There Must Be Something More

122 | Horror Night

"I need to go home." Trey stopped in his tracks and looked at us sheepishly.

"But... we're going to go play baseball with Meredith and Grandpa Chuck," I said, raising an eyebrow at him. He was acting weird.

"You know today's the first day of October, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, this month we always have Horror Movie Night Friday," Trey said, avoiding my cold stare at him. "It's a family tradition; you wouldn't understand."

"I'm sorry?" I said, feeling a little offended that he had to be so defensive. "I'm sorry for not being a part of your family, I guess."

"That's not what I meant," he said quickly, raising his hands in surrender. "It's just that; it's one of the few times I can spend time with my family and just have fun, you know."

I nodded. "I can understand the family part. But the horror part, I don't. You do know the horror genre is demonic, right? It's not something God would want us participating in."

"It's not participating when you're just watching it."

"It is," I said. "Watching it and enjoying it is like seeing a crime happening and just watching it and enjoying it because you think it's fun."

"It is when you put it that way."

"Look, are you coming to the baseball game or not? We're just going to do it on the diamond in our neighborhood," I said, opening the door to my pickup car. "It's going to be fun."

"I promise I'll come next time!" He said, giving me a despondent smile. It was almost as if he felt sorry for doing this.

I sighed. "Okay."

"Thank you, dude!" Trey grinned, ran to the school exit, and disappeared into another curb.

"He's excited," I mumbled curiously under my breath.

***

"Samuel could've hit that!" Alex laughed, nudging me on the arm.

We were at the cafeteria reminiscing about the amazing baseball game we had on Friday. It's Monday now. Alex and I sat across from Meredith and Samuel. We talked about the goal that Samuel almost hit yesterday and howled with laughter.

Until a tray slammed on our tables, and we all had to look up to see Trey.

He frantically sat down beside Meredith and Samuel and looked pale.

We asked him what was wrong.

"I am done with that boys' bathroom!" He said, shaking his head and grabbing the garlic bread from his plate.

"Why?" Samuel asked. "Did the toilet back up again? I'm telling you, bro, every time!"

"No," Trey said. "I feel like there might be a ghost in there."

I stifled a laugh. Meredith raised an eyebrow and smiled, obviously stifling laughter as well.

"Trey, ghosts don't exist," she said.

Trey looked up at her in visual bewilderment. The confusion is seen all over his face. "What do you mean? Didn't Pastor James say that it was demons?"

"Yeah, demons. But not ghosts. Ghosts are believed to be spirits of people who passed away. But the moment we're dead, we're judged by God immediately and get sent to where we should be—hell or heaven.

Hebrews 9:27 says, 'People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.'"

"What makes you think there's a ghost in the boys' bathroom?" I asked.

"I don't know. There might be," he said.

"Yeah, no, there's not," Samuel said. "I always check the bathrooms and every facility in this school before leaving the school. Remember? I'm always the one they're coming for when it comes to toilets! I'm not the janitor!"

Alex laughed and patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"Come on, guys, I'm serious! I'm seriously scared!" Trey said, shaking his head as he held it.

"Yeah, you're overreacting." Meredith patted his back. "Everything's okay, buddy."

Trey looked so relieved and rested his head on Meredith's shoulder for a quick second to show her how grateful he was.

I raised an eyebrow at my friend. "Yeah, you shouldn't have watched that horror movie. It gives you a spirit of fear that will torment you and bother your mind."

"You watched a horror movie?" Meredith turned to Trey, surprised.

Trey frowned defeatedly. "Yeah. My family drove me to it. We always have Horror Movie Night Friday every week in October. It's sort of a family tradition."

"Yeah, God hates tradition," Meredith said immediately.

"Look," Samuel said, squinting at the screen of his phone. "I opened my Bible app, and it says here in Mark 7:8–9, 'You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!'"

"I'm sorry" was all Trey could say.

"It's okay." Meredith hugged him and patted his shoulder.

"The movie's been messing with my head throughout the weekend, guys. It's been making me paranoid and cowardly. I don't like it." Trey shook his head once more.

"Because it gives you a spirit of fear. But it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, of love, and of a sound mind," Meredith explained. "It's not of the Lord. You should stop watching it."

Trey nodded, looking teary-eyed. "Yes. Thank you guys. But what about my family? They're going to call me a buzzkill or get mad at me for not sticking with family tradition. They're probably going to tell me it's just a fun routine we have and nothing serious."

"Just tell them a firm no," Meredith said.

"Okay," Trey said.

"Okay," I said on a higher note. "Can we all enjoy our lunch from now on? My pizza's getting cold."

We all laughed and finished our food.

***

My phone rang and rang and rang.

With my mind still buzzing, I reluctantly sat up and grabbed my phone from the bedside table. I realized it was Trey calling in the middle of the night.

I answered it. "Dude? Why are you calling me at—" I looked at the time on my phone. "--12:37 AM."

"Can I come over?" he asked.

"Why? I'm too sleepy to entertain guests!" I said groggily, lying back down on my bed.

"I can't sleep."

"Stop watching horror movies!" I said, rolling my eyes. "It's giving you unnecessary fear. God is with you wherever you go."

Trey sounded like he was crying. "I know. It's just... I'm just too scared right now."

"Don't be. There's nothing to be scared of. God is with you in every moment. If you have time to get scared, then you certainly have time to pray!"

Trey sniffled and said, "You're right! I'm Trey Mullins, a baseball star! And a child of God! I shouldn't be scared!"

"Yeah, you shouldn't be," I said in agreement.

"Thanks, dude. Please pray for me."

"Okay, dude."

"Good night."

"Good night and shalom." Shalom is a Hebrew word that means 'peace'.

"Thank you."

He hung up.

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep. If Trey keeps this up, this is going to be a long week.