The Diary of Lucy Van Helsing

This is one of my favourite pieces I have done so far and it is my very first First! Hurray! Here is the original draft if you would like to see how much I edited and reworked the piece.

The Diary of Lucy Van Helsing

1 November

He’s doing it again. It’s one of those days; Dad’s gone crazy. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit it’s not as bad as last time. At least he hasn’t got the stakes and crucifixes out again. Well, yet. This time he’s ranting about how those ‘disgusting Twilight books make sweet young girls want to become unholy monsters’; his words not mine. This all happened because he heard a group of girls talking in the supermarket about how they wish their boyfriends were vampires, apparently they’re better in bed. I only know what the Twilight saga is about because all my friends are obsessed with it. If my Dad caught me even looking at the cover I know he’d flip out. To be honest, I can’t even stand vampires anyway, not after living with my Dad. I was forced to read Dracula when I was like seven years old; it’s practically my Dad’s Bible. He’s still ranting, now it’s about how ‘we Van Helsings have fought against vampires for many generations and it’s things like Twilight that makes our jobs so much harder’. Again, his words not mine. Personally, I don’t give a crap about Twilight, vampires or about being a Van Helsing. If anything it’s just made my life worse. Not being allowed out after dark, having to take a stake to school, and worst of all having my Dad throw holy water at any of my friends that I bring home. Obviously, I don’t invite friends over any more.

Oh, he’s calmed down now; well at least, he’s gone to the basement (yes we have a basement!) to sharpen his stakes. That’s the nearest to calm he’s going to get.

3 November                                                                                                                              

There’s a new boy at school. He’s recently moved here from somewhere in Europe. People are saying he’s from somewhere in Romania. It explains why he’s so pale. Wait, is Romania a sunny place? I’ll Google it when I get home. There’s already a nasty rumour going around that’s he’s a Romanian orphan adopted by a rich English couple who can’t have their own kids. But I don’t really believe that as there’s no rich people that live around here. He does have an air of mystery about him though. His name is Dimitri.

11 November

I’ve gotten to know Dimitri quite well over the past week. He’s in all my classes, and we get talking quite a lot; he’s got such a sexy voice, I think it’s the accent it makes me weak at the knees!  He’s from a small town in Transylvania. He’s not adopted but he’s not living with his parents, they’re travelling, so he’s living with his aunt and uncle. He says his parents weren’t really the maternal type anyway, so he doesn’t miss them too much. Sometimes I wish my Dad would go travelling. Dimitri says he likes living in England. He likes that it’s not too sunny; apparently he’s allergic to the sun. He says it gives him terrible rashes. Dimitri’s really good at sports, as well. He’s already on the cross country team. My friend says she saw him practicing the other day and that he was the fastest person she’s ever seen. I wish I could have seen him running, I bet he looks really good in shorts.

14 November

Dimitri walked me home this evening. He says that night time can be very dangerous; it wasn’t really night time though, it was just pretty dark after school. But like I was going to say no. Looking back, I probably should have said no. First of all, I live on the very edge of town; it’s practically in the middle of nowhere, which is great when you haven’t got a driving licence yet. And secondly, my house is one of those old manor houses, you know from the Victorian era or something, and well, my Dad’s gone a bit OTT on the recent renovations, we’ve got stupid gargoyles and weird little turret thingies. It’s the most embarrassing thing ever. Maybe it’s a good thing we live in the middle of nowhere after all.  But either way letting Dimitri get that close to my home was a big mistake. My Dad saw him, and we all know what my Dad’s like with new people, especially boys. But I’ve never seen him this bad before. In fact, he’s only just stopped questioning me. He was all like ‘who was that boy? How do you know him? Where’s he from?’ When I told him he was a new student from Romania he went mental. He instantly jumped to the conclusion that he was a vampire. Of course, how did I not see that? God! But then he was all like ‘have you seen his reflection? Are his teeth sharper than normal? Does he love to drink blood?’ I said that he was crazy, that he shouldn’t think everyone was a vampire just because they come from weird places in Europe. He then asked if I had ever seen his neck, where there any puncture wounds. Well, I hadn’t seen his neck at all, he always has shirt buttoned up to the top and with his tie done up properly. But like I was gonna let my Dad know that. So instead I was all like ‘God, Dad! I’m going to my room!’ But I heard him yell after me that I was never allowed to see him ever again.

