Curfew (5 page)

“
Barry slow down before we
crash!”

Barry remained silent while he looked
in the rearview mirror. At first Mary thought he was looking at
her, but soon she discovered he was looking past her. She quickly
turned around to peer into the darkness that was lightly
illuminated by the rear lights of the SUV, but she saw nothing.
Looking back at Barry she saw the terrified look on his face and
turned around again, but she saw nothing. Suddenly she felt
it…something she should’ve felt long before, but the argument with
Amanda distracted her. Amanda…looking over at her while she smiled,
Mary began to give her the side eye as she pondered over why would
Amanda do what she just did after everything she saw. No matter how
trampy or “whore-riffic” she was, there was no way she would be
thinking about sex at a time like this.

Then a revelation hit her as she
inhaled deeply while her eyes widened and her mouth flung
open.

Amanda!!

Amanda turned around and grinned,
exposing the demon’s razor sharp and stained teeth right before it
reached over and wrapped its large hand around Barry’s throat.
Barry immediately lost control of the SUV, causing it to swerve
into the other lane as he started to lose consciousness. The demon
continued to stare into Mary’s terrified eyes as it strangled the
life out of Barry. Mary looked at Barry as he began to slump over
in his seat, his skin developing a sickening bluish color. Tears
rolled down Mary’s face as she watched her tormentor kill someone
else she loved, but no matter what; she couldn’t give in by begging
for his life.

“
You know what I want. Do
it and I’ll spare this one’s life. If not…well we’ve played this
game before when you were twelve so you know the rules already. So,
shall we begin?”

“
I’m not afraid of you, so
go fuck yourself you filthy piece of shit!”

Mary’s defiance enraged the demon and
it opened its mouth, exposing its black and decayed forked tongue.
Its long tongue slithered out of its mouth, moving through the air
towards Barry and started to lick his neck; leaving behind a black
slimy residue. The demon closed its eyes and shivered as it savored
the exquisite taste of Barry’s skin; its anticipation of devouring
Barry’s flesh sending it into a state of euphoria.

“
BARRY
NOW!!
”

Distracting the demon was Mary’s plan
and as soon as its grip loosened around Barry’s neck, Barry
violently turned the steering wheel as far to the left as it could
go; sending the SUV up on the curb and into the air. The SUV
flipped over, crashing into the brick wall that surrounded one of
the many gated communities that lined either side of River Rd. Not
wanting to hesitate and remain in the SUV with the demon, Barry and
Mary unbuckled themselves and escaped the vehicle; running inside
the gated community. Within minutes they were running from house to
house, banging on doors and asking for people to let them in but no
one answered. A few people watched them screaming for help from
their windows, hiding behind their high end window treatments, but
still refusing to let them in.

Mary turned around to look in the
direction of the SUV and noticed the passenger side door was opened
and the seat where the demon was sitting was empty. Tapping Barry
on his shoulders as he continued to bang on someone’s door she
said,

“
If we can get to the
cemetery we’ll be safe for a little while.”

Barry looked at Mary and wanted to ask
her how did she know so much about this demon, but the howling that
blared through the gated community caused him to change his mind
and the both of them ran east into the forest towards Ascension
Cemetery.

A
n
eerie mist rose from the ground of the forest that wisped around
them like angry spirits as they moved further into the dark forest.
The trees loomed over them like giant monsters of wood; their
branches reaching down like tentacles of death. The air inside the
forest was thick and suffocating with a stench of mildew and
burning wood. Looking up, Barry noticed he couldn’t see the night’s
sky; the top of the trees blocking out any light the moon and stars
could lend them to make their journey easier. The ground was moist
and slippery and each step felt like they would be swallowed up and
pulled down into hell. Barry never imagined coming into these woods
at night because of how close it was to Ascension Cemetery. There
were all kinds of weird and horrifying stories that surrounded
these woods and that cemetery seemed to be the center of it all.
But tonight he had to choose the lesser of two evils and Ascension
Cemetery was definitely losing out to the demon that pursued
them.

Behind them they could hear the heavy
growl of the demon as it stalked them, moving slowly and then
speeding up its pace. Its movements were sporadic with no
discernable pattern which made running and hiding from it
terrifying. They would periodically hide behind a large tree and
let the demon pass them. Then they would circle around it, using
its loud and skin crawling breathing to pinpoint where it was. The
journey was slow and painful. Literally painful, because every time
the demon drew closer to them their body’s would react, causing
both of them to bend over and hold themselves attempting to quietly
deal with the pain from their inner organs and muscles twisting and
throbbing. The demon seemed determined to prevent the two teenagers
from reaching the cemetery which gave Barry the inclination that
Mary may be telling the truth about the safety the cemetery could
provide.

After an hour of the cat and mouse
game in the dark, Barry and Mary hid behind a tree that stood right
outside the gate of the cemetery. Glancing down at her watch, the
time of 3:30am flashed across its screen and Mary knew they didn’t
have long before things escaladed even further. Pulling him close
to her, Mary whispered in Barry’s ear,

“
We have to get inside the
cemetery gates and find a mausoleum we can barricade ourselves
in.”

Barry’s head jerked around and he
looked Mary up and down while shaking his head.

“
What kind of shit is
that?” Barry aggressively whispered back at Mary. “Why do we have
to break inside a mausoleum to be safe from that thing?”

“
I don’t have time to
explain it to you, but I’m sure because its Halloween there’s a few
mausoleums that are opened already. We just have to make sure we
keep the doors shut once inside.”

Growing more confused by the second,
Barry simply placed his hand over her mouth and said,

“
Lead the way.”

