There laid a household buried amongst the people of Crystal Bay, a coastal town situated along the East Coast of the United States of America in New Jersey. Their name was the Boyds. That's where I, Michael, lived, just a 10-year-old child going to Crystal Bay Elementary School.

In 1997, life was sweet: my father, Maxwell, was a full-time ghost hunter operating at midnight who captured evil spirits that aimlessly wandered the night of Crystal Bay, unseen by the average person without a special pair of thermal vision goggles.

My mother, Dorothy, was a housewife who wanted to provide everything in the world for me and my siblings. She put us first above anything and cared tremendously for our well-being.

Then comes my two brothers: Desmond, 16, and Jack, 14. These two, although loved me to death, were the troublemakers of the family. There wasn't a day gone by when they weren't arguing with my parents about anything and everything.

We lived in a pretty old house, barely holding together after years of neglect and moisture to the wooden infrastructure. But despite the living conditions, it was a two-story home with two bedrooms, a basement entering from behind the house, and a large backyard open to the vast forest behind us. I didn't complain back then, and neither did my family.

On this particular day, I put on my backpack, ready to go to school on my bicycle. It was a regular occurrence to say goodbye to my family and give my bigger brother, Desmond, a hug before leaving. Out of the two of my brothers, I was closest to Desmond growing up. He would always check up on me and help out with my homework, or just play soccer or video games with me.

Desmond was very intelligent, having achieved an impressive amount of success with his academic life across all subjects: Mathematics, Science, Language, History, etc. Funnily enough, that's why I always relied on him to do my homework. Every time I got Jack to help me, he would either doodle in my book or play his electric guitar and annoy me to death.

Jack at the time was knee-deep into music, forming a band with his friends from school and jamming it out in the garage, usually after school and sometimes up until midnight. You can imagine the frustration my parents went through after years of ear-blasting punk rock from those amps.

On the way there, I'm reminded why I loved Crystal Bay so much. There was a community, a community who knew and loved everyone. Each other would wave and stop to have a chat about what they were doing on the weekend, or the latest news around town. I remember at the time, my brother, Jack, was causing havoc around the town with his friends, tagging up police stations and pranking the wealthy estates of Crystal Bay.

And it was the talk of the town for a long time, no thanks to the negative influence surrounding him.

This burdened my parents, and we got quite a lot of complaints from the New Jersey Police Department about his behavior. This only made troubles worse for my family, but more on that later...

It was a Monday, the first day of the week, and after riding through the suburban streets of Crystal Bay, I was there greeting all my friends as I entered the school at exactly 8:55 AM. To the left of me was Timothy, or Tim as I called him, and Lyn on the right, a new female student at the school. We got along quite well and were the two friends I would actively hang out with.

Tim was who got me into soccer, despite my father hounding me to play a sport beforehand. He was excellent at it, and his perspective on team effort stuck with me.

"My mom told me teamwork makes the dream work." He said. Now isn't that the truth?

Through Tim, I learned what was important about friendship and sticking with others. Helping people become better versions of themselves through lifting each other. But in this world, to face life on your own is suicide.

Lyn, a recent student who moved from California, found her place in my friend group here at Crystal Bay Elementary School. Even though she wasn't sporty like Tim, she lit up the room with her smile, and her positivity was contagious. I was always happy to see Lyn because of how much better she made me feel. When things were a bit hectic at home, I'd always go and hang out with her and Tim to forget about the family drama.

I was a pretty average student at school. Never flunked it, but I wouldn't have called myself a "Grade A" student by any means. I never really cared at all about school.

The only memories that I cherished were the ones I spent with friends.

Crystal Bay Elementary School wasn't a particularly notorious school. A lot of us kids behaved, and it being in a town on the coast of New Jersey, the residents were wealthier than your average town in America. It was nothing flashy, though; just an ordinary place you could pass as your average elementary school.

Our subjects were all taught by one teacher, and admittedly I bugged my teachers every year to have the same friends in the class from previous years.

But the majority of my time building the relationships I had with them, especially Tim and Lyn, was during break times in the cafeteria or outside doing whatever we felt like at the time.

One night, I, Lyn, and Tim decided to take a trip to Tranquil Memorial Park, a local cemetery that holds the legend of a famous vampire who would hide in the shadows, lurking around in the cemetery.

Vampires were creatures that you would find in a fictional novel, a mere corpse living and breathing, out at night terrorizing innocent people. I didn't believe it, but my two friends seemed adamant at the time. Honestly, it seemed like something Desmond would've believed in, a person who was obsessed with the gothic fashion and culture at the time.

