by David Weaver
Swish!
What in the world? He was baffled. He turned around and saw a girl in his backyard dribbling the basketball and smiling.
“Were you looking for this?”
She shot another jump shot. Swish!
Marvin climbed back across the fence and into his backyard, shocked and confused.
Swish! She was making herself at home in his backyard, and on his basketball court. He was momentarily angry, but he figured if his next door neighbor was a decent basketball player, he could at least get a good game in every now and then. Normally he just played against a set of invisible players. He stepped across the court and approached her.
“I guess you must be the new girl…”
“Can’t get anything past you, huh? I do have a name you know…”
“What is your name then?” He said to her absentmindedly.
She giggled. “You already know my name, so tell me yours!”
Swish! The girl continued to bury her jump shots. She hit nothing but net every time she shot.
“You don’t know if I know your name or not!” Marvin said in a defensive tone.
The girl chuckled to herself as she dribbled the ball around her back and between her legs. She handled the ball like she was a professional and shot it even better.
“Where did you learn how to shoot like that?” Marvin asked her with genuine curiosity.
She laughed again as she passed Marvin the basketball.
“I had a lottt of practice… now tell me your name.”
He shot the ball and watched it bank in off of the backboard.
“My name is Marvin… I met your mother and father earlier, but where were you?”
Bristol frowned as if she was trying to remember something, then a dazzling smile exploded on her face without warning.
“Oh! I was getting some rest, we had such a long drive from Wisconsin!”
He passed the ball back to her and she caught it with one hand.
“Hey… you got a lot of game for a girl! Are you playing on the team this year? You’d be the MVP!”
She dribbled the ball rapidly, from one hand to the other, until she made her way up to Marvin. She looked in his eyes briefly, then pulled up and hit another jump shot.
“No, I’m not playing basketball for the school, I’ve won enough awards to last me 100 lifetimes.”
Marvin smirked. “You’re arrogant huh?”
Bristol gave an insulted look and shook her head. She went and sat on top of Marvin’s outdoor table and watched Marvin continue his jump shooting routine. After about ten minutes, Marvin took a break and went to sit beside her.
“Your parents won’t be mad at you for being outside so late will they? And on top of that, you’re at a boy’s house, so…”
Bristol was gazing at the trees in silence, as if she saw something that only she could see. She was in a trance, almost like she was watching a movie; but Marvin was feeling like she was the actor. He was looking in the same direction and didn’t see a thing. He shook his head and looked at her curiously.
“No Marvin… they don’t care. Besides, I’ll be 18 years old in 5 months. I’ll be grown!”
Marvin jumped up.
“5 months? That’s when I turn 18!”
Bristol looked at him and smiled. “Maybe we can have a party together?”
Marvin shook his head. “I can’t have a party with some girl! That would never be a cool thing to do.”
Bristol gently jabbed Marvin on his arm.
“I’m not just some girl! I’m your next door neighbor, Bristol, and I could beat you in basketball without letting you score a point!”
Marvin dismissed her last statement and glanced at his cheap plastic watch.
“Well Bristol, it’s getting late; so I’m about to go clean up and get ready for bed. You better do the same thing if you’re going to attend school tomorrow.”
Bristol got up and stretched. “You’re right Marvin. Thanks. I am a little bit tired, I could use some more rest.”
She turned to leave, but Marvin stopped her. “Hey! How did you get my basketball and make it over the fence while I was climbing it without me noticing?”
Bristol gave him her most engaging smile. Then, with a big grin on her face, she said, “I jumped over it!”
“Jumped over what? The basketball?”
She chuckled again. “No… I jumped over the fence.”
Imagine that! A girl had the nerve to tell me that she jumped over a 7 foot fence. Craziness.
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CHAPTER 2
It was 11:15 P.M. and Marvin had showered and laid his school clothes out for the following day. His wardrobe wasn’t that extensive and certainly wasn’t expensive. Most of the items in his closet came from Target, but he did his best to make his clothes look presentable.
He picked up his Scooby Doo telephone and called his friend, Patrick.
Patrick and Marvin had been best friends for the past 5 years and had the same goals and aspirations; to get their family out of the struggle. Patrick picked up on the first ring and spoke in a whisper.
“Whassup Marv?”
“What’s up Pat? What’s going on with you? I know you’re not sleep?”
“Naw, I’m not sleep… I’m just over here relaxing.”
“You can’t relax without whispering on the telephone?” Marvin asked in an exasperated tone.
Patrick started laughing.
“Yo… that’s not funny at all Pat… that sounds gay for you to be whispering on the phone like that.”
Patrick started laughing even harder. “I have to whisper Marvin… I got Lucy over here sleep.”
“Lucy who?!” Marvin was astonished that his friend had been able to get a girlfriend before him when Patrick didn’t even play sports.
Patrick whispered, “Lucy Pellino. You know… the cheerleader?”
“Oh my… goodness… Lucy is the head cheerleader and she’s the finest girl in the entire school! How did you manage to pull that off?”
