I'm awakened again by an alarm, but this time it's the digital clock on my nightstand. Also this time, I'm in my own bed. I yawn while turning the darn thing off and swing my legs to the side of the bed. It's seven thirty and I really don't remember why I had bothered to set the alarm for this hour. I do remember I don't have class today. I didn't have dreams last night this time, which is unusual for me. Truth be told, I had slept marvelously and surprisingly felt very refreshed for once.

Slipping my feet into my well-worn slippers, I shuffle to a cheap mirror on the wall and stare at my face a moment. I yawn at myself and rub at my hazel eyes, before blinking a few times. My blond hair is rather unruly this morning but that is not so unusual. I try to run my fingers through it in an attempt to untangle the waves and curls but it seems only a brush can tame this beast. I sigh and decide to worry about it later because I am very certain my mother has not woken up yet to get ready for work.

I spend half an hour dragging her ass out of bed and getting her presentable for work. She started this job and I would be damned if she didn't at least hang on to this one longer than she did the last. We really need the money. I was almost done with my schooling and I could take a test soon to receive a diploma but I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to university. How could we afford it? Mrs. Cunningham and even Jo are always talking about all the scholarships I could get but to be honest I don't think I have what it takes. I mean Mrs. Cunningham says I do very well and I get decent grades but my confidence in myself isn't that strong. Plus there is my mother to think about. I don't know if I could leave her alone for that long. Maybe I could do online classes?

I shake my head and smile waving my mother off as she rushes out the door with a Pop-tart sticking out of her mouth while she tries to get her blazer on.

Mabel meows and rubs against my leg and so I feed her and distract myself with my own breakfast and a little television for a while. It's a little past noon and I'm watching a random daytime game show, wishing I could be winning a new car or a trip to beautiful New Zealand, when there is a playful knock at the door.

I panic for a second, my heartbeat jumping to a more energetic pulse. Mrs. Cunningham did say she isn't coming today, right? I am absolutely not ready for class today if she suddenly changed her mind. Another knock and I am moving an annoyed Mabel off my lap and making my way to the door. I peek cautiously through the peephole and sigh only a second after. It is just Joanna.

I laugh at myself and open the door. "Hey, Jo, what's up?"

She has a determined look on her face but smiles at seeing me, though a questioning eyebrow comes a loft when she sees my own expression. "What's with you?"

I shake my head and stand aside to invite her in. "Oh nothing, don't worry about it, but seriously why are you here?"

Joanna wanders in while glancing around before she spies Mabel on the back of the couch and goes to pet her. "Am I not allowed to visit my favorite person in the whole world?" She smirks and looks over her shoulder at me.

I roll my eyes and just stare at her until she finally tells me what is on her mind. She sighs and gets that determined look on her face again. She stands straight and faces me. I lift an eyebrow wondering what all this is about. "Colin, I do believe you were right about my neighbor," she finally says and folds her arms underneath her bust. She's actually wearing a dress today, though the print on it is black and red with a mix of crossbones and hearts. She's got My Tiny Pony flip-flops on though which is a strong contrast to the rest of her ensemble. 

I fear what she could possibly mean and simply ask a dumb question. "What do you mean 'right about your neighbor'?"

"Collie! Come on, about him being more than meets the eye, you know!" She throws her arms up exasperatedly and just rolls onto my couch from the back of it like a floppy ninja. I stare at her and then laugh a little to myself as I wander after her. I sit down next to her but on the arm of the couch and poke her. She's taking up the whole space with her face buried in the cushions. She's lost a flip-flop.

"Okay, what has happened?" I ask, with a bit of apprehension. I was hoping to not think about Felix today. I was almost set to just forget the whole thing and mind my own business but here's Jo, declaring perhaps that Felix is one of the undead or something like that. She mumbles something into the cushion but of course, I can't hear a damn thing she is saying.

I get up and use what little strength I do have to flip her over on to her side so I might get something coherent. "Try that again?"

