“Hello? Is anyone here?” Chase called out. His voice echoed in that big spooky house. The door was left open so he invited himself in. Most busy customers would do the same. He looked at his watch and he knew Mr. Mason would scold him again if he was late to deliver all those pizzas.
“Maam? Anyone? I’m already late so let’s just get on with it!”
No one answered. Earlier, when Wendy gave him the address, she looked pale. Even Mrs. Tyler looked the same when he asked her for direction. What was it with this house? It looked old and abandoned. Chase started to question whether Wendy had given him the right address.
He had no time to spare. Chase decided to turn around and exited the old house but the front broken door had closed before his eyes. The door creaked loudly until it slammed shut and blew a small tornado on his face. Four big figures lurked from the shadows behind the stiffed walls. Laughter ignited the biggest anger in Chase’s eyes.
“If it isn’t Pizza Boy!” said Oliver.
Oliver was the biggest bully in the school and Chase happened to be his favourite target lately. It might be because Chase tried to stand up to him when he saw Oliver took a bag pack from a Down-Syndrome kid. Chase had reported Oliver to the principal. This ‘fake delivery thing’ must have been a plan to get his revenge. And he wasn’t alone.
“Oliver, what did you get from the Principal yesterday?” asked Sam. Sam, Noah and Ben were there too.
“Two weeks of detention. That sucks! Do you know what do we do to punks who take our precious moments away?”
“We teach him a lesson.”
Chase’s brown eyes ran to find an exit but there was no other except for the front door. He took a few steps back. Chase was only 5 feet and 4 inches tall. There was no way in hell he could protect himself from their multiple attacks. Ben tossed Oliver the baseball bat and he caught it with his left hand. He was a right-hand person but because he was big and tall, he smashed one of the thin windows with the baseball bat using only his left arm. It crushed and shattered the window into pieces. It also made a loud noise. Neither of the bullies suspected the sound would be so loud that it reflected hard on their earlobes. Chase saw his chance.
“Wise move. You’ve just attracted the whole neighbourhood.”
Ben and Noah looked intimidated. They knew he could be right. Oliver tried to shake their fear off.
“Fools! We’re miles away from the nearest house. Even if they did hear the sound, they wouldn’t do anything bout it coz they know no one in their right mind would come here and they’re so scared of the ghost stories they’d think twice of lodging any reports!”
All hopes seemed lost then for Chase. Oliver gave them a signal and Ben and Sam grabbed a hold of Chase’s arms. He tried to resist but they were far too strong for him to handle. Oliver’s right fist tasted the delicious meet of Chase’s face. While they were busy, an angry soulless woman had just been woken up from her beauty sleep. The beating stopped when all of them turned at the hanging metal stairs. They heard footsteps coming down but as bright as it was in the house, no one was there.
“Did you invite anyone else?” Oliver asked Sam. He shook his head in fear.
“Could it be? The-the-ghhhooossst!?” cried Ben.
Ben was cowering in fear as he heard a heavy breath coming their way. His hold of Chase was slowly loosned. A big voice whispered Ben’s name into his ears and that was the last straw. Ben let go of Chase and ran for the door. Noah joined him too.
“Oliver, we should get out of here!”
Once Sam finished his warning, he suddenly saw a bloody scratch on his face.
“I’m out!” Sam screamed.
The door was open and Oliver was alone. It created the perfect opportunity for Chase to flee. But his anger got the best of him. He gathered all his will to jump at Oliver and knock him down. He put some bruises and blood on Oliver’s face.
“Stay away from that kid!” Chase threatened.
“No way!” replied Oliver.
Chase gave Oliver a taste of his own medicine.
“He’s just a kid!”
Oliver finally gave in. But Chase felt his collar being pulled from behind and he gave in to his motion. He thought somebody had finally come down to sort them out but how wrong he was. Oliver saw the whole thing and scrambled around running and screaming like a little girl.
“You’ve entered my mansion without invitation! You shall pay!” said the ghost.
The voice was too high-pitched it hurt the ears.
“Wait, wait! You did invite me!” Chase pleaded.
There was no image but Chase was high in the air.
“Do not tell lies human!”
“I am not! By the time I got here, the door was open. That means I was welcomed into this house! I am no intruder!”
His voice sounded funny and small.
“But it was not I who let you in!” the voice sounded angrier by the minute.
Chase was an expert in making excuses. But he also had a good memory on the instructions of his job.
“A pizza delivery boy could not be counted as breaking and entering when he enters a house with an invitation or if his steps were less than 10 steps from the entrance, he could not be punished or accused of such matter.”
Chase took a deep breath before continuing.
“So you see, I only took five steps into this house and you could see the pizza just maybe a feet away from the door. I dropped it when the bullies pulled me in. It’s the evidence of my five steps into the house. I was dragged from the pizza to here by them and I’ve had no chance of escaping. It wasn’t my fault that I was drawn deeper into the house.”
