The
last thing I remember is thinking to myself how much I regretted letting Todd
drive us home. We had all been drinking
heavily, like there was no tomorrow, being dead set (excuse the tasteless pun)
on one final blowout now that final exams were over. Jason, Ricky, Todd, and I, friends,
housemates, and classmates, had decided to party hearty at Hallorans on
Buy-a-Pitcher-of-Beer-and-Get-One-Free night.
This last semester had been the toughest, and following graduation, all with
lucrative job offers in hand, we would all be going our separate ways. Of course, there were the usual ‘let’s keep
in touch’, ‘we’ll have lunch once a week’, and ‘we’ll make sure to spend
holidays together’, but we all knew we’d never speak to, or see, each other again. It’s funny how life works that way. It seemed somehow necessary to have one last
night together. Unfortunately, it turned
out to be our last night for real.
I
do remember Todd trying to sing along with some incoherent tune on the radio,
laughing, and weaving all over the road.
When we first drove onto the bridge, the car started to slide and
spin. We hit the side railing hard, and
as the car went through and carried us down to the shallow stream and rocks
below, I could hear Jason and Ricky in the back crying, and Todd? He was still laughing. And me?
I prayed. When we landed, I felt
pain as I have never felt, then a warm blackness came over me. Then, nothing. Until now.
Light
is all around me and I open my eyes. Am
I in Heaven, surrounded by angels who will enfold me soothingly in their
massive wings? Hardly. I’m lying in a king size bed, propped up with
three pillows under my head, covered by a multi-colored comforter, in a room
that looks remarkably like my parents’ bedroom in the split level I grew up
in. There is an old guy sitting next to
the bed reading a book. I feel no pain,
and there isn’t a scratch on me that I can see.
Was the night out and the accident all a dream, or is this some bizarre
after-life illusion?
“Well,
well, well, young man,” the man said and smiled. Surely, those elongated incisors I’m seeing
are the result of some type of psychological shock I’m experiencing. “Good to see you coming around. I was pretty sure I had gotten to you in
time, but you never can tell with these things.”
I
came to the conclusion that this must be Hell, or at least one of its
entrances. They make it look like you’re
resting comfortably in a warm and cozy bedroom, and once you get up to check
out the other rooms in the so-called house, that’s when the real heat hits you.
“I’m
dead, aren’t I, and this is one of the gates to Hell, isn’t it.” I wasn’t asking – I was stating facts.
The
old man smiled broadly, his fangs now clearly visible.
“Hell? How can you say a thing like that? I’ve taken great care furnishing this place
so it’s bright and cheerful and comfy, and you’re picking up such
negativity? My goodness, you young people
these days, always looking for something dramatic and sinister. No, son, this is not Hell and you most
certainly are not dead - exactly. I’m
very sorry, but I can’t say the same about your three friends. They had already passed on by the time I
reached your vehicle, and you were barely there yourself. I wasn’t sure if there would be time enough
for me to pull you back, but apparently, there was and I’m so glad. How are you feeling? You’ve been out for almost two full days. You really had me scared.”
My
friends dead? Me unconscious for two
days? What kind of nightmare have I
found myself trapped in?
“Who
are you and where am I? My friends are…I
mean, they didn’t…how did I…”
“Relax,
boy. I will explain everything to you,
but you must promise me something. I
want you to remain calm and hear me out.
This is all going to sound very strange to you, but take it all in and
reserve judgment. Please remember that
all I was trying to do was to help you.
Once you know the full story, I hope you’re not angry with me because I
didn’t mean you any harm. I just didn’t
know what else I could do for you.”
Now,
I really am frightened. Why would I be
angry with someone who obviously saved my life?
Oh no. What if he’s some
psychotic serial killer who trolls around accidents for survivors he can kidnap
and bring back to his house and then torture?
I’m not tied to the bed, but I do feel weak. I’ll bet there are bars on all the windows
and steel doors front and back so I can’t escape. If I come at him, he’ll probably use a stun
gun on me or an electric rod or some contraption like that. Or maybe I’m just delirious from the impact
and images from all the bloody movies and TV shows I love to watch are flooding
into my mind because I’ve got a closed head injury? Isn’t that one of the symptoms – violent and
paranoid thoughts? Didn’t I see that on
a documentary last week? Take a deep
breath, James, and let the old codger explain himself. There’s plenty of time to have a full-blown
panic attack later.
“I
give you my word I won’t freak on you until you’re done. No promises for afterward though. Please do let me in on what is going on and
what happened to my friends and I.”
The
old guy looked as if he were taking a deep breath, but then again, he didn’t
really seem to be breathing at all. God,
I hope years from now, I’m going to be able to look back on all this and laugh.
“First
of all, my name is Norbert,” he began, closing the book he had been reading,
laying it down on the nightstand next to the bed, and settling back in his
chair. “The town you are in is called
Greenview, and is around 100 or so miles from where your accident occurred.”
