A Stormy Night: Stories to Read by Candlelight

Cookout

"Mindy, where are the cups?" Someone asked from a distance, prompting Mindy to turn around and point to a picnic table with a red and white checkered tablecloth,

"Over there by the soda," she said as she ran her hands through her long, brown hair and tucked locks of it behind her ears. The person waved and left Mindy near the lawn chairs as they retrieved a cup of soda. Mindy had invited her entire class to the cookout, and they all sat around, joking, laughing, and eating as Mindy walked around and socialize with her friends. Then, Jimmy and Theresa showed up.

"Ugh," Theresa said as she approached the table, "what's there to eat?" She twirled her hair around her finger and leaned away from Jimmy, who had his arm around her waist and was trying to kiss her.

"Well, I haven't started up the grill yet," Mindy said as she approached them, "but there's some chips and drinks over there." She pointed again to the table and Jimmy said,

"Sounds dope, when we gonna start drinking the good shit?"

"Must everything be alcoholic with you?" Clara said as she approached Mindy's side.

"No," Jimmy said, putting both hands up in defense, "I just wanna show everyone a good time, yah know?" Clara rolled her eyes,

"You're pathetic, Jimmy," she said, and as Theresa pulled him away to the snack table, Clara asked, "did you really have to invite those two?"

"Well, yes," Mindy said as she walked back to the lawn chairs and put on a white cooking apron, "I couldn't just invite everyone and not ask them to come. That wouldn't be fair." Clara nodded and scoffed as she looked over to see the two sitting on the bench of the table. Jimmy was trying to cop a feel and Theresa was taking pictures of herself with her phone, and, unannounced to them, everyone stood around, eating, drinking and gawking at the two.

Mindy grabbed a pair of matches from her apron pocket, struck them against the side of the portable charcoal grill she brought from home, and threw them into the fuel-soaked coals. There was a 'whoosh!' as the fire took over the coals and quickly subsided, turning the coals a gradual white color as they heated up. Clara came back over to her,

"God, are you ready to cook?" She looked jokingly toward her friend, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole person!" Mindy smiled,

"You can wait," she said as she pulled a spatula from a bag that sat near her lawn chair, "you want the food prepared properly, don't you?" Clara nodded beggingly at Mindy, who laughed and scraped at the grill softly as the heat built up. The rest of her classmates had since moved on from staring at Jimmy and Theresa, and had gone back to playing Frisbee in the field behind the park. Due to the fact that it was a school night, not a soul besides Mindy and her guests were at the park, and it was mid afternoon when Jimmy and Theresa arrived, so everyone else would be in class. The park was nestled in a large clearing, but was surrounded by trees, with the only opening leading to a large dock that overlooked a wide river. She looked behind her to ensure everyone had parked as she asked, and after putting a hand over the grill to check the coals, she hollered,

"Alright everyone, it's time to start grilling!" Her classmates came walking and jogging over to the empty grill, including Jimmy and Theresa, and once they'd all gathered around her she reached down into her bag to retrieve a meat cleaver and a heavy kitchen hammer.

"What is it you're cooking?" Theresa asked, putting a hand on her hip and leaning to her left, away from Jimmy, "I don't see any food."

"Actually," Mindy said as she handed the cleaver to Clara, "we were hoping you both would be our dinner." She flashed a toothy grin and silence befell the group as Jimmy and Theresa stared ahead.

Jimmy was the first to make a sound, something like a laugh that got caught in his throat as the cleaver connected with his neck. Theresa attempted to scream, but Mindy drew the hammer across her temple rapidly, knocking her to the ground where Mindy mounted her and bashed her skull until her breathing subsided. Jimmy had fallen next to her, buckled at the knees with blood running down his clothes, and Clara grabbed a pair of scissors from Mindy's bag. She cut away Jimmy and Theresa's clothes and discarded them in a pile before she grabbed a set of knives of varying sizes and shapes and passed one to each of her classmates. When everyone had a blade, Mindy stood from Theresa's bloody body and gained everyone's attention,

"You all know the rules," she said, gesturing to the bodies, "take whatever cut you want, but don't let anything go to waste." As she spoke, she stepped aside and everyone formed a single file line, cutting and hacking the parts of Jimmy and Theresa they wanted and passing them to Mindy, who threw them onto the hot bars of the charcoal grill to cook. As she stood there, flipping and pressing cuts of flesh, Clara prepared a platter full of buns and said,

"You know, for a first time cookout, you did pretty good." Mindy smiled and flipped a piece of meat before she turned around and nodded. Mindy had to agree with her friend; despite a couple casualties, her cookout was a roaring success.