She Decided to Be a Vampire

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Every kid in town knew that old Mrs. Robbins was a vampire. What they didn’t know, and are about to find out, will change their lives forever.
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Every kid in town knew that old Mrs. Robbins was a vampire. Their parents laughed at their childish fantasies, but the kids had evidence as a result of spying on the old woman for months. Mrs. Robbins always wore black clothes and never left the house. At least never during the daytime, until...

The most compelling piece of evidence was when Billy Atkins said that he saw her watching the sunrise on her porch one morning, and when the sun was about to come up, she clasped her chest and ran inside. “You see what I’m talking about? Vampires burn to ashes when the sunlight hits them.”

It hadn’t been so bad at first, having a vampire in the neighborhood. Moreover, it was exciting. They knew she couldn’t harm them in the daytime, and they’d be locked in their houses safely at night. “Everybody knows that a vampire can’t come into your house unless you invite them in,” Billy assured his still apprehensive friends.

But then, even Billy started to feel a little uneasy when they noticed that Mrs. Robbins began to venture out of the house more often. She’d only go out after sunset, and she’d only go as far as the front lawn and a few days later up to the gate. She did the same thing every evening. She’d stand there holding onto the closed gate, staring at the street. Then slowly she’d reach into her pocket and pull out her keys, rattling them with a back-and-forth motion of her wrist.
The kids saw her more and more at night and later in the early morning too. She’d stay until the sun came up, and then she’d clutch her chest and run inside. This went on for a few weeks and the boys were getting bored when taking their turns to watch the vampire’s movements. But then one night Scott, the lanky teenager who was watching her from behind the azalea bush in his garden gasped and jumped when the old woman slowly opened the gate and took a shaky step onto the sidewalk.

A few days later she started getting closer to the street.

Every night she’d rattle the keys harder until the neighbor’s dog began to bark at her. But old Mrs. Robbins didn’t pay the dogs any mind. She just stood there rattling her keys. That’s when Billy Atkins came up with a plan. “Our parents don’t believe us, so we must do something before this bloodsucker would suck us dry!” he shouted. “Let’s sneak into her house at night and take a picture of her coffin. Then they’d believe us,” he said to his best friend, Johnny Miller.
“No way!” Johnny shrunk back. “I ain’t going in there!”

“And why would she have a coffin?” Bobby, Billy’s scrawny brother asked. 

“All vampires sleep in a coffin, dummy. Everybody knows that!” Billy snarled at his brother. “Besides, if we can get a picture of it, then our parents will have to believe us.”

Nobody in their six-member gang volunteered to join Bobby, so they drew straws to see who would be the one to sneak into Mrs. Robbins’ house with him while she was out rattling her keys. David, their chubby, blond friend drew the shortest one to everyone else’s relief. David wasn’t happy, as a matter of fact, he was scared out of his mind. But his fear of being teased for the rest of his life as being a coward painted a dreary picture in his mind, so he remained quiet.
The next night, while Mrs. Robbins was standing by her gate, David and Bobby snuck into the house through the front door. It wasn’t hard; Mrs. Robbins left the door wide open.

As they stepped over the threshold, they noticed that the house had an oppressive feel to it. It was stiflingly hot and smelled like mothballs. David clutched his phone tightly in his sweaty hand as he scanned the living room for the coffin. There was no sign of it.

“I guessed there wouldn’t be in here,” Bobby whispered. “Let’s check the bedroom.”

They tiptoed down the hall on shaky legs. Bobby pushed the door to the bedroom open, and it gave out a loud creak. He whipped his head around to see if Mrs. Robbins had heard the noise, but he saw the old woman still standing by the gate, rattling her keys. 

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