Out of the Darkness

50

"I don't like the sound of that," JC muttered, shaking his head. I pointed the camera towards them. "What's up guys? You don't want to play in the dark with some monsters?" They both glared at me. "And ghosts Crosby. Don't forget the damn ghosts," Kian said stonily. "How could I forget the ghosts?" I answered, thinking of Anna. I thought I heard a light giggle coming from the right of me, but I ignored it. None of the guys said a word so I was guessing I imagined it or they were too busy thinking about what we were about to do. "SOOO which part of Hell are you guys taking us too then?" JC asked. "I was thinking the boiler room. It's dark down there, plus there's the ghosts of the two men who got caught in that escape door. Perfect for what we're doing. Don't worry, it's not a hard game," Sam replied, winking at me. I wasn't sure what the game was. Sam had read off a couple in the car, but I couldn't remember what was what. I had to admit, I was getting a little nervous, but it was a good kind of nervous. Being scared was fun, as long as there was no actual danger. Of course, we didn't know how to avoid that sometimes and antagonizing spirits on an old ship where brutal murders had happened probably wasn't a good idea...but we were going to do it anyway. Kian and JC talked shit about leaving and hating us the entire way down to the boiler room. It was dark inside, with just a few yellow bulbs shining down the length of the room. Dark shadows stuck to the inside walls, creeping up to the ceiling like they were reaching towards something. I shivered a little, my eyes locked on a particularly dark spot behind one of the huge old tanks that they had down here. The spot was so dark, it was just blackness, but I could almost swear that I saw some kind of shape over there. "Sam," I said, motioning towards the spot. I didn't want to start a game if there was some kind of random weirdo hiding in the darkness. The murder stories were in the forefront of my mind and Sam and I might've took chances, but we weren't completely stupid. He pointed his flashlight to the dark spot but it didn't help to permeate it, not even with the help of the bright camera light. We looked at each other and nodded, then took slow steps towards the spot. "What are you guys doing?" JC hissed, Kian holding arm as he ducked behind JC's body. "There's something or someone over here," Sam hissed back. I took the last few steps towards the shape, and pointed the camera down into the almost impenetrable darkness. "Oh fuck," I sighed, leaning down to pick up the old workers outfit. I turned back to the others and held it up. "It looked like a man sitting over here. There's a chair and this was draped on it. It's a fucking jumpsuit."  Kian and JC both heaved a big sigh of relief and leaned one another. "I thought we were about to die. You two are the white boys in scary movies that always go towards the scary sounds instead of leaving." Sam laughed, and nodded. "We are," he replied, looking at me. I just shrugged because JC wasn't wrong. If this were a horror movie, Sam and I would be the ones to die first. "Alright, since we're all good and freaked out, it's the perfect time to start the game. It's darker on that end of the room. Whoever is 'it' first, has to go stand in that corner, facing the wall so that you can't see anything behind you. WE," he emphasized, motioning to all of us with his hand. "Will be the 'monsters in the dark.' Our purpose will be to scare whoever is standing over there. If you can withstand all of our attempts, then you win that round. If someone scares you badly enough where you want to leave, then you lose and it's the next player's turn." "Okay, sounds easy enough," Kian said, glancing at the dark area with worry in his eyes. "So let's make it interesting," I said, a small smile on my face. "What do you have in mind?" Sam asked. "We're already asking the ghosts to play with us, so this should be fun. But the loser should have some kind of repurcussion and the winner should have a prize. I was thinking that the loser has to give up their YouTube channel to the winner for one video. They get to choose your content and what you do that week. They can be in it, run it, make you do stupid shit, whatever. It's their choice." Sam stroked his chin with his fingers, thinking over what I had suggested. "That's a good idea. You guys down?" He asked Kian and JC. "No, because we're going to lose. You guys do this for fun," Kian exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Come one crack dad," JC replied, slapping Kian's arm. "We got this. We can do this. LET'S GOOOO!" His yell echoed along the room, seeming like it was bouncing off of the wall, then back to us. "Shit," he said, once it became quiet again. "I didn't like that." I laughed, and shook my head. "We're so going to win this," I said quietly. "That's the point," Sam replied back, just as quietly. "Who's going first?" JC asked, as we turned back to face them. Sam looked at me and shrugged. "Paper, rock, scissors?" I nodded, and we all put our hands out. I was the first person out, so that meant that I would be going first. I was fine with that. "Thank God," Kian had mumbled when JC was the next one out. After him was Sam, then Kian, so Kian would be last. "Have fun buddy," Sam said, grinning as I walked down the long metal expanse towards the back. I faced the wall, and waited. I had to admit that it was kind of creepy down here. The lights were out in a third of the expanse so it was totally dark. We weren't allowed to use our phone or any kind of light source, so I felt like I was being swallowed up by the darkness. That thought reminded me of Anna. "Anna?" I whispered, keeping my voice as low as possible. It still seemed like it echoed off the walls, but the guys behind me didn't say anything, so I assumed that the sound didn't reach them. "Right here," her soft whisper came right next to my ear. I couldn't see her, but it was comforting to know that I wasn't completely alone down here. "Okay Colby, you ready?" Sam yelled, his voice booming when it reverberated around the walls. "Yeah!" I yelled back. "Do your worst!" Probably shouldn't have said that.