I know it's not October yet, but this is an attempt at a thriller/ghost story type thing that I'm shooting to finish by the end of that month. It may or may not happen. That is all.
I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.
"Quick question," Collins said from the back seat of the bohemians' rented van. "Don't we hate Benny?" Everyone, save Angel, answered affirmatively.
"Honey, I wouldn't use 'hate,'" Angel replied. "Maybe use . . . 'not very fond of?'"
"Whatever way you put it, we don't like him. So, why the hell did we agree to visit him?"
"Because we don't have electricity, heat, or water at the loft," Mark pointed out as he drove.
"Angel and I do."
"So do me and Joanne," Maureen added. "Why'd you guys drag us all along?"
"Because we have absolutely nothing to say to Benny," Roger said, staring at the directions he'd written down while on the phone with the bohemians' former friend. "Take the left up ahead, Mark."
"What makes you think the rest of us have somethin' to say to him?" Collins asked somewhat angrily. Angel placed his hand on Collins' thigh.
"Calm down, sweetie," he told him. "They just didn't wanna go alone. It's okay they invited us. Besides, it's always nice to go on a road trip. And if you behave, I'll give you a reward."
"What kind of reward?" Angel then kissed Collins, who instantly deepened the kiss. The two of them were soon in a heated make out session and Mimi moved to the seat where Maureen and Joanne were sitting.
"How much longer until we get there, Mark?" the dancer asked as Mark drove the van through a massive, opened gate.
"We're actually here," Mark replied. "I think this is the driveway. The very long driveway."
"You might wanna drive a little faster."
"Why?"
"Angel and Collins are about to go at it." Mark pressed the gas pedal further to the floor as Maureen, who sitting in the middle seat of the van, turned around and watched as Angel and Collins groped and kissed each other.
"That is so hot!" she exclaimed.
"Maureen, stop watching them!" Joanne told her girlfriend, forcing Maureen to turn around.
"But it's hot!" Mark suddenly slammed on the brake, causing the five bohemians in the back of the van to nearly fall off of their seats, yet, amazingly, not interrupting the foreplay that was going on in the back seat.
"What the hell, Mark?" Mimi said.
"Sorry, guys, but look!" Mark exclaimed, pointing to the extremely large house in front of the van. Everyone, except for Angel and Collins, stared at the house in awe. Maureen turned around to face the couple again.
"Hey!" she shouted at them. "Stop sucking each other's faces off and look at Benny's house!" She pulled Angel off of Collins and the drag queen looked at the house with widened eyes.
"Honey, you should see this!" he told his lover. Collins nodded and tried to pull Angel back into their make out session.
"Yeah, yeah, Ang, I'm sure it's nice," he said.
"You didn't even look."
"I'm a little bit distracted right now." Angel giggled and gave Collins a peck on the lips.
"Come on!" Maureen said excitedly, sliding one of the van doors open and jumping out of it. "I wanna see the inside of it looks like!" Joanne practically dove out of the van behind her. Mark, Roger, and Mimi followed them. Angel started toward the door of the van, but Collins grabbed the bottom of his skirt and pulled him back to him.
"Not now, honey," Angel said, causing Collins to frown.
"But Angel . . . I need you," he whined. Angel kissed him on the bridge of his nose.
"Later, okay?" Collins sighed and nodded. He and Angel then got out of the van to join their friends, who were on the porch. Maureen was ringing the doorbell repeatedly.
"Damn," Collins said, looking at the pearl white columns that complemented Benny's home. "This is just too much house for two people."
"No kidding," Roger agreed. "Think Benny'll be up for renting out rooms?"
"Babe, he already knows you and Mark don't pay rent," Mimi reminded her boyfriend.
"Oh yeah . . ." Angel and Collins shared a laugh as Maureen began ringing the doorbell even faster.
"Dammit, Benny!" she exclaimed. She started pounding a fist on the door. "Open. The. Fucking. Door." The door suddenly swung open. A tall man wearing a gray suit had answered it. He stared at the bohemians with a somewhat shocked expression on his face. He then noticed their van.
"I'm going to assume your van broke down and you need to use the telephone," he said, his nose turned up in the air. The seven friends exchanged looks.
"Why would you assume that?" Mark asked.
"Mr. and Mrs. Coffin would never invite such . . . riffraff to their home."
"What the hell did you just call us?" Maureen asked angrily, stepping toward the man. Joanne pulled her back.
"Goodness gracious. Poor, dirty, uneducated . . ." The man looked at Angel. "And gender confused. My, my, my. What a motley crew this is." Collins' mouth dropped open and Angel looked down at his heels to hide his hurt feelings.
"Oh, hell no!" Collins exclaimed. "Now, I gotta kick your ass!"
"And I'm helping him!" Maureen added.
