Eight
“Hi, Mrs. Porter.” Vickie glanced in the living room as she and Ashley made their way toward the back bedroom.
“Hi, Vickie,” said Janie Porter. “Ashley, did you take some of my cigarettes? This carton seems almost empty.” Janie kicked a beer can off the couch where she was reclined. As she shook the cigarette carton as evidence, the full can of beer in her other hand also shook, sloshing beer on her shirt. She didn’t seem to notice.
“No, Mom. I didn’t touch your cigarettes.” Ashley kept moving toward her bedroom. She didn’t look toward her mother nor did she wait for a response.
The girls entered the bedroom and Ashley shut the door. “Everything’s set for tonight, Vick,” said Ashley. “Sean says there’s some new guy coming. I asked him if the guy was hot and Sean just told me to piss off. That means the guy is hot. Sean is such a worm.”
“Yeah,” said Vickie. “Sean gives me the creeps. He’s always trying to look through our clothes. I’d rather be a real vampire than touch Sean.”
Ashley locked her eyes on Vickie’s. “Really? Would you really want that?”
“What? To touch Sean? Yuck!”
“No, I mean really be a vampire?”
“Come on, Ash. You know what I mean. Don’t get weird.” Vickie turned toward Ashley’s bed. “What’s all this stuff?” She reached out to a black duffle bag on the bed.
“It’s stuff for tonight. We’re going to do a role-play—it’s kind of a test for this new guy.” Ashley took the bag from Vickie and dumped its contents on her bed. From it fell a cheap propane lighter, a plastic crucifix on a bead necklace, a two-foot redwood stake, and two packs of cigarettes.
“What’s this?” said Vickie. “I thought you told your mom you didn’t take any of her cigarettes?”
Ashley shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. She’s drunk most of the time and usually doesn’t know the difference anyway. What—I’m hurting her by taking some of her cigarettes? It’s not like they’re vitamins or something.”
Vickie picked up the redwood stake. “This is cheesy, Ash. This is for holding up tomato plants. If you’re going to kill a vampire, shouldn’t you use something carved out of a human bone or a 300-year old oak tree or something?”
“It’ll do for tonight,” said Ashley. “It’s just a role-play. These are just props.” She looked steadily at Vickie. “Vick, are you really into this? You sound like you think it’s dumb.”
“I don’t know,” said Vickie. “I like some of it. I like fitting in with something that feels sort of on the edge of . . . of something, I don’t know what. But sometimes these role-plays feel like little kids playing make-believe. We’re almost seventeen, Ash. Being with dorks like Sean is like playing house with your little brothers.”
“Yeah, sometimes it gets stupid,” said Ashley. “But I keep hoping it will get more real.”
“What do mean?” said Vickie.
“Well, it’s like what we’re doing is sort of like a play about something that’s really going on. I keep hoping that we’ll experience the real thing sometime,” said Ashley.
“Real vampires, you mean?”
“Maybe. There could be real ones.”
“Don’t say that, Ash. It freaks me out.” Vickie hugged her arms to herself.
Ashley jumped onto her bed, sat down and crossed her legs. “Doesn’t it seem awesome, though? Never dying, changing shape, free from all the crap that people have to live with. No drunk moms . . . you know what I mean, Vick?”
Vickie sat on the bed. “I guess. But it’s all folklore, Ashley. There’s a lot I would like to escape, but not that way. It just isn’t real. I just do this because I hate school and I want to crawl out of my skin sometimes.”
“Just because we haven’t seen any real vampires doesn’t mean they aren’t real,” said Ashley. “I would be one if I could.”
“Yeah, okay. Whatever,” said Vickie.
Ashley’s face softened. “Vick, do you still miss your dad?”
Vickie looked down and traced the outline of a stitch on the bedspread. “Yeah. My dad was great. I even dream about him.”
“What do you dream?” said Ashley.
“I don’t know. Sometimes just crazy stuff.” She looked up at Ashley. “Don’t you miss your dad?”
“No. Well, I wish I had a dad, but I don’t miss him,” said Ashley. “He was mean to my mom and me and then he just took off and left us. It’s hard to miss someone who doesn’t want you.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Vickie. “I’m sorry, Ash.”
“It’s okay. I hope he burns in Hell,” said Ashley. “So did your mom say you could spend the night?”
“Yes, but I don’t know. Jay invited me to go to a concert with him tonight.”
“Your brother is such a hunk,” said Ashley. “I wish he was a vampire. I’d be glad to let him bite my neck, and even . . .”
“Enough!” said Vickie. “This is my brother, Ash. I’m gonna puke!” Both girls screamed and laughed, falling across the bed.
“Really, Vick. You have to stay over! My mom will fall asleep on the couch by 8:00, and we can go to the role-play and stay really late. You have to stay!”
“Maybe I will,” said Vickie. “Yeah, I will. But I don’t want to stay out all night again. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” said Ashley. We’ll stay at least until midnight. That’s the best time for the role-play. And maybe that new guy will be hot. We might want to stay awhile, Vick.”
“Maybe. We’ll see,” said Vickie. “So what are we going to do all day?”
“Let’s go to the mall!” said Ashley. “There’s a new Halloween shop there. We can see if there are more things we can get for tonight.”
“Cool,” said Vickie. “Let’s go now.”
The girls jumped up from the bed. Ashley gathered up the props for the evening and put them back in the bag. She shoved the bag under her bed.
“Hey, Ash,” said Vickie.
“What?”
“If things get, I don’t know, weird tonight, would you be okay if we left early?”
“Weird? Like what?” said Ashley.
“I don’t know. With this new guy and all. We don’t know who Sean would bring in. What if he’s some violent freak or a serial killer or something?” said Vickie.
“Come on, Vick,” said Ashley. “Nothing like that’s going to happen. Why would a self-respecting serial killer hang around with someone like Sean?”
“Right. Good point,” said Vickie. “But seriously. Will you promise?”
“Yeah, sure. It’ll be fine,” said Ashley. “But if something goes crazy, we’ll leave. Promise. But like you said, Vick. It’s just for fun.”
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