Let the Vampires In
Prologue
The target was sitting alone. She raised a fork slowly to her mouth, slowly chewed the strips of chicken and gazed at the television with unfocused eyes. She had no husband and no pets. Her neighbours to the right were gone and the neighbours to the left had also gone a few moments ago. Oskar knew the time to act had finally arrived.
He checked inside his bag to make sure all the equipment was there; a couple of flasks, a draining tube, a bottle of chloroform. Yes, everything was there. He placed a hand carefully upon his chest, feeling the sharp outline of the object inside his pocket. Yes, the knife was there too.
He readjusted the bag on his back before strolling down the women's driveway and pressing his finger to the doorbell. It wasn't the usual ding-dong sound that came from within, but the chiming of bells.
He didn't have to wait long for her blurred figure to appear behind the glass window. She was frowning as she opened the door, the wrinkles on her forehead deepening as she looked him up and down. "How…how may I help you?" she asked, her voice croaking like a frog's as she spoke.
"Evening Ma'am" said Oskar, making sure he put on a wide, friendly smile. "I'm very sorry to bother you so late, but my parents were suppose to pick me up from my gymnastics. But they never arrived. Please could I use your phone to call them?".
She paused for a couple seconds, then croaked again. "Yes. Of course" she waved her hand to indicating him to come inside.
"Thank you very much" he said, trying to sound grateful and relieved as he sprang into the hallway. He heard the satisfying click of the door closing behind him.
"It's just in there" she pointed into the kitchen and Oskar saw the red shape of a telephone.
"Thank you very much" he said again, before skipping towards it.
He lightly touched a few buttons, then raised the phone to his ear, hearing the buzzing like a bee on the other side. He talked to the bee. He asked it where she was and then asked when she'd be able to come pick him up. He thanked the bee, told it he loved her and settled the phone back down..
He turned around to find the women sitting back at her kitchen table, twirling a corner of the green cloth in her hands.
"She's on her way" he told her.
"That's good" she nodded, then looked up at him before speaking the words that Oskar had been hoping for. "You can stay here till she comes. Its not safe for a young person like you to be out at this time"
He smiled pleasantly. "Thank you again. May I use your toilet?".
"Yes, of course you can" this time she finally managed to return his smile. "Its just next door, you can't miss it"
Oskar nodded, not wanting to have to utter another "thank you" and made his way into the corridor.
The bathroom was cramped with only enough room for a shower, sink and toilet. There was a smell of cinnamon coming from a pot on the shelf, but that didn't mask the strong smell of piss that rose up from the carpet.
While he was inside the bathroom, the women tried to continue eating but found that her cheeks were sore from smiling. It must have been a long time since she last smiled to make them sore like that, she thought.
The women walked around the table to turn her television back on; it flickered into life, startling her eyes from the sudden flash of light. She settled back down in her seat and like normal stared at the screen without really watching it.
She didn't hear or see the footsteps that crept towards her. Laughter boomed out the television just as she saw the pink hand towel from her bathroom flying against her face.
A horrible smell of chemicals filled her nostrils and she choked and spluttered against the damp towel, tasting the remains of soap on it. She couldn't breath and there was a sickening pounding in her ears, like a drum being beaten senseless right next to her. But soon there was no more smell, no more drumming. The old women found her sight disappearing as she felt her body surrender and her head slump backwards. A black shadow crawled across the ceiling. The last thing she saw was the boy. His blonde hair falling upon his hollow cheeks, his eyes dull and grey. They were the last things she ever saw.