Roulette (Part 3)

KayZee was standing in front of the television in the living room, feeling a wave of panic rise in her chest. She’d heard stories like this one in campfire stories before. Usually ones similar to the urban legend of the hook. But, as she listened to the news anchors talking about a woman who escaped a psychiatric hospital where she was being held, KayZee couldn’t believe what she was hearing was real.

            “What’s wrong, KayZee?” Harper asked. “Did something happen?”

            Harper stood next to her friend trying to figure out what happened to put KayZee in a near catatonic state. Unfortunately, Harper only caught the end of the report. She didn’t hear anything about the escaped patient. Only the anchors urging watchers to call the police if they saw a woman, whose picture was superimposed on the screen next to one of the reporter’s heads.

            “No, seriously. What?” Harper prodded KayZee.

            “Oh, nothing. Just something on the news that’s kinda creepy.”

            “What? Did something happen back home?”

            “Not there… Somebody escaped a psychiatric hospital about fifty miles from here.”

            “That’s only creepy if they were in for committing a crime,” Harper wasn’t concerned about someone escaping a hospital. Fifty miles away? What were the odds that they would end up anywhere near the cabin? Besides, Harper had learned through experience that people with mental illnesses weren’t all scary murderers as society would have everyone believe. In fact, her own older brother had Borderline Personality Disorder. He was still a pretty great guy.

           

***

            Mateo placed his duffel bag on the bed, making sure not to damage some of the things he’d brought. Most of the contents were his clothes, which he obviously wasn’t too concerned about. However, he’d had an idea for what he and his friends could do during their stay in the cabin. Mateo wasn’t expecting there to be much to do. He wasn’t even expecting there to be electricity. It was in the middle of the woods. Just in case this trip turned out to be the real-life version of the stereotypical slasher movie he brought his zombie knife. To be honest, it was more of a machete with a green handle. The tip of the blade of flat instead of pointed and the back end of it was serrated. His second most prized possession. His first being the bottle of vodka he took from his parent’s liquor cabinet. Sure, he’d be blamed for it later, but as long as this trip was in any way interesting, he was fine with that.

            Pulling out the bottle by it’s neck, Mateo held the bottle of clear liquid in front of his face, inspecting the contents.

            “How fucked up would it be if my Mom or Dad replaced the real vodka with a vodka bottle full of water. Wouldn’t be surprised. They have to know I’ve been taking shots of their good shit for years.”

            Mateo heard laughing coming from upstairs. It sounded like Miles. He’d know that deep bellowing chuckle anywhere. This reminded Mateo of a time when he went camping with Miles and few classmates in Junior High. One of the older boys in the class brought a flask full of whiskey and about five kids played a game called Roulette. That was the first time any of them had been drunk. One of the kids in the group, Vanessa, became more paranoid the more she had to drink giving them all away.

            “That’s a solid idea. A full bottle should be enough for a few games of roulette. Maybe more than enough. It all depends on how quickly we get wasted.”

            With his bottle of vodka in hand, Mateo walked back up the stairs to join his friends. It was already late—about eight in the afternoon. This would be the perfect time to play. Mateo hoped it would be as interesting as the first time.

***

            “Your parents are gonna be so mad you took that…” Jenna shook her head at Mateo. But, she was glad that he’d brought some liquid courage. Luka was going to need it. She couldn’t get him to relax around all of her other friends and it was starting to bother her.

            ‘Maybe I really shouldn’t have brought him along. But, he was invited. I guess he’s just really shy about being in other peoples’ houses.’

            “Yeah, they probably will. But, it wouldn’t be the firs time, nor will it probably be the last. Who cares about that? I brought it so we could play a game.” Mateo held up the bottle as if he’d one it on The Price is Right. “It’s something Miles and I played while we were on a school camping trip in Junior High!”

            “No…” Miles said, excited at the thought of playing what had since become his favorite game, despite only having played it once. His eyes widened as he thought of the fun he’d had the last time. Or, at least, what he could remember from that night. Miles had fewer shots than some of the other kids but reached a state of drunkenness faster because he was small for his age at the time.

            “Oh, yes, my friend!” Mateo had a look on his face that was borderline maniacal. It’s time to play… Roulette!”

            The others in the room who had never played Roulette before looked around at the others waiting for someone to explain Mateo’s rambling.

            “Oh, and you have to take straight shots. None of that pussy shit, chasing it with orange juice or whatever!”

            KayZee raised an eyebrow, “Pussy shit?”

