It all started with a pothole. I trashed my car, and I didn’t have the money to fix it. Without transportation, I risked losing my job, and without my job, I would need to drop out of school. I knew how risky a payday loan would be, so I did something that turned out to be a far worse idea.
I borrowed money from a friend. I’ve known Josh for years. He was always bouncing between jobs and different hobbies. Once he got sort of good at something, he would move on to the next thing. I envied him for having such a free lifestyle. I should have known better than to ask him for help. He was a good guy to his friends, but overall, a bit of a pain to deal with.
I still owed him a few hundred dollars when he called me to offer a deal.
“Hey, could you be my camera guy this weekend? I’ll call us even if you do.” Josh said over the phone.
“Camera guy? Are you trying to make an indie movie or what?” I asked knowing with him it was possible.
“Nah, I’m into streaming. I want to do some pranks for April Fools.”
I rolled the idea in my head. I didn’t like prank videos, so I didn’t watch them very often. I’d seen a few and I really hated the kinds of idiot streamers that caused problems for others and claimed it being a prank as a poor defense. And now I might get suckered into being one of them.
“You’re going to get your ass kicked.” I told him.
“I’m just going to be spraying Holy Water on people. It’s harmless.”
I paused, letting those words sink in.
“You stole some Holy Water?” I asked, shocked.
“I didn’t steal it. It’s there for anyone to take. Come on man, I got no one else. And you do owe me.”
I groaned at the idea. Doing this would be nothing but a huge embarrassing mess. But I hoped I could reel Josh in from doing anything too crazy. A few hundred dollars for a day’s worth of work. I was glad that my friend didn’t care about money that much. I agreed already hating myself.
We met in a busy area of the city. The weather was warm, and a bunch of families were out enjoying the weather. Josh took the time to explain how the streaming program worked on his phone. I just needed to keep the camera pointed toward him and carry the extra spray bottle of the stolen Holy Water.
Josh started the stream and greeted his followers. I honestly don’t remember anything he said. His brain was going a mile a minute. It was as if he was scared to have even a second of silence on the stream and started to rapidly fire questions that meant nothing. I felt my attention get drawn elsewhere. I wanted to be at home not dealing with this. The thought of the money I owed him kept me there.
His first target was a pretty girl walking hand in hand with her boyfriend. Josh had hidden between two stores and sprayed the back of her head. She flinched and felt the new wet spot in her hair. She looked around not spotting the culprit. This was stupid. His chat was moving but slowly. They were telling him to get bolder next time. He had his phone on him and read their suggestions.
The next guy he targeted was someone twice his size. At first, he claimed to need directions. When the guy let his guard down, Josh brought out the spray bottle and got a few hits into his victim’s face. He started to run but was caught within a second. My stomach rolled and tightened as I watched my friend rightfully get screamed at. Josh played dumb while making all sorts of jokes, not taking things seriously. I really thought he was going to get his ass kicked so I turned the phone off and get in the middle.
It took three solid minutes of apologizing to get Josh released. I dragged him away; my friend’s face was red. At first, I assumed he was embarrassed but no, he was angry at me.
“What the hell is your problem?! You stopped the stream at the best part!” He said barely keeping his voice below a shout.
“You were going to get your face beaten in!” I hissed back.
“Good! A black eye is great for views!”
I shoved him angry over what I was hearing. When did he become so stupid?
“Views aren’t worth any of this!”
“Can you pay me back the money you owe right now or not?”
That didn’t have anything to do with our conversation, but Josh made things crystal clear. After today I was cutting ties with him. I did not want to be associated with someone who thought internet points were worth acting like an ass.
He started the stream again and claimed I had dropped the phone. People called him out for lying but he got things back on track. To make up for bailing on an exciting part, he picked out a special new target.
His eyes landed on another couple. The girl was pretty and had long black hair. She wore a black dress and sorta leaned a little into the goth fashion. Her boyfriend wore a suit as if he just got off work or they were on a very special date. He looked handsome in a way most people would never be able to achieve. I’ve known male friends who had done dumb biting exercises to have a jawline like that. Josh knew that those two would be perfect. Some people loved seeing others better looking or richer than them getting their day ruined.
Joch got ready and then ran at them with the spray bottle out screaming.
“The power of Christ compels you!”
It startled a lot of onlookers. He appeared to be someone with a lot of mental problems attacking a random couple for no reason. The girl acted first. For some reason, she took the hit and stepped in front of her boyfriend so he wouldn’t get sprayed. A scream tore through the air before Josh was able to say it was just a prank. I was a few feet behind him, so I clearly saw what happened next.
