Isabella suspects her cat Midnight is a vampire after she mysteriously appears at Isabella's gymnastics class despite the doors being locked. Isabella conducts an experiment leaving Midnight locked in the basement but finds her in her bedroom in the morning, believing this proves Midnight is a vampire. Isabella spies on Midnight and notices behaviors like biting mice on the neck and turning into a bat that further convince her Midnight is a vampire. Hoping to protect others, Isabella hides garlic in Midnight's fur, believing this will prevent her from harming people as garlic wards off vampires.

1. My Cat[a] is a Vampire
Written by Ruthie Mangin
Hello! My name is Isabella. Would you like to hear a little story?
All I would like to tell you truly happened to me. Oh, don't be like
that! I promise, it's very exciting! Yes, it is. Especially if you
like vampires and cats and mystery. Now you would like to hear my
story! I really do wonder why! Well, I suppose I'd better start
telling my story. It doesn't start out a scary story. Rather it
starts out like any normal girl's plain, fun, day at gymnastics. Do
you think that doing gymnastics could ever be scary?
It was a sunny Monday evening in Fall and I was waiting for my
gymnastics class to start. I know it sounds boring, but it will be
exciting. No, really, I promise! Just keep listening, please! The
only other person I've told is actually the pet hamster named
Cupcake. But that's really not the same as telling a real person!
Please stay! Oh, thank you for staying. Now, back to the story.
Where was I? Ah, yes. Once the class started, Miss Wheel, our
gymnastics instructor, told us to start doing cartwheels and
handstands and backbends, like she always does, while she took roll
call. She had just called my best friend, Emma Brown, when something
very small moved in the corner. Emma screamed. "I'll take it that
you are here, Emma. Please do not scream in class." Miss Wheel said
sternly. "But…but there's something alive in the corner!" Emma
squealed. "There actually is, Miss Wheel! It's my black cat! Her
name is Midnight," I whispered, shocked. Miss Wheel looked just as
shocked as I felt. "Class dismissed," she said, turning away from
the shocking sight. "Go home, everyone. Isabella, don't forget
Midnight there." "I won't, Miss Wheel," I assured her. ¨Forget
Midnight, I mean. She seems to be known worldwide for her mischief!
¨ I grabbed what I call my little medium sized piece of fluff and
hurried to the car before Midnight could get into any more of that
seemingly world-famous mischief of hers.
Once we were in the car, a very shocking thought struck me. ¨Mom,¨
I began, fighting to keep my voice steady, though it still shook a
little. ¨Wasn't the house, uh, locked? When we left, I mean?¨
"Yes, Isabella. Why, dear?" "Midnight, uh, kind of um," I broke
off. I had no idea how to explain this! "Got out," I finished
quietly as the ball of black fur with the white spot on her chest
purred contentedly on my lap. Have you caught on to what I thought
yet? No? Well, keep listening! When we got home I decided to give
Midnight a little test. I took her favorite blanket, her food, and
her water from the basement and put it all in my room. We don't have

2. any cat doors, so I put Midnight in the basement and locked the door.
Then, when I went to bed, I made sure no one was around, pulled my
door shut (something I never have done since preschool, and now I am
in third grade!) and locked it. The test would probably prove my
theory. I climbed into bed and closed my eyes. Unfortunately, it
had been one of those days where Midnight felt like shedding
everywhere in every place she could possibly reach, and right when I
was starting to dream my favorite dream, the one about being the
Princess of All Animals, Mom started vacuuming. Trust me, Mom has a
loud vacuum! I sighed and pulled my pillow tight over my head. I
was used to Mom vacuuming at my bedtime. It had become practically
daily, the way Midnight would shed these days. Would my theory be
true? Could it be true? Could sweet, harmless Midnight truly be
what I thought she was? Was little Midnight truly a vampire?
I awoke to a flurry of meows. I groped for my alarm clock and hit
the "snooze" button. When my alarm goes off, I hear meowing. The
meows didn't stop. Suddenly I remembered the test. Immediately I
was sitting bolt upright in bed, only to find Midnight staring up at
me from down on the floor. "So it's true," I whispered. After all,
only one creature could get through a locked door without damaging
it. And that creature was a vampire!
I decided right then and there that no matter what happened, I had to
figure out a way for me to stop Midnight from any damage-before every
person in the world became a vampire victim.
I knew I needed to keep my eye on Midnight, at least for a day, so I
decided to play a little Hide And Seek with Mom that Monday.
Midnight could fit in some pretty small places, and even though it
was a tight squeeze, I could fit in most of them, too. I took notes
on abnormal cat behavior that was normal vampire behavior, and
thought I even saw her turn into a bat once or twice. She almost saw
me a few times, but luckily she didn't. I'd never have thought I'd
be fast enough to get out of an even faster cat's vision before it
saw me! When Midnight killed a mouse I noticed she bit it on the
neck with her sharp teeth that looked like fangs and sucked the
blood, just like a vampire would do. I was beginning mistrust the
kitty. She could be a danger to the whole world! There had to be
something I could do, even if I couldn't stop her comings and goings.
After all, there's no way to stop a vampire from getting out at
night. Unless…
The answer came to me while eating garlic bread with my spaghetti,
which is a Family Tradition, that night as I saw Midnight cowering in
the corner, as far away as possible from the table but still in my
line of sight. I had to use garlic! As far as I was concerned, it

3. was so simple I was surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner. If only
I knew how I could do it without getting my parents suspicious. That
turned out to be a little too easy. It was time for Hide And Seek
again!
That morning after breakfast I squeezed myself behind the washing
machine to hide until Mom went to work. Suddenly footsteps sounded.
I stiffened as I realized that Mom was coming to do the wash. What
if she found me out? She threw in the first load when I realized my
leg was itching. But I was too scared to move. If I made a sound,
she might get confused, start poking around, find me, send me to
school, and ruin the plan. On one hand, I had to stay still, but on
the other hand, my leg was really itching. I couldn't take it
anymore, so I scratched my leg. Mom must have heard something,
because she looked around and shook her head. "My ears are playing
tricks on me,"[b] Then she hurried off and went to work.
Hoping no one would notice the stink of garlic I left behind as I
crawled out of my hiding spot, I broke up the piece of garlic I had
brought into tiny bits. Now I just had to bury the bits in
Midnight's fur. If I could find her. I looked everywhere, calling
"Midnight! Midnight, where are you, little fluff?" But then I
realized something. There was meowing at the door! Midnight had
gotten out last night and couldn't get back in, so out of instinct, I
let her in. But before she went anywhere I buried the bits of garlic
as far as possible into her fur.
After dinner Midnight started meowing for food. I nearly didn't but
she was so sweet so I sighed and fed her. I was still convinced she
was a vampire, but no matter how much I didn't trust her she would
always be my cat.
So that's my story! Don't worry, that's not it forever. There's
more news processing! You have somewhere to be? Really? So soon?
Well then, I suppose you'd better go. Please come back soon! I'll
share more news with you as soon as possible!
The End