Lilly and the Vampire

Word count: 1,228

Lilly sat in the swing on her front porch watching the empty house next door. For the past thirty day, she had sat in the same spot from sunup to sundown, getting up only as nature demanded and returning as quickly as possible to the porch swing. Everyday for the past month, she had watched the neighborhood cats and dogs do their business in the yard next door. She had watched the Osol twins break the windows each morning and the Mrs. Carson, the Realtor listing the house, replace the windows every afternoon. Whenever, Mrs. Carson ask who broke the windows, she smiled sweetly and pointed to the empty lot across the street where the neighborhood children always played baseball. Lilly had no intention of pissing the Osol brothers off by informing on them.

Why Lilly's mother had named her after one of the most beautiful flowers on Earth, no one could understand. With her brown hair, brown eyes, and splotchy complexion, Lilly resembled a cattail more then an exquisite white blossom. Not that she was ugly, everyone in Oak Meadows described her as plain, ordinary, or unremarkable, but they never said her looks were unpleasant. Sometimes they described her as slow, but that was before they talked to her and realized, that despite the fact that she was extremely shy, she was well informed and highly intelligent.

Rose Nelson, Lilly's mother, stood inside the front door watching her daughter swing back and forth. The frown on her face deepen as she turned around and walked to the couch. Sitting down beside her husband, she took the remote control from his hand and turned off the television. Then she pushed the remote under the couch so that he would have to off the couch, move the coffee table, and get down on the floor to retrieve the remote.

"Rose," he growled, "why don't you just say you want to talk to me instead of hiding the remote?"

"Because, Harvey," she glared at him, "you won't listen to me as long as that idiot box is on."

"What do you want talk about," he took a sip of his beer.

"I think we need to make an appointment for Lilly with a specialist."

"Why?"

"Because it's not normal for a twenty-one year old girl to sit and stare at an empty house all day."

"Rose," he took another sip of his beer. "She doesn't sit there all day, sometimes she gets up and goes to the..."

"Harvey, you know what I mean," she picked up can of soda off the coffee table and took a sip. "Ever Calvin Parker's funeral, Lilly has been sitting in that swing staring at that house." She took another sip of soda, "I'd almost swear she was in mourning."

"For who," he finish his beer and slammed the bottle down on the coffee table. "Calvin Parker was my age and, I assure you, Rose, there was nothing going on between them." He glared at her, got up and stomped into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with another bottle of beer. "Where's that damn bottle opener," he felt around in the couch cushions.

"I'll get it for you, Harvey," sitting her soda on the coffee table she, got up and went into the kitchen. She returned ten minutes later with a tray of sandwiches, another soda, and a bottle opener. After placing the sandwiches on the table, she handed Harvey the opener and then sat down on the couch next to him.

"I suppose," he opened his beer and tossed the bottle cap at the coffee table. The cap slid across the table and then rolled under the television set. "You're going to make me stay in this living room without any entertainment until I agree to take our perfectly sane daughter to a psychiatrist."

"Harvey, I didn't say she was..."

"I'll tell you what, Rose," he picked up a sandwich, "I'll pay for the head doctor on one condition."

"What's that, Harvey?"

"That when you find out the only thing Lilly was doing in Calvin Parker's house was cleaning it," he grinned. "You promise not to let Gertrude the Gossip into this house for a full year."

"I promise," she pulled the remote from under the couch and handed it to Harvey. Then she got up and walked out the front door.

On the front porch, Rose stared in disbelief at the empty swing. Then she turned her gaze to the house next door. Parked in the driveway was a large moving van with sign on the side that read Giraffe Moving and Storage, no piece of furniture is too tall for us to move. Lilly stood beside the truck, watching two hefty men wearing giraffe spotted overalls unloading the truck.

I guess, Rose thought walking to the edge of the porch. I can wait until Lilly comes back home to tell her about the appointment. After all, she won't be seeing Dr. Jones until next Monday. As the sun set behind the distant mountains, she went back into the house.

Lilly watched transfixed, as the two men unloaded a large polished wooden coffin and carried it into the house. Next they unloaded two rooms of furniture, followed by several boxes marked kitchen utensils or cleaning supplies, which they carried into the house one box at a time. They finished about two hours after sunset and locked the front door. Then one of the men walked over to Lilly.

"Miss," he smiled, "could you give this key to Mr. Uh... What the hell was that old bastard's name?" He scratched his head. "Mr. Packer or Poker, something like that. I can't seem to remember the names of people who pay me in cash."

"That's all right, Sir," Lilly smiled and took the key. "I'll be glad to give Mr. Par... Uh, What's His Name the key."

The man got into the driver's side of the van and started the engine while his partner closed and locked the vans rear doors. When his partner got in and closed the door, he turned right out of the driveway. Lilly stood watching the vans' taillights until they were out of sight. Then she walked onto the porch of the Parker house and unlocked the door. Inside she flipped on a light switch and hurried to the coffin sitting in the middle of the living room. Tossing the keys onto a side table next to the couch, she struggled to open the coffin's heavy oak lid.

"Calvin," she said as the coffin's occupant sat up. "Are you all right?"

"As well as can be expected under the circumstances, Lilly," he got out of the coffin and looked around. "Why don't you unpack the kitchen items, while I take care of some personal business."

Outside, Calvin Parker went next door to the Nelsen house and looked in the front window. Harvey was asleep on the couch, while Rose was sitting next to him reading a magazine. Going onto the front porch, Calvin turn the door knob and found the door unlocked. Inside, he stood in the entrance hall watching as Rose's head nodded forward and the magazine fell onto the floor. Going to Rose, he sunk his teeth into her neck and drained her body of blood. Next he went to Harvey and did the same thing.