~Banquets of Hats~
We arrived at school and the creature in me continued to narrate a tale I considered false.
“Angie’s father cannot be a werewolf”, I mistakenly said that out loud.
“What”? she brought me back to my senses.
“Nothing! I’m just hypothetical”, I defended my pale look.
She held my hand with that complete assuredness as smiles were exchanged same as brief kisses. We were the perfect couple even as latecomers.
“Your dad is having a party this night and you didn’t dare to invite us”, Michelle scared us from behind.
It took me a while to catch my breath but she wasn’t the only one whose case gave me goosebumps. I turned to my lover who was trying to shut Michelle up but her boyfriend Sam was the only one with that superpower.
“Speak of the devil”, my conscience alerted me as the six-foot muscular bag of meat crossed me with his rude looks.
“Hey pony princess”, he slammed my butt which was very insensitive.
Michelle’s words now became pointless as Angie was about to slap the heck out of the bully who now sat in my car.
“I’ll handle him darling”, my best friend Timothy walked up to us. If he was not in a hurry, it was certain we missed the first period.
I gave him that smirk as he almost speared Sam off my car. They were playfully rumbling on the concrete as Timothy apologized for not showing up to my burial. They were all on trips which of course shows how poor I am.
“It’s fine! I know how you feel around dead bodies anyways”, I hugged him. He then took a cursory look at Angie and was like “Girl, you’re glowing.”
She hugged him tighter than she did Michelle which made the latter jealous. Sam was the only one that doesn’t do hugs neither would we have wanted to hug the sweaty captain of the school basketball team.
“Get a life”, he rolled his eyes at us huggies. “I’m coming to your rich father’s party though”, he turned to Angie.
I felt remorseful as the last person to know but it was clear I didn’t pick up her calls previously which was an excellent excuse.
“Josie will be missed”, Timothy tossed a can of coke from his bag to each of us.
“Yeah”, the rest echoed.
“To Josie”, we all cheered our cans.
“Did you hear the news of Travis’s death”, Michelle chipped in as I regurgitated half the liquid that quietly went down my gullet.
Everyone’s eyes immediately hooked me but I acted funny to ease the suspicion.
“Listen”, the creature whispered as Sam contributed his own quota of gossip.
“No blood was found on the crime scene but there were claw marks”, he said hesitantly.
“The monster of Willemshire strikes again.”
“Come off it guys”, Angie started to feel nervous. “There are no monsters…….. just make-believe stories. I’m sure he was attacked by a bear or something, it’s not like he is innocent after all.”
“Yeah, that drug addict is the reason our Josie left us”, Timothy seconded that.
I suddenly realized that what I thought was a dream last night was reality inbound. This is where my story starts to get awkward…… even for me. How do I let Angie know that the being inside of me blames her father for the killings? and what if,…just what if it was wrong”?
“Marcus”, she snapped her fingers at me. “Are you with us”?
I replied with an aloof “Yes”, but deep down I knew something was fishy especially when those junior students shot a football straight to the left side of my face.
“Grab him”, Sam yelled but it was too late. I fell to the ground like a log of timber.
“Nighty Night”, the voice inside my head came alive as my blurred eyes landed me in the apartment of a very spooky individual.
Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was my hand slipping out of Angie’s grip.
“Concussion”, I nodded in silent frustration.
“Shhhh!”, My dad pleaded decorum as he told me I should remain in the basin.
The voices I heard were very unfamiliar, all but one. One I cracked my brain less to trace.
“The Hat Lady”, I whispered but it was much confusing when my eyes came across not one but three of them.
“Whose is it”?, I asked my ghost father.
“The one with the black hat,……. the ice cream lady”, he uttered gently.
“You must be wondering why I called you both out of the blue”, she smiled with teacups already served hot. I raised my head to my nose level to see all three gorgeously dressed with gloves on.
“Are they ……”
“Silence”, my father frowned this time. “These are witches, they can spot you faster than that wolf man.”
“An awkward place to meet Gabriella”, the one with the blue hat scanned the room they were in.
“Just go straight to the point before my jewelry store gets robbed”, the other faked a burst of laughter.
Others joined in as I heard what seemed to be cat noises.
“I think I’ve found the monster”, the ice cream woman came clean.
The lady with the red hat temporarily suspended her sipping of the tea as soon as those words echoed through the half-dark room. “Repeat yourself Gabriella”, she angrily dropped the ceramic.
“I said I’ve found the culprit Monica, the monster we’ve all been looking for”, she said word for word.
