The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I wrote this about 3 and a half years ago as part of my English GCSE coursework so I was 14/15. Thought I may as well put it up here.





I opened the passenger side door of the blood-red Ford Anglia, which was kept perfectly clean and tidy. I got in and looked across at the man in the driving seat. It wasn’t Ben, the tall, dark, lanky man I’d been so used to seeing in the car next to me… Until today.

The man sat here with me now was shorter, fairer and had introduced himself as Joseph.

As he turned the key in the ignition, released the hand-break and pulled away from the curb, I reminisced about the many times I’d spent in the car with Ben. Not this car, Ben’s car: A silver Peugeot 206, it always looked like it needed a good clean, (Whenever my dad saw it he’d comment on that fact) but I guess he kinda liked it that way.



I thought about the great times we’d had together in the car, laughing, joking and enjoying our time. Then I noticed that Joseph had a smug look on his face.

“So Zoie, how are you feeling?” he asked

“Ok, I suppose,” I muttered

“Very good, that’s excellent.” He smiled- slyly.

“Toad.” I thought aloud

“Pardon?” he asked, I just shook my head. “I expect you’re feeling a bit nervous?” he added after a moments pause. I just ignored him. I felt a strong dislike of Joseph creep over me. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then?” He smirked.



We arrived at a junction, as he applied the breaks I remembered the first time I ever got into a car with Ben.

It was about five months ago, I was driving; I’d applied the breaks and put on the hand-break on this very spot. He’d had a go at me for doing something wrong. What was it?

As I was wondering this, I gazed around. I saw some boys playing with a football on some grass, which ended about two metres away from the edge of the road. They looked to be about 9, maybe 10 years old.

I thought back to a day, not long after I’d first met Ben. There were these kids playing on the footpath, because it was a narrow street with parked cars either side of me, (and because I’d seen the kids already) I was only going at about 20mph. Two of them just darted out from between two parked cars; I managed to slam on the breaks just in time, and stopped about half a metre away from them. Ben got out and gave them a quick chat about crossing the road safely, then he came back to the car and we switched seats. He drove us back because I was too shaky. I couldn’t believe I’d nearly hit a child. Now when I see kids I just slow down, it’s automatic to me, I can’t help it. That was one day I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

We had really good times too. Like about two weeks ago we were out in the car and he suggested that we go to the pub and watch England’s rugby match against Australia. Ok, I know the odds of us winning weren’t that great (we did loose 36-23). We were in the lead at the end of the first half, but then it all went to pieces in the second. We did have a good time though, even if I was only drinking orange juice.



Back in the car, Joseph was going on about what he thought of the country’s political status. Or something like that anyway, I wasn’t really paying much attention to him.

“This is turning out to be the most boring journey of my life,” I thought as we turned down Poole Street.

It was never like this when I was in the car with Ben, we’d talk about all sorts of different stuff. One of the great things about him was that we were both into the same kinds of things. We both loved rock and metal and were huge Marilyn Manson fans, we were thinking of going seeing them at the Manchester arena in November. Sat here now going along the by-pass, with Joseph made that seem impossible.



I glanced across at him. They, Ben and Joseph, were two totally different men. Joseph was about 5’7”, had light brown hair, and didn’t look like the kind of guy who would have any tattoos or piercings or anything like that in his plain brown suit. Ben on the other hand said he was 6’3”, (no way, he wasn’t taller than 5’11”) has hair so dark it’s almost black (naturally that colour too), it’s also fairly long, past his shoulders anyway. He also has both ears pierced, one of them twice, plus his nose and bottom lip. He also has an array of tattoos, right up both arms, his right ankle, the whole of his lower left leg, and a bird thing, similar to Anthony Kiedis’ across his back. My favourite is his Scorpio tattoo; it’s a picture of a scorpion with the Scorpio symbol behind it. It looks amazing.

Scorpio was both our star signs too, He was born on November 9th 1978 and I was born on November 10th 1984.

I looked across at across at Joseph and tried to picture him with a ring through his nose or lip. I couldn’t help sniggering.

“What?” he asked looking slightly alarmed.

“Nothing.” I replied quickly. He gave me a really weird look, “What?” I said “It’s nothing, really.” He seemed a bit offended by me laughing at him and just went back to concentrating on the road.



