James stared out of the second story window of his best friends house. The moonlight cast its glow over the treeline, before it was engulfed in a cloud. He turned to his friends, Rebecca and Autumn as they playfully whopped each other with pillows.
"Let's go for a walk," James said, turning from the window to face his friends, who momentarily stopped their fighting.
"Why would we do that?" Autumn asked.
"Yeah, the fun is all right here!" Rebecca replied, hitting Autumn on the cheek with the pillow.
"We've been up here for two hours, and the only thing we've done is watch half of a movie, and nearly kill one another with pillows," James said, snatching a pillow from Autumn's hands as she tried to hit him.
"I guess he does sort of have a point," said Autumn, looking at Rebecca, "we have been doing nothing." Rebecca sighed,
"I guess a walk won't hurt..." And with that, the three put on their shoes and long sleeve shirts, and stepped out into the unusually chilly August air.
"Where are we walking to?" Autumn asked.
"I don't know. Just...Around I guess," James replied.
"Why does it have to be somewhere?" Rebecca asked, "Why can't we just wander? I mean, we have less than a month before we are officially high school students. Lets live in the moment!" Rebecca shouted the last line and started walking backwards in front of James and Autumn. James shook his head at her shenanigans, and noticed that they were approaching the back end of The Raven Cemetery.
"Hold your breath guys," he said, and both girls stopped short of the gate and asked in unison,
"What?"
"Hold your breath, we're walking past a graveyard," he replied as the two looked onward stupidly. James sighed and rolled his eyes,
"If you don't hold your breath while walking past the cemetery at night, a ghost will posses you," he said, looking sternly at them. There was a silence that was broken by hysterical laughter,
"You must be joking!" Rebecca exclaimed, then Autumn shouted,
"You didn't actually expect us to believe that did you?" James smiled back and said,
"Hah, no, but I almost had you!" The three went on laughing as they walked past the tombs and nothing happened.
"See, I told you we would be-" Autumn stopped short and fell flat to the ground. As Rebecca ran to her side, she started shaking before her back bent and all fell silent. James and Rebecca watched in awestruck horror. Autumn lay, back flat to the ground, and her body went limp.
"Autumn?" Rebecca shouted, "Autumn, this isn't funny, wake up-" As she finished, Autumn shot up, and stared ahead at James.
"You were wise you warn your friends," she said in a voice that was not her own. James swallowed when he realized what she meant,
"You mean it was..." Rebecca drifted off.
"Yes, all too true!" Shouted the voice as Autumn stood. James backed up, grabbing Rebecca by the wrist and pulling her with him as the woman before them stood. She closed her eyes and stood in place as Rebecca looked to James,
"What do we do?" She asked frantically, "How do we get Autumn back?" James swallowed as he looked on in fear,
"The only way to get them out is to stop them from breathing," he said, gasping for breath himself before continuing, "we have to kill the mortal body."
"But what if that doesn't work?" Rebecca asked. James said nothing in reply, and crept slowly toward Autumn, who had her back turned toward the two. He outstretched his arms then quickly wrapped his hands around Autumn's neck. She gasped and against the grip, turned to face James. Her eyes were still solid black, and she grinned widely at James as she choked. Minutes passed, and finally, the once jet black eyes went to hazel again, and the body went limp in his hands. He dropped her, and Rebecca came running to her side,
"Autumn, are you okay?"
"No, she's dead," James replied calmly.
"What?" Rebecca replied, looking up at James in terror, "What do you mean she's dead?"
"I mean, the only way to get rid of a demon is to preform an exorcism, everyone knows that," James replied, scoffing at Rebecca.
"You mean...You kill-" Rebecca was too late, as James wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed until the life drained from her body, and into his. He breathed in deeply, smiled, and having still not quenched his hunger, starting walking down the street, looking for more prey.
YOU ARE READING
A Stormy Night: Stories to Read by Candlelight
Terror"What will you call this place, this town of death?" "I think we will call it...Raven." From demon possession to an evil beast out to get you and even a murderous flock of birds, this collection of short stories is sure to make you shiver and keep...
