Reign of the Harvest Moon -Time to Party

The savory aroma of smothered pork chops, mashed potatoes and bake beans filled the house.  It was one of the few days her mom had time to cook with her busy schedule.  Jessie relaxed in her room most of the day, exhausted from her week.  A text from Kim woke her up and said “be there in a few minutes”.  She sluggishly made her way down the stairs similar to a zombie, then into the kitchen where she hugged her mom and sat at the table.  Jessie was thankful her mom let the punishment go for the day of the party.
“Mom do you ever feel like dad is around?”  Jessie looked at her mom busy by the stove.
“Yes Jess all the time, and he’s with you too.” She sat a plate of food in front of her daughter.
“Why do you ask?”  Jessie’s phone beeped with a message from Kim that she was outside then Jessie messaged back saying come in.
“No it’s nothing, Kim is here.” Jessie announced just as Kim opened the back door and walked in.
“Hi Mrs. Dover, wow it smells great in here!”
“Thanks Kim, go wash your hands and have a seat.  By the way how’s your mom?” Ms. Dover sat the second plate of food down for Kim and made a third plate for herself.
“Oh she’s fine, just busy and stressed as usual.  She just dropped me off from picking up my costume, I can’t wait till you see it.”  Kim washed her hands in the sink and sat next to Jessie. 
“So are you feeling better from yesterday?”  Jessie looked up in shock that Kim would bring that up at dinner in front of her mom.
“Oh yes just was a little dizzy from a stomach ache, I’m fine.” Jessie hoped her mom didn’t notice/
“What happened yesterday Jess?  Did you get sick or something? Mrs. Dover looked up from her plate of food.
“Yes just had a stomach cramp or something, I feel fine now.  Oh Mom, can I borrow your gold sandals?”  Jessie tried changing the subject not to worry her mom.
“Sure if I still have them…I donated a bunch of stuff this summer but don’t mess up my closet looking for them.” 
The girls finished their meals and ran upstairs to put on their costumes for the party. Sharing make up and gossip was their routine hours before any party started as most their age.  They talked Mrs. Dover into letting them walk since it was only a couple blocks away.  Dusk came fast and the agreement was the girls had to arrive at the party before nightfall, her mom would pick them up at the end of the party.  Jessie kissed her mom and they walked out of the door, gossiping over who would be there.  The street lights came on casting a brilliant shadow of Kim that followed them, Jessie couldn’t see hers.  She wanted to show Kim but didn’t want to freak her out any more than she already had. 
“Don’t you feel a little weird being dressed up when Halloween is still a week away?”  Kim checked her makeup in a mirror then handed it to Jessie to do the same.
“That’s the least of the weird things that have been going on” Jessie looked in the mirror and noticed a dark figure in the background, She turned around but saw nothing. 
“I think I saw something back near the bushed, I think we are being followed!” Jessie grabbed Kim’s arm and pointed towards the bushes. 
“I don’t see anything, you said that you weren’t still freaked out from yesterday.”  Kim giggled as she took her arm back.
“I am, let’s just get to the party.”  The girls were just a couple houses from Sarah’s house, who was having the party.  There was a very old and creepy house that haven’t been lived in for years, as they walked past Jessie caught movement in the window from the corner of her eye.  When she looked over, nothing was there.  She decided it was just her nerves and not to mention that to Kim.  They opened the door to music blaring and teens from their school dancing throughout the house.  They made their way to the kitchen where Todd and Patrick were spiking the punch with rum stolen from Todd’s house.
“Here girls have some” Todd handed Kim two plastic cups of the spiked punch.
“Kim we shouldn’t drink, I was barely allowed to come!”  Jessie waived the cup away, Kim kept both.
“Alright I’ll hold it for you” Kim winked
“I’m glad you could make it this time. How’s it going?” Patrick walked over to Jessie holding his own red cup of spiked punch.
“I’m good thanks, glad you could make it too I guess.”  Jessie smirked right before noticing Todd leading Kim off into the other room.
“They are probably going to talk, or make out.” The two laughed as they caught eyes locked for a moment.
“See there’s that smile, haven’t seen that in a couple years.” Patrick took another sip.
“That’s by your own fault. You stopped talking to me most of freshmen year so why start trying now?”  Kim folded her arms, “Besides aren’t you with Sarah, better not let her see you near me.”
“We went on a couple dates but that was last year, she still likes me but that’s it.” Patrick held the cup towards Jessie, “Take a sip.”  Jessie took a sip and couldn’t taste any punch in it at all. 
“That’s gross! You didn’t mix anything with it!” Jessie made a face while Patrick laughed.
“It’s straight, that’s how the real men do it.”
“Oh the real men in New York right?”  Jessie stared into Patrick’s eyes
“Yeah about that, Todd got carried away.  Those were all lies, I just didn’t straighten them out.”
