Vodka

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     Isaac was right- the people touring the campus did stare at him.
     Most of them obviously grew up here, since they had so much contempt towards someone like Isaac. The tour guide, however, acted much better. Hopefully the faculty were better than the students.
     Isaac took the scenic route home, which meant he had to pass by the mausoleum. He stopped walking once he saw a silhouette leaning against the concrete wall.
     "..Hello?" Isaac slowly took a step forward.
     "Oh! Hi." A familiar, calming voice replied to him, and the person stood up. It was Raymond. "How was the tour?"
     Isaac sighed in relief. "It had its ups and downs." He approached the mausoleum and leaned up against the wall with Raymond. "What are you doing here?"
     "Exploring. Oh, wait- I found something else." Raymond rushed inside and came out with a flimsy spiral notebook. He opened it to reveal a list of names written in perfect calligraphy, along with notes about each person. There were only about 30 names, but they all took up a lot of pages. Raymond flipped to the latest page.
     "Look. The latest names are Laura and Carrie. Like the initials on the bottles."
     Isaac furrowed his brow. "This is fucking weird, Ray. Do you..Do you think these people are dead? And that's why their blood is in these bottles?"
     "It'd be an inconvenient way to store blood if murder was taking place. Besides, we'd know about it by now, right?"
     Isaac nodded. "So what is it?"
     "A vampire. That's the only thing that makes sense, right? He's taking just the right amount of blood so the people aren't killed. A person only has, like, five liters of blood, but you could take about half a liter and there wouldn't be any effect."
     "You think all those bottles is about half a liter?"
     "Yeah. I think so. The only thing I can't get is this- how haven't these girls come across each other? Surely in a town this small they would be talking about being attacked by a vampire."
     Isaac paused. "Maybe they don't remember it," he said. "Vampires can hypnotize, right? Maybe the girls forget about it."
     Raymond's eyes became huge. "Shit, Isaac, you're right. Shit.." Raymond closed the notebook and went back inside. Isaac peeked through the doorway to see Raymond stuffing it under the mattress.
     "We have to tell the guys," Isaac suggested. Raymond quickly shook his head.
     "They'll think we wrote it. They'll think we're crazy." He bit his lip. "Don't say a word about it tonight, okay? We can show them the rest, but not this. This can be our investigation."
     Hesitantly, Isaac nodded.
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     Later, once it had gotten dark, Isaac saw a sudden orange flame shoot up from the middle of the forest. He ran outside towards the trees and found James, who was throwing logs into the fire.
     "Ah, it's Isaac." James smirked. "Where's Raymond? I thought you two were stuck to each other."
     Embarrassed, Isaac shrugged. "I think he's coming. He'll hear us."
     Andy was sitting on a log, watching in admiration as his brother fed the fire. He waved at Isaac and started picking at the grass below him. He had a small bottle of beer next to him that he hadn't even touched. James had already gone through a bottle and had many more waiting for him.
     "Hello!" A voice called out. Isaac turned to see Raymond running towards them, a few drinks in his hands.
"Hey, Ray." Isaac smiled, sat down on a log and patted the space beside him. Raymond sat down and opened a bottle of vodka. He gave his only bottle of beer to Isaac.
James finally sat by his brother and leaned slightly towards the fire. "So, Isaac, ready to get shitfaced?"
Isaac felt odd holding a drink in his hand. He wasn't supposed to have it. "Uh.." Slowly, he twisted open the cap. "Maybe not shitfaced." Slowly, he took a small sip and had to resist the urge to spit it out.
"That's not good," he mumbled, forcing it down and wiping his mouth. James chuckled.
"You hardly took a sip! C'mon!" Andy egged him on.
Isaac took a larger swig of the drink and tried to swallow it before he could taste it. He took a shaky breath and laughed awkwardly as the others cheered him on. He felt light headed.
"Your turn, Ray," James said. A flicker of worry flashed across Raymond's face.
"I-I've got some." He held up his bottle of vodka.
"Weak shit. Try some of Isaac's. Hard beer, that is."
"I can't," Raymond muttered. "The hard stuff messes with my liver."
"You're an English pussy. One sip isn't gonna kill you."
Raymond looked angry. "Fine." He snatched the drink out of Isaac's hands and started to chug. He turned the bottle upside down and drank without stopping until the whole thing was empty, then threw the bottle at the ground. He leaned over, his eyes closed and his hand shielding his mouth.
James looked surprised. "Damn, Ray. I didn't mean that much."
Raymond stood up and walked a few feet away, leaning against a tree. He doubled over and made an odd noise in his throat.
"Shit, man." Isaac got up and ran over to a now vomiting Raymond. He coughed and gasped and then coughed again.
"I'm fine," he whispered. "Go away."
Isaac looked down and saw that the majority of what he had coughed up was vodka, beer, and some sort of red liquid. "Are you coughing up blood?" He asked frantically. Raymond had said that alcohol messed with his liver, but it couldn't have done damage that fast, right?
Raymond finally stopped and sighed. "I had some wine before I came here," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Why? You don't need to be."
"Ray, are you alright?" Isaac heard James running up behind them. "I'm so sorry, man, I didn't think it would be that bad. I thought you were making excuses and I-"
"I'll be alright. You weren't in the wrong. I shouldn't have had that much; I did it out of spite." Raymond pushed away from the tree and started to walk away, his steps a little off balance.
"Shouldn't you go home and rest? That didn't look good." Isaac frowned.
"Don't smell my breath and then everything will be dandy." Raymond picked up his vodka and started drinking again, sitting cross legged on the grass. Isaac crouched down next to him.
"Please don't drink anymore," he whispered. "You just threw up."
"It's water." Raymond's voice was so quiet that only Isaac could hear. Isaac snickered and plopped down next to him, leaving James standing up with his mouth agape. Raymond turned to look at him.
"So," Raymond said, "do you want to continue?"

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