“A
hundred or so what?” I was beginning to
hit panic mode head on.
“Now,
you promised to hear me out, James. Oh,
and by the way, the reason I know your name is from your license in your
wallet. In case you’re wondering, your wallet
is on the dresser and everything is intact.
Your license is there, your credit cards, and cash. I’m no thief, as you will soon
understand. It had fallen out of your
pocket when you were thrown from the car, and when I looked inside, I knew it
was yours from the picture on the license, of course, so I brought it along so
you would have it for whenever you leave.
May I continue?”
I
nodded. I was confused, but less fearful;
his ‘whenever you leave’ comment was responsible for that.
“There
is no subtle way to tell you about me, or about what occurred, so I’m simply
going to spit it out, so to speak. I am
a vampire. While I never harm anyone, I
do need blood now and again to survive, so I pilfer from blood banks. I never take the rare stuff because I wouldn’t
want anyone to die because I took what they needed, so I only take the types
that are plentiful in supply. You’re
already looking at me as if I’m an old kook who escaped from the nursing home
he was locked up in, but I assure you, you will see that I am telling the truth. First, though, let me get to your accident
and you and your friends.
“I
don’t want to raise any suspicions here in town, or draw any attention to
myself, since I’m very happy here. It’s
a small town and everybody knows everybody.
They believe I’m some old fella who retired from the corporate world and
came here to have a quiet life and work part time to make ends meet. I have a job, you see. I take care of the grounds at the local
cemetery, and don’t roll your eyes about that either. While it’s true that I can move about in
daylight, I am stronger in the night, and that was the only night job that was
available. I don’t desecrate graves or
hide the bodies of my victims under coffins.
All I do is landscaping work. The
grave digging and burials are handled by the funeral home staff. I couldn’t do that kind of work. Graves creep me out.”
This
is too much, even for me.
“Anyway,
I earn enough to get by nicely and my house is all paid for. When I was turned – became a vamp, I had
retired from the corporate world and I had a nice nest egg. Once I was on my own, I found this town,
bought this little house and settled down.
How it happened to me is of no consequence, I remember very little of
it, and the one who made me moved on.
None of this is like the movies, you see. He didn’t stay with me or want me as a
companion. He was young and rebellious,
bitter about the fact that someone had turned him, and he did it to me on a
dare from the pack he was hanging with.
Some do that, I’ve found. The
ones who are made when they’re young group together like a gang and move from
town to town and kill and terrify. It’s
awful, and it gives the rest of us a bad name.
“I’m
way off here. Forgive me. You want to know about you and your
friends. As I said, I steal from blood
banks. I don’t need blood every day;
usually a bit twice a week will keep me going, so I don’t need to take too
much. I never take from here though or
towns close by. I can travel long
distances in a very short time, so I usually go to the cities because there’s
always more than enough blood to go around.
I was on my way back home, taking my time through that area since it’s
very peaceful there, when I noticed a car weaving this way and that and I was
worried. That bridge, with its curves,
is tricky enough during the day, but at night?
You were an accident waiting to happen, and sure enough, when I saw the
car go through the railing and fall to the rocks, I hurried to see if perhaps
there was something I could do.
“I
was concerned the car might catch on fire and wanted to make sure no one was
inside in case that happened. But the
car just landed on its roof, and the tires kept spinning. All the glass was broken, but I didn’t see
any gas leaking, so I looked closer. The
two in the back seat were obviously already dead. Shards of glass had gone though both of them,
and the driver had gone through the windshield and his face was…”
I
wanted to cry, but no tears would come.
“I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t be telling you all
this. I know this won’t be much comfort,
but I believe they died on impact and didn’t suffer. It all happened very quickly. You had been thrown from the car and were
about fifteen to twenty feet away, lying on your back. Your seatbelt had been torn from the car and
you still had part of the shoulder harness on.
You were barely breathing, but I found a pulse and knew I had to try to
save you. There was no way I was going
to just walk away and leave you there to die.
I fed you some of my own blood, brought you back here, and hoped for the
best. It seems as though I was
successful, I’m happy to say; although, you may not be when you hear the rest.”
“Why
wouldn’t I be grateful to you for saving my life? I can’t believe Jason and Ricky and Todd…all
gone. Where are they? Did an ambulance take them to a
hospital? I want to be able to attend
their funerals. Were their families
notified? How can I…”
“It’s
not quite that simple, son. I did call
the police and tell them I witnessed an accident and gave them the
location. I’m sure it has all been taken
care of. The thing is though, where you’re
concerned, that’s going to be a bit tough to explain. When I made you, it healed all your wounds
because that’s how it works. Now, you’ll
stay just as you are for all time, as I will stay as I am for all time. If your friends experienced such horrific
injur…well, how can you not having so much as a scratch be explained? Too, you were not at the scene when the
police arrived. I’m afraid I’ve made a
terrible mess of this whole situation. I
hope you can forgive me for causing you so much trouble. I just couldn’t turn my back on you and let
you die.”
