Party Time: March Challenge

[Spirk]

Party Time
by R.M. Carroll

The party was in full swing by the time Nick arrived. He wasn’t supposed to be there, wasn’t even supposed to know about it. He had overheard Jessie, his sister, talking about it with her meathead boyfriend Billy and he knew that he just had to check it out. He snaked his way through the rows of corn as he approached then sounds of the music that blasted over the portable generator that lit the party and kept the beer cold.

“Hey baby.” He heard someone whisper to his left and he froze in his spot. “Come on I got the blanket.” The voice sounded familiar to him but he couldn’t quite place it without seeing a face. He knew it wasn’t Billy the meathead, he didn’t sound anywhere near that intelligent.

“Hold on.” A girl replied as a sudden cold light illuminated the corn stalks just to Nick’s left. He froze in place, afraid to even breathe as the spot from the flashlight passed only feet from him. He felt the breath escape from his lips as he watched the light recede into the corn.

He wanted to get to the party, wanted to spy on his sister to see if he could get her in trouble with their parents if nothing else. He had just been handed a golden opportunity however and he just couldn’t pass it up.

With one last look over his shoulder towards the bright lights of the party Nick started back into the corn as he headed in the direction the couple had gone off to.

**
Mandy hadn’t planned on coming to the party that night, instead her plans had involved wearing her favorite pink bunny slippers, her terrycloth robe and a good Danielle Steele novel. It wasn’t until Wes had knocked on her window, nearly scaring her out of her wits, that the seeds of going to the party in the rows was planted.

“Get in here.” She’d hissed to him as she took him by the arm and helped him climb in. “Are you trying to get me in trouble?” She looked out the window and caught sight of the curtain from the house next door sliding closed as their neighbor, nosy Mrs. Peterson had caught sight of his sneaking. “Great.” She groaned as she yanked the curtains shut on her bedroom window. “Now her parents would hear all about it.

She wasn’t really worried about her mom; she knew her mother didn’t really care. The only thing her mother cared about was where he next bottle of scotch was coming from. Her step dad was another story, he was a creep and she hated him but she was only sixteen so she had to put up with him and his grabby hands for a while longer.

“Hey babe.” Wes said as he wrapped his arms around her, as his lips found her neck. “I got the blanket all spread out.” His hands slipped under her shirt as he continued to kiss along her neck. She leaned back against him and sighed. Wes had been good for her, had taken care of her and cared for her when no one else seemed to want to.

“Hey not so rough.” She whispered to him as his grip tightened on her breasts. His hands had slipped under her shirt with practiced ease and she’d let her eyes slide shut. Now they snapped back open as she tried to look back at him.

“Now you just relax missy.” The voice of her step dad whispered in her ear. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, his balding head and beady eyes. He smelled of cigarette smoke and Wild Turkey and he couldn’t help but laugh as she began to struggle. “What’s wrong little girl, you know you’ve wanted me to come visit you and show you a good time, I seen it in your eyes more then once.

She let out a screech of pain and terror as she struggled against him, as she felt his fingers sink into her flesh. She could feel the blood as it welled up around her fingers, felt the cold bite of teeth into her neck as her step dad laughed manically around the chunks of her flesh as the blood spilled from her neck.

**
Nick stood just out of sight of the couple and watched transfixed as the boy slipped his hands up her shirt and she relaxed against him. At first Nick thought maybe the girl had changed her mind when she started to struggle against him. He knew something was wrong as Wes stepped away from her, he looked as afraid as the girl who had started to thrash where she stood like she was still being held in place as she started to scream.

Nick gasped when her neck all but exploded, the blood splashed over Wes who until that moment had just stood there transfixed. He reached up and wiped the blood slowly from his face and looked at the dark liquid on his hand, made black by the moonlight as the girl gave one last choking sound before he collapsed.

**

“Mandy?” Wes choked as he looked down at the dead body of his girlfriend. “Mandy?” He repeated as he knelt down next to her. He hadn’t understood any of this and if someone had asked he wouldn’t be able to explain it. She had freaked out at his touch; she had been terrified of him, as he had caressed her as he so often did. At least he had thought he was the one she’d been terrified of until he stepped away from her. She had gotten even worse when he’d moved away, had started to struggle and moan and then… There had been so much blood, a blackish color in the moonlight. He heard a wailing sound from somewhere nearby. A high-pitched wail that continued for almost a full moment before he realized it was coming from him.

“Don’t stop on my account.” Something hissed into his ear as his lips clamped shut. “It’s like a fine wine to me.” The thing purred into Wes’ ear as he stood dead still, too terrified to even move. “Your fear, it’s intoxicating, just like your lovely girl there.” Wes felt long slim fingers on his chin as the thing continued to whisper into his ear. He was trembling, more terrified then he had ever been in his life.

“What are you?” He finally managed to whisper in a trembling voice. In response he felt the tips of the thing’s fingers press into the flesh of his jaw.

“I…Am hungry.” It replied in a whisper as it drove its fingers through the underside of his and into Wes’ mouth. The move severed Wes’ tongue from his mouth as blood flooded his mouth and poured down his throat. “Yes…” The creature purred into Wes’ ear as he struggled against it. “Feed me boy.” It whispered as it leaned in and sunk its razor sharp teeth into the boy’s ear.

