I Don't Believe In Vampires

VII. Report

Cali went first climbing down the way she came up and I did the same.  

“I keep jumping to every little noise!” she exclaimed swinging her bag up on her back.

“Let’s get out of here before we can’t.” 

Cali and I walked cautiously down the hill and back on to the pathway making our way back to the house. 

“I can’t believe what we just saw.” Cali still in disbelief.

“I can’t believe it either!” 

“But wolves??”

“Or vampires.” I cut in. 

The bushes on the side near the entrance to the woods started to tremble as we passed them. Our footsteps both increased to a brisk walk. 

“Vampires…” Cali trailed off.

“What about vampires?”  we heard a voice from behind us say. The feeling in my gut dropped as if I was going down a roller coaster. Frozen in place, I turned around to see Brian and Zen. They were calm. Their eyes showed no sign of anything abnormal. Just two high school guys out at night.

“Yes, vampires.” Cali blurted out.

“I was just talking to Ash about the book Twilight. She hasn’t read it yet and I was telling her the plot.” 

“Really? You haven’t seen Twilight?” Zen raising his right eyebrow. 

“Nope. I’m not into reading supernatural type books.” 

“I’m sorry.” Brian interrupted. 

“This is my friend, Zen. He goes to East view High.”  

“Nice to meet you, Zen.I'm Ash and this is my friend, Cali. “ 

Cali gave a faint smile. 

“So what brings you girls out here at this time of night?” Zen asked narrowing his eyes at me and Cali. 

“We like to go for walks at night. We’ve been working on a project for school and wanted to get out and enjoy the cold weather and the clear sky.” I said glancing at Brian to see his reaction. 

Brian held my eye contact but looked as if he was searching for something deeper. Almost as if he didn’t believe our words.His gaze felt as if he was staring right into my soul and the intensity made me uncomfortable. 

‘What about you guys?” Cali said breaking the tension between us and looking right at Brian. 

“Well Zen wants to join the Military when he graduates high school so he’s building his endurance. He usually runs at night and I join him when I can.” 

Cali is still standoffish after what happened when we brought the homework over the other day. She was looking at Brian unamused. 

“OK, well Cali and I have to get back. It’s getting late. “ 

“Well at least let us walk you back home.” Brian taking a step towards us. 

“It’s OK. We’re going just right up the road.”

“You live around here?” Zen sounding surprised. 

“Yes. I live a few blocks over from here.” 

“OK. We’ll have a goodnight.” Cali and I waved and turned around back towards where we were headed. 

“So what side would you choose?” Zen shouted. 

“For what?” I asked stopping once again and turned to face them. 

“In Twilight. What side would you choose? I know you haven’t read it but based off of what you’ve heard so far…” his words trailing off. 

“Wolves or Vampires?”

I hesitated. 

“Wolves!” Cali shouted back. 

“You know why? Because they’re cute and fluffy and vampires are not!” She spat. 

A low growl escaped from Zen but he quickly covered it up by clearing his throat. 

“Well those mutts certainly are fluffy but I don’t know about cute.” 

“Neither” I blurted out. 

“Why do you say that?” Zen now curious. 

“Because I haven’t read the books. I only know a little bit of what I was told. I don’t want to choose a side then end up reading it and not liking the side I chose.” 

“Mm-mm...

Fair enough.” Zen acknowledging my answer. 

“But when you do I want to know. I’m always curious on what sides the readers choose and why.” 

“Duly noted.” 

A yawn escaped Cali’s mouth. 

“I’m feeling the same way Cali. Let’s head back before we pass out here..” 

Turning back and walking in the direction we were before we encountered them. Halfway down the road,I looked back and they were still there...watching us.  

Cali and I didn’t say a word to each other until we were back inside my room and the window was closed. 

“I’m honestly at the point where I’m not sure if this is a lucid dream or not.” I say to Cali. 

I don’t hear a response.

 I look over to see Cali completely passed out on the grey pull out futon. My eyes become heavy and engulfed in darkness. 

Opening my eyes, I woke up to the sweet aroma of bacon and pancakes. Rolling over to the left, I checked my clock on the end table next to my bed. 9:30 am. I glanced over to where Cali was sleeping and she was still sleeping and not lightly. She was twisted into a pretzel and snoring. Getting up out of bed,I quietly tip toed out of the room and down to the kitchen. My mom was cooking up bacon,eggs and pancakes. 

“Good morning Ash.” She came over and gave me a kiss with her black colored Apron on. Her hair was pulled up in a bun and she had her coral satin pajamas on. 

“Good morning mom.”

“Is Cali up?” She asked scrambling the eggs in the pan. 

