How do I get myself in these situations?! It was the only thought running through my mind as dodged the trees in my immediate vision. My flashlight was dying, and it was becoming more difficult to see where I'm running. I broke through the trees and found myself on the dirt trail once again. I paused just for a moment, trying to catch my breath and find my bearings. I readjusted my messenger bag and sprinted down towards what I was hoping was the gate. The static was getting louder, and I fought the urge to look back. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You're all probably wondering how I even ended up here. Well, i can tell you that it all started with a bet my bandmate Korri made with me…
"Cursed? Bullshit Korri!" I said, sitting in a lawn chair, tuning my electric guitar. We were all in the garage of my friend and bassist Z, who was idly strumming away on his bass, listening to our conversation. We were waiting for the twins Axel and Dee who were our vocalist and drummer respectively. Korri got up from the old worn leather couch that was on the far end of the wall and grabbed a beer from the fridge, his spiked green hair seeming to glow from the fluorescent bulb above us. He tossed a can my way, which I hastily caught. He cracked it open and took a huge chug. He belched loudly and threw a smirk my way.
"You heard me Ana. Those woods are cursed. People go in there and disappear. Poof! Up and gone. Most of the time it's kids who end up wandering in there and disappearing. Adults also disappear, but sometimes they don't. They end up either finding the bodies mangled in a gruesome way, or if they find them alive, they end up going insane and killing themselves. They always end up talking about a faceless demon in a suit haunting their minds." He sat in the folding chair next to me. I rolled my eyes and opened the can.
"Yeah okay… it sounds like a bunch of bull," I took a swig from the can and pushed back a lock of my purple dyed hair. I rubbed the back of my head, feeling the soft stubble of my shaved head. "It has to be an old urban legend or something. It can't be true. 'A faceless demon in a suit'? Puh-leeeeeze! It sounds like a load of horse crap."
Z snorted as he stopped strumming his bass. "It's a little more than just a story, Anarchy. My uncle, the one who's in the mental ward, he saw the monster when he was younger. He was on a camping trip with his friends and they were attacked by it. He said it was a tall, skinny monster in a black and white suit, it had no face and tentacles sprouting from its back. It killed most of his friends, leaving him and his other friend alive. My uncle had nightmares that drove him crazy, and his friend ended up committing suicide." He frowned as he adjusted the skirt he was wearing. I sighed at Z, feeling a little jealous that my male cross dresser friend looks better dressed in girl's clothes than I do. I took another swig from the can and set the can onto the concrete floor.
"I just don't believe it, that's all. It just sounds too farfetched to be real…" I shook my head as my fingered began to fly on the strings, almost lazily playing the opening to HIM's "Wings of a Butterfly", hearing the melody play softly on the near muted amp. Korri rolled his eyes as the garage door was lifted open, letting out the cool air into the summer heat.
"What up bitches?" Dee said happily, skipping over and jumping onto my lap. I moved my guitar quickly as she flopped onto my lap.
"Oof… dammit Dee!" she leaned her head on my shoulder, overwhelming me with the scent of pot on her. Axel sat on top of her, effectively crushing my thin, small form. I grunted uncomfortably at the added weight.
"Hey, hey hey! Get off of her! Ya'll are going to break my chair, with your high asses!" Z cried, swatting them off of my lap. Axel got up and grabbed the microphone.
"Test test. One, two, three… who wants Mexican?" he laughed.
"I want nachos!" Dee said, kissing my neck softy and giggling. I rubbed her back and sighed.
"Taaaaaacoooooos!" Z called out, strumming his bass.
"Fuck that, I'm getting Chinese…. Maybe get some of the food too." Korri winked, sticking out his tongue.
"AAAAAAAAAANAARRRRCHYYYYYYY! What do you want?!" Axel shouted into the mic. I winced.
"Fine, fine! I want a quesadilla. Chicken and bacon please." I played with Dee's hair. At the rate this practice was going, there would be no way we'd be playing any music.
)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(
"Will you pass the damn thing already Dee? You've been holding onto it for too long!" Korri cried, reaching for the joint that Dee was holding on to. I giggled and took a sip from my can. We were sitting around the fire pit in Z's back yard, sharing a joint, strumming out random melodies and cracking jokes. Not to mention getting shit faced. Despite being too young to drink, we were celebrating. We were graduating high school in about a month or so, and we were also lucky enough to have our first gig; we were playing for our school's prom, much to the rich boy jock, Steven Anderson's chagrin. He offered to pay for an expensive D.J, but our principal wanted live entertainment. Just so happen that he "accidentally" walked in on us playing a few songs in the music room.
"Ana, you really don't believe me about the curse, do ya?" Korri said, lifting a beer to his lips and smirking.
"I still call bullshit. Curses are all superstition and folk tales." I scoffed, draining my fifth can of beer. Dee handed me the joint and I inhaled the herby flavor, holding in the smoke until my vision became fuzzy.
"Then why don't you go on in there then?" Korri said. I exhaled and giggled.
"Yeah okay… I'll do that… as soon as Axel can hit a soprano's high note." I chuckled and took another drag, then handed it to Z. "Or better yet, let him sing like Sarah Brightman. Chromaggia, from Repo!" I said pointedly, lifting my can to my lips to rid myself of cottonmouth.
Axel scoffed. "Hey! I can do it…" then he broke out into a surprisingly good imitation of the song. I nodded when he finished and threw my can at Korri.
"I'm not doin' it!" I said.
"You gots to now…. And I heard, that in the woods, there are eight pages hidden in those woods. They say if you find all eight pages, you'll be free from the curse. If not, you'll disappear…. Or get impaled on a tree. Or even go insane. That is… if you ever make it out of the woods."
"Wow… wait so let me get this straight: if you don't escape the gated part of the woods with those pages, you'll die. Or disappear? Yeah okay. Fuck. That." I strummed on my Spanish guitar, having had put away my electric one in favor of the exotic tunes in combination with the fire pit. I started to play the melody from Carlos Santana's Maria, Maria and softly sang the song.
"Maria, Mariaaaaaa…
She reminds me of a west side story…
Growing up in Spanish Harleeeem,
She's livin' the life just like a movie staaaaar….
Oh, Maria Mariaaaaa
She fell in love in East ….
To the sounds of the guitar, yeeeeaaah,
Played by-"
"Anarchy Vahn!" Dee sang over me, her voice cracking. I giggled and kept playing the tune, just humming the lyrics.
"Oh geez Ana! You have an incredible voice! I don't know why my bro is the lead singer when you have more talent vocally then him!" she said as she rolled another joint.
"Yeah, you- hey!" Axel scowled, but then smirked.
"Ugh… yeah, she's right though. You don't have to be just a guitarist." Said Z, unwrapping some candy and popping it into his mouth. I smiled.
"Thanks guys, but I'm not into all that attention. Besides, Axel is the one who organized this band, and he has a great voice by nature. I was classically trained, it isn't all natural." I shrugged.
"Classically trained or not, your voice is amazing. I don't know why you won't sing." Axel said.
"I just don't want to." I said.
"Okay! Well how about this?" Korri stood up and walked towards me. He pulled me up and straightened out my skinny tie, wiping away the ashes.
"Three hundred diablos say that you won't have the courage to even walk through those woods." He said, starting me straight in the eye.
"Three hundred bones?!... I could get a new amp with that…" I thought aloud, biting my nail. I looked up at him with resolve and nodded.
"You got a bet, douchebag."