Mess of a Party

Saturday, 9:45 PM

Payton chose not to say anything when Sky made a big deal out of him being younger. He wouldn't ever tell her this, but Payton hates it when she points that out. It's true, but not important. Payton could drink whenever he wanted to. Why did Skylar have to decide when he's allowed to? Pushing that aside, he joined in on the conversation.

"Are you kidding? Wrex is definitely the best squad mate in Mass Effect." Ty kept pushing his point.

"No, it's got to be Garrus." Skylar argued back.

"Who's the hot guy? He's my favourite." Stephanie piped in.

"Kaiden. But I think Ashley's the better one." Ty explained. "Always save her. Sacrifice Kaiden, he's worthless."

"What? No way! He's the eye candy for the game." Steph argued.

"I think Wrex is cool." Payton said.

"Yes! Thank you!" Ty laughed and sat back in his chair. Claire and Stephanie were sitting with their backs to the doorway, Ty and Payton standing a few feet away. Sky sat on one of the chairs with her back to the dark room. As the sun went down, it got harder to see behind her. He knew it was just because of all the horror games he's played, but Payton found himself trying hard to see beyond her. He could've sworn he's seen some sort of movement behind her at least twice now. But he knew there couldn't be anyone there.

Claire hadn't really said anything except for all the spooky facts about this place. She was smart, but obviously didn't know how to let loose. Payton wondered why exactly she came along.

A chime rang out, making everyone jump.

"Relax, it's just my phone." Skylar said, pulling it out.

"Jesus, I hadn't realize how on edge I was." Steph mentioned.

"It's because this place is..." Ty paused for dramatic effect. "Haunted!"

"Yeah, and I'm actually an alien." Payton brushed it off, but he couldn't shake the feel that they were being watched. And the fact that they couldn't see half the room definitely didn't help. Everyone laughed it off, clearly ready to move on from the spooky stuff.

"Oh, apparently mom and dad are going out tonight." Sky said. "Dad says they'll be home sometime late. He locked up and he says to be smart, use our heads, yady, yady, yada..." She trailed off.

"Oh, damn!" Steph said, suddenly sitting up. Her green eyes didn't look that focused and she's usually pretty relaxed when she's drunk. "If we weren't here right now, Sky's house would be the perfect place for a party!"

"Yeah, it's pretty unfortunate we're already at the perfect place for a party." Sky said sarcastically. Steph sighed.

"Yeah, sorry everyone. This would've been great if only more people came. We might've even been able to run off into the lake for a midnight swim from here." She sounded genuinely disappointed. Then there was a silence. That usually happened when Steph and Ty get drunk. They do most of the talking so when they stop talking, nobody else starts.

Then Payton saw it again. A shift in the blackness, far at the back of the room. There was no denying it anymore, there was definitely something there.

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy," Payton stood up and reached for Stephanie's phone. "But I swear I saw something over there." He pointed the flashlight over to the back of the room, leaving everyone in darkness. And, surprise, there was nothing there.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing kid?" Ty stood up and looked where he was.

"I swear that I saw something back there." Payton started walking over to the back of the room.

"Hey!" Steph yelled at him. "Give me my phone back!" At this point, the sun had gone down and there was barely any light coming from outside so the girls were sitting in the dark.

Payton looked in the corner where he thought he saw something and there was almost nothing different about it. Except for the weird, dark smears of...something on the floor and where the wall meets the floor. It looked like it could be paint or...something else. He didn't want to think it, but it could be blood. It was too dark to tell the difference.

"What is it?" Ty asked, crouching down next to Payton. He set his drink down and took the phone.

"I have no idea." Payton shrugged. "Maybe paint?" He could hear the girls yelling at him about something, but he was too busy with this.

"We should take photos." Ty took a couple on Steph's phone.

"Payton!" Sky screamed at him. "Get back here!" He glanced back and Stephanie was gone.

"What's going on?" Ty asked when they got back.

"Look! There's somebody over at the Jeep!" Skylar pointed outside and, sure enough, there was someone standing next to the vehicle. Stephanie was running and screaming at him and soon the guy looked up and then took off running.

"What the hell?" Ty took off after Steph, leaving Payton with a few questions.

"Who the hell is that?" He asked and Skylar just shook her head.

"He must've been here before we got here." Claire said quietly. "We would've heard him drive in and seen his car if he wasn't."

The worst part was that it was dark and they could barely see the Jeep, much less the features of the man.

"Payton, I think we need to leave." Skylar turned to him.

"But things are just getting interesting." Payton knew that he was lying, but he didn't want to seem like a scared little kid. Truth be told, he was kind of freaked. They had spent almost an hour here while some dude was just creeping and possibly watching them. The thought made his skin crawl.

"Uh, you guys?" Claire was looking outside and Payton and Sky looked out where she was. They realized with a start that they couldn't see Ty or Stephanie anymore. It was too dark and they had taken off too quickly.

"Dammit!" Payton heard Sky mutter in frustration.