Monday morning, Anna was sitting in class, still feeling sick with worry. English had passed without too much trouble, and Anna hoped the rest of the day would pass just as quickly. Even though she hadn’t been responsible for any of the attacks this weekend, she still felt guilty all the same; she should have noticed what was going on in the town around her. How could she have gotten so careless? All she wanted to do was just get through the day with as little trouble as possible and slink off back home. Apparently, however, that was not to be.
Carmine sat down next to Anna in biology, looking triumphant. When Anna asked her why, Carmine grinned from ear to ear as if she’d just solved all the world’s problems.
“I know what’s been causing those attacks we’ve been reading about in the papers.”
She’d tried to say it quietly, but her excitement kept her from going completely unheard by a group of students nearby. Anna could feel several pairs of eyes swing silently towards them as the blood rushed from her face.
Despite the fact that she was suddenly feeling lightheaded with fear, Anna tried her best to keep calm. In the most casual voice she could muster, she asked Carmine what she meant. If possible, Carmine grinned even wider at the opportunity to disclose what she knew.
“Vampires.” Carmine beamed. As if that single word was enough to explain all of life’s mysteries.
Anna was silent, fighting with all her might against the urge to simply bolt from the room and never look back. She gripped the edge of the table tightly, trying hard not to show any emotion on her face. What could she say? She couldn’t deny it, and she certainly wasn’t about to admit it. Carmine interpreted Anna’s silence as an invitation to continue, so she did.
“Look, I know I’ve said it before, but this time I’m sure of it. I have proof!”
Anna’s eyes widened in horror, and she could only hope Carmine would mistake her look as being one of fascination. Apparently she did, because she continued unfazed.
“We’ve all seen the papers. And some of the attacks have even been on kids that go to this school – we all know the story, right? All of the people who’ve gone to the hospital have been low on blood – some by a quart or two! But none of the victims left blood at the scene, so where’d it all go? Vampires drank it, that’s where!
“Secondly, none of the victims can remember anything about their attacks. I’ve looked it up – vampires can make their victims forget what happened – it’s like hypnosis or something.” Carmine leaned towards Anna in a conspiratorial fashion, and Anna fought the urge to lean further back. Now sitting even closer to Anna, Carmine continued explaining her theory in more detail.
“Everyone who’s fallen ‘mysteriously ill’ has been by themselves at the time.” she rushed on, trying to keep Anna from interrupting. Not that Anna would – her head was spinning too fast to think of anything to say.
“Now I know what you’re going to say – ‘What about those couples that were attacked?’ But even in those circumstances, both people passed out and woke up with no blood and no memory of what happened. So they count as being alone too! I mean, no one has ever ‘fallen ill’ in a large group of people or with any witnesses to it. They keep saying it might be a flu or something, but then why does it only affect either people who are alone or couples when they’re together? A flu wouldn’t be that picky, would it? I’ve never seen a flu that attacked two people at the exact same time! Vampires are the only explanation!” She finished her speech by slapping her hand triumphantly on the table in front of her.
Anna sat in stunned silence. After a few minutes of waiting in vain for Anna to say something, Carmine began to get nervous, “Well…what do you think?” she asked hopefully.
“Well…I guess it could be possible…” Anna said hesitantly. She couldn’t bear the thought of actually supporting the theory, but it didn’t feel right to tell Carmine she was wrong – especially when she wasn’t. Fortunately, Anna was spared the difficulties of any further comment by Ms. Harle announcing the start of class.
Carmine sat smiling smugly to herself for the entire class, occasionally looking over at Anna appreciatively. In geography, she’d repeated her theory to Sharon, who simply rolled her eyes and said rather derisively that Carmine was crazy. But when Carmine, undaunted by the lack of support shown to her thus far, repeated her theory for the third time at lunch, Sharon evidently felt the need to be more forceful.
“Look, Carmine,” Sharon said patiently, “It’s fine for you to be interested in this stuff – even studying it. But to actually believe it? Come on – vampires aren’t real, and you know it.”
“But what about the loss of blood?” Carmine persisted. “And the fact that–”
“Carmine. I know it seems like vampires could be responsible for this, but it just doesn’t make sense.”
When Carmine still didn’t look convinced, Joanna broke in.
“What about the fact that none of your vampire victims have any bite marks on them?” Evidently Joanna had decided to start poking holes in Carmine’s theory, since telling her flat-out that vampires don’t exist didn’t seem to be working.
“I’ve thought about that.” Carmine said, threading her fingers absentmindedly through her auburn hair. “They probably heal too quick for the cops to notice. After all, vampires are magic, aren’t they? It makes sense.”
“No, Carmine. It doesn’t.” Sharon said flatly, abandoning her attempt at understanding. “Look, you’re what – fourteen now? It’s time you stopped actually believing in all this crap and grew up like everybody else!” And with that, Sharon stood up, grabbed her backpack, and stormed away.
“Sharon, wait!” Joanna called after her, but to no avail. Sighing, Joanna stood up. She looked first at Anna then Mina. Finally, her gaze rested on Carmine.
“I’m sorry…” she started. She dropped her eyes to the floor and added, “I’ll go see if she’s ok.” And with that, Joanna picked up her things as quickly as she could and headed out of the cafeteria in the direction Sharon had gone.
Anna’s jaw dropped at the sudden turn of events. She looked over at Carmine and saw she was crestfallen. Carmine’s lips pursed together into a very thin line, and Anna could see that she was trying her best not to cry.
Anna couldn’t help but feel bad for her friend. Carmine had been so proud of herself for figuring it all out only to have her friends mock her. And even worse, Anna knew – Carmine was right. Anna felt so bad, in fact, that she almost leaned over and whispered to Carmine that there really were vampires – that she wasn’t crazy. But Anna just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she just sat there in silence, feeling sorry for her friend and guilty for not helping her.
Maybe Sharon’s outburst was for the best, Anna tried to rationalize. It would certainly make Anna feel safer if Carmine stopped looking for vampires. Besides, she knew that even though Carmine thought she wanted to meet a vampire, she really didn’t. Who would want to meet someone who’d drink your blood and maybe even send you to the hospital? And that was only what had been written in the local papers! Anna knew all too well that a vampire would be more than capable of killing Carmine. Maybe after this, Carmine would just drop it, and she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. Anna glanced over at Mina, and realized she’d never seen her friend look so uncomfortable.
Chapter 20: The Problem of Carmine