Vampires aRe ReaL

by R.G. Richards

  Sara came over and had a sleepover at the Carters’. It was nearly dark when Bertha Johnson pulled her car in to the driveway. Mrs. Johnson was a tall, beautiful woman, and when she climbed from the car she looked more like Sara’s twin than mother. Allie saw the car pull up from a window that faced the drive, and ran downstairs. Halfway down she heard the doorbell and slid down the banister to reach her friend.

  “What on earth?” Kay Carter yelled. She was near the door, cleaning for the arrival of her daughter’s friend.

  “Nothing. Nothing. I thought you were out back.”

  Kay gave her a look to make her back up before opening the door. “Hello, welcome to our home. Please come in.”

  Kay motioned them toward the living room. It was strange to see someone of her age with long black hair with a red streak on her left side.

  “You must be the Johnsons?”

  “Yes, we are,” said Mrs. Johnson. “I am Bertha Mae and this is Sara Mae.”

  Allie almost laughed when she heard the name. She looked at Sara, who looked fit to die of embarrassment.

  “Speak, ingrate,” said Mrs. Johnson.

  “Hello, Mrs. Carter. Thank you for inviting me into your home.”

  Kay smiled and appreciated her good manners. “You are very welcome, dear. Allie, will you show your guest upstairs?” She had a familiar look in her eye that Allie tried to interpret.

  “Okay.” She nodded to Sara and they raced up the stairs to her room.

  Kay was disappointed but tried not to let it show. “Will you sit for a moment?”

  “Yes.” Mrs. Johnson sat down and looked around the room. “This is a lovely room.”

  “Thank you. I have only had a few months to get this house in order and it is taking a while for everything to come together. I started in the –”

  Kay was interrupted by her daughter who had come back downstairs. “Mrs. Johnson, thank you for letting Sara spend the night. She was the first person to talk to me at school and believe me, being the new kid is not easy. I just wanted to say thanks – so, thanks.” Allie smiled at her mother.

  “Oh, you are so welcome, dear. We have been the new kids on the block many times ourselves and we know how hard it is.”

  Allie smiled again and went back upstairs. Kay was so pleased with her daughter’s good manners she lost her train of thought.

  Mrs. Johnson stood up to leave. “Well, I have to get started home. My husband is on his way and I haven’t started dinner yet. It has been a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Carter.”

  “The pleasure has been mine. You be careful driving back,” Kay said. The two walked to the front door, and Kay pulled it open.

  “I will. Please tell Allison I said it was nice meeting her as well. She seems like she has her head screwed on right.”

  “I pray every night.” Kay gave her a quick hug and she left.

  Upstairs, Allie and Sara watched Sara’s mother drive away.

  “Sara Mae?” Allie giggled.

  “It’s a family tradition. All the women have the middle name Mae, so stop laughing, Louise.” Sara said the name with a long country twang, then smirked.

  “Whatever! Come on.” They went to her room and sat on her bed. “Are you up for an adventure?” Allie had a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face.

  “You lying little whore! I knew it!”

  “What?” she asked innocently.

  “You want to go look for your Tree People, don’t you?”

  “Come on, it will be fun. I got us packs already made up and ready to go.” Allie went to her closet and pulled out her backpack from last year. She dumped the contents on the bed in front of Sara and spread them. “We have flashlights with extra batteries; throw away cameras that shoot in the dark; binoculars; and a soda and snacks. I got these walkie-talkies and backpacks a few Christmases ago. When Mom is asleep, we’ll go out back and through the fence. Just a few minutes are all that I am asking.”

  Sara took a deep breath. “Fine, if it will shut you up about your damn Tree People.”

  The girls had an early dinner and said they were turning in for the night. Allie knew her mother would be fast asleep in no time. It only took an hour, and then they were off on their adventure. They tiptoed out to the backyard and then raced to the fence. Allie had the key for the back gate; she opened it and they went through. Allie was amazed at how tall the trees were and how deep and menacing the forest seemed at night. They pressed on, following a small trail, using the moonlight to guide them until the trees thickened and they were forced to use flashlights.

  The trail came to a fork and Allie decided to go left. “No,” said Sara, “this way has more light. Let’s be safe and try this route first.” Allie nodded and they followed the route to the right. They followed down a circular path that brought them to a carving along a wall of stone that protruded from what appeared to be a former mountain of some kind. The carving resembled Egyptian writings with odd pictorials of birds, men and letters. Sara saw it first and stopped to examine it.

