The Midnight Mess Trilogy: Part 1 (Midnight Mess)

The clock in the steeple of the village hall chimed 5 as Harold Madison moved across the square from the railroad station. In the distance, the train whistled off into the gathering twilight. Harold gazed up at the clock tower still echoing the last chime, looked around at the quaint buildings lining the square and chuckled.

HAROLD: "Heh! This is just the kind of berg my sister would be happy in. What a dead-looking place."

The village square was strangely deserted. Harold set down his valise and scratched his head.

HAROLD: "Nobody around. No cabs. No nothing. Well, how in blazes will I find my sister's house? All I know is the address."

A nervous-looking old man came out of one of the small stores, locked the door and and hurried across the square toward Harold. He kept looking around as if he were being followed. Harold called to him...

HAROLD: "Hey! Hey, you! Where's Shore Street? 1223 Shore Street!"

MAN: "Eh, Shore Street? West, two blocks, then east, three! But you'd better hurry! It's getting dark!"

The nervous old man trotted on past Harold, not even stopping for an instant.

HAROLD: "So it's getting dark. So what?"

MAN: "You're a stranger here, aren't you? You don't know about them?"

HAROLD: "No, I don't! Know about what?"

MAN: "The vampires!"

HAROLD: "The...the who? The vampire? Aw, c'mon!"

MAN: "Better hurry! It'll be sundown soon. Vampires come out after sundown!"

Then the old man was gone, up a narrow alley. Harold laughed and continued on across the square. A sign caught his eye.

HAROLD: "Ah! A restaurant! I could do with a bite to eat. I'm starved."

The restaurant was small, but the mirrored wall at the far end made it appear much larger than it actually was. Except for one to two people who were finishing their meals, the place was empty. A waiter came forward.

WAITER: "I-I'm sorry, sir. But we are closing. It is almost dark, you know."

HAROLD: "What the...? You too?! What if it is getting dark? It's dinner time and I'm hungry!"

The waiter shook his head.

WAITER: "We close in order that our help may get home before sundown, sir. The vampires, you know."

HAROLD: "Vampires? What vampires?"

For a moment, the waiter stared at Harold. Then his eyes fell to his suitcase.

WAITER: "Oh, you're a stranger here! Then you do not know what is happening."

HAROLD: "No! I don't! What's this all about?"

WAITER: "There have been seventeen cases so far. Bodies found with every drop of blood drained out of them. The whole town is in the grip of fear. It's the work of vampires."

HAROLD: "Bah! No such thing!"

WAITER: "Nevertheless, I suggest that you get to where you're going before it becomes dark and the vampires begin to roam the streets looking for a victim."

HAROLD: "Okay, okay! I'm going! Where's 1223 Shore Street? Can you tell me that?"

WAITER: "Of course. West, two blocks, then east, three. Good night."

HAROLD: "Good night! Hmmph! Is everybody in this berg nuts? Vampires! Hmmph!"

Harold stalked through the town towards his sister's house. As he went, he could hear doors being locked and bolted, blinds being drawn. Finally...

DONNA: "Yes? Who's out there?"

HAROLD: "Donna? It's me! Harold! You're brother!"

Harold's sister threw open the door.

DONNA: "Harold! You...you weren't out there in the dark!"

HAROLD: "Oh no, Donna. Don't tell me you believe in this vampire business, too."

Donna locked and bolted the door behind Harold and turned to face him, her eyes wide with terror.

DONNA: "Of course, I believe in vampires! Seventeen villagers murdered already! Blood drained! What else could have done it?"

HAROLD: "Donna, there are no such things as vampires. They're myths! Perhaps...perhaps there's a homicidal maniac loose in this town? Certainly there must be a logical explanation. But not vampires! It's ridiculous."

DONNA: "Alright, Harold. Believe what you want to believe. Now let's forget about it. Come inside. Tell me. Why the surprise visit?"

HAROLD: "Well, I was on my way to the coast and I thought I'd drop in on you."

DONNA: "It's good to see you, Harold. You're looking well."

That night, Harold Madison could not sleep. He tossed and turned on the cot Donna had set up for him. Finally he got and dressed.

