The Light Shedding Note

“Do we know what happened?” asked Mr. Ambrose, the man with the nicest suit.

“The press is calling it another act of random violence, but they don’t have the details,” replied Mr. King, “and the bad news is: neither do we.”

“They’re calling it random violence?” Mr. Ambrose asked rhetorically, “I don’t know if we can call it that if no one was actually hurt.” Just then a young man in his twenties wearing a uniform walked into the office. It was Officer Rice.

“We found this on the guy. I think it sheds some light on the subject,” Rice said as he handed a crumpled up envelope to Mr. Ambrose. “It’s a suicide note”

“But the guy isn’t dead,” King commented, confused.

“I think it will make more sense if you read the whole thing, sir,” Rice replied. Ambrose unfolded the piece of paper in the envelope and read it aloud. The contents of the note were as follows:

One would think that being 400 years old would make the pain of loneliness disappear into numbness. I have done everything to the best of my ability to make the dread of being me as bearable as possible. Everything was going well until that girl came into my life. In a world that’s filled with so many demons, she was the singular angel that made living worthwhile.

She reminded me so much of Kayla: her shimmering emerald green eyes and long brown hair that cascaded ever so gently over her shoulders. When she smiled, she made me forget about the evil that resides inside of me. It’s as if all the pain of being this bloodthirsty monster disappears. I’m no longer a vampire; I’m miraculously healed by her mere presence.

But it all fell apart when she fell for another. She never gave me a chance. I was brushed aside as some insignificant speck in her eye. If I weren’t a stronger person, a better person, I would blame all this misery on her. That wouldn’t be fair. She deserves much better than the man she chose, but it’s not my place to tell her what to do. There’s only one way to resolve this. I’m going to end my life the only way a vampire can. Goodbye.

“Can someone explain to me what’s going on around here?” Principal Anderson demanded as he walked in through the door.

“Suicide attempt,” Mr. King answered, “by one of the students disrupted the class.”

“Well, it’s only sort of a suicide attempt,” added Mr. Ambrose. “The kid thinks he’s a vampire. That would explain why he ran out into the lawn and screamed in agony only to pass out.”

“So nobody’s dead?” Principal Anderson asked.

“No, sir. But everyone on campus is a bit shaken up by the whole ordeal. That’s why we called the assembly in the school gym,” added Officer Rice.

“I thought you knew your kids, gentleman,” Principal Anderson scoffed at King and Ambrose.

“We’ve seen him reading all those vampire books,” Mr. King commented.

“But we would have never imagined that he thought he was an actual undead,” Mr. Ambrose added.

“What ever happened to the days of comic books?” And with that, Principal Anderson went to address the student body.