            “Yeah, whatever. You gonna explain what we’re supposed to do?” Jenna asked. She was totally on board, feeling that getting Luka drunk would be the only way he would loosen up.

            “But, pussy shit, though?” KayZee rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna have to drink you under the table for that one…”

The Shadows' Empress (Part 10)

Father and son brought the pizza and some soda into the living room, setting everything on the coffee table. Jacob and the twins immediately dug into their food as they watched their movie in the dim room. Roland, however, couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation he knew he’d have with Jacob when the movie was over. He spent so much time bracing himself for what he was going to hear that he barely ate any of his pizza, nor did he pay any attention to the movie.

Eventually, Roland decided he’d just not worry about what his father had to say until it came time for him to say it. Instead, Roland focused his attention on getting the box open. By now, he’d come to the conclusion that he had to find the other rooms in his dreams that were indicated on the map using the red symbols. Roland had been to one of those rooms already experiencing the vision that he figured must have been the “secret” the Empress was talking about.

‘So, if I find all of the secrets, the box will be unlocked?’ Roland asked himself. ‘I’m not sure if I really wanna find them given what was in the first one. But, I don’t think I have a choice.’

It occurred to Roland that he could fact-check his dad. All he had to do was go through all of the visions that were kept in those rooms, and he would see the truth. Something about that idea made Roland nervous. If his dad was willing to lie to him twice about the same situation he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. For a second, Roland wished he’d never asked. Why would he when he was going to figure it out on his own, anyway?

‘Experiencing the vision in that first room unlocked the first of seven locks, causing the first symbol on the box to disappear…’ Roland reminded himself. ‘So, will it still show up in the picture of the map?’ Pulling his phone out of his back pocket the he opened the gallery app and tapped the “Camera” folder that contained the photo he was looking for. He zoomed in on the picture and counted all of the symbols from the left side to the right.

‘Only six…’ Roland’s hypothesis was correct. The symbols vanished from both the box and the picture of the map. ‘At least that makes things easier.’

“Alright, you guys! Time to clean up!” Jacob announced as the lights as he rolled the dimmer switch to increase the brightness of the lights in the living room. Roland realized he had spent so much time up in his own head that he missed most of the movie and the credits were rolling. On top of that, he’d only eaten one slice of his pizza. Something that didn’t go unnoticed by his father.

‘Oh, well. I’ll finish it later, when I’m actually hungry.’

***

Roland sat at his desk, waiting for his father to finish tucking in Scarlet and Spencer. He really just wanted this conversation to be over. And, knowing the next few secrets that the Empress had left for him to find would probably hurt him emotionally as much as the first did, he couldn’t wait to go to bed so he could find them.

Glancing at the side of his bed, Roland checked to make sure the box was hidden well enough that his father wouldn’t find the decrepit treasure in it’s hiding spot. Who knows how Jacob would react if he noticed the box nestled between a few other small boxes that contained things Roland had collected over the years. The young man chuckled to himself as he realized that he’d hidden one box among boxes of other things he didn’t want anyone to know he had.

‘I’d be screwed on so many levels if anyone looked under my bed…’

There was a knock at his door, causing Roland to jump a bit in his desk chair.

“Mind if I come in, bud?” Jacob’s voice came quietly from beyond the Roland’s bedroom door.

“Yeah…” Roland’s heart began to beat faster. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

Jacob opened the door and closed it behind him before walking over to sit on his oldest son’s bed.

‘Good…’ Roland thought to himself. ‘He can’t see the box if he’s basically sitting on top of it.’

Jacob leaned back a bit, his arms behind him for support. He was quiet for a while, looking around the room. He wasn’t sure what to say. He decided earlier in the evening that he’d cross the bridge when he got to it. And now that he stood at it’s edge, so to speak, he found himself more worried about how Roland had felt about the situation as a whole. His son hadn’t eaten much during dinner, which showed Jacob that the subject of his mother’s death was really bothering him.

“First off, I just want you to understand something,” Jacob began, clearing his throat. He suddenly wished he’d spent some time thinking about what he was going to say. “When your mother died, you were too young to understand the situation, and I figured it would be best to just simplify things until you were ready to hear the full story.”

“When were you thinking I’d be ready to hear it?” Roland asked as he thought about how much parents underestimate their children.

“When you asked me about it. Which obviously is now…” Jacob looked down at the floor wishing Roland had just gone along with his original story.

