Night Games Chapter 9

 Chapter Nine after the break - shit has hit the fan, people!

CHAPTER 9

      Liz sat next to Paul, stroking his shuddering back in a vain effort to soothe him. Ann had retreated to the opposite corner and sat curled into a ball, biting her fingernails and watching the argument in front of her explode. Sean stood over Jennifer, her face contorted with anger. “What the fuck are you talking about?! None of this is real! Are you in on it? Is that it?” Jennifer stood, bringing her face within inches of Sean’s. “No I’m not fucking in on it! Are you insane?! I’m tired, I’m freaking out and I want to go home! But we can’t! You don’t understand. I saw him. I saw him standing right in front of me!” “No you didn’t! You saw Paul standing in the hallway!” “Hannah.” Jennifer stepped around Sean and grabbed Hannah by the shoulders, shaking her. “Hannah you saw him. You saw him too, I’m not crazy!” Hannah nodded furiously. “Yes, I saw him, I didn’t want to start losing it but I saw him and I was so scared, oh Jesus Christ.”

      Sean pulled Jennifer away from Hannah, her face red. “Will you all just stop this?! It’s impossible anyway! We didn’t play the stupid game, we didn’t invite him in, and so he can’t be here!” “Someone cheated,” Jennifer yelled, her hands weaving frantic gesticulations in the cold air, “someone cheated the Midnight Man and now he can’t leave! The rules of the game have changed, God damn it! We need to find candles, matches, and salt, and we have to hide. The kitchen probably has tons of that crap; we just need to get there so that we can hang on until 3:33.” Jennifer grabbed her flashlight from the floor. “I’m going. You all can stay here and hope that he doesn’t come for you but I’m not just going to sit in the dark and piss all over myself for the next two hours.” She pushed past Sean and stomped from the room. Fred shook his head at Sean. “I’m sorry Sean, I’m sorry but- Jennifer! Wait up!” He jogged after her into the dark, his flashlight bobbing.

      Sean dropped her arms to her sides with a slap, her frustration turned to astonishment. “This is… ridiculous.” Liz looked up at her. “It’s not that ridiculous. Paul has never done anything like this. Hannah and Jennifer both saw something that scared them and it fits with what he told us about the game. Why is it so hard for you to believe?” “It’s not, I… It’s not that, I don’t think Paul’s a bad person, I just think that this is a joke that got way out of hand. Maybe he’s scared himself too badly; maybe what they saw was just them dealing with being scared by that bullshit story. It just isn’t real, it can’t be.”

      Hannah stood suddenly and headed for the door. “Hannah, where are you going?” She bounced on her right foot, maintaining her momentum as she spoke. “I’m going with Jennifer and Fred, I can’t stay here with…” Her eyes flicked to the whimpering form curled up in the corner. “I just can’t stay here.” She trotted off, the sound of her footsteps disappearing almost instantly. Ann leapt to follow her into the hallway without even a look to Sean. Sean bobbed her head, pursing her lips in frustration. “You know what? Fuck this. I’m leaving. I’m taking Paul’s keys, and I’m going to get some food or something while you guys do whatever it is you’re going to do.”

      She stepped over and reached into Paul’s pocket, fishing out his keys. “No! Are you crazy? We can’t leave!” Liz exclaimed. Sean stared at her with a furrowed brow. “Are YOU crazy? I’m not staying here! This is ridiculous! I don’t have to deal with this. Here, help me move him.” Liz stared at Sean aghast. “Help me move him or I’m going to drag his dumb ass through the broken plastic.” Liz opened her mouth to reply but the determination in Sean’s eyes made her believe she wasn’t kidding. She ran a hand through Paul’s hair and leaned next to his ear. “Paul, honey, we need to move, okay? We’re just going to sit up and slide over a little so Sean can get through the window, okay?”She asked in a soothing voice. He didn’t respond. “He’s catatonic, Sean. How can you still think he’s faking?” she asked, sliding her arm underneath his side. She lifted him to a sitting position, grunting from his weight. Together they slid him past the jagged bits of plastic littering the floor and leaned him against the wall just below the hole he had made with his fist.

      “You make sure he’s all right and then you kick him in the balls for me, okay?” Sean said, smiling for the first time in hours. Liz nodded, her lips teasing into a grin. “Okay, I promise.” Sean slid the table to the right side of the broken window and got on her hands and knees. She began to crawl through the hole in the glass carefully, checking for broken glass they may have missed on the first time through. She rested on her feet for a moment and looked back at Liz, her hands invisible in the darkness outside. “Hey, are you going to want anything from-” She jerked forward violently, her chin smashing into the bottom of the window’s metal frame. “Sean, what’s wrong?! What’s happening?!” Sean set her knees against the small slab of concrete between the floor and the window and heaved her body backward. “Something’s got my hands!” she screamed, blood bubbling from her lips.  Liz scrambled over Paul’s inert form. For an instant she swore she heard him laughing. She reached for Sean’s feet and grabbed her ankles, leaning backwards. Sean screamed incoherent pleas for help as Liz pulled with all her might. The thing in the darkness was too strong. It pulled Sean forward with an unwavering strength, Liz’s hands slipping from her sweat slicked skin. Her body slid over tinkling pieces of glass, her hips slamming into the metal frame once more before she disappeared into the darkness completely. Liz backed away from the window, clambering over Paul’s body, and was forced to listen as Sean’s strangled screams faded into the night.