The Midnight Within

Chapter 10

A cold breeze blew in through the half-open window as dark skeletal trees drifted by like tall silent sentinels. Daniel had fallen into yet another moody silence, his midnight blue eyes fixed on the dark houses that seemed to get farther apart as they drove out past the city limits into the country. Zakk rather enjoyed these rare silent moments with only the sound of the radio and the purr of the engine to keep him company, yet tonight he couldn't find comfort in silence. Daniel sighed as he shuffled through the CD's finally pulling Type O Negatives October rust and putting it into the player as the mustang began to gain speed. Content with his selection, he went back to staring out the window leaving Zakk to worry about what might be wrong with his two closest friends. Zakk finally broke the silence. " Do you remember that party last summer when we put that bottle of liquor and some other shit into a box and buried it outside that bar near Northfield? He grinned at the memory of it. How warm the summer sun had been and how easy the liquor had gone down. " Barely. Wasn't that the night we tried to find that frog bar and ended up at the Rock with all those bikers who then invited us to party with them? "" Yeah." Zakk laughed. " They had this band playing in someone's barn and the box was sitting in the bed of some guys truck. ""Isn't that the night you tried to ride a horse or some shit? Man that was one fucked up night. I think I puked for a week after. "" Yeah, they kept handing us beer after beer. Do you think it's still out there, still buried? " Daniel was still looking out the window at the passing houses, wondering what each house held inside it. " I have no idea. Didn't we make a pact to go looking for it in like ten years? " He smiled at the memory. They had done some very crazy stuff over the course of their four-year friendship.Through the dirty windshield Zakk spotted the old run down motel that always reminded them of an old horror movie set, meaning they were almost to the turnoff for the Haunted Farm. Zakk had always hated the late fall and the chill that only grew worse as Halloween drew near. It was a reminder that winter was just around the corner. They had once drained a bottle of rotgut while arguing over the importance of the one forgotten holiday, Thanksgiving. It had always seemed to Zakk that society, as a whole had left turkey day in the dust, passing it up for the better money makers, Halloween and Christmas, while Daniel was disgusted with all of them as a whole. Consumerism he said, sounding a lot like Nick was the leading cause of what was really wrong with the world today."So what did Britt want? "Startled, Zakk glanced over at Daniel, wondering just how much of their conversation he had heard. "She wanted to invite you to her stupid party and that you need to call her. " He tried and failed to keep the sarcasm out of his voice."Seriously? " Daniel snorted."Yeah, dude I thought Mia was going to launch herself across the table at her. " That brought smiles to both their faces as Zakk went on. "She says she's sorry, again. I thought you had seen her this week? ""Oh she tried to talk to me but I shut her out. She kept hinting that she wanted to get high in the bathroom and talk. I just walked away. "Daniel dug his nails into his jean clad legs. He knew Britt was not sorry about any of the crap she pulled and never would be. He might not show it, but Britt had hurt him pretty badly and if she thought an invitation to a party he was expected to be at was going to fix it then she was dead wrong. What she had done had messed him up, but that was only the start of it he guessed. He had been dumped twice now, first by Kate and then Britt. Sure did make a guy want to steer clear of the opposite sex for a while." She's crazy man and her dad. He's bad news. " Zakk stopped himself from going on another tangent about Jackson Carver. Daniel knew better than anyone how scary Jack was. Zakk loved to give Daniel shit about ending up at the bottom of the lake with Jimmy Hoffa if he was not careful." Did I tell you, Mia told me that she thought she saw Thane in her kitchen. "Daniel shot Zakk a hard look but said nothing as Zakk rambled on, grateful that he didn't have to talk about what was going on with Britt."I know, right? The guys been dead for almost a year now and somehow he still has this power over her. Maybe we should talk to her about seeing a shrink or something? ""We all need to see a shrink." " Are you still having nightmares? " "Are you? "" Yeah." Zakk sighed. It was not only Mia who was unable to sleep. Of course his mother kept telling Zakk that it was a normal reaction to a close friend's death, what she didn't know was how much Zakk had a hand in said death. She said the guilt he carried was the root of his dreams.Daniel didn't think it was just guilt that kept him up at night. He had other issues. Failing all his classes, hated by his step father and feeling more and more disconnected with the world around him he had walked out on his job the week before. If he had to ask one more person if they wanted to make it into a combo, he was going to hold someone's head in the fryer. The job had been Nick's idea of course, it would give him character he said and help him save for a new car. The job had lasted longer than anyone thought it would and had gotten him out of the house and away from Nick." Do you think Mia's ok? I mean she looked like shit when we dropped her off after the cemetery. " " Don't know. " Daniel answered truthfully. " She took a very good knock to the head when she fell backwards. I wish she had let us crash at her place tonight. "Zakk raked the faded blue hair back from his forehead, looking over at Daniel he suddenly wished they were out of the car. It happened that way sometimes. The car seemed to get smaller and smaller around his hefty frame. " Do you think she had a seizure? My aunt Carla once had one at the table during Christmas dinner and everyone freaked out, scared the hell out of me. There was this girl in fifth grade that had one on the playground and never came back to school. I was afraid to sleep for the longest time. " He was rambling again and gaining steam as they reached the darkened sign for the Haunted Farm. " Maybe it was something she ate? I saw this episode of Buffy once..."" She's fine Zakk. " Daniel growled, letting his friend know that he was done talking.Zakk slowed the stanger down and turned off the two lane blacktop and onto the tree shrouded dirt road. It was late enough to be deserted or so he hoped and was happy to find the weedy parking lot empty when they reached the end of the long drive.The haunt ran every weekend from the end of September and thru October except for Halloween night when it was closed for Britt's invitation only bash. Zakk never did get why Jackson Carver would close down the haunt on Halloween night just so his daughter could throw a party. Halloween night was the haunt's busiest night of the year. Of course Jack didn't really need the money the Haunt brought in. It was a novelty to him, a way to keep his princess happy.Out of the car at last, Zakk looked around with a happy grin. His eyes went first to the haunted house with its old rickety front steps, to the darkened windows, and up to the shabby moss-covered roof with the rusted weather-vane on top. They never tired of coming up here, even if they just sat on the hood of the car passing a bottle or joint between them.Paulie, the so-called guard was nearly blind and def in one ear spent all him time sleeping in the little ticket booth doing rounds maybe once a night if that. He never had done more than run a few punks off when they got mouthy or help a lost kid find their parents. Then there was Thane's uncle Chester who was the caretaker and could be easily bought with a case of Old Mill or a carton of smokes. Chester could spend hours spinning stories about the depression or whom he had found getting it on up in the loft of the old barn. Chester lived in a vine-covered trailer off to the side of the barn, fixing fences and tending to the corn and pumpkins." Want to stay here? ..." Zakk glanced over his shoulder to see Daniel walking away into the mock cemetery at the edge of the lot his black shadow disappearing into the fog between the stones. " Hey asshole! " Sighing Zakk reached into the back seat, shouldered his backpack and followed his friend into the gathering darkness. It was cold and he wished he had brought his coat. He thought about getting back into the car then thought better of it. Daniel would never speak to him again if he left him out here, not that Daniel couldn't find another ride home. He could always find another way home, that was Daniel he could talk anyone into anything. Turning his back reached for the door handle and was startled to see someone sitting in the passenger seat. Startled he jumped back only to realized that there was no one in the car. The passenger seat was empty. Perhaps it was time to lay off the blunt's for a while. Shaken Zakk turned himself around and quickly headed in the direction that Daniel had gone.