“I’ll have to tell you about it another time Marvin, but for now; just imagine me laying up with the most beautiful brunette Spanish girl you’ve ever laid eyes on.”
Marvin stood up and started walking back and forth. If this information was true, it would mean that he was one of the only seniors left in high school who didn’t have a girlfriend.
Even though he was a starter on the basketball team, he wasn’t even as popular as the guys on the bench.
“Don’t worry though Marv, you know Lucy is the leader of the Glossy Club. I can put in a word for you and get you hooked up with one of her members. All those girls… I can probably get you hooked up with that beautiful mixed girl Jazzebelle. Or Lucy’s best friend, Allison the blonde.”
“Dang, you’d do that for me?” Marvin asked, impressed that his friend would think to include him.
“Man you know I got you. I’ll talk to her and see what’s up.”
Marvin couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks man… you’re a real friend.”
“Oh, don’t mention it, that’s what friends are for. Seen-your class!”
“Hahaha! Seen-YOUR class! All day man.. all day… Oh! Before I forget… man we got some new neighbors today.”
Patrick stood up.
“New neighbors? Somebody moved into Mr. Matthew’s old haunted house?”
“Yep, the Frost family moved in today. They’re from Wisconsin. Eric, Susan, and their 17 year old daughter Bristol.”
This piqued Patrick’s interest. He was no longer whispering, he was talking with full volume now.
“17 year old daughter? What does this Bristol chick look like?”
Marvin glanced out of his window and saw Bristol standing there staring at him. But when he blinked his eyes rapidly and refocused, she was gone.
“Uhhh... uhhh… dang… I must be seeing things… O.K., you say what does she look like?” Marvin was mumbling absentmindedly as he looked righ
t and left trying to see if Bristol was really outside or not. Then he saw a plastic white grocery bag blowing across the yard and exhaled.
He figured that the grocery bag was what he saw and not Bristol.
“Oh… ummm...”
Patrick was starting to get impatient and was speaking with borderline irritation in his voice. “Marvin! What is wrong with you?! You just saw a ghost or something? What does Bristol look like!?”
Marvin rubbed his eyes and sat down on his bed. “Naw Pat, I was just getting a little tired, that’s all. But yea… she looked good! She’s pretty… you know the typical... the tv star /supermodel look.”
“Supermodel? Your neighbor is a supermodel!!?”
Marvin frowned as if Patrick could see him over the phone.
“I said, she looks like a supermodel Patrick. Looks like one.”
“What’s the difference?” Patrick was getting excited about a new supermodel look alike being Marvin’s neighbor. “Hey Marv, you need to get to that girl before someone else gets her man. You know fresh meat doesn’t last long around Cedar Hill’s vultures.”
Marvin shook his head and sighed. “Even if she did become my girlfriend, once she realizes I’m not that popular, she’s going to dump me. So… I think I’ll just save myself the embarrassment. You know?”
“No I don’t know! Your self esteem is a problem Marvin. You need to work on that!”
“Hey, I think I hear my Mom calling me man. I’ll talk to you later.”
Patrick exhaled noisily. “Your mother works the late shift with my mom man. So there is no way she is calling you when she just picked up my mom a few minutes ago-”
Dial Tone.
Marvin had to hang up on Patrick to prevent him from giving him one of his long lectures. He hated doing that to his friend, but he didn’t need help with his self-esteem. It wasn’t his opinion of himself that was unpopular; it was everyone else’s opinion.
He walked over to his desk to check and make sure all of his homework was done. He had developed a habit lately of skipping questions and forgetting to come back and answer them. He knew that if he wanted to make it to the NBA, he first needed to make it to college. And no college was going to give him a scholarship if he couldn’t pass high school.
After double checking, he secured the clasp on his notebook and turned off the lights. The full moon’s shadow illuminated the room through Marvin’s window, even though the moon itself wasn’t visible.
The tall pine trees obstructed Marvin’s view as he lay in the bed and stared. He thought about how it must feel to be a tree, to only have the lifelong responsibility of growing tall to provide shade.
He then thought about his strange new neighbor. She was indeed beautiful, smart, and talented, which meant that she would instantly be one of the most popular girls in the high school. Girls that perfect never had time for dudes like him, he thought as he finally dozed off to sleep.
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CHAPTER 3
The Frosts were a family of vampires labeled as Aslaric. The Aslaric vampires had been around for a few thousand years, and were an evolution of the traditional vampire. Over the course of history, the traditional vampires had been dodging sunlight, crosses, garlic, holy water, and potential captors.
The Aslaric vampires had corrected DNA strands and the elements that were a threat to the traditional vampire didn’t affect them. They could withstand up to 9 hours of sunlight before their skin started to burn. Aslarics still required the vital life energy from blood, but only needed it twice a week to survive.
They could drink a pint of blood from a person without killing or harming them... unless they got carried away.
This was part of the reason that the Frosts had picked up and relocated to Cedar Hills, GA.
