A Night in Hell: Chapters One and Two

A Night in Hell

Chapter One

         The week had definitely been a long one, work for twelve hours a day only to go home and sit around with nothing better to do than watch idiotic shows like “The X Factor” all evening. This night had been long coming after such a weary week. All these thoughts were silent as Joshua drove his car down the windy road to Shannon, a longtime friends’ house. It was October, to be more specific the weekend before Halloween night, and what a weekend it would be. He sped up as the road straightened out, flicking ashes off the tip of his cigarette through his cracked window, his anticipation for this night had mounted its peak around Wednesday and he was more than impatient by this point. The road behind him lit with an eerie red as he slowed to turn onto the gravel drive of his friends’ house, he could already hear the music from the house, the party was just starting to get loud.

Opening the door was like the first taste of a refreshing drink on the hottest of days, friends were scattered through the house carrying red solo cups and ice cold bottles of beer. Unlike most parties that were going on in his sleepy little town, this wasn’t a costume party, they didn’t really find enjoyment in dressing up and acting like idiots so much as they did getting wasted and acting like drunken fools. Shannon ran out of nowhere, screaming like a fool, only to almost drag him to the floor with a hug. Josh cracked a smile as he realized she was not only halfway gone but also damn near topless, obviously she had been hitting the vodka while setting up the party.

He smiled a whispered into her ear, “So excited about me you couldn’t wait til later before getting naked?” She looked up at him and blew a strand of red hair out of her face with a huff. Her green eyes gave him that world renowned go fuck yourself look.

“You’re an asshole!” She turned and made her way through the group of drunken people, leaving him snickering at her frailty.

There was a metal bucket, much like the oval shaped baths you buy for dogs, filled with ice and beer next to the front door. He grabbed one of the cold and oh so wonderful brews, cracking the top he walked over to the group instantly spotting Dave. Dave was a short guy but built like a brick shit house, with an odd combination of pitch hair and blue eyes, he and Josh had been friends since grade school and until about six months ago had spent almost everyday together. Dave had joined the Marines not long ago and was home for leave before getting deployed to Afghanistan, it had always come as a shock to him for his friend to do such a thing; Dave was just too good hearted for combat. It only took a second for his friend to notice him and for Josh to notice he was well beyond drunk. Dave drunkenly stumbled his direction, mumbling and grunting before spitting forth some form of speech that Josh knew only as intoxicated Latin. 

“How the hell are you bro?” Dave just looked at him with a face like he’d just been kicked in the balls. Obviously the Marines weren’t exactly all Dave had thought them to be, but before Josh could say anything about it, Dave busted out laughing.

“I’ve been great! Just er… havin’ some fun ya know? Maybe uh.. wa-wantin some girls.” His eyes were glassed over but Josh could tell some things had changed in his friend over the past few months, the military seemed to do that to people though. Josh pushed the thoughts aside and laughed at his buddy.

“Well you have fun with that dude, I am gonna go check out the other people, catch you in a little bit. Oh and by the way,” He snatched the red cup from his friends’ hand, gaining him a loud grunt and stare of disapproval. “Sorry bro, but I think you should drink a little less and socialize a little more.”

Shannon, who had disappeared from view not long after he ran into Dave, came into the room holding a box and jumping up and down like a lunatic. He couldn’t really see what the box was labeled, but then again, he didn’t really give a damn; Shannon had changed into short shorts and a tank top and was definitely bra-less judging by how her rack was bouncing for joy with her. He had to admit, if he were to get laid tonight, it should definitely be with her.

“Everybody come on! This close to Halloween we should do something spooky and I figured this Ouija board would be great!” She didn’t wait for replies and took off into the den with the board under one arm and quite a large bottle of vodka in the other. While he personally had no interest in playing some stupid board game that supposedly was supernatural or evil or whatever, he did have a major interest in sitting next to her for the moments that she would need comfort. No one else really seemed to have qualms with the game either as they all started following him into the den. Everyone, of course, had their alcohol with them.

