Scratch

Who remembers the story I started? Well, I wrote the whole story for L.A. class. It's a bit long, but here it is, in all it's glory!
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    My name is Chris, and I have seen many things in this life of mine. Some of them were positive, and had to do with joy and happiness. Sadly though, most had to do with sadness, anger, and loss. This story tells of one peculiar chain of events that stands out in my mind. This is where I get involved with forces that I had never known existed before. Here is where it all begins. It started with a simple mistake…
    It was January, the time when the cold winds blow and the freezing rains pour. I stood in the middle of the hallway, teenagers pushing to get to the gym for recess. I, however, was the quiet, contemplative one. I had a strong dislike for my classmates at Ralph F. Henderson high school. Unlike them, I thought things out before actually doing them.  With their constant screaming, fighting, and general misbehaving, I totally felt out of place. Under normal circumstances, I could tolerate their behavior, but in the crowded conditions of inside recess, it was a completely different story. Twenty insufferable minutes in a hot, humid gym filled with hundreds of screaming teenagers would drive me on the brink of insanity, but that’s what happened every day this time of year. I couldn’t concentrate in that environment, and my skill at dodging the incoming basketballs wasn’t very good. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I had this crazy idea to try and sneak into the locker room. We weren’t allowed in there during recess, so it would be quiet, and I would be alone with my thoughts. I looked around and saw my homeroom teacher, Mr. Ponstead, looking away, dealing with some misbehaving kids (how typical). I saw this as my golden opportunity, so I slipped away from the crowd into the locker room. Little did I know that I had made the biggest mistake ever.
    As I slid inside, I slowly shut the door, trying not to make a sound. Soon, the incessant noise outside faded and the locker room seemed to be drenched in silence. As I worked my way inside, I heard a new noise, one that was strangely eerie. I wanted to run, but my instincts said to go on. I silently crept closer, until I saw IT. A small group of about four or five teenagers who seemed about my age. Suddenly, one of them got up and sniffed the air like a mouse would. I tried to stay as still and silent as I could so I wouldn’t be noticed, but sure enough, the teenager turned around and saw me. That was enough to scare me into running. But, quick as lightning, my soon to be captor got in front of me and grabbed my wrists. My captor’s grip was like an iron vice, and I couldn’t break free. The rest of the group started to head towards me. I struggled, but my captor’s grip tightened. They were soon on me, and I blacked out.
    I didn’t know how long I was out, but I woke with a strange feeling coursing through my body. I got up, and everything looked normal. I looked down at my hands to find them paler than usual, but I didn’t worry because I was still scared out of my pants. I sensed something, and turned around to find my captor standing behind me. For the first time, I noticed that she was a girl. I guessed that I was too freaked out to notice at the time.
    “Well, well,” She said, “Looks like you’re finally awake, Chris.” I took a good look at her for the first time. She had a pale face, blue eyes, and jet black hair. She seemed scary, but kind of pretty, too.
    “Who are you, and how do you know my name?” I said, trying not to blush.   
    “My real name is too long and hard to pronounce, so you can call me Marissa,” She answered, “By the way, did you forget that your name was printed on your clothes?” Boy, did I feel stupid.
    “Why was I lying on the floor? I remember coming in and seeing you. Then you grabbed me, but that’s all I remember. Did you drug me or something? What’s going on?”
    “Are you feeling in anyway strange? Do you have any urges? What about drowsiness?” She said, “Are you seeing strange things?” I could tell she was hiding something.
    “Marissa!” I screamed, “Just come out with it! I’m tired of this! Just tell me what you did!”
    She then seemed a little annoyed, “Stop shouting, someone might hear you. Anyway, we were running kind of short on some undead. The recent changes in weather patterns has caught too many of us unexpectedly outside in the sun, which isn’t good for our death.” I cut her off.
    “Death? What are you talking about? Just tell me what you did!” I screamed.
    “Well, I kind of turned you into a vampire…”
    ‘WHAT?!!!!!!!” I screamed louder than I ever had before. “Why DID you do that?”