The two of them jumped over the fenced
and wandered through the large cemetery looking for an open
mausoleum. Barry’s skin crawled as he followed Mary around the
creepy cemetery as the silence of this deadly night started to play
tricks on his mind. He periodically saw something move in the far
distance and then when he looked again it wasn’t there. At first he
thought it was the demon, but this was something else or someone
else. It moved too fast to be the demon and it appeared transparent
one second and then solid the next. Every time he saw it from the
corner of his eye, a cold chill ran up his spine and exploded
inside his head, giving him an agonizing brain freeze as if he’d
just gulped down a large scoop of ice cream. Mary looked over at
him noticing him grimacing in pain while pressing his finger
against his temple and asked,

“
Are you ok?”

“
Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just
find a place to hide.”

“
We’re not finding a place
to hide. We can’t hide from that thing for very long. We are
finding a place that will give us some protection once the four o’
clock hour hits.”

“
What happens at 4am?”
Barry asked, afraid to hear the answer but needing the answer
nonetheless.

“
It’s power peaks and
that’s when it will be able to come into this cemetery. So we don’t
have much time left.”

“
What time is it
now?”

Mary looked down at her wrist and
looked up slowly at Barry with her mouth ajar.

“
3:55am.”

Barry began to panic and started
running all over the cemetery pushing on the doors of every
mausoleum he could find. He was screaming and panting as he
hysterically begged Mary to help him opened the last mausoleum door
he could find. Mary rushed to his side and the both of them
struggled with the heavy marble doors. Eventually they were able to
nudge it open just when her watch’s alarm rang out; announcing the
four o’ clock hour. The demon’s howl blasted throughout the
cemetery as the force of its vibration chilled their bodies down to
the bone. Hearing the demon demolish the metal gates surrounding
the cemetery caused both of them to frantically fight to close the
mausoleum’s doors behind them. A loud and hallowed boom echoed
through the inner chamber of the mausoleum as the doors closed
shut. Falling back onto the ground in exhaustion the teenagers
fought to gather their breaths and calm the terror inside
them.

“
How long before this
nightmare is over?” Barry asked breathlessly.

“
Two more hours before the
demon will no longer be able to remain outside his possessing
vessel.”

“
What? Ok Mary you really
need to tell me what’s going on. I’ve stuck by you through
everything tonight, even when my life was in danger; never leaving
your side. I think I deserve an explanation.”

“
After what you allowed
Amanda to do to you, you don’t deserve a damn thing from me,” Mary
snapped while moving away from Barry.

“
That wasn’t Amanda and you
know it.”

“
No, but
you
thought it
was!”

“
I stopped her!”

“
Not well enough, because
from the looks of it you were about to pop any second.”

Shaking his head, Barry
stood up and walked to the far side of the chamber. Folding his
arms he leaned against the marble wall and looked up at the dark
and cob webbed ceiling. He wanted answers, but Mary refused to tell
him anything and she used “Amanda the demon” as an excuse to not
keep it
100
with
him. He wondered what kind of friend would leave another in the
dark in a situation like this. His only conclusion was she wasn’t
really his friend.

“
Fine, keep it to yourself
but if that thing kills me that blood is on your hands.”

“
Bullshit Mr. hot pants.
The blood is on your own hands because you refused to get me home
before twelve like I demanded.”

“
That’s not even a fair
exchange and you know it. The normal consequences of coming home
after curfew is being grounded or the worst getting your ass beat
by your parents. Not a fucking shape shifting demon hell bent on
eating you alive or snatching your head off your shoulders. Had
we’d known you were bringing that kind of drama along on this
outing we probably would’ve told you to stay home and watch
cartoons.”

“
Whatever Barry, you
promised me and you should’ve kept your promise. And don’t play
with me because had I told you, Tristan or that tramp travel bag
Amanda, none of you would’ve believed me. You would’ve laughed in
my face and called me a creep.”

Nodding in agreement, Barry exhaled
and walked over to Mary and knelt next to her.

“
Mary, you
have
to tell me what’s
going on and how can we survive for the next two hours.”

Looking into Barry’s blue eyes Mary
felt her heart ache for him and just when she opened her mouth to
tell him everything the entire mausoleum was rocked violently by
the demon ramming its body against the doors. The supernatural
force of the demon’s attack knocked Barry on his back as dust and
pieces of concrete fell from the ceiling and almost crushed his
head.

“
Mary will never tell you
everything, so how about I tell you what she’s hiding and maybe we
can make a deal Barry,” the demon said. The demon’s voice vibrated
the inner chamber, creating a buzzing sound as if the mausoleum was
being surrounded by millions of killer bees. “She lied when she
told you this was her first time being out on Halloween. In fact
her entire existence is a lie, truth be told she wouldn’t even
exist if it were not for me.”

“
Mary what is it talking
about?” Barry asked backing away from her in fear.

“
Are you gonna tell him or
should I tell him Mary?” The demon taunted while banging on the
doors, still trying to get inside.

“
My mom was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer when she was a freshman in high school and to save
her life she had to get a Hysterectomy. They told her she would
never be able to have kids, but my parent’s wanted children so
bad….so so bad. So they went to Mexico to see a
Brujo
or what you would call a witch
doctor. In order for her to have me she had to make a deal with a
demon. The demon would grant her one child; in exchange my mother
would have to be a vessel for the demon in our world for the rest
of her life. Dwelling in the vessel would allow the demon to roam
free for six hours on the day the power of evil is at its
peak…Halloween. For the rest of the year my mom would be in full
control of her body, but on Halloween her body would fall into a
coma and the demon would be released to do as he pleased. That was
supposed to be the deal, but the foul beast deceived my parents and
when I was born they discovered that I was his vessel and not my
mother as he promised. So another sacrifice had to be made in order
to combat what the demon had done.”