Jacob stopped talking for a while making the conversation—or lack thereof—uncomfortable for the both of them so Roland tried to take lead of the narrative.

“So…I’m guessing it wasn’t really an accident?”

“It depends on how you look at it,” Jacob said feeling a little sad as he looked into the hazel eyes Roland had inherited from his mother. “I was involved in something… My whole side of the family was. And, I tried to keep it a secret from your mother, but no one could ever accuse her of being dumb. She found out about out it, anyway. She insisted on helping. But, that’s what got her killed…”

The Shadows' Empress (Part 9)

Jacob ended his call with the pizza restaurant and went into the living room to see which movie his youngest children selected. He looked at the title stamped across the large screen in LED lights: ‘Suicide Squad’. This was the fourth or fifth time they had watched this movie.

            “Again?” Jacob asked, wondering if he should laugh or be concerned that his young twins were so interested in the concept of the bad guys being made to do good deeds. But still, their excitement made him smile. He especially thought it was cute when Spencer giggled at the screen when one of the characters said something funny.

            ‘He must be smarter than I thought if none of these jokes are going over his head,’ Jacob thought as he looked over at his oldest son who had been scowling since the movie started. ‘Either he doesn’t wanna watch this movie again, or he’s having one of those mood swings teenagers deal with.’

            The chiming of the doorbell rang through the house.

            “Pizza’s here!” Jacob proclaimed, eliciting happy cheering from his children and, in Roland’s case, growling from his stomach despite the look on his face. Although, with the lights on, Roland seemed less angry. He was probably angry about something and didn’t want them to know.

            “You mind helping me out, Roland?” Jacob didn’t need help to carry four pizzas to the living room. He just wanted to talk. And maybe get him to bring the drinks, because it had been a long day, and papa needed a cold one.

            Roland didn’t answer, but he got up from his spot on the couch between his brother and sister and walked over to meet his father in the kitchen. Jacob paid the delivery guy and gave him a decent tip considering he had to drive out to the country to deliver the pizzas. Putting them on the table, Jacob asked, “everything alright, buddy? You’ve been quiet and kinda angry all night…”

            “I’m fine…” Roland muttered, thinking about the dream he’d had. Given the circumstances, he couldn’t just pretend it wasn’t real. How does a picture you took in your dream show up on your phone in real life?

Jacob sighed. He knew better than to believe a child when they said they were “fine”.

“Let me rephrase that. I know something’s wrong. What is it?” Jacob asked putting his arm around his son, so Roland couldn’t try to avoid the conversation.

For the first time since in his entire life, Roland felt uncomfortable around his father. By now, he’d decided it was obvious that Jacob had been lying to him about his mother’s death. Roland even tried to justify his father’s lies. Who wants to tell a young boy his mother died because of something that wasn’t an accident? What would happen to someone so young, mentally, if they knew had that kind of information? Could someone as young as Roland was at the time even understand the situation? Roland figured the reason he’d felt so betrayed was because he’d like to think he was smart enough to grasp the concept of death without potentially going crazy. Besides, nobody likes being lied to in any circumstance.

Roland took a deep breath, slowly in and out. He looked over his shoulder into the living room to make sure his younger siblings weren’t listening. The young man had just realized what the real reason was; no child should have to worry about something as grim as death.

“How did Mom really die?” Roland stared into his father’s eyes who appeared shocked at the question. Roland was just as shocked, himself. He was planning on coming up with something else to convince Jacob that something completely different was bugging him. But, his real concern ejected itself from his mouth.

The pair stared at each other for a moment before Jacob gave his son a gentle smile.

“You’re a smart kid, so I guess I should’ve seen that one coming…” Jacob said softly so the twins didn’t hear. Surely by now they’d be peering into the kitchen to see what was taking them so long to bring the pizza into the living room, so they could eat while continuing their movie.

“You wanna talk about it? Say, after we eat? The Scarlet and Spencer will probably eat us if we don’t bring them their food,” Jacob chuckled.

“Sure…” Roland said, feeling a bit better about the situation, and also sort of scared. ‘What if Dad’s just thinking of another lie or a way to…kill me, too?’ Roland decided he needed to stop being so paranoid and just let things happen.

Jacob face his son and pulled Roland into a big, bear hug, whispering, “I love you, buddy. And, even if you don’t like what I have to say, everything is gonna be fine.”

