Ominous Call

The rain didn't let up after school as Hannah and I are walking to her house. Rainfall fills the awkward silence as we share an umbrella. Hannah was quiet the whole journey. It was fine at first, but after passing the murmuring of our schoolmates, the silence became deafening. Man, I really messed up. We approach Hannah's house, A gothic house was wearing a fresh coat of black paint, when a large shriek radiated from it. Hannah gave me a quick look. Her eyebrow rising as she whispers the words:

Monster Attack?

I shrug my shoulders. Handing the umbrella back to Hannah, I frisk the ground for a rock for a fast weapon while Hannah rushes to the door. She readies the closed umbrella like a javelin. She holds her hand on the knob until she sees a sizable rock in my hand. With a quick click, the door swings violently as Hannah readies the umbrella. I trail behind her, ready to hurl the rock at the first sign of a monster. Hannah stops as she set the umbrella next to the door.

"TCH. False alarm."

There in the living room, a large TV was showing a woman being viciously attack by a group of people. The camera pans to a young man whaling her name as his arms, strung up to two trees, were ablaze from the wire holding him up. He fell to his knees while a woman sultry approaches him. The camera focus on a symbol on the man's back. Three squares overlapping each other with a tear in the center. The woman's scarlet eyes shone while her face remains as stone as she brings her hand to his rib cage. In one elegant motion, she rips its out of the man. Greenish blood gushes from the man's chest as his shrieks of pain and sorrow ripples out from the TV, making Hannah, I and the girl watching the movie play out on the sofa in front of us jump.

I crept up on the girl, making sure the sloshing of my wet shoes were silent as possible. Getting within ear shot of her, I let out as causal as possible.

"You reached Cosmic Blood 3? Such a classic scene."

The girl spins around fast, making her long blonde and black hair hit me in the face. The girl in a school uniform wore a glowing smile that didn't suit her face. This is Hannah's younger sister Samantha, who looks like she could be Hannah's twin but shorter.

"Max!!"

She yells as she latches on to me with a tight hug.

"You want to watch the rest with me. I don't mind restart."

As if she was a ghost, Hannah appears behind me and pulls my ear with an astounding force. She proceeds to drag me away from her sister, heading toward the nearby staircase.

"Sorry Kid, your boyfriend is too busy today. And turn the damn TV down! We don't need the neighborhood thinking the house is under attack."

My shoes slip around as I try to steady myself up the stairs to no avail. The fast and repetitive squeaking caught Hannah's attention. She lets go of my ear, giving me a chance to steady myself while she goes on ahead of me. I look back to see Sam. Her glowing smile vanished, and her eyes matched the sky outside. She sunk back into the couch to resume the film.

Hannah throws me a towel to dry myself before I hop into my usual spot in the beanbag chair near her bed. I do a quick job drying myself, then rest the towel on the beanbag, so I could sink down into heavenly bliss. I open my bag to take out my laptop. Seeing the case of succubus blood there, I tear open the box to free 2 cans.

"I am sorry."

"Nah, you don't need to apologize. I did get pretty mad, but I get it."

The rainfall brings miracles, it seems. Hannah takes off her damp shirt, flinging it across the room to her door. She rummages through a clothes stack next to her computer. From it, she pulls out a blue shirt and a drawing tablet as she sits down to get ready to start on the sketch. I do a small whistle, so she would notice me pitching the beer to her.

"I feel bad, though. I didn't know you didn't want Duncan watching that stuff."

Catching it, she puts the beer on her lap as sits there for a bit before responding to me.

"It's not that… Look it's nice that you're bonding with my boyfriend but just don't want you corrupting another person. I want my time with him to be, you know, horror free."

"Still…"

Looking around Hannah's room to see a bunch of her artwork covering all the walls, my eyes drawn to the picture that wasn't there previously. It was a blown up poster of Jack-o-lantern sitting upon a bloody pumpkin thrown near her computer. I wonder when she drew that, when the perfect peace offering came to mind.

"I'll let you have my shirt to make it up to you."

The corner of her lip curls for a second before returning to her neutral state. She cracks open the beer. I do the same, as we both lift it to simulate a cheers, since I did not feel like leaving my cozy nest anytime soon.

"Ugh! This taste likes piss!"

I took a much longer sip and let the beer slosh around my mouth to get a better feel of the flavor. The cool liquid carries a harsh chocolate flavor that almost made my teeth ace. As I swallowed, the taste mellowed out with a berry after-taste.

"It's not that bad, but it's too heavy on the chocolate for my taste."

Hannah scoffs at my review as she begins the rat sketch. Following her lead, I work on finishing the current issue. We work in relative silence, with only sounds of our work and sips of beer filling the room. After some time passes, Sam comes into the room. It took a while before I notice her sitting next to me. She just sat in silence watching us work. When I do, I take this opportunity to ask Sam a question.

