Image by socialneuron from Pixabay The following day, Kavi took a cab to town to get some supplies. Some of Amana’s books were so old that they needed special equipment to keep them from degenerating. It was meticulous and careful work at times.
“You must be new in town,” the cashier said as she rang up the items. “Where are you staying?” “I got a job at a house a few miles from here,” Kavi said. “It’s over on Raven Lane.” “Raven Lane?” the cashier looked shocked. A few others were in the store and it suddenly went quiet when he uttered the street name. “You mean you’re staying with the vampire in that haunted house?” the cashier asked in shock. “She’s not a vampire,” Kavi laughed, but no one else joined in. “She hired me to translate some books.” “That woman killed her fiance,” the cashier said. “They had some kind of argument over an old book. Then the next thing you know, the fiance disappeared. Amana the Killer Vampire, we call her.” A man came over and joined the conversation. “In a fit of anger, she threw an encyclopedia at his head which killed him instantly. He’s the first person in history to be killed by a book. After that, do you know what she did?” Kavi now had the shivers. A boy and girl hurried over. “Then she turned into a vampire and drank his blood.” “Exactly,” the man said. “The fiance’s body is buried in the cornfields near the house. The police were called to the house and discovered the dead body, but they could do nothing. They were able to escape in time with their lives. They say she was drinking the man’s blood when they got there.” “How long ago did this happen?” Kavi asked, feeling terribly uneasy. “About seven months ago,” the cashier said. * Kavi was feeling understandably uncertain when the cab dropped him off at Amana’s. He hesitantly went in, the door closing by itself behind him like it always did. He’d gotten so used to it it didn’t startle him anymore. Kavi rushed to his room, shut the door, and went to bed early. * One night, after a particularly scary nightmare, Kavi got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. The bathroom was just a few doors down. As he walked down the hallway, the lights suddenly flickered out completely, and he was left standing in pitch darkness. Only a sliver from the moon coming through the window gave a bit of light. Kavi tried to feel his way along the wall, but he quickly got disoriented. Suddenly he saw a bright orb of light in the distance, coming closer and closer. He heard the sound of urgent footsteps and a dark shadow appeared right in front of him. “Help!” Kavi cried out. “Amana!” He raised his arms to shield himself from the shady creature coming his way. “Kavi, it’s just me,” Amana pointed the flashlight at him. Kavi was cowered on the floor, blinded by the light. “I thought you were a ghost!” Kavi trembled. “Come on, it’s okay,” Amana reached under his arm and helped him up. Kavi noted Amana was wearing black pajamas, which certainly looked like something a vampire would wear. He wondered if he was having a Halloween nightmare. “I was searching for the bathroom but got lost,” Kavi stammered. “You can use the one attached to my room. I have a generator in the opposite part of the house,” Amana was still holding on to his arm, and she gently pulled him along down the hallway as if he were a child. Kavi wondered if he was soon going to become a body in the basement. “No, that’s okay,” his voice shook a bit as he pulled out of her grasp. “May I borrow the flashlight? I’ll use the other bathroom.” “Suit yourself,” Amana let go of his arm. They were right outside her quarters. She handed him the flashlight and went back to her room. Kavi made his way back to the other end of the house and found the bathroom. It was hard being in the dark, but he would rather be alone than enter Amana’s lair. After using the flashlight, instead of taking it back to Amana’s room, he went back to his quarters, locked the door, and got in bed, trying not to shake in fear. * “You never returned my flashlight,” Amana said during breakfast the next morning. “I hope you found your way back to your quarters?” Kavi sometimes wasn’t sure if Amana was serious or telling a joke. “Yes, um, thank you,” Kavi said. “Sorry, I was just so tired that I went right to sleep. Here’s your flashlight back.” “Keep it,” Amana said, taking a bite of bacon and eggs drenched in ketchup, “The power outage happens pretty often out here, usually during bad weather. I’m sorry I frightened you, but after the power went out, I decided to come by to see if you were okay.” Kavi imagined she had come to do him in. He shook himself of the weird thoughts. His mind always seemed to play tricks on him at night. But now it was all the time. * “Wait, let me get this straight. So you thought she was coming to eat you?” Uma asked on the other end of the phone. “No, I thought she was a ghost coming to murder me,” Kavi corrected. “The power went out and I thought she was luring me into her lair.” He heard Uma snickering on the other end. “I want to meet her someday,” Uma laughed. “Anyone that can scare my brother sounds awesome!” “Yeah, whatever,” Kavi responded. That night, as Kavi lay in bed, he thought of the night before. He could still feel Amana’s silent grip on his arm, and it frightened him of how close she’d gotten to him. What if the rumors were right and she was a vampire?
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