Long-Lost Friend

Memories

"Mira? Is that you?” Sofia asked, recognizing the face of her childhood friend.

“Sofia? What are you doing here?” Mira replied.

"Same thing as you, trying out for entertainment. I’m going to do an acrobatics act. What are you going to do?"

"Same as you. Do you want to do a joint audition?"

"Yes! I had no clue what my performance was going to be, anyway."

A woman poked her head through the door and said, "Mira. You’re up next."

"Can we do a joint audition?" Mira asked the woman.

“I don’t see why not. What is your name?” the woman replied, looking at Sofia.

“Sofia. My name is Sofia.”

"Okay, you two. Go ahead."

They took a deep breath and entered the audition room. It was filled with every kind of bar and net imaginable. They did their performance, and the judges loved it. They said their act was the only good act they'd seen all day. The judges hired them on the spot. They went on tour and were having so much fun entertaining people when one night everything went horribly wrong.

Sofia had heard of vampires before, but she never thought they were real until that night. It was the night of December 16. They have been on tour for three months. They were just about to start their act when shadowy figures flew out of nowhere and landed on the stage. The smoke cleared, and standing there were three pale-skinned figures with glowing red eyes.

"Hello, Houston!" the taller of the two shouted.

“Have any of you ever wished for immortality?” the shorter one asked. No one replied.

"Do you guys know what we are?" the bigger of the two shouted, annoyed.

“Yeah! You’re stage crashers. Get off the stage so we can watch the acrobats!” someone shouted in the crowd. Everyone murmured in agreement. They turned toward us, smiling evilly.

“So you guys would rather watch them than have the chance to be immortal? Would you still want to watch their act if they were one of us?” The taller one, the leader, she guessed, stepped forward and reached out to grab Mira. Sofia felt anger rising in her. No one was going to mess with her best friend. She pushed Mira out of the way and kicked the guy in the shin.

“You’re a feisty one. You’ll do well in our group.” Before Sofia could register what was happening, he grabbed a hold of her arm and bit into her skin. Pain coursed through her body. She felt her body changing. Fangs grew in place of her teeth, her eyes glowed red, and her skin changed from tan to pale white. But that wasn’t the weirdest of it all. She could fly and turn into a bat at will. That was when she finally figured out what was happening. These guys were vampires, and now so was she.

Sofia quit being an acrobat. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was really hard smelling all that blood. She didn’t tell anyone she was leaving—not even Mira! She flew away into the night, seeing no other choice; she joined the gang that bit her.

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