Dream Date:
The muscles in my leg worked, trying to move faster and faster as sweat beaded my forehead. I stopped just before I hit the brick wall in front of me.
I was running from her, and the only reason I was running so fast, was pure adrenaline.
I looked behind me to see how far ahead I was. She wasn’t there. She was gone.
I smiled to myself. It didn’t matter that I reached a dead-end, she was gone!
I felt a very light tap on my shoulder and gazed back to where the wall was.
Her dark skin was an inch from mine. A smile spread across her lips. “Hi, Jake,” she said. “I hope you don’t struggle too much after this. It will just be a waste of time,” she said in a sweet tone as she pouted. She moved her curly black hair out of her face. “So will you cooperate?”
“Um,” I thought for an escape. I slowly began to back up and then, “nope!” I shouted, running in the other direction. I pushed over some trash cans as I ran to slow her down.
It was no use. Melissa was already ahead of me, moving toward me, her black leather jacket glistening in the moon light. Her purple shirt matched the sky, oddly enough. “Jake,” she started. “You know you can’t run— or hide— forever,” she said. She moved her right hand to reach for me, and noticed the moon shining off of her many bracelets.
She looked up at the full moon, then back at her silver watch. She smiled to me. “It’s time,” she said, fangs replacing teeth.
I screamed in terror.
***
I woke up with a start. My alarm was going off. It was 7 AM.
I shook my head as I got out of bed, saying to myself, “I need to stop playing video games before bed.” I pressed the off bar on my alarm and got up to get ready for school, happy it was already Friday.
***
Later that day at lunch, Luke and I discussed my dream.
“I’m telling you dude,” Luke said. “It’s got to be a sign.”
“Luke! It was only a dream,” I said, popping a curly fry into my mouth. “Melissa’s just another girl,” I said. I looked over at her, standing in the lunch line. She was laughing at something Sarah was saying. She then flipped her straight black hair over her shoulder and ordered what she wanted from the lunch lady.
“Besides,” I said, turning my attention back to Luke. “I would never be scared of a girl.”
“You would if she was a vampire,” Luke countered, his eyes getting wide as if he were onto something.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. “There is no such thing as vampires.”
Luke bit into his burger. “I wouldn’t shrug this off so easily if I were you,” he said with his mouth full.
“Well then thank God you’re not me.” I paused as I looked over at Melissa. “Do you want me to prove this is nothing?” I asked absentmindedly.
Luke nodded yes and I got up.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked.
“Proving you wrong,” I replied.
I traveled across the lunch room to Melissa. She was just leaving the lunch line. “Hi, Jake,” she smiled, her brown eyes sparkling.
“Hey, Melissa,” I greeted her. “I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” she asked, turning her head over to her friend. Melissa raised a dark eyebrow in question.
“Yup. At 8,” I replied calmly.
Sarah nodded and smiled, approving of me.
Melissa turned to me, a half smile forming. “It’s a date!”
“Cool,” I said. I walked back to my table and sat down, smiling for Luke.
“What did you do?” Luke demanded. “Ask her if she really was a vampire?”
“No,” I said. “I asked her out.”
His eyes got wide. “Dude, you have guts. You know, going out with a vampire,” he said, nudging me.
I rolled my eyes and threw a curly fry at him and he laughed.
“No, but seriously, dude,” Luke said when he finished laughing. “Take precautions.”
I opened my mouth to start ranting about how he needed to get over the dream, but he started talking, stopping me from telling him off.
“Just, like, hide a wooden stake in your jacket so that when she goes to bit you, you can stake her,” he said.
I rolled my eyes again and then wondered if my eyes would roll right out of my sockets if I kept doing that.
“And take some garlic.”
I gave a short laugh and then looked at him in disbelief. “You’re telling me to go on a date with one of the hottest girls in school smelling like garlic?”
“Just do it,” Luke said. “I don’t want to have my best friend be eaten.”
I thought about it. “Will you stop talking about the stupid dream?”
He nodded.
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll take your ‘precautions’.”
Luke smiled to himself.
“And just for the record,” I added. “I’m your only friend.”
He laughed.