I’ve lived in this neighborhood my whole life and nobody new has ever moved in. Lots of people left but nobody would move in after them. It’s not like I live in a bad neighborhood, everyone got along and people would host gatherings all the time. But, people still left and never came back. I didn’t understand why until last night.
I live in a small town called Shadow Hill in a small house with my mom, dad, little sister, and little brother. Everyone in Shadow Hill is pretty old, most of them have kids which is good for me and my siblings. There’s only one school for all of the kids who live in Shadow Hill. Our school isn’t like a normal school, we don’t get days off on normal holidays, we get days off the week after. None of the kids know why, but all of the adults seem to have a secret reason for why we get the week after every holiday off instead of on the actual holiday. But that’s a story for another time.
We had new neighbors move in today. It’s really strange for new people to move into Shadow Hill so I wasn’t surprised when they were immediately the talk of the town, even my parents were curious about them. While they were unpacking, my mom went to greet them. She thinks that being friendly and putting trust in everyone is the best way to live life. I have a different opinion; I think that you should be friendly but careful and make sure you really know who you’re talking to before trusting them.
When she came back across the street, she had told all of us to clean ourselves up because our new neighbors had invited us to their house for dinner. I was hesitant about the dinner as soon as I heard about it but I had to go. I put on a nice outfit, not too formal, but not too casual either. An emerald green blouse, light blue jeans, and white sneakers.
We left our house around 6:45, it was already pretty dark outside considering it’s October. It seemed like everything was in slow motion as we were walking over. I’m not sure if it was just nerves or concerns or maybe it was just me getting overwhelmed, but I swore I could hear whispers telling me to stop or to be careful or to get as far away from Shadow Hill as possible. Why is this happening? Why is it happening now? Why is it happening to me?
The inside of our new neighbors’ house was already completely unpacked and decorated. It seemed like they had super speed. The house was dark, but it was elegant. Deep shades of red and pops of black were everywhere. The lighting was dim with candles and low hanging chandeliers being the only light source in the whole house. Which almost seemed like a castle from inside. It seemed like everything was from the Victorian era, frozen in time since then. Our neighbors also seemed like they were frozen in time from the Victorian era; just like their house. They looked and acted like the exact people who would live in a house like theirs. The woman’s name was Amalia and her husband’s name was Magnus. They were strangely pale and had reddish eyes that kind of looked like they were glowing.
We all sat down for dinner which was a truly bland chicken and some asparagus. At one point in the dinner, Amalia’s behavior shifted. She was acting hostile toward everyone. Soon Magnus was also acting that way. They started hissing and out of nowhere, fangs appeared in their mouth. My mom was trying to calm them down and was the first one bitten. My sister and brother got bitten almost at the same time. Amalia bit my sister, Magnus bit my brother. My dad was right next to my brother, frozen in terror; Magnus took that opportunity to bite my dad. My whole family was on the ground, writhing in pain. I was the only one left. I was sitting at the head of the table, on the opposite end from where my family and the vampires were. Luckily, I was also at the seat closest to the door. I sprinted out and never looked back. I ran far, far away from Shadow Hill and vowed to NEVER go back.
