I didn't want to go out again, for fear of another weird encounter with Mom, but I didn't really want to do anything else either. So I slept.

If I had any dreams, I don't remember them. I woke up again around 10, checked my phone for notifications, watched a YouTube video, then went back to sleep.

That time, though my dream was so odd I don't think I can forget it.

I was in a dark room. I couldn't see anyone, but I knew I wasn't alone. For some reason, I just started talking. I told the person about what I'd seen, how unbelievable it was, how worried I was that he was still after me.

The person was quiet for a bit. Then, they said something.

I woke up right then, my cheeks hurting. I realized I was grinning, though I wasn't at all sure why. I tried desperately to remember the person in my dream, what they had said. But it had slipped right past me.

I couldn't go to sleep again after that. I just sat there. I checked socials, YouTube, read a book, all to distract me from earlier. None of it worked.

Eventually, I just sort of sat there. I didn't want to go leave my room, much less leave the house. So I stayed in my room the rest of the day, trying to convince myself that what I'd seen was a lie, that my mind was playing tricks on me.

I looked up a thousand reasons vampires couldn't exist. I chalked it up to second hand weed inhalation. I came up with a thousand reasons that I couldn't have seen what I knew I had seen. Every single piece of evidence I found for vampires being fake made perfect sense. I couldn't have seen one. Blood wasn't black, so that person must not have died. Maybe I saw someone spill oil. Maybe they were wearing contacts.

I must have gone a little crazy in that room by myself, because I actually started to believe myself.

At around 6 o' clock, I had thoroughly deluded myself.

I felt happy for the first time all day. I mean, deep down I knew it wasn't real, but right then, I didn't care. I'd escaped the monsters because there were no monsters.

I leapt out of bed, swinging open the door to my room. Mom, who had been sleeping on the couch, jumped up in surprise.

"Oh! Blythe! My daughter! Hey!" She said, blinking rapidly at me.

I noticed the slur in her words. I noticed the half full bottle next to her. I noticed how she had trouble rolling herself off the couch.

I felt the distress coming back, rushing in from the back of my head. I felt the anger, the fear. So I told myself that the bottle was filled with water. She was just tired, and didn't want to get off the couch. The happiness came back.

"Hiya, Mom! How are you?" I asked, nearly skipping my way to the couch. From the floor, Mom grinned at me.

"I....I am good. Very, veeeery good. Are you good, Blythe? I..." She trailed off. I laughed, because my mother was speaking strangely as a joke.

"That's good! I'm so sorry I worried you this morning. I don't know what I was thinking, barging in like that," I said, shaking my head.

"Oh, hush hush hush Bl," she paused as if trying to remember my name, "Bye-thee. Your little old dad used to do the saame thing."

My dad? My heart sped up a little.

"He...he did?" I asked quietly. Mom clapped a hand over her mouth. She rolled further away from the couch, catching lint from the floor all over her long hair.

"Oh noO! I wasn't supposed to tell! He said...he said not to tell!" She whispered.

"Who said?!" I nearly yelled. But she just shook her head, putting a finger to her lips.

"You...look just like him sometimes," Mom whispered, so low that I almost didn't hear it. Then she passed out.

I sighed. By this point, my illusion had thoroughly been shattered. It was better to live in reality, anyway.

I hefted her dead weight back onto the couch, then pulled a nearby blanket onto her. I didn't feel like carrying her back to her room, so she'd just have to sleep there.

Suddenly worn out, I instinctively walked to the front door, to get some fresh air. I considered not going out, just in case. But by that point, I just didn't care very much. Besides, I'd already escaped the monster once. I could do it again, if I had to.

I stood outside for a while, shivering slightly. With all the time I'd spent in my room, the cold was actually a welcome change. I gazed at the sky for a while. There weren't any stars visible-damn light pollution. But I saw the occasional airplane, and I imagined the blinking lights were twinkling stars. Sad, maybe, but I was alright.

I sighed. I was alright. Whatever had happened earlier, whatever I had or hadn't seen, it was gone. Just a weird little story to tell all the friends I'd make in the future.

I sat down in front of my building, leaning my head against the cool brick. I tried to make constellations out of my plane-stars, but they were too infrequent for anything good. I chuckled a bit at the ridiculousness of it all.

"What are we laughing at?" A voice said. I jumped.

There was a figure sitting right beside me.