“Not yet.” 

“Maybe you can get her up because the food is just about done.” 

I nodded and grabbed a slice of bacon off the rack and headed upstairs. 

 I went over to Cali and lightly tapped her shoulder. 

“Hey. Time to get up. The food is almost ready and there’s pancakes.” 

She didn’t move. I tapped her again. 

Still no movement. 

I poked her with more force this time. She moved slightly. I tried to pull her up and nothing but dead weight. 

“Cali!” I shouted. 

“GET UP!” 

I felt my chest throb. I looked to see Cali's hand retracting from the punch I just received to my chest. She was still sleeping. 

I grabbed the white fluffy pillow from my bed and whacked her in the head. She opened her eyes and was glaring at me.

“What was that for??” 

“For hitting me in the chest when I was trying to wake you up. Breakfast is ready. There’s pancakes.” 

“Ohhhh. Pancakes. My favorite.” She said rolling over and sitting up. 

“You don’t remember me telling you about that one time at camp? I did the same thing to the camp counselor. She was trying to get me up and I smacked her right in the chest. I’ve always been a deep sleeper and anyone who attempts to get me up usually gets beaten up.” She says grinning slightly. 

“Ok. Well we better get downstairs before there is no food left.” 

We head downstairs to a big pile of bacon,eggs and pancakes. 

“Eat up girls.” My mom said taking a sip of her coffee. 

We dove into the plate. I was starving and the food was so good. 

“What are you girls up to today?” My mom asked. 

“Cali and I were going to go to the mall and maybe go see a movie later.” 

“Ok. Well just keep me updated.” 

“I will.” I said,  

Cali and I both finished our food and headed back upstairs. 

“Ash. Don’t forget what I told you yesterday. We’re going to the police station.” Cali rummaging through her overnight bag. She pulled out denim blue jeans and a white ruffle top with her favorite owl necklace. 

“That was the plan.” I said looking through my closet. I found green workout pants and a black tank top. 

“So do we have a plan for when we get to the police station?” 

“No but just follow my lead. Nancy Drew strikes again.” Winking at me. 

We got ready and headed out the door. We got into the silver 4 door escape. 

“Next stop,Police Station.” Cali says as she fastens her seat-belt. 

    We walked into the waiting area with chairs. The baby blue walls and polished concrete floors did not give an impression at first glance that we were in a police station. A map of the town was hanging on the left side of the wall and free pamphlets from driving under the influence to becoming drug free hang on the right side. We strolled up to the front desk to see a lady that looked to be about mid 40’s at the computer. She had short brown hair. Her shirt read “Greenville Police Department.”

“Hi. Can I help you?” She asked. Her smile was welcoming and her orange lipstick popped right off of her light complexion. She definitely did not make you feel intimidated which I was not expecting. 

“Yes. We would like to file a report. My friend Ash and I saw something at the park that the police should check out.” 

“Ok. Have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.” 

A few minutes passed and an officer motioned us to follow him into his office. He was tall and built. Like really built. He had short black hair and a tattoo of a wolf ran down the right side of his arm. His uniform looked tight because his muscles were bulging. 

We sat down in the two chairs across from him. It looked like just an average office. It smelt of coffee and leather polish. Certificates of completed Criminal Justice courses from different universities lined the wall. He had a picture of a white pit bull on his desk which was stacked neatly with a lot of papers. 

“Hello. My name is Officer Jones. So you want to file a police report? Please explain the situation to me.”

“OK. So Ash and I were walking home near dusk. We passed the park and saw three high school aged guys near the picnic tables. They were gathered around in a semi circle. Their behavior was very strange. Almost as if they were on some type of drug. They were passing around what looked like a clear plastic bag of white powder. “ Cali was calm and how she told the story made me believe it almost instantly. 

“Can you please describe the three individuals you saw?” The officer had a pen in hand waiting for Cali’s answer. 

“Yes. One was tall with blonde shaggy hair. The second one was short with red curly hair and the third was tall with black hair.” 

“Where were you girls coming from?” He asked. 

Cali hesitated a moment. 

“A school activity.” 

The officer writes down her answer. 

 “Ok. I think I have everything I need. We’ll look into this.” 

“Thank you” Cali and I both say. 

We walked through the double doors and outside the police station. 

“I feel so much better. Don’t you?” Cali looked relieved. 

“Yeah. I’m curious what the police will have to say about it.” 

“Either way Ash maybe you should forfeit your walks at night for a little while. Just while they are looking into it.”

I nodded. 

“Yeah. I don’t want to end up in the middle of anything. I enjoy my walks and the last thing I need is my mom or the police questioning me.”