This is a pretty generic horror story I made with my friends. We thought it up on a joke and the characters are just reflections of different stereotypes people might see us as, so don't take the setup too serious. That in mind, it will get pretty dark, so beware. ----------
When the popular and pretty Kate decides to conduct a social experiment, she never imagined it would turn out like this. She invited one person from each group/clique in her school to her house for a sleepover, wanting to see how it would turn out.
There is Maleana, a preppy partier, and slut. Hannah, a hippy stoner. Isaiah, the jock. Stephanie, a complete nerd. Tisha, the so called 'thug'-read, bad kid, and then there is me. My name is Oliana, and I don't really have a group. I have a couple friends, but no 'clique'. People say I'm cold hearted, and some are even scared of me, but I just think I'm smart. Kate and I knew there would be drama, but one thing we never expected was for it to end like this.
Kate conveniently forgot to mention that her house is built on an ancient Indian Burial Ground, to tell them all the bad stories of previous owners tell of living there, and when the group decides to play with a Ouija Board, everything goes to Hell.
'She looks at me with her cold, dead eyes. I feel the hot blood running down my arm, my shoulder aching. "Please don't do this," I say, looking into her face, "I know you're still in there somewhere, you need to come back to yourself! We may not always get along, but this isn't you!" But she is gone, and she smiles coldly as she walks toward me with her blade, giving me no choice but to back into the open window.'
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]