Don't Scream (Original)

Chapter 1

"There you are, ma'am. Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday!" The cherubim cashier beamed at me before I returned her smile and took the small, pink bag from her outstretched hand.
"Thanks, you too!" I gave a small wave and headed towards the sliding glass doors, my hands full of the fruits of my shopping labor. The bitter cold momentarily took my breath away as I stepped out into the wintry night. Flecks of snow peppered my swirling, fiery hair, and I had to turn my head to keep it from blinding me while I tried to scan the semi-empty parking lot. When I had arrived at the Lexington Mall at six o'clock this evening, there was barely any room to walk. Now, nearly three hours later, the vast lot seemed like a ghost town of cars, with mine nowhere to be found. Cursing under my breath and tucking my head down towards my coat collar, I, Abigail Turner: Freezing Turtle, set off in the general direction of my phantom car. It wasn't long before I found the snow-covered black sedan and dropped my heavy bags. My numb fingers fumbled awkwardly in my purse for my keys, and after a few seconds of searching, closed around them. As I started to extract the keys from my purse, bright blue and pink lights began dancing from within it's depths and a loud jingle filled the air. My keys hit the snowy pavement with a soft 'plop' as I scrambled to reach my phone.
"H-Hello?" I said through chattering teeth.
"Abby? Honey? Where are you?" My mother's overly concerned voice was indicative of a stern lecture regarding communication when I returned home.
"Hey mom." I said. "I'm in the parking lot at Lexington's, and I'm-m coming home s-ss-soon." There was a pause on the other end.
"Oh. You've been shopping all this time?"
I rolled my frozen eyeballs. Of course I had been. Didn't she realize the holidays were closing in?
"Yeah, b-but I've gotta drive now, mom. See you when I get there. Bye!" I snapped my phone shut and shoved it back in my purse.

It didn't take long for the car to heat up, and soon the shopping bags and I were on our way to home, sweet, home.

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The snow had let up considerably as I turned into our driveway. I could see every window aglow from the inside of the two-story pink house I called home, and immediately felt a rush of begrudging anticipation come over me as I opened my car door. The wind was still blowing, and I involuntarily shivered. Our house was set way back from the driveway against a woodsy backdrop. I had parked in front of the detached garage, which housed my parents' SUV and was a good three hundred feet from the actual house. I grabbed my handful of shopping bags and kicked the car door shut. Whoever thought of making a garage so far away from a house in northern Idaho was crazy. I mean, in the winter, there was ice, several feet of snow, and... I stopped mid-thought as I glanced at my own two feet. I could have sworn I'd heard crunching other than my footsteps, but it could have just been the nice, thick layer of ice over the pack snow. Giggling at my paranoia, I trudged on. I had made it all of two feet when the deafening roar and flashing lights of a snow plow came around the corner and stunned me.
"Gah!" I turned my head and squeezed my eyes shut as I waited for the spray to pass. Once I was safe, I opened my eyes. Movement out of the corner of them made me whip my head around to the front of the drive, near where the road and our wooden picket fence met. Squinting, I saw what looked like a black blob... With a small white patch sticking off of it? Fear froze my heart and chilled my veins worse than any Idaho winter could. The bags dropped from my arms as my ears rang with hot blood flow. More white patches suddenly appeared on the black blob, but these had red on them. Time seemed to blur, as did the advancing vision before me, and then I screamed.