Dark red burns appeared where the water made contact with her skin. She yowled like an injured animal. The sound caused most people on the street to look in her direction or back away. She raised a hand to her face but it was too late. Flames sprouted from her skin and within seconds her entire body had been engulfed. Her boyfriend took off his jacket to cover her desperate to save his girlfriend. She collapsed to the ground, her body smoldering then slowly turning to ash.
I was in shock from the horror of the event. The man sank to his knees, distraught over his girlfriend dying so suddenly. He raised his head towards Josh who still had the spray bottle in his hand. A dumb expression was on his face. I bet he thought someone was playing a prank on him.
The man’s face changed. His eyes flashed red out of pure hatred as all his teeth transformed into jagged points. He lunged forward to dig those teeth into Josh’s neck. With one swift movement, he ripped a hunk of flesh away causing a fountain of blood to stain the streets.
People were screaming and I wasn’t even aware I still held the camera upwards getting all this live on stream. As my friend collapsed dead on the street the monster turned his attention to me. I was tackled to the ground and the only thing that kept me alive was grabbing the spare spray bottle and holding it upwards ready to unleash the harmful liquid onto the monster pinning me down.
“Who do you work for!?” He shouted spraying specks of blood onto my face.
“No one! It was just a prank!” I shouted back, voice shaking.
A surprised look came over his face.
“You’re dead.” He said so coldly it froze my blood.
My finger twitched and sprayed a little bit of the Holy water on the side of his neck. He screamed and his hand flew over the spot. Burns appeared as smoke poured through his fingers. He shot up and ran off down the street leaving me behind, alive, but with a lot of questions.
I needed to see if this was all real. I looked at the stream to see if the chat was talking about what just happened or if I had somehow imagined it. Only thirty people had been viewing the stream. Almost all of them were saying it was fake and asked how we pulled something like that off.
Soon the cops arrived, and I was pushed into the back of a car. I didn’t speak to anyone. If they wanted to know what happened, they would look at the stream logs. I didn’t want to believe monsters were real and I doubted the police would if I told them. But Josh was dead. And it appeared I was going to be blamed for that.
I was in lock-up for three days when I was requested to meet with my new lawyer. I sat in a small grey room at a steel table still reeling from witnessing Josh’s death. I bet my other lawyer quit because I refused to talk to him. A man came into the room. His hair was dark and slicked back. His suit probably cost more than what I earned in a year. Scratch then, his shoes probably cost more than what I made in a year. His suit cost more than I would make in five years. There was no way this guy was going to work with me.
“Good news! I’ve reviewed the case and you’ll most likely either get a very minor sentence or nothing at all.” He said in an upbeat tone.
“No!” I shouted, my hands shaking at the idea.
He was taken aback by my outburst but quickly recovered.
“I’ll say anything you want! Just let me stay in jail for as long as possible! If I get out that monster will kill me!”
Those red eyes and sharp teeth haunted me every waking second. If there was one of them, then how many more could there be? What was I dealing with, a vampire? Something more powerful? So far no one had threatened me in my cell. I wanted to keep it that way.
“Why do you think we’re ensuring your release?” He said face bright, and his tone did not match the threat.
I sank down into the hard chair feeling so small and powerless. My teeth chattered from fear realizing I was across from yet another monster.
“It was just a prank…” I weakly protested.
“A prank that led to death. And you broadcast our existence to the world. It may have only been a small number of people, but there is now a risk to the ones who hunt us to realize Holy Water removes our sunscreen. Do you have any idea how much time and money it’ll take to fully cover all this up? And how many of our kind will be killed because of your actions? Do you really think a simple prison sentence is enough of a punishment?”
I swallowed hard. The monster hidden behind a human face smiled at me enjoying how much I was mentally squirming.
“When… Am I going to be released?” I asked in a small voice.
“Who knows! You know the court system. It could be tomorrow; it could be five months from now. I’ll keep seeing you to give some updates. Take care of yourself until then. And don’t get any ideas. People are keeping an eye on you so trying to check out early will just cause you more problems.”
He stood up and gave my shoulder a small pat before leaving the room. I thought I would be sick. I was guided back to my cell and to be alone with my thoughts. Knowing the day I would die might have been kinder. Any noise outside made me think it was someone finally coming to the end of things.
It was just a damn prank, but I should have known better. We ruined so many lives and for what? A few comments and views? Even if Josh got the attention he wanted it wouldn’t be worth it.
Nothing was worth what we did. I wonder if I let them know I fully understand the harm my actions caused they might let me live. Right now, all I had was time to think through possible outcomes for my future. And not very many good ideas are coming to mind.