Curfew (3 page)

“
Triston!
Triston!”

Barry ran over to her trying to calm
her down.

“
Shhh, Mary you’re gonna
get us arrested. The cops can hear you from a mile
away!”

Turning and looking at Barry with
desperate agony in her eyes she responded,

“
We might need the cops if
you don’t get me home before twelve!”

Huh, what the hell?
Barry thought as he momentarily lost his place in
time trying to process what Mary just said to him. Noticing she was
ahead of him in the dark, Barry ran in front of her trying to get
her attention.

“
Mary what gives? Are your
parents that strict on Halloween?!”

“
Barry, you have no idea
what’s coming, please help me find Triston and Amanda so that we
can leave immediately. There’s still time before things get really
bad.”

Still not understanding Mary’s
urgency, but unwilling to lose what they just experienced he
decided it was best to help her get home on time and hopefully they
could pick up where they left off on the grass at a later date. As
each second passed Mary’s emotional condition worsened until she
was hysterical and hyperventilating as she frantically sprinted all
over the park yelling out Triston and Amanda’s name. Barry chased
after her finding it difficult to keep up. He would periodically
stop a few wandering students to inquire had they seen Warren’s
star quarterback and his girlfriend, but no one seemed to have seen
the two hot lovers.

Meanwhile Triston and Amanda laughed
and giggled behind a storage shed as they listened to Mary
frantically screaming their names. Their immaturity paired with
Triston’s need to please Amanda’s jealousy towards Mary prevented
both of them from hearing the urgency in Mary’s screams; finding it
humorous and something to play with. A typical reaction from
teenagers which usually seals their doom. Amanda feeling satisfied
with Mary’s suffering and expected punishment from her parents for
not honoring her curfew became aroused at the thought of getting
her revenge. Facing Triston, Amanda decided to give him a most
exhilarating reward for his loyalty to her.

Several hundred feet away from them
Mary looked down at her watch and the time that glared back at her
caused her to collapse to her knees and crying uncontrollably.
Barry ran over to her and joined her on the ground holding her by
her shoulders trying to look her in the eyes, but she constantly
looked away from him.

“
Mary, what’s
wrong?”

“
You promised me Bare. You
promised me you would make sure I was home before twelve and you
didn’t keep that promise to me. Call 911 right now!”

“
Wait! Why would I call
911? We could all be arrested for trespassing and the last thing I
need is for my mom to come bail me out of jail.”

“
Getting arrested is the
least of your worries,” Mary responded while giving him a look that
chilled his blood. Barry looked down at her watch and the time of
11:59pm glared back at him with a skin crawling malice that seemed
to blur his vision. Shaking his head trying to clear his vision
Barry responded,

“
Let’s see if we can hitch
a ride with someone and get you home.”

“
It’s too late for that.
Call 911 now or you won’t be able to in less than a
minute.”

“
What the fuck Mary, you
are really freaking me out right now! What are you t―”

12:00am

The sound of the watch’s alarm going
off sent an eerie echo into the air and she immediately jumped to
her feet, snatching Barry up with her and started looking around
for something.

“
What is it Mary? What are
you looking for?”

“
Don’t you feel
it?”

And before Barry could answer he
suddenly felt “it”. The fine hairs on the back of his neck and back
stood straight up and his stomach muscles tightened and churned
like he’d just drank a gallon of sour milk. The surrounding forest
suddenly took on a sinister aura as the night seemed to grow darker
and the air became dry and frigid. As the two of them backed away
from the glaring forest around them, the cool fall breeze seemed to
disappear as if it was sucked up in a massive vacuum.

“
Mary, what the fuck is
going on?” Barry asked holding her hand so tightly the bones
grinded together causing her to grimace in pain. But despite the
sharp pain, she refused to let his hand go. Looking around Barry
noticed other trespassing teenagers appearing disoriented and lost
as everyone stood still as if they were waiting for the coming
abyss of hell to swallow them whole. The park grew deathly silent
which allowed Barry and Mary to hear the passionate moans of
Triston and Amanda misbehaving not too far from them. Awakened from
their “nightdream”, Barry and Mary ran towards the sounds of
sex.

