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HAMMER HORROR

Chapter 1

"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright..."
The black and white image flickered on the small cinema screen. Chittim reached his hand back into the bag of popcorn on his lap, with eyes wide and fixated. This is my favorite part.", He whispered.
Patrick reclined back in his seat.
"Your favorite part is two old guys talking intimately in a room?". He laughed at his own joke.
"No, man! The full moon poem. It's cool."
"I had no idea you were so sensitive, Chitty..." Patrick cood, in his normal mocking tone.
"Fuck off, man.", Chittim bantered back, slightly amused.
"Shhh!" A man a few rows down turned his gaze in the dark theater to two teens seated behind him and watched them with an annoyed look.
"Sorry." Chittim whispered back
"Sorry..." Patrick repeated sarcastically.

Chittim and Patrick exited the old rundown theater to the street.
"You think they'd consider showing something more modern, like a film from this decade."
"What are you talking about, man? Do you know this is one of the only places that does classic horror movie marathons?"
"And I'm sure the owner is very grateful for the whole 12 bucks he makes off you and Mr.Passive Aggressive back there."
Chittim watched as the bald man who sat in front them exited the theater behind Patrick, just barely catching the remark, and continuing on his way while giving them them a cut-eyed look as he left.
"Rick!"
"What? It's true! This place is a dump, dude. They need to start playing some new shit, like from this decade."
"It's sort of like a throwback thing, man."
"This is why Christy dumped you, right? You kept forcing her to come watch crappy movies with creepy bald dudes in the dark?"
The light from marquee sign flickered.
"Y'see? The sign agrees."Patrick announced.
"Fuck off, man.", Chittim muttered back under his breath.
"Take it easy, Chitty, I'm just screwing with you." Patrick said resuming his annoying laugh.

They unlocked their bikes from the curb post and took off riding until they made it back to their made it back to Patrick's house in their quiet suburban neighbourhood. Chittim glanced at his watch. "I'm gonna head home. I haven't finished my science report yet."
"Guess that's one way to get a lady, because Ms G's gonna be on your ass tomorrow." Patrick said shaking his head with a smirk.
"Whatever, I'll just pull an all nighter."
"Well, you just be safe getting home, Chitty. It's a full moon out tonight. Stay off the moors!" Patrick joked, laughing and making more cooing noises as he parked his bike and entered his front door.
"That's the wrong movie, you idiot..."
The door slammed shut.

Chittim took out his Walkman, placed the earbuds in his ears, and resumed riding through the middle of the empty street.
The autumn leaves on the ground crunched under the bike tires as he sped on. The clashing of loud singing, guitar riffs, and drums echoed in the crisp air as he passed from house, to house. He turned the corner seeing the half crescent moon come into view. It hung low in the October night sky, bright, yellow, and looming. Chittim stared at it in a trance before being sharply snapped back to reality by the honking of a horn. He quickly swerved his bike onto the curb falling onto a patch of grass.
Looking up, he saw as the white moving van drove on.
"Thanks a lot, asshole!", He yelled, dusting himself off. Chittim's eyes began to search the ground for where his Walkman had landed. The streetlight illuminated the sidewalk where the cassette tape, the tray, and the body of the player lay in three separate pieces.
"Great..." He muttered to himself.

"Mom, I'm home!", Chittim shouted, shutting the door behind him and holding the pieces of his lifeless Walkman cradled in his arm.
"Mom?", he shouted again. His voice filled the house.
"I'm up here!", his mom called.
He began taking strides up the stairs, examining, and trying to fit the pieces of his Walkman back together.
"Oh, man, you wouldn't believe it. This moving van just came out of nowhere and almost sideswiped me", He said moving down the hall toward her bedroom.
Chittim's mom instantly popped her head out the door of her room. He noticed her hair which was normally flat and fizzled, now in curls. A twinge of a sweet smelling perfume caught the attention of his nose, and he could now notice more clearly she was wearing an excessive amount more makeup than she usually did. "Oh my god, honey, are you ok?", she asked in her concerned motherly voice.
"Ya, I'm fine, but my Walkman got busted up."
She looked at him, appearing to be all in one piece.
"Oh. Well, do you think you can you fix it?" his mom asked, far less concerned now, and turning her attention back to her mirror.
He sat on the bed.
" I don't know yet. Hey, are you you going on a date, something?"
"Yes, and luckly he's running late." she said hurrying to make last minute adjustments to her lipstick. "Oh, I left some money on the counter for you to order some pizza."
"So, who are you going with?", Chittim questioned.
"It's Ron.", She replied.
He searched his memory but came up with empty.
"You remember, he's the manager at the video store."
Now it clicked.
"That guy? Ronnie? But he's such a douche."
"Chittim!", His mom snapped.
"Well, he is."
"He's not. He's a really nice man. You just need to get to know him. Plus, you two have a lot in common. I think you'd both get along we once you get to know him better."
"Why? Like what? " Chittim asked begrudgingly.
"Like, he manages the video store you like, and you're always watching those old films, right? Maybe you two could talk about that.", she suggested. "He might know some you haven't heard of."
" No, he's just a meathead, mom." Chittim said frustrated with the idea of possibly having to integrate this new unwanted nuisance into his life. "He's just a dumb jock. The guy probably doesn't even know how to read the labels on the movie cases."
His mother took a deep breath.
"Chittim, I'm trying to make this work. I respect your opinion, but you can't keep doing this with every person I start seeing."
"I don't do this all the time.", he shot back.
"So you weren't the one who called the restaurant when I went out with Melvin Lester to tell him he forgot his inhaler, and had them ask for a 'Mel Lester' ? "
"Mom! C'mon, that one's a freebie. Even his parents knew that. Why else would they name him Melvin?"
"It's just a date. Who, knows. It might not even work out.", she said, looking back at the mirror.
Chittim watched her smile fade as he noticed wrinkles under her eyes he had never been aware of before.
He nodded. "I hope you have a good time, mom."
She smiled, as the loud pitch of the doorbell was heard.

Chittim's mom moved quickly down the stairs.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Kristy called. She asked me to the you to call her back."
His spine froze.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks mom, I'll call her..."
"Maybe she wants to talk so you two can work things out."
"What? You know we broke up?"
"Of course I know, Chittim. It's the suburbs. Nothing happens here, so of course people are going to talk.
Chittims mom opened the door.
"Veronica!", announced Ron, with wide arms, giving her a hug with a kiss on the cheek. Suddenly he noticed Chittim standing in the staircase. "Oh, hey there sport" he said awkwardly, giving Chittim a wave.
"He thinks I'm a five year old...", Chittim thought to himself.
"Ron, this is my son, Chittim.", she said introducing him.
"Oh, sure, I remember. Monster movies, right?", he asked, squinting and pointing in Chittim's direction in what he believed to be a dynamic pose.
Chittim expression changed to one of boredom.
"Yep, you got me...", He said.
Ronnie looked back at Veronica. "I'm sorry I'm late. I had a bit of trouble finding this place. All the houses look so similar."
Chittim looked away and force coughed under his breath "Movie cases..."
His mom's gaze shifted toward him slowly with a vexed look on her face then back at Ron with a smile.
"It's fine, Ron. Just give me a sec, I have to talk to Chittim. I'll meet you by the car."
"Sure, ok.", Ron said walking off with a dumb smile.
"Chitt-", she started.
"I know, I know. Last one, I promise. But I called it. He couldn't even read the numbers on the houses."
She signed, "We'll, be at the Marriott. Call if anything happens." She handed him a slip of paper. "And no prank calls!"
He looked at the number and back at her. "Like you said, Mom, it's the suburbs. Nothing ever happens here."

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