“Issac? Issac? Helloooo? Dude, are you even awake?” - J
A booming voice came over me. I struggled to open my eyes and wiped my mouth as I yawned.
“Jesus, man, I thought you got some sleep last night.” -J
Jonathan Davis. An A+ student, physically built, the best player in the midwest, and my best friend since 4th grade. The night he’s referring to was last night when Johnny, V, and I stayed up playing Halo 2.
“What time was it when we finished?” I asked while rubbing my eyes. - I
“It was like two-something when we got off.” - J
“Yeah, right. More like 3 in the morning,” a chipper voice came behind us. - V
It was Valerie. We called her V. She was a caffeine addict. There was never a day when she didn’t have caffeine going through her veins. We met V in our 6th-grade year. Nobody wanted to be her friend because she “used to talk a lot.” I used to have a crush on her back then, but she always had eyes on Johnny and Johnny the same.
“Both you boys were out like lights last night. I practically had to carry both of your sorry asses.” - V.
“As if!” Johnny said out loud, getting a few stares at him. He has a powerful voice.
Before he could say anything else, Mr. Walker came in.
“Settled down, Mr. Davis. It’s not that serious” He put his briefcase on the desk. Johnny rolled his eyes. “Now, I know it’s a Friday and your last Friday before your finals, then graduation, but that does not mean you can lollygag in my class.” A few students chuckled. “You still have to pass my class, and for some of you, you have a long way to go, Mr. Jones” He looked at Michael Jones, our high school star player, and all-round prep boy. “You have a C in my class. If you want to get into Duke, you need a B.” - W.
The bell rang, and we were out of the classroom quickly.
“So, are we going to the party tonight?” V struggled to put her arms around our shoulders. - V
“Since when do you go to parties?” Johnny laughed - J
“Since now, asshat. It’s the end of the year, and I want to get out of my shell.” - V
“You have a shell? Never heard of it. Besides, whose party is this?” I asked while putting my books into a locker. - I
“Chris Everett” - V
“Mr. Everett’s son?! What makes you think you’re invited?” Johnny crossed his arms while leaning on his locker. - J
“Since he’s friends with Jessica Bryson, and she has a big crush on this giant” She tapped his chest. - V
Johnny got flustered. “What do you mean?” - J
“Oh, like you don’t know.’ V looked at me. “So a couple of weeks ago, Johnny was working odd jobs to save up some money for a car, right.” I nodded my head. “Well, he decided to mow some lawns, and guess whose lawn he mows?” - V.
“Bryson?” - I
“Exactly. Jessica Bryson’s lawn!” She said in a joking tone towards Johnny. “Jessica was all over him that day. You should have seen it, ” she said, laughing. - V
“And how do you know this?” - I
“She knows this because Jessica wasn’t the only one gawking.” V’s face went pale. - J
“DID NOT!” - V
“Oh, did too. You should have seen her. Mouth all open, too,” Johnny laughed before yelling in pain. V had stomped on his foot with her big boots. - J
“Again, how do you know Jessica’s even going?” I said after chuckling. - I
“I overheard her talking on the phone when she was watching me.” - J
“Okay, so how does this all come back to us getting into the party?” I said. - I
“We get him to ask for us.” - V
“Johnny?” looking up at him. - I
“Whoa, I thought we were gonna go see House of Wax? I heard it’s freaky.” - J.
“I’ll just get it off the pirate bay. Besides, I agree with V that it is the last moment before we all head out.” - I
“Please, Johnny?” - V
With the biggest sigh, he agreed. We saw him walk over to Jessica and ask her if he was invited. They talked for a few, then came back to us smiling. He got us in. Afterward, we walked out the school’s front doors patting him on the back.
“Thank you, Johnny!” we said in an annoying tone.
“ Yea, yea, you guys owe me big time.” - J.
We laughed and started heading in the direction of our houses. Johnny wanted to stop by to pick up a flannel I had. He lives across the street from me, while V lives on the next block.
“Dude, I wish you had your car right now!” he said while drinking water. - J
“Me too. This fuckin heat is killing me. At least it’ll be cool tonight.” I was using a graded test to cool me down. - I
“Yea, hopefully. You think your car is gonna be ready in time?” - J
“ I dunno. I have to ask my brother. You know how he is.” - I
“Yep, all too well.” - J
Johnny was afraid of my brother because one time, my brother took us to a party, and a fight broke out. Johnny didn’t want to be there in the first place, so you can imagine his increasing dislike for my brother when the three of us landed in the county for the night.
“Look, I’ll call you when we’re ready to go, right?’ - I
We shook hands and then went our separate ways.
I walked into my house and greeted my dad at the dinner table.