"Alfred, who's at the door?" the bohemians heard Benny call.
"Just some riffraff, sir!" the man, apparently called Alfred, called back.
"I'll show you riffraff!" Collins yelled at him. He then grabbed Alfred by his collar. That's when Benny came to the door.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he exclaimed, removing Collins' hands from Alfred's collar. "What are you doing, Collins?"
"That asshole hurt Angel's feelings!" Collins still really wanted to hurt Alfred. "He called her gender confused!"
"And he called the rest of us riffraff!" Mimi added. Benny's eyes widened and he turned Alfred toward him.
"Alfred, these are guests," he told him. "You don't insult guests." Alfred looked back at the angry bohemians and sighed.
"My deepest apologies," he said.
"Not accepted, asswipe!" Maureen shouted at him.
"Maureen!" Joanne hissed. Alfred held up a hand to quiet her.
"No, no," he said. "I deserved that. Now, if you will all follow me to-"
"That won't be necessary, Alfred," Benny interrupted. "I'll show them to the family room." Alfred nodded and put his hands behind his back.
"Then, if you will all excuse me, I have some tidying up to do." Alfred disappeared into the house.
"Uh, sorry about that, you guys," Benny said. "Come on in." The bohemians followed Benny in a single file line until they came to a large room with a fireplace, a large, white sectional couch, a matching love seat, a large television, a glass coffee table with what appeared to have solid gold legs, and white wall-to-wall carpeting. The seven of them looked around in amazement as they entered the room.
"Goddamn . . ." Collins said, speaking for everyone. "I feel like I should've taken my shoes off somewhere between the door and here."
"No, it's fine," Benny told him. "Have a seat, you guys." Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen, and Joanne sat on the couch while Angel and Collins made their way to the love seat. There was an awkward silence. "Can I get anybody anything out of the liquor cabinet?" Another awkward silence passed between Benny and his guests.
"Hell, I'll take a drink," Collins said, breaking the silence. The rest of the bohemians then expressed their want for alcohol as well. Benny nodded and left the room. When he returned, he had a tray with eight glasses and a bottle of brandy on it. He placed the tray on the coffee table, passed the glasses out, and filled them. Everyone took a drink at the same time and another awkward silence occurred.
"So, Benny, why the hell are we here?" Maureen asked. Joanne didn't scold her because she knew that every last one of them was thinking the same thing.
"To be completely honest with you, I have no idea," Benny admitted, sipping his drink. Mark and Roger glanced at each other.
"You invited us here," Mark reminded him.
"Actually, Alison told me to invite you."
"Why?" Angel asked.
"Because I want to get to know you all," Alison said as she entered the room. She took Benny's hand and looked around the room at all the bohemians.
"Why?" Mimi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I like to meet all of Benny's friends."
"We ain't his friends," Collins spat, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Angel.
"Collins is right," Roger added. "We hate him."
"Well, you're . . . former friends. That still has the word 'friends' in it, right?"
"Cut the crap, lady!" Maureen exclaimed. "Why are we really here?" The drama queen folded her arms. Alison sighed in defeat.
"Okay, I thought we could talk about a new lease for your loft." Everyone stared at her in disbelief.
"'A new lease?'" Mark repeated.
"Yes."
"No," Benny said. "No, no, no, no. Their current lease is fine, Alison. They just refuse to pay the rent."
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe they don't pay because they can't pay? Face it, you're way too hard on them." Mark and Roger looked at each other and Benny's mouth dropped open. "I know Daddy told you to get them to pay the rent or evict them, but I really don't think that's fair if they can't afford it. So, tonight we'll discuss a new lease over dinner."
"But Alison-" Benny was cut off by Alison putting her index finger to his lips.
"Now, you go tell Alfred he'll be preparing dinner for nine," Alison told her husband.
"Bet he'll be thrilled to hear that," Collins whispered to Angel, making the drag queen giggle as Benny left the room.
"Why do you wanna help us out?" Mark asked. "You don't know any of us or anything about us."
"I know some things about you," Alison replied. "Well . . . Benny's told me some things."
"What'd he tell you?" Collins asked.
"Well, which one of you is Mark?" Mark raised his hand. "Benny said you're a great filmmaker." Mark smiled at the compliment. "And that you need to stop, and I quote, 'whining like a little bitch about Maureen.'" Mark's smile faded as quickly as it appeared.
"I do not whine!" he exclaimed. "And I'm over her!"
"Please, Mark," Maureen said. "You can never get over this girl." Joanne rolled her eyes.
"Did he say anything about the rest of us?" Angel asked.
"Yes," Alison replied. "He said Roger plays the guitar well and has a nice singing voice, but sometimes he wishes every single string on his guitar would break and that he would get laryngitis."
