"So who's driving?" I fervently asked my friends in all seriousness. They laid back in their chairs and looked derisively at me.

"Driving where?"

Of course, they were just messing around. I forgot to tell them they were sitting with a damn beast! I thought giddily.

These peasants know nothing about bravery, they're all talk and no fun.

"Kay, never mind. I'll call an Uber, y'all drunkards wouldn't be able to-" I sauntered away, waving my hand like I was greater.

"Mavis, stop. We're walking there." Sonia told me, getting up with no trouble whatsoever. Hell, even I struggled a bit getting up after sitting so long, yet she'd been raring to go. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"But isn't it in Transylvania or something? You don't seem okay to do this right now."  I asked her. As far as the Maps on my phone could tell, Bran Castle was on the other side of the country, a few hours by car at most. I may have been a rebel, but I wasn't stupid.

"No, you idiot. The real one. Where the actual bloodsucker lived." Azra told me.

"And where is that?" I asked uncertainly.

"Three blocks from here and into the woods." Sonia answered.

"No, please no more woods."  I said quickly waving my arms in front of them. I had enough of branches and leaves in my face for one day.

"Fine, so you are a pussy." Azra said.

"No, I'M NOT!" I roared, and slammed my fist on the table, making the drinks on the table quake in their glasses.

I inhaled deep to calm myself, and decided there was one way to settle this.

"Fine. Let's go to the castle to settle this once and for all." I told her.

"Alrighty then. Right this way, Mrs. Van Helsing." She joked.

"More like Ms. Drunk Designated Driver." Azra commented. I stopped.

Hell no.

"Ek second, ek second, who's actually driving?" I stopped them. I'd barely driven a car for two years, but I did have an IDP. ('Ek' means one)

"Toh aur kaun chalayga? Mai?" Sonia grumbled drunkenly without even listening. (Then who else is going to drive? Me?)

Azra stood up and explicitly straightened her top and jeans. Together, we walked out the bright and noisy pub, into the dark streets and the moonlit sky which seemed to be on a low-level dimmer setting. Indira followed us until up to that point.

"Well, it's been nice catching up with you lot. Ta." She said to us. We all said our goodbyes and headed towards the parking lot.

Suddenly, Indira leaned towards me and whispered something in my ear.

"If I were you, I'd be more wary with them." She warned. My heart sank down to my stomach at that ominous warning. Before I could ask anything, Indira was out of sight.

It wasn't that I didn't think I could trust my friends, I knew I couldn't trust them. I remembered high school, where I still felt so alone yet so surrounded.

Meh, whatever. Might just be a misconception. Who cares?

"That way." Sonia said, pointing to an alley behind us.

"Abhi se hi kehri hoo, Uber lelo. Agar koi mara toh mujhe na phasana." I warned her as we walked to the car. (I'm saying this from now, get an Uber. Don't trap me if anyone dies)

"Haan haan, pata hai. Ab chal na." Sonia ushered. (Yeah yeah, we know. Now come on)

Seriously? You're just driving to a museum, dumbass.

I quickly called my dad, just to let him know what was up. Not that his reaction would be pleasant. When the ringing stopped and the line connected, I braced myself for a painstakingly long lecture and maybe some threats of disownment.

"Hello?" His irascible voice suddenly came.

"Mai thori der me aongi." I explained shortly. There was no need to tell him exactly. (I'll be back a bit late)

"Accha, bas salamat rehna aur darna mat zyada. Khuda tumhara hafiz hai." Something about his voice was off. Usually when Urdu is spoken, it sounds pretty raspy but his tone had practically dropped an octave, as if he'd been crying. (Well, just be safe and don't be too scared. God is your protector)

That was weird. Whatever.
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Soon, the only light there was around me was the two headlights of the car. The dark silhouettes of the mountain ranges had suddenly grown around us just after a ten minutes of driving, despite being like a distant picture in the dusky violet horizon earlier.

I had drowned out every other sound and focused on the dark road ahead of us.

Sonia suddenly poked at my neck with her thick and long acrylic nails, cackling like a maniac.

No fucking way.

Without sparing her a glance, I grabbed her shoulder with one hand and shoved her back into the backseats. She was lucky she didn't hit her head on the window. The only one unlucky was me.

Soon, I saw an exit which was probably the one we had to go to. A brown sign with a broken castle on it. I wondered to myself whether the rest of Romania besides Bucharest was completely a forest of the Carpathian Mountains.

The narrow road greeted me pleasantries of speed limits, warning signs of bears and deers. I also noticed signs regarding road conditions for the next fifty kilometers, which to my misfortune, were written in Romanian with no images.

Soon, I was graced by the presence of another light. We were slowly approaching a dingy looking tollbooth.

Looking through the window, it was evident that someone was here, just not in that cubicle.

The slapping of a fist against the windowsill brought me back.

"Trebuie să plătiți." The guy said when I unrolled the window. (You need to pay)

"Nu avem bani." Azra slurred behind me. (We have no money)

"Atunci pleaca." He said a bit aggressively. (Then leave)

"He's asking you to leave." The drunkard behind me said.

I sighed and moaned, driving ahead to make a slow U-turn.

"Wait, what the fuck are you doing?" Azra snarled in panic and anger. I was taken aback, but confused.

"Y'all didn't tell me it wasn't open. I'm goin' back." I answered in a 'duh' manner.

"Turn the fuck around, we're not leaving so soon." Sonia said in the same tone as Azra.

It was a bit weird, because I was no stranger to seeing how drunk people acted. For being shit-faced hammered, these two had become a tad too alert all too quickly.

"Let's go through the dirt road to the parking lot."

I shrugged and turned. I mean, worst case scenario was we'd have to pay a fine. And that wasn't going to be from my pocket anyway.