  “Wait a minute,” said Allie. She took off her backpack, found her camera, and took a couple pictures of the fading vine-covered wall. When finished she put her camera away and put back on her backpack. “What does it say?”

  “I have no idea. It looks like a bunch of kids were up here and drew it – maybe even your Tree People.” Sara laughed.

  They continued down the path, then came to another fork. Sara went right.

  “Why are we going this way?”

  Sara did not answer.

  Allie followed and repeated her question. “Why are we going this way?”

  “I don’t know, why not? If we make all rights then we should end up back close to your house, I’m guessing.”

  Allie thought about her explanation and agreed.

  They continued a few more minutes before Sara asked, “How long are we going to stay out here?”

  They strolled a narrow path along a rock face. This area of the forest looked as if once-great mountains had been blasted and reduced to mole hills. Rocks littered the area and the upheaval produced jagged rock faces and waterfalls that lined a stream that fed into a river basin.

  “Shh,” said Allie. She turned off her flashlight and crouched. Sara did the same. She looked around a bit after hearing noises. A minute passed by and Allie stood, sure the danger had passed. “I thought I heard something,” she whispered.

  Sara whispered back, “I don’t hear a thing, except for my heart beating a mile a minute.” She stood and aimed her flashlight around the woods and up the rock face. They saw nothing but more scribbled picture drawings. When satisfied, they continued.

  Sara had been right about her turn directions. After following the path they made it to a familiar road: Allie’s bus route home. They walked along the side of the road without flashlights and in silence.

  Close to the house they heard rustling in the trees and Allie saw a far-off flash. “There it is!” Allie yelled and took off through the woods. Sara ran after her but saw nothing.

  “Come on, come on!” Allie shouted as she ran across a short field back into the thick of the trees. She stopped and took off her backpack, whipped out her camera, and started taking pictures of the trees in the direction of her flash.

  Sara came alongside her, activated her flash, and took pictures.

  “What are you doing? Turn that off! I told you they work in the dark.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything and thought the flash would capture something hiding in the dark.”

  For a time the two took more pictures, before finally giving up – there were no more flashes – and beginning the long trek home. Allie walked in silence but her mind raced. Did she capture a clear image? Did Sara? Was she wrong about the flash and just imagined the whole episode? Was her mission sabotaged by bringing Sara, someone who had no faith in what she had seen? Where was her father and when would he make it home? Allie forced the questions down and put them out of her mind.

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nbsp; They made it to the house and went around to the back door. Allie unlocked the door and they crept in, locked the door and tiptoed back upstairs. The girls chitchatted for about an hour before falling asleep side by side in Allie’s small bed.

  The next morning, Mrs. Carter, who found it odd that the girls weren’t already up, knocked on Allie’s door. “Hey, Kit-” she caught herself; surely her daughter would be embarrassed by a pet name. “Hey, sleepyheads, you two up in there?” She knocked louder.

  “We’re up,” said a sleepy Allie, loud enough for her mother to hear and the noise to stop.

  “Get dressed and come down to breakfast. You’re running late. I made you guys waffles and sausage.”

  “Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” Allie said to her friend, mocking her mother.

  “I’m up, girl. I’m still tired and sleepy but I’m up.” She stretched in the small bed, almost hitting her friend in the face.

  “Hey, champ, that’s my face.” Allie got out of bed in her pajamas and went to her closet. “I have my own bathroom in there. It used to be a walk-in closet for whoever was here before us. I didn’t need the space so I asked for a bathroom instead.”

  Sara got out of bed in a long shirt. “Let me go first; you may be in there all day trying to fix your ugly face. Girl, you look bad in the morning. Kind of like Frankenstein or Uncle Fester.” Sara made noises, raised her arms, and imitated a monster as she walked to the bathroom.

  Allie laughed and threw a pillow at her.

  Mrs. Carter set a place for Sara at the table. She offered them waffles with a choice of sausage or bacon as side dishes.

  Allie turned up her nose at the meal. She only thought of the amount of sugar and calories in the waffles and syrup. “I’ll just have two of the sausages.”

  Sara did not hesitate. “May I have two waffles, two sausages, and two pieces of bacon if it is no trouble?”

  Kay smiled, delighted at her appetite. “Of course you can.” She fixed her a plate and gave it to her with a bottle of syrup. “Eat up. Looks like someone is going to have all ‘A’s today.”

  Allie paid her no mind and ate her sausages with half a glass of orange juice. The bus came and the ladies were off to another day of school.

  Chapter 5 Cavers