Something was off and Triston felt it
all over his body. His skin seemed to dry instantly and his head
erupted in a pounding torture that caused him to feel faint.
Needing to gather himself, Triston stopped and stumbled backwards
holding his head in confusion. Looking up at Triston, Amanda looked
frightened as the feeling of invading eyes engulfed her. Eyes that
possessed a feeling of murderous intent and not of arousal for
watching what the two lovers were just doing.

“
Bae?”

“
What?”

“
Who is that behind
you?”

Triston spun around and yelled as he
looked into the eyes of a familiar face with a very foreign
expression on it. The look in their eyes was primal; filled with
rage and he shuttered in fear as he jumped backwards. A response
that puzzled him after discovering just how attractive she was up
close and personal. Trying to regain a sense of masculinity after
being frightened by a woman, Triston giggled as he tried to explain
himself.

“
Oh my God Mrs. Rodriguez,
you scared me half to death!”

“
Really, well let’s get you
to that destination shall we?” She responded in a deep and raspy
voice that was uncharacteristic of her usual feminine and sultry
tone. Without warning she drew her hand back and smacked Triston
across the face. The force tore open his left cheek and sent him
tumbling to the ground. The pain rocked him to his core as blood
poured into Triston’s mouth, causing his eyes to immediately fill
with tears. Enraged he angrily yelled,

“
What the fuck is wrong
with you? I’m sorry Mrs. Rodriguez for not bringing Mary home by
twelve, but you have no right to put your hands on me. My father is
An attorney and you will be hearing from him!”

“
I doubt your cheating and
conniving father would want to exchange one word with the likes of
me. Get your ass up; you reek of the foul stench of this little
whore. The smell of her over used and polluted cunt has bonded with
your skin and clothes and you need to be cleansed.”

She then reached down gripping a
handful of his curly blond locks and snatched him up from the
ground. Triston rose to his feet screaming in pain as he felt Mrs.
Rodriguez pull so hard on his scalp that if felt like it would
separate from his skull. Amanda attempted to help Triston get free
of Mrs. Rodriguez by swinging a wild right hook towards her face,
but instead of hitting the violent woman Amanda struck Triston in
the jaw after Mrs. Rodriguez forced him in the path of Amanda’s
punch.

“
Oww, Amanda what the
fuck?!”

“
Watch your language young
man,” Mrs. Rodriguez warned right before kicking Triston’s legs
from up under him while still keeping a deathlike grip on his hair.
Triston screamed as he felt a large piece of his scalp tear from
his skull. Refusing to let his body hit the ground, Mrs. Rodriguez
lifted her arm higher so that Triston remained suspended in the air
by his hair. Amanda fell backwards as she looked at Mrs. Rodriguez
in pure terror; trying to crawl away. In front of her she heard a
rustling in the bushes and when Mary and Barry came into view she
began to weep, begging Mary to tell her mother to let Triston go.
Barry looked over at Mrs. Rodriguez and his entire body trembled at
the sight of her right before Mary responded,

“
Amanda, that’s not my
mom.”

Mary’s voice possessed a terror that
made Amanda turn around to look at the woman Triston called Mrs.
Rodriguez and what she saw nearly caused her heart to stop. Mrs.
Rodriguez or whatever it was posing as Mary’s mother now stood a
terrifying thirteen feet tall, its legs like tall slender pillars
of dead flesh. The monstrosity appeared to have compensated its
height so that it could dangle a six foot two teenager like Triston
in the air by his hair. Its eyes now completely black like pools of
tar looked at the teenagers with a toothy grin, exposing a mouth
full of teeth that were stained and sharp like razor blades. Amanda
screamed as she jumped to her feet and ran away in the darkness,
leaving Mary, Triston and Barry alone with the towering terror.
Triston looked on in agonizing horror as Amanda disappeared in the
darkness; leaving him behind to die.