I parked the car by the bushes behind the cabin and got out. The pure concrete trail was only for a few steps before it all became muddy dirt paths.
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"Abay oy, aur kitni door?" I called out in a broken voice. (Yo, how much further?)

My feet were probably contorted into the shape of my boots by now. I should've dressed more appropriately.

"Lo, pohoch gaye." They both stopped and my heart skipped a beat at the hauntingly beautiful view. Castle Dracula, or what was left of it. (There you have it, we're here)

(This isn't the real one js)

My breath was caught in my throat. I thought it would look more... ruiny?

Sure, it wasn't much, but it must've been at one point in time. A palace fit for a king if it wasn't now. The hill did make me wonder, how in the fresh hell people found the motivation to climb and get there to make a castle?

Slavery. I scoffed. All beauty hides its ugly within well. Time wears it down and the truth is seen.

"How's the detainment center in Romania?" I asked, reminding my two buddies about the authorities.

"Oh shut it, we come here all the time. It's nothing." Azra said, her eyes still on the large building.

We stopped at a large fence, still almost a few kilometers away from the castle. There was a yellow sign with a skull on it.

ACCESUL INTERZIS

"My Romanian sucks, but I doubt that's permission for people who 'come here all the time'." I mocked them.

Leaves rustled behind me, and a pit formed in my stomach, my skin pebbled despite the humid weather, and my mind started spinning all sorts of dark thoughts in my head. There was no wind, and the only two other sentient beings were in front of me.

Come to think of it, we may have been hiking for at least twenty minutes. Yet not once did I even feel the presence of an animal around here.

Suddenly, the sound of twigs breaking turned into a pattern of frequency. Someone, or something was coming. I remembered that warning in the beginning of the exit.

Bears or wolves. And I don't want to find out which one.

"Shit, Haul ass. NOW!" I hissed at them and prepared myself to run back the way we came. However, they had gone the other way towards the castle.

I did not think, but what I knew was that I didn't want to be alone.

I decided to climb the fence, its sharp metal wires cutting into my skin seemed to be the second greatest issue I had. I swung my legs over it a little too fast. Just like the thud of the fall echoing, pain spread through my entire leg.

Dumbass. What are you, twelve?

I got up and still kept running towards my two friends, down the steep hill that would probably take forever to climb. My feet started pounding flat cobble instead of the mushy soil.

I zipped past two giant gargoyle statues. I was sad I would die in here without seeing all the pretty things. I caught up to my two idiotic friends, and we ran together, one of us constantly slowing down or just wheezing.

The bridge seemed endless as it went on, but giant castle doors had now come into view, only to be reached by two curving staircases on the sides. I quickly realized we were on the platform underneath the doors. Well, the dare was done either way.

Sonia collapsed onto the pavement in front of the palace, Azra used the support of the rocky banister and threw her head back in exhaustion. I, however, kept going and climbed the steps. Thinking about it now, getting arrested scared me more than this castle did.

I leaned against the barrier to look behind me, and looked down. Both of my friends were gone.

Fuck.

I decided to try and get inside the castle, because it was cold, dark, and dangerous out here. I suppose that still wouldn't justify breaking in, I guess.

I started booting down the door, putting my entire body weight into the leg that pushed against the giant door.

"Wait, stop!"

I heard Sonia yell in a perilous tone. Her eyes were widened with fear and she was frozen.

"Hey, where the fuck were you just now? I'm scared shitless right now!" I hissed at her.

"Stop breaking the door!"

"I thought you told me you guys came here a lot." I reminded them and resumed kicking at the door. I wasn't really surprised that they had never come here and were just fucking around.

"About that-" Azra was interrupted by a sickening creak, and my yell.

My foot went through nothing, as the doors, the large thick door six times our size, gave way and opened.

I looked behind me, the sound of hounds barking and footsteps growing assured me that this castle was the only haven left.

I scurried inside the small opening, too scared to even touch the door. Sonia and Azra followed. I kept walking backwards, my eyes glued to the world outside that door.

The back of my heel met a little bump in the floor, and I completely toppled backwards.

"Owie!" I grunted in pain for my ass and back. I rose, but didn't stand up.

I was sitting in the middle of a rusted design made on the floor, exactly in the middle of it.

What the hell?

Believe me, I wanted to walk right out of there but I was frozen in place, and I don't think it was shock that froze me more than fear. I looked to find my friends turned around now.

"Guys?" My voice cracked. Danger was upon us.

The silence had broken and remained at the same time; a deafening quiet. However, it did finally break in the physical realm as well with Azra's soft whimpers.

Oh hell no, not a panic attack.

"Shh.. shut the fuck up." I hushed her, the sound was getting clearer and clearer. It sounded something like a leather whip rapidly cracking.

I started whispering the famed Ayat-ul-Kursi, closing my eyes to block out whatever was coming my way. This was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. It was beyond fear, it was the most dangerous combination of fear and curiosity.

I finished whispering the words, and realized the strange noises had stopped completely. I relaxed a little, starting to walk outside the circle.

A few steps ahead, my heels clacking through the silence.

WHOOSH!

I fell flat on my ass by a gust of wind strong enough to completely fling open the rest of the giant castle doors. I started scooting away on my hands and knees just as soon as I fell.

Bats. A flock of living, flying bats. Think up any animal, any kind of furry flying creature of the dark. Picturing it? Hundreds of them flying right at me in a pack.

I immediately crossed my arms over my head and fell onto my knees and curled up in a little ball. I turned my head to the side as the pungent smell of a living cloud filled my nostrils. Suddenly, the wind stopped rushing, but I couldn't stop shaking and having my ears ring. And that was all I remember from that night.