Cavers: A Vampire Tale

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  On Monday Allie was back at school in the cafeteria at lunch time. At first she was alone, before Sara joined her. “Hey, Sara, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, girl. What did you do over the weekend?”

  “Nothing much; it’s boring out in the boondocks. I wish we could move closer to town where the action is.”

  “Girl, ain’t no action goin’ on round here!” Sara said real fast.

  “Maybe not, but you got me beat. Oh, guess what? I think I saw a condor or an eagle, or maybe it was an owl out back behind my house. Something was going tree to tree but I couldn’t get a good look at it, but I know it will be back soon. I’m going to try to capture it.”

  Sara laughed at her. “Capture it? You are crazy as hell! Do you know how big an eagle is? I mean close up, not a hundred miles away. That thing can pick you up and carry you off somewhere. Probably drop you on your thick head in the forest somewhere.”

  “Yeah right,” Allie said disbelievingly.

  “I’m serious, that is what they do. They pick things up and fly them real high and then drop them. Kaboom!” Sara laughed again.

  “Ha ha ha, very funny.” Allie was not amused.

  One look into her friend’s face and Sara regretted her joke. “Listen, if you need help call me, all right?”

  “Sure.” Allie felt better now and changed the subject. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  Sara looked puzzled by the question. “Why would you ask me that?”

  “I was just wondering, is all.”

  “No, I have no one special. What about you?”

  “I don’t stay long enough for anything complicated.” It was a joke, but deep down it bothered her. The only steady relationship she had was with her parents. Would they ever stop moving? She had no idea, and had stopped asking them the question long ago. “If you stay here another year do you think you will find someone?”

  “Maybe,” said Sara. “I would rather just stay in one place, boyfriend or not, I hate all the moves.”

  Allie opened her milk carton and looked around the room. The handsome upperclassman who was on stage sat in the back of the room at a table with the other club members.

  “Hey, Sara, who is that guy? The one in the middle with the brown hair and brown eyes.”

  Sara turned around to look. “Brad Montgomery. Good eye, girl! He is captain of the basketball team and in the summer he runs the 200 and 400 for the track team.”

  “Really?”

  “Down, girl!” Sara laughed before she pointed to the long-haired strawberry blond on the end of the table. She leaned in to whisper. “She will kill you if you look at him too hard. Last year this ninth grader named Kathy Rodgers tried to talk to him in the hall. She disappeared; no one has heard from her since. People say that Shelby did it. Her dad is the sheriff.”

  “Are you serious?” Allie eagerly asked, wanting to know everything.

  “Sheriff Monroe is meaner than a snake and lets her do anything she wants. Don’t go anywhere near anybody with one of those jackets. I’m deadly serious; those folks are into more than education.” Sara’s worried look led Allie to wonder about everyone seated at the back table.

  Out of curiosity Allie looked back at the boy, but something strange happened that took her gaze off him. She felt hot and when she looked at the Shelby girl, she swore the girl looked directly at her with a piercingly creepy stare. Could she have heard them talking from where she sat? No, that was impossible. Allie put the thought out of her head. From her morning classes it was apparent that everyone knew everyone else, except for her, so it was understandable for people to want to gawk at the new kid. This is what she told herself, but then she made her mistake and dared to look in the girl’s direction again. The girl stared directly at her, unwavering and unflinching. Allie quickly looked elsewhere and avoided eye contact, shoveling food into her mouth.

  “Well, it is about that time,” said Sara, “you ready to go.”

  Allie searched her friends face. “What do you mean?”

  Out of the blue, Sara began counting in a sing-songy fashion. “And one, and two, and three, and four, and five. Let’s try it backwards. And five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” She held her hands high with fingers pointing to the clock behind her head.

  Ding. The bell rang.

  First bewildered, then floored, Allie gave a wry look. “How did you do that?”

  “Magic!”

  After lunch they went to their lockers to get books for their next class. Allie was glad their lockers were next to each other on the bottom row, though she hated the pushy eleventh graders with the top lockers. Allie knelt, opened her locker, pulled out a book, and set it by her feet before closing her locker. In one fluid motion she took the book, stood up and turned – and collided with someone. Both of them tumbled to the floor. Allie was stunned – and then she flushed with fear: it was Shelby.

  Shelby had a pale complexion, almost albino, with light reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. She looked at Allie with contempt that turned to rage. How dare she touch me? At least, Allie hoped she thought that and not something worse. Allie could see a fountain of evil rising to the surface behind dark blue eyes. To her surprise, Shelby didn’t say a word; she climbed to her feet and stared down at Allie. Shelby was tall and thin like Brad, almost six feet, and towered over the helpless Allie with a silence that was deadly.

  Sara, who had finished getting her book, had walked to the water fountain for a drink. She saw Shelby and one of her girlfriends coming down the hall and turned to see where they were heading. Sara saw the dust up and ran and crouched down in front of Allie. “She is sorry! She is sorry! She didn’t mean it, it was just an accident!” Her heart pounded, afraid for her new friend. She turned to Allie and blurted out, “Say you are sorry right now!”

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m so sorry.” She added for good measure, “I hope you can forgive me.”

  “Hey! What is going on down there? Get to class right now!” Mrs. Taylor shouted from down the hall.

  Allie saw a hand reach over Shelby’s right shoulder and touch her. Shelby stopped staring down at Allie and turned to leave. When she stepped away, she saw her saviour: the boy to whom she had given a perfect five. He smiled at her, gave a wink, and then followed Shelby. Allie felt warmness rising from her feet. At first, it frightened her, then soothed her. Her mouth hung opened staring at the handsome rescuer. Suddenly, like being thrown from an enchanting dream, she felt arms around her. Sara and another bystander helped Allie to her feet. She thanked them and they walked to class. Mrs. Taylor stood in the doorway and would not move until Allie looked up at her.