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"I didn't imagine it!" I yelled, staring wildly up at the faces towering over me. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but those things were drinking that woman's blood!"
At this outburst, my mother gave another wail of hopelessness and buried her pink face in my dad's shoulder, her blonde, curly bob shuddering up and down as her tiny body was wracked with sobs. Disgusted, I turned to look up at the wide, bespectacled face of my doctor.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Doctor Simmons, I know what I saw, and I know what attacked me! How do you explain these red marks!?" I pushed the sleeve of my hoodie up to my elbow and held out my arm. Doctor Simmons inclined his head ever so slightly, and I'm sure that if his nose wasn't so freakishly huge, his glasses would have fallen off. After gazing at a red patch of angry skin on the inside of my elbow, Doctor Simmons flicked his bored stare to me.
"Miss Turner, it's a red patch of skin. If a vampire had bitten you, wouldn't there be two little puncture holes?"
My jaw fell open in disbelief at his nasally, mocking words. Struggling to find speech, my eyes jumped from Doctor Simmons to my devastated parents, and back again.
"W-Well, why do I have them all over my body, then? Their fangs must not have left marks somehow."
Since that fateful night almost a week ago, when I'd witnessed that horrible murder, there had been a rash of red, circular spots on various points of my body; Mainly on my thighs, stomach, arms, and neck. I figured the vampires who tore that woman apart in my yard had fed off me and covered it up somehow. Doctor Simmons shook his head and scribbled something on a clipboard he'd been holding, then straightened his tall frame and turned to my parents.
"Mister and Mrs. Turner, if I could have a word with you out in the hall for a second."
My mom loosened her death grip of my dad's vest and turned to face the doctor, sniveling. With a nod, Doctor Simmons and my parents filed past me out of the counseling office, and my father looked down, his round, warm, face creasing in what I thought was a reassuring smile as he gave my shoulder a light squeeze.
Doctor Simmons closed the door all the way but I was still able to catch most of what he was saying. Leaning as close as I could to the door without falling out of my chair, I listened intently after pushing a piece of tangled, orange hair behind my ear.
"I mean, witnessing a brutal animal attack in her own front yard is no small thing. But..." Doctor Simmons paused. "I'm still quite concerned about how she's been handling this. It's been a week since the incident, yet she still screams out in her sleep--- Vampires are to blame. She even thinks the red, raw marks from her snow burns are bites."
I heard my mother give another sob, then the sound of my father patting her back. Scoffing, I rolled my eyes. The marks were not snow burns! Just because I had been knocked unconscious and was laying in the snow for about ten minutes didn't mean anything! Besides, I was wearing a thick coat. This was ridiculous! Doctor Simmons- and everybody else who I'd been in contact with since the incident- was treating me as if I was crazy! I had no real physical injuries, but as soon as it became apparent what I thought happened, the doctors at the hospital strongly suggested I go see a Psychiatrist in the behavioral building next door.
"And about Andrew..."
My mother wailed softly at Doctor Simmons' question, as her continued sobs were suddenly muffled, most likely by my dad's soaked vest. His mumbled voice was all I heard to indicate him answering the question.
"---We've never gotten over it, especially Abby."
The cream walls of the counseling room blurred, and I turned my teary eyes towards my lap. Andrew wasn't really a subject I cared to frequent.
"Yes, you told me." Doctor Simmons replied quietly after a pregnant pause. "Well, why I mentioned him is that in addition to her screaming nightly about vampires, she repeatedly mentions Andrew's name, and has those conversations with him... In her sleep." He finished, lamely. I wiped my tear-sodden eyes as I heard my mother gasp.
"I know. We had a feeling it was troubling, but until you showed concern, we never really gave it too much thought." Her high-pitched, mousey voice was thick with tears and revelation. "Ever since this October, she's been talking, yelling in her sleep... All the time about Andrew! She took his death hard, but I've never seen anything like this! She hardly ever gets any sleep, hardly eats... And since October, she's been losing weight and become more pale, and more withdrawn!" A fresh round of sobs burst forth from my mother as her confession hit the air. I glanced down at my ghostly arms. How my mother determined my increasing pallor was a mystery to me. I was naturally pale! So was my dad. Flaming orange hair, green eyes, sporadic freckles; They all fit in with my heritage! I mean,I even had a difficult time discerning if I was becoming darker or more pale. Doctor Simmons sighed just then.
"Well, Mister and Mrs. Turner. Given the events that have occurred of late, I feel it is my duty to recommend---"
The room seemed to close in on me and then disappear. The only sound I heard was my own frantic heartbeat and my parents' faraway voices. Just what was he recommending?
"So she'll be safe there, Dr. Simmons? And we can sort out the paperwork even after she's admitted?" My father's soft voice asked.
"Yes, she will get all the help, care, and attention she needs." Where?
"And you're sure this is best?" My mother sniffed.
"Yes, Mrs. Turner." For who?
Dr. Simmons and my parents came back into my room looking very sullen.
"What happened?" I didn't want to deliberate on what could have been said so I just cut straight to the chase. All three of them surrounded me like an intervention group or small pack of wild dogs. My survival instinct kicked in and I knew this wasn't good.
"Sweetheart, we're going to go fill out some paperwork and tomorrow you're going to go somewhere nice. We think all the stress and trauma you've suffered is finally manifesting itself, and it might be best for you to go get some rest and relaxation. Maybe it will help you feel better." My mother's tired, watery eyes looked down at me with such... Pity as she discussed my fate, I almost screamed.
"Wait, I'm going somewhere other than home? Why? I was only telling the truth, mom! Dad, are you seriously going to let her do this?" My voice kept going up and getting more shrill with each word, just as my adrenaline and heart rate started to race. I knew my wide eyes were also flickering wildly from the window across the room to my door, trying to gauge just how long it would take me to leap out of each one, and maybe this was unconsciously, but to avoid my dad's defeated expression. If my assumptions were correct, my parents and Doctor Simmons were thinking about sending me somewhere further away from the city and a bit more permanent. My mother threw her arms around me, her round, pink face shiny with tears and her loud, wailing sobs filling the room.
"We're so sorry, sweetie! We just don't want you to hurt yourself or anyone else!"
"Let GO of me!" I wrenched free from my hysterical mother and stood up fast. This couldn't be happening, it wouldn't be happening.
"Are you people NUTS!?" I screamed, standing up and pointing a vicious finger at calm Doctor Simmons. "That woman was killed by vampires! I SAW IT! I'm not going anywhere, let alone some freakin' mental hospital!" I wailed loudly.
"I'm afraid I have to insist, by any means possible. I think you are a danger to yourself and others right now, and going to get some help seems like the best course. Tonight you'll be staying the night in the hospital's locked ward, and tomorrow your parents can drive you to Brooks County." Doctor Simmons turned, picked up a phone on his desk, and paused a moment after pressing some buttons. "Yes, Jane? Can you send security to my office? I need to escort a patient to the main hospital. She'll be staying there tonight."
I thought about jumping on his back and attacking. But that might have made things a lot worse for me. I could feel my pulse pounding in my head as fresh tears cascaded down my cheeks.
"No!" I creaked out. "No, please! I'm fine! I just want to go home."
"Pumpkin..." My father tried to soothe me with his softest tone, but I was having none of it.
"You all are the crazy ones. This is a huge mistake, and you'll see that soon enough."
There was a knock on the office door just then, and Doctor Simmons brushed past me to open it. Without a word, I followed the two large security officers out into the hallway, followed by my parents and Doctor Simmons.