Drack was miserable.
“I don’t wanna!” He wailed. Drack – whose real name was Jack - was 7.
In fact, this was his birthday. His mum had put on a party and invited all the kids from his class at school.
Jack didn’t get on with the kids in his class from school.
Jack didn’t get on with the kids from anywhere.
Jack was different.
“Come on now Jack…” his mother said. She was running out of patience.
“I’m NOT Jack, I’m DRACK.” He shouted, hands on hips and a pout big enough to make his point.
“Whatever! Just come down and meet your guests. It’s your birthday party after all.” Jack’s mum stared down at the boy with that look only mothers could give. The look that said ‘disobey if you dare’…. The look that shut you down immediately into full submission for fear of the consequences.
Jack had disobeyed that look once in his life and he still remembered the consequences.
Dragging his feet, the blonde-haired, pale-skinned boy trundled down the stairs. The noise of the parents and class ‘mates’ got louder. Jack could hear some squabbling and a parent chastising offspring. His mother was planting her feet firmly on the stair tread behind him. There was no escape.
As Jack entered the large lounge the room fell almost silent. All eyes were upon him and he squirmed uncomfortably.
Jack was dressed in his favourite vampire cloak and waistcoat. He had plastic vampire teeth in his mouth, which made him dribble but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Jack had been ‘into’ vampires for a few months now. He had told his parents that he’d seen a real one. He knew that they didn’t believe him, but his parents nodded and accommodated his wish for a cape, the teeth, ketchup on all his food (to look like blood). They didn’t seem to mind.
But the kids at school did. They said he was weird, a freak, not normal. Some of them teased him and hid his stuff during P.E lessons, when he was forced to take them off. Some chanted rhymes at him and drew stupid vampire pictures over his school work.
Jack decided way back that he didn’t care. He knew he HAD seen a REAL vampire. Ok so it was on TV one night, late, when his parents slept but it was real. It was on the news and news is real. What more proof does anyone need? Jack had put on his TV (against the rules) really quietly one night because he couldn’t sleep and was bored playing games on his tablet. The news was on. Jack watched as it showed about tanks in a war-torn country. His eyes began to close as the news reporter began the next story, talking about the economy. Then suddenly the TV had Jack’s attention. A reporter was talking about a vampire. Jack watched. The reporter said that the vampire had been seen in New York. Jack watched. The police went to get the vampire. Jack’s eyes started to droop. The police surrounded the vampire lair, but the vampire had already left. Jack could hardly keep his eyes open, but he wanted to see what happened. The news was never this interesting during the daylight hours. Head nodding, struggling to keep even one eye open Jack saw the reporter gasp as the Vampire flew above and then away.
Jack slept.
The following morning Jack had tried to ask where vampires lived. His parents laughed. He daren’t say he’d sat up and watched the news (or so he thought) but he wanted to know. They told him there was no such thing. How could he tell them that he had seen one on the news? He was supposed to be asleep. He certainly wasn’t supposed to have the TV on. They’d punish him for sure. So Jack had to find out for himself.
He found some books in the school library but they all made the vampires out to be not so bad, sweet, even funny. Nothing like the mean one he’d seen. He liked the idea of being a mean vampire – sucking at his enemies, getting strong, beating them in fights, learning to fly, not getting beat up. That’s when he decided he would be a vampire anyway.
No one else understood.
As Jack stood at the door of the lounge, in front of the silent crowd he gasped in awe. Every single one of the children was dressed as a vampire. He knew they weren’t real, but they had copied him. They had capes of black, some with red linings. They had paint on their face made to look like blood from their teeth. Some even had their faces covered in white paint to make them look pale – which looked comical on Joel as he had black skin and blacker curly hair. It didn’t matter.
The whole crowd at once shouted “SURPRISE” and as they parted down the middle Jack looked up and saw a massive Dracula Head cake with the name “Drack” on it and 7 candles. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
Jack’s mum pushed him to move forward towards the cake and as he walked some of the kids were saying things like “Cool party” and “Awesome cake”. Jack felt incredible.
The rest of the afternoon went like a dream. Games were played as parents chatted and kids sang, ate food and had mini battles as Dracula versus Dracula. Even some of the kids that bullied Jack at school said how cool he was and that being a vampire wasn’t so bad.
Jack knew now that he didn’t need his cape and teeth to feel powerful. All he needed was a Mum and Dad that really did understand.
Jack was still going to be a vampire when he grew up but at least he had some friends to share it with now.
And to this day Jack was never told that his parents knew he was watching a late-night film on TV that night. They understood he needed to feel strong in a world that made him feel small.