Let’s play a game…
By: Roger Alderman
Tina’s opens her mouth wide, a snake drawing every part of its prey into its mouth, drawing in a morsel of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sheryl, Tina’s mom, gives her a tall frosty cup of chocolate milk adding, “Nothing beats a good PB & J.”
Tina takes a deep refreshing gulp leaving her with a broad chocolate milk mustache. Her mother points to a card sticking out of Tina’s knapsack and grabs it before Tina can refuse, “What’s this?” Tina said, “It’s an invitation to Kendra’s Birthday party tonight. No, I don’t want to go!” She takes another bit of her sandwich. Her mother flips open the card, “Oh, it’s a sleepover.”
Tina’s mother takes her by the chin and levels her face to face with her, “Look I know you two have had difficulties.” Tina rolls her eyes, “You mean yesterday when they threw me in the trash?” “Get over it I need a break,” Sheryl said.
**********
Mother and Daughter stand facing the home on the invitation before Tina could refuse further. Tina looks at the birthday present with a crease in her brow, “It’s a baby’s gift. They need no more reasons to make fun of me.” Kendra’s mother opens the front door releasing sounds of the celebration inside to escape into the quiet neighborhood for a moment. “I will pick you up in the morning,” said Sheryl.
“No worries, Sheryl, she’s in good hands,” Kendra’s mom waves at Tina to enter. “The girls are in the other room. Here I’ll take the present and put it with the others,” she said pulling Tina inside and closing the front exit. Tina’s face lost its color seeing Kendra and her other schoolyard bullies pointing at her and whispering. Tina stares at the throng of girls ahead of her and sighs.
Tina summons the same stiff upper lip she uses to preserve herself from the bullies activities at school. Kendra took the lead and points and snickers at Tina, “why are you here?” The other girls burst into laughter. Tina notices the nearby hallway bathroom and runs inside slamming the door behind herself. Tina found in the familiar position of sitting on the toilet alone crying.
She swallows her emotions and buries them deep down inside herself. If there was one thing she learns from attending a junior high school, to show no vulnerability or emotions around the gangs of predatory teenage clicks. She splashes cool tap water on her face reducing the red swelling. Tina closed her eyes and summons what little courage she has left after the day's schoolyard misery, “Come on, girl, you got this. It’s twelve hours.”
Tina opens the door to find Kendra and associates waiting for her to exit, “are you done yet?” They seize her by the arms dragging her into the living room allowing her no chance to protest, “Let’s go.” The crowd holding Tina’s runs upstairs and enters Kendra’s bedroom. They drop Tina to the floor inside the medium size room.
Tina rubs her lower back seeing the girls sitting next to Kendra’s bed. The clutch of devious girls in unison with judgmental expressions spin to face Tina. Tina recoils at the girl's reaction. Kendra offers Tina an ingratiating smile and gestures for her to join them on the floor, “come on, let’s play a game.”
Tina stiffens her posture remaining careful to not show any signs of weakness as she sits. The wolf pack of girls gives false smiles to make Tina feel at ease among them. Kendra shoves her hands between the mattress and box springs. Kendra’s face contorts revealing a mischievous grin.
Tina’s eyes flash wide seeing Kendra produce a homemade spirit board and indicator. “Hell no!” Tina runs to the bedroom door and tries to pull it open. Anne and the others laugh at Tina and Kendra, “It’s not like the one her mom uses at work.” Kendra glares at Anne and her remark, “It’s real enough.” The girls erupt into chicken-like clucking, arms flapping, and laughter at Tin’s current reaction to the fake spirit board.
Kendra places the board on top of her bed. She and her friends look to each other and then stare at Tina. The girls each place a finger on top of the home-made spirit boards indicator. Tina pulls and struggles to open the locked bedroom door.
Kendra chuckles dangling the door key in front of Tina’s reach. “OPEN, the door,” Tina said. The crowd of tormentors mocking her pleading and emotional outbursts. “One question and I’ll open the door,” Kendra rolls her eyes at Tina.