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After Eric Frost had been exposed to sunlight for 10 hours one day, his throat and entire body felt as if it was on fire. He was living under the name of Randy Sanchez and was working as a construction worker.
After his 8 hour shift was over, he immediately dropped his tools, ready to head home. It was bad enough that he had to be in the sunlight 2 hours before he started working that day. When he turned to leave, his boss was standing in his path, fuming.
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
Eric hadn’t fed in four days and the extended exposure to sunlight was making him weaker and weaker.
“I’m going home. You know I never work overtime sir.”
His boss was not an understanding man. “But I told you that I needed you to work overtime today, so if you don’t do it, you can forget about coming back to work for this company ever again pal!”
At first Eric was relieved. He didn’t need the job to support his family, because he had been saving money and investing for 242 years and had millions of dollars in assets. The only reason he worked was so that he could blend in with society.
“Well that’s fine sir, I will just leave now.”
But the boss took it a step further. “And… I will call the cops and tell them that you’re in the United States without a green card. You’re an illegal immigrant!”
Even though it wasn’t true, it was what he had told his boss when he was asked for identification. Eric knew he couldn’t afford to bring attention to himself and his family, so he did what he had to do to keep them protected.
Susan and Bristol were the loves of his life, the only reason for him to look forward to living even after hundreds of years. The only instinct he had at the time was to protect them. So, he drained his boss like a bathtub, drained him until his heart started sputtering like a lawn mower running out of gas.
When that lawn mower stopped working, only then did he stop feeding.
************************************
It was midnight and the Frosts were wide awake watching the Health Channel. A doctor was performing open-heart surgery on TV, and for the Frosts, it was like watching a cooking show. Eric and Susan were salivating, but Bristol was disgusted.
She had been a vampire for as long as she could remember, and now over 200 years later, she was sick of it. She despised herself because she couldn’t grow old, couldn’t have kids, couldn’t get married, couldn’t have sex or fall in love; couldn’t be human.
“Mom,” she said in her most innocent voice, “what does it feel like to be in love?”
Susan and Eric both had disturbed looks on their faces. Eric said, “I’ll handle this Susan.”
He turned the television off and stood up in front of Bristol.
“Don’t even think about trying to fall in love! You must remember the promise we made to our Lord Aslar! He promised us eternal life and immortality if you remained a virgin in body and spirit for 225 years!
He promised us protection! He promised that we’ll be able to bear children forever! And you promised him that you would sacrifice yourself for this family! You told Lord Aslar that you would save yourself in purity only for him.
Bristol, we only have five more years to go sweetheart, so just hold on. You’ve done so much for our family, and we will be forever proud of you. We love you and you love your family… Is that not good enough?”
Eric went and sat down beside his daughter and held her hand. “Is our love not enough Bristol?”
Bristol looked away quickly, and then gathered herself. “Yes father, my family’s love is all that I need.”
She squeezed Eric’s hand and smiled at her mother. A sense of reassurance entered the home immediately.
Bristol loved her parents dearly and never wanted to hurt them, so she just accepted whatever decisions they made. She knew how bad her father wanted to remain immortal; so she had refrained from being in love to keep her promise.
************************************
Eric relocated his family fairly often, and that helped Bristol avoid a lot of temptation. His philosophy was that if he never gave her a chance to get to k
now anyone, then she wouldn’t get attached.
They had lived in France in the early 1900s. While there, a gentleman by the name of Garciss Noviux had attempted for three days to charm Bristol. The young man was pursuing her with a stubborn passion; and with a few more weeks of consistency, he probably would have succeeded in winning her heart.
The last time the romantic gentleman was seen, he was walking to the Frost’s house carrying a bouquet of roses. That was, coincidentally; also the last day that the Frosts spent living in France. Eric vowed never to move them back there, for it was like an emotional landmine waiting to go off.
He kept Bristol in India for a while, then Mexico, but for the last 5 years; he wanted her in the United States so that they could re-unite with Lord Aslar when he returned. Just a few more years to go and it would finally be over. Bristol would be with Lord Aslar, and they would be immortal.
He had been planning this moment for centuries, and he would kill anything or anyone who dared get in the way of what he perceived as their destiny. There was no room for errors at the end of such a time consuming journey.
After over 200 years of careful thought, he had specifically chosen to move his family into a black neighborhood because he knew that Bristol wouldn’t be attracted to blacks. Yes, he thought, these last 5 years will roll along very smooth.
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Bristol sat in her room all night thinking about the “gifts” that she had been cursed with for over 200 years. Her strength was phenomenal; she could lift the entire front end of a car off of the ground by exerting just a little effort.
Her sight was virtually microscopic. The longer she stared at things, the deeper her vision zoomed. If she stared into the kitchen sink for 3 minutes, she could detect things moving around that even the strongest microscope could never pick up.
In basketball, she could hit a shot from the next city over with her eyes closed. She could hit a full court shot with her back turned by looking at the rim in the mirror. A shot like the one her new neighbor was practicing earlier was way too easy.