    She became angry, “Do you think we had a choice? You saw us. Do you think we can just reveal ourselves to the world? Think about it, Chris. If we revealed ourselves, what would happen? The news would spread quickly through the media. It would be all over the internet. A wave of new vampire hunters would come! Do you want that? Our numbers are already dwindling. You can’t trust humans to keep a secret!” She made me feel small and insignificant right then. “Plus, those other vampires you saw were going to KILL you, Chris. I intervened because I’m sort of a pacifist. I hate killing, even humans. That’s why when I feed I just drain some of their blood with a needle and give them a memory potion.”
    “But vampires don’t even exist, they’re just made up stories!” I told her.
    “Do I look made up to you? The truth is that humans” She said “humans” with an accent of disgust, “are too blind to see the truth behind our kind, except for a few. Here’s a tip: watch out for the vampire hunters and the sun.” And she suddenly vanished. I didn’t know where she went, or what she did to me, but I decided to go back into the hall to check the time.
    I stepped out of the locker room to find that recess was just ending. I was glad that I wouldn’t be late to class, but because of what Marissa told me-to beware of the vampire hunters-I was a little bit paranoid. I quietly rejoined the crowd. I was secretly happy to be back with normal screaming teenagers again. I understood them, even if I hated them. I didn’t understand Marissa, though.
If what Marissa said was true and the stories I heard about vampires were true, then I could do some really neat stuff, like turn invisible, for example. I decided to try it out on my good friend Keith. After school, when everyone didn’t care what was happening around them, I made my move. I tapped him on the shoulder (lightly of course, I didn’t want to hurt him with my new super strength) and concentrated as hard as I could. I didn’t really think it would work, but suddenly I felt a strange tingling sensation, like my whole body was touching a joy buzzer. Keith turned around and looked right through me. He looked as hard as he could for any sign of a person running away, but he couldn’t find anyone. He looked so confused that I started laughing and almost broke my concentration. Keith shrugged and turned away to go home. I then realized that being a vampire maybe wouldn’t be so bad.
    If I have anything to say about the walk home, it’s “Thank god I live in Maine”. If it weren’t for the clouds, I probably would be in a pile of ashes right now. I got home just as Mom finished dinner, and boy was I ever hungry. However, the smell coming from the kitchen really made me want to hurl, which was strange because mom was an awesome cook.  I sighed and went to my room. My mom soon called dinner, but I stayed in bed and pretended I was sick. She believed me. She said I looked very pale. When she went to get a thermometer I tried another neat vampire trick, I changed my internal temperature. The first time my mom took my temperature she looked very panicked. When I asked her what the thermometer read, she said that I would be dead if my temperature was really 110 degrees. I eventually convinced her to try again before calling the doctor. So when she took it a second time, I lowered my temperature to 101 degrees. She looked relieved, and deemed me sick. I was excused from dinner. After she left me in bed, I wondered how I would keep up this charade of normality until I was “old” enough to move out. Running away seemed the only option, but I didn’t want to worry my parents. I had a hard time falling asleep that day, maybe because I did not have a real coffin.
    I woke near midnight, and noticed that I had a strong urge to go and drink the blood of my sister in the other room. I resisted, and snuck out. Although I wished her dead in life, my new condition made me think differently.
    My vampire senses told me that there was a feast to be had about a couple miles to the south. I used my super speed (beat THAT, Superman!) and got there in less than a minute. There were many vampires there, but I soon recognized one of them, Marissa. I strolled over to her (the equivalent of human sprinting) and said hi. She looked up and almost spit her blood out. I laughed.
    “Chris?!” She seemed surprised, “I don’t believe it!”
    “Well, who else?” I answered, “Were you expecting George Washington?”
    She slapped me (hard) and said, “Stop joking! This is serious! Most vampires can’t even hide it for one DAY! You either are good, or your parents are blind. Well, I guess it calls for celebration either way. Come on, join the party!” I was pulled into a mass of dancing vampires.
