A Lasting Sacrifice

5 - Aaliyah

We listen to the tour guide explain the history as we walk through the long narrow tunnel to the mansion. The tunnel is well lit thankfully and has signs that show people where to go. They also have pictures of the former owners and celebrities who visited the mansion.

"When this place was built, it belonged to a wealthy entrepreneur and his late wife. Legend has it that the man was a bit of a showoff. He had more money than most who lived on this block and he liked to have extravagant parties," the guide says as we walk past several pictures of the owners in sepia tones.

He was a portly, but well dressed white man with a gorgeous young wife named Esmerelda, apparently.

"Mr. Langford was a man with a lot of vices. Women, gambling, alcohol and more. Between 1940 and 1956, he was going broke from poor investments and gambling away half his fortune. Fortunately for him, movies were about to hit the golden age of cinema. Mr. Langford invested in his own production studio and started churning out classics.

"Famous actors like Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy Dandridge and more all worked with him at some point in their careers. But, with more money and fame came a more piqued interest. Around this time in America, occultism gained in popularity. By the 60s movies like Rosemary's Baby were all the rage. But in 1961 this was still new and daring material," The guide goes on.

Marco holds my hand as we look at the pictures of all those famous actors with Mr. Langford. Jenna and Trevor seem more interested in each other than anything else being said right now. Zeke and his dates are taking pictures and Snapchatting. Marco seems distant though, as we walk. We finally reach the door to the basement of the mansion and the guide opens it.

Inside the basement, there are stone floors and a pentagram in the middle. A glass case, in front of the pentagram, holds a leather-bound book and a Ouija board.

"Langford was deeply interested in the occult and started having parties. The central item of everyone's interest was this extravagant Ouija board. It is said to be made from the wood of some of the Salem hanging victims and inked with Ram's blood. The planchette is, supposedly, made of human bone, as well. Langford often held seances and performed other rituals from the grimoire in that case. It's how he got caught for seven murders in the late 60s.

"He lured young eager women up here, virgins at that, with promises of fame and fortune. But when they arrived, they'd get escorted down here. With the help of a few guests, who haven't been caught or named to this day, they killed those women. In cold blood, they tied up and gutted those poor girls for whatever ritualistic practices they thought they could achieve," the tour guide says as people crowd around the glass case.

Marco and I walk closer to the case and look at the Ouija board and grimoire.

"Seems crazy that people could get worked up for a simple piece of wood and leather. Some people really are crazy, huh?" I say to Marco.

I turn to look at him, but he hasn't said a word. He just keeps looking at the board and book. I call out to him again and he ignores me. The others are too distracted taking pics to notice Marco spacing out. So I keep trying to snap him out of his daze. I wave my hand in front of his face and snap at him. Nothing works, but he reaches his hand out slowly to touch the case. Suddenly, the guide stops him by grabbing his hand and telling him no one could touch the case.

Marco shakes his head back and forth, as if trying to clear something from his mind.

"I'm sorry... dont know what I was thinking," Marco says in a low voice.

"Oh, I bet I know," says Zeke with a wicked grin.

Something shiny appears in Zeke's right hand as he speaks. Without warning, the shiny object is stuck inside the neck of the girl he was kissing. My eyes go wide as I realize it's a knife. A knife... in Zeke's hand? He just... stabbed a woman with no second thought. What the fuck is going on?