Shadow Man (Part 7)

He expected that a day’s worth of medicine taken at one time would hit him hard, but he never thought it would only take minutes to feel the effects. It had only been about eight minutes and he was already getting a buzz. His head swam and for the first time since he’d gotten home he neither felt nor cared about anything. The pain from his injuries was gone, which the teen had only noticed now that he couldn’t feel it. Jesse was in his own world when he heard a loud voice from downstairs. It was his dad’s voice, although he couldn’t make out what he was saying. Although, he sounded angry. Then came the voice of his mother replying in a tone that was just as angry, but that didn’t matter to Jesse.

            Jesse felt like listening to music that complimented his high, but he noticed that his body was heavy. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself into immediate sleep. He opened his eyes once more to see the shadow man standing at his bedside, staring down at Jesse with his new grey eyes. Then, Jesse’s eyes closed, despite his sudden wish to keep them open and watch the shadow man to make sure he didn’t try to kill Jesse in his sleep. But Jesse lost the struggle quickly and was soon asleep.

            “You’re going deeper down the rabbit whole, as they say.” A voice filled the air around Jesse who was still trying to understand where he was. All he knew was that he was in the woods somewhere with a wide, unpaved trail winding its way through the woods.

            ‘All I need is a red hood,’ Jesse thought to himself.

            He looked around. Behind him, in front of him, scanning the lush foliage on either side.

            “I haven’t seen a pine tree in a long time,” said Jesse as he stood up, feeling the smooth dirt under his red converse shoes. The teenager looked down at himself. “I don’t remember getting dressed either.”

            “Um…” Jesse spun around slowly realizing he couldn’t see the person he heard talking. “Is somebody there?”

            “I am always here,” the voice responded, reminding Jesse of the trumpet sounds that he saw on the news while in the hospital. Come to think of it, he remembered hearing it the day he was hit by that truck, too. The voice sounded like a giant, off-key trumpet in the sky. There seemed to be no real origin of the sound. He was partly unnerved by it. But, he was also partly intrigued because in the sounding of the trumpet he heard a voice.

            “Who are you?” Jesse asked, looking toward the sky.

            “The owner of all things natural.”

            “Like…what, exactly?”

            “The plants that use the energy from the Sun, and the animals that need the plants for sustenance, both directly, and indirectly. Light, and the dark. Life…and death.”

            Suddenly, Jesse was feeling more uncomfortable with what the voice from the sky was saying.

            “Wow,” the boy started before muttering “Don’t do drugs, kids.”

            There was a silence that became more awkward the longer it stayed silent. Jesse didn’t like absolute silence, noticing that there were no sounds of wildlife in the forest.

            “What’s going on?” Jesse asked.

            “Future circumstances will be difficult for you to handle alone. I am here to save your life.”

            “Well, thanks. My little brother and my best friend might not be much help. Secretly, I think that they think we’re all going crazy.”

            “They will be of no use to you. They will not survive long enough to do you much good.”

            That last comment caught Jesse by surprise. He had decided to go along with his dream; after all, he knew he was experiencing a dream. But this was too much. He began to wonder if maybe the thought of his friend and brother dying at the hands of the shadow man was just him projecting his fears of being killed by him onto them, but he couldn’t imagine that being true. Those were the only two people he’d never want to die. To be honest, he’d already reconciled that everyone else was going to die, somehow. But he’d never considered the same could happen to Izzy or Olivia.

            “That’s bullshit!” Jesse yelled. “I’m high, and this is a dream! When I wake up everything’s gonna go back to normal, and I’m never going to hear from your crazy, dumb-shit-spoutin’ ass ever again!”

            There was another awkward silence. Jesse started looking for a way to wake himself up; pinching his arms, slapping himself in the face, even falling backward onto the ground. When he stood back up, the voice in the sky finally gave a response.

            “You should call Olivia.”

            Jesse’s eye snapped open. He was still feeling the effects from the Percocet, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. The teenager threw the comforter off of his body, rolled out of bed and clumsily tried to pick up his phone, still charging on his desk. His hand were shaking a bit; because of the Percocet or the fear that something might have happened to his best friend, he wasn’t sure, nor did he care.

            “Texting might take too long,” Jesse whispered to himself as he pressed the call button next to Olivia’s name in his contacts list. The phone rang only two times, when Olivia’s mother picked up the phone.

            “Mrs. San—”

            “Jesse! Have you seen Olivia? I can’t find her anywhere!”

The Pits (Part 9)

His heart once again began to beat harder. However, this time he was more angry than afraid. There was a thud, some footsteps, and then the doorknob turned slowly, clicking as the door began to open only enough for the old man to poke his head out.

