I caught a glimpse of Tyson moving down a hall and I followed slowly. I tried to look at the scar on his neck, wondering if he was also part of the legion of the undead, but then I stopped and shook my head.

Once again I was blowing this all out of proportion. My imagination was taking me on a long hard drag through the park and I needed to stop before I hit a rock, or something worse.

Tyson glanced back and forth before he slipped behind a door marked ‘employees only’.

I raised an eyebrow, now thoroughly invested. I hadn’t really expected anything, I was more curious where his parents were then anything else but now I was intrigued.

Okay so that has to suspicious enough right?

I followed him to the door and peeked my head into one of the main storage areas complete with towering shelves full of boxes of food and cans waiting to go on the store shelves.

One of the fluorescent lights chattered with electricity as it flickered on and off.

It felt like I had just walked into the scene of a terrifying horror movie. This definitely felt like the set up to a scene where the murderer jumps out from behind a pallet of cans and slashes or smashes the poor sap to death.

My feet picked up the pace and I trotted past the light.

Not today satan.

I noticed the freezer door was left a crack open and I moved over to where the cold air was pouring fourth and pushed it open wide enough to squeeze through.

There was someone digging through a carboard box behind two massive icy pallets and I leaned in and squinted my eyes denying the fact that glasses were inevitable in my future. I pushed up against a nearby stack of frozen ice cream and sucked in an icy breath as I slipped very ungracefully on a slick patch of ice.

“OOOF.” I grumped as I pumped up against one of the pallets, I tried to quickly regain my balance but that was a downhill battle I was bound to lose again.

My breath curled in front of me as I pulled a few loose strands of hair out of my eyes.

“Gaaahhhh!!!” A sad looking grocery boy cried out as he looked up, startled, from unpacking a crate of Happy Horse Triple Chunky Nutty Chocolate Trail Ice Cream (trying saying that five times fast). A carton flew out of his hand and landed inches away from my foot, rolling around in lopsided circles until it was stopped by another box.

“What are you doing back here?” He asked in a slow droopy kind of voice that did not match the surprised expression on his face.

“Shopping. What are you doing back here?” I asked trying to stay as cool as possible.

It wasn’t too hard to do that given the fact that it was like negative 5 degrees in the icebox.

“I’m unloading, and you can’t be back here!” He said straightening himself and reaching for the carton of dented ice cream.”

I had to think fast before I got into even more trouble.

I looked down at the ice-cream that had rolled out his hand and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, but I jusr looooveee Chocolate trail ice cream and I had to come back here to get some because you are all out up front.” I said reaching for the quart with what I hoped a was a sincere and equally distressed look on my face.

Truth be told I really hated Triple Chunky Nutty Chocolate Trail Ice Cream because, well, I hated chocolate in general, but it’s not like the grocery boy was any the wiser.

I shivered from the cold and proceeded to sneeze.

Tyson was nowhere to be seen and there was no reason for me to stay in this ice trap of death any longer.

“Well, bye.” I said waving my hand and dashing out, leaving the guy to wait for his brain to catch up and try and figure out what just happened.

As I turned to leave though I noticed that there was something red sitting at the bottom of the box he was unloading and I felt my heart race again as the gears in my imagination churned in overdrive.

That was not Happy Horse Triple Chunky Nutty Chocolate Trail Ice Cream. Everything else he had pulled out had a brown lid, but this was soft, roundish and red.

It almost looked like….

There’s no freaking way.

Was this whole building like a secret underground black market for vampire needs?

Something raced by just out of sight as I exited the freezer and I instinctually ducked and moved behind several boxes as I looked around trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed.

My hair was standing up on my arms as my body attempted to warm itself again.

There was something up about this back room that sent a chill up my spine. It was dark and creepy and the perfect place to keep the undead hidden.

Cue sleuthing music!

I crept around a pile of boxes and scanned the whole storage room before deciding it was once again all clear.

There was something fishy going on. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

I felt like buffy closing in on the prey, but truth be told I hadn’t exactly figured out what I was doing to do when I finally did discover the whole truth.

Something made a clattering noise nearby and dashed as fast as I could toward the commotion. I caught sight of a blond head bobbing up and down just above another pile of boxes.

Tyson.

A blonde-haired girl rounded the corner and dropped what looked like bags of blood onto the ground and screamed, startled, as we glared back at each other.

It wasn’t Tyson but this was good enough for me. Like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie car this vampire girl was so busted! And I finally proved everything right!

Vampires were real!

“What the heck are you going back here! I’m calling security!”

“I knew it!” I cried out “You’re a vampire and this is a black market for blood and whatever else you blood sucking creeps like to do! You will terrorize the human population no more!”

The girl seemed upset as she went from startled to angry.

“Freak! This is fake blood candy for the Halloween display, now get out before I drag the manager in here as well.”

Fake blood?

I reached down and picked up one of the bags and frowned. The sticker read ‘Dracula’s Fun Blood’ a realistic Halloween candy used for gags giggles and good times.

Oof.

I felt my face turn its own color of bright scarlet red as I set the bag down and frowned.

“Well then…” My heart was pounding from embarrassment and adrenalin and I shook my head as I placed the fake blood back into the pile the girl had dropped on the flood.

What was I thinking?

“Little punk.” The girl repeated as she reached for the nearest phone.

I knew better ten to stick around, I was already in enough trouble as it was.

“Yeah well it’s been fun but…I think I heard someone calling my name.” I put a hand to my ear as if pretending to listen. “Yeah that was definitely me so…bye!”

“Wait!” The worker was reaching out her hand while trying to dial security at the same time, but I knew better then to stick around.

Faster then a jackrabbit on steroids I darted out of the back room in search of my mother.

“Security back room. Security back room.” The girls voice blared over the intercom.

I raced down the isles just missed an old lady reaching for a can of prune juice and spotted my mom leaving one of the check stands. I also spotted Tyson heading out the front door by himself, sans shopping bag and narrowed my eyes at him.

Unfortunately, I was not paying attention as I came face to face with a front lobby display.

I hit the ground hard like a sack of potatoes and let out a high-pitched wheezing sound as my mom frowned, rolled her eyes and continued to walk out of the store as if we weren’t even related. I couldn’t blame her.

“That’s her.” The blonde girl from the back was dragging a very burly looking guard through the center aisle, headed straight for me as people began to stare.

There was an official looking worker that looked like he was packing several pillows in his gut headed my way from one of the cash registers. He reminded me of Whinny the pooh with his pasty skin and large belly, bald head and short stature. A gross scary version of Whinny the Pooh.

He wasn’t very happy looking either.

“Hey you! Stop!”

I quickly stood, attempted to gather my whit’s and dashed out the door after my mother as all three of my pursuers began to converge. I was in the van and we were driving away before I let out the breath I didn’t even know I had been holding.

“You seem on edge today. Is there something I should know about?” My mother asked, her intuition spot on. It was like she had some kind of super power or something.

My head hit the seat in front of me as I remembered I had to tell her about detention and my math class.

“Actually.” I stared, knowing there was no beating around the bush today. I just had to go straight for the kill, hook line and I was sunk.

I was internally screaming, my mind racing with questions as my imagination responded with the most outlandish answers.

So much for getting answers, I had more questions itching in the back of my mind and there was only one girl who could answer them all. Unfortunately, she also happened to be avoiding me lately and keeping all her secrets to herself.

What was really going on?

I sat back in my seat as my mother began a long lecture about focusing in school, not really paying attention as my mind centered around Eve.