There was no sound. Chase tried to look into the ghost’s eyes but there was nothing to be looked at. He had no time to be thinking about being rude for not looking in the eyes. Then he was released at his feet.
“Humans and their laws! Such a disturb! Very well then, your argument might be solid but you did enter my house. You should never leave!”
“But, I have two more pizzas to deliver,” argued Chase.
The door was slammed shut and the window was pulled down that it darkened the whole house. Old chandeliers and ancient lamps were turned on out of sudden.
“Why, we have a fool here! Do you not know fear or Death?”
Chase had no idea what the ghost was talking about. But he knew his life was in danger.
“It’s natural for people to be scared of things they can’t see, hear or understand. Because of the zero-knowledge, fear would come in automatically and take over their senses. But I’m not.”
It sounded more like a challenge to the ghost so she appeared herself in front of him. She was wearing a long black robe and pulled off her hood for her face to be seen. She had four fangs among her teeth and mean red eyes to start with. Chase thought she was wearing contact lens so he tried to check out if they were real or fake.
“Teenagers these days! They have no respect anymore! Do you not love your soul to be looking into my eyes like that?” the ghost jerked.
Chase didn’t blink.
“Then maybe I should just drink your blood and be done with it!” hissed the ghost.
She held him tighter than Ben and Noah ever could. She had long nails that were surprisingly painted in red but they made lines on Chase’s skin. The ghost then smelled something delicious. It was Chase’s blood. It was dripping from his lips. She licked his blood and seemed to enjoy every drop of it. Then only Chase knew she was not a fake.
“Your blood. So rare, so scrumptious and sweet! I haven’t had any since-forever! And now, nothing can stop me from consuming you!”
Chase had an idea that was crazy but was wise enough to save his life.
“Wait! I’ll make you a deal!”
“And why young man should you deserve one?”
“Because a dying person gets to make a final wish right? I have something to offer.”
For a moment, Chase was bedazzled by the look of the ghost. She seemed tired and gloomy but insanely beautiful at the same time. She was young and sweet beside the fangs. He was lost in her weak eyes.
“You said that my blood is rare and super yummy right?”
He seemed to swallow his own words. She was studying his neck to find the perfect spot to take her first bite.
“I bet you-you would want to drink-or eat- my blood everytime for a long period of time don’t you? You see, when you find something so extraordinary you could find it nowhere else, you would want them to stay for a long time right? Just like women are obsessed with staying young and beautiful, it would be such a waste for you to only taste me once. That’s not fair, right? Let me live for a period of time, until you get bored with me, and then you can kill me!”
“I do not trust humans, especially young ones.”
“But you can trust me. I might not be noble, rich or confident but I am an honest person. Take a look at the badges. I got them from work. Each badge shows how much I am a trusted employee and thus proving that I can be trusted. Every weekend, I could have robbed Mr. Mason right from his cashier and he would suspect nothing at all but I didn’t. I wouldn’t. Why? Because I am truthful.”
“You are bold, you can take that credit but I still have my doubts. Why would you waste your life for this deal? You could just walk out of my mansion and can never be found ever again. No mortals would negotiate their soul!”
“Look! Look at my right hand. There’s a scar. I’ve tried to kill myself last week but I failed to take my own life. I’m not smart, athletic or strong. I have no future in this world! I’ve realised that there are some things in life that I wanna do before I die. And I’m sure that I do not want to live after high school only to fail. Give me a month and take my life then. You can eat my entire body! No one would care. Heck, no policeman would bother himself to look for me. I’m no one! Nobody! So please, I beg you. And in the meantime, I could be your servant or something to repay for your kindness. But please don’t ask me to find a victim for you. I don’t think I could do that. But other than that, I’ll do anything...”
He dropped his body to the floor and bowed at her feet. It had been long since the Vampiress had that kind of respect. She kept looking at his badges, his scar and eyes to see honesty. She found no lies in those three things.
“Twice a week I get my ‘dinner’. You must live here and be in charge of the mansion. Keep away visitors and stay away from my coffin. You are to leave only with my permission.”
“But what about school?”
“You have to prove your words worthy before I could give you my trust.”
She snapped her fingers and the furniture suddenly appeared. The hall was empty before but now they were full with decorations. It didn’t seem like a vampire’s lair at all. It would have been nicer if there was any sun light in the house. Chase knew what he had to do. He had to prove his words true. He took of his pizza hat and unbuttoned his shirt.
“Please, not on the couch! Upstairs.”
She led him into her bedroom and she pushed him hard on the bed.
“Hold on tight. This will hurt!”
When the fangs got through to Chase’s veins, it hurt like his skin was ripped out by a fork. Slowly, Chase blacked out.
***