“Hola Papa”
“Hola hijo. Como estuvo la escuela?”
“ Estuvo bien.Queria preguntar si puedo ir a una fiesta con mis amigos?”
“Terminaste tu tarea?”
“Si”
“Y tus quehace?”
I looked at him with an answer he knew all too well.
“Date prisa, no quiero que tu madre me regane.”
“Papa?!”
“No, me, papa. Hazlo y te puedes ir”
“Bien,” I sighed. I went to my room before bumping into my brother.
“Hey, were you off too?”
“Nowhere.”
“Aye, watch yourself.”
“Why do you care anyway?”
Before we argued my dad said “Eso es suficiente. Ustedes dos. Che e a terinar su auto. Isaac. Quehaceres.”
We both went passed each other. I dropped my stuff off in my room before doing my chores. After finishing, I took a shower and got dressed. I grabbed a white shirt and black fannel and hopped out of the room while putting on my shoes. I went to the garage to find my brother.
“Hey, is he ready or not?”
My brother rolled out from underneath and got up, wiping his hands on his tank top.
“You should be fine. Just don’t floor it, or else you’ll blow the engine.”
“Hey, thanks again. I’m sorry about earlier.”
“No sweat, you’re all good. I’ll just put it on your tab.”
“WHA-” Before I could finish, my phone rang.
“Yea? Yea, it’s finished. I’ll be right there.”
“Look, I still gotta design it and shit,” he said as he lit a cigarette.
I looked at my car. My brother was an artist when it came to spraying paint, so seeing the nice green on my car, I ended up agreeing.
“Fine, but you’ll finish it this week, right?” He nodded his head and tossed me my keys.
I hopped in and pulled out of the garage. Before going to Johnny’s house, I got out and threw up a V and L with my hands. He smiled and threw up the same with his hands. I pulled up to Johnny and honked. Johnny came running out, screaming at his parents that he loves them.
“Sweet ride.” - J
“Thank you, Thank you but get in. We are late.” - I
He hopped in, and we drove to V’s house. I honked loudly, and Johnny screamed her name.
“V!” he laughed before looking in awe. - J
V walked out in a pink cut top and jean shorts while wearing converse. She had a big duffle bag.
“How do I look?” she asked. - V
Johnny stuttered out a nice.
“You look good. What’s with the bag, though?” - I
“I forgot to tell you that it’s a beach house we’re going to, so I packed us clothes.” she tossed the bag in the back and hopped the door. - V
“Are we ready to go?” They all nodded. - I
We pulled out of the driveway and drove off. We got to Everett’s house around six o’clock’ right when the sun was about to set. I parked close to the house.
“Ready to get your cherry popped?” V laughed, and we smiled.
We waved to some people and gave a few high fives.
“So what do we do?” - J
“Try to blend in” V smiled.
“Well, Imma get us some drinks.” I walked off, leaving Johnny and V by themselves.
I scooted through people before I made it to the kitchen. I was filling up a cup before someone put their hand on my shoulder. I told them to wait their turn, but they just spun me around.
“Hey-” - I
I was about to get upset before realizing that it was a guy I knew, Vincent Gordo.
“Oh shit Gordo where’ve you been, man?!” I
“You know me; I’ve been around.” - VG
“You should have told me,” I said while putting the cup down.
“I would have, but I’m not allowed at your house, remember.” He smirked. - VG
“Oh, yea… I remember.” I got flustered when he said that.
“So who’d you come with?” - VG
“Johnny and Valrie” - I
“Ooooh. Well, listen, come find me later, and we could catch up, you know.?” - VG.
“Yea, yea, for sure!” - I
I smiled and continued filling up two more cups. I went back toward my friends while not trying to spill more of the drinks.
“Here you guys go.” I passed the drinks to them. “Guess who I saw right now?” They both looked at me, intrigued. “Gordo.” - I
“Wait, the same Gordo? Like from that one summer?” - J
I nodded while drinking.
“What did he say?” - V
“He said to come find him later. He wanted to catch up.” - I
“Well, what are you still doing here? Go find him.” - J
“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you guys here.” - I
“We’ll be fine. Now hurry, go get him.” - V.
I moved through the crowd with excitement and went toward the backdoor, where there was more of the class drinking and going down to the lake. I said hi and waved to people that called me out. I saw him talking with some other people.
“Vincent!” - I
He looked over in my direction and then smiled. I think he told the people he was talking to that see em lantern because he came walking towards me.
“What’s up, Isaac?” - VG
“You wanted to catch up. Now we can catch up.” - I
He chuckled “ okay then, wanna go for a walk?’ - VG
I nodded while catching my breath. We walked into the woods but kept close to the shoreline. The more I walked, the less I heard the party.