He sat down next to Shannon and as everyone took their seats; she had already gotten comfortable and snuggled up under his left arm. In the main room it had looked like a lot more people but sitting around the table in the den, Josh realized there was only about eight people total. Shannon and Dave were on either side of him, and the other five were people he had met before but couldn’t really call friends. Stephanie, was a small brown headed girl  who he had met about a month ago through Shannon, she was sitting next to Dave. Next to her was Trey who he saw quite often but never spoke to, he was a really big guy, even by Joshes standards, and the problem was he was as big an asshole as he was tall and bulky. The last three in order of seating were Kirsten, Allie, and Kara; which oddly enough all looked alike and hung out constantly. Josh didn’t like the three girls much, they were the typical blonde cheerleader types that shopped and turned their nose up to everything that wasn’t shiny or tiny and furry.
Shannon laid the board out on the table, it was actually his first time seeing one, the letters were aligned in crescents above and below a line of numbers of one to zero with yes and no in the top corners, and hello and goodbye in the bottom corners. To his surprise this board didn’t look like some cheap crap you buy in a K-Mart, it looked old and was made out of a good solid piece of wood with fine craftsmanship and a lacquered finish. The other piece was a triangle with a hole in the center that displayed the same craftsmanship as the board. Shannon laid them out and sat smiling for a moment until Trey spoke up.

“Those must be your tools for contacting the dildos your vagina has killed.” The comment was aimed to be hurtful, Shannon and Trey had went through a falling out a few months back and he had never really gotten over it.

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up dick.” Josh had surprised himself, he wasn’t normally so quick to get hostile, but then again he had never liked the douche bag anyway. The comment had apparently struck a chord though, Trey went to stand up as if to come after him but before he could rise from his seated position on the floor Dave sprung into the mix, standing up and hovering his short frame over the sitting Trey.

“Why don’t you stay seated fuckhead… Things could get really bad, really quick, over nothing.”
Trey didn’t argue, to his own dismay he relaxed and swallowed his pride. Dave turned to the now sullen Shannon and threw a goofy smile on his face. “Continue sweetie.”

Shannon didn’t waste a second. “Okay guys! THIS; is a Ouija board. It’s been in the attic for years, I got it when my Aunt passed away. Apparently these things are supposed to summon the dead so you can communicate with them and sometimes you even get demons!” Her scary voice only amplified the hilarity of the crap she was saying Josh thought silently. “So in light of the creepiness of this board and it being the weekend before Halloween, I thought we should try and talk to the dead!”

He wasn’t entirely sure if he liked how happy she was to be communicating with the dead but it didn’t really matter anyways, the stuff she said was probably one of the biggest loads of crap he had ever heard in his life. Regardless of the load of bullshit that it was, she explained the rules and he placed his index finger of each hand onto his little piece of the triangle with everyone else. After a seance asking for protection from evil on Shannon's part the first question was asked and it just had to be Trey.

“Are there any dildos here with us?” Luckily Shannon ignored him after shooting a go die painfully glare. She followed it up with her own question.

“Are there any spirits with us tonight?” Josh couldn’t help but snicker as their hands moved slowly towards the yes in the top left corner, while he knew it wasn’t his hands moving the piece there was no doubt someone out of the eight of them that was pushing the piece around. After a few minutes of the stupidity, Josh got bored. He let go of the triangle and stood up, everyone seemed surprised at the board but even more so at the fact that he had stood up during a non-existent supernatural phenomenon. “Yell when you guys are done, I wanna smoke.” He left the room and the seven people behind groaning and calling him a killjoy.

Chapter Two

It was well after midnight when Shannon walked into the kitchen looking for him, he had smoked almost all his cigarettes and had enjoyed quite a few stout  drinks while waiting. It took all of about three seconds for him to realize Shannon was in no way interested in talking as she grabbed his hand and began leading him upstairs. He noticed on the walk that his best friend had somehow ended up with Kirsten, one of the barbie trio on the couch, and Trey was guiding Stephanie into the guest room. The other two girls weren’t in sight; probably eating each other he figured.

They walked into the master bedroom together, something of a boyish room to belong to a girl. There were football posters on the wall and a nice gaming system hooked to a huge flat screen tv. Observing the surroundings became difficult quickly when Shannon grabbed him by the shirt, only then did he realize she was topless. Pulling him onto the bed she spoke with a coy tone. “C’mon, you been starin’ at them all night.” Somehow she managed to pull him face first into what he could only describe as perfectly round and full breasts. She fell back onto the bed dragging him with her, Josh thought for a few moments, this has got to be my lucky night.

Joshes luck ran out quickly; he had just gotten himself inside when a loud thump resounded its way throughout the house, followed by a scream of terror. They both got dressed as quickly as they could and ran down the stairs, Stephanie was wrapped in a sheet and hunched into a corner of the living room, sobbing like a beaten puppy.

