Post by greaser on Jan 14, 2006 14:23:06 GMT 8
Flatline
It was early winter. The snow blew as if a tornado was circling the town. School was called off again. Fourth day in a row. I told myself that everyone would be ok coming to the Halloween party tonight. But I knew someone wouldn't make it. I tried to get up from my bed, but the sound of the wind made me tired. I got up anyways, and headed into the kitchen. Mother and Father were gone again, but they left a note on the kitchen table this time. I didn't bother reading it because I knew it had something to do with the party tonight. "Honey, make sure to call and cancel", or "Jake, make sure everyone gets to your party safe and sound". I just threw away the note and started making breakfast. The smell of the toast reminded me of the days in Montana when I would help my Grandpa in the morning with the Cattle. One day I woke up, I couldn't smell it. It was a sudden death he went through. Doctors call it Natural Causes, but he was only 70. It had to be something else. After I finished eating the toast, I went over into my room and started reading. I had to do all the stuff now because lord knows I won't get the chance tonight. She is coming. The girl of my dreams. I was hesitant on giving her the note to my party, but she accepted right away. Claire is her name.
By the time I was done reading it was around 3:00 in the afternoon. I started inviting my close friends over the help me decorate for the party. I picked up the phone to call Aaron and Gordon, but there was a knock at the door. I wondered whom it was coming to my door at such a random time of day during one of the year’s worst blizzards. I opened the door to find no one there. There was a note however pinned on the door. I was cautious at first, but I grabbed the note and came back inside. There was already so much snow inside my house.
Before I did anything with the note, I made sure Aaron and Gordon could make it here. Sure enough, they were already on there way. I had to hurry and get ready before Aaron and Gordon came over. Aaron is always serious about everything. He is 100% gullible in every way. Part of the reason my having this Halloween party is to loosen him up. I'm hoping he will be a different person before School starts up again, which won't be for a while. I'm not saying there’s anything wrong with him; I just want to see him happier. I bet he thinks this is a costume party, I better call him back and tell him it isn't. Gordon is the shy one, but when impressing a girl, he’ll get wild. Yet, when no one is around, he'll act like the horniest dude you'll ever meet. I like him that way, and he's a must for this party. He is also with me in the plan to loosen Aaron up. Those are the big three reasons why this party has to be a success.
It's now 7:30 and the guests should be arriving within the hour. Aaron is sitting on the couch watching cartoons. Just like my dad always says, "Even if you’re seniors in high school, cartoons will always be there for you". Gordon is in my room listening to Metal Music. It's getting him pumped for this party. As I was in the shower, all kinds of things started coming to my head. Why is Gordon so excited for this party? What is Aaron coming to think of it? And what exactly is Gordon doing in my room my right now? As soon as I got out of the shower and started drying off, there was this bang at my door. It scared the living nuts out of me. "Jake, stop jerking off to Claire". Gordon yelled that so loud, I was scared that Claire might've heard. "Gordon, you idiot, she could of heard you", I yelled with as much power as I could. I take it he knew I was serious, because he apologized and went into the living room to watch cartoons. That’s all they could do, because no one could go upstairs. My parents forbid it, and I respected their privacy, so I had to lock the entrance door up tight, because I knew that Gordon would try to bring up some random person during the party.
Soon, at around 8:05 pm, guests starting arriving. Some brought the strangest things to the party, like candles and wine, and it made me think that I was going to regret having this party. The first thing I did was going down the hallway and locking my bedroom door. There will absolutely be no sex on my d**n bed! I still haven't decided if it's going to be a stay the night party, but I will probably make it one. The thought of having people drive home in the middle of a blizzard scares me, even the thought of them driving to the party scares me. But I had other things on my mind. Like when the hell is Claire going to be here? I sat on the couch and stared at all the food on the table. There wasn’t that many people here as I expected. Probably because of that d**n blizzard. I went over to Gordon and told him that we should find somebody what would hook up with Aaron. Gordon, with the biggest grin on his face said, “Jake, not right now. Look who’s eyeing me”? It was one of the most popular girls in our school. The first question in my head was why the hell was she at my party, and then I wondered why she was eyeing Gordon, of all people. Then I looked at Aaron, poor Aaron. He looked so miserable. I had to find some way to cheer him up. I had the greatest idea. I remember a couple years ago when he was staying over, we did this game where we shut all the lights off, lit candles around us, and started summoning up dead people. It had a mix of Truth or Dare too. If someone dared you to go outside the candle circle, then all spirits and demons could kill you. We were young and someone dimwitted, but still, if it made Aaron happy, we should it again.
