by Unknown
notable difference in the movement of the doorway as she could.
Grabbing one of the candles from a candelabrum - the fancy one across from her room in the hallway - Sarah felt the horror she imagined a person experienced when walking in an abandoned basement or hospital settle around her heart. By then, all of her nerves and logical senses were demanding that she turn back; and if it hadn’t been for that insane ticking, perhaps she would have.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Five.”
Sarah tried to distract herself from thinking of ghost stories that inevitably came to mind when one finds herself tiptoeing down a hallway in the middle of the night, letting her mind drift back to when she had first entered the building earlier this morning.
She had talked to Georgina and Dre, twin girls who were residents of the home, who had warned her of Ms. Freeh’s rules about exiting the room after six o'clock at night. Georgina had appeared very frightened by the mere concept of breaking that simple rule. Just the fear and pain in her eyes made Sarah want to turn back but…
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Six.”
The noise was so loud now that Sarah could barely hear herself breathing, bringing on a blinding headache so terrible it caused her to stumble and fall back into a table sticking out in the hallway. A vase filled with roses and water toppled and smashed, the water snuffing out the candle amidst the loud crash of china against wood.
“What the he—” Sarah was about to swear from the pain of the broken vase shards in her hand and her absolute stupidity, when she was interrupted by the creepy echo of a child’s laugh that sent chills down her spine.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Seven.”
The combination of ticking and quietly fading laughter echoed even more in Sarah’s head as she forced herself up from the ground, only to be faced with a small child’s body in the darkness, the soft moonlight making her red hair only slightly visible.
“Georgina?”
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Eight.”
It was so loud that Sarah could barely focus on Georgina’s reply; perhaps she wouldn't have heard it at all had it not been so mortifying.
“You didn’t listen...” the child, if one could still call her that, hissed in a voice that sounded more like something out of a horror-filled nightmare than that of a child. “I told you to hide…”
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Nine.”
Georgina, or what had once been Georgina, looked down on Sarah with luminescent, darkened, red and pitch-colored eyes; glaring at Sarah with the intensity of death emanating from her fiery eyes.
“Dre will be very angry if she finds out you cheated…” Georgina whispered, and then the intensity dropped from her voice and she laughed; the same childish laugh that had been echoing throughout the building earlier.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Ten.”
The noise had become overwhelming. The laughter continued, and Georgina’s eyes drifted from Sarah to whatever was behind her. Dreading what she would find, Sarah tore her eyes from Georgina’s, slowly turning to see what was behind her.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
“Ready or not…”
The ticking noise became faster and faster, louder and louder as Sarah raised her eyes from the dark ebony wood of the floor and up towards the body of a young girl. She looked just like Georgina, the only difference being that her hands covered up her eyes. The girl's mouth wore an evil smile, and she held a dark ebony-like encrusted stopwatch in one of her gloved hands. She was smiling underneath her hands as if she were playing a game.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick
“Here I come!”
Sarah was frozen in fear. The girl lowered her hands from her face to reveal two grey eyes. When they fell upon her, they widened with surprise… and then anger. The grey eyes flashed into the same sable color as Georgina’s, only clouded with deep, dark, gray instead of scarlet red. Slowly and eerily, the girl raised a ghastly smile that stretched across the entire lower half of her face, and then released a laugh almost identical to that of her sister.
She removed her gloves to reveal deathly pale hands with long, black, claws growing from where her fingernails should have been. She reached out towards Sarah with one of her claws and scraped her cheek, leaving behind a long, scarlet red stream of blood and blackish ichor. Grinning joyfully, she moved her hand down to Sarah’s throat and slashed violently, while she whispered the last words Sarah would ever hear…
“I win.”
Ember's Game
Georgia Lennon
It all began after the Halloween of 2014...
Ember was spending the day with her best friend Chase, running round her large three-story house putting up various Halloween decorations. They ranged from false cobwebs with goofy looking spiders inside, to glow in the dark skeletons and other monsters. There were orange and black streamers and banners with pumpkins on them, window stickers, fake blood, sweets and fake gravestones in the front garden.
Ember had known Chase since they were both three years old, which was ten years ago. So, like best friends do, they decided to throw a party whilst Ember's parents took her younger brother Dyson out 'trick-or-treating.' They also got dressed together in matching costumes, both as dead high schoolers, as they wanted to match but not look ridiculous.
The time came for the first people to arrive as the clock had just counted it's way to 7:15pm. Twenty-five minutes later, and everyone was there. Layla and Jackson, Thomas and James, Lilith and Danielle. Layla, being the unique girl she was - to put it kindly - brought along her grandma's Ouija board so they could communicate with the spirits. Little did they know that this would be no game.
"Right, so…here are the rules of communicating with the dead." Layla spoke enthusiastically.
