Beautiful Nightmare

• Gabrielle Medina, Grade 7, Catholic Regional College
• Short Story
• 2016

Finalist in the 'Word Zone 2016' competition

Icicles dangled from tree branches, shining brightly in the moonlight. Treading across the snow covered grass, something felt... off. I ignored the feeling, for I wished to explore this newfound, alluring surrounding. As I ventured deeper into Central Park, the city lights faded away into the distance.
I stepped into a lush green clearing with flowers of every colour, each with their own irresistible aroma... Something was amiss again. I stood there dumbstruck rattling my brain, and questioning it.
Then it clicked.
I'd just walked from a winter wonderland, into a lavish green meadow. Either global warming was worse than I thought or... Well I don't know. 'Twas a mystery. I crept silently through the glades, scrupulously observing every detail. The beauty was surreal, unnatural. I bent down and picked up a blue flower with white spots on it, and placed it in my pocket. A reminder that all was not as it seemed.
Roaming around in park at twilight, I felt vulnerable, and lonesome. I turned around quickly, for a sixth sense warned me. There, standing in the shadows was the palest girl I'd ever laid my eyes on. Her eyes glinted red. Just for a split second. I would've dismissed it as a trick of the light, but once bitten, twice shy. "Hullo," she said quietly. I flinched at the sound of her voice. I regarded her warily. I glanced quickly at the blue flower. All was not as it seemed.
There was a strange look in her eyes. She stepped closer, out of the shadows and into the moonlight. I gaped at her. Like everything in this world, she was beautiful. Inhumanly so. She smiled, yet it looked more like a predator baring its teeth to its prey. Her teeth where outrageously white, and her hair was blacker than darkness itself.
Then her transformation began. She bared her teeth, and her fangs grew larger, sharper, and deadlier. Wow. Shocker.
"Boo!" she hissed. I instantly took flight, and ran for my life. Through the park. I turned around. That was a mistake. I slipped over an icy puddle, and landed in a pile of snow. She stopped slowly. I shrank away, and covered my face.
As I turned away, I realised that the sun was rising... I heard a moaning, hissy sound from the vampire. She leered at me. "You, my girl will make a tasty m-" she began, but then she began breathing heavily. She glared daggers at me. "The light! It burns!" she hissed.
I awoke in a cold sweat. The sunlight softly filtered through my curtains, waking me up. My mother walked into the room alarmed. "Are you alright? I heard you scream... bad dream?" she inquired. It was unlike her to ask... "Actually... It was more like a beautiful nightmare." I averted my eyes, and there on my windowsill, was a white spotted blue flower. I felt a deep sense of dread, and Déjà vu. All was not as it seemed.