Interview with a Vampire

I woke up and it turns out the hobo scenario was just a dream. I went to call my psychologist to ask help and try to figure out the meaning of the dream.

When I called her, she was really busy and told me she will try to see me today instead of tomorrow. She sounded very apologetic and I was a bit angry at her. But I had to agree with her because she is a psychologist and she has a lot of patients to take care of.

Then I got another call from the New York Times, they told me they want to interview me after signing the contract for them. They want to make a documentary about my life, recordings of my childhood, everything about me in general on how I became this successful.

I could use my psychopathic facade and charm everyone with my charisma there. As usual. Well time to get my "make up" which isn't a real make up of course, rather to put on a fake persona to impress everyone in the interview.

They wanted me to come there by 9 o'clock in the morning. The date today is the 27th of March in the year 2022, the time of the date is 11:20 AM. I'll go get ready.

I went to my closet and changed into my suit. Then I took off my shirt and threw it into the laundry basket. I put on a white dress shirt with a black tie, a black jacket and a pair of black pants.

Then I wore my black leather boots and fingerless leather gloves then headed to the main building of the New York Times through Uber.

The Uber driver who picked me up was a middle aged man who was a nice looking person. He asked me if I was Klei and I told him yes. I told him that he could drop me off at the New York Times and I'll walk the rest of the way because it's short.

How do these people know my name, is that how those hobos knew my name? I hope that was a dream because I can't risk looking like a monster but I hope it was real because I would look like a hero who saved the day that night.

After 10 minutes of waiting, I saw a tall and skinny Asian woman with a yellow skirt walking towards me. She was wearing a yellow scarf around her head and she was carrying a yellow umbrella.

Then I realised that I recognized her from last night, it wasn't a dream! It was the same woman I saved from those hobos last night.

"Oh hey!" I exclaimed and I greeted her by shaking her hand, "I'm Klei. Sorry about last night... I know I was acting crazy but it was my way of defending myself, I'm not actually crazy.

It was all an act." I said charmingly, giving the best first impression despite it wasn't. Last night was. I hope she realizes I saved her from getting robbed and raped last night by crazy hobos who were intoxicated with drugs and pretend they're wizards.

"Hello, Klei. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a smile.

"The pleasure is mine."

We entered the building and she showed me to the elevator and we rode it up to the 30th floor.

"What's your name?" I asked to make up for the awkward silence throughout the elevator ride.

"It's Meilin." She said,

"Nice to meet you, Meilin."

She smiled. "So, how do you know me?"

"I saved you last night, don't you remember? You were the same girl that was asked for a spare change from those hobos."

"Ah, I remember now."

"Well, let's go inside." I said.

Meilin followed me into the office and she introduced herself to the receptionist.

"Hi, my name is Meilin, I'm here for my Klei's interview with Dr. Zhang."

"I don't understand. I thought I was here for an interview about my books. Well if he's a psychologist that would make sense because I write psychological thrillers." I intruded respectfully.

"You wrote a book?" The receptionist asked.

"Yes, I did. I'm a writer. I've been writing since I was 11 years old. My first novel was published when I was 12."

"I see. Well I guess you can wait outside. I'll call you in when he's available."

"Okay. Thank you."

I waited for 20 minutes until the receptionist called me in. I was shown to a room where I was seated in a chair facing a desk.

A man in his mid 40s sat behind the desk. He looked to be a Chinese man with glasses and a beard.

"Am I here for the interview about my books, right? That's why I'm here. I just got confused why Meilin called a doctor instead of a journalist for my work." I said.

"Ah yes, that's right. We're sorry for the confusion. Please forgive us. You're Klei, right? I'm Dr. Zhang." He said with a warm smile.

"The pleasure is mine, Dr. Zhang." I smiled back.

"Please, sit down." He gestured to a seat across from him.

"Thank you." I sat down on the chair in front of him, "Should we begin recording to know about my life in general and my success here in this very building of New York Times?"

He nodded and pulled out a pen and paper. "Sure, that would be great."

"Alright, let's start with the basics. What is your full name?" He asked.

"James Klei Robillos Olimpo." I responded.

"Okay. Where are you originally from?"

"Philippines."

"And how long have you been living in America?"

"Just around a few weeks now."

"Okay. Do you have any family in the Philippines?"

"Yes, my mother still lives there." I said, trying to hide the story about my father.

"How often do you visit your mother?"

"Whenever I can afford it."

"Do you have siblings?"

"I do in fact, I used to live with my half brother in North Carolina until I won the yearly contest of WebNovel and they advertised me to this company for me to write for you people.