"First, turn off all the lights, except maybe a lamp." Layla nodded her head towards Thomas to signal for him to bring a lamp to the floor.
"Second, we all need to sit in a circle with one notepad and pen, so we can make notes on what the spirits tell us." Danielle pulled a pink notepad from her jacket pocket, whilst James handed her a blue biro pen.
"Great, now we need to all place our index fingers on the planchette and repeat these words," Layla said in a serious voice.
"Oh yeah, and under no circumstances should you ever mention God's name! Also always, and I mean always, say goodbye before taking your hands off the planchette!" Layla raised her voice to emphasize her seriousness.
"Spirit, please come forward to give us guidance. This is a safe place for you to communicate. Is someone or something in this house who wishes to give a message to one of us here? If so please feel free to tell us." The children began to chant the words in unison.
After what felt like hours, Lilith let out a menacing sigh and moved to stand up. The group looked at her and then at Layla, who turned a stern yet spine-chilling glare on Lilith. Ember secretly thought the look was more petrifying than anything they might encounter in their game. Lilith got the hint and nervously sat back down, not wanting to get on the wrong side of the intimidating Layla.
"Is there someone here with us tonight? Please could you show us a sign of your presence?" Layla repeated with confidence.
As if on cue, the lamp on the floor started to flicker, the planchette dancing in circles around the thin wooden board. All members of the game glanced at Layla, assuming she was the one moving it. Jackson became visibly tense and looked as though he was shaking, at which James gave a slight snicker, only to be quickly silenced by a serious Layla. After thirty seconds of continuous circling, the planchette stopped on 'HELLO'.
"Hello, what is your name?" Ember questioned in a brave voice.
Once again, the planchette began to circle around th
e alphabet on the board. Chase scurried to get the note pad, not once braking the connection on the planchette. After another thirty seconds the planchette landed on 'L' then 'U' then 'C' then 'I'.
"Hello Luci, how old are you?" Chace said curiously.
Just as it had done previously, the planchette danced around for another thirty seconds before landing on the '1' then the '4'.
"What gender are you Luci?" Layla commented.
Another thirty seconds later the planchette spelled out 'MALE'. At this, the boys in the room straightened themselves up, giving their full attention to Luci the 14 year-old boy.
Ember frowned. What kind of a name is Luci for a boy? The group decided to ask two more questions…ones that were usually the most dangerous to ask Layla informed them.
Danielle gave a nervous sigh before speaking to Luci for the first time. "How did you die?"
This time the planchette flew to the crescent shaped moon on the wooden board, causing everyone to look at Layla questioningly.
"The moon means no and the sun means yes," Layla explained.
"What does it mean by no?" Ember asked Layla.
"It means our friend Luci doesn't want to tell us how he died."
"A-Are you a good spirit o-or a bad spirit? Yes for good no for bad." Lilith's hands shook as she asked the question, seeing Luci didn't want to tell them how he died.
This time the board started to shake as the planchette wrote... 'LUCI IS LUCIFER.'
With that, the board snapped in half. James, Danielle, Jackson and Thomas began to whimper in fear, whilst Ember, Layla and Chase just stared at the broken board in shock.
Suddenly Ember's wrist began to drip blood, words appearing along her arm as if they were being carved into it.
'I AM LUCIFER, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD'.
"RUN!" was the last word Ember managed to say.
Ember hit the ground with a thud, her limbs growing numb from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes as she was consumed by darkness. Chase stared at his best friend, tears streaming down his face as he watched the color drain from Ember's lifeless body. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead before closing her eyes, and then ran for his life after his friends. .
Embers eyes fluttered open. She heard the door slam behind the pathetic little mortals. "YOU DIDN'T SAY GOODBYE!" Ember screeched in an unearthly pitch, before laughing demonically at her newly awoken insanity.
***
Weeks had passed since Halloween. Ember tried to conceal the demon in the back of her mind, but she was weak, and she knew that Lucifer could come out of hiding whenever he pleased to cause death and sorrow. She managed to convince her friends that she'd just passed out that night from the terror they'd all felt, and that they must have imagined her reaction due to shock.
Ember had grown fond of Lucifer, enjoying the fact that he made her a stronger person. She felt nothing but pity for the weak little humans who walked around minding their own business, unaware they were merely targets for Lucifer to possess and use as puppets for his own personal army.
Ember grew stronger and more aggressive every day. She'd been expelled from her high school after violently attacking her classmates. They were lucky they had survived Ember's wrath, her psychotic behaviour increasing as Lucifer's possession intensified.
Everything had been going well until one Saturday night when her mother and father were arguing downstairs. Ember's anger started to build, the possession ensuring her aggressive behaviour was never far from the surface. Going downstairs, she followed the long dark hallway to the kitchen, her parent's voices still arguing.
