Vampires in my coffee

Last night was a strange one...I fell asleep reading the letters of Vincent and Theo, probably around 2 a.m.ish, and had a series of incredibly vivid dreams.

I dreamt there was a party going on in a home, I'm supposing the home was mine, but it was huge, rambling, like a maze, and broken down, like a fraternity house or something. The corridors were lined with nameless, faceless revelers. I was agitated about this, since it was my doing, and the kids were in the house, lost among the "guests."

All of a sudden, the Police showed up, and everyone began to scramble. I was more frantic now, but a woman, I'll call her the "Girl" came up to me, very stylish, young and chic, and patted me on the shoulder sympathetically, and told me not to worry, everything would be just fine. She was part of a small group of odd, yet handsome people, who seemed unruffled by all of the chaos. She moved aside, and sitting on a couch between a young, Goth looking man and woman was Noelle. Anthony moved from out of the shadows and stood by me looking anxious.

I felt immediate relief but then consternation...what now? The police were rounding everyone up, including some of the small group I mentioned. They took two biker looking men from the group, who didn't resist their arrest. The one man smiled at us and winked. The "Girl" turned to me with a sly smile I didn't understand, and whispered, "He's two hundred years old, and being arrested doesn't bother him. He'll slip away without a fuss." I was confused now, and asked her how is this possible? She smiled and showed pointy, glistening teeth. She said, "We're vampires."

I should have been horrified but I was numb. I looked at my daughter sitting between the two creatures and gave a start, but the "Girl" said, "Don't worry, we want to help you. You must come with us." I began to follow, as the whole group got up and began to move rapidly through the maze of corridors. Anthony whispered a warning, but I dismissed it as childish. We opened one door, and my brother was sitting in a broken down room, on a ragged bean bag looking chair, watching an ancient TV on a milk crate. He didn't look up from his stupor, and just waved us away. I was alarmed, but the "Girl" grasped my arm and said, "We'll come back for him later. There's no time now." I protested, saying, "What if he's gone?" She assured me it would be alright, and we began to run now.

We burst through a beat up, industrial metal door, into the dim evening light. Everyone dispersed, and Anthony and Noelle disappeared as quick as lightening with the group. I immediately panicked and protested, but the "Girl" pointed to a motorcycle and said urgently, "Get on, we've got to go. We're meeting up with the others." We both got on, her on the front, me on the back. I tried to fumbling strap on a helmet, as she did hers smoothly, and the motorcycle reared into a wheely of sorts, nearly knocking me off the back. I thought, "I must stay on, or I'll never see my kids again!" So, I grabbed her in a bear hug around the waist, and just clung on with my eyes tightly shut.

We road what seemed a short distance to a huge, decaying, abandoned warehouse. As we approached, the "Girl" seemed to lose her energy, and became somewhat lethargic. The bike meandered to a slow crawl, and then it lurched, and went down. I was able to jump off, but she fell beneath the weight of it. I went to help her up and she recoiled. "Don't touch me!" she hissed.

Something about her demeanor had completely changed. She seemed irritable, distant, menacing. I tried to swallow my fear, and walk with her, just so I could get to my children. We walked quickly to what looked like an old cafeteria, but a small one. There were beat up couches, and a TV playing, snowy and monotone. The rest of the group was there, and didn't even look up as we walked in. Again, Noelle was tight between them, and Anthony was on the fringe of the group, looking anxious. I saw the relief wash across his face when he saw me, and he walked quickly to my side and whispered, "We've got to get out of here." I nodded in agreement. I realized in my quest to get us out of the jam I had put us in at the "house," I made a grievous error, and had compounded the situation to a dangerous level by being here...and we might not make it out alive. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to figure out what to do.

In the meantime, a few vampires trickled out of a back corridor, and stealthily entered the area we were in. There seemed to be something down the corridor, but I couldn't see anything.

The "Girl" looked positively sick now. She yelled at one of the other vampires to let her into the "room." I don't know what was in there, but she became very agitated when a male vampire by the corridor stated she would have to wait her turn. I reminded me of having to wait for a restroom when you have to go to the bathroom really bad, and she paced and shifted looking miserable, but not even looking in our direction. None of them did. Anthony asked a question, something inane, like for a drink of water, and they looked at us with disgust, and said something rude like, "Why are you bothering us?"

I saw this as an opportunity, and said, "Apparently, this is a bad time for you--so we'll be on our way!" and quickly grabbed both kids' arms and headed for the door. Noelle was reluctant because she didn't understand the situation, but she moved nonetheless.

As we left, I became angry--angry at myself for trusting them, and angry at them for deceiving me. They brought us to this dangerous place on the pretense that they cared, and were our friends, and they really didn't. For some reason, it hurt me, even though I should've known they were evil creatures. Somehow, I felt they should've cared, even though they didn't have the capacity to.

As we crossed through a large, dark, cavernous expanse right before the exit out, all of a sudden, a low, childish voice called out to us, and in the weak light of the exit, children began running out at us. One young teen after another ran out as quick as lightening, their evil eyes flashing in the darkness--they were vampires also, but these made no pretense of friendship. Terror welled up as they surrounded us, and the burning fear and desperation made me tight as spring--we were just feet from the exit. They circled and taunted us, and then attacked us.

It felt like hands ripping us apart, not our flesh, just separating our grip on one another--in the darkness I lost sight of both Anthony and Noelle. A horrifying looking heavy set girl in a clown outfit, with white-blue eyes and slavering teeth, held me down--saying all kinds of horrible things to me. I pleaded with her to let us go, have mercy, just let us leave, but she laughed at me and said, "No, you will suffer." She suddenly let me go, and I was alone in the dark.

As I stumbled about, I heard yells and screams and cries and evil laughter in the dark, as if they were playing some monstrous game of tag in the blackness. All of a sudden, I felt someone firmly grab my arm--it startled me and I screamed and struggled--but I heard a voice--"Mom, it's Anthony!" I looked at him in the weak light, and he looked sad and scared. "Where's Noelle?" I screamed--he looked at me in horror and just shook his head.

We began running around the darkness, screaming her name. After what seemed an eternity, I saw a young figure stumbling in the darkness, feeling along the walls with her hands. It was Noelle! I ran up and grabbed her, so happy she was safe. I kissed her and hugged her and cried tears of happiness, as we ran for the door. Just as I got my hand on the door and began to pull it open, she wrenched herself from my grip, as if she was scared to go outside. I looked at her inquiringly, and she held up her hand. On it, smeared in blood, was a strange symbol.

"What does that mean?" I begged...and she said to me, "I got bitten by one of them--I can't leave with you." My heart raged and broke, and I screamed into the darkness--"I won't leave her here! You can't have her!" Anthony and I cried, and swore we wouldn't leave without her, we would find a way to save her, and we would be turned also rather than leave her...and we began back into the darkness to find the monsters and demand an answer...

And then I woke up.

And it's left me in a sad and depressed mood...so here I am.