The Vampire Roommate

Chapter 1

So this is it – the end. I never thought this day would come.  It seems obvious that everyone else feels its best. Why though? I was just starting to fit it. To feel normal. Why do things have to change? But now it’s over. And there’s a special name for this dreadful time. Moving day.

 “Callie!” Trudy called from downstairs, “you coming or what?”

I sighed, looking back to the writing in my journal. It seemed best to keep my feelings private and on paper. To help me remember everything I’ve been through. Especially since that faithful day when things really did feel like nothing would get better. I kept all the newspaper clippings from that date. I’m not sure why, just something to keep. They were folded up and wrinkled in the back of my journal. I’d probably open them and read every sentence a thousand times.

Closing the book I looked around the empty bedroom. I was just starting to like it. And now we had to go. All because Trudy’s husband, Dave, was going through some denied mid-life crisis. He was claiming how he always wanted to get away from the city of Los Angeles and become some real-estate agent. Or was it a novelist? I couldn’t keep it straight. He was always changing his mind on what he wanted. Which was never to my benefit.

Getting up I wandered out the door and down the stairs. My journal was cradled against my chest tightly. This was the last time I’d probably be living in the city. Just when I was starting to make friends too. Good thing it was the beginning of summer at least. It’d be a nightmare if I had to leave in the middle of the school year. Trudy was putting boxes into the van while her son, Jonathan, was across the street hitting on some girls. I rolled my eyes. The seventeen-year-old guy was always hitting on someone. Including me.

Ugh.

“Trudy,” I spoke up awkwardly, “You need any help?”

“No,” She crammed another box in and shut the hatch, “I’ve got it. But go get Jonathan, it’s time to go.”

I nodded and started to walk away. “Oh, and Callie?” Pausing I turned back to her. “You don’t have to call me Trudy,” she smiled slightly, “You can call me mom.”

Once more I nodded and wandered off. There was no way I was going to call her mom. She’d never be my mother, and she’d never replace her either. Shaking it off, I concentrated on the task at hand – getting John away from the girls.

Walking up self-consciously, I reached out and tapped the tall guy’s shoulder. He turned around with a glowing grin, but it dropped when his eyes fell on me. Clearly I wasn’t what he wanted to see.

“Er, it’s time to go John.”

“It’s not John,” He grumbled, then turned to the ladies, flashed a perfect white grin, and winked, “It’s Jack-Jack.”

They giggled and whispered things into each other’s ears. Jack-Jack? Seriously? How dumb was that? I’d think it’d make him sound like a toddler, but the girls seemed to like it. Reaching out with my free arm I grasped the back of his shirt, yanking him towards our apartment complex. 

“Come on Romeo.” I muttered.

“Bye ladies! I’ll call you later!” He yelled out.

They let out little cries of excitement and watched us go. Little did they know – he was never going to call. That was John. The player who’d hit on girls like crazy, get whatever he wanted, and never call them again. And the worse part was that his parents thought he was a perfect little angel.

Dave was in the car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and staring out the windshield with an annoyed expression. Meaning? Time to go, now. We rushed into the vehicle and buckled up. I sat in the very back row, crushed with all the bags and boxes, while ‘Jack-Jack’ sat in the spacious row in front of me. There was no way I’d sit next to the perv. Trudy was in the passenger seat going on about how exciting this was, but I paid no attention.

Placing my journal in my lap, I pulled out the old, delicate newspaper clippings. My eyes skimmed over the text. Although I’d read these so many times, it felt new to me every time I looked at them. Closing them carefully I put them into the back of the book and pulled out my pencil from my pocket.

 So Jonathan is up to it again. Flirting with girls and acting like a hard-up teenager. Figures. Except now his name is Jack-Jack. I think it’s stupid, but girls seem to find it attractive.

 “Hey, Callie-Girl,” Jack-Jack said. I looked up to see him turned around and looking down at my journal. “Whatcha writing?”

I snapped the book shut.

“Nothing.”

Truly I didn’t care if he read what I thought of him, it was the idea of him being able to invade my privacy so easily that bothered me. I especially hated when he called me Callie-Girl. I wasn’t sure if he did it because we live in California, or because he just wanted to annoy me. “And my name’s not Callie-Girl,” I grumbled, “It’s just Callie.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Whatever.  I just wanted to tell you that I hope the house is small.”

I frowned and eyed him suspiciously.

“Why?” I asked wearily.

“So we can share a room.” He winked.

“Augh,” I reached into my squished duffle bag and grabbed my iPod. There was no way I planed to hear this the whole five hour ride. So I cranked my volume up and rested my head against a box labeled ‘Callie’s Stuff’. For the rest of the time, I was going to nap and hope for the absolute best.

                                       

Dave turned onto a long dirt drive which I assumed was leading to our new home. Looking around all I saw was thick forest. No sign of human life anywhere. Wonderful. We passed over what looked like an old arch, but as I looked it over, I realized it was a gateway. The doors were opened already for us. It was made of some sort of rusted metal with intricate patterns all the way up and down. Also ivy vines and foliage was wrapped around it from bottom to top.

Slowly Dave continued along the bumpy road until we reached the house. He stopped and turned to us all with a grin.

“Here we are!” He said happily.

Quickly everyone piled out. I, on the other hand, took longer seeing how my muscles were cramped and I was basically trapped. But after a few moments of rummaging around, I managed to claw my way free and go outside. My eyes drifted to our new ‘home’, and my mouth dropped.

I was expecting some nice clean-cut log cabin made of a nice dark oak, with a deck over-looking a beautiful lake and a large in-ground pool in the backyard. What was before me was not even close.

The house was mansion-like, I had to give it that. Made of brick and standing three stories high, I felt very small looking at it. The walls were covered in dark green ivy vines like the gateway. The driveway was a turn around drive like you’d see multi-millionaire’s have at their summer homes. In the center was a large white fountain. It would have been a dream, if everything wasn’t a total wreck. Plans were growing through the cracks of the stone drive; the water wasn’t flowing in the fountain and looked very murky. I almost expected something to crawl out and slither around. The grass around in the yard was in desperate need of been mown.

I shook my head slightly. They had to be kidding! This place? Trudy turned around to me and smiled.

“Callie, you go on inside and pick out which room you want. The boys will help me take the boxes in. The moving truck will be here soon.”

 Again I nodded and wandered off, journal in hand, into the dark house that seemed like deep abyss.