Susanne Bruschke

No open question

No open questions

The little vampire girl hurtled through the undergrowht. Dusk had set in. The girl breathed a sigh of relief, at last it was getting dark. Perhaps in the meantime the coast was clear. Trisha, that was the girlīs name, stopped in front of a shrub and listened to the noise of cars driving past. She was no longer far from the main road, and that meant she would soon reach her destination. That was the one thing. The other was: Trisha wasnīt quite sure whether it was really a good idea to head back home already. Whatever did she look like? Her clothing had become torn whilst crawling through the dense bushes. And, of course, she was utterly filthy from head to toe, moreover, leaves had got caught in her dishevelled hair. Not exactly what you would call inconspicuous. But somewhere at the end of the little forest where she was, at the back by the stone wall, her friends waited for her signal. Two whistles, when the police where gone, three whistles, when they were still standing outside of the supermarket. At any rate, she would disappear after that. Admittedly, this meant having to pass by the supermarket, there was no otherway back to her house. Trisha briefly paused in the same place and sighed, but then plucked up all her courage and crept further through the already dwindling bushes, until she had a clear view of the main road. Diagonally opposite across the road was the supermarket, beside it a petrol station and little further away was her school.

Trisha was unlucky, she realized that right away, because a police car was still standing in front of the shop. But what else was she to do? She could not do more than dress up. It surely would work, if she believed in it. Something like:īThose who tread through darkness, must see the light`, this saying occured to Trisha, after she had carried out her task and climbed down the embankment of the main road. Why now, of all times, did she remember this daft sentence? At first she could not think why, but as she was waiting at the road for somebody to stop and let her cross, she suddenly remembered. That was yet another saying from one of those "dreadful" films, which her older brother Marco so often persuaded her to watch. Marco, the mad nutcase! Trisha had to grin, despite his silly jokes she liked her older brother very much. She was also tremendously fond of her parents, her younger sister, her grandma and her pets. She lived in a warm and comfortable home, she was good at school and she had many friends. There truly was not much darkness in her life. Trisha assumed that it was exactly the opposite with her two new friends she had made today. Up till now they had never seen a light before. This was why they acted the way they did. And this was why Trisha did what she did now, even if it wasnīt right. Because, suddenly, she was the light. How on earth had this happened?

Once again, she remembered yesterday afternoon. She had been lying on the bed in her room drawing landscapes and animals, she found this wonderfully relaxing. But then Marco burst into her room. "Hey, lazybones!" he had called her amicably. "Why are you lounging around here? Tomorrow is Halloween. You canīt always fly safely through the world like a bird of paradise. You should also see the cruel things." "No problem," Trisha had replied to him, "I see you every morning before getting up, that is cruelty enough." "Come on! Let us watch a film" Marco had begged her. "Watching television alone is rubbish, and Jeffrey and Chris donīt have time." "Okay then. Just donīt burst into tears." "But not a word to the parents, is that clear? The film is not for our age group." "What else," Trisha had rolled her eyes, "I hope it isnīt a film by Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez. They are completely loopy." "Bad luck," Marco had laughed, "it is a film by both of them." "You are probably right, the world isnīt all tenderhearted," Trisha had answered. However, she didnīt think that the film they watched afterwards was half bad. Behind all the cruelty and crazy behaviour she identified with people with people and the dephts of their souls. Had it not always been like that? In the past so many undescribable things had happened between people, but when it mattered, they had shown courage and strenght and had not stayed down on the ground after defeat however large. What did good and evil mean after all? There was no real definition for it, because the moment when something happened, passed relatively quickly. Also, these moments mostly became blurred, until faint outlines could only be seen. It was unbelievable, she recognized all that in the film. She felt as if she was above it all, yes, in a fraction of a second she seemed to understand the context of the entire world. A kind of enlightment came into her head, but not for long. Then it got dark again. However, the feeling had remained.

