Chapter One
If you have ever heard of the town of Cama de Sol, it would be known to you that not a lot of people reside there. It would also be known to you that it is an island, just off the coast of Costa Rica. Only a few people have the desire to reside there, including Doctor Hanson on the north side with his wife Sue, and a retired army general deep inland named George. An older woman named Patricia and her orderly friend Linda, reside on the west side, close to a beautiful lagoon. The south side belongs to a very wealthy family with a grand estate and a boat dock. The inhabitants of that estate include my father and I.
My mother died when I was young, and it has been just me and my father ever since. Of course, Patricia Perrodon and Linda Livingston contributed greatly to filling in the role of my mother, but nonetheless it has been difficult. I never met my mother—she died while giving me life but not a day goes by where I don’t think of her. My father moved to the island of Cama de Sol where we now reside ever since her death to escape reality and start a new life for us; he was never good with dealing with his emotions. He got a job as a fisherman but since my mother’s family was very well-off, neither he nor I ever need to work; he just works to keep his mind off certain things and to feel important in the world. He feels as though money needs to be earned to be valued. Contrary to his belief however, my father buys me everything—clothes, jewelry, and recently, a new Kawasaki STX-15F jet ski. My father must think that spoiling me will fill the void of not having a mother in the picture, but I still feel emptiness, despite the fact that she died when I was only a little baby. Being an only child is nice, but it’s definitely lonely sometimes—actually make that all the time, especially since there are only 4 people who live close enough to socialize with. And none of those people are under the age of 50. Needless to say I have never really had a true friend my age—no play dates when I was younger, nothing—there’s no one to play with on an island. My father had homeschooled me with Ms. Perrodon all my life so I never experienced public school. So, material items have been filling that void as well. But at 17 I felt the need to have a friend more than ever before. I needed to know things—girl things—things that I felt weird asking Ms. Perrodon or Ms. Livingston. I needed someone to talk to and who could relate to me; someone who had answers to my lingering questions. The only other girl I could think of who fit closest to that description is somewhat of a joke—she’s not even real. When I was younger, I had a dream unlike any other; I had a dream of seeing a girl’s face, and she was very pretty. She was kneeling by my bedside, stroking my hair and kissed my forehead. I remember feeling very comforted, but only a moment after feeling that comfort I felt a sharp pain in my chest, almost like it was being stabbed. I remember awaking in a startle, crying out for my mother but only to have my father come charging in the room with a scared look on his face. When I told him my vision, he ensured me that it was only a dream and that everything’s okay. However I could not keep my eyes from darting back to the place where I saw the girl kneeling on my bed. I tried convincing myself that it was just a dream but something about it just seemed too real. Little did I know that even at age six I could be so aware..
Chapter Two
When I on the morning of July 8th, it was to my father saying he was heading out to go fishing. I never go with him on days when he has to fish but today was different. Originally, retired army General George’s niece was supposed to visit us on the island but suddenly fell sick and couldn’t make the trip. Needless to say I was disappointed at hearing the news but decided that I would accompany my father today to keep my mind off it. So, as the boat left the tiny dock on the south side of the island, I smiled as I felt the breeze in my blonde hair and the sun on my face. We were fishing for only an hour or so when the clouds came in and masked the sunlight. My father thought a storm may be coming in so we decided to head back to shore. But before we started the boat up again, I noticed something dark in the distance. It looked like a large piece of wood floating on the horizon. My father noticed it too, and we both decided to investigate. As we pulled the boat up to what seemed like driftwood, we suddenly realized that there was something on top of it—something that greatly resembled a person. And indeed it was a person. Laying there on the wood was a dark-haired girl, about my age with very pale skin. She seemed unconscious but when we brought her up on our boat she opened her eyes and immediately I recognized her face very well. This was the same girl I had seen in my dream long ago! We held contact for nearly a minute while my father checked her pulse and then she fell back into the unconscious. Her long black hair matted her porcelain face but I knew that I had seen this very same girl before. My father wrapped her in some spare towels we had on board and we started heading back to shore. I held her hand as my father drove the boat and stared at her—both perplexed and in awe. When we arrived at the dock the doctor was already there waiting for us, thanks to my father notifying him from his cell phone. We docked the boat and took her inside the house and up to one of our spare bedrooms where the doctor looked her over while I anxiously waited for her to wake up. It was only about three minutes until she moved her lips and mumbled something along the lines of “Where’s my mom?” My father looked at the doctor who said that we should just let her rest and warm up and that he would be back to check on her in the morning. He left the room and the girl mumbled the same thing again. My father had a grave look on his face and I asked him what was wrong. He explained to me that the driftwood the girl was laying on was actually a part of a boat—a small wooden boat—and that this girl may have been in a wreckage. He moved her thick, dark hair out of her eyes and asked her what her name was. The girl squinted up at us and answered with “Carmilla” but not before she began staring at me again. It was those eyes that had such intensity that scared me in my dream long ago; I could never forget those eyes. Before we could ask her any more questions she fell back asleep and my father decided that it was time to just let her rest. I asked him what was going to happen to her and he said that first we would try to find her family. Then I suggested that if we couldn’t find them, that maybe she could stay with us. My father’s face was aging and it was evident that he was considering what I was asking, but all he said to me was, “Let Carmilla get some sleep. We will see what she has to say in the morning. In the mean time, you have school work to do.” And with that we left the room and I attended to my homework. My brain couldn’t stop racing though; I knew I had seen her face somewhere before but was it real? Was this all real? I never really believed in ghosts and such but this was a face that I couldn’t get out of my head. And I wasn’t scared at all, if anything I was just confused and wanted to know the reason why I was seeing this girl again. But if I wanted to have anything answered, I would have to wait until the morning.