And that’s when it happened. Claire walked in the door. She must have not seen me at first, so I stared at her, as she brushed the snow of her shoulders, and swung her hair from side to side getting all the snow out. I tried my best to keep calm, but I failed. Because next thing I knew I was hugging her tightly, and she smiled. I told her and all the other guests about the game that Aaron loved. The best part of the night, besides Claire finally arriving, was seeing Aaron’s face when I told him we were going to play the game. It was great, because after we lit all the candles and put them in a circle, the power went out. The blizzard was wild. We didn’t think anything bad of it, we were happy. We didn’t have to go all over the house and shut all the lights off.
As we starting sitting, Gordon came over and whispered in my ear, “Try to hook me up with the girl that was eyeing me”. “You mean Jenna, the most popular girl in our school”, I whispered to him with sarcasm. “Sure man, whatever. Just dare her to do something to me, or vice versa, Ok”? He had the biggest grin on his face. So we started playing. The first dead person we started summoning was some girl’s uncle. Apparently he died of obesity, and if it runs in the family, the girl better watch out. So as we were summoning her uncle, nothing happened, which is what we all expected. Then the truth or dare part came into the story. Aaron was dared to go into the kitchen and grab us all drinks. Everyone started laughing, but Aaron was scared. He didn’t want to leave the circle. That made everyone laugh even harder. “Grow some balls and go get us some d**n beers,” Gordon said while laughing. “But were only seniors, we shouldn’t be doing that yet” Aaron said with panic. By then everyone was crying from laughing so hard. Aaron finally left the circle and went into the kitchen. Everyone else just started chatting and forgot that the game was supposed to be scary. By that time, everyone thought the game was for kicks. I started to stare over at Claire; she was looking at me to. She lipped the words to me, “after the game: you and me in your room”, it made me so happy.
But I was distracted by loud yelling in the kitchen, everyone ran in there, and there was Aaron, lying on the kitchen floor, his face, as blue as the ocean. “What the hell happened” Gordon said with such shock on his face. “I heard a loud thump coming from there,” Aaron said pointing to the door leading to the upstairs. “Something just probably fell onto the floor,” I said hoping I was right. We all went back into the living room and sat back in the circle. Aaron looked happy that he was back in the circle. “nuts, we forgot the drinks!” Gordon said. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get them” Claire said with a calm and sweet voice. “I’ll come with you”, I said hoping to get a little lip action in the kitchen. “NO, no Jake, it’s ok, I’ll do it myself” she shouted, then smiled and giggled a little, probably because she was embarrassed. As she was in the kitchen, I started wondering where exactly my parents were. They never tell me where they’re going. I forgot about it when Claire came out with the beers. We all just started talking about past experiences and all that jazz, and it made me happy. My party was a success.
After drinking rounds and rounds of beer, I really had to pee. So as I was peeing, I started thinking what was right above me. I mean it’s been so long since I’ve been upstairs, and I can’t even remember what it looks like.
When I came back into the circle, Jenna and Gordon were gone. With panic, I looked at my bedroom door, and then I was relieved to the fact that it was still locked. Even the thought of someone having sex on my bed pissed me off. “Where did Gordon and Jenna go?” I asked walking back out into the living room. “They were both dared to do something,” Aaron said with a cheesy grin on his face. I knew right away what they were doing.
After 10 minutes, they finally returned and I just started laughing. “What’s your problem” Gordon said hoping he was found out. “Come here” I said while trying to control my laugh. “You got a little mark on your neck” I whispered in his ear. “Oh, right. I slipped and fell on your kitchen floor. It must be my socks or something,” he said backing out of it. “Riiiiiiight” I said starting to laugh again. I asked Claire if we could summon up someone in her family next. She screamed No at me, and then said that no one in her family was dead. Then she tried to put on a sincere smile, which I knew was fake.
Next up, we summoned Aaron’s Great Grandpa, and then I was dared to go into the kitchen and grab some food. As I was grabbing some chips, I saw the note that was randomly pinned on my door earlier sitting on the table. I was pissed I forgot to read it, but then decided that since no one was there to give it to me, it must not be that important. So I just left it there and started walking back into the living room, but then I noticed that the keys for the door leading upstairs were gone to. My immediate thought was Gordon. He must have taken Jenna upstairs when they were supposed to be doing their dare. I looked at Gordon with a smirk, and he looked back at me. “Have fun upstairs” I said sarcastically. “What are talking about, no one can go up there, remember” Gordon said defending himself. “We’ll have a little talk later, a serious talk,” I said getting kind of pissed off at the fact that he took my keys.
