--Chapter 3:--
Ellie woke up with a jolt in the middle of the night. Her room was dark, except for the neon luminance from her window, Dawn was the neon city at night, brightly lit, the stars seemed faint and far away. She looked at Skully, he seemed so peaceful, she couldn’t shake what happened at the manor. She slid off the bed and quietly went over to the window. Those fangs haunted her, she had never met a real life vampire before apart from Skully, she could see the hungry fangs ready to tear her apart as she closed her eyes
“Skully? Are you here?” She whispered gently to the skull.
“Of course I’m here where the fudge else would I be?” Skully answered very loudly.
Ellie giggled a bit, Skully was always so on edge.
“I had a horrible dream.” Ellie whispered as she slowly lifted Skully and carried him over to the bed. She let herself fall back on the bed, hugging Skully.
“I guess I got a bit scared at the manor, Mr. Fitz, his face just looked so scary back there.” She continued, letting out a big sigh as she held Skully up in the air, curiously examining his eye sockets.
“You should be scared, he is a vampire, isn’t this the kind of stuff I’m always warning you about?” Skully grumbled.
She sighed again and put him down on the bed.
“I just can’t shake the dream I had just now. I saw his face again, fangs out, eyes full of hunger as if all reason left him. I just couldn’t move. I was looking at him, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move, but then my body, it moved on its own. I was watching as I spoke with a different voice, and I couldn’t stop my body from moving, I just felt even more terrified.” Her lips quivered as she muttered the words, a lonely tear rolled down her cheek.
“I was trapped in my own body.” She whispered to Skully as she sat up and tucked her knees in under her chin. Skully felt bad, he had not told Ellie about him taking control of her body at the manor, and he didn’t really want to tell her, what good would it do anyway.
“Maybe you’re just overthinking. Remember, you’re ‘Adventure Ellie’, today was just another adventure right?” Skully added, trying to get her mind on different things.
“Tomorrow we will check out this map, right? That will be an adventure!” He exclaimed, trying to sound enthusiastic.
“You don’t have to pretend to be excited for me.” Ellie giggled quietly. “I will try to get some sleep now, good night Skully.” She whispered as she lied down, holding onto Skully tightly. “Good night Ellie.” He mumbled as he watched her falling asleep, worried about what tomorrow might bring. Why did he go and get her all excited about dangerous stuff, like the map.
The next morning Ellie had gone off to work, she was excited for her first day. It was not a fancy job, but it would take her all over the city, learning where all the roads and streets lead. After looking through probably a hundred jobs, and sending off a bunch of applications, Dawn Postal Service was her choice. The pay was ok, and they provided a bike.
“I will know Dawn inside out by the time I’m done working there.”. She had told Skully before she wandered off to work. She was a bit concerned about leaving Skully behind, but she couldn’t really bring along a vampire skull on her first day, she didn’t want to get fired or get into any trouble.
Skully felt quite annoyed, being left behind, alone in Ellie’s room. He could hear the white noise of the vacuum cleaner outside the room.
“Ugh, sounds like someone’s cleaning.” He grunted to himself. He heard the vacuum turn off and the room door opened. Ellie’s roommate Artemis entered the room.
“Sorry Ellie, since I’m cleaning the apartment I might as well clean your room too.” She announced as she entered the room, plugging in the vacuum.
“Ugh, great.” Skully complained.
She was always wearing something pink around the house, a pair of sweatpants and a crop top. Her hair as red as blood, perfectly cut into a long bob with the straightest fringe Skully had ever seen. She turned off the vacuum after a while and turned to look at Skully. He sat nicely on a bookshelf, overlooking the room. Artemis picked him up carefully, as if she was scared he would break. The sunlight hit the skull as she lifted him up, small particles of dust floating around them, she felt a sense of familiarity from the skull.
“Wow, you look quite real don’t you?” She marvelled as she brought Skully closer to her face, investigating every inch of him.
“Ok, maybe this is not so bad.” Skully said to himself.
Artemis was just about to put him back on the shelf when she decided to see how sharp his fangs actually were.
“If it’s a real vampire skull they should be really sharp right?” She told herself as she poked the fangs with her thumb.
“Ouch!” She exclaimed, looking quite taken aback, a drop of blood came out of thumb.
“That was really really sharp? Wait, vampires don’t leave skulls behind anyway, what am I even doing. This skull is just really well made.” Artemis remarked, she raised an eyebrow while delicately placing Skully back on the shelf.
“Well, you only got yourself to blame. Why does everyone have to be so hands on?” Skully grumbled.
Artemis looked around the room, startled.
“Is anyone here?” She asked and added. “Show yourself. I have a weapon, and I’m not afraid to use it.” She grabbed the front of the vacuum cleaner, ready to hit something with it. Skully was shocked, did she hear him? It couldn’t be, could it?
“It’s me the skull.” Skully joked, waiting to see if she heard him.
Artemis’ eyes widened, she stared at the skull.
“Nah, it can’t be right? Stop messing with me and show yourself.” She demanded, glancing around the room.
Skully was pretty sure she heard him now, he explained. “No really, it’s me, Skully the skull. Ellie can hear me, and now you can hear me too. This is great!” He added. “The vacuum is hardly a great weapon anyway.”
Artemis glanced at the skull, she was not sure if someone was playing a joke on her now.
She picked up the skull again anyway and swiftly went out to the living room. She put Skully down on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and squatted down on the floor in front of him. “Ok Mr. Skull. Let’s assume you can talk. How is that even possible?” Artemis exclaimed, some part of her half believing it.
“I have no idea how it’s possible, wait, your finger… You poked my fang and there was blood right?” Skully blurted out.
“There was blood. Are you saying that blood makes you talk?” Artemis was bewildered, she had never encountered a talking skull before.
“No no, it makes you hear me? I don’t know, it’s a theory?” He grunted, suddenly not sure.
“How can I be sure that you, the skull, is talking though?” Artemis asked.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that either. Maybe trust your gut? I don’t remember my name, so Ellie named me Skully, you can call me that if you want.” Skully stated.
Artemis leaned on the table, still squatting down, staring at the skull.
“So Ellie hears you too? How much does Ellie know about these things? You are a vampire? How is this even possible?” Artemis asked, she had a few questions she wanted to ask, but she was still making sure what she was hearing was true.
“I don’t really have many answers, you see I don’t really remember anything from before Ellie found me in the woods. I’m pretty sure I’m not dead, I just need to find my body, which is what Ellie is helping me with.” He continued. “You seem to know about vampires though? You said vampires don’t leave skulls behind…” Skully added, he wanted to know what Artemis knew.
Artemis squinted at Skully.
“Ok, maybe I do believe you, somewhat. So you are a vampire, separated from your body, you gotta be really powerful.” She remarked before she carried on.
“You are right, I need you to not tell Ellie about this ok? I’m a vampire too.”
Skully was not too surprised as he had suspected there was something different about her.“I won’t tell Ellie, relax, she would have a ball if she found out, she loves this supernatural stuff.” He muttered.
Artemis lifted him up and carried him to Ellie’s room.
“We’ll talk again.” She winked at him before she placed him back on the shelf.
“Fudge. It’s nice to have more people to talk to. Don’t go telling your friends though…” Skully remarked as she was leaving the room.
Artemis couldn’t help but wonder what kind of vampire Skully had been, someone extremely powerful, that much was sure, she had never heard of any vampire surviving without a head.
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