• Teachers would always say that life is a rollercoaster full of obstacles waiting to be overcome. I never believed in that when I was in middle school, but now that I'm in high school I'm starting to think there right. My name is Katherine Ortega, I'm a junior at Middleton private academy and my life hasn't been all cakes and sprinkles if you know what I mean. When I was a freshman I was constantly being bullied allot so my parents thought it was best to be home schooled. After I graduated ninth grade we moved to California from Ohio which was even harder considering how much I love the snow. In my second year I was always the smart kid in the classes and my classmates thought it would be fun pulling a prank on me, it wasn't. On a school trip they went in my hotel room and put a VENOMOUS snake on my bed and the snake bit me around two in the morning. I was rushed to the hospital and gladly sent home after they treated the wound and said I could travel, the kids never got caught though. Through that year I was pranked a lot. Last summer my dad was transferred to Florida to work for a famous musician. Oh, yeah my dad is a music producer so he's hardly home. My mom is a banker and a singer from way back then. I have a younger sister that’s still pody training (she's only 4). I'm in a private boarding school an hour away from home. It’s been a week and I haven't really made any friends, but I have tried. My roommates don't talk and everyone is so different, interesting, and beautiful. They don't even look human. They all have pale, translucent, and sculpture-like skin. There penetrating eyes can see right through your skin. There is only a few students that appear to look normal and they always hangout together. These kids have golden skin and ravaging brown or amber eyes. Well enough about the kids here, I have to get to my room before the late bell rings to get to your dorm. I opened the door to my room and saw that both my roommates were already in bed sleeping, I think. I closed the door and sat on my bed; I sighed and went to sleep, tomorrows going to be a long day.

    5:11 in the morning......................

    What’s that sound!? Oh! Yeah, my alarm clock went off. I changed it to five O' clock yesterday to do some working out before classes start. Well better get up and turn it off before it wakes up Ashley and Liz'. I pulled my covers up and turned off my alarm clock. I looked at Ashley’s bed, but there was no one there. How strange!?.....I looked at Liz’s bed, but she wasn't there either. I suppose I'll have to wait until its morning to find out where they went. I went to the bathroom and started brushing my teeth when I heard a scream coming from the hall. I swallowed the paste and threw my tooth brush in the sink. I ran as fast as I can to where I heard the scream, I even rammed into a wall trying to get there. When I did get there I saw one of the golden skinned girls right outside her dorm door with a terrified look on her face. She was looking at another girl limping into the hall with her right arm drenched in blood and her face covered in mud. The golden skinned girl dropped to her knees and then fainted on the floor. I ran to the girl and lifted her up with both of my arms. I looked back at the injured girl who was now laying her head on the wall trying to catch her breath. I carried the girl back to her bed and closed the dorm door. I turned around, but the girl was gone. My head started to hurt and thud, I fell to the floor and started panting. My head was beginning to burn and images started to pop up in my scalp. A little boy was sitting in the snow with a piece of paper in his right hand, his left hand curled around his knee. He looked up at me and said something, but I couldn't hear him then he was gone. The pain started coming back and I couldn't take it anymore. This hasn't happened to me since I was ten, the doctor said it was a psychiatric problem caused by the trauma I had when I was nine. My eyelids feel heavy, my eyesight is getting cloudy.

    When I was nine I was playing with my best friend Elliot, it was around eight and our mothers left us with the babysitter. The babysitter told us to stay in the backyard and we did until the ball we were playing with went into the trees behind the house, we had to go get it. When we went inside the woods we saw a guy with the ball in his hands. We asked for it back, but he just popped it in our faces. Elliot got closer and told the man that he was mean, but the man grabbed Elliot’s hand and pulled it right off its sockets. When I saw that I couldn't move. Elliot fell to the ground and didn't move, but the man did. He grabbed Elliot’s neck and started drinking his blood right in front of me. The murderer stepped towards me after he was done and when he reached to my side he whispered "you will fall in love with a vampire and become one short after. You will hear my voice every time, every day, every night, and you'll get tired of waiting. You will come after me, but you will fail to kill me. I will drink your floral blood and you will die!" then he disappeared. I was still standing there without moving staring at Elliot, when the babysitter came running to me in shocked horror. She grabbed my elbow and that’s when I came into reality. My eyes started tearing; I said to myself that this couldn't be happening. Why did my only friend have to die? Why? Why like this? Why now? I clenched my hands and screamed, struggled to get to Elliot, but my babysitter wouldn't let me so I ran to the house. I dashed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife out of the cabinet. I was about to kill myself to be with Elliot when my mom came in the room and grabbed the knife out of my hand. She hugged me and said she was sorry, I sobbed and then I screamed his name.............

    "ELLIOT!" I was sitting up on my bed with a wet cloth on my forehead that dropped to my thighs when I screamed. I was burning up. I looked around and saw there was no one there here. Damn it! Why is this happening again I thought those pills the doctor gave me worked? My hands were clenched into tight fists. The door opened and I relaxed when I saw it was just Ashley.

    "How are you feeling?" wow, I haven't heard her talk before, She looked sad. She sat on her bed and stared at me. I just stared back at her. "Well, are you?" she sounded annoyed now.

    "Yeah, I guess, Hey Ashley can I ask you something?" I said slowly trying not to upset her. It looked like it did though.

    "Depends, is it something personal?" she glared at me.

    "Not exactly, it's about last night and today," I explained.

    "Oh, alright shoot!" she said with an unreadable face.

    "Last night you and Liz weren't in bed, why is that?" I asked with precaution.

    "I'm surprised you noticed that," she said with a grin on her face."We were out patrolling the area for unwanted visitors with the headmaster’s permission."

    I flinched at her demonic smile and how she explained her answer, it took time for me to recover. "Unwanted visitors, what does that mean?" I asked curiosity burning at the tip of my tongue.

    "I can't give you more than I already said, sorry," she told me with that unreadable expression on her face."Anything else you would like to know?"

    "Yeah...um..., I saw a girl dripping in mud and blood last night, but she disappeared. Do you know where she is and what happened? Also what happened to me last night? It was kind of blurry after my fall," I looked down while I was talking remembering my nightmare from the past.

    "You were carried to your room by Elliot; he's the boy who found you lying on the floor with a fever. The girl you described was never found," she said in a gray voice.

    "Elliot.........," I mumbled under my breath, but apparently Ashley heard me that she got up and sat on my bed to look at my face.

    "What's wrong? Do you know him?" she asked now curiosity burned at her words.

    "No, I had a friend once named Elliot and he was murdered by a vampire," I was talking to myself by now and I hadn't realized that Ashley was still here. I looked at her and she was in shock. "I must sound crazy, but I saw it with my own eyes," I hadn't realized it, but I was tearing. Ashley relaxed and got up and went to the door, she turned to me then.

    "I believe you," I was shocked that she said that. Then she was gone. I layed back on my bed and fell into a deep sleep. Looks like I've made a friend. I wonder if Ashley believes in vampires. She looks awfully like one, could it be? Could this school have vampire students? I wonder.... if there is a mystery to be unfolding.