I can’t stand him anymore. He’s always trying to ruin my life with his stupid vampire slaying crap! We may have the last name of Van Helsing but he doesn’t have to take it so seriously! God, sometimes I wish he would just stake himself.

18 November

Dimitri’s been offering to walk me home all week, but I don’t think I could deal with my Dad’s crazy so I’ve been saying no, I told him my Dad is a bit fussy about boys. I know it’s an understatement; Dad would probably kill Dimitri for touching me just as much as he would if he turned out to be a vampire. But it’s for his own good. I really like him though. He’s so sweet, there’s no way he could be a vampire; not that I ever thought he was, of course. He doesn’t even seem fussed by my last name. Surely if he was such a big bad vampire he would be scared of my name. Dad’s clearly mad. For the past couple of days he’s just been interrogating me about him more and more: is he strong, can he control dogs and rats, have I ever felt hypnotised by him? Well, sometimes I feel that when he looks into my eyes he is looking into my soul but I’m sure that’s not what my Dad really means. But he will just not stop going on about it. He’s got all his weapons sharpened and ready as if vampires are going to be banging down our doors with Dimitri as their leader. I don’t even know why he has all this stuff anyway; he’s never even used it. Though I have heard him sneaking out a few times after midnight; I think he’s going out to the graveyards to pretend he’s some fantastic slayer. Sometimes I wish Bram Stoker had thought of another name for his stupid vampire expert rather than Van Helsing.

20 November

Dimitri came to my house today. He said he waited for my Dad to go out in the car before he came near the house. He was so polite, too. Said he’d have to be formally invited in otherwise he wouldn’t feel comfortable. It must be a Romanian thing. It was so nice seeing him outside of school, he’s so funny, and clever, and beautiful, and I can’t believe Dad thinks he’s a vampire! But while my Dad was out things got pretty heavy, Dimitri is just so hot, I couldn’t resist, I invited him up to my room. It’s like I couldn’t control myself when I was around him. And you know what he is really good kisser, but don’t tell anyone! I’ve never experienced anything like it; I just wanted to give myself to him. He even gave me a hickey! I’m definitely going to wear a scarf now; Dad will probably stake me in the heart if he sees it! Thank God it’s winter. But the best thing about the whole day was that just before he left he asked me to be his girlfriend! Can you believe it? I finally have a boyfriend! Finally! I don’t think even my Dad could ruin this moment.

26 November

It’s been a week since Dimitri asked me out and it’s been great. We sneak off during lessons to make out. He’s even given me more hickeys. I feel so bad. Dad went out again today, probably to buy more holy water, so I invited Dimitri over. And this time was so much better than last week. This time we went straight to my room. Dimitri said I was the most beautiful person he had ever met. He said that he had never felt this way about anyone before. He said that I was special, that he loved me. This time I really couldn’t control myself, I just wanted to be with him forever so I gave myself to him. And it was amazing. Though he got a little rough, instead of just a hickey he actually bit me.

Later…

It was my fault, really. I was so happy that me and Dimitri had done it that I forgot to wear a scarf, or at least something to hide the bite. As soon as Dad saw me he jumped to conclusions. He screamed at me. He told me how I was ‘completely irresponsible and stupid, and this just proves that Dimitri is an unholy demon. He had used his dark sexuality to seduce me and I was stupid enough to fall for it’, again, his words not mine. He inspected my neck thoroughly before deciding I was safe and that Dimitri hadn’t taken enough of my blood to change me. But he still made me bathe it in holy water. He also gave me a crucifix necklace to wear to school and some weird garlic perfume thing he had made; like I was going to use that! This time he forbid me to see Dimitri and that I was grounded. He then sent me to my room. God, I hate my Dad so much sometimes. He doesn’t understand teenage girls at all!

