Vampire Blues

• Chloe Woods, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

Ashlyn sprinted down the hall and jumped on the handrail of the stairs.
‘Must not fall off,’ she thought, struggling to keep her balance down the spiralling staircase. Biting her lip in concentration, she reeled back in shock, remembering her fangs and fell down the remaining flight. She had been practicing for the last hour and had fallen off every time. She caught the scent of blood, turned the corner into the kitchen and ran into her father, the Count of Barwick Hall (or the Count for short).
‘Oh cheese…’ she thought. “Ashlyn!” her father roared, “What have I told you?” “Not to ride the handrail on the stairs…” Ashlyn whispered. “And what did you just do?” he yelled. “Broke the rules and rode the handrail…” she said quietly.
Her father frowned at her then brushed past her and stomped up the stairs.
‘Great,’ Ashlyn sighed, ‘I got into trouble with my father again.’ She ran up to her room and slammed the door. She collapsed onto her bed and her cat, Ace, jumped up beside her. She pulled her diary out from under her bed and opened it up. She grabbed her pen and started writing.
Dear Diary,
Finally rode the handrail, got in trouble again, no fresh blood, just the off stuff from last week. Even Ace gets the fresh stuff, but whenever I get in trouble, off blood. Anyway, this morning I taught Ace a new trick.
I taught him how to stalk last week and then today I taught him to pounce, he can do them together too. The Countess is calling for dinner.
Sincerely, Ashlyn Maria Barwick, third in line for the throne and third born Countess.
She ran downstairs and into the kitchen, knocking over the bowl of pasta sauce, slipping and running into the oven door (which thankfully was off).
“Ashlyn!” her mother and father screamed. She looked behind her and saw the pasta sauce was all over the floor. “I’m sorry!” she whispered.
“Sorry!” her father roared, “I’ll give you sorry, no dinner!” She walked back up to her room and shut the door. ‘Why?’ she asked, ‘Why do I keep making mistakes?’ She opened her diary. She looked at the first page. It said, Dear Diary, I am now starting a new life, no more mistakes, ever.
Then the rest of the page was blank. ‘No more mistakes…’ she thought.
“Ever!” she yelled.
Afterwards…
She listened to all of her parent’s rules and they even allowed her to ride the handrail after a year of good behaviour. She is now happy with Ace, the Count and the Countess. And she will be forever… And ever…