OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Close Call

The rest of the school day went by rather quickly, mostly due to the fact that Ellie was in a dissociative state and wouldn't have been able to recall how she got between one period and the next, let alone recall any of the information that the teachers were feeding to their classes.

She only snapped back to reality as the front door to her uncles house slammed behind her. She kicked her shoes off and breathed a sigh of relief after she was greeted with silence, letting her know that her uncle still wasn't here.

She still had one day left of school before spring break. She had planned to spend it the same way she spent most of her time outside of school, smoking weed and listening to hard rock. But for now, she'll just have to settle for doing the same thing, just with the knowledge that she has school tomorrow.

She closed her bedroom door behind her, and ripped her jacket off her shoulders. She sat perched on the end of her bed, staring at her collection of records and cassettes, debating which one to put on before deciding to play her favourite album, like she always does.

Back in Black by AC/DC, the record cover was barely holding itself together due to the amount of times it had been picked up and used. She placed it on the turntable that lay in front of her, and before turning it on, she began to roll herself a joint.

She licked the paper, sealing the joint, and brought it up to her lips, flicked the lid of her zippo and spun the flint wheel, the flame dancing in the reflection of her eyes as she sparked the joint. She inhaled deeply, and held it for a few seconds before allowing the smoke to leave her mouth, floating in the air in front of her face.

"Shit." She smirked to herself, already feeling a sense of bliss from just knowing she was about to get blazed.

She set up her record player to start playing, and watched as it spun, picking up speed before Hells Bells started playing, and the sound of a bell being hit reverberated around the walls of her room. She sat against the headboard of her bed and closed her eyes, taking another long drag from her joint.

Her eyes snapped open when the guitar part of the song didn't start. She eyed her record player, which was spinning as normal, but it was just playing the sound of the bells over and over. Or was it bells? It didn't sound like it should. She stood up, approaching the record, hoping to god it hadn't been scratched.

The bells began to distort, sounding more like the chime of a large clock. "For fuck sake." She muttered, pissed off that her overplayed vinyl was finally on it's last legs. However when it began to melt in front of her eyes she was in disbelief.

Ellie closed her eyes and slapped the side of her head, trying to put together the connections that must have broken in her brain, causing her to hallucinate like this. She looked again, seeing the record now fully intact, but instead of being in her bedroom, she was now in a darkened version or her room, vines clung to the walls and the ceiling, dust particles filling the air.

"What the fuck?" She spoke, voice low, almost a whisper. Her visions had never been this bad before, let alone this real. She could feel the cold of the air on her skin, sending shivers down her spine.

"Ellie." A voice called from the other side of her bedroom door. The same voice that had been haunting her dreams for a week now.

She went tense, her whole body ready to move at a seconds notice.

"Ellie." The disembodied voice called again, menacingly.

Her bedroom door swung open slowly, revealing the hallway, covered in the same vines that were now in her room. The small hanging bulb flickered softly, not quite lighting up to the extent that it should do.