I
can accept everything Norbert has been telling me, and oddly, I am beginning to
believe this whole vampire thing. I’ve
looked myself over and I don’t have a scratch.
How could that be? I am in no
pain and have no broken bones. I ran my
tongue over my teeth and my incisors are long and sharp like Norbert’s. Is it possible that I am now a vampire? One of the living dead? He did say it’s nothing like the movies. I wondered what that meant.
“You
said it wasn’t like the movies. What did
you mean?”
Norbert
smiled.
“The
movies always make everything look so colorful.
Forget stakes through the heart.
If someone should stake you, just pull it out. It won’t do you any harm. Holy water can make you weaker though and
subject to capture. Those packs of young
hooligans like to splash it on and cage you up and then leave town. That happened to me once when they came
through here. I went almost a week
without a drop of blood and I could barely keep my eyes open. I wouldn’t have withered away to dust or
anything, but when some construction workers found me in the abandoned building
outside of town, I begged them to take me home.
I said I had medicine there and was able to nourish myself back to
health.
“None
of them have come through here for quite some time, and hopefully, won’t ever
again. They killed some of my friends
and damaged a lot of property. We’re so
far off from the highway, we don’t even get tourists that stop here. That’s mainly why I chose this town. The people are nice and there’s no crime and
everyone pulls together to help one another.
It’s the perfect place to spend my days.
I’m not sure how long I can stay though since I never get any
older. That’s sure to raise some red
flags at some point and I’ll have to move on and find another town. But it’s only been a few years since I moved
here, so I’ve still got plenty of time. You
probably would want to go though. There’s
not a lot of excitement here for a young fella like you.
“Let
me give you some advice though, if I may.
Don’t get hooked up with any of those wild ones. They do nothing but cause pain and
destruction wherever they go and they are never welcome anywhere. Even though they travel together, there’s no
loyalty among them. If one falls by the
wayside or gets trapped somewhere, the rest leave him behind. They don’t care at all about each other. That’s no way to spend your days, and you’ve
got plenty of days ahead of you. To be
honest with you, I don’t know how many I’ve got. The sun doesn’t hurt me and I haven’t run
into anything that really does me any harm.
I’m thinking possibly that one day, I will just cease to be, and that
would be alright. I’m content and have friends
and my life is good. The thought of
going on forever kind of upsets me.”
Wow. This has been a lot to take in. I’m not sure where to go from here. It would be difficult to go back to my life
because I wouldn’t know how to explain how I came to survive the crash and walk
away from it unscathed. I had an offer
to join a brokerage firm in New York City, but there’s no way I could step into
that now. Being around young people
would suit me, but I have no desire to join a pack of roving killers. Vampire or not, I don’t believe I could ever
kill anyone, not even if it meant my own survival. I wonder if I’ll be able to get by with a few
sips a couple of times a week like Norbert does. The blood bank thing sounds like something I
could get used to. Funny, but the
thought of drinking blood doesn’t repulse me at all, and that’s a good
thing. What to do now…
“I
see confusion in your eyes, son,” Norbert said.
“Take your time. You’re welcome
to stay here until you decide what you want to do. There’s plenty of room, and we can just tell
folks in town that you’re my nephew that recently graduated from college and
you came to visit your old uncle. You’ll
like them all, and while there’s no wild clubs or nightlife to speak of, there’s
a wonderful library and we get all the movie channels on the television. There’s festivals here and different town
events, and… I’m getting way ahead of
myself. I’m sure you won’t want to be
here that long, but like I said, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d
like. It’s nice having you here,
James. Make yourself at home.
“Oh,
I forgot to mention. We can eat regular
food too. There’s a wonderful diner
downtown and there’s always friends to sit and chat with. We can eat anything and it all tastes
wonderful, but you need to supplement with a few sips of fresh blood here and
there. I’ve got plenty. I made a run not too long ago, and you’re
welcome to share. Do you feel up to
heading to town for a bite? I can’t
believe I just said that. Forgive me.”
Norbert
laughed that warm laugh of his.
Warm? Believe it or not, it was.
“Norbert,
I don’t want you to think that I want to stay because I feel some sort of
obligation. I know you saved my life –
you really gave me another, and I thank you for that. I’m used to the fast pace of cities, forming
no attachments so as not to end up tied down, and never wanting to know my
neighbor’s name in case they’d end up wanting something from me. All of a sudden, that kind of existence has lost
its appeal for me. Since it’s alright
with you, I’d like to stay. Maybe I
could keep you company when you do your landscaping, or maybe I could even get
a job here in town too and help you out with the bills. You took me in and you gave me a second
chance. I’d very much like to do it
right this time around.”
Norbert
got up and went to his closet and got me some jeans and a shirt.
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