Otherwise she would hardly have helped the two young men today, who had poorly planned their raid on the supermarket with the highest turnover in town. She had managed to fool the police into chasing the perpetrators in the wrong direction. But, unfortunately, they were after her as well now, as she had quite obviously run after the both men fleeing from the supermarket, when they heard the police arrive. There had been many witnesses. Thank God, Trisha had already made herself up for her best friend Hannahīs Halloween party, and luckily she had not yet put on her fancy dress which she had taken with her. That was perfect. This way, she had been able to change in the small woods, and that was a good disguise. For this evening, all children were in fancy dress. So much had happened today that she could not grasp it herself. Strangely enough, she had not been a bit of frightened, when the men stormed into the supermarket, screaming and waving their weapons about. She did not know what had gotten into her, when she followed the men and went up to them. But she didnīt regret it either. As unlikely as it might be, a close relationship between her and the suspects had quickly developed. But all she wanted to do now was go home. Because of all this she had totally forgotten her friendīs party.

At last, somebody allowed her across the road. In a flash Trisha started running, crossed the road and rushed past the supermarket and the petrol station. Only when she had reached the side street which led to her house, did she notice that nobody had followed her. For whatever reason, Trisha felt drawn back to the supermarket. A young policeman was standing in front of the patrol car, bored, smooking one cigarette after another. He wasnīt aware of Trisha and didnīt seem at all bothered. Trisha got fed up. Damn, she thought, nothing is ever over, least of all this wretched indifference. That was by far the worst, much worse than manslaughter and murder, because it was harder to see that this was likewise a crime. As sneaky as poison, this attitude saw to it after all that nothing would ever change. No wonder that people could become full of hate, nobody was interested in the weak. People only wanted them to believe that. Such a rotten con! Trisha remembered the film again. Should she give in to the enemy and risk having an unpleasant surprise? Or rather hide herself in the furthest corner away from confrontation (which) she had to face sometime, if she didnīt want to spend her life like a yes-man looking the other way?

She didnīt hesitate long. With a bold stride she approached the police officer and stared at him, provocatively. "Whatīs up?" he asked her, peeved. "Nothing at all!" she replied in a stroppy voice and spat at his feet only just missing the policemanīs shoes. "Get out of here, girl!" the policeman growled. Then he mumbled to himself. "Day after day they get on my nerves. In the night the down-and-outs, in the morning the old troublemakers, at midday the robber barons and in the late afternoon the rebellious kiddies. No thanks!" Trisha went back towards the petrol station. Triumphantly the policeman looked back at the people who were the last to leave the supermarket. He had performed a heroic deed for humanity, he had put a rebellious child in her place who, thereupon, would turn into a conforming and passive civilian very soon. But he didnīt know Trisha. Just as the policeman was about to turn his attention back to his cigarette, Trisha turned round once again and screamed so loud that people almost dropped their shopping bags. "Do you know why people really rob banks and shops?" The perplexed passers-by were stuck for words, while the cigarette dropped out of the shocked policemanīs mouth.
"No?!" Trisha screeched once again and this time she did not wait for an answer. "Not just because of your stupid money! Sure, all you adults donīt wear fancy dress today, and for the one reason only, because you are already vampires in any case. You suck the feeble and the poor dry, you get them down and you are only happy when this world is dark. During the day you are the walking undead who are good and crawl to work. But at night you whoop at out! You come home drunk and give your kids a trashing, or you pay women for things you would never get at home, simply because they are too much disgusting. Only to cover up to how despicable and vulnerable you really are. So please, donīt tell me that a bank robber is a monster!"
What now happened Trisha least expecting. They all remained silent, ashamed, no one refused to accept Trishaīs accusations. Even when Trisha turned around and left, there was no objection.

Trisha didnīt stop again on her way home and didnīt look back. But she was dead sure people were still standing there rooted to the spot. When she got back home, she didnīt mention a word of what had happened. Marco was sitting on the setee with his mates Jeffrey and Chris watching the same film with them as he had with her in the previous afternoon. Although she hadnīt say anything and hadnīt become noticeable in any other way, Marco suddenly turned round looking at her, smiling. "I hope "From Dusk Till Dawn" wasnīt too tough for you yesterday." Trisha smiled back still standing in the doorway. "It will give nightmares for the rest of my life!" Then she sat down with the boys and watched the film for the second time. Satisfied she glanced at her older brother who looked again at the screen, magnetized. It was quite alright.

(Translation of the original story: " Nichts da, was zu klären ist".)
 

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Susanne Bruschke.
Published on e-Stories.org on 02/16/2007.

 
 

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