Chapter Three
The next morning couldn’t have arrived any slower. I woke up and immediately recalled the previous day’s events and jumped out of bed. I threw on my slippers and robe and hurriedly ran down the hallway to Carmilla’s room. When I opened the door, she was awake, sitting up in bed and staring at the wall. She heard me come in however because as soon as the door shut behind me she awoke from her daze and instead stared at me. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I sat down on the chair by her bed and told her how I recognized her. To my surprise, she smiled and told me she recognized me too, from a dream she also had when she was younger. I couldn’t believe the coincidence that we both shared together. I felt some sort of connection with her, and from the expression I saw on her face, so did she. That entire day I sat upstairs with her, asking her questions about her life and telling her answers about mine. She was from Costa Rica, and was vacationing with her mother and father off the coast in a sailboat when a storm hit. The storm, she recalled, was violent and tore apart their boat. She clung to a piece of wood from the boat to survive, and said that she was out there for two days before we found her. The emotion emitting from her eyes seemed so painful; it made me feel something for her, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was yet. It was almost like love—a mixture of sympathy and love. I never had a friend before, and having someone so unfortunate who, like me, lost family brought me closer to her. And something about her eyes—something about her deep dark brown eyes was almost intoxicating. She was so incredibly beautiful. From that point on we became extremely close friends; she helped me with my school work, and my father loved having her around because she would always help him gut his fish—she didn’t have a problem with blood like I did. He also took a liking to her because she had an extremely close resemblance to my mother. Even Ms. P and Ms. L approved of her, saying that they were so happy that I could finally have a friend to tell all of my secrets to. After all, I was seventeen years old and dying to relate to someone my own age. My father took me on vacations to other countries and such but still he always returned to Cama de Sol; he really never got over the death of my mother. But all of that didn’t matter now because I finally had everything that money couldn’t buy—a friend.
(Throughout the story, Laura and Carmilla become increasingly close, but Laura stays hesitant. She experiences nightmares and wakes up in the night from them. The nightmares get so bad that Laura’s father flies her out to Los Angeles to see a specialist. Carmilla grows upset that Laura is leaving and demands to go with. Laura’s father agrees, but takes note of her fondness for his daughter. He shuttles them out to the Costa Rican airport on his boat and returns home with concern on his mind for his daughter. Meanwhile, Carmilla convinces Laura to take a pit stop before the airport to her old home. Laura is hesitant at first but after seeing the pained look on Carmilla’s face she agrees. Carmilla brushes Laura’s hair out of her face and strokes her chin. Laura smiles half-heartedly and follows Carmilla down the dock where they got dropped off and finds the car Laura’s father called for them. Laura gets in first while the driver holds her door open for her. Carmilla gets in after, eyeing the driver with her piercing brown eyes. She requests that he drive her to her old house before the airport, for personal reasons. He agrees, frightened. While they drive down the busy Costa Rican street, Laura’s father has second thoughts. He turns the boat around while the day turns to dusk and calls the cab company to find out where the driver is. The company forwards his call to the cab driver and he answers, telling him where he is at with the girls: 10908 South Sand Bay Lane. Laura’s father asks him what he is doing there but before he can get an answer he hears a scream and the phone cuts out. He immediately becomes worried and with the dock on the horizon, speeds up. He dials the number for the police but the phone gets knocked out of his hand by a wave. Still, Laura’s father is on his way to get his daughter.)