Tina lowers her head in submission to Kendra’s demand, “Fine.” Kendra pats the floor next to her gesturing for Tina to sit next to her. Tina flops down and places her index finger on the indicator.
Kendra sways and closes her eyes, “Is there anyone here?” The violent tribe of girls focuses on the indicator for any signs of movement. A palpable silence falls across the room each girl holding their breath waiting for it to spell an answer out by an otherworldly presence.
Minutes pass, but the indicator remains motionless. Kendra yells in her best authoritative voice, “I said is there was anyone here?” Another Five minutes pass and the spirit board reveals nothing to the teen-aged girls. “I think we’re done here,” Tina stands, straightens her clothes, and crosses the bedroom.
The throng of violent girls pounces on Tina driving her to the floor with a loud, THUD. Tina kicks, punches, and screams at her assailants in resistance to their attack. Kendra mounts Tina’s chest pressing her knees into her shoulders and slapping her across the face not once, not twice, but three times. The other girls laugh and hold Tina down. “I didn’t say we’re done,” Kendra spits into Tina’s face. One of the other girls spoke up, “We should punish her.” Kendra’s eyes turn savage at the suggestion as her brood chants, “Punish, punish, punish.”
“To the closet,” Kendra points to the open closet door opposite the bedroom door. The riotous crowd hoists Tine from the floor and sends her crashing into the back of the closet. She hits hard against a small dresser standing inside the walk-in closet. Kendra flips off Tina and slams the door close on her. Tina holds her back and begs for release, but no compassion comes from her captors.
Tina sits on top of a basket of Kendra’s dirty clothes exhausted after a half hour of begging. “I hate these girls. Why did she bring me?” Tina could not help but dwell on her conversation with her mother. Tina watches the girls through the wooden blinds of the closet door.
Kendra and friends continue to wait for any response from the homemade spirit board. The other girls lost interest after another ten minutes. Anne protest first, “Something else we can do? This is boring.” Anne sneers at Kendra seeing the other girls joining in her protest. Kendra snarls at Anne’s attempt to take charge of her vile little clique.
Tina yells from the closet, “Kendra’s board is homemade and will never work. You need a real one like in the movies.” Kendra gives in to her anger and throws the spirit board at the closet, “shut up you’re being punished!” Anne grabs Kendra by the arm, “Doesn’t your mom use a real board with her clients?” Kendra nods, “yeah, but…” Anne interrupts full of excitement, “Then go get it!” Kendra rolls her eyes, “I’ll need you guys to watch for her. She loves to show off when we have people over.”
Kendra and the girls enter the hallway but Kendra blocks Anne, “You stay put and make sure she stays in the closet.” Anne nods, “okay.” Anne waits and watches the others walk out of sight. She walks to the closet door and throws open the closet door.
The bright light of the bedroom forces Tina to squint and blink as her eye adjust. Anne grabs Tina’s arm and drags her to her feet. “What are you doing?” Tina asks, but Anne hushes her by pressing a single index finger to her lips.
Anne walks to the bedroom door dragging Tina behind her, “Come on, we are going get even with that bitch.” Tina holds a look of confusion at Anne’s actions. “You didn’t think you were the only person they ever locked in that closet, did you?” Anne grinds her teeth.
Tina nods accepting whatever part she is to play in getting even with Kendra and the others. Anne opens the door and glances down the hallway. Anne sees no one they slip across the hallway to the linen closet, “when they get back I will pretend that you’re still in the bedroom closet, but you’ll be in here. After they use her mom's board, I will get them to believe a ghost took you.” Anne opens the closet and motions for Tina to climb inside before they return.
Anne hands her a set of earbuds, “Give me about an hour to get them worked up. Then you come bursting in. Watch videos on your phone, but stay quiet.” Tina pulls her cellphone out of her hip pocket and plugs in the earbuds moving further back into the closet. Anne closes the hallway closet door.