  The hair on the back of Allie’s neck stood up. The fear she had for Shelby was nothing compared to this teacher. With great reluctance, she steadied herself and looked into the eyes that always seemed to be staring at her.

  “Stay away from that girl,” said Mrs. Taylor, before stepping aside.

  Mrs. Taylor looked down the hall directly at Shelby and Stephanie, her friend. She saw them whispering and was sure she heard Stephanie wanting to go after the new girl, but Shelby told her no, that the new girl was hers. Mrs. Taylor stood with her hand on her hip in the doorway until the two girls left for their next class.

  After they were seated, Sara whispered, “I told you.”

  Allie nodded and opened her book, her bottom lip beaded with sweat. During the last hour of the school day, Allie was still being cautious. She did not know what to make of what happened and was uneasy about meeting Shelby in the hall again or even the cafeteria. Was Sara right? Was she dangerous? Sara looked frightened, but was it an act? Allie remembered she was the new girl and maybe her friend played a joke on her. Perhaps everyone was in on it. She had been tortured before by new classmates. Why should this school be any different?

  In the end she decided it was a joke and she would ignore it until she knew Sara better. She was thankful that she had at lea
st one class with her new friend and she would make sure to bring it up later.

  They took a pop quiz in her last class and Allie finished hers and got up to turn it in before any of the other students. She smiled at Mrs. Taylor as she put her paper in the tray; somehow the woman’s attitude had softened toward her.

  “Allie.”

  Allie turned around.

  “Yes, Mrs. Taylor.”

  “Come here, Allie, I want to show you something.” She had been watching Allie and was surprised she didn’t try and confront the bigger girl: most impressive. She took Allie to the back door of the classroom. “I hear you like animals?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Taylor, I love them.”

  “Good. I have some you might like.” She opened the door and led Allie into the science lab. Like the rest of the building, it too was dark and without windows. Mrs. Taylor was also the science teacher and went from room to room to teach her students. “Do you like ants?”

  “Yes. Most people hate them but they are fascinating to me.”

  “I have here a special ant farm.” She put her hand to her lips. “Shh; it’s a secret. What makes it special is the ants can spell, but there is a trick to it. Watch!” She tapped the glass several times lightly, once in each of the four corners, and then moved her hand up the glass, tapping it as she went. Allie watched as the ants came out of their holes and began following her finger. They went up the glass in single file. It reminded Allie of marching bands and how they would form long lines as they marched across fields, instruments in hand. Allie looked in wide-eyed amazement as the ants slowly spelled out, in cursive, her own name.

  “Wow!” Allie said softly.

  Mrs. Taylor watched Allie and saw that look of wonderment that she expected to see. “One of these days I will show you how to do it for yourself. It will make you the life of the party.” She touched her on the head and smiled at her. “If you are here next year you will be in my science class. I hope you stay.”

  “Me, too, Mrs. Taylor,” said Allie. She had forgotten about her troubles. She loved animals and always found them to be relaxing for her. They were the perfect escape.

  “Come on, your bus will be here shortly. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Allie.”

  “Goodbye, Mrs. Taylor.”

  At her locker, Allie put her books away and strolled out to catch her bus home. The teacher she feared had had a change of heart toward her and it gave her new life. She waved to Sara, who was climbing into a car driven by her mother. Allie then boarded her bus for home.

  Allie stayed the farthest away and when the last of the older kids left she went to the back so she could look out the glass door. The bus rounded a corner and let some more students off and then started up again. As she stared out, there was a loud bang. She looked up. Neither the driver nor the three remaining students seemed to have noticed, so she went back to looking out.

  There was a creaking sound, and Allie looked at the roof of the bus. She got frightened for no reason she could think of. She heard what appeared to be footsteps on the roof of the bus and saw tiny impressions being made with every step. Allie looked at the driver: still he showed no concern.

  The bus stopped and the last three students got off. Allie watched them run away, laughing and playing, and the bus started back up. She quickly looked back up for some reason she couldn’t explain and saw the impressions heading toward her. Allie got scared and got out of her seat and down onto the floor. She grabbed her backpack and slowly crawled to the front of the bus, all the while watching the roof. She made it to the front and sat in the seat behind the driver. Although terrified, she forced herself to turn to view the roof one last time. When she saw no change she sighed.

  She put her head down – and there was another bang. The impressions moved quickly toward her. Allie stood up in a panic.

  “Hey! What are you doing? You don’t get up until the bus comes to a complete stop!” the bus driver shouted at her in a slightly foreign accent.

  He opened the doors and a petrified Allie realized she was home. The safety of home was in reach, but her feet would not listen to reason and move.

  “Well, are you going to stand there all day?”

  Allie looked at the roof and saw the dents. She did not dream them. She cautiously stepped down to the first step. “Can you watch and make sure I get in all right? I think somebody is after me!”

  The bus driver laughed loudly, “Yeah, lassie, go ahead, I will watch out for you.” He stood, honked the horn, and said, “Go on!”

  Allie saw her mother in the doorway; this cheered her up. She stepped off the bus and took a couple cautious steps before racing for her mother. When she made it to her she turned around and looked at the bus. The driver, still laughing, gave a wave, then closed the doors and was gone. Allie saw no one on top of the bus with tinted windows or hiding in the trees. She hugged her mother and went into the house with her.

  Chapter 3