Howls in the Night

On one blustery October day, a moving van was seen in front of an old, abandoned house. Now, this house was going to need a lot of work as the windows were boarded up, the door was almost completely off its hinges, and the wood on the floor and porch were rotted through. It wouldn't support the weight of an adult. There were rumors about this house being haunted. Most people in this small town of Allyn avoided this house.

When a group of teenagers saw the moving van in front of the house, they were surprised and decided to do some investigating. They crept around to the back of the house and saw what looked like a coffin. They were starting to get spooked when, suddenly they heard a voice behind them, saying, "Kids, would you be able to help my friend get his stuff unloaded from the van? He is a little behind schedule."

Drew, the brown haired fifteen year old answered, " I guess we can help for a bit. Does your friend have a name, Mister?"

The man answered, "Yes, he does. His name is Count Barklett. He works the graveyard shift for a nursing home."

Drew and his friends quickly helped get Count Barklett's stuff unloaded. Once they got the coffin, they were surprised by how much it weighed. Before they could leave, Count Bartlett appeared from the stairway and said, "Thank you my young friends. I appreciate your help as I work at night. I hope you are ready for a good tim

e at the carnival coming up."

Count Barklett, was a tall, pale man with black hair, a black Cape, red shirt, and pointed fangs hanging out from his lips.

Drew, answered, "We are. Where did you come from? That's one interesting accent you have there."

Count Bartlett answered, "I have come from Romania. I moved here three years ago. I chose to move to Allyn because it has a historical meaning to me. You see I love history."

With that said, Drew and his friends excused themselves and left quite abruptly.

"Why do people always rush away like that," Count Bartlett muttered to himself, as he started organizing his new home, with the help of his servant, Fleabags. Fleabags was a short, sullen looking man with graying curly hair, who lived to do his master's bidding. He was able to bring his coffin upstairs to his bedroom, his boxes of books to his new library area, and started hanging up his pictures and important documents, including his death certificate from 300 years before the present day.

Meanwhile, Drew, his friends, Kate, and Zack stopped by the local ice cream shop and got three hot fudge sundaes while they talked about what they just experienced.

"There's something creepy about that Count Bartlett," Kate said. "Who buys a house that is ready to fall down? Did you see the pointed fangs that he has?

Zack added, "Unless they had plans to fix it up, or do something to the property, I don't know."

Drew said, "Seeing that coffin was creepy enough. But you add it to the old place that he's at, you have a scare king ready to go. I wonder if he's a vampire."

"A vampire," both Zach and Kate said at once.

Drew said, "Look, while we unloaded his moving truck, he wasn't going outside, second look at his appearance, fangs and all. Third, look at where he was standing. That floor would break apart if our parents tried helping him move in."

Both Kate and Zach looked at each other quietly, lost in thought.

The three friends finished their ice cream quietly, and left going to their own homes. Before they parted ways, they agreed to meet up the next day, Saturday, and do some research on vampires, just to be safe.

The next day, Kate went to the library and researched vampire legends while Drew and Zach spied on Count Barklett. They all agreed to meet up at the burger joint for lunch and to quietly discuss their findings.

Drew and Zach learned about wood stakes, garlic and sunlight destroying a vampire through Kate. Kate heard about the death certificate in the old home and about Fleabags.

Suddenly, two nurses came in talking. "It doesn't make sense. The two people who were admitted in the hospital had looks of terror on their faces and looked awfully pale," one said. The other replied, "I know. One had what looked like a scratch on her neck, the other had what looks like a dog bite on her leg. Hopefully its nothing serious. The full moon is tonight though."

As the three friends got up, they left quickly and knew if they said anything, they would be the laughingstock of the town. They agreed to go back to the library to research werewolves to be safe.

That evening, they decided to try investigating Count Barklett and Fleabags.

When the moon rose at 7:30 that evening, the three friends went back to the old, creepy house. When they arrived, they hid in the bushes and listened. Fleabags, very much a human stepped out into the moonlight and started to transform. His face became more wolf like, fur grew everywhere, and he grew. In a matter of minutes, they saw a fully grown werewolf standing just a few feet from them. It gave a blood chilling howl in the night. Drew pulled out his phone and took pictures of it. A second later, a bat flew down and transformed in a poof of smoke. Suddenly, Count Barklett stood there.

"Come, my friend, tonight we shall feast on this town. They are unsuspecting people here we can transform into our own kind," Count Barklett said to Fleabags, who nodded his agreement enthusiastically. With that, the two monsters were off.

Drew, Kate, and Zach ran as quickly as they could to see what they could find inside the house. They took pictures of everything to confirm their story to their families. All of a sudden, they heard a loud CREAK. The floorboards were creaking. Someone was coming. Scared, the three friends quickly and as spundlessly as possible ran into the nearest closet. They left the door open a crack and saw Fleabags and Count Barklett coming back.

"That was a great meal. What do you think, Fleabags," Count Barklett asked. Fleabags, patted his stomach in a satisfied way and nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Fleabags started sniffing around energetically and followed the scent part way to the closet when the first Ray's of dawn hit him and he transformed back to a human. Count Barklett stayed in the shadows and crept back to his coffin as quickly as possible.

Though tired, the three friends quickly ran out in fear. Once they got home they heard rumors of monster sightings and realized that they could confirm it to the authorities. There were twenty three people who were bitten and doctors didn't know what to do. Drew, Kate, and Zach decided to get some sleep before going to the police station with evidence.

A few hours later, once they had a few hours of sleep, the three friends went to the police station. Unfortunately, the police didn't believe what was being said. They dismissed it all as a practical joke. Feeling defeated, and not knowing what to do, they just went to their homes feeling a great despair. They didn't have any way to help protect themselves or their town.

Drew decided to try telling his parents. Though they normally believed him, Drew's parents thought he was coming up with a tall tale for attention.

"We met Count Barklett," his father said. "He is a great CNA at the Pine Falls nursing home."

However, on the news report that evening, the report was that many residents were being bitten and were suffering from a new disease that doctors had never seen before. From that point on, Drew, and his friends never went to the house that Count Barklett lived in again.