Tina slides her finger across the smooth surface of the cell phone allowing the blue glow to bring it life. She smiles, it still has eighty-eight percent power left. She swipes through the applications arriving at her favorite video service. Tina loads the streaming application and finds herself drawn deep into one of her favorite animated series.
Tina’s eyes flash open, and she wipes the spittle from the corner of her mouth. She rubs her legs to awaken them and get rid of the tingling of pins and needles. She cracks her neck, “How long was I asleep?” Tina tries to power up her cellphone but it turns itself off due to low battery power. Tina pulls out the earbuds drops them into her front pocket.
She opens the closet door careful to stay silent. Her body demands she stretch after being in a small space for so long. She smiles as her back pop frees the tension built up from inactivity. Tina enjoys the relief that follows the release. She could make out the night sky through a hallway window. Tina sees every door on the second floor hangs wide open with the lights in every room on.
Tina closes the closet door and walks to Kendra’s parent’s open bedroom door, I hope they will take me home I don’t want to be here anymore. She focuses on the open door but stops short of the open door hearing odd wet sounds coming from inside the room. Are they making love with the door open? She turns away from the door but steps into something wet and warm soaking into the carpet.
Tina looks down to see what she’s standing in. She covers her mouth silencing her gasp. The pungent metallic odor confirms her horror as a coat of fresh thick blood covers the sole of her foot. The discovery leaves her feeling both breathless and faint.
Tina falls against the wall opposite the parents' bedroom door. She sees Kendra’s father face down on the floor bleeding out from wounds all over his body. His blood running down his prone body pooling beneath him soaking into the thick high pile carpeting.
Tina reaches out to check his pulse before she can reach him something pulls him into the room. The door slams hard rattling the frame. Tina inhales ready to scream for help, but she holds back the terror in fear for her own survival. She finds her way to her feet and creeps down the hallway to Kendra’s bedroom.
Tina steps into the doorway desperate to find others, but this was not to be her ascendance from the hell she found herself in tonight. She swallows hard and steps back clenching her mouth closed to prevent herself from gagging. Tears flow down Tina’s face, “Oh My God!” The visual primal carnage spread throughout the bedroom makes her nauseous. She knows the fresh remains belong to the bodies of children; thanks to a recent health class lecture. It left her unsure where one body ended and the next begins. A wet hot mountain of broken flesh and thick blood pooling on the floor of the bedroom.
The door of the bedroom closet rattles sending Tina running into the bathroom across the hallway in panic. Anne emerges from the closet, “Tina, wait it’s me.” Anne steps out of the closet, “Come back.” She crawls to the open bedroom door whispering, “We need to get out of here.”
Tina finds her way into the shower and pulls the dark shower curtain around herself. After learning to evade her schoolyard tormentors she is a master at finding hiding spots. Tina opens the shower curtain, “Anne?” Tear's frame Anne’s delicate face, “Yeah it’s me. Come on, before.”
The door to Kendra’s parent’s room burst open with a loud, Crash.
Tina draws the shower curtain tight around herself.
Anne shrieks and retreats into the bedroom slamming the thin door close.
Tina shakes hearing the thunder of heavy footsteps in the hallway rushing towards them. She swallowed hard, secretly hopeful “it” discovers Anne, not her.
Anne screams as something beats against the bedroom door.
“Shut up and hide Anne,” Tina said under her breath. Tina could tell by the muffling sound of Anne’s voice she was retreating deeper into the room.
“Here pig, pig, pig,” an otherworldly high-pitched voice echoes through the second floor of the house.
Tina draws the shower curtain tight around herself. She closes her eyes, but her imagination runs wild with scenarios of what happens next. The flimsy door gives way under the assault of the unknown thing responsible for the nightmare she finds herself in. Tina swallows hard finding solace it found someone else. Okay, girl when it goes in after her we run, she affirmed her plan.