My half sister ran away from home sadly, it was when I was 8."

"Did you ever get along with your brother?"

"Yes, we were close when we were younger. He used to tease me a lot when I told him something successful I achieved, and he would say there is always someone better than me. Luckily he isn't the person better than me out of anyone in this world.

He may have passed high school then college but he's not so smart and is a low minimum wage worker. Myself? I dropped out of high school because I was mentally unstable.

No matter how dark and dangerous my path was, I kept on walking on that path until I reached the light at the end of the tunnel. And this light.

New York City is the light at the end of my tunnel after fighting so hard no matter how many times I get traumatised throughout my life, this is just the beginning."

Dr. Zhang wrote everything down in his notebook.

"Have you ever had any traumatic experiences in your childhood?"

"I thought this was meant about my success and not a therapy session..." I looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, Klei. I didn't mean to pry into your personal life. If you don't want to talk about it, then I will respect that. But if you want to share it with me, I will listen to every word you say."

"Thank you, I just want to be interviewed about my achievements and how I did it no matter how terrible my life had gone through. That is the point of this interview, right?" I said with a grin.

"Of course, Klei. But if you want to talk about your trauma, I will listen to you."

"I think I should focus more on my achievements and how I got here instead of talking about my traumas. Did I get tricked into getting into a hospital clinic and not the headquarters of where I'm supposed to be in? Am I even in the right building? So confusing..." I said with a sigh.

"Yes, of course. I apologise. Let's move on to the next question."

"Alright."

"How did you come up with the idea for your book? What inspired you to write it?"

"I was badly abused and bullied as a child, and I wanted to make my grief and depression as an inspiration to my psychological horrors and gothic thrillers into paper as a metaphorical story of my life.

But let's not get deep into my traumas, let us talk about how I put my traumas into art! You see, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at first. But I didn't think of it as a disease,

I thought of it as a gift, a superpower of the human mind. And I started writing and writing and never stopped. People thought I was crazy, but they don't know my mind is beyond their comprehension."

"How do you feel about having a mental illness?"

"I feel like I'm normal. Everyone has a different way of thinking and feeling. And I feel I'm not alone in this world, everyone has a different perception of reality. However, society saw me differently from them.

In society, I am the different quirky one among us. As if I was a wolf in sheep's clothing that I had to act the same type of normal they perceive than I do in order to blend in. Like an imposter. And people were not so suspicious of me anymore as soon as I practised the mask of sanity."

"What do you think about the stigma attached to mental illnesses?"

"I don't care. I feel that everyone has a different way of thinking and feeling. And I'm proud of being abnormal. No, scratch that. I embrace my true self.

I can't let people tell me who I want to be and who I should be, this is my life, my body, my rules. It's no one's business and no one has the right to criticise me for who I truly am, unless they want to be hypocrites and see themselves in the mirror.

That is society. Everyone is crazy in their own special way."

"I see. And what do you think about the other characters in your book?"

"I don't really know. The only character I know is myself. Because the character in my book is a two sided coin, if you were to put The Joker and Two-Face from those Batman movies.

You will understand, he is nihilistic and sees society from a different view, the true view that no one else perceives."

"So, you're saying you're the villain in your book?"

"Of course I am. But I am the hero of my own story. I am the antagonist and the protagonist of my own novel. Because our true enemies are ourselves.

We have to fight our own inner demons. To lessen confusion, I had to put a split personality of my own character in my novel."

"That makes sense."

"Yes, indeed so. Any other questions?"

"You mentioned that you're writing a sequel. Is that correct?"

"Yes, I'm working on it now."

"And what is your plan for it? Will you keep the same characters?"

"I think I'm going to make Klei a hero. I call it 'Writer's Reincarnation: Legacy Edition'. I put the word LEGACY for this sequel from the previous one Shadows Edition.

Because Legacy means a deed of heroism that will immortalise the name of the hero rather than being forgotten. I took inspiration from The Joker's fear despite him not having one.

The Joker has a phobia of being forgotten out of anything else. He doesn't fear death or Arkham Asylum, not even Batman.

So I thought to myself that once my character dies in Shadows Edition one last time, I will reincarnate him as the hero and make him a good guy, to show people that I have a good side as well. Everyone has a good side, and a bad side.

All humans are two sides of a coin. There is no such thing as a human without their Joker and Batman in one person. Which being both good and evil at the same time is what makes a human, human."

"I see. Thank you for your time Klei."

"You're welcome. Goodbye."