• Chapter 2: Dark
    Chapter 1 recap: I’d met Lorili at school when she joined my 8th grade class. My best friend Jake immediately took interest in her and invited her to join us for lunch. During that I discovered she was an orphan and lived with her “friend” Elizabeth, who turned out to be a mysterious and cruel girl. So, to make Lorili feel better after Elizabeth had snapped at her, I offered to walk her home, which is where this part of the story begins…

    Lorili was not the social type. I sighed, trying to start up a conversation. “So Lorili, have you been able to tour the town yet?” I asked, bored and needing something to break the ice. She nodded her head and kept walking at a slow pace. I sighed again and continued walking. All my attempts to strike a conversation had had turned out the same. So we just walked quietly. Finally, after a while of silence Lorili spoke.
    “This is close enough to my house, thank you.” I was shocked to hear her talk on her own, but quickly commented something that sounded like “you sure?” Even I had no clue what I was saying because it came to fast. She nodded and walked off. I was too tired from my busy school day to stalk her home so I just walked to my house and flopped on my bed.
    ***
    Two weeks after Lorili had arrived, everything began fading back too its normal plainness. All except for Jake, who still clung on to the hope of learning more about her. Lorili had let few things slip about herself, most of which involved where she was living. Apparently she lived in a large house with ten other people, who she’d lived with for one year, all going to separate schools. “She didn’t want to cause chaos by putting us all in the same school,” Lorili had explained once, the “she” being Elizabeth. Also, Lorili had mentioned knowing Elizabeth for most her life. Beyond this I knew almost nothing about Lorili.
    I lived in the kind of neighborhood where you could hear almost everything going on outside. Dogs barking. Cars rushing by. Parties put on by annoying neighbors. And my neighbors had decided to have a birthday party tonight, outside, in the freezing cold. At about 2 am the party was just ending and everyone was climbing into their cars. I prayed all the drivers were sober this time, unlike last party when someone had taken out a poor, innocent, baby tree. I was beginning to doze off when I noticed a bizarre glow shinning against my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes droopily, to see what the light was. There, standing in the middle of my room, was Lorili!
    I was shocked and not sure what to say, so instead of talking, I screamed. Or at least I tried to, but when I opened my mouth Lorili darted over to me, putting her hand over my mouth to quiet me. She had a terrified and urgent look in her eyes, which even in this light looked unusual. She scooped me up with one arm, the other still over my mouth. She ran over to my window and, without her even touching it, it closed. Darting over to my closet the door opened and she ran inside. Though my closet was a walk-in closet we were hardly able to able to squeeze in between the clothes. Once we were in the door shut quietly and Lorili set me down, kneeling down with her hand still on my mouth.
    She looked me in the eye and began to whisper. “I’m sorry about this Jessica, but I can’t explain right now. Please understand. You’re in great danger and you’ll need to hide in here until its safe. Now I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. When I do you’re going to stay quiet, okay?” I nodded furiously and she lifted her hand. Then, still terrified and confused I tried darting out of the door. Right when I’d opened it a crack Lorili grabbed my pajama pant leg. She pulled me into her lap and hinted for me to listen. I stayed quiet and heard the sound of my window opening. I wiggled out of Lorili’s lap and crawled over to peak out of the crack in the door.
    There I saw Elizabeth. I was shocked and had to keep myself from gasping. After her, a little girl who looked like she couldn’t be older than eight or nine crawled through the window. I couldn’t quite see the little girl’s features in the dark light, but I could see that she seemed odd. Not Lorili’s type of odd but more of Elizabeth’s type of odd. She had the vamprirish odd that had a sort of beauty to it. The girl fell on my floor with a low thud. Elizabeth zoomed over to her, kneeling to the eye level of the now crying klutz. She put a finger to her mouth and the girl immediately quieted down, tears still glistening in her eyes. Elizabeth gave the girl a sympathetic look then glanced to my bed. I just noticed that, in the blur of it all, Lorili must of set pillows under my covers, making it look like someone was laying on my bed.
    Elizabeth let out a small sigh then walked over quietly. She stood by my bedside and quietly folded her hands, as if praying. Then she pulled out a dagger. She held it above her head ready to strike. The little girl was looking away from Elizabeth, obviously not wanting to see what would come next. Then, Elizabeth brought the dagger down. She ripped through the fabric of my bed, dragging the dagger down my bed. I cringed, imagining what would’ve happened had I been in the bed.
    Elizabeth paused afterwards. “What’s wrong Elizabeth? Can’t we just leave now?” The little girl had a sad tone to her voice. The little girl was still crying and didn’t seem to want to be there.
    “She’s not here,” Elizabeth whispered, paying no attention to the girls cry. The little girl looked up at Elizabeth, who turned around angrily. “She’s not here!” Elizabeth repeated, almost yelling. “Lorili! How could she, that traitor!?! This a pretty bold move for that little brat, considering the position she’s in! I-I can’t believe her, she’s so dead when we get home!”
    The little girl got a nervous look and quickly said “Now, now Elizabeth. Let’s not be rush. Maybe she went to a friend’s house.” The little girl’s voice was shaky.
    “No. It was Lorili. I can smell her. She interfered, that little brat. That stupid little brat! Lorili, I know your hiding somewhere in here! Come out now brat!” Elizabeth was coming towards the closet, sniffing the air. Lorili pulled me close to her, grasping on tightly. I held my breath, utterly terrified.
    Right as Elizabeth’s hand reached for the closet’s doorknob, the little girl spoke, “Elizabeth, I don’t think she’s here. Let’s go and come back some other time. Please Lizzy?” Elizabeth looked over at the little girl, and pulled her hand away from the door.
    “Fine. Later.” And with that they went out the way they’d came, through the window.
    I took in a big breath then turned around to face Lorili, still sitting in her lap. “Lorili, tell me what’s going on, now,” I gave her a stern look. For a second I was afraid she wouldn’t tell me.
    “Okay.” She said, in a voice barely above a whisper. “Elizabeth and the other girl, her name is Nina by the way, are both vampires. And Elizabeth wants to kill you.”