“So, where’ve you been this whole time?” - I
“Like I said around.” He smiled. - VG
Vincent went to our school till Junior year. He had to move to the city nearby. His father got a better job and decided to take Vincent instead of leaving him with his aunt to finish school with us. We got close during biology class. I was his lab partner for the whole year.
“How’s everything with you?” - VG
“Everything is all good. My grades are nice, my body is in shape, and confident that I’m going to USC.” - I
“Your body, I can tell, but moving to the big city? That’s the first I hear.” - VG.
“Yeah, Johnny and I wanted to be where the weather is nice.” - I
“Mhm. Does your dad know?” - VG
I groaned.
“You haven’t told him, have you?” - VG
“If I told him, he’d kill me. Let alone my mother hears it too.” - I
“Where’d he want you to go again?” he chuckled - VG
“Princeton. He’s a lawyer and wants me to become one too.” - I
“And what do you want to be?” - VG
“Something that’s not a lawyer. I’ll figure it out when I get there.” - I
He put his arm around me.
“Don’t worry, I know you. You’ll figure it out. You always do.” - VG
I looked at him a felt the same way I felt last summer. I was going to lean in before we heard a loud roar and then a crash. The roar was almost deafening. Vincent and I stumble to our feet.
“What the fuck was that?” - VG
“I dunno, but look.” I pointed through the tree line. - I
There was a lone red glow beaming through the tree lines. Rays of red and orange light pulsing off the wood of the trees. We walked towards it and got a clearer look at what we saw. I was a liquid gel, almost slime, but not quite. There were some fallen trees from where it crashed, yet not fire, as you would see in the movies. The closer we got, the brighter it was. We had to shield our eyes from it.
“The hell is that?” - VG.
“I have no clue” I reached out to touch it, but Vincent quickly grabbed my hand away from it. - I
“What, are you crazy or something? Don’t touch it. You got no idea it is.” - VG.
“I know, but- “ - I
Another roar rang the woods. This time louder than before. The ground vibrated as if there was an earthquake happening. The slime started reaching out and almost stuck to Vincent before I pulled him back.
“We got to go. NOW!” - I
We got up and ran back the way we came. We noticed the night sky was darker, and the moon reflecting off the lake was blood red. There was no time to say anything because when I looked back, the Thing had morphed into a human-like figure. It roared again, and we ran harder than we ever ran before. We saw the house in the coming distance, but I knew the thing was gaining on us. Every step we took was two more the thing took. We ran to the edge of the woods; right before we got to the house, I tripped over a classmate. I was sure it had me, but the classmate I tripped over was quickly wrapped in the liquid. I crawled back, seeing the thing burn away the flesh and dissolve whatever clothes he had. His scream became muffled and distorted as the liquid consumed him. Eyes became loose, bones turned into ash, and nerves being separated from the body before the thing was split into two. The other half went straight into the water while this half lurked into the treeline. I got back up and raced into the house shouting.
“Something in the woods! SOMETHING IN THE WOODS!” - I
Everyone looked at me as if I was having a bad trip or something. Vincent collapses to the floor, gasping for air.
“SHUT THE DOOR! SHUT THE DOOR NOW!” - I
“Rodrigez, what the hell is the matter with you?!” Mickey yelled at me. - M
“WE GOTTA LOCK THE DOOR RIGHT FUCKING NOW! THERE IS SOMETHING OUT THERE.” - I
I dropped down to check on Vincent before looking a Mickey peeping through the curtain and having a face of horror.
“BARRACIDE THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!” - M
Everyone in the room moved the couch and other furniture to the outside doors. Before we knew it, another roar moved the walls. Screams then overpowered the roars. Banging on the doors filled the air, following pleas from our classmates to let them in. Crunches and squishes were coming from the backyard. Dark liquid sprayed the windows, leaving a disturbing silhouette. Screams turned into distorted moans and heavy footsteps. We kept quiet as we heard the footsteps recede. When the coast was clear, Mickey pinned me against the wall.
“What the fuck was that outside? You better explain pretty fast.” - M
“I don’t know. I swear!” - I
“YOU’RE LYING.” - M
People around us were trying to calm down Mickey, but Mickey wasn’t having it.
“Honest to god, Mickey, I don’t know. Me and Vincent were in the woods when we found that thing.” - I
“So you fucked with it?” - M
“No, no, no. It was alive, Mickey.” He put me down. - I
“It’s the truth, Mick. The thing almost took us. We ran here as fast as we could. That thing was faster, though. It doesn’t stop. It fuckin ate someone out there, man. Honest to god, mick.” - VG
“I hope that’s not him out there.” - J