Ember was becoming more bloodthirsty by the second, Lucifer's presence fighting for control. Eventually her remaining sanity snapped and Lucifer took over. He was the puppet master, and Ember was his puppet
In the blink of an eye Ember's parents lay dead on the kitchen floor, as Lucifer retreated to the depths of Ember's mind once more. Simply stepping over the corpses of her parents, she got a drink of milk and walked back to her bedroom.
Seeing it was a Saturday night and only early, she contacted her friends from that dreadful
night and invited them all over for a long needed reunion. Surprisingly, they were all free, and agreed to catch up in the house where Ember had grown up. Layla and James were the first to arrive, then Thomas, Jackson, Lilith and Danielle arrived together. There was only one more person still to arrive…Chase. Almost thirty minutes had passed since the others had arrived, and they all sat quietly waiting for Chase to knock on the door.
The temperamental demon inside Ember was growing impatient. The group of teenagers watched the seconds tick by on the grandfather clock in the corner of the dining room, talking softly among themselves.
*KNOCK, KNOCK*
Ember crept towards the large oak doors, to be greeted with a nervous Chase holding out a black rose. Ember stayed quiet, accepting the beautiful yet mysterious flower, and motioned for her best friend to come inside.
Ember re-entered the dining room with Chase, and everyone seemed tense before she sighed and attempted a half-smile. "We all need to talk!" she said in a flat, even voice.
The old friends talked for three long hours about how life had been and what their schools were like, yet no one mentioned the night it all went wrong. Ember could feel Lucifer becoming hungry, and not for food. Soon enough Chase suggested they play a game.
"Okay what should we play?" Danielle asked.
"How about spin the bottle?" Jackson said with a smirk on his face, winking at Layla who just blushed and averted her gaze.
"Sounds good." Ember said a little too enthusiastically.
Twenty minutes later it was finally Ember's turn to spin the little glass bottle, only to have it land on an excited Chase. Ember crawled over to Chase and placed her hand on his cheek before kissing him. Her emerald green eyes began to glow a dark crimson red, the whites turning pitch black…full of emptiness and giving off a supernatural aura.
Then Ember opened her mouth in a silent scream and begun sucking out the innocence in Chase's soul and replacing it with evil and sinister emotions. In the palm of her hand a sphere of flames formed, proving Lucifer had given her his powers. She put her palm to the back of Chase's neck, burning the numbers '666' onto his flesh of her king. For she was the queen.
With that, the remaining pathetic mortals became mere toys to the rulers of the underworld LUCIFER, EMBER and CHASE. Staggering the dark eerie streets in search of human souls to feast on and call their own, they began to build their army, together preparing to obliterate the earth.
The Day the Pizza Died
Kent Hill
I look toward the sky
It’s a beautiful day
But I have to tell you
It wasn’t always this way
Us kids had it easy
Our lives truly blessed
We never saw ourselves
As an army of pests.
Now I’m an old man
Sitting on my porch throne
And when I see foolish children
It just makes me groan
Cause they’ll never know
How as children we cried
How the tears turned to rivers
The day the pizza died.
I was in my front yard
The hour it started
Laughing in the sandbox
‘Cause I’d loudly farted
When I saw all the children
That lived round the ‘hood’
Their faces all gloomy
Like old rotted wood.
It was Cubby McKenzie
My best friend and neighbour
Who rushed up and told me
Of disturbing behaviour
His Mum and his Dad
They were watching TV
He asked for some food
Their response made him flee.
What happened? said I
Scared but slightly amused
While Cubby went
on talking
Petrified and confused
His parents stopped talking
And put on grey suits
Donned scary dark glasses
And matching black boots.
They went through the house
Something inside did force them
They then began wrecking
Destroying things awesome
They shattered and ripped up
All of the toys
And all of the cool stuff
The delights of young boys.
They smashed my Nintendo
Fuel of my heart’s desire
Took my stuff into the yard
And started a fire
I looked toward his backyard
Was this a joke?
But there sure enough
Rose a pillar of smoke.
The cold weight of fear
Hit my stomach’s pit hard
And it only got worse
When I checked my own yard
There were my folks
Both dressed in grey
Torching the tree
In which I liked to play.
O mother, O father
I cried and I wailed
They didn’t cease their destruction
All my pleas failed
I looked on in horror
As they set fire to my stuff
All that I cherished
Went up, in a puff.
Cubby and I weren’t alone
In this miserable madness
Every kid across town
Was dripping with sadness
We all watched on in silence
Our eyes wide with fright
Our cheeks wet with tears
All our dreams were alight.
The smoke from burning awesome
Billowed, unfurled
And it was the same