    I partied with the other vampires until the sun came up. Vampires REALLY know how to throw a party. Breakdancing while levitating is AWESOME, and let me say that vampire DJs are the best in the world. Who else would combine Mozart with Eminem? Anyway, I got home barely in time. Mom came to my room to check on me, and I pulled the same trick. It worked, but I again wondered how I would keep it up. I was dead tired from all that partying. Sleep came to me easier because of my exhaustion and the dirt I snuck into my bed from the backyard. Mom will throw a fit when she sees it, but I slept much better.
    I woke up again around midnight, starving and weak. I was really confused. Was the last 24 hours a dream? The worm crawling up my leg and the dirt in my bed told me NOT. So I decided to head out again, looking for Marissa. She was my only connection to this new existence. As I headed out of my room I heard voices coming from downstairs, so I decided to investigate. I turned invisible (what a neat trick) and I snuck down to find my parents surrounded by a mess of high tech gadgets. I overheard some of their conversation:
    “No, your readings must be wrong, there can’t be one in this house. I know none of my children are one of them!” Mom said. I was confused.
    “Look at this!” Dad shouted, “This is EVIDENCE! Look at it, there has to be one in this house, or you can slap me with a chicken and call me crazy!” Good old dad, he grew up on a farm, and that explains his strange analogies.
    “But I checked everyone last week! There’s no way!” I heard a loud beeping noise then.
    “Look!” Dad said, “The radar’s going crazy like a chicken in a cathouse! There MUST be a vampire in this vicinity RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!” That was enough to make me run away.
    I slipped out the front door as quickly as I could and made a run for Marissa’s place. I remembered where it was because I walked her home after the party last night. She dwelled in an upscale penthouse apartment in the heart of the city. I ran into her as she was leaving the building. From the look on her face, I could tell she was surprised.
    “Chris? You look pale, even paler than usual!” She whispered to me.
    “Follow me,” I said hoarsely, “I can tell you on the way!” So we ran, and I told her the whole story, from the beginning to the end.
    “Well, your parents being hunters is definitely the worst case scenario!” Marissa said, “Who would have guessed that the first person I turned in one hundred years had vampire hunters for parents! Well, what’s your plan now?” I wasn’t sure, so I quickly made up a plan.
    “I know this sounds crazy,” I said, “But I’m going to find a way to reverse being a vampire! It’s been fun but I want my life back to normal. It just isn't right to want to eat your own sister!” After I said it, it really did sound crazy.
    “Well,” She said, “I think it’s about time I told you why I hate humans. The truth is, I want to be human again, too. I hate the humans because I’m jealous of the fact they can live normally. I miss being able to love someone. I want to be human again, so now I’m glad I have a partner to help search for a cure. I think there is a group in New York City that has the only clue known to vampirekind to reverse the curse.” I was surprised that Marissa was like me, and she too hated this existence.
    “Really?” I exclaimed, “That's great!”
    “Well, let's be off!” Marissa said. She suddenly seemed less scary, and there was a new vitality in her stride that I hadn't seen before. So I followed her all the way to New York City (Quite a ways from Portland, Maine). We got delayed because I was in such a hurry after I had risen to find Marissa that I had forgot to feed. We arrived just before dawn. We found a safe place to rest until the nightfall. I was both relieved and exhausted, so I quickly slept.
    When I got up, it was still light out. I was bored, so I decided to wake Marissa up. I thought that we could discuss our next move while we waited for the sun to completely set. At first I lightly shook her, but that wasn't enough to wake the dead. I had to hang her upside down by her feet like a bat to wake her. Since bats can sleep upside down, this is proof that vampires aren't related to bats. Marissa couldn't sleep upside down, at least.
    “Come on, sleepyhead, rise and prowl!” I said.
    She woke with a groan, looked around, then screamed, "PUT ME DOWN, CHRIS!” After I set her down, she asked, "What time is it, anyway?"
    “I would say around 8:00 in the evening,” I answered. (By the way, it was late spring, so the days were longer)
    “What?” She exclaimed, “Why would you wake me at THIS early hour, Chris?” I almost laughed at the drowsy tone in her voice as she yelled at me.
    “Well,” I said, “We do have to plan how we’ll find the group you mentioned.”
