**Say What You Mean Out Loud**

~ T W E L V E ~

Round Three

Greyson Elliot looked around at the spiky tips of the ground, blown up from the earth.
That's where It landed, all those years ago.
From fucking outer space.

But now they were gathered around the center, needing to put together their belongings in this weird run looking thing.
To complete the ritual.

Mike put in a rock, from the rock war.
Eddie put in his inhaler.
Bev put in a postcard with her poem on it.
Ben dropped a page in there, with one signature.
Grey tossed her little turtle shell in.
Stan threw in his shower cap.
And Bill put in a paper boat.

Richie dropped an arcade token and Eddie scoffed.
"Dude an actual token?"
"Yes an actual token."
"How that going to, like... I don't know melt down?"

"You our a fucking inhaler in there."
"Shut up Richie."
The two stopped their bickering, and Grey giggled.
They sounded like an old married couple.

The group held hands, following Mike's actions.
Stanley squeezes Grey's tightly, and she smiled at him.

"The Ritual of Chud." He announced.
"It's about our wills. The first step is our reunion."
Grey clicked her tongue smirked. "Round one."

He glanced at her. "Uh... sure."
Stanley subtly shook his head.
"The second, the tokens... this is the final step."

They looked down at the pot of belongings.
It started to shake, and was casted by a light up from above them.
"What the..."

The looked up, and were met with cosmic balls of light, ascending from the ghastly, hellish opening above them.

"What the fuck?"
"What is that?"
"Don't look at them!" Someone shouted.

"Are those the dead lights?"
"Don't look at them!" Mike shouted, squeezing his eyes shut.
The losers were cast into suspenseful, climatic darkness as the wind swirled around them.

"Turn light into dark. Turn light into dark, say it!" Mike shouted.
They chanted together, yelling with hesitation as Mike's chants conversed into some different language.

"Turn light into dark, what the fuck is happening man?!" Richie screamed.
The light got brighter, and wind got stronger.
The losers shouted louder and louder until the light disappeared in front of them.

Mike grabbed the lid to the artifact, and slammed it on top of the lights.
The only one still yelling was Eddie.

"Turn light into dark! Is it working did we do it?!"
The lid just barely covered the lights, until a red balloon started inflating from the container.

"What... what the fuck is that?!" Grey cursed, watching as Mike and Ben struggled to keep it down.

"I-is this part of it?" Bev wailed.
Richie watched with wide eyes. "Mike is this supposed to be happening?"

"Keep chanting!" He shouted, struggling with the lid.
The losers stared skeptically as the chanted, but Mike was thrown back by the immense balloon.

"What the hell man?!" One shouted, as the balloon grew and grew, to the size of a hot air balloon.
The backed away, tripping over rocks and straight fear.