Chapter Four
I trembled in the cab as I contemplated what just happened. Carmilla’s nails were halfway in our cab driver’s throat as we sat parked outside of her “house.” She lifted his neck up to her face and bit, hard into his flesh. I gagged at the sight of the blood and before I knew it, everything was fading to black but not before I saw her dark brown eyes almost smiling into mine with her face caked with blood. The next thing I knew I was awake in the dark in a place that smelled putrid. Where was I? Am I dreaming? Where’s Carmilla? Carmilla. All of a sudden the hair stood up on the back of my neck and tears started streaming down my face. I tried opening my mouth but was unsuccessful due to the duct tape covering it. I realized that my hands and feet were also bound and I couldn’t see a thing around me. Then I heard a laugh. It wasn’t a happy laugh, or a hearty laugh, it was a sinister laugh, and it came from right in front of me. I wildly looked around the black room and still couldn’t see anything. Then I heard another laugh, like the first one but much deeper, coming from the right side of me. And then another from my left. I could see them now—dark shadows advancing towards me from all directions. I screamed as best as I could with the duct tape on my mouth.
“No one’s going to hear you out here my darling,” I heard Carmilla’s voice; I could tell she was smiling. I screamed again and saw her eyes right in front of me; I could feel her breath on my chest.
“You see, I would have done this sooner but my family wanted to meet you,” she sneered. I was in total shock. This girl who I believed to be my friend was trying to kill me? How could this happen to me? I live on an island for crying out loud! There’s never any crime or violence there, how could she have found me? What made her choose me? A candle lit up to my right and so did one to my left. Soon the whole room was lit up and I couldn’t believe my eyes. About six people in long, black cloaks encircled me, staring and smiling. I gasped when I saw their teeth—filed canines made them look like vampires. Vampires, I laughed to myself. I read about those in fiction novels that my dad bought for me. We didn’t have television or radio or internet on the island but I still had my novels. Twilight was one of the novels I remembered reading. I thought to myself that these people must believe that they are vampires, because they can’t be real, can they?
“Oh Laura, why couldn’t you love me like I love you?” Carmilla sighed while stroking my cheek. She smiled and sighed and kissed my forehead before continuing with, “This is my family, and you could have joined us. But you couldn’t show me what I wanted most. I loved you Laura. Could you not see it? I want to know.” She ripped the duct tape off my mouth and glared into my eyes with hers. I was so scared that only a tiny squeak came out of my mouth. I managed to utter, “Who are you and why are you doing this to me?” She laughed and got really close to my face and said, “Because I want you. And if I can’t have you then I want your blood.” This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening! I was going to die like this—I was going to die from crazy people who believe they are vampires. Then it clicked in my head—this whole thing was a setup. From the moment we retrieved her off the driftwood it has all been planned. Why would she claim that she loved me? She barely even knew me!
All of a sudden my ears got really hot, and before I knew it I started yelling for help, and calling her names. No more than two seconds later the door busted open and my father along with several police officers came in with their weapons ordering everybody to get down on the ground. Now, I half expected these ‘vampires’ to start flying around biting everyone in the neck and sucking their blood but to my surprise they did exactly what they were told and surrendered—all except for Carmilla. When they came in she refused to get down on the ground, claiming that she was invincible and that her business wasn’t finished yet. She whipped her head around and snapped my neck back, sinking her filed canines into it. A second later I heard a loud pop, followed by several loud pops, and the pain in my neck subsided while her body fell down to the floor. My father ran over to me along with two police officers and made sure I was okay. I started crying while my father held me in his arms and the policeman called for an ambulance. My father hugged me and told me he had a bad gut feeling in his stomach and decided to come back for me.
Chapter Five
When the ambulance arrived, I was put on a gurney and wheeled out of the little house. As I was leaving, Carmilla’s lifeless body was being covered and everyone else was being arrested. At the hospital my wounds were patched up and the doctor said although I may have a scar, I’ll be alright after a few days on bed rest. My father stayed by my side for three days straight, breaking only to get food or use the bathroom. When I asked if those people were really vampires or not he responded with, “There’s no such thing as vampires, honey. I’m going to grab some coffee, I’ll be right back.” With that he smiled and walked out of the room. I sighed and closed my eyes. As I drifted off into a deep sleep I had my first dream in three days. It was a familiar dream, one I remembered from my childhood. I was about six years old, laying in my bed talking to a girl about my age. She had long, dark brown hair and skin like porcelain. She was sitting next to my bedside, holding my hand and stroking my hair out of my face. She whispered, “I love you Laura.” I whispered back, “I love you Carmilla.” Carmilla. I immediately awoke from my nightmare to find that I was still in the hospital room. I could hear nurses outside and nothing seemed strange so I relaxed a little. It was just a nightmare, I thought to myself. I went to itch my head when I saw that my hand had a red mark on it, and was strangely warm. My hair was pushed out of my eyes, like someone was stroking it. And there was a crease on my bed from where someone was sitting...
The end! Hope you liked it.
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