*
Caitlin woke to find herself sitting alone in her large, empty house. The world was still. She sat there, wondering where everyone had gone, and stood and crossed the room. Oddly, all the blinds and drapes had been drawn tight. She walked to one of the windows, and pulled them back. As she looked out, she saw a blood-red sun—but this time it looked different. It didn’t seem like sunset, but rather sunrise. She was confused. Had she slept the whole night? Had Scarlet come home? And where had everyone gone?
Caitlin headed towards the front door. For some reason she sensed that maybe Scarlet was there, waiting for her.
She slowly pulled open the heavy door, looking out. But the world was absolutely still. There wasn’t a single person on the streets, or even a single car in sight. All she could hear was the sound of a lone morning bird chirping. She looked up and saw it was a raven.
Caitlin heard a sudden noise, and turned and walked back through the house. She walked into the kitchen, looking for signs of anyone. She heard another clanging, and made her way to the window against the back wall. The drapes were drawn tightly here, too, which was odd, because Caitlin always kept them open. She reached for the drapes, and pulled the cord.
As she did, she jumped back in fright. Standing outside, its face to the window, was the pale, white face of a vampire, completely bald, fangs extended and right up against the glass. It snarled and hissed as it reached up with its hands and placed its palms against the glass. Caitlin could see its long, yellow fingernails.
There was another sudden noise, and Caitlin turned and saw the face of another vampire at the side window.
There was the sound of breaking glass, and she turned and in the other direction saw yet another face. This one smashed his head right to the glass, sneering at her.
Suddenly, her house was filled with the sound of breaking glass. Caitlin ran through the house, and everywhere she looked, the walls were different than she remembered. Now they were all made of glass windows, and everywhere she looked, drapes were being pulled back and windows shattered, as vampire after vampire stuck its head through.
Caitlin ran from room to room, to the front door, trying to get away, as more and more windows shattered.
She reached the front door and yanked it open—and stopped in her tracks.
Standing there, facing her, a deadly look in her eyes, was Scarlet. She glared back at Caitlin, looking more dead than alive, stark white, and with a fierce look that wanted to kill. Even more shocking, behind her stood an army of vampires—thousands of them. All waiting to follow her, to rush into Caitlin’s house.
“Scarlet?” she asked, hearing the fear in her own voice.
But before she could react, Scarlet grimaced, leaned back, and pounced on Caitlin, her fangs aiming right for her throat.
Caitlin woke screaming, sitting up in her chair. She reached for her throat, rubbing it with one hand, while with her other hand, she tried to push Scarlet off.
“Caitlin? You OK?”
After several seconds, Caitlin calmed down and looked up and realized it wasn’t Scarlet. It was Sam. At first, she was confused. Then she realized, with tremendous relief, that she had been sleeping. It was just a nightmare.
Caitlin sat there, breathing hard. Standing over her were Sam, one hand on her shoulder, looking concerned, and Polly. The lamps were on, and she saw it was dark out. She glanced at the grandfather clock and saw it was after midnight. She must have fallen asleep in the chair.
“You okay?” Sam asked again.
Now Caitlin was embarrassed. She sat up, wiping her forehead.
“Sorry to wake you, but it seemed like you were having a bad dream,” Polly added.
Caitlin slowly stood, pacing, trying to shake off the awful vision of the dream. It had felt so real, she could almost still feel the pain in her throat where she had been bitten by her own daughter.
But it was just a dream. She had to keep telling herself that. Just a dream.
“Where’s Caleb?” she asked, remembering. “Have you heard anything? How did the calls go?”
The expressions on Sam’s and Polly’s faces told her all she needed to know.
“Caleb’s still out there looking,” Sam said. “I called it quits about an hour ago. It’s pretty late. But we wanted to keep you company until he got home.”
“I called all her friends,” Polly chimed in. “Every single one. I got through to most of them. No one has seen or heard anything. They were all as surprised as we were. I even got through to Blake. But he said he hasn’t heard a word from her. I’m so sorry.”
Caitlin rubbed her face, trying to shake off the cobwebs. She had hoped to wake to find that none of this was real. That Scarlet was back, home, safe. That life had gone back to normal. But seeing Sam and Polly standing there, in her house, after midnight, looking so concerned, brought it all back. It was all real. Too real. Scarlet was missing. And might not ever come back.
The realization struck Caitlin like a knife. She could barely breathe at the thought of it. Scarlet, her only daughter. The person she loved most in life. She couldn’t possibly imagine life without her. She wanted to run out there, down every street, to scream and yell at the unfairness of it all. But she knew it would be useless. She just had to sit here, and wait.
Suddenly, there was a noise at the door. The three of them jumped up and looked, hoping. Caitlin ran to it, praying to see the familiar face of her teenage daughter.
But her heart fell to see it was just Caleb. Returning home—and with a grim expression on his face. The sight of it made her heart drop further. He had clearly been unsuccessful.
She knew it was useless, but she asked anyway: “Anything?”
Caleb looked to the floor as he shook his head. He looked like a broken man.
Sam and Polly exchanged a look, then came over to Caitlin and each gave her a hug.
“I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” Caitlin said. “Call me if you hear anything. Even if it’s the middle of the night. Promise?”
Caitlin nodded back, too overwhelmed to speak. She felt Polly hug her, and hugged her back, then hugged her little brother.
“I love you, sis,” he said over her shoulder. “Hang in there. She’ll be okay.”
Caitlin wiped away tears and watched Sam and Polly walk out the door.
Now, it was just her and Caleb. Usually, she’d be thrilled to be alone with him—but after their fight, she felt nervous. Caleb, she could see, was lost in his own world of misery and regret; she also sensed he was still mad at her for voicing her theories to the police.
It was all too much for Caitlin to bear. She realized she’d been holding out hope for Caleb’s return, a shred of optimism that he would waltz in and announce something, some good news. But to see him returning like this, with nothing, nothing at all, just brought it all home for her. Scarlet had been gone all day. Nobody knew where she was. It was after midnight and she hadn’t come home. She knew what a bad sign that was. She didn’t even want to entertain the possibilities, but she knew it was very, very bad.
“I’m going to bed,” Caleb announced, as he turned and strutted up the steps.
Caleb always said “good night,” always asked her to come to bed with him. In fact, Caitlin could not remember a night they had not gone to bed together.
Now, he didn’t even ask.
Caitlin went back to her chair in the living room, and sat there, listening to his boots climb the steps, hearing their bedroom door close behind him. It was the loneliest sound she’d ever heard.
She burst into tears, and she cried for she didn’t know how long. Eventually she curled up into a ball, crying into the pillow. She vaguely remembered Ruth coming up to her, trying to lick her face; but it was all just a blur, because soon, her body racked with sobs, she fell into a deep and fitful sleep.
CHAPTER FIVE