DRY BONES

I had a nightmare the other night that....didn't scare me, but intrigued me. I dreamt that vampires were not the things of legend, but something much more terrifying. The dream grounded its self in the ritual sacrifices of the druids and other idol worship in a way I had never thought of. Dreams... go figure.

This story came out of the dream. I call it "Dry Bones"

His bones creaked like an old ship at sea. They popped with a grinding of wheat in mill stones. He couldn't speak, but he coughed a dusty hack with every breath he tried to take.

I was to paralyzed to move. Stalled by fear, awe, and curiosity, I'm sure, but it was the panic that held me firmly in my place. I was unbelievably staring at the resurrection of a real live freakin vampire.

Eddy was filming with his smart phone. He was standing the closest and his eyes were glued to the viewfinder as if looking at the real thing would melt his face off.

This was all Jake's Idea to begin with, yet he bolted the second the blood (he was pouring) touched the 'vamp ash'. I'll admit I wasn't expecting any noise, let alone a sucking POP! In his haste to get out of the room, he misjudged his exit and smashed his face into the door jam.

Marley just looked sick. I can't really say why? It could have been from watching the holy freakin undead rise from a blood and ash ooze. It could have been the blood gushing from Jake's unconscious face, or from the grains of ash she ingested per instructed from the "Resurrect your own vampire" user manual the ashes came with.

I held this manual in a grip quite destructive to its thin pages. I'll admit that I read the entire manual last night so that I'd sound cool in front of Marley. Lucky I did, because I remembered the caution at the end. It said "In case of change of heart, set immediate fire to emerging vampire before he is fully animated, thus re-drying the ashes and averting its return to the living". I had this change of heart right then, and fumblingly did this. It was easy...ish, I had already dumped a gallon of gasoline into the claw tub before we placed in the ashes. So... standing there numbly... I lit my Zippo... and dropped it in. I didn't look to see what happened next. I grabbed a mesmerized Eddy, a screaming Marley, and knocked out Jake and left the abandoned house as quickly as possible.

I later learned that the house burned down...