The Night the Vampires Came

I couldn't tell you my exact thoughts the day the Blight Rain came to Windflower Springs. I could tell you that as the sky turned grey and then black, like smoke from an invisible fire, that I thought of death. My failing heart ached in my chest. It always did that when I was scared. I knew we were all going to die that day. I knew it before the first drop of rain fell.

"Moth Street!" the bus driver yelled, interrupting my reverie. This wasn't my stop, but I grabbed my bag and ran for the door. I felt the fog coming like an ache in my chest. From the bus stop, I watched the bus slowly creep along, sputtering and groaning, past me. My house was at least twenty minutes away.

I snatched a plastic bag from a nearby garbage bin, wrapped it around my head, and started running in the direction of home. I wasn't supposed to run. But the rain was different this time. I knew it even before the puddles started to ripple black.

I made it to my house as the fog started to smother the streets. It was thick and dense as pea soup. I banged on our front door for a full minute before my ten-year-old sister, Grace, cracked it open. "Where were you, Snoria?"

"At school! Sure took you long enough to open the door, greaseball," I retorted. I stepped inside and tossed aside the wet plastic bag. "Where's maw?"

"Went to her room to lie down. She was in the rain, like you, but now she's not feeling so good." Something felt wrong. My heart continued to race. Thump, thump, thump. It was here. Something that wasn't here before.