by Cody Hyde
Chapter 2
Charlie continued to stare down at the Book of the Underground resting in his hands.
Will seemed to have noticed. “What is that?”
“I don’t know yet.”
As he was about to page through the book, Charlie felt an eerie vibe around him. He opened it up to the center of the book to discover a picture of some sort of slender sloth-like creature with gray skin and a hunched back. Underneath the picture was a paragraph of strange writing in some weird other language.
He stared at the page with the creature for a few seconds, then someone called his name. “Charlie.”
Charlie closed the book and looked up. It was Lauren Summers, one of the preppiest girls in their school. She was tall and blonde with blue eyes.
“Um, hey there, Lauren,” replied Charlie, quickly hiding the Book of the Underground behind his back.
Will turned away to leave them alone. “Have fun.”
“I believe we have the same hour for English,” said Lauren.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” replied Charlie nervously. “You sit in the back of the class, right?”
“Front actually,” she replied, giggling a bit.
“Oh. My bad.”
“Well, what I came to ask you is, well, I’m having a party on my birthday on the 25th, would you like to come?”
“That would be great.”
“You can invite Will too if you like,” she told him. “Here, let me give you my number.” She then pulled out a piece of notebook paper and a pen.
She tried using the side of the shelf next to them for a writing surface. “I can’t write worth crap on this book shelf, it’s falling apart,” she whispered.
“Here,” Charlie insisted, pulling out the Book of the Underground.
“Much better,” she said. She quickly penned down her number.
Charlie penned down his too, and they split the piece of notebook paper in half. That’s when she noticed...
“What’s that?” Lauren questioned.
“Oh, um, it’s some kind of old book I found,” replied Charlie. “I’m gonna need it for English.”
“That’s weird,” she responded, admiring the book. “Kinda ugly, too.” She opened it up to the back of the front cover.
“I don’t even think this belongs to the library. There’s no bar code or anything on it. Not even a date.”
“Well that’s strange, isn’t it?”
“Hmm… well it looks like it’s yours now.”
“Ha. Cool, I guess. So what are your plans for tonight?”
“I’ve got to coach the swim team.”
“Oh.”
Out of nowhere, Will poked his head through one of the book shelves next to where the two were standing, surprising them. “So what’s this about?” he asked.
Charlie ignored him. “Hey, well it’s been nice talking to you, but I told my mother I’d be home before dinner.”
“Oh, well isn’t that sweet of you,” replied Lauren teasingly.
“Ha, well, I’ve got a sister I’ve got to look out for.”
“I see.”
“Alright, well, see you later then.”
“See you in class tomorrow.”
Charlie and Will were soon in the car again. Heavy rock music was blaring through the stereo as they rode through town.
Will reached over and grabbed the Book of the Underground from the back seat. “How in the world are you supposed to read this thing?” he questioned, opening it up to a strange page with some sort of bright red portal that almost resembled a black hole and weird writing underneath.
He turned the page, and a zombie-like figure appeared to be drawn out on the next one.
“Okay, I really hate zombies,” he commented, closing the book. “Really man, you’ve gotta check that thing out. I don’t know how you’re going to write a 1- page essay on it.” He threw the book into the back seat.
They soon arrived at Will’s house to drop him off.
“Later,” said Will.
“See you tomorrow, bro.”
And Charlie was set on his way home.
Charlie parked his car in front of his house, a big old white house on a hill in the countryside of town.
As soon as he was inside, he sat down in his bedroom on his bedside. Snack wrappers and empty pop cans were all over the place. Charlie really liked to pig out on food first thing when he arrived back at home. On every wall in his room were posters of random metal bands. He was a true headbanger.
He set his schoolbag down on his bed then put in a CD by his favorite local metal band, Decimate the Masses. He played the second track off the album, “It’s Only A Nightmare”.
He set down the CD case. The album cover displayed a design of the band’s faces as skeletons.
Charlie rocked out for a bit then remembered about the book.
The Book of the Underground was laying on the edge of his bed, face down. It had fallen out of his bag.
He picked it up and examined the cover again. It was such an odd book.
A second later a little girl with short brown hair, a blue shirt and a sundress entered his room. It was his little sister, Tara James.
Unlike Charlie, Tara was adopted.
She appeared to be holding a black cat in her arms. “Charlie, I found him, can we keep him?!” she asked in joy.
Charlie closed the book and looked over to where she stood there in the doorway. “Where did you find that, Tara?”
“Outside.”
“We’ll have to talk to Mom about it, but now’s not the time to bother me, okay? I’ve got homework to do, and I’d like some privacy please.”
Disappointed, Tara left the room with the cat, a sad look on her face. Charlie disliked cats.
A call then came in on Charlie’s cell phone. He answered it. “Hello?”
“Charlie?”
“Hey, Mom.”
His mother Sharon was on her way home from work.
“Hey, just calling to let you know that I’m off work early so I’ll be home in a minute.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll need some help bringing the groceries in.”