We were getting close to the end of our journey now, it was nearly over. I thought of Ben, would he be waiting for me when I got out of the car?

Did I want him to be there?

No.

I’d probably just burst into tears or something. But then again…

Yes! He’d better be there, I wanted to see him.



We turned the corner; I knew we were just minutes- seconds away from our destination. We made a left turn down Griffin Road. Just one more corner, then I’d be able to see the entrance to the car park.

Would Ben be there?

We made another left down Slade Street. I held my breath as we went round the corner, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to see Ben until we got through the gates.

As we turned the corner, no Ben.

“Will anyone be here waiting for you?” Joseph asked.

“I dunno,” I mumbled in response.



We were feet away from the gates now. Joseph indicated. We had to wait for two cars to pass us and then for another to come out of the car park before we could go through ourselves and I could see if Ben was here.

Joseph certainly took his time parking the car. As soon as he stopped I ripped off my seatbelt, leaped out of the car and looked around.

No Ben.

No, he had to be here. He just had to!

But there I was, stood on my own like a scared little rabbit.

No Ben, he wasn’t here.



I looked back over the top of the car to see Joseph lazily getting out.

Then I heard him. He was here. Behind me, calling my name.

I spun round. He was about five feet away from me, all the colour drained from his already pale face. I took a few steps forward and hugged him. I squeezed my eyes tight shut and stayed there in his arms.

It seemed like hours we were stood there, but I didn’t care, I felt safe here, it was like we were the only two people in the world. I wanted to hold onto this moment forever. But then….



“Heh-herm.” Joseph cleared his throat. We broke apart, and I turned to look at him standing there, arms folded and looking impatient. “So,” he said slowly “she’s one of yours is she Ben?”

Oh God, they knew each other. Would that affect Joseph’s decision? It sounded as though they didn’t like each other very much.

“Yeah,” said Ben “I’m her driving instructor.” I couldn’t quite decipher the look on Ben’s face. If he was trying to look angry, he wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

What was going on between these two?

“Look,” I said “whatever’s going on here- stop it. I don’t know what’s gone on between you two in the past or anything, but that’s your problem!”

Ben smiled at me, that look I did know.

“But this is all an act isn’t it?” I said.

Ben nodded, I looked at Joseph, he smiled and nodded too.



“Sorry Zoie,” Joseph said

“We just couldn’t resist,” added Ben “I told Joey last night that he would more than likely be examining one or my students today.”

“Joey?” I asked, confused.

“Jonas,” said Joseph “I knew as soon that it had to be you that had Ben as an instructor as soon as I saw you, so I thought I’d wind you up a bit.” He explained. Infact I’d got Joseph- err, I mean Joey completely wrong.



The first thing he did was take off his tie and jacket, and ruffle up his hair. Already I could see a real difference in him; he looked like the sort of guy Ben would know. He apologised for boring me half to death by talking about politics, (which got a huge laugh from Ben: “You? Politics?”) but he could tell I hadn’t really been listening because he no idea what he was talking about, and was quite sure that had I been listening, I would have picked up on quite a few things that weren’t right or didn’t actually exist.

While Joey was telling me all this, Ben was stood next to me chuckling, trying to imagine his friend whiter on about something he had no idea about.



I had been wrong about the piercings and tattoos too. I was amazed as I watched Joey go back to the car to retrieve an ear and lip ring (both of which he slipped in in a snap). I must have looked really shocked to see him with a piece of metal through his bottom lip.



“What?” he asked me “Blimey Ben, I must’ve been really convincing as a boring old guy.” He said as he winked at me.

“Well back in the car when I laughed, it was 'cause I was trying to imagine you with a ring or a stud through some pat of your face. That or a few tattoos. I just couldn’t see you with anything like that.”

“I do have a tattoo actually. Just the one, unlike our friend here who has more than I can count.”

“Go on then, let’s see it.” I said as I looked towards Ben, but, he wasn’t there. I looked around and saw him walking towards his Peugeot. “Hey, Ben? Where you going?” I called to him.

“Oh, I- er…thought I heard my mobile ringing.”

“Oh, Ok,” I smiled at him, he smiled back, nervously.



I turned back to Joey, who was undoing the first few buttons of his shirt. He pulled back the left side of his shirt.

There it was on the left side of his chest. Ben was inked there on his torso.

