Mess of a Party

Saturday, 11:58

Payton screamed along with everyone else when that monster of black mass broke through the building. Good thing he and everyone else was buckled in, or else they all might've gone flying from the sudden jerk of the vehicle as it's wheels started tearing down the road.

It was still extremely dark, but they could see the creature perfectly. There were spikes on it's shoulders and...were those tentacles attached to its back? Payton didn't like the look of this thing.

"Oh God," Stephanie screamed. "He's early! What the hell?"

"Who's early?" Skylar yelled through all the commotion.

"It doesn't matter!" Ty screamed louder than both of them. "Just drive! Get us the hell out of here!"

Payton had a perfect view of the creature as it followed them to the road. It was quick and it wasn't long before Payton was afraid it might catch up with them.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Skylar shouted to no one in particular, seemingly reading Payton's mind. "How come it's so aggressive right now?"

No one had an answer and an uneasy hush fell over the vehicle. No body really knew what to do as they watched the creature run after them. Payton's heart was beating impossible fast and he felt more terrified then he ever had in his life. What happens when this thing catches up?

Tensions rose as the creature kept running and it seemed like no matter how fast Skylar drove, it was still only a couple of feet behind. It got to the point where Claire couldn't stand it anymore.

"Screw this!" She growled angrily and swung her backpack off. Payton had completely forgotten that she even brought it. She pulled out a water bottle and opened the window.

"What in the world are you doing?!?" Ty shouted as Claire stuck her head out the window and aimed the water bottle at the creature.

"Eat plastic, you creep!" She threw it as hard as she could and it hit the creature on the shoulder. The water bottle flew off of it and the creature looked down, as if questioning if that really happened. It certainly wouldn't stop it, but it did slow it down. Before it could recover, Claire tossed something else out the window. A hairbrush, and this time it hit the creature on the forehead.

"Yes!" Claire pumped her fist, clearly happy she could help. "Skylar, get us out of here. Ty, Payton, help me throw stuff at this weirdo."

Everyone did what they were told and Stephanie watched the creature on the car mirror and told them if it was getting closer.

They were on the highway back to town when Payton finally lost sight of that creature. They had thrown almost everything from Claire's backpack and anything lying around in the Jeep at that monster. Packages of food, empty beer cans, spare shoes. Anything. It got to the point that the creature was too busy blocking its face from getting hit to be able to catch up with Skylar's car.

They pulled into Stephanie's driveway and then Payton realized that they didn't really have much of a plan after that.

"So...fun party, Steph." Skylar said with little enthusiasm. "But I think I'm just going to go home and try to sleep. That is, if I can ever get to sleep again. That was...terrifying!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, its going to be a long time before I make any party plans." Stephanie said followed by a long silence. "You're going to be okay at home?" She asked everyone.

"I think I might stay at Sky's house if that's okay with her." Ty asked and Skylar nodded. Then everyone turned to Claire.

"Do you just want to go home?" Ty asked her. "You could come with us." But Stephanie shook her head.

"Why don't we all just stay here? I've got enough room for everyone and definitely enough blankets." Then she pulled her knees up to the chest. "I don't really want to be alone tonight."

"Isn't your dad home?" Skylar asked and Steph nodded.

"Yeah, but after whatever just happened...I'd rather you guys stayed with me." Everyone nodded and agreed. Then they all piled out of the Jeep and walked up to Stephanie's doorway together.

***

The creature that once was Gene McCarter swung its giant arm and knocked Ty back into a surprisingly sturdy wall. He hit his head on the wall, hard, and crumbled to the ground, a trail of blood leading to the spot it was hit.

"Ty!!!" Someone screamed and Skylar ran forward to attack the creature. It reached its tentacle arm back and jerked it forward, sending thick, sharp sword-like tentacles right through her. Three of them met her mid-section and stabbed into her. Skylar fell to the ground, blood pooling around her from the three baseball sized holes in her.

"Skylar!!" A broken voice called out and Stephanie knew it was Payton's. She tried to scream, move, shout out. Anything. But she just couldn't move, couldn't speak. Soon Payton met with the same fate of his dead friends. The creature ran forward and stomped on him, crushing his bones and body. Payton's screams didn't last long before they ended altogether.

Stephanie looked back at Ty and saw someone crouched down next to him, crying. It was Claire. Of course she wasn't spared and the creature was upon her in seconds. It reached out with both its arms and grabbed her by the waist. Claire screamed and fought it with all her might, but there was no escape. Not now. It held her in front of it for only a second before aggressively snapping her body. It literally snapped her in half!

It dropped her broken body and Claire fell to the ground, dead like all of Stephanie's friends. How did this happen? She asked herself. How can I save them?

"By letting us in." At least two or three ominous voices said. "We can stop this from ever happening."

The creature turned its head toward Steph, clearly unaware of the disembodied voices. It crept toward Stephanie, taking its time. Fear built up in her throat and she knew that she would be dead in some horrible way, just like everyone else.

"Let us in!" The voices insisted, sounding more desperate than persuading this time. The voices ranged from deep to high, young to old. They were male and female, but they were all repeating the same word. As the creature got closer, the louder the voices screamed. "Let us in! Let us in! LET US IN!!"

Stephanie awoke with a start, breathing heavy and hard. She knew it was just a dream, but she wanted to make sure her friends were alright anyway. Steph turned her head and looked at everyone laying together on the floor. They used about four sleeping bags and a ton of blankets to make a comfortable bed on the ground and then they all watched a comedic movie. It was relaxing. Everyone had a good time, but there was always that nagging memory of what had happened earlier that night to keep everyone awake. Plus, Steph had told everyone what happened when she went missing, so that didn't help.

Right now everyone was asleep. Steph glanced at the clock and saw that it was four in the morning. She looked outside and saw that it was still dark. Then Steph pulled her knees up to her chest. She didn't feel safe, well she hadn't really felt safe since they saw that abomination. But this was different. She felt danger all around her, but she knew it wasn't bad enough to do anything about. And Steph had a feeling the disembodied voices from her dream had something to do with it.

And she had a feeling that it was that Darkness that Gene McCarter was talking about. It felt consuming, like it wanted Steph to give in to it. But it also felt helpful, like it could give Stephanie what she wanted. The fact that she lived so close to those burnt buildings and that creature sent shivers down her spine, but that could be the reason she was feeling this.

Stephanie knew that she had to resist the Darkness. She knew how hard it would be since it got to Gene so quickly, but she hadn't suffered a terrible loss like he had. Stephanie wouldn't let herself or anyone else become corrupted like he had. She would make sure her father didn't do anything dangerous with that piece of land. And Steph swore to never let any of those things happen. She meant it too. She was more serious about that oath than anything else in her entire life. And that's what allowed her to fall asleep again. Knowing that she could make this right.