It was about 11:45 PM, and we were trying to sneak into the cemetery without being caught by security. At first, we were pretty successful. Tim and Lyn were having an absolute blast, jumping on the tombstones and laughing. I thought it was kinda funny too, but there was a sense of impending doom. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it felt like something was there, stalking us.

Suddenly, we heard rustling leaves in the distance.

Without hesitation, we ran to nearby tombstones, hiding behind them as if our lives depended on them. We hadn't even gotten to exploring the cemetery before being scared for our lives.

As I peeked out from the tombstone, a flash of light hit my face. I was blinded, unable to see what was in front of me. As it vanished, there stood my older brother, Desmond.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a surprised tone.

"Oh, I was just looking around the cemetery to look for vampires," I said in response.

Desmond laughed.

"Vampires? Mick, I know you're just a youngin, but you and I both know they don't exist..." Desmond stated with assurance.

Mick was a name Desmond gave me to make our connection special from the rest of my friends. I hated it at first, but over time I became accustomed to it and even started to like it.

After our little discussion, Tim and Lyn came out from behind their tombstones to see what was happening.

"Who is this guy?" Tim asked me.

"This is my big brother, Desmond," I answered.

Lyn jokingly said, "And what is he doing here? Could he be the vampire?"

Desmond looked at Lyn with frustration, "Me?! That's ridiculous. I just said vampires don't exist!"

"I know I should've told you earlier, but I work here. I'm the security guy who walks around and makes sure people like you three don't cause any trouble." He turned to me to say.

I looked at my friends, confused about what was happening, but I went along with what Desmond said, "Okay. Does Mom and Dad know?" I asked.

"Yes, they do... but sometimes, they're a bit worried about me. You know, this isn't exactly a safe job. But hey, it gives me money, and besides..." Desmond pauses.

"I kinda like it here." He said as he looked up at the moon.

I nodded and came up with the idea of exploring the cemetery with him, "Hey, Desmond, I know this is a lot to ask, but... could you show us around the cemetery?"

Tim and Lyn nodded profusely, eager at the idea of finding this 'vampire'. "Yes! I know this vampire is somewhere, he has to be real!" Tim said excitedly.

Desmond shook his head and chuckled. "You guys are hopeless... but if you want me to show you guys the place, then I don't see the issue." He said with skepticism.

So off we went, following Desmond as he flashed his flashlight at the beautiful structures that littered the field. Tranquil Memorial Park wasn't a particularly large cemetery, but it had a peculiar atmosphere to it, accompanied by distant owls and dead trees.

It was like something out of a horror movie.

After walking around the cemetery, Desmond turned to us, proceeding with the tour. "Now, would you like me to show you guys where I stay?" He questioned us and he looked our way.

"Okay!" Lyn said without hesitation with a big smile on her face.

I remember looking at Lyn that night, wondering how she could be so brave at that age. Even in the dead of night in a creepy cemetery, she always found a way to be happy. I wish I had that confidence.

We agreed with Lyn and made our way to the office where Desmond stayed during his break times.

As we entered, and to no surprise, welcomed an office that was filled with Desmond's favorite bands, gothic posters, and collectibles, like his room at our home.

Desmond enjoyed listening to post-punk and metal bands in his free time, and as an introvert, he made that fact immediately clear the minute you got to know him.

Tim was inside all of Desmond's stuff, viewing his collectibles and being surprised by his vast collection at his workplace alone.

"You should see his room." I bring up with Tim.

Desmond stood outside, watching as us three kids were inside the office viewing all sorts of documents that I'm sure we weren't allowed to read, but Desmond trusted me so that automatically put trust in my friends.

We finally left the office and my friends expressed their disappointment about the myth. "Aww, there was no vampire! This sucks!" Tim said with disappointment.

Desmond looked at Tim and smiled. "Well, vampires might not be real, but at least it was worth looking at where your friend's brother works, right?" He said, hoping to cheer Tim up.

I looked at Desmond after his comment. "Do you know the name of the vampire?" I asked.

He looked at me and answered. "Count Thorne. He's said to be one of the most powerful vampires to live. But at the end of the day, it's all folklore. This is something that has been carried down by generations, and honestly, it didn't even cross my mind when I wanted to work here."

I understood clearly what Desmond meant, but the other two were hesitant to believe him. We decided to say our goodbyes to Desmond, then depart the cemetery and go our separate ways home. Thankfully my parents didn't catch me sneaking into my room, but I can't say the same for Tim.

When I look back at this point in my life, I realize that this was probably why Tim stopped hanging with me as much. His parents probably didn't put much trust in me after going to a cemetery at midnight with their son. I mean, who can blame them?

I just wish I could've seen him again after elementary school.