The thing slams the bedroom door close behind itself and Anne’s voice turns raspy as it reaches its breaking point, “No, No, No.” A disturbing high-pitched otherworldly voice mocks Anne, “Yes, Yes, Yes.” Blood-curdling screams fill the second floor.
Tina wastes no time and flees the bathroom and runs down the staircase. Her thoughts focusing on an escape from this hellish sleepover. She slips at the foot of the staircase in one of the pools of blood and gore on the hardwood flooring. She grabs onto the railing of the staircase to stop her fall.
Tina finds herself desperate to understand the scene she is in. Tina sees remains of party goers, both adult and child alike, in piles of twitching flesh all over the living room. The air-conditioning lowered the temperature of the room resulting in stream rising from each pile. The scent of the gore makes her body wretch.
Tina can’t hold back her body’s reaction to the gore and terror she was experiencing. The first wave of pressure hits hard like a punch in her stomach. The second wave of pressure races up her body spewing the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Tina’s world spins around her stealing her grace and balance pulling her down into her own freshly forming slick of sickness.
Tina pauses sitting motionless in the center of her pool of sickness trying to calm her mind and gather her thoughts. She looks to the front door, but the pile of human remains block her exit. She summons what strength and courage remains in her mind and body. Tina stands on top of the remains and pulls on the door handle, but her small frame can’t budge the door.
Tina’s hands slip off the door handle. She tumbles backward through her sickness and gore on the hardwood floor. Her head bounces off the floor next to the coffee table. She grabs her head and takes hold of the coffee table and using it to upright herself.
Tina pushes off the coffee table seeing the heads of the party goers resting on top. Tina gags and slips in the gore, but stays upright. She recoils in disgust at the blasphemous presentation on the small table. The table shakes.
Tina stares at the table, “what the…” Before she can finish her thought the mouths of each head moves to create a choir of decapitated heads taunting, “No sense hiding from me. I will find you.” Tina runs to the hallway bathroom door finding more destruction and dismembered bodies inside.
Tina runs down the long hallway into the kitchen in hopes of escape. Color and hope drain from her face seeing no back door in the kitchen. She spins back to the hallway hearing heavy steps moving towards the staircase from upstairs.
Tina enters the hallway careful to close the door behind her. Her knuckles turn white clenching her mouth and jaw shut. Her hands shake below her vibrant, beautiful hazel eyes. Her eyes scan the room beyond the closet door wooden blinds in search of the intruder. The thing the group of teenage girls set loose upon the world.
Tina pulls her cell phone from her pocket and forces it to stay on. The glow of the screen let slip the cell phone’s applications. Her finger comes to rest above the blue glow of the flashlight icon, Too Bright. The light of the cell phone’s surface lights up the closet behind her.
Tina moves the jackets above her to one side to give herself a clear view of the hallway closets’ contents. A set of work boots reveal themselves in the dim light. She snatches a heavy work boot high above her head and swings it down in an overhead arch. Her hands prove too small to keep hold of the boot. It drops to the floor with a loud, THUD. The boot hits a tall leather sack spilling the contents across on to the floor. The sound of crashing Steel golf clubs announces the closet’s existence to those unaware.
Wooden blinds flip open, Tina scans the room beyond the closet. Her panicking heart and mind fill with dread potential scenarios following the series of noises. Large beads of sweat form across her forehead. She sees nothing in the adjoining room. She uses her shirt sleeve to dry her forehead. She resumes her search of the closet’s contents.
Tina with a smile picks up a nine iron, that’s what I’m talking about. The cell phone’s last charge of power abandons Tina and her newfound confidence. Her fear races to the room beyond the closet door. Tina looks through the lowest of the wooden door blinds to examine the living room for the intruder but sees nothing.
The forceful rhythmic drumming of Tina’s heart makes her feel dizzy and faint again. “Why did I even come here? I hate these girls,” she whispers grabbing the throbbing in her temples. Tina prays for protection but feels no comfort amid the nightmarish sleepover. She hears the heavy footsteps at the top of the staircase and readies the nine iron for her inevitable defense.
