You know when that wave of inspiration just hits you and you're determined to make your idea reality? Well, that was just what happened to one Spencer Wright, amateur film producer. Zombie movies were what he lived for, he knew how to make them on a professional level, but sometimes it's good to stray from your comfort zone; demonic possession. The boy leapt off his bed, practically running to his computer, opening the internet browser, and typing in "ancient demons".
"Bro, what's with all the energy?" A confused Billy asked.
Spencer replied without looking away from the screen but enthusiasm in his voice, "Dude, we're gonna make a movie about demonic possession!" He clicked a link, taking him to a site that looked promising; there appeared to be information on multiple demons and spirits who could be the star. "They need to be confident, crazy, cunning, erm... Aha! This guy looks perfect!" His face shot away from the screen to look at Billy.
"Who, me? I always look perfect!"
"Not you," he rolled his eyes before continuing, "this 'Bill Cipher' guy." He pointed to an image of a triangle man with a top hat and bowtie, surrounded by a circle of symbols. "It even says how to summon him!"
The ghost floated over, concern showing on his face, "Man, are you sure you wanna mess around with that stuff? Like, ghosts exist so there's a possibility demons do, too."
Spencer laughed a little, "You really think we're gonna summon a real-life demon? This stuff's probably just made up to get attention." He took some screenshots and saved a few images before closing the browser. "Besides," swivelling round on his chair to face the other, he continued, "if it is a real demon, we can just exorcise it or something."
It was getting late, both boys decided to get to bed. They would talk about the new movie with Rajeev tomorrow at school.
Morning came, and with it so did the hell known as "school". Spencer met his friends outside their lockers, straight away he was talking about his new movie idea.
"Dude, that sounds awesome!" Rajeev seemed excited to take a roll in the movie. "Do you have a script yet?"
Spencer nodded enthusiastically, "You bet!", he paused and sighed ever so slightly, "I'm still revising parts of the script, though. I can't get the demon to sound quite right..."
"I'm sure you'll get it right in the end!" encouraged Shanilla, elbowing her brother in the side, who was staring at Lolo, causing him to flinch and agree.
"Thanks, guys. Anyway, I should have the script done later today. I'll send you a copy when I'm done."
The conversation continued as they made their way down the corridor to lesson, entered the classroom, and took their seats. All chatting ceased when Mr Ponzi shouted in frustration, making some students jump in their seats.
As usual, lessons seemed long and boring, Cleat picked on Spencer and Billy got revenge, Rajeev pestered Lolo, and Mr Ponzi shouted. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tomorrow was Saturday, the group of friends decided to help make some props for the new movie; there wasn't much that needed making so they could probably get it done in one day (if they worked fast). Filming would hopefully start on Sunday (Rajeev was surprisingly quick at learning his lines).
Saturday went as planned, it turned out that they only needed a fancy looking book and a costume for the demon (they had all the materials they needed from old projects). They sat on the floor of Spencer's room, all working, except for Billy who just floated around.
"And its..." Rajeev put the last few stitches in a piece of yellow fabric, "Done!" He held up his work to show the others.
Billy, who would be possessing the costume for filming (they would dub over the demon's parts later), thought it looked amazing. "Bro! That's so cool! Spence, we need to film this, like, now!"
The boy let out a laugh