“Sure they are, your gross and you probably caught something.”  Jessie looked around for Kim “Speaking of gross, where’s Todd and Kim?”
“I’m sure they are having a good conversation.” Patrick laughed
“Oh I’m sure they are and I’m sure you’re drunk.”  Jessie walked away looking for Kim all around the house, texting her to find out where she was at.  She wasn’t even upstairs in the bedrooms which was a relief to Jessie, but no response to the text.  She saw the basement door closed and locked from the inside so she walked outside around to the rear door which was the outside entrance for the basement door to find it open and blood on the handle.  She opened it and yelled for Jessie but no answer so she walked down the stairs slowly, no one was inside.  Jessie ran back outside to examine the bloody doorknob and noticed blood on the concrete walk way, she looked around and noticed more, leading around to the back of the empty house next door.  She followed the trail of blood through the shrubs and into the next door backyard.  The back door was wide open exposing the darkness from inside.  Jessie walked up the back stairs slowly passing splattered blood on the back porch.  She only had her cell phone so she used the light once again, her hands shook in fear as she turned the flashlight application on.  The glow wasn’t significant, but gave her sight a couple feet into the dark hallways.  She followed the blood into the kitchen and looked around, barely able to make a sound in the darkness she whispered “Kim…Kim where are you?”  Jessie had to see if her friend was ok, she saw a bloody handprint on the wall and saw a familiar piece of clothing that was a part of Kim’s costume and hastened her pace up the stairs where the blood led.  At the top of the stairs two trails of blood led to the back of the hallway and up into the Attic.  Jessie thought if she ran to get help it may be too late, she turned her light out and walked up the dark attic stairs.  She could hear that familiar gurgling sound she had heard the day before accompanied with clawing and crewing.  As her eyes adjusted to the moonlight coming into the windows, she turn the corner of the half wall to see a dark figure hunched over blood and guts appearing to be eating the flesh.  She moved a bit closer and saw an arm laying out, unresponsive.  She pulled out her cell phone thinking maybe she could see if it was Kim, or maybe even snap a picture for evidence.  Either way the plan wasn’t very thought out, she flipped the light on and the figure turned immediately at her with an arm help to his mouth.  Jessie screamed as loudly as she could, seeing two bodies and Kim’s face before running as fast as she could towards the stairs then down.  Her feet gave way and she tumbled hard to the bottom hitting her head on the floor.  She looked up to seeing this dark thing crawling down the wall of the staircase above her and screamed again. She jumped up and ran down the next set of stairs into the living room where the door was nailed shut then turned towards the back door when someone knocked her in the head with a heavy flash light.  Jessie awaken to two men dragging her into the basement of the house, she tried to scream but her mouth was gagged and her hands tied.  She tried to kick but that made the two men more ruff dragging her down the stairs.  They dragged her through wetness to the center of the floor, which smelled damp and moldy.  One of the dark figure took her phone and turned on the light, shining it in his own face.
“Remember us?”  He threw the phone to his buddy and also shines the light in his own face.
“Yeah of course she remember us unless she has amnesia.  You owe us a van!”  Turning to his buddy “She almost got us killed! How are we going to make her pay?” He threw the phone back to Jessie’s feet.
“How much money you have? Enough to buy me a new van? I don’t think so.”  The voices moved around in the darkness as Jessie’s muffled cries were ignored.  One of the men picked up a metal object and hit the floor with a force that created sparks.
“Oh this could work, I think I know how to pay her back for almost killing us.  We should kill her!”  The two men laughed in the dark
“Ah come on, that wouldn’t bring my van back.  That would be going too far.  Naw I like that idea!”  They laughed more.  A gurgling sound came from above them, Jessie’s muffled whimpers became more frantic as she tried to communicate.
“You hear that? Sounds like a weird animal?” …..”No, what do you hear?” One man said to the other, he took out a lighter and flicked the top a couple times until it glowed with fire.  The men looked around but saw nothing in the cluttered basement so they listened silently.  They heard the gurgling sound again as they both looked at each other with stark fear and turned their view upwards above their heads.  The dark shadow beast dropped on top of them as they screamed, tearing into their flesh.  Jessie tried to scoot along the floor towards the stairs as she heard the screaming men silenced in the darkness with bones cracking and guts spewing.  She tried her best to be silent, then she heard nothing.  No more chewing, no more ripping of flesh, was it approaching her?  The gurgling got louder as it approached, she closed her eyes as it would be over soon and she didn’t want to see it.  Hands grabbed her and pulled her up the stairs with force and speed, they readjusted her and carried her out of the kitchen into the back yard.  She opened her eyes to see Patrick standing there with tears in his eyes.
“I got you now, you are safe.”