"So Sam, you figured out what gift you want from Darius' shop for your birthday?"

Hannah looks back, not shock to see her sister sitting next to me. She scoffs as she returns to finishing the rat.

"April didn't even start yet!"

"Yes, but I'll place the order over the weekend, so Darius can have it ready by then. A man his age works on a selective schedule."

"I want that!"

Sam cuts our little back and forth, pointing to a ring Hannah had next to her monitor. The silver ring has multiple black gems that forms multiple upside down triangles with a line across the down most point.

"Really? You want gorilla strength like your sister?"

An empty beer can knock upside my head. I turn to see Hannah flipping me off. The ring was a gift Ben gave Hannah in his many attempts to woo her. It's a magical item that enhances a person's strength. I was skeptically about it until Hannah punched a dude who tried to touch unconscious with one blow. Seeing the dude vomit unconscious made Ben and I regular customers at Darius' shop.

"Yes!"

"HMM, well I'll get something similar to that then!"

"You baby her too much. Here I finished the rat, sending it to you now!"

An email notification pops up on my laptop showing a message from Hannah.

"Lifesaver once again, thanks! And I'll take that as my cue to leave."

I hand Hannah 25 dollars and begin to put me laptop back into my bag. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sam move something behind her back. Turning to look at her, She put her finger up as her eyes lock on to Hannah starting up a new sketch. I do a quick check in my bag. There's a can of Succubus Blood missing from the pack. I lean down next to Sam and whisper a small piece of advice.

"Lilith's Ambrosia is a way better beer than that. I always drink it to calm my nerves."

Sam nods her head as she uses the blind spot I created to hide the beer in her uniform pocket. I wait until she's down to say goodbye to Hannah. She looks back at me as slides the ring on her finger and forms a fist to make the light reflect off to hit my eyes. In an instant, a strong chill travels up my spine. The chill grips my shoulder as if it's someone desperate to get my attention. A soft voice tinge with panic brush past my ears, only saying one word. Max! My head shoots around to see what said my name. There's nothing but the empty hallway that's behind me. No signs of any movement at all.

"Are you okay, Max?"

Hannah and Sam both look at me with concern. Hannah stretches to see if there was anything behind me. She sees nothing, then brings her attention back to me. I notice her lean forward, as if waiting for the signal that it's something related to a monster. I wave my hand at both of, trying to wipe the concern off their faces.

"It nothing, I just thought I heard someone say my name."

"Oh, that was me. I was saying goodbye."

Sam sheepish word relaxed Hannah as she return to finish her sketch. I waved at Sam goodbye and I head out the room. I wait until I'm back in the rain to process what Sam said. The sounds of the light drizzle helps when I replay the scene in my head.

"That wasn't Sam's voice, but it was familiar."

After eating burgers my dad made for dinner, I stare at my laptop as it rests on my bed. My palms become slick while my eyes focus on the laptop. I mean, is it so wrong to check out the movie beforehand? Do you want to show your friends a shitty film? The thoughts cloud my head as I try to find something to bring my attention away from the device. Movie posters and scatter Blu rays, my room is full of things that made the thoughts become louder. Louder and Louder until there was only one thing I could do.

"Oh, what the hell!"

I dive onto my bed to get the laptop on asap. The torrent download is going to take 20 minutes. Enough time for me to take a quick shower, then fall asleep to the magnificent art of Adien Perry.

The movie starts with the Main Character, Father Leo, an exiled priest working at a bar in Central America. He is approached by a woman asking him to return to the states to save a small town from being scarfed to the devil. This plot is a lot more fast-paced than I am used to for an Aiden Perry film. The 2 characters reach the town to see a naked woman pinned to a giant wooden X, when a small, light touch ripples across my back. I pause the movie and turn around.

Hmm, nothing there. Odd.

I look back at the laptop screen. The touching intensives growing stronger and stronger up my back. It comes to my chest with a firm grip, not letting go. I lift my pillow to see my evil repellent still there. Its feathers are still white, signaling that nothing supernatural attacking the bed right now.

"What is going on?"

"After all, it's rare to watch a horror movie with Max that he's never seen before!" Mia's words play in my head.

"Oh! I guess it was just guilt!"

I let out a sigh of relief. Can't believe I got guilt confuse with a monster attack. Maybe I'm still on edge as to what happened at Hannah's today. The laptop screen dims as it falls asleep, waiting for my touch to wake up. I take this as a sign to stop watching the film and do the same. Quickly sending the magnet link to the gang, I let sleep take me as the firm grip on my chest weaken which each second my eyes are shut until it let go, finally allowing me to drift away to sleep.