Max could only see his head, but the look on the man’s face was nearly enough to make Max run for his life. The man had messy, white hair surrounding a bald center. His face was dirty like he’d gotten car oil on himself and tried to wipe some of it off. And his eyes were wide, bloodshot, and unblinking. The murderer didn’t move. He stood still, staring Max down. The two stood in their places for a few minutes in complete awkward silence.

“Meth is a hell of a drug, huh?” Max asked, not able to hold back his sarcastic joke.

“What’re you doin’ in my house?” The man responded.

“You’ve got my friend in there, and I’m not leaving without him.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “He’s my friend, now. You can’t have him,” he said slowly, and quietly.

Max stared at the crazy-eye murderer in bewilderment, never expecting to hear something so childish from a man nearing the age of retirement. “What are you, six?”

“Max?” came a voice from inside the room the man was leaning out of.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Max returned. “I’m gonna get you out of there!”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…” Gio said, his voice wavering as if he was going to cry. “He…*sob*…I’m bleedin’ a lot, man. And I’m feelin’ really cold.”

“Just hang on,” Max felt relieved knowing his friend was alive; however, he felt a new wave of panic when he thought about why Gio could be bleeding so much as to feel cold. It was actually rather warm in the house, and warmer outside since it was summer.

“What did you do to him?” Max asked the old man?

The old murderer opened the door through which he was leaning a bit more, walking through it, and closing it behind him. Max heard a quiet click and knew the man locked the door. The killer’s eyes moved up to the right as if he were thinking about his answer before speaking:

“He tried to get away. Ran all the way to my neighbor’s house. Good friend of mine.”

“No way in hell you have friends,” Max muttered.

“My friend knocked him out and returned him to me,” the old man looked over to the workbench on his left where a bone saw lay, drenched in blood that had begun to coagulate. Max’s eyes followed the old man’s to the area he was looking, and Max’s heart dropped into his stomach when he put the pieces of that fucked up puzzle together in his mind.

The old man continued speaking. “Had to make sure he’d never run away again. Tied him down with rope, but the sucker got loose. Electrocuted him in the tub till he passed out,” The man motioned toward the tub full of disgusting brown water, and with a grin said, “Then took him over to the workbench and cut his legs off.”

Max had already figured that was what was happened, minus the electrocution part. But hearing the man say what he did out loud caused his stomach to churn. He felt nauseous but tried not to think about it. Instead, he focused more on his anger at the old man for torturing his friend and amputating his legs. He was also angry at the old murderer’s so-called friend for giving his Gio to the old man to be killed.

“Hey, Max?” Gio called out, sounding weaker than he had before.

“Yeah?”

“You should just go. I can’t feel anything anyway. Not anymore.”

“Don’t give up! I’m not leaving you here!”

“Max?” By this point Gio sounded just as depressed as he sounded weak.

“Yeah?” Max could sense in Gio’s voice that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“…Where’s Simon?”

Not knowing what he should say, Max decided to go with the truth.

“They…got him.” Now it was Max’s turn to reveal his sadness over their friend’s loss.

Gio didn’t respond, and Max wasn’t sure if he was having a moment of silence for their dead friend, or if it was because he just couldn’t talk anymore. But the silence in the room fueled Max’s anger and seemed like the best time to strike.

Max had the sledge hammer resting on his shoulder as he took a few steps closer to the old man. He stared into the murderer’s eyes which seemed to have dimmed as his hair greyed. The two glared at each other for a few seconds. Then Max kicked the older man in the stomach as hard as he could. The old man doubled over, still trying to stand up. Max brought the hammer down on the man’s head with all the strength he had left hitting the man directly in the back of his head dropping him to the floor. Max stared at the man’s head, watching the blood pour out of his head and coat the floor around it. Then, he braced himself and walked into the back room.

New Schedule for Uploads!

Hey, Everyone!

Having deadlines makes me more likely to post on my Blog, so from now on there will be a new post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each of those days will be dedicated to a different story.

Mondays: The Pits, Wednesdays: Shadow Figures, Fridays: What Happened on Mom's Birthday. When a story is finished I'll start posting a different story on one of those days.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog! I'll try to stay as consistent as possible. If you want to stay updated, you can flow me on my blog, or on my twitter, the link for which is at the end of this update.

--GhostWriter

Link to my Twitter:
www.twitter.com/SeeYouInHell7