“That’s untrue”, the blue one plucked a tacky feather off her hat.
“I am sure Christine”, Gabriella chugged down her hot tea all at once.
“Who is it”?, They were both anxious to know.
“Well you just have to come around tonight”, she looked at them with ego.
“Where exactly”? Monica wandered the room with her eyes.
“There’s a party the new mayor is having and half of Willemshire would be there which includes us”, the black hat smiled.
“That’s so low of you”, Christine picked her nails like they were much more irritating than Gabriella’s hunch. “We can’t display like fools in a public gathering.”
“And who said we are”? Monica stood up with the unwillingness to leave that meeting.
“See you at 8 pm”, she concluded with a wink.
I remained at my spot like a frozen fish, knowing fully well that if I so much as blink, these witches would do worse to me than the wolf would.
“Take care of our guest”, Christine’s whisper summoned my fear. Did they know I was there all along?
“You have to make it to the door”, the creature vanished again leaving me in much worse jeopardy than the first time.
I timidly watched the famous ice cream lady smile with the careful footsteps of her colleagues leaving their meeting point. Then the door shut as she looked in my direction.
“Do you like your tea with a teaspoon of sugar”? she asked.
“Yes”, I replied hoping to run away the minute I was inches from the door.
“You do know I’m a witch right”?
“Yes!”, I gulped down a very impossible cluster of saliva. “I’m not your monster, I swear.”
“And who said you are”?, She served me hot tea with the chair walking up to me like a child.
“I have to get back or they’ll think I’m dead”, I pleaded with the hope of letting innocence have its way.
“Of course you will get back boy!”, She urged me to take a sip. “but not with your brain fully intact.”
My heart immediately raced thrice as fast especially when she stood up to take off the hat.
“You’ve seen and heard what you shouldn’t have boy and I can’t let that slip quite easily”, she continued.
“Do you know why we wear hats”? the rhetorical question struck a nerve.
“No”, I shut my eyes hoping to wake up a little dismembered but then that pungent odor came forth.
“Look at her”, the creature within me spoke with a burst of funny laughter. My eyes were embittered as they glanced at the tea in front of me. Part of my mind refused to be shocked not when she was looking ugly with teeth for cheeks.
“It’s time to go”, a raw claw protruded from my ribs. I wanted to scream as loud as my bones crunched but then I heard Angie’s voice, “Mar……cus”. The witch sprung right onto the chair I sat on but an abstract me left through the front door with ease.
“Come back!” I heard her loud annoying screams. My body couldn’t respond not when what was inside me now controlled every single movement through the woods.
“I can’t believe I ate her ice cream”, I spoke to my dad.
“Appearances can be quite deceiving”, he replied as we held hands in the light.
I wondered where in our city that horror cottage was but then I woke up on Angie’s lap in the field.
“Jeez, he’s not dead guys”, she burst into joy.
Sam wasn’t much interested which was typical but I could see Michelle and Timothy doing some jungle justice to the boys who almost took my head off.
“What’s the time”?, I asked her.
“Well almost four”, Angie clicked her phone twice.
“When is the party again”? Sam had to intrude.
“5 p.m.”, she muttered as I finally got on my feet.
“We have to go”, I leaned to her ear. Surprisingly she didn’t jitter rather she kissed me hard on my cheek.
“You always love to do things for me”, she blushed. I took a cursory look at her while Timothy snuck up on me with those muscular hands on my shoulder.
“Sorry bro”, he smiled as I feared I would still be mocked to death for this. There were brief words that suggested us going to change and meeting up at my girlfriend’s house which to me might probably be the longest and most terrible night of my life..
~Blood and the Secret~
“You look beautiful”, were the first three words that came out of my mouth as the sun set on us. It had been quite an awkward week which I sought to end this midnight hopefully.
“You look like a concussion perfectionist”, she mocked me. I found that a bit funny especially when I knew Timothy was behind the ideas.
“Look who showed up”, Sam came up with Michelle as the creature in me called him a big bag of blood.
“Rude!”, I pardoned myself for voicing out loud but then I saw him, just the height of Sam with a much thicker jaw. His steps were well calculated as those eccentric eyes were on me.
“The one and only Marcus”, he extended his hands in peace.
“Let’s bite it off”, the voice tried to bump me into him.
Angie nodded with that broad smile, “Dad he’s weird, doesn’t take it to heart”, she defended my culprit mood.
“Sorry for your loss”, he said as the gladness in me stiffened like a cat left in the snow.
“It’s fine sir”, I shook his hands led to a manly hug.