"What the hell!" Roger shouted. Mimi placed her hand on his shoulder.
"He said Mimi is one of the sweetest people he's ever gotten to know," Alison continued. She looked down at her feet. "Then he said to himself, or at least he thought he said it to himself, 'she has a nice ass.'" Angel and Collins laughed as Roger's face began turning red.
"How come she didn't get insulted?" Mark asked, folding his arms.
"Well, he did say something about her being a whore." Mimi's mouth dropped open and Roger became angrier.
"'A whore?'" Mimi repeated in shock.
"He called my girlfriend a whore?" Roger asked angrily. "I'm gonna rip his head off!"
"What'd he say about me?" Maureen asked loudly.
"He said you're too loud and too over dramatic about everything," Alison replied. Maureen gasped and Angel, Collins, and Joanne all covered their ears.
"I AM NOT TOO LOUD OR TOO OVER DRAMATIC!" Maureen screeched. She looked to her girlfriend. "What'd he say about Joanne?"
"He said she's way too snobby for his taste." Joanne's eyes narrowed.
"'Snobby?'" she repeated. "I think not." Everyone looked to Angel and Collins.
"What about Collins and Angel?" Mimi asked. Alison looked to the two lovers on the love seat.
"He said Collins has a brilliant mind, but he doesn't really use it as much as he should because all he does is smoke marijuana and eat cereal," she said. Collins thought for a moment then nodded.
"Yeah, that's about right," he replied.
"And he said Angel's the most kindhearted person he's ever met," Alison continued. Angel smiled proudly as Alison closed her eyes and sighed. "Then, again under his breath, he said 'she has a nice ass' and . . . if he was ever given the chance he'd . . . 'fuck her.'" Angel blushed and the rest of the bohemians looked at the angry expression on Collins' face.
"LIKE HELL HE WOULD!" he boomed. Benny then returned to the room. Collins immediately stood up and glared at him.
"What's all the yelling about?" Benny asked. Angel stood up and placed a hand on Collins' shoulder just as he was about to take a step toward Benny.
"You better keep yourself far away from Angel!" Collins yelled. "You ain't fucking her in this life or any other life!" He ran over to the fireplace and grabbed what he thought was a vase off of the mantel.
"Honey, what are you planning on doing with that?" Angel asked worriedly.
"I'm gonna bash his goddamn head in!"
"Do it, do it, do it!" Maureen chanted."
"Collins, please put that down," Alison said, rushing over to the anarchist.
"Is it an extremely expensive vase?" Collins asked. "'Cause if it's not, I can pay for it."
"No, Collins, it's not a vase. It's a urn." Collins eyes widened as Alison took the urn from him and walked back over to the fireplace.
"Who's in it?" Mimi asked curiously. Alison placed the urn back on the mantel.
"I don't know," she said, turning back toward the bohemians and her husband.
"What do mean you don't know?" Roger asked.
"I mean exactly that. That urn was here when we bought the house."
"Why not get rid of it?" Joanne asked.
"It just seemed disrespectful."Collins then turned back to Benny.
"Don't think your wife distracted me," he said. "I'm still gonna kill you at some point." Alison crossed the room to her husband.
"Why exactly are you threatening me, Collins?" Benny asked, taking a step backward.
"Alison told us what you said about us," Mark said, glaring at Benny as well. Benny's eyes widened.
"You weren't supposed to tell them any of that!" he told his wife.
"I'm sorry, but I told them I knew things about them from you and they got curious," Alison replied. Benny stared at his angry ex-friends. They all, with the exception of Angel, looked ready to attack him.
"Well . . . dinner will be ready in about an hour or so," he told them, grabbing Alison's hand. "So . . . feel free to explore the house until then." He then quickly left the room, practically dragging Alison with him.
"I'm gonna kill him," Collins said, glaring at where Benny once stood.
"Honey, don't let it bother you," Angel replied. He gave him a kiss on the cheek and held his hand.
"Wait a second!" Maureen shouted, standing up. Everyone's attention went to her. "Did Benny just give us permission to snoop around his house?"
"Maureen, he didn't say 'snoop,'" Joanne told her.
"I don't care what he said! He gave us a free pass to do whatever the hell we want in his house for a whole hour!" Maureen seemed to have completely forgotten that she and her friends were angry with Benny.
"That's not what he said, Maureen," Mark told the drama queen. "He-"
"What are we waiting for?" Maureen interrupted. "LET'S GO!" She then bolted from the room with the rest of the bohemians right behind her.
Phew! That was a mighty long first chapter, wouldn't ya say? Can I keep these long chapters up? I don't know, but I'll sure try! It doesn't get all creepy and stuff until the next chapter, so review and the creepiness can begin!
Just a head's up: I might kill somebody . . .