MATTHEW
STANDIFORD
NIGHT TERRORS
VOL. 1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Matthew Standiford
Front cover illustration by Desiray Standiford
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Acknowledgements
This collection is for my wife,
who constantly listens to me prattle
on about story ideas until I start writing.
This collection is also for the fans,
always for the fans, you know who you are
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Teenagers
Going Down
Time is on my Side
The Hijackers
The Carver
NIGHT TERRORS
Introduction
Hi, how are you all doing tonight? I hope all is well. Why don’t you come join me by the fire for a minute or two, or an hour? You hear the weather outside, just a normal thunderstorm nothing to worry too much about. Tonight we’re going to get into some scary stuff but that’s all right I think you can handle it. Before we get started though there are a couple of things you should do. Go check the door, the closet, under the bed, maybe grab your favorite blanket. It’s okay I can wait. Did you check? Is everything good? Is the door locked so no one can creep in under the dark of night once you go to bed? Is the closet clear of the boogeyman? You made sure to check under the bed right, don’t want any monsters grabbing you by the leg once you turn in for the night. If all that is done and good why don’t you come join me back by the fire because I have some stories to tell you? Oh, and one last thing. Long after this is all done and you turn off the light, if you wake up in the middle of the night and there is flash of lightning outside and you see a shadow on the wall, or maybe you think you hear someone downstairs. You set up in bed and you think maybe you see the doorknob to the closet door starting to turn slowly by itself, or you swear that you just saw a set of eyes peering up at you from the bottom of the bed, just go back to sleep. I’m sure it’s just your imagination. We’ll talk again in the morning… Once the sun comes up.
TEENAGERS
It was a warm, sunny day when the car carrying Kevin and his parents entered the gated community that was going to be their new home. His parents were talking about something in the front seat but he had pretty much tuned them out. He just kept staring out the window, lost in his thoughts. Thoughts about how he didn’t want to be here, how he didn’t want to leave his old school, how he didn’t want to be the new kid. Switching schools was always rough, but he had a feeling that switching high schools would be horrible. In elementary school switching had been no big deal, you just found a kid on the playground and started playing, now he would have to contend with egos, drama and cliques. His mind also kept going back to the security guard at the gate, the way he had looked him, like he was afraid. Kevin did not consider himself imposing or intimidating in any way. He was a tall lanky kid who looked like one good breeze could blow him five towns away. He looked around at the neighborhood, it was full of nice houses and maintained lawns. The streets were also dead. That was until they almost got to their house.
As they rounded the corner and came towards their house that had the sold for sale sign posted in the yard, they came upon a gaggle of teenagers. It was the only way he could think to describe it; there were at least fifteen of them. It was a coed group split about equally between boys and girls. As they drove by the teens all stopped what they were doing and looked at him as if he was a new pet at the zoo.
Kevin’s dad had no sooner pulled into the driveway and turned off the car when they started heading that way. By the time Kevin and his family had got out of the car and were heading towards the door they had all stopped on the sidewalk to watch except for one. The one that approached was the prettiest girl Kevin had ever seen. She had curly, shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a denim jacket and skirt combo. As she reached him she smiled and he saw she was wearing braces. They didn’t take away from her looks or make her look dorky; as a matter of fact they made her cuter.
“Hi, I’m Lisa,” she said when she reached them and reached out her hand.
Kevin shook it.
“I’m Kevin,” he replied.
Behind her the rest of the teens still stood on the sidewalk and watched the whole exchange with very keen interest.
“How old are you?” She asked.
“Sixteen,” he replied.
“Well I just wanted to be the first to welcome you to the neighborhood,” Lisa said with a smile.
“Thank you very much. So will your parents be introducing themselves as well?” His mother asked.
Lisa smiled.
“My parents are out of town right now,” she replied.
“Oh, well what is the school like here?” His mother asked.
“It’s okay, we attend the high school that is in town, outside the gates, but don’t worry, Kevin will fit in just fine. Us community kids are very close,” Lisa said.
“See you in school Kevin,” she said and turned around. As she headed back to the group of teens on the sidewalk they all hooted and hollered.
“This place is kind of weird,” Kevin said to himself.
***
The next day was Kevin’s first day of school, and something quite interesting happened. He had walked out of his house that morning to find the teens waiting for him, saying that he could walk with them to school. As they passed through the gated entrance of their community he saw the guard again, and again the guard wore that look of fear as his eyes darted back and forth amongst the gaggle of teens. Once again Kevin tried to figure out what his deal was and came up empty.
