Dusk To Dawn

Simplicity- Sam

I hurried through the streets, the cool autumn wind biting through my sweater. I could hear my own feet hitting the pavement in almost a pattern, interrupted by the crinkling of dry, fallen leaves from the trees planted in the city. Honestly, I am so over working at our small town grocery store. The fact I can now predict an entitled mom coming in to complain about their coupons for two dollars off a case of apple juice for their little angel or an old man being a creepy old pervert was starting to become the tipping point. I'm so tired and just wanna get home. Maybe my friends will join a group call or come play games at my house tonight. My brother is out of town for a trip with some friends before school starts up, and my parent won't be home. I can already feel the boredom. The street lights flickered to life as I made it my street. Ravens crowed above the houses, resting on the bare and naked tree branches. The sun had just dipped under the horizon, so the light shone against a dark orange sky, reminding me as some kind of Halloween painting. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find Ricardo sitting on my doorstep. He looked up from some kind of gaming magazine he had been reading when he heard me walk up.

"Hey Sam. You just get out of work?" Ricardo asked as he stood up, stretching so he could crack his back. Ricardo was a friend I've known for probably about three or four years, along with two of our other friends. His slightly tan skin was on the verge of pale as usual, though his dark eyes and hair contrasted it greatly. Ricardo's rectangular framed glasses was straight and level on the bridge of his nose as he looked down on me. Granted, neither of us were by any means tall, but there was a decent height gap between most of us in our friend group. Ricardo was, not surprisingly, the tallest by a couple of inches.
"Yeah, I am free of headaches for three days." I slipped past him to unlock the door, shutting it after he came in. I threw my keys on the small side table near the door, kicking off my shoes and flipping the lights on. Ricardo dropped onto the couch, having already taken his shoes off. "What brings you here? Not that I mind, I was actually about to call you and the others to see if you wanted to come over."

"Weird, I thought I saw you text me that you wanted me to come over." Ricardo looked at me a bit confused.
"Oh. Well, I must have already texted and forgotten I had. Anyway, anything you want to eat or drink?" I asked him as I headed toward the kitchen, nodding when he shook his head. Heading through the kitchen, I made my way to my room, heading inside to a dark room with cool air dancing on my skin in greeting. I closed the door before quickly changing out of my work uniform and into more comfortable tank top and shorts. I headed back to the living room where Ricardo had turned the TV on and was clicking through channels. He set the remote down when I entered. "So you wanna call Rainy and I'll call Natalie?" He asked.
"Sounds like a plan. We can have a sleepover and watch a couple of movies, maybe play some games." Ricardo nodded, smiling to reveal a more upbeat mood then the tired expression he had been wearing when sitting on my porch. We both got our phones, going through our contacts till we found who we were looking for. As expected, Natalie answered the phone almost immediately after the first ring, and Ricardo was soon distracted inviting her over. Meanwhile, it took calling twice before Rainy finally picked up the phone, though it wasn't surprising since her hearing was not as good as it used to be a couple of years ago.
"Hey." Rainy's voice came through the speaker, tired but happy.
"Hey Rainy. Nat, Ricardo, and I are meeting up at my house. We're gonna have a sleepover. You up for joining?" It took a couple of minutes to get an answer. I heard faint talking on her side, most likely one of her moms.
"Yeah, I can come. I'll be there in a bit. Need to pack some stuff first."
"Alright, see you soon." I ended the call, not surprised how short it was. Rainy never did like talking on the phone. After Ricardo confirmed Nat would be joining us as well, we set to prepare for the night with some good horror movies, some popcorn and candy, finally setting up comfy spots for everyone to sit or lay down on.
Natalie arrived first, her Asian eyes bright with curiosity. yet held a calmness to them. Her black hair was down as usual, sweeping just over her shoulder in graceful waves. Once we got her set up, we passed the time by watching an episode of whatever show we had picked. About twenty minute passed before Rainy showed up, her turquoise blue hair up in a ponytail. After she was set up, we broke out some of the board games my family kept in their closet, and the friendly competition broke out among us, as it always did. Soon we moved on to our horror movie marathon, making sure the subtitles were on.

"Bitch needs to stop screaming and start running." I provided commentary, hearing a few snickers in response.

"Not that it matters, she'll make it maybe ten feet in those shoes." Ricardo had a tone of doubt in his voice. I think he doubted the girl would get very far.

"They'll either break or she'll fall on them and stab herself." Nat said, sitting on of the bean bags as she quietly ate some popcorn.

"So they're gonna forget about their two friends they locked in the closet? That's kinda fucked up." Rainy muttered from her spot on the floor, most likely reading the movie more than watching, as she some kind of sour candy she liked. When the movie ended with all the characters dying, we decided to take a break before starting another one, taking the opportunities to refill our snacks and drinks, or going to the bathroom. The last movie gave me an idea though, which I acted upon. I headed to my and searched my bed, scattering old papers or long forgotten homework. Pulling a simple cardboard box about the size of a game board, I headed back to the others. "Hey guys, look what I found." I held up the box for them to see.

"Yo, we should try it out!" Ricardo joked, though he moved stuff off the coffee table to make room.

"I'm not getting possessed bitch." Natalie complained.

"I just wanna see if it'll work to be honest." Rainy moved over so she was sitting on side of the coffee table as we took the small wooden board out, taking in the numbers and letters on the board, before picking up the small wooden planchette and looking at it in great detail.

"Of course it won't. It's a toy made to scare people or prank them." Ricardo sat down across from Rainy, taking the planchette from her when she was done. Nat was talked into joining since Rainy only wanted to watch, thinking she'd mess it up or mishear a question. She moved so Nat could take her place, moving up onto the couch where she would be able to see, and hear us a bit better.

I wish we followed her lead of sitting out.