Tina peaks out from concealment in search of the evil delivering this evening’s torments. She gasps seeing it for the first time sending chills down her spine. Kendra stands at the foot of the stairs in a bloody yellow sundress and orange rubber rain boots. Her hands dripping in fresh gore, viscera, and tufts of Anne’s dirty blonde hair. Tina stares at the closet floor desperate to get a handle on the moment.
Tina jumps back seeing Kendra staring at her through the wooden blinds. Kendra fakes excitement, “you’ll never believe it, but my mom’s spirit board worked.” Kendra laughs at Tina trembling inside the closet. The otherworldly voice to merges with its teenage marionette in villainous laughter.
Tina watches Kendra’s eyes sink into and rolled back into her head revealing a second set of colorless pupils hidden below hers. Tina shrieks seeing rotting chunks of Kendra’s flesh fall from her face to the floor. “Come out to play,” taunts Kendra.
Kendra seizes the closet door and pulls it from its hinges in a single motion wooden shrapnel flies out in all directions. Kendra spins and tosses the door into the living room slamming into the coffee table sending the heads toppling to the hardwood floor.
Tina swings the golf club hitting Kendra in the temple. The hit drops Kendra to the floor. Tina sprints out of the hallway into the kitchen in panic-driven desperation for escape. She sees the window above the sink and climbs onto the counter. She pulls and pushes against the window but it will not open. Kendra seizes her by her long brown pigtail and throws Tina across the room. Tina bounces off the refrigerator. Her foot strikes the light switch breaking it sending a shower of sparks from it.
Tina’s vision blurs and her head throbs in the kitchen's darkness. Tina sees Kendra standing silhouette against the bright street lights bleeding from outside. She uses the golf club to steady herself and pushing herself upright. She readies the golf club ready to defend herself against Kendra.
Kendra’s body utters sounds of bones breaking and skin stretching to its limit rising wide open. Kendra laughs, “wait till you see this!” Her body rearranges itself into blasphemous and unnatural ways. Its arms elongate ending in long serrated talons. Its legs break and fold like the legs of an insect complete with long spines. Last, her jaw unhinges becoming a large maw of razor-sharp rows of shark-like teeth.
Tina cannot stop her body from wetting itself witnessing the grotesque transformation taking place in front of her. I will not be number thirteen, she tells herself. She tightens her grip on the golf club and focuses on the demonic thing standing in defiance of the natural laws of this world.
Kendra roars and launches herself at Tina talons first. Tina drops low and drives the club upwards with all her might. The attack lands true and Kendra staggers backward from the sharp blow to her jaw. Tina sees a trickle of blood run from the thing's mouth. Her mind fills with a single thought If it can bleed it can die.
Kendra swings her talons at Tina again but misses. Tina watches as the dreadful claws tear through the steel of the refrigerator with ease. She brings the head of the golf club down on its head causing it to bite down on its own tongue. Kendra screams in pain as the pain floods its mind and senses.
Tina knows she must continue to fight if she wants to survive this monstrous encounter with evil. She raises club high into the air and then down on the body of the demonic thing. She could feel the tearing of flesh and breaking of bones mounting under her desperate assault.
Tina’s mind fills with the countless insults and pranks played on her by Kendra and her friends. Her body continues to defend itself with blow after blow as her mind recounts the offenses made against her. This fuels her vigor and rage driving her deeper into the relentless assault. Kendra slumps to the floor as the demonic shape retreats inside her.
Tina pants and steps back to admire her handy work. Her world slows, she turns to face the front door as the police knock the door free from its hinges. The police enter weapons drawn and level them at Tina. She watches the nearly invisible smoke like essence of demonic thing leave Kendra’s body.
Tina finds herself surrounded by armed police officers. She stands infant of them holding a bloodied golf club in a house full of victims. Tina lowers her head in surrender as the police demand she drops the weapon and lies prone on the ground. In the end, She surrenders knowing not one person would ever believe her story.
THE END
