Chapter 1 – Dawn
Dawn woke Monday morning. It was around the end of May, almost the beginning of summer! Dawn got off her bed and went to look out her window. She usually did this when she was anxious. And she was. Today she was extremely anxious.
While you might think 13 seems like a more special birthday because you become a teenager and it’s a prime, magic number, 14 was the one birthday Dawn’s mom had been eagerly waiting for. And that was today.
Here’s why, her mother was actually a fairly powerful vampire. Even considered vampire royalty. Dawn wasn’t a vampire, and she was comforted by this since vampire ways were brutal and unfair. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. And that urge to kill wasn’t what Dawn and most people wanted looming over them. Dawn despised all vampires, even her own mother if it came to it.
Going back to unlucky 14, that was supposed to be when Dawn became the newest vampire princess of sorts. She could almost see her reflection in the window become a twisted monster. Consumed by what her mother wanted her to be and not what she actually was. Talk about a bad Monday!
Dawn almost jumped realizing how real this fear became only minutes after she woke up. She shook her head trying to calm herself down.
She changed into a black and white striped shirt and some comfy jeans, and a denim jacket. Then she brushed her teeth and brushed her black hair that ran past her shoulders. Then she was ready to grab her bag and rush out the door like any other day, but her mom stopped her right as she was about to leave.
When she slowly turned to face her mom all she could feel was fear. Unfortunately, whenever she looked at her mother now all she saw was a vampire. Even though that was never her mother’s fault or intention.
“Going to school early?” Dawn’s mom asked.
“Yeah, I have to meet with a teacher before school starts.” Dawn lies nervously barely managing to keep her voice above a whisper.
“I know you’re nervous.” her mom begins, “But you don’t have to be. You were always meant to become a vampire.”
“I know I just,” Dawn twitches with fear and anxiety, “I have to go!” Dawn finishes running out the door with tears in her eyes. She knows her mom doesn’t mean to make her nervous and had never yelled at her and hurt her but just the idea of what she could do or be terrified Dawn.
Dawn tries to focus on why she was even leaving: to go to school, right? Either way, there was nothing else to do now but go to school. So, she did. Her school was only a couple blocks away from school, so it was a relatively short walk.
She finally makes it; She walks inside and starts walking to her locker. Dawn drops off her stuff there and goes to the library. She spent most of her time there. The peace and quiet usually helped her think.
But today was different. She knew nothing could really save her from her worst fear. Becoming a monster. She tried to think positively about something but there was nothing good to come from being a vampire in her mind. She would most likely lose everything that would cheer her up. But that didn’t stop her from trying. She knew she’d have to put off going home for as long as possible. But how? She knew she would think of something even if she procrastinated until school was over, she would still know what to do.
Dawn knew class was about to start so she got up and headed over to her homeroom. She also sat next to her two best friends, Hazel and Anna. At the very least class and her friends bugging her about her birthday would distract her from what was to come.
As she sat down, she immediately heard someone ask, “So what do you want for your birthday?” it was Hazel.
Dawn smiled and replied, “I want an ice cream sundae”. This was a joke Dawn and her friends made up a couple of years ago. That if anyone asked them what ‘What do you for your birthday’ you couldn’t just say nothing. Instead, you would say ‘I want an ice cream sundae.’
“What do you actually want?” Hazel asked again.
“I already told you” Dawn answered sarcastically. Anna was always quiet but even she wanted to know what Dawn wasn’t telling them.
“You can tell us,” Anna insisted.
This wasn’t a good distraction Dawn thought. Neither Hazel nor Anna knew about vampires or anything that would change today. Neither of them had met Dawn’s mom even though Dawn had met theirs. Even though no one told Dawn she needed to do this. They had their theories on why this was but never asked Dawn because they knew it would sound rude and insensitive. So, like they had before they ignored this incident and let it go.
Dawn looked ahead to see the teacher walk into the room. He walked the smartboard and started writing something on it. It read ‘Class Trip next week to the zoo.’
Dawn tapped her foot anxiously. She knew that once she was a vampire the urge for blood would be that much harder to fight around wild animals. Dawn wrote a fake doctor’s note under her desk so the teacher wouldn’t see.
“Mr. Miller?” she nearly shouted, “I-I have a doctor’s appointment that day.” she finished walking up to give him the note. He simply nodded and started to take attendance as Dawn was a good student and never tried to skip school.
But this hadn’t gone completely unnoticed Hazel and Anna were getting more confused by the second at Dawn’s strange behavior.
Later that day, during lunchtime Anna decided that Dawn needed to confess whatever she was hiding, and she wasn’t planning on backing down this time. She even convinced Hazel not to give up this time either. They both thought lying was too big a deal for someone like Dawn.