Triston’s tormentor then turned him
around to face her. Leaning forward the beast growled loudly;
sending the stench of death up Triston’s nose and causing him to
cough uncontrollably.

“
Now where were we?” The
beast asked while looking directly in Triston’s eyes. “Yes, you
were halfway there; time to get you all the way there. Then turning
its head so that it could look directly at Mary, the creature
violently snatched up on Triston’s hair with such force it caused
his head to partially separate from his body. Triston began
screaming as his eyes rolled around in his head like green and
white marbles spun out of control. Momentarily breaking away its
gaze from Mary, the creature turned and noticed that Triston’s body
was still attached to his head. Chuckling, it began violently
bouncing his head up and down like a yoyo. It continued it vicious
assault on Triston’s head until his screams were silenced and his
body fell to the ground with a sickening thump. The creature
continued to stare at Mary as it slowly raised Triston’s severed
head up like a trophy. It’s gazed laced with a personal malice that
caused Barry to look at Mary and then back to the creature;
confused by their silent exchange.

“
Mmmmmm, that was fun and
long overdue. Let’s play seek and skin your hides shall we?” The
creature moaned as it stormed towards the terrified
teenagers.

“
RUN!” Mary screamed as the
two of them turned heel, screaming in terror as the demon pursued
them with a relenting hunger that seemed to thicken the air around
them. Mary and Barry refused to let each other’s hand go as the
thumping sound of their feet pounding the earth was drowned out by
the labored breathing of the abomination that was less than seven
feet behind them. Frantically looking around, Barry’s eyes caught a
glimpse of the public bathrooms that were near the man-made beaches
and quickly tugged on Mary’s arm so that they could change
directions. But then his eyes widened when he noticed the large
crowd of teenagers that had congregated by the bathrooms, smoking
pot or just fooling around. He suddenly wanted to run in another
direction, but from the closeness of the sound of the creature’s
footsteps Barry knew changing directions again would slow them
down; which would be a deadly mistake.

As he ran, Barry
momentarily hoped that the creature would stop pursuing them once
it discovered the number of people that would see it; just like in
the movies. But from the screams of the scattering crowd by the
bathroom, they had no such luck. The creature
gave zero fucks about who saw it as it continued to chase
them. Running towards the men’s bathroom, Barry flung open the door
only to run into a teenaged boy who was clearly high and drunk,
purposely blocking his way into the bathroom.

“
Hey dude you can’t bring a
girl in here,” the boy warned, his eyes half closed and red with
the reek of marijuana on his breath.

“
Dude get out the fucking
way!” Barry yelled right before he lunged forward, knocking the boy
down to the floor. Once inside the bathroom Mary immediately let go
of Barry’s hand; shutting and locking the door behind them.
Immediately after the loud clicking sound of the metal lock
engaging echoed through the air, the creature crashed into the
bathroom door;
creating
a miniature earthquake that shook the brick walls
of the building. Like someone hit the down button on an elevator,
the boy’s high immediately came down and he leaped to his feet
frantically asking Barry and Mary what was going on.

“
There’s something out
there and it ain’t human!” Barry warned as he looked around for
anything to barricade the door. As Barry scurried around the
bathroom looking for anything he could use to fight off the
creature, he suddenly thought about his cell phone and snatched it
out of his jacket pocket. When he looked down at the screen it was
jumbled with violent images and demonic symbols. Terrified, he
showed Mary his cellphone screen with confused eyes begging for
answers.

“
I told you earlier if you
don’t call 911 before twelve you won’t be able to use your cell
phone again. Staying here won’t stop it either. That door won’t
hold for long. I need to get home,” Mary said in an almost
trancelike tone.