Without Caution

I cautiously stepped into the darkened house and searched the side of the wall for a light switch. As my hand traveled across the wallpaper I felt it picking up dust and cobwebs. I thought I found the switch but when I flipped it nothing happened. My stomach clenched with fear as I took another stop into the house. The floor boards creaked with warning as if they were telling me to leave right that instant. I chewed on my lower lip, trying to bite back the fear that overpowered me.

Everyone said this place was haunted. Naturally, I didn't believe them. I had the nerve to actually make a bet with them. It was that if I could stay the night in this house without getting too scared I would get fifty bucks. But...if I did chicken out I would have to go to school Monday wearing my sister's cotton Barney pajama pants. How embarrassing that would be! So I took them up on the offer and now here I was, scared enough to pee my pants while Jessica, Marcus, Lucy, and Jake were all outside getting ready for me to come running out screaming. No way that was going to happen though. I had to stay strong.

I walked down the hallway slowly.

"Carly," a whispered voice called my name softly. I spun around.

"W-Who's there?" I asked in a shaky voice.

There was no reply.

I tried again. "Hello? Who's t-there?" And yet there was still no reply. And that's when a hand clamped over my mouth. My scream was muffled.

Then the light turned on. The person that grabbed me turned me around to face them.

I gasped in surprise. "Max?" It was a senior boy I saw in the hallway at school here and there. He was also in orchestra with me. "What are you doing here?" I asked when he removed his hand.

"Me? What are you doing here?" He threw my question back at me.

I forgot all my fears then and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I...err...kind of made this bet..." It all seemed silly now. What with the lights on and talking to someone. This house wasn't scary at all let alone haunted.

"Hmm, interesting," Max murmured. He headed to the next room and I followed. The room was huge and designed in that old fashioned sort of way and very fancy. There were paintings all over the wall. A grand piano sat beautifully in the corner; its black paint sparkling. Next to the piano the rest of that wall was covered by a bookshelf. It was packed with old looking thick books.

Max stood still staring out the window. Outside the sun was just setting over the horizon. Colors like pink, yellow, and orange painted the sky in stripes.

I don't know how long we both stood there in silence but now the sky was dark blue with only a sliver of orange left. Clouds were covering the moon. Rain cascaded down the window. A storm must be coming, I thought.

As if to prove my point, lightning struck a tree in the distance and a crack of thunder broke the silence, making me jump. The lights went out.

Then Max spoke. "You should always be cautious during the night."

"What?" I asked.

"Have you ever heard of the old Greek legends? They say that every night the dark ones come out and hunt the village people."

"The dark ones?" My voice was all but a whisper. I could feel the fear coming back to me, creeping up my spine.

"Bloodsucking creatures," he clarified. "Vampires."

I gulped. I decided to change the subject by bringing up the question that he avoided. "You never told me what you were doing here."

He turned around from the window and I felt that there was something different about him.

"You see, Carly," he said gently, "I live here." He started to walk towards me.

"Uh...I'm sorry then for intruding..." My voice was shaking just like the whole frame of my body.

"No, no. It's completely fine. But while you're here you might as well make yourself useful. See, I was just about to have dinner...Why don't you stay?"

Lightning flashed again making the room light for just a second. But in that short moment I saw Max's eyes. Instead of them being blue like they usually are, they were now a deep crimson.

"You're a...a...a..."

"Vampire?" He smiled widely, revealing two fangs. I gasped. "Now, when I said stay for dinner and make yourself useful, I meant if as you not really staying for dinner, but being my dinner." He was now only a foot away and when I tried to back up I hit the bookshelf.

My breathing was getting heavier and my heart was pounding out of my chest like a Civil War drum. "I-I don't t-think so."

He raised his hand to caress my face and I shook under his touch. "I'm sorry, but no is not an option," he muttered darkly. He leaned in as if to kiss me, but with his fangs exposed.

This time I was thankful when there was thunder and lightning. I scanned the room quickly with the light that was given that that second. Then I found the door. I dashed quickly to the exit in the pitch black room. I knocked down a small table on accident along with a chair; but I really didn't care enough to stop and pick it up.

I used my hands to guide me. And then I finally saw the front door.

Just as I was reaching out for the door handle Max was already in front of me in a mere second, blocking the only exit.

"Please," I begged. I even got down on my knees. Tears started to pour down my cheeks.

"You know what they say. Curiosity killed the cat." He took my arm and dragged me back down the dark hallway.

So yes, the house was indeed haunted. Not by any ghosts, but by a vampire. I wish I would have believed everyone and everything that tried to warn me from coming here.

Too late, I thought as the blackest of the night swallowed me up and trapped me in a suffocating grip.