At school it was more of the same story. The gated community teens always stayed together. Taking the same classes, all going back and forth together. They operated like a hive mind. He also began to notice that almost all of the teens here that weren’t from the community had the same reaction to them as the guard. He was outside in the hallway getting a drink during class when two kids walked by him. One did his best to ignore him, the other looked at him longingly, like he was fascinated, or had something he really needed to say. For a moment it did look like he was going to speak and the other stopped him before he could.
“No,” was all the boy said to the other.
As they walked down the hall he heard the other boy, the one whom he had thought was going to speak to him. His voice drifted back in the empty hallway.
“I don’t think he is like the others,” he said.
“He will be,” the other boy said.
Way to go mom and dad, you moved me to the damn twilight zone, Kevin thought to himself and went back to class, where things continued to get weirder.
Kevin was beginning to think he was losing his mind, and it all began with an altercation. It was sixth period, Mr. McCann’s class. Most of the kids in the class were gate kids, a term he had been hearing more and more today, but there was a couple of town kids mixed in as well and it was one of the them that caused the situation. The boy had been sitting in Trevor’s seat and Trevor took exception. Trevor was a gate kid and he looked the part of a rebel. Dark curly, unkempt black hair, and green eyes. He sported a cross earring in one ear, the left. He wore a leather motorcycle jacket and faded blue jeans. His attitude and demeanor oozed cockiness
. Soon they were in each other’s faces.
“I’m not afraid of you,” the boy said.
“You should be,” Trevor replied.
Mr. McCann came in mid fight to find his classroom being destroyed. Desks and chairs were overturned. All of the kids in the class were standing around watching the fight, Kevin included.
“What in the hell is going on in here?” Mr. McCann yelled.
Everything came to a stop.
“It’s always you isn’t it Trevor?” He asked.
“I know you’re new so you don’t know the rules yet, but you need to stay out of this,” Trevor replied.
Kevin was dumbfounded, he never heard a kid speak to a teacher this way before.
“How about we call your parents down here to have a talk about your attitude,” Mr. McCann said.
“My parents are out of town right now,” Trevor said and flashed him a smile.
At that moment Kevin could have sworn that he saw something in Trevor’s eyes, a flash of yellow that disappeared as quickly as he thought he had seen it. No, that couldn’t have happened. Kevin dismissed it as a trick of light.
“I’m out of here,” Trevor said and smiled at the teacher again as he walked to the door.
He stopped long enough to address Kevin.
“Make sure you walk home with Lisa today,” he said.
“See you later Mr. McCann,” he said as he walked out the door, and there was something about the way he said it that made Kevin uneasy.
He did walk home with Lisa that afternoon. It was just the two of them and it was nice. He felt like there was an electric hum going through his entire body. He could smell her perfume, something sweet, cloying to her, but wafting out with every step she took. It was intoxicating.
“So, I’m supposed to give you something,” Lisa said.
“Oh yeah, what is that?” Kevin asked.
Being this close to her was driving him mad. He could hear his heart beating in his ears. He wiped his open hands on his pant legs, his palms were starting to sweat. He had no idea what was going on, he had liked other girls before but none had ever made him react this way.
“An invitation,” Lisa said.
Even her words sounded effortless to him.
“An invitation to where?” Kevin asked and he actually stammered a bit.
Lisa giggled. They stopped walking and she leaned in close. Kevin could feel her warm breath on his ear and neck. He felt a shiver go up his spine.
“A party,” she whispered in his ear.
“Oh yeah?” Kevin asked and stuck his hand in his pockets as they started walking again.
“Where and when?” He asked.
“Tonight at Trevor’s,” Lisa replied.
“Speaking of Trevor, did you hear about what happened in class today? Is he always like that?” Kevin asked.
Lisa smiled and they walked on for a moment or two in silence while she framed exactly what it was that she wanted to say.
“Yeah, Trevor is a little intense,” she replied.
They came to the community entrance now and Kevin saw it again, the look of fear on the guard’s face. It was subtle as if he was trying to at least mask it somewhat this time but he could still see it and then he looked at Lisa. She was wearing a look of pure hatred. The only time Kevin saw a glare that strong was on his mother’s face after he had done something he wasn’t supposed to. Then he saw her eyes. That little flash of yellow like he thought he had seen in Trevor’s in class. The guard turned around and quickly made his way back into his little booth. Kevin’s heart was racing again, but for a totally different reason now. That was twice today with the yellow and the eyes. It couldn’t be a trick of light twice in the same day. When Lisa turned back to him the glare was gone, replaced with a radiant smile.
“So where were we?” She asked as they started walking again.