    So we started planning our route. Soon enough, it was dark. We had to find dinner before we started, or we would fade into the night (Fading is when a vampire dies for real, but without a corpse left behind. They just fade, as the name suggests). After we found an unaccompanied man, we had our meal. Then it was time to find the group. After a good hour of searching, we found them.
    Standing near the Statue of Liberty were three weary looking vampires, Alex, Justin, and Vlad. After warm introductions, we got down to business. I wanted to know how to reverse this curse. Justin stepped up. He was tall, with greenish brown eyes and dark blond hair. He also had this reassuring smile that made you feel like everything was alright, a smile that gave you energy in times of need. Justin told us their story. They were best friends in life, but a chance encounter with a vampire caused them to be hunted, hated, and kicked out of their own village. At first, they said, they had a good time pulling pranks, partying, and just having fun, but as time wore on, they began to get tired of it and started missing their life. They told me that they wanted to be back to the way they were, before the encounter. They told us that they had met this old vampire who wanted to become human again like them. He had found a clue, but was unable to decipher it. Because of this, he decided to fade rather than continue with his existence. Before he sacrificed himself to the sun, he passed the clue on to them.
    “So,” Justin said, “do you two want to help us?”
    “Yes, I hate being a vampire! Count US in!” I said. I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I looked and saw Marissa staring at me. I guess I shouldn’t have spoken for both of us. It’s not like we’re married or anything. I then added, “What do you think, Marissa? Um, should we help them?”
    “Well,” She sighed, “It doesn’t look like I have much of an option, so sure, count me in!”
    The next night, Vlad told us the clue. It was really a riddle, and I could tell that everyone- including Marissa- hated riddles, so I took a shot at solving it. It went something like this:
It shall be found in the ruins of an empire long lost, where the city that once flourished vanished at a great cost. In the heart of the beast that turned day to night, what you seek will be found out of plain sight. When you find the place the day after fire burned, your life will be returned.
    From what I could make of the riddle, the answer was clear. We had to take a trip to Italy. I told them what I had figured out, and they all agreed that Italy was our next destination.
    We managed to catch a cruise ship leaving for Italy. After sneaking on board, we found an empty inside cabin to call home for the voyage. Unfortunately, Vlad forgot to bring the dirt. At least it was as dark as death in the cabin. I was secretly delighted because human blood tasted better when the humans ate the fatty comfort food served on the ship. My favorite meal came after the chocolate buffet. When not sampling the cuisine, we used the free time to plan out where we would go after we arrived in port. Fortunately Vlad spoke Italian fluently and Marissa had been to Italy about 70 years ago. I hoped not much had changed since then. Finally, after contemplating it for a few nights, I decided that the cure was in Rome, because the riddle mentioned “the ruins of an empire long lost.” Rome was the capital of the great Roman Empire. There was also a mention of fire, and I thought it referred to the burning of Rome in 64 AD. After about a week of fine dining, we arrived in Venice. We waited until nightfall, then snuck away as the passengers started to get back on board. I was tempted to take a quick bite, but I decided it wasn’t worth it. I didn’t like spaghetti anyway.
    We soon got to Rome, and we searched for two weeks, but found nothing. We were all discouraged, and I think that Marissa was a little annoyed at me that I had read the riddle wrong. Too bad, we were starting to get closer with this journey. I lay in the shadows the 14th night and couldn’t get to sleep. I lay awake until 1 in the afternoon, then finally got tired enough to fall asleep. I woke up early that evening, and I had a good reason for it. I thought I finally had the answer. I had an idea that the clue was still in Italy, but we were looking in the wrong city. I now knew that “the heart of the beast that turned day to night” was talking about Mt Vesuvius, because Mt Vesuvius turned day into night when it erupted (for those of you who don’t know, Pompeii was buried in the first century by an eruption from Mt. Vesuvius). The line "the day after fire burned" was talking about how Vesuvius erupted the day after the festival of the god of fire (how ironic). I excitedly woke the others up. I think they were mad at me at first, but after I told them my idea, it was clear that we were headed to Pompeii.