HAROLD: "Guess I'll go for a walk."

Out into the deserted streets, Harold moved down silent sidewalks toward the village square.

HAROLD: "Vampires! Pfft!"

Every door, every window that Harold passed was locked up tight and dark. The village square was empty and silent.

HAROLD: "Not a soul out. They sure roll this town up tighter than a drum after dark."

And then he heard it. The laughter and the gay chatter. It came from a familiar building.

HAROLD: "Well, I'll be! The restaurant I was in this afternoon. It's open. There's people going in."

The restaurant was all lit up. People at tables, talking and eating, Harold went in.

HAROLD: "That's why I couldn't sleep. I was hungry. Guess I'll have something to eat."

Harold sat down at a table. He looked around at the people seated near him. A waiter approached. A different one from the one he had spoken to earlier.

HAROLD: "Certainly are some queer-looking characters out this time of night."

WAITER: "Will you have the dinner, sir? Or would you...?"

The waiter looked at Harold with dark piercing eyes. Harold smiled uncomformably.

HAROLD: "Oh, heh. The dinner will be fine. Er...what's the menu tonight?"

WAITER: "Juice, soup, roast with french fries, coffee, sherbet..."

Harold licked his lips.

HAROLD: "Good. Say, I am hungry. Heh, heh!"

WAITER: "I'll be right back."

The waiter went away and came back with a glass of juice.

HAROLD: "Ah, tomato juice!"

WAITER: "Very funny."

Harold sipped the chilled juice in the glass. It tasted saltier than usual and thinner.

HAROLD: "Ugh! Oh, well. Can't expect much in a small-town restaurant. The waiter's looking at me. I'd better finish it."

The soup was hot. But it too was saltier than Harold would've liked.

HAROLD: "Strangest tasting bouillon I've ever had. Richer than usual, too."

WAITER: "Do you like your roast clots well-done or medium?"

HAROLD: "Roast what?"

WAITER: "Clots! Roast blood clots! Say, who are you?"

HAROLD: "BLOOD?! Oh my,...*choke*...!"

WAITER: "Draw the curtain! Draw the curtain! There's an intruder in our midst!"

And then Harold noticed that the mirror on the back wall of the restaurant was curtained. And now the curtain was being opened.

HAROLD: "Good lord!"

The restaurant was crowded with people and yet, in the mirror, Harold sat alone in the place.

HAROLD: "Only...*gasp*...only I cast a reflection. The rest..."

Suddenly, they were around him. The other customers. Fangs bared, coming at him.

HAROLD: "The rest are...vampires!"

Donna elbowed her way through the crowd.

DONNA: "Harold! I told you not to go out! I told you! Now it's too late!"

HAROLD: "Donna? What are you doing here?"

DONNA: "I'm one of them, Harold. I'm a vampire, too. Why do you think I came to this town? I had to. It was the only place I could go."

HAROLD: "But this restaurant. I don't understand."

DONNA: "In the old days, humans hunted their own food. Prepared it themselves. Vampires, too. In the legends, hunted their own victims. But now, we, just like modern man, leave the hunting to the professionals. We leave the preparing to the professionals, too."

HAROLD: "You mean...?"

DONNA: "The restaurant serves blood dishes. Like a vegetarian restaurant serves vegetable dishes. Blood-juice cocktail, hot blood-consomme, roast blood-clots, french-fried scabs, blood sherbet..."

HAROLD: "...*choke*..."

DONNA: "I'm sorry, Harold. But like the other seventeen that wandered into this town, you will have to be silenced. I cannot save you."

WAITER: "The tap! Bring the tap!"

Harold was lifted bodily by the giggling crowd of vampires while his sister looked on unconcernedly. One vampire brought a rope. Another, a tap.

VAMPIRE #1: "Tie up his feet!"

VAMPIRE #2: "String him up!"

VAMPIRE #3: "A party!"

And so Harold was strung up, head down. The tap was inserted into his jugular vein and each of the vampires came one by own and filled it's glass.

VAMPIRE #4: "Nothing like the real stuff!"

VAMPIRE #5: "I'll say!"