The Vampire Vigilante

Extract from “The Chicago Star” Friday 20th January:

BIZARRE ARSON ATTACK ON LOCAL CHURCH.

A small Catholic church near Loyola University was set ablaze yesterday in an apparently motiveless arson attack. The fire was quashed by the heavy rainfall during last night’s thunder storm but local residents are none the less anxious about the attack.

The only known eyewitness, who did not wish to be identified, claimed: “This man walked up to the door and he must have thrown petrol or something over it because the next thing I know, the doors are on fire. I suppose it could have been hit by lightning but it seemed to go up when the man got near it. It looked like it was arson.”

Saturday 14th January:

I did something I’ve never done before today. At least, I can’t remember any other time I’ve done it. Writing my diary the day after. Usually I do it just before I go to bed but last night was different so I’m going to have to put in yesterday’s entry now. I’ve always entered each day as it passes but I can’t really remember much about last night.

I’ve been in some strange situations but I think this morning’s tops them all. I was woken up by this terrible pain in my wrist and looked around to discover I was lying in an alleyway. I have no idea how I got there but I woke up in a puddle lying next to the sidewalk. My wrist was soaked in blood.

It looked like I had been stabbed but that wasn’t really the biggest worry on my mind.

When I got to my feet and walked out into the open I found out damn quick I was lost. It was the old church that set me straight. I know the direction back form it very well. Not because I go but because it’s on the way to the University.

My headache hit home worse than ever as I passed the church. I thought my head was about to burst and I don’t think I’ve ever felt as ill as when I was on that street. My whole body hurt. The heat didn’t help. I think it must have been one of the hottest January days on record. It was foggy but the heat was intense, not muggy and stifling like it usually is when there’s a fog but genuinely hot, really hot.

When the sun broke through it was almost unbearable, which is why I was surprised to hear the weatherman on T.V. say it was only about eight degrees.

Still, they’re not always right. But, Jesus! It seemed much hotter than that.

I thought about going to the hospital with my wrist hurting so much but I realized it wasn’t as bad as I had first thought. There was a lot of blood and because my shirt cuff was stained it made me nauseous but the wound itself wasn’t that big.

When I got back to the apartment, I started trying to piece together the events of the evening. A few of my classmates were going to a party and I was to meet them there. It was some guy’s twenty-first and I wouldn’t usually have gone but I didn’t have anything else to do.

I remember calling Julie around seven but she thought I was going to the party and so she’d arranged to go out with other friends.

We’d been together about six months and it was the only Saturday we haven’t gone out together. I very rarely go out with anyone else now. Perhaps it’s a bad thing - I don’t know but it doesn’t usually bother me. It did last night though and I wish we had gone together now.

Anyway, I remember getting there about half eight and only one person I knew was already there. Arthur, or Art as he tried to convince everybody to call him, is the class geek. Usually I’ll try to humor him but I just couldn’t last night.

There was this girl standing across the room, opposite me. I couldn’t be sure but it seemed she was looking at me. Every time I glanced up at her she darted her eyes away to another part of the room. I know I shouldn’t have paid attention, because of Julie, but I couldn’t help it.

Eventually some more people I knew came in and so I was able to escape from Arthur and get talking with them. That girl, the one that was standing by the fireplace, kept popping up but she never seemed to be talking to anybody or doing anything much. It was strange because I was pretty sure she was looking at me, she didn’t hide it as much as when I first saw her, but she wouldn’t come over or anything. Eventually I made the conclusion that she was shy and maybe just didn’t know anybody so I went over and talked with her.

Looking back on it now I think I did the wrong thing. Christ! Did I do the wrong thing!

I was right, though, about her, because she didn’t really know anybody there. She’d been invited because she was a friend of a friend sort of thing. She looked a little lost in amongst all those people so I suggested I could introduce her to the guys I knew. She wouldn’t have it, though, said she couldn’t really be bothered meeting a big group and talking. Like me, she said, she wished she hadn’t bothered coming. I stood with her all the rest of the time I was at the party. She was kind of appealing. It’s hard to describe but I would’ve felt like I was deserting her if I’d gone back to talk with my buddies.

After a while things got a bit out of hand. Two guys picked up the T.V. and lobbed it out the living room window. I don’t know why, probably both on drugs, but at least they had the courtesy to open it first. The birthday boy, John or something then emptied his guts on his parents couch and that’s when this girl asked me to walk her home. I suppose I shouldn’t have because we’d both been drinking and I was dating someone but I didn’t really want to say no. Didn’t really have the heart too either I suppose.

I’ve said I don’t remember much about last night and it’s about here it all starts getting fuzzy. I remember thinking I wasn’t that drunk but it totally went to my head when I got out into the cold air. I remember trying to leave the house discretely because I didn’t want any of my friends to see Julie and tell her they’d seen me leaving a party late at night with some girl.

After that it’s all flashes and things I’m not sure of. I’m pretty certain the girl invited me into her house. I really should have said goodnight at the door but I didn’t have the willpower. I’m pretty sure she made me coffee but after that I remember almost nothing.

Sunday 15th January:

Okay, I’ve dealt with yesterday but todays different, harder to get a handle on.

I don’t know what puzzles me most about this morning. Did the girl I was with throw me out? Did I leave after a coffee? Or did I stay most of the night and leave in the morning? Maybe I got hit on the head and dragged into that alley as I walked home.

My headache wasn’t that sort of pain though, not like I’d been struck, it was more a dull aching

After a shower I put my clothes in the washing machine and then put a dressing and some anti-septic ointment on my wrist. I tried to eat some breakfast but I had to force my cornflakes down.

My throat and taste always go all haywire after I’ve been out drinking. It’s a nightmare and today I practically choked over my cereal it was so bad. As I was eating I got the idea to make a few phone calls. After all, it was reasonable to assume that if I phoned around, talked to some of the people at the party, then I might find out who that girl was and then I could ask her what happened.

I phoned Art among a few other people and came up empty leaving me none the wiser as to what had happened.

Finally I phoned Julie. Not because I thought she’d know anything but I just wanted to talk to her, partly due to the fact I do feel guilty. I mean I did leave a party with some girl whose name I don’t even know and, to be honest, I wanted to, maybe even did take things further.

She said she was going to come over to my apartment to see me. I didn’t really feel like company so I told her I thought I’d caught a cold coming home from the party and that she better stay away if she didn’t want to get it.