“We want to know what you’re hiding,” Hazel demanded impatiently.
“I told you to wait,” Anna scolds. Anna turns over to look at Dawn. Dawn starts to feel queasy, knowing that even if she did tell them the truth it would only end in chaos.
“I-I can’t tell you.” Dawn tries.
“Dawn, me and Hazel agree that you can’t keep stuff from us anymore. It’s becoming too big of a problem.” Anna mentions, trying her best to stand up to her friend. If only they knew what Dawn was keeping from them!
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!” Dawn answers truthfully.
“We’ll believe it! We promise!” Hazel remarks with a bit too much enthusiasm in her voice.
“O-Okay. But not here” Dawn finally decides, leading them out to the woods behind their school. She looks around nervously about to change her mind or worse! Make a run for it!
“Okay, you can tell us now,” Anna says patiently. Dawn clenches her fists. She can’t do this! She never could! Nothing’s changed! She can’t do any better now!
“I’m sorry!” she states running as quickly as her feet would take her. Her friends exchanged a worried glance. Not knowing what to do. But this story’s not about them. It’s about Dawn.
Dawn decides to run home. She never had an escape plan. And after all her mother never meant to harm her. The worst was already here and already coming. With hesitation, she opened the door. Her mother was home as usual.
A quick aside before I continue the story. All those vampire myths about coffins, sun, beauty, heritage, and probably many more aren’t true. Vampires drink blood, run like the Flash, live until a strong magic defeats them. That’s it. Everything else you know about them is wrong.
And another thing I’ll mention while we’re here is that Dawn’s father is alive. He works as a lawyer so even though Dawn’s mom doesn’t have a job they have a decent amount of money. It’s easier to pay for blood bags if you’re not living off the streets. And Dawn’s father knows that. The reason why you haven’t heard from him is that he ignores his family and simply eats in his room and pays for the house, clothes, etc. Okay, so now back to the story.
“Dawn, are you okay?” Dawn’s mom asks. Dawn ignores her and runs directly up to her room.
She’s calmed down by the time it took to get there but she’s still stunned as if they were still there. She knew she couldn’t avoid them forever so she decided once she became a vampire she would just have to not go to school ever again. She knew she left her friends on a cliffhanger. But she believed it was for the best.
Her mom slowly walked in, knocking on the door gently because from her point of view Dawn wasn’t scared, she just ignored her. Dawn looked over at her and then looked away.
“Are you ready?” Dawn’s mom asked patiently. Dawn knew she meant ‘ready to become a vampire’ and she wasn’t but she’d never be.
“Are you going to bite me?” she asked, thinking that was the only way to become a vampire.
“No! Of course not!” her mom laughed, “I have a special serum that will turn you into a vampire. It can be injected through your blood. So this will be a bit like a shot you’d get at the doctor’s office,” she replied. Dawn simply nodded and turned her head away in disbelief. Her mom sat down gently and injected a small dose of the serum into Dawn. Dawn noticed that it started to hurt at first but then didn’t. This was most likely because she had already turned into a vampire and little things like that couldn’t bother her anymore.
If you were wondering why Dawn seems so emotionless even though she doesn’t want this it’s because she knows she can’t prevent this. So she won’t even try. She knows she’ll regret just sitting there not doing anything but there’s nothing she can do.
The last bit of liquid drains out of the injection tube. Dawn’s mom takes the tube and puts it on the table. As if it’s a souvenir she’s giving to Dawn.
Dawn feels a weird flicker in her eyes as they quickly turn yellow and then back to her normal hazel eyes. Which could look yellow under any other circumstances but this time it was because vampire’s eyes often turn yellow when they’re happy or using their powers. Dawn was neither but becoming a vampire was the closet-linked thing that would explain to herself why her eyes turned yellow.
She knew now that everything had changed. But for good or bad? She thought it must’ve only been for the worst but there was so much more to it than that. There were layers inside of layers that had more layers.
But don’t worry! Dawn will be able to see that soon too. We just have to wait. Wait until someone helps her. Huh? Who would that be? Her friends wouldn’t have any advice. She wouldn’t listen to her mom. Her dad wouldn’t talk to her. And she wouldn’t risk controlling herself next to any other humans.
But what if this person wasn’t human? What if they were more? Something new and powerful? But what kind of creature could do something like this? Meet all these standards and check every box? How powerful are they? Do they even exist? If they do, where are they? And why doesn’t Dawn know about them? Why doesn’t her mom know?
She should if she’s this smart! This knowledgeable! Especially if she was this scared of what she’d become! Or her mom! Or she wanted to be free to live her own life! Why? That is our biggest question. Hmm, maybe if you simply turn the page you’ll find out. Trust me on this. You won’t regret it.
Virtual School Paper: Media for kids, by kids 