“What the hell happened?” Josh was almost out of breath from his sprint down the flight of stairs. Stephanie continued to sob, answering him only with an outstretched finger, pointing to the other side of the couch. Josh peeked slowly around the corner of the couch, expecting to see a spider or mouse but it was much worse. “Holy shit…” Was all he could form into words as he stared at the body of Trey, blood pooling slowly under his caved in skull. He reached down, placing two fingers against the side of his neck, there was no pulse. He’s fucking dead, Josh thought in dismay.

“Stephanie, what the fuck happened down here!” His yell made her shrink into the corner, he hadn’t meant to be so harsh, but this was his third time asking only to receive sobbing in reply. After a minute or two of sitting there, she slowly began to come back to a coherent state. Her tone wasn’t sad but terrified, and her words came broken through sobs.

“He-he just got u-up! Talking a-about how he wan-wanted to get out of the h-house. N-next thing I know, h-he is looking at me all crazy eyed, t-that was just be-before he slammed his hand on-onto the table!” She started to break down again, Shannon knelt beside her, hugging her in an attempt to comfort her. Dave and Kirsten came into the room, Kirsten gasped loudly as Dave rushed over to try and check his pulse.

“He’s dead bro.” Josh said quietly. “Killed himself apparently, Steph’ said he just slammed his head onto the table.”
Dave looked up, his eyes were saying the same thing Josh was thinking. “No way man. This looks like someone busted him with a bat, no way he had enough force to do that.” Unfortunately, Josh knew he was right, it was hard to believe but he couldn’t push the thought away that maybe, Stephanie had killed Trey.

“Uh, guys?” Shannon was concerned. “Where is Kara and Allie?” Josh and Dave looked at each other, sharing the same oh shit expression before running in different directions to search for the girls. Josh took searching upstairs as his first destination, hopefully they had ended up in one of the bedrooms. Clearing room after room, he found nothing, until he reached the bathroom at the end of the hall which was locked.

He beat the door hard. “Who’s in there?” There was a mutter or two from the other side of the door but no one spoke back to him. He beat the door again. “Hey! I said who’s in there dammit!” The mutter got slightly louder and there was a dull thud. He backed slowly away from the door, expecting whichever girl was in there, to answer his yelling. The house echoed the ear shattering and demonic scream that came from the bathroom, Josh grabbed the doorknob in an attempt to yank the door open just before the pretty blond head of Kara came through the wooden door in a mess of splintered wood and blood. He jumped backwards against the wall, Kara bloodied and motionless, hung steady from the hole her skull had torn into the door.

Dave ran up the stairs, Josh couldn’t move, every muscle in his body screamed to get away from the girl but his mind was wrought into submission by sheer terror. Dave didn’t even speak, he just stared blankly at the girl hanging by her head from the hole in the door. After a long moment he turned to Josh, his look filled with terror and confusion. “What the fuck is going on Josh?” Josh couldn’t even look away from the girl, much less form words to answer him with. Josh gained his composure after a moment and managed to move himself off the wall. He started walking towards the stairwell when Dave Stopped him.

“Josh, man we can’t leave her like that.”

“You do what you want, I’m not touching her.”

Dave grabbed his arm. “Josh, seriously!”

“Dave, let fucking go of me.” His glare caught Dave much like Kara’s dead body had, he quickly released his arm.

Josh walked into the den and sat on the couch, Trey’s body was still behind the corner of the couch, but Josh barely seemed to notice it or Shannon saying his name repeatedly. His brain had shut down other than the thought process of what was happening, he couldn’t find any logic or legitimate reasons as to why Trey and Kara had killed themselves. He reached to the table in front of him where they had used the Ouija board earlier and grabbed the phone, as he started dialing the police he noticed something strange, there was no dial tone. Only now, did he acknowledge Shannon.

“Have you paid your phone bill?”

“Of course I have, what the hell kind of question is that?” She looked puzzled.

He didn’t bother answering, his gaze had become fixed on the center of the table, Shannon began repeating herself but she may as well have been whispering. He continued to stare at the table’s center for a long moment before speaking, his voice coming in a low, scared tone.

“Shannon, is that stuff you said about the Ouija board true?”

She paused and looked almost startled. “Of course it isn’t, why the hell are you asking that, right now of all times?”

“Because whatever this is, thinks that shit is.” He pointed slowly to the center of the table, Shannon scuffled over to look and froze. They both stared in terror at the center of the table which had, apparently, been burned to show the shape of a pentagram. As they sat staring, everything had went quiet, Kirstens’ sobs had ceased a few minutes prior and Dave was still looking for Allie, Trey and Kara remained permanently silent. Shannon reached slowly, hand trembling, and rubbed across the burn marks in the table. Her gasp was all that indicated the house going black as the power failed.