October

Scary Stories

Corbin waited impatiently for Aristos' response. The two minutes it took for him to start typing felt more like two centuries. Aristos texted back, "Why? You mad?"

Corbin shook his head even though Aristos couldn't see him. He typed, "No I'm not. I just need to talk to you. This shit is important."

It was another torturous three minutes before Aristos answered. "Aight then. Omw."

Corbin jogged down the stairs and out into the living room, looking towards the front door and waiting anxiously for a knock. He looked out the living room window nervously. Nobody yet. He let the blinds slip shut and stepped back. He paced back and forth between the couch and the window. Suddenly, a car door slammed outside. He peeked out the window and saw Aristos walking towards the front door. Corbin answered before he could knock. Aristos looked at him in shock.

"Damn. So what's up?" Aristos asked as he was let into Corbin's home. Corbin shut the door behind him and walked into the living room with Aristos on his heels. He looked around before sitting down on the couch. Aristos sat in a chair. He was still waiting expectantly for an explanation. Corbin looked at him and Aristos raised his eyebrows. "What was so important?"

Corbin sighed deeply before he began. "There's something wrong with Yleed."

Aristos looked at him with a look on his face that said 'I could've told you that.'

Corbin continued, "Okay. So I already told you that whenever I'm around him I get forgetful, right?" Aristos nodded. "Well, today we had sex. I don't remember any of it, besides the fact that we did it. I know that we did, I just don't know what all we did. At all. I just remember he told me he loved me."

Aristos stared at him. He looked dumfounded. "You mean to tell me you lost your fucking virginity and you don't remember any of it."

Corbin nodded.

"Did he drug you? Holy shit, did he fucking rape you?" Aristos was starting to get mad. He started to get to his feet but Corbin motioned for him to sit back down. Aristos did so reluctantly. Corbin shook his head.

"No, he didn't. It was all consensual, I swear. I just... don't remember it at all."

Aristos crossed his arms over his chest. "That's still fucked. It's weird."

"Yeah. I know. The reason he even came over was to help me with my English homework. As soon as we started going through the poem, he threw up." Corbin looked at Aristos meekly as he continued. Aristos just watched him. "But the weirdest thing about that is that his puke was green, and black."

Aristos raised his eyebrows higher, somehow. He took a deep breath in and looked straight on at Corbin. "Well. We can certainly say you're dealing with some fucked shit. I've never heard of anyone throwing up black besides in them scary stories my grandma used to tell me."

Corbin listened to him and sort of shook his head. "I mean, he could just be sick. But black vomit? I've never seen something like that."

"Like I said. You better stay away from that boy."

Corbin ignored him and pushed on with another question. "What kind of stories did your grandma tell you?"

"Why? They're just scary stories." Aristos wore an expression of bemusement.

"Because I wanna know is why. Can't you just tell me?" Corbin pleaded. Aristos sighed and stretched.

"She always said that if someone throws up black, it means it's evil magic leaving their body. Or that they're a ghost. Or that they've made a deal with an alligator. It's all just shit to scare little kids. Don't worry about it."