Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 16

Rachel’s head throbbed, and her ears were ringing. She sat up slowly, trying to will her eyes into focus. It wasn’t working. The room seemed to spin around her. What the hell had happened?

Slowly she began to see small details. People still littered the floor, although they didn’t look dead. People were walking among them, and she could hear the sounds of their voices, although they were faint.

She squinted. Cops.

“Help…” she croaked. “Help me.”

“This one is awake!” One of the officers yelled out, and waved his arm towards her. Then, in a few steps, he was next to her. “You okay? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.”

As calm and collected as the officer was, Rachel still didn’t feel safe. She couldn’t figure out what had happened. Those guys had rushed in, and then… Chad had been hurt, and then something bright and blue, and she remembered herself being lifted off her feet. Then her memory stopped.

“We got a corpse!” Another officer was yelling in the background?”

“Chad?” The name slipped past her lips, barely a whisper.

She was on her feet, looking around the room, her eyes finally in focus. The ringing in her ears had been replaced by the sounds of cops rushing in, sirens blaring in the background. She looked around.

Chad stood at the door front door, Alice by his side. They both looked unharmed, and completely calm.  How? How could Chad be standing? One of those guys had beaten his brains in. He should be bruised and bleeding on a stretcher, not upright and… and smiling?

Alice looked at her, and Rachel felt a chill run down her spine. Her friend’s eyes, which had once been so warm and friendly, were now cold and distant. She was smiling as well, but it was one of those smiles that never seemed to reach the eyes. It was a mask.

“Your friend Chad is fine.” The officer next to her was speaking. “He’s the one who called it in.”

Rachel couldn’t speak. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the two people standing in front of her.

Something was very wrong, and her gut was telling her that it was about to get even worse. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 4

I gave the door a single knock and waited. I normally never knocked, but today I had to be careful. I didn’t want to walk into… whatever was going on. I couldn’t take that shock.

Their door opened, and Bea poked her head out. She was smiling and wide eyed. It wasn’t a natural smile. It felt… plastic.

“Loni!” Her voice was too chipper. “Come on in.”

I followed her in the house, carefully reaching into my purse and wrapping my hand around my Taser.

It wasn’t just the attitude that was giving me pause. It was her clothes. She had on a floor length house dress and a heavy wool sweater. It had to be nearly seventy outside, and she didn’t have the air on in the house, and yet she wasn’t sweating.

“So,” I said, “you were saying that Richard was acting odd.”

“Oh yes.” She didn’t turn towards me when she spoke. “He just seems so… down. He hasn’t moved all morning. Just lying in bed. Won’t even talk to me.”

She led me towards the back of the house, towards the bedroom she shared with Richard.

“What do you want me to do?” I slowed my steps, building up a larger distance between the two of us.

She stopped in front of the door. “I was just thinking that maybe a little company might help perk him up.”

She gave the bedroom door a gentle push and it slowly creaked open.

I started screaming, and I feared I would never stop.

Rituals pt. 22

Standing there, seeing that giant, snakelike creature looking at me, his hand gripping the young woman's hair, I felt something start to stir inside me.

Let me help you.

I could hear the voice so clearly. A woman's voice. It sounded strong, mature. It felt familiar, even though I had never heard it before in my life.

Where had it come from?

You can't defeat him without me. Let me help you. 
All you have to do is say yes. 

How did I know who she was? How did I know that what she was telling me was the truth.

More importantly... how did I know her name?

"Juktha..." I whispered to myself.

Say yes, and I can end this quickly. 

I closed my eyes. I knew my answer before it even passed my lips.

"Yes," I said aloud.

And it happened...

Well, it happened. I missed a post. Sorry guys! I'm settling into Ohio, and I'm trying to get some work done now, but I can't say it won't happen again. It is going to be a hectic couple of weeks. I'll try and give everyone a heads up if the posts are going to go wonky again.

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 3

I pulled into Bea’s driveway, keeping my eyes out for any of those phone freaks that I had seen at the diner. I wasn’t as young as I use to be, and while I might be able to outrun one or two of them, I doubt I could successful fight any of them off.

Grabbing my purse, and double checking to make sure I had my mace and my Taser, I got out of the car and started towards the side door.

For some reason an old saying of my mother’s flashed through my mind.

“Company uses the front door. Friends use the side door.”

I smiled. I don’t think, in all the years I had known her, I ever walked in through Bea’s front door.

I paused. Had. “I had know her”, past tense.