**
Nick watched in shock and amazement at the thing that crouched in the corn as it chewed its way through Wes’ throat. The blood was everywhere, black in the moonlight. Nick knew it was blood however because it was still flowing from the mess that had been Wes’ throat.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there unable to turn his eyes away from the tableau before him. His mind had stopped working, had stopped trying to make sense of it all as the sudden urge to run ran through his mind and that’s exactly what Nick did, he ran.

[Spirk]

Through the corn rows he sped, the silks slapped and bit at him as he ran back the way he had come, back to the brightness of the lights, the hum of the generator, the blaring of the music. He didn’t care about his sister getting mad at him, about her dumbass boyfriend threatening to kick his ass. He just wanted to get to safety, to get away from the thing in the corn.

The sudden abruptness of not running caught him by surprise. He didn’t see what it was he had tripped over, just that he was suddenly his belly, his face only inches from the carcass of the dead cat that lay in the rows. From the way it looked the dead thing had been there for at least a few days. It’s blackened and bloated body crawled with bugs. The stench alone was enough to make Nick gag as he shuffled backwards as he tried to make some space between himself and the cat.

Nick was in a panic, the fear that came from him was strong as he heart beat it’s rapid pulse. He couldn’t find his sister or her friends, didn’t even hear the music or see the lights from the party. None of that mattered any more; all that mattered was getting out of the rows alive. He dug into his jacket pockets as he felt his fear grow. He pulled out a wad of napkins and a spork from one pocket and tossed them over his shoulder as he tried the other pocket. He knew he’d brought it with him it was here somewhere he reassured himself as he searched. With a whoop of triumph Nick pulled the little cell phone from his pocket.

He flipped the little phone open and felt his excitement wither and die as he stared down at the lack of light from the screen the lack of any kind of sign of life from the cell. “Oh no.” He whispered as he stared down at the little silver lump of technology in his hand.

“Oh yes.” The voice replied from somewhere in the corn. Nick jumped, the dead phone dropped to the ground from his suddenly numb fingers as he looked around the corn.

The cold fingers rested on his shoulder as light as a feather but he still felt them there. He couldn’t move, he was immobilized by fear as the thing that had already killed two people caressed his shoulder lightly. He was trying to come up with ways to get out. He was outside for Pete sake, there was a party going on somewhere very nearby, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to escape.

“You want to go?” The thing whispered in his ear. He could feel the thing’s hot breath on his ear, could smell the thing’s blood soaked breath. Just like that it was gone, the hand from his shoulder, the body from behind him. “Then by all means, go.”

Nick didn’t argue, didn’t even think twice about it as he started to run. He was a fast runner, had been on the track team his freshman year and even made it to the state tournament. He ran, like the wind he ran. He burst through the corn, ignored the sting of the silks as he ran where he knew his sister and her friends just had to be. “Jessie!” He yelled as he ran. “Jessie where are you guys?”<br>
“They can’t help you.” The voice whispered to him with a chuckle that brought Nick to a sudden stop, his feet stuck in the soil like he was wearing a pair of shoes.

“No!” Nick moaned as he tried to lift his leg but it was useless, he was stuck, unable to move. He tried again, his hands wrapped around his leg as he tried to lift it up but it was useless, he couldn’t budge. He looked left, then right, but didn’t see any sign of the monster in the corn. That didn’t mean it wasn’t still there however, it just meant that Nick couldn’t see it. “What do you want from me?!” Nick demanded as he tried to pull his legs free.

“I want your fear.” The thing hissed from the corn, “I want you to feed me. The girl was afraid of her stepfather, her fear tasted like sex. The boy, his fear was much more mundane, he was afraid of being eaten alive. Now you young Nick, what is it you fear?”

“Let me go.” Nick yelled as he struggled to free himself. He tried to smother his fear, tried to take it away from the demon but it only laughed at him.

“You can try to control it, or mask it, but I can feel it nonetheless. So it’s freedom you seek?” Nick screamed, he couldn’t help it, as he began to sink into the dirt. Up to his knees, up to his waist. He felt like he was sinking in quicksand as the dirt pulled him under.

“No!” He screamed. “Jessie! Someone help me!” He dug his fingers into the soil and tried to pull himself free but it didn’t do any good, he continued to sink, up to his chest and then under his arms.

“Your fear tastes sweet.” The thing said as it stepped into his line of vision. It crouched down to look at him, it’s skin was white, the color of chalk and hung from it’s bones like it didn’t actually belong to him, like it had bored someone else’s skin and it didn’t fit properly. “I’m going to take you home with me I think.” The thing said with a grin that revealed its razor sharp teeth, stained red with blood. “Yes I’m going to take you home with me to live under the earth and I am going to eat you slowly.”<br>
“No.” Nick screamed again but it was cut short by the dirt that forced its way into his mouth. He was more scared then he had ever been in his life. More terrified then he would ever have thought possible and it wasn’t from being sucked into the earth, not even as the dirt rolled over his eyes and blinded him to everything. His real fear he discovered as he vanished into the earth was being taken to this thing’s lair where he would suffer forever.

He tried to scream, even as he choked on the earth, he tried to release his terror and all around him he could hear the thing, laughing as he fed on his terror.