“Enjoy yourselves”, he turned to the rest of them. I saw them daring to give their consent not knowing what game was at play.
“Don’t pity them! Pity her”, I heard clearly as Angie grabbed my hands for a tour of her mansion.
We really did all we could to avoid the witches but those three spotted me from site to site.
“Hey Angie”, I halted. “I need to take a piss.”
Her eyes could definitely see through my perforated excuse but my legs had to co-operate.
“I’ll be back in a sec”, I gave that unholy smile. Part of her walked a few steps and gave up. The motive was quite clear, “Is he going to really take a piss”?
I was…… Actually!…….not until I sensed him behind me.
“The wolfman”, the creature appeared in the washroom mirror.
“Where”?, I stood baffled.
“Behind you”, it pointed.
I quickly turned back to see a lighter lit but that figure threw me back to that night Travis went missing. Its eyes exactly as I feared it would be….” hungry.”
“I knew it was you I smelt that night”, he fondled two cigars in both his hands.
“What night”?, I kept my cool.
“Don’t play games”, he approached further with the two cigars now lit and dangerously edging towards my face. “I can kill you here and now! eat half your skinny body in minutes”, he chuckled.
“I don’t doubt that”, I started to sweat both on my face and pants. The creature in me however tried to pop its head through my wide-open jaws.
“It would be his demise”, it spoke as a slithering thing attempted to pose as my tongue.
This awkward moment was interrupted by Angie who felt the tension with just two steps into the room.
“I knew it Dad”, she played victim. “This is why I don’t want to introduce him to you, you always hate boys around me.”
“So untrue”, he tossed both cigarettes in the toilet. “I was just about to offer him a recommendation letter since he plans on attending one of the toughest universities in the country.”
“Really”, she turned to me but I couldn’t look her in the eyes, not at the moment.
“Go with him”, the voice pushed my left breast towards his cloak.
“Can I uhm…..come with you to your office”?, I asked politely. It was at this point that he realized that something was up my sleeves. Was I stupid? or planning a bigger game?
“Of course”, he grinned as Angie stood confused about what just transpired.
Like bold cats, we walked the hall full of guests just as the witches held their glass of wine at arm’s length. I could vividly recall their monstrous faces when the hat finally comes off but the creature in me, they know not of.
“You’re my dad right”?, I asked as the door to the mayor’s office creaked open.
“Focus”, the voice replied as if it was hungry for some creature of fur.
“Have your seat”, he said calmly. My eyes did otherwise as it went straight to the portrait of Angie’s mother on the table.
“I ate her too….that one”, he laughed mischievously locking the doors behind him.
I was perturbed in my spirit, vengeful in my gnash whilst looking at how pretty she was. Why did he have to be so cruel?
“Either you’re stupid to relax in my presence or you want the bite Marcus”, he stared at me with those claws scratching titbits of wood off the neat polish. I wanted to run but somehow he had to pay for his sins.
“Blood”, I mistakenly said out loud.
It was strong and potent, I could smell it…..more like two bodies in a single file.
“Are you a wolf”?, He checked me out and marveled at how I could sense it in his office.
“Who did you kill”?, I screamed in anguish as my mind wandered to so many faces.
“You don’t shout at me”, his fangs came out brown and sharp.
“Who did you kill”?, I asked a little softer than the last time.”
“A lot!”, He replied. “You were too busy doing your tour and I got myself a couple of fresh meat to last me a week.”
“Timothy”, the creature added for it was already lurking like a predator behind me.
“No! No! No!”, I tried to remain calm.
“Michelle”, it brushed its slimy tongue around my ear.
I couldn’t fully fathom when tears flowed from my eyes. Was it the fact that something was standing behind me in a form that was not my father? or for the wolf that’s half-transformed behind the desk.
“Interesting”, Master George nodded. It was shocking that he expected another monster from the food chain but what now stood by my side was something I created, something I conjured. It was nothing but my grief after my dad died. I really didn’t know how loneliness and pain could let something this horrible inside of me. Its confidence knew no bounds even as the lights flickered for a while before the mansion went dark.
“Trouble”, I whispered in my heart as I felt free from that parasite that had attached itself to me. I was finally able to leap from my chair as I heard shrieks and roars and then silence……
“Oh God I’m dead”, I crawled to where I thought the door would be but then Angie burst it open and with her was Timothy.
“What”?, I tried to comprehend but they both told me there was no time not when they heard some strange noises as well.
“Angie”, I called out to her but then the backup generators went on and what followed was the sprinkling of her blood right when she turned to face me.
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