“How was school today?” Kevin’s mother asked over dinner. Most of the dinner had gone by in somewhat silence but he knew the question was coming. They always talked about their days over dinner. His dad had gone first, and talked about his day at work. His mom didn’t have a lot to contribute; her day had mostly consisted of unpacking boxes and putting things away. Kevin smiled and shoved another bite of food in his mouth to buy time. He was thinking about if he should tell them what happened with Trevor in class today, or the looks of fear the guard at the gates got every time he saw one of the teens, or even more, the thing with the eyes. In the span of about thirty seconds Kevin decided no, no and no again. He swallowed his food and took a drink as his parents waited patiently.
“It was interesting,” Kevin replied, it technically wasn’t a lie. The day had been pretty interesting.
“Is that all, I saw you come walking home with that girl today, the one who introduced herself to us yesterday, Lisa is her name I believe,” his mother said.
“Yes, I did,” Kevin said and tried to conceal a blush, he didn’t know if he was successful or not.
Luckily his dad saved him with a subject changer before his mother could press on.
“Any homework?” His father asked.
“Just some reading so I can catch up to where everyone else is,” Kevin replied.
“Which speaking of, I’m supposed to meet up with Lisa, she is going to give me some of her notes,” he added as he finished off his plate and excused himself from the table to put it in the sink.
“Alright well don’t be out too late,” his mother said.
“Of course not,” Kevin said and smiled.
He ran upstairs and grabbed one of his schoolbooks to keep up appearances before he went out the door.
When Kevin stepped outside the sun was already starting to go down and there was a little chill in the air. It was technically fall already so he wasn’t surprised. He was just thinking about how he should have grabbed a jacket and was about to go back inside and grab one when Lisa seemingly came out of nowhere.
“Hey, are you ready?” She asked.
She was wearing the same matching denim skirt and jacket combo she had been wearing when she introduced herself yesterday. Once again Kevin could smell whatever perfume it was that she was wearing on the still night air. He didn’t know what it was but damn was it intoxicating. He almost found himself unable to speak.
“Yeah, totally ready,” he managed to get out.
When they got to Trevor’s house, which it turned out was almost on the other side of the community, there were other teens already there, five in fact. Three boys and two girls, Kevin came to learn that their names were Gibson, Christopher, Dean, Kate and Jennifer respectively. They all took turns introducing themselves. Something about them was putting Kevin off. They were all confident but it seemed like the confidence came from something they knew that Kevin didn’t. They were all laid back and gave off an air of knowing they were just better. Not better than him exactly, just better period. Kevin didn’t know how to feel about it, it was just intense.
“Have a seat and get comfortable,” Lisa said.
Kevin did just that and it wasn’t until he was sitting down that he noticed that Trevor wasn’t there. That struck him as kind of odd seeing as how this was supposed to be Trevor’s house. He kept that to himself though. Lisa and the others disappeared into the kitchen.
“Okay, which one of us gets to do it?” Christopher asked once they were in the kitchen.
The six of them stood in a circle around the island that was in the middle of the huge kitchen.
“I haven’t done one in awhile,” Jennifer said.
“He is mine,” Lisa said. It was said with a defensive and authoritive tone that left no room for discussion.
“Okay, relax jeez,” Gibson said.
“You sweet on the guy or something?” Christopher asked.
Lisa shot him a look that could have wilted plant life and curdled milk.
“He. Is. Mine.” She enunciated for effect.
“Now somebody get me a vial,” Lisa said once she was sure
she was fully understood.
Kate produced one; it was a tiny little bottle with a black twist on cap. She took the cap off and handed the vial to Lisa. Lisa held out one of her fingers and the fingernail on it grew until it was about three inches long and turned brown. Her finger became pale white and chalky. There were black spots of different sizes that formed on her skin and made it look almost molted. She pricked a finger on her other hand until it bled and put four drops of her blood in the vial.
“Don’t you think four is a little much?” Gibson asked.
Lisa silenced him with a look.
“Fill the rest with water and shake it,” she said as she handed the bottle back to Kate.
Kate did what she was told.
Kevin was still sitting on the same spot on the couch when they all came back out from the kitchen. He had looked around so much while he was waiting he was pretty sure he had everything in the room memorized. Lisa sat down on the couch next to him while the rest took up seats in various places.
“So where is Trevor?” Kevin asked.
“Out getting some stuff for the party,” Jennifer replied.
“So there is something you have to do,” Lisa said.
“What’s that?” Kevin asked.
Lisa took out the vial and showed it to Kevin. It looked like whatever was in it was red and watery, like Kool-Aid. Kevin laughed.
“What is that?” He asked.
“Nothing major,” Lisa replied.
“Think of it as an initiation,” Gibson said.
“Yeah, you want to be one of the cool kids don’t you?” Christopher asked.
Lisa took off the cap and handed the vial to Kevin. He took it and looked down at it.
Night Terrors Vol. 1 Page 1