She sighs and sits herself up properly, crossing her legs and pats the seat beside her. I comply and plop down in that very spot, my attention all hers. She seems to think about where to begin but finally she opens her mouth. "So after the fire alarm fiasco last night, I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to work on that painting of Felix some more and pass the time." She pauses to pick Mabel up off the ground in front of us and place her in her lap. "It was about 4am in the morning and I heard someone rummaging about and then leaving their apartment. I peeked out the door and saw Felix disappear around the corner with a basket of laundry. I stepped out and looked over at his apartment door. He had left it open..." She glances at me with a weird look before continuing. "So my mischievous mind thought, 'hey, here's an opportunity to prove to Colin how wrong he may be about Felix, especially since he's so curious.'"

"Hey! I'm—" I start but she ignores me and cuts me off.

"Anyway, like the good sleuth I am, I snuck over to his place and ventured through the door. I almost forgot he had a big ass dog, but lucky enough the beast was out cold on the sofa. So, being extra quiet, I snooped around. Didn't find much at first, as everything was relatively normal albeit barren but I had just opened the fridge out of curiosity where I discovered something that would change my opinion," she finally concludes and seems to be waiting for a response from me.

I simply say, with a bit of a dry throat, "What did you discover?"

Joanna eyes me a moment before she digs into a pocket on her dress I didn't know she had. She pulls out her smart phone and scrolls through it before turning it to show me a picture on the device.

At first I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. It was the inside of a fridge, a rather empty one with a few food items here and there, mainly something that looked like cheese, half a loaf of bread, and a restaurant Styrofoam container and so on. However, when my eyes fall on the three glass jars on the top shelf I nearly choke on my own saliva. They were simple mason jars but they were filled nearly to the top with a suspicious thick red liquid. I can barely get out, "Is that...?"

"I think so, Colin, I think so. I couldn't really see for sure because I heard something and it frightened me right out of that apartment, plus seeing what could be jars of blood in someone's fridge definitely freaked me out," she said with a shake of her head and body like she was trying to get rid of some shivers. "I seriously thought this was just a silly joke between us but Collie, I think he might be a...you know what."

I lean back against the sofa and continue to stare at the picture on her phone screen. I cannot even believe this. I thought I was delusional as well till this moment. Is Felix really a vampire? The evidence is really starting to stack up and I can't for the life of me think of an alternate reason why there might be jars of blood in his fridge. I lick my lips feeling a little hot and overwhelmed by this new development. I'm not sure what to do with this new knowledge either.

"What should we do?" Jo says, voicing my own thoughts.

"Uh, well, I don't know, nothing?"

"Nothing? No way can I sit idly by while there could be a bloodsucker living next door to me. I mean I have to know for sure, don't you Colin? I mean all that's been going on with you when you run into him...don't you want to know why?"

I did want to know why, very badly. I want to know why he makes me feel like that and why he has so much interest in me and why he only goes out at night and why he doesn't where any freaking shoes. Why? I swallow roughly and subconsciously tug on some of my hair before I respond to Joanna. "Well, I guess I do...but, what do you propose we do?"

She grins and scooting Mabel away, she turns to face me on the couch with a sudden surge of excitement. "Okay, now I was thinking that tonight, if he goes out, we should follow him and see what he does. What do you think?"

"So...you want us to stalk him?" I am a little surprised and definitely apprehensive about this. No way we could get away with that, plus it seems wrong somehow even though our target might be a bloodthirsty monster from many a child's nightmares. I mean, Felix has been nothing but nice to me. "I don't know, Jo..."

"Come on, it'll be fun! Plus its more like 'stealthy investigating' not stalking," she says with a lot of confidence and definite excitement in her voice. It was like a 360 from earlier when she was all concerned and a bit scared about the prospect of living next door to a vampire. I felt this was all some elaborate plan to do something silly or stupid for the hell of it but I couldn't deny my curiosity. Jo does like adventure but I'm not so sure. Hell, I don't even go that far from the apartment building and what if Felix takes us fairly far? Regardless of my worries, we make our plans for tonight and then say our goodbyes.