    We arrived late that night, and started searching almost immediately. I soon found something written on the walls of an old apartment. It was written in Italian, but I knew it was a clue. I called Vlad over-I knew he spoke Italian-to take a look at it.
    “Wow, Chris!” He spoke in a sarcastic tone of voice, “You found the place that the Rebels met to discuss plans!” After the Roman Empire took over Pompeii, a rebel force formed, kind of like in star wars. Some of them met in Pompeii to discuss their plans, but apparently some of them never made it back.
    “But what about where they met?” I asked, “I don’t know Italian, but I recognize THAT word there!” I pointed to where it said “VEISUVIUS”, “Mount Vesuvius, isn’t that a weird place for a rebellion to meet?” Vlad had no answer to that except: “We should search there”.
    We decided to rest a day before our trek because, plainly, I was exhausted from the journey and excitement. But the night came, and we prepared for an all out mountain trek.
    “Safety harnesses?” Alex said. He was checking to make sure that we had everything to be safe.
    “Check!” Justin replied
    “Rope?”
    “Check!”
    “Invisible Belayers?” Vampires could summon invisible spirits to do their work, which is holding the ropes to keep us safe in this case.
    “Check!”
    “Okay!” Marissa said, “We’re all ready for our climb! Get in position, guys!”
    “On Belay!” Vlad commanded the ghosts. It was the signal that they were ready to climb.
    We heard an eerie whisper, “Belay is on, master.”
    “Climbing!” It was the signal that they were about to climb.
    “Climb away.”
    We started our climb. It was a long and physically exhausting trek up to the top of the mountain. I lost track of time, but after about an hour, I saw Justin slip from his handhold. It was scary at the thought of him falling into the inky black night.
    “FALLING! GHOSTS! HELP ME!”
    “Fall away!” The ghosts said. They had betrayed us! The spectral energy emitting from the mountain must have had an effect on them or something. I wanted to help Justin, but I was having a hard time clinging to dear death there. I watched in horror as he couldn’t hold on any longer and fell. We all cried out in agony as he hit the ground and froze, as if put into an ice chamber. He slowly faded away into nothing. Those moments felt like an eternity, like I had aged 100 years in a split second. It was nearly impossible for us to descend and mourn for him, as it was unlikely that we would make it, so we carefully climbed on.
    We had made it to the top, only to find nothing of interest or any secret passageways. We did find a straggling climber, so we got some blood, but it was a meager portion. We searched, but could find nothing. I looked at the time, and found that we had only half an hour until sunrise. We were as good as faded then, because we couldn’t make it down the mountain in that short of a time. We desperately tried to find a cave to hide in. We eventually found one, and got in just as the sun came up over the horizon. I wished that I could come out and behold its beauty, but vampires can’t go out in the sun. It’s one of our most basic enemies, the sun. I was tired, but we couldn’t go to sleep. It was vampire tradition to stay up all day to mourn the loss of someone close to you. We stayed up until it was technically night, then flopped down to sleep for a few hours.
    Soon, we woke up and began a thorough search of the crater and the surrounding land. We looked for hours and found nothing. Out of anger that Justin faded for nothing, I kicked an old, thick tree hard. The wood splintered and part of it smashed off. Out of curiosity, I looked inside and found a secret tunnel. I called everyone over, because we had found the way to the cure.
    We climbed into the tunnel, to be greeted by a series of torches that lit as we walked by them. The tunnel itself was cold and damp, with narrow walls and a low ceiling. No one spoke a word. The only noise was the silent thump of each of our footsteps on the soft soil. We reached a door that seemed way out of place. It was painted an ivory white, with a fancy pattern and crystal doorknobs. Marissa opened it, and we were greeted by a flash of painful white light. My eyes quickly adjusted, and I saw a brightly glowing crystal like mineral. We took a few steps further, and a voice appeared out of nowhere:
    “Halt! You are the intruders!”
    “None shall pass, and few shall leave!”
    “If we are to give you the Crystal of Life, you must fight us!”
    “Only those worthy can truly become human again!”