30 November

Weirdly enough Dad told me to ask Dimitri over for dinner Friday night. He’s been acting funny since Monday, to be honest. He said that he overreacted the other day and he shouldn’t be so obsessed with vampires if he wanted to be a good father. He even went as far as to say they didn’t exist! He also said that he understood how much teenagers wanted relationships and that sex was a part of that. (he actually said the word sex, cringe!) He said that to be a good father he would have to get to know Dimitri better, and that’s why he wants him to come to dinner. I thought he might be drunk or at least high but he smelt fine. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, I mean he is usually vampire crazy and despises any sort of sexual act, even holding hands in public! Besides, I wasn’t sure if Dimitri would even want to come over, anyway. Ever since the other day he’s been avoiding me. He hasn’t sat next to me in class or at lunch, he hasn’t even spoken to me! Is that normal for boys, to have sex with you and then ignore you? I Googled it and did you know that it actually happens a lot? The best explanation I got was men are from Mars and all that junk. I have my own idea though. I don’t like thinking this, but sometimes I think he’s ignoring me because of the crucifix I’m wearing. No, that’s just stupid. He’s probably just focusing on his studies or something. Yeah, that’s it. I will ask him to come to dinner and I bet everything will be fine.

2 December

Dinner is going great! I can’t believe I thought Dimitri wouldn’t come. He was actually really pleased to be invited. Said he wanted to make a good first impression on my Dad. I didn’t tell him that he already thought he was some evil vampire only after my blood.  But Dad really has cleaned up his act; he hasn’t even hinted about vampires tonight or mentioned anything embarrassing about sex, which are both firsts for him. And Dimitri has been so nice and polite. Dad cooked us steaks, if you can call it cooked; they were practically raw! But Dimitri ate it down anyway without saying a bad word about it. I wanted to say something but I thought Dimitri might think I was a spoilt brat so I ate as much of mine as I could. I’m supposed to be getting the desserts right now but I just had to write this all down. I’m just so happy! For once my Dad isn’t acting completely psycho.

Later…

Oh God! Oh God! It’s all gone horribly wrong. I don’t know what to do! Oh God! I came back with the desserts to find Dad with a stake pointing at Dimitri’s chest. He had a crazy look in his eyes that I had never seen before and it was terrifying. And oh God, Dimitri was unconscious on the floor, what had he done to him? I screamed at him to stop but he just turned to me calmly and said: ‘Oh good, Lucy you’re back. I’m going to prove to you now that vampires are real.’ I screamed at him again, I begged and pleaded, I tried to pull him away. Dimitri was still out of it. Oh god, it was horrible. And then…and then…Dad turned back to me and he said:

‘I know Lucy, how about you do it? Yes, you can slay your first vampire. Come on Lucy. Come here.’ I didn’t want to do it, I tried to get away but he grabbed me, and he’s a lot stronger than me. He placed the stake in my hand and directed it at his chest.

‘Come on, you can do it. Do it, Lucy. Do it now! Do it, Lucy! DO IT NOW!’

He grabbed my wrist and together we drove the stake into his chest. There was no bursting into flames, no explosion of dust, nothing. My Dad let me go and I fell to the floor. He groped Dimitri’s chest and pulled his shirt open. The stake was wedged into his chest, and, God, there was so much blood. It was everywhere. It was all over his clothes, the floor, on Dad. But that didn’t stop him. Dad pulled the stake out and plunged it back in again. I screamed at him but he kept saying that ‘he is a vampire I know he is, he is a vampire, he is, he is!’ over and over again. 

I know people say that Dads can be overprotective and not like their daughter’s boyfriends but my Dad had actually just staked my first ever boyfriend to death.