1 It all started to make sense

In the middle of my room there he was. Those long nails of his, were ready to sink in my skin at any given moment. I started for the door but he was already there. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "This is not happening," I told myself, "He is not real." But as I opened my eyes he was still standing there. Not a moment after, he began to lash at me with those menacing teeth and that's when I heard a faint tapping sound at the door and I woke with a start. Thinking of all the possibilities, I came up with one explanation...it was back. He, was back!

There was knocking at my door. My body tensed as I stood up from my bed. I could literally hear my heartbeat, pounding away in my chest. That's when it hit me, my neck ached and was throbbing with pain. Was it really a dream? The knocking continued and a familiar voice followed, "Hey I heard thumping noises, are you ok?" No, I'm not, I said to myself, but the words never came out.

"Everything alright in there? Listen I'm coming in," Jake said. As he came in, he looked around and took a few glances around the room.

"Whoa dude you totally trashed the room, Your mom's so gonna be pissed."

I took a look around the room, everything was out of place. But there was one thing that caught my eye. In the corner by the bed there was a small trail of blood. He was definitely here. Jake studied me.

After a few more ups and downs he finally said, "You alright, what happened up here?"

"Nothing, I guess I had a weird dream again," I said, "Listen don't worry about me let's just get ready for the Halloween Party tonight."

"Yeah tonight's gonna be a huge feast," he shouted.

"What?"

"I said tonights gonna be a Blast. But I know you aren't telling me something but we can deal with that later," he protested.

Now that's Jake. He could see right through me. There was a time I had a problem with a bully and he could literally read my mind. After all we were best friends.

I answered, "Nothing happened, there was ice and I-I slipped."

A few seconds would pass until he replied in a stern tone, "Alright who do I have to beat up?"

I started to laugh but then he started throwing me some worried glaces

"Wait are you serious??"

"You heard me, what's his name?"

"She," I mumbled

"What was that?"

"She's a girl, and I can deal with her myself," I lied.

"Yeah like you handled Robbie and Michael, and Jacob, and---"

"Alright, alright maybe I get bullied a lot but I can handle this."

"Well don't come to me crying to me a few days later begging for my help."

I couldn't protest, he knew me so well. But this was a problem he wouldn't understand. Heck I'm not even sure I even fully understand it yet. But today was Halloween, surprises await us all.

"Well are you coming or what, we have to get our costumes," Jake called out.

"Let me tidy up and I'll be down in a minute," I replied in a hurried voice. He seemed to understand and left me there. I had bigger problems to deal with.

My neck was giving me hell. Literally it was burning and I yelped. I had pressed against where the pain seemed to come from with my fingers and I felt a bruise. I took a look in the mirror and there were marks that looked like it could be from something with a sharp point, sharp enough to pierce skin.

Where did they come from? How did they get there? There were many questions running through my mind at once and I began to lose it. The room started spinning and everything changed different colors, with little specks floating around, but there was a dark figure behind me I couldn't make out, and I blacked out.

I woke up later that day in a hospital bed. There were series of wires along the bedside hooking up to a machine. A few minutes later a nurse walked in to check on me.

"Oh your awake now, good. Do you feel ok," she asked.

"Yes," I replied in a raspy voice. Clearing my throat I asked, "How did I get here?"

"You fainted early this morning possibly from blood loss. Your mom said she saw you lying in your room. You've only been here for 2 hours."

There was someone else in the room with me. Was it...no it couldn't have been. A few minutes later I was discharged and I saw my mom waiting for me. She gave me a hug and said that I scared her. I could tell that she was crying, her sniffling gave it away. I couldn't blame her.

Soon after, I met up with Jake and we went to get our costumes. As always he was Superman, and I was Batman. I always told him that Batman was a better Superhero because of his inventions but he would always rebuttal by saying, "Super is in his name". Everytime he would say that I would laugh, I mean it was pretty corny.

The party started in an hour, and we were ready. We had hitched a ride with a few friends and chatted for a while until finally we went down to Amber's Spectacular Halloween Party. Every year she hosts one, and every time it turns out to be a blast.

We all walked in together and observed our surroundings. There were disco balls along the ceilings and bright neon letters above the DJ's head. It was Amazing. The whole room was full of energy and color. It looked as if a unicorn threw up a rainbow in here. Music filled every room and almost everyone spilled out on the floor and started dancing.

I almost forgot what happened earlier this morning until I started going out of breath. Some guy came over and saw me hyperventilating and asked, "Are you alright." Although I didn't respond he insisted that I should sit down. I felt like any minute I was going to throw up.

My stomach ached in pain and my head started throbbing so I headed to the 2nd floor balcony to get some air. For a minute I thought I was the only one up here until I heard noises in the bedroom. It sounded like muffled screams, so I went to check it out. I'm easily scared so I announced myself coming in, I've seen some movies.

"Hey I'm coming in what's going on in here," I blurted out. Then I heard feet scrambling and a gush of wind. As I continued on in I gasped. I fell to my knees as I stared at the body that once had life. Amber Hope was once her name. Blood decorated the room. A plathora of organs spewed from out her body. I threw up. My feelings were in a blender. I left out the room to call for help but stumbled my every step. Jake saw me and hurried to me.

"What's wrong, tell me what happened," he demanded.

"Sh-she was killed th--" I stuttered. Tears welled up in my eyes to the point where I could barely see.

"What! What do you mean? Who killed Amber," Jake asked. Wait a second...

"I-I never said her name, how would you kn-know who...," my voice faltered. It was Jake.

"You totally did dude. What are you saying," Jake scoffed. Suddenly it all made sense. Jake was there when I fainted. He was there in my room that morning. But Jake, my friend?

"Why," I cried out, "Why me, what are you? What have you done."

At 6'4" Jake towered over me. This is the side of him I didn't recognize, all these years together how come I never noticed the signs. Jake...was a bloodsucker. "I think you know, there are stories. I think the word you are looking for is VAMPIRE." Coming from him it felt like a bullet to my head. I refused to believe it.

"No, no, no. Why now after all these years," I asked.

"Such a shame I have to do this, your blood type is hard to come by, I have not tasted your type for decades," Jake confessed, "It made me stronger."

Jake flashed those menacing teeth. He won't. After all we've been through. This is not happening, I thought, he is not a vampire. No, that's what I want to think. I knew what was going to happen. I can't back away from this now. And in a series of motions Jake lashed at me and soon after followed darkness.

(To be continued?)