“Oh,” I said “it’s beautiful.” I really meant it; the style of writing was amazing. “Is Ben your son?” I asked. Still looking at the one word written on his chest, there forever, no one could ever take that away.

“Er, no. Ben’s not my son,” he said, looking at me, then glancing at Ben, who still hadn’t moved form the side of his car. “It’s Ben,” he continued looking confused. “Haven’t you seen his? It says ‘Joey’ on his chest in the same place.”

I turned to look at Ben, is that why he’d disappeared when Joey had mentioned his tattoo? He wasn’t ashamed surely?

“Ben?” I asked him, “You’re, you’re gay?” I asked him. Joey stayed quiet, but looked quite stunned that I didn’t know. I walked over to Ben, as I got close he took a step back, away from me. “What’s wrong?” I asked “You’re not ashamed of who you are? Are you?” He just looked at me, it was like I was looking at a stranger. “It doesn’t make any difference to me, you know me, you should know that. Please just be honest with me.” I pleaded.



So he explained to us both about how when he first met me, he’d loved it, he’d never had to instruct anyone who loved all the same things he did before. He said he loved how we just got along and could have a laugh with each other instantly, for who we are. Neither of us had needed to pretend we liked something we didn’t just to get along. He said he could tell that I liked him and that he hadn’t wanted to tell me because he thought I’d be upset or disappointed if he did. He said he was really sorry to me for ‘leading me to believe he’s something he’s not’. And he apologised to Joey too for making me think he was ‘interested in girls, not guys’. He said he hadn’t meant to keep their relationship a secret, but that’s just how it happened. He wished he’d told me the truth a long time ago, but the longer it went without him telling me, the harder it got.

We stayed there for 20 minutes before he’d finished. Then there was silence, broken only by the occasional passing car.



Finally Joey broke the silence suspended between us.



“I, I have to go.” He said “I’ve got another examination in…” he looked at his watch “about six minutes, it’s over at the other school, so I’m already going to be late.” He continued as he took out his lip ring and smoothed down his hair.

“Hold on,” said Ben “don’t go like this, can’t you ring them up? See if anyone else can test them? Please?”

“No, I can’t, it’s not fair to the other examiners.”

“Well you can’t leave like this-” I began

“No Zoie, you’re right. I haven’t given you your result yet have I?” he went back to his car, picked up his clipboard and scanned down it. “Right, your three-point-turn needs a little bit of work, you were checking your mirrors, your breaking was good, you seemed confident on the road, I can’t see anything else that will stand against you. Congratulations, you just passed your driving test.”

He managed to smile at me before glancing at Ben and getting into his car. Ben and I watched him drive away.

We turned to look at each other. He looked sick. I asked him what he was going to do.



“Oh, don’t worry. He’ll have come around by tonight. Either that or he’ll have thrown me out.” He laughed. “I’ll be ok, don’t worry.”

“I’m so sorry, I just feel like this is all my fault,”

“Don’t blame yourself, it’s my fault. Hey, wanna go for a drink to celebrate? My treat.”

“I don’t know,”

“You know, there’s one tat of mine that’s the one I’m most proud of. And it’s the only one I’ve never shown you.”

Ben lifted up his T-shirt and there it was Joey.

“We had them done together, $75, when we went to America two years ago, in the tiniest little shop you could imagine. I have to be honest, it didn’t look too clean either,” Ben told me how Joey had changed his mind when he saw the place, and took some convincing to get in there. He said Joey looked like a lost little boy in there amongst a whole bunch a heavily tattooed Americans.

I laughed, I could just see Joey stood in a cramped little room with dark walls covered in different designs and surrounded by about a dozen rather large men, covered in ink with rings through their noses and stuff.



“Hmmm, so what about that drink then? Come on, there’s nothing we can do about him right now.”

“Yeah, ok,” I said. We began walking to his car, as we were walking I asked, “So how long have you two known each other then?” as we got to the car Ben began explaining how he and Joey had met. He turned the key in the ignition, released the hand-break and set off, just as I’d seen him do so many times before. I hoped that soon Joey could find it in his heart to forgive Ben. I wanted to stay friends with both Ben and Joey and I wondered, if this could all be sorted out, we could still go to Manchester and watch Manson. Who knows, maybe Joey would like to come too.



Ben indicated and turned right. It was only then that I realised; Ben was the only man I’d ever loved, and I could never have him.