    We stood in a tight group, each of us looking frantically around us. Four familiar looking figures approached. They looked like us! It looked like the only way out was a fight!
    We rushed towards our duplicates, and the fight began. I focused, and jumped 10 feet into the air. I gathered some of my energy and sent it out at my duplicate. He quickly responded with kicking up a gust of supersonic air. It dispersed my blast and nearly hit me. I would have been severely hurt if I hadn’t dodged. I landed on the ground and stared at him. He had a blank, expressionless look on his face. I charged at him and created a dagger out of my energy. I thrust my dagger towards him, and he created a dagger of his own.
    “So, you wanna dance?” I said mockingly, “Well then, let’s DANCE!” I extended my dagger to a long sword and rushed him. I swung and missed, but I spun around 360 degrees and extended my sword to hit him if he was near me (By the way, my energy was specially trained to hit my duplicate and not hurt my friends). I looked around to find him, but saw nothing. I looked above me, too, but still nothing. I realized that he was tunneling under me because I saw the hole in the floor. I didn’t know where my duplicate was going to pop out, so I levitated into the air. This would give me more reaction time. Time to ready my sword. Suddenly, he popped out of the ceiling! I should have known he would do that! I had no time to defend, so I prepared myself for the blow. Marissa must have been watching me because she abandoned her own fight and came to save me. She thrust herself into my duplicate and knocked him away. She defeated him, but she had an energy sword still stuck in her chest! It was a suicide effort to save me. I don’t really know what happened in the next few minutes, but I remember a surge of anger, and energy freely flowing through me. The next thing I knew, the other duplicates were laying on the floor, defeated and I was kneeling next to Marissa as she leaned against a rock, slowly fading.
    “Chris,” She said, her body flickering as she spoke, “I’m fading. There’s nothing you can do to save me.” I would have started crying if I were human, but vampires can’t cry. “I haven’t known you for very long, and I wish I had some time to know you more. Take the cure and remember me when you are human. Share the cure with vampires willing to take it, and help… make…this…world…better…” She then closed her eyes and slumped over. She then faded away completely.
    “Come on,” Alex said, “She wanted this. Marissa wanted you to be cured. Let’s go.” I found it hard to leave the spot where Marissa left this world, but I somehow managed to. We grabbed the cure, and suddenly found ourselves suspended above Pompeii.
    “You have done well, heroes,” A mysterious voice said, “Now, rest, and the curse shall be lifted off of you.” I strangely felt sleepy, and I didn’t resist. After all that had happened, I needed rest.
    I woke up to find myself outside my house as the sun was coming up. It felt strange, being in the sun again. I was a little nervous, walking up to my house after I was gone for so long, but my parents had their memory wiped or something. I was glad for that. It felt great to be human again
    That night, I was standing on the porch of my house leaning against the wall. I was confused, and was wondering if it was all a dream. Suddenly I heard a voice.
    “Hey!” I turned around. At first, I couldn’t see anything, but as I looked closer, I saw a ghostly outline of Marissa.
    “Marissa?” I exclaimed. I was happy to see her again, but was this a dream?
    “Who would you expect?” She asked, “George Washington?” We both laughed, like old times.
    “How is this possible? Weren’t you faded?”
    “The ruler of the afterlife, lord Enma, has allowed me to say goodbye to one person, and I chose you.”
    “So,” I said, “This is the last time I’ll see you until I die?” I started crying. I had really loved her.
    “Yeah, I guess so.” She said. She seemed sad, too.
    “Well,” I said, my voice shaking, “I guess this is good bye for about 90 years if I live a good life.”
    “And I want you to live a good life Chris. I don’t want my fading to be for nothing!”
    “Goodbye, Marissa…”
    “Goodbye, and don’t go killing yourself!” With that she vanished.
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    And so that ended my adventure as a vampire. It was a sad story, but in the end I learned a lot from it. I learned to appreciate life, to protect those I loved, and so on and so forth. Since then, I have become more tolerant of those things that used to annoy me, like my classmates and my bratty sister, because one day they might be gone, and I'll be alone in the darkness of death.