She was still alive. She was still alive, and I would walk into her kitchen, and Richard would just be grumpy, and maybe have a cold. They would both be fine, and this little house, with those sweet and amazing people that I have known for my entire adult life, would be inside, safe and sound.

I wanted to believe that so bad, but the ever growing silence around me made my doubts grow.

New Pom Pom Angel: Forbidden Kiss pt. 9

Dante and I sat on the couch, our clothes hastily put on and ruffled. Regina and Missy were glaring at us, their faces red both with anger and embarrassment.

“Nando, how could you?” The disappointment on Missy’s face was intense. “He’s a… he’s a demon. Do know the risks you are taking when you have sex with a demon? Did you even use protection? Holy water? A crucifix? A book of exorcism rights? I mean, if you are going to sleep with a demon, you need to be safe.”

“Dante, do you really want to screw up everything I’m working on here?” Regina was laying into her brother. “Gus would never talk to me again if my idiot brother stole his best friend’s soul.”

“I wasn’t going to steal his soul.” Dante was looking at his hands. He didn’t seem amused, or playful. He seemed… well, he seemed genuinely upset. “I was just trying to have a nice, normal night. No soul sucking, no dark magic. I just wanted a… nice… normal…”

Then the tears started.

These were the type of tears that only a pro could fake. Thick rivers ran down Dante’s cheeks, and his shoulders shook with each and every sob.

Without thinking I reached out and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close. He clung to me, the tears coming stronger now.

“I tried so hard… to make… tonight special. I tried so hard.” He glanced up at me, his eyes red from crying so hard.

“It was special.” I smiled at him. “It was one of the best dates I’ve been on in a very long time.”

“Really?” He was still crying, but at least he was smiling now. “So, do I get a second one?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Missy and Regina were watching us, their jaws hanging slack.

“So…” Regina cleared her throat, “you weren’t trying to steal his soul?”

Dante just shook his head.

“I still think you should carry some holy water around with you, Nando.” Missy crossed her arms. “Just in case.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, “but I don’t think I’ll need it.”

I looked over at Dante, who had stopped crying, and was now using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the tears that were drying on his cheeks. He was smiling.

It was one of the most honest smiles I have ever seen.  

Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 15

Petra was the next to wake up. He took in his surroundings. The others, the marks, were all down, and Voigt was starting to stir, although he didn’t look like he was in all that great of shape. Petra made his way over quickly and quietly, grabbing Voigt by the arm, and pulling him to his feet.

“Come on, we need to get out of here.” He kept his voice low, nothing more than a whisper.

“I didn’t know it would do that. I didn’t know…” He was rambling, still disoriented from the blast. When he finally looked at Petra, his eyes focused. “You… you killed that girl.”

Petra wanted to hit him so badly, but he held back. He didn’t need to wake the others, and he didn’t need this giant baby freaking out and refusing to run. The blast that had been set off was a big one, big enough to draw attention from the rest of the campus. Attention meant cops, and unless they got the fuck out of there, they would end up arrested.

Ignoring Voigt’s mumbles, Petra made his way towards the back office. They could slip out the office window, and hide in the woods. If he could keep his head straight, he could get them to the path that eventually would take them back to Kent’s house.

As he ran, he was surprised at how little damage the blast had actually done. Sure, they had all been knocked out, but the room itself was completely fine. Even the purse that had held the explosive was intact.

What the fuck was going on?

He had seen some weird shit in his day, and this topped all of it.

They reached the office door, and pushed it open slowly, making as little noise as possible. Petra stepped inside first, and instantly felt something brittle crunch under his shoe.

He glanced down, and found himself looking into the withered, skeletal eyes of a rotted corpse. But… it couldn’t be. The corpse was wearing Morris’s clothes. Even if the blast had killed Morris, this corpse was too far gone to have been freshly killed.

“What are you…” Voigt stepped towards the office. When he saw the body his eyes went wide, and Petra know what was about to happen.

Quickly he slapped his hand over Voigt’s mouth, and ran towards the window. They needed to get out of there, and fast.

-*-

Once they were in the woods, away from the others, and hidden away from any potential cops, Voigt broke down.

“What the fuck was that? Who the fuck was that? What the fuck happened?” Words were spilling out of his mouth so fast that Petra couldn’t keep trap.

Petra couldn’t take it. He needed to think, and Voigt’s constant yammering was making it difficult. Finally, he pulled his hand back and backhanded Voigt across the jaw.

That shut him up.

“I don’t know what just happened, but I do know that Kent needs to know.” Petra paused. “And he needs to know that there is no leaving us high and dry. If we go down for this, so does he.”