“Okay, Mom, I’ll be outside.”
Charlie walked outside to see his mother Sharon pulling up in a mini-van. She parked her vehicle next to Charlie’s old Dodge Charger and got out.
“Hey, how was work?” asked Charlie.
“How was school?” she replied, ignoring his question and asking her own.
“I asked you first, how was work?”
“It was fine.”
“Fine?” questioned Charlie as his mother handed him a couple grocery bags.
“So how was school?” she asked again, laughing.
“Pretty lame, I guess. Didn’t learn anything much. Just the first day, you know.”
“I see. When we get inside could you do me a favor and do the dishes, please?”
Charlie knew he didn’t want to, but he respects his mother. “Okay, Mom,” he replied.
“Oh, and stack the wood for the fireplace?”
“Alright.”
Out of nowhere, Tara ran up to her mother with the cat she found. “Mommy, look what I found!” she said out loud in excitement, holding the black cat in her arms.
Charlie stared at it again in disgust as it made a creepy hiss noise and Sharon couldn’t make up her mind after that. Her eyes just went wide and then she finally gave in.
“Fine, Sweetie,” she said. “But it stays outside, okay?”
“But I want to keep him in my room!” whined Tara.
“Alright, fine.”
Later that eveni
ng, Charlie was in his bed. On his nightstand was the Book of the Underground. He started questioning whether or not he dared to page through it.
In another room, Sharon tried to put Tara to bed. She gave her a kiss goodnight. The cat was laying at the foot of her bed.
“Mommy, tell Kitty goodnight,” Tara said.
Sharon looked over at the cat and said “goodnight” then turned away in disgust. She then looked back at her daughter and said “goodnight, Sweetheart.” She then went off to her own bedroom, turning off Tara’s light as she left her room.
“Goodnight, Charlie!” she called out to Charlie across the hallway.
“Goodnight, Mom!” he replied.
Before entering her room, Sharon passed by a group of family pictures along the hallway wall, stopping to admire them. This is when she first began to realize she truly did miss her husband Joe.
Joe stuck out in all of the pictures, the tall guy of the family. He had short dark-brown hair and blue eyes. One picture was of him holding Charlie as a baby, her next to him.
Sharon then turned away and went to her bed, prayed, then crawled under the covers after she turned the lights out.
Back in Charlie’s room, he stayed up for a while, crawled under his covers, turned the lights off, and turned his lamp light on. He picked up the horrifying Book of the Underground from his desk and opened it.
He paged through it and caught interest in a page that read the Awakening.
“The Awakening,” he read aloud.
Underneath the title was a picture of an evil eye that seemed to give off a staring impression. And underneath that was more of the strange writing.
He moved his hand across the page, straightening it out.
Suddenly, lightning struck nearby outside, causing Charlie to jump.
At the same time, the black cat Tara had found had made its way into Charlie’s room.
“Get outta here!” Charlie yelled at the cat.
The cat then leaped up onto Charlie’s desk and onto the book in his hands.
He pushed the cat off of the book.
It then shot across his room and went into his closet.
Charlie got up and shut his closet doors, the cat on the other side. “That’ll teach you,” he said.
He then sat back down in his bed, about to open the book again, when all of a sudden his closet doors slowly began to creep open… but cats don’t open doors.
He stared over at his closet in intense fear, not knowing whether the book was just getting to him or if he should get up and flick on the main light. He sat there in silence for a moment. Then slowly he got up confidently to go open the closet.
The closet opened a bit more on its own, and then Charlie felt a strange breeze of cold air like never before.
He opened his closet the rest of the way and peeked inside. The cat was gone.
He then turned around to discover his father sitting in his bed, looking up at him in silence, a vacant expression on his face.
“Dad?” responded Charlie, shaking in fear.
“Charlie,” Joe James replied.
He was unsure what to believe now.
“I was sent here with a message, my boy,” said Joe.
“I don’t understand.”
“The Awakening,” Joe went on. “Say the words, boy.”
His father then disappeared when the lights in the room were suddenly turned on. Tara had entered his room. She appeared to be sleep-walking.
Tara opened her eyes and saw Charlie. “Charlie?” she asked in confusion.
“Tara, go back to bed,” he told her. “What are you doing?”
“Where’s kitty?” she asked.
Charlie took a long deep breathe in and then out. “I thought he was with you,” he lied. “C’mon, let’s get you back to bed.” He then carried Tara back to her bed and tucked her in.
When he left he went back to his room, turned the lights on, sat there for what seemed to be a few hours, and decided he had to do what his father had asked of him. Even though it made no sense whatsoever. And whatever happened to that cat anyway?
He picked the book up once again and turned it back to the page that read the Awakening.
About ready to fall asleep, he eventually decided to read the strange chant underneath the picture of the eye, and as soon as it was read, he set the book down on his nightstand and passed out.
Headlights from a car passing by his house outside reflected onto the Book of the Underground from his bedroom window... the deed had been done.
Chapter 3