“Ok then, who should we do now?” a random guy said sitting in the circle. “Aaron, feel up to another dare?” I said smiling. “Oh no, theirs no way I’m leaving again” he said starting to get nervous. Then out of nowhere, Jenna asked me if I would like to summon anyone in my family. “Hell no I said, that’s just too creepy” I said. But then I looked at Claire; she made this kind of face like I’m a wuss or something. “Oh come on, if Aaron can do it, you can” Gordon said. “Ok, ok,” I said. “There is one person I would like to talk to.” “Who?” Claire said looking interested. “My Grandpa I said in a thingyy fashion. “Why your grandpa” Aaron said looking puzzled. Well, it was summer before freshman year. And I was staying out in Montana at my Grandpa’s farm. We were having the most amazing time. We would play cards till the sun started coming up, and then he would put me to bed, and sometimes read me a bedtime story. He promised me that come tomorrow, he would teach me how to ride a horse. He knew that since I didn’t get along with my parents, I might end up like a criminal. He always said that if you have a bad childhood, your future would get worse. So he tried to make me the happiest child he could, and he always did. But after he went to bed that same night, I was awoken by the noise of an ambulance. I could see the cop and ambulance lights flashing around the room. I ran downstairs and saw my grandpa be put on a stretcher. I started crying and tried to run over to him but my dad grabbed me and held me back. He told me that we would be right behind them heading to the hospital. We sat in the waiting for hours, first my mom would go in and talk with my grandpa, and then my dad would. As we were leaving the hospital, a nurse came out and told me that my Grandpa wanted to speak with me alone. So I went in there and was happy to see he was ok. I asked him what happened. He told me that he had a heart attack. I started crying again and he told me to stop, that it doesn’t solve anything. He then told me that he was sorry that he couldn’t teach me how to ride horses or read me bedtime stories. I told him that I’m about to be in high school, and that I don’t need stories read to me anymore. I then told him, that my parents are always so busy, that they don’t have time to teach my anything. He then told me he was proud of me for what I’ve accomplished in life, and then said, goodbye. I thought he was pretending, seeing if I would cry or not, like a test. I then looked at his heart monitor to prove he was alive, and there it was, the flatline.
“Ok dude, stop. I think I’m about to cry” Gordon said. “How about we get on with the summoning now,” Jenna said. “Ok Jake, close your eyes” Jenna said. “Imagine your back at your farm going to see your grandpa,” she said. I could see it to. The farm. It looked more wonderful then ever.
But then out of nowhere this horrible, morbid image flashed. My parents all hacked up in a bed. I started freaking out. I realized that the room I saw my parents dead in, was the same room that was above me when I was peeing. “What’s wrong?” said Aaron. “I need to get upstairs now!” I said. Gordon, give me the keys quick! “What keys” Gordon said confused. “ The d**n keys to the upstairs” I said angry. “Calm down” said Claire. “Claire, not now” I yelled. I know you have the keys Gordon, you and Jenna went up there during your dare. “We did not!” said Jenna. We were in the spare room making out. “Then where are the d**n keys, someone took them”. I started to go insane. “Go see if it’s unlocked” Aaron said.” I ran over to the door and opened it. This rank smell came from there. By this time, lots of the guests ran outside and left. “How did you know it was unlocked” I said to Aaron. “I just guessed,” he said. Jake, what’s wrong? “I saw an image of my parents all hacked up in the bedroom upstairs. I grabbed Aaron and ran up the stairs plugging my nose. The smell was so awful. It was like a cemetery with all the graves open, and the corpses all exposed, getting old and starting to rot. And there it was, the room. The same room in my image. “Aaron, I need you to do me a huge favor. I need you to go in that room and tell me what you see,” I said. “Man, your hallunicinating” he said. You’re just imagining that you’re…”Aaron. Aaron!” I said. There was no answer. By this time, Gordon, Jenna, and Claire were up here as well. Gordon came over to me and opened the door. And there it was. My parents lying on the bed, side-by-side, dead! “Jenna, go downstairs and call the cops now!” Gordon said. “Jake, Jake!” Gordon kept saying that. But I just stood there. In shock. “Hold on Jenna, I’m coming with you” Claire said. And then there was Aaron, lying on the floor. He must’ve fainted. I would have too if I didn’t know what to find. “Jake, aren’t you going to cry or freak out, do something man!” Gordon said in a panic. “There is no point in crying,” I said. It doesn’t solve anything. I then realized that Jenna and Claire were gone. “Where did Jenna and Claire go?” I asked. “ They went downstairs to call the cops “ Gordon said relieved that I wasn’t crying. “The cops!” I yelled. How the hell are the cops going to get here? Half my guests couldn’t even come to the party because of the blizzard. “You are such an Idiot,” I yelled. “Stop freaking out on me dude, I didn’t kill your parents” Gordon said starting to cry.
We both sat down trying to calm ourselves. Claire runs back upstairs and says her cell phone is dead. I could tell Gordon felt stupid for making the girls run downstairs to call the cops, when the power was out. “Where’s Jenna” Gordon asked. “I don’t know” Claire said. One minute she’s behind me while I’m calling the cops, the next minute she’s gone when I get off the phone. “Jake’s Parents have just been killed and you lose sight of Jenna!?” Gordon starts freaking out and runs downstairs. I follow right behind him.
We both started looking around for Jenna. “Jenna!” Gordon yells. All of second, the lights flicker and there she was. Hanging from a rope in the spare bedroom. Gordon screams as the power goes back out. “Claire must have done this!” he yells as he runs back upstairs. I then start wondering how long my parents have been up there. Then I remember the note! The note that I threw away when I woke up this morning. I dig through the trash throwing out empty beer bottles, and sitting at the bottom, the crumpled note.
I opened it up and lit a candle, it read: Jake, I’m giving you a head start to save your family. At 8AM this morning, you parents were kidnapped. If you go through with this party, if I even hear that this party is underway, say goodbye to your mother and father. That’s all it read. I started to cry. I didn’t even notice till my tears started falling onto the paper. So much anger filled me up, and just as I was about to run about stairs, I turned around and saw the note sitting on the table. The same note that was pinned on my door early in the afternoon. This note read: Jake, your parents have just been killed. You’ll be happy to know that I used a steak knife, you should have heard the noises the knife made when cutting your parents up. I did this because I heard from someone that the party was happening. I’m still giving you another chance. Cancel the party or say goodbye to your friends. I opened up the garbage and started puking.
Ten minutes after I was done, I heard a gunshot coming from upstairs. “Gordon!” I yelled. I ran upstairs, hoping everything was ok, but there he was, lying on the floor with blood surrounding him. I started crying. “Gordon, wake up Gordon!” There she stood, holding the gun. “Why did you do this Claire, why!”? You have it all big shot. Friends and Family. You’re the only one in this pitiful town that has that luxury. You want to know what I have Jake, nothing! You want to know why I didn’t want to say anything about my family, it’s because I don’t have one. I was left on the street when I was 5. I had to be adopted by some stranger who hates children. “That is what all this is about” I said in anger. I don’t even know my parents Claire. I don’t know a single thing about them besides their name. They neglect me! You think I get along with them, I don’t! And as for friends, we were your friends Claire. That’s right, you killed your friends. I started crying even more. My friends and family have all been killed because of me. If I opened up that note when I woke up this morning, this could have all been avoided. So you were the one who pinned the note to my door earlier. You were the one who took the keys. Oh my god I said in shock. “Starting to put it together big shot”? That’s the noise Aaron heard when he went to grab the beers earlier. He heard my parents fall from the bed, dead. “Yep” that’s what he heard she said while grinning. “And you must’ve put them back on the bed when you went to grab the drinks. That’s why you didn’t want me to come with you!” I said. So all my friends and family got killed because of me? I asked. “Not just your friends and family Jake, you to got killed” she said. “What are you talking about” I said. She pointed the gun at me. “ I can’t let you live Jake, you’ve seen my face”. Kill me then Claire. Kill me! If my friends and family died based on your jealousy, then I want to die. So kill me! But before she could pull the trigger, a knife ripped right through her chest. I was in shock. What happened? She fell to the ground. And standing behind her, was Aaron, holding a knife.
I fall to the ground. And everything goes black. I started dreaming. I see my grandpa. My first thought was that I was in heaven. Like maybe some how Claire managed to pull the trigger before she fell. But then I wake up to the sound of sirens. And I see cop lights circling the room. I must have fainted. I look beside me and their was Aaron, sitting there holding a steak knife. “Where did you find that?” I asked. “It was on the bed next to your parents,” he said. “Thank you for saving my life Aaron” I say trying to put on a sincere smile. But before he could say another word, the note from the kitchen table flashed in my head. The words, I did this because I heard from someone that the party was happening kept appearing over and over in my head. No one else knew about the party except for Aaron, who wasn’t part of this, Claire, who is dead, Gordon, who is dead, and Jenna, who I never actually saw was dead.
I ran downstairs and to the spare room, and there it was, the rope that was supposedly wrapped around Jenna’s neck, but Jenna was nowhere to be foun