“Were the eighties as fun as the movies say?” Serena asked, licking up her strawberry ice cream. It was a bright summer’s day and Mommy and Daddy had taken her out for ice cream in the park! Daddy was sitting on a bench, Mommy was with Serena, paying for the ice cream.

“There were fun moments. But it wasn’t paradise. Nothing is. Life is just life, you can’t expect things to be delightful all the time.” Mommy said, sliding the dollars and change to the ice cream lady.

The two of them walked away, taking in the beauty of the sun shining against the trees, the feeling of the cold air against their skin. Serena felt like summer would stretch on without anything wrong happening, all of it a careless dream.

Why did Mommy have to give such a negative answer? Life was always nice! That was what the movies said and Serena would stick firmly to that belief, for if she didn’t, then she would be VERY sad!

“Promise me that you won’t be nice to just any old person. You have to trust them first. That’s important.” Mommy said.

Why did Mommy bring that up? That was too much thinking, too much to worry about!

“I promise.” Serena said, just so she wouldn’t say it again.

“That’s my girl.” Mommy said as she ruffled her hair, as Serena licked her ice cream.

Epilogue

Serena and Elise didn’t catch up to the ice cream boy that day, or the next, or the next, but they would never give up, for the both of them were monsters, shrouded by the world of twisting trees, determined to bring justice to Dinah’s stolen life.

While Serena could go on and blame Elise for turning her into a vampire without her consent, she didn’t. Elise wanted help, Elise wanted to be connected. She must have been watching from afar, she must have known that a friend of hers had a child. Perhaps that broken girl inside of her wanted a friend she could trust, a friend she could share her pain with.

Yet once the both of them caught up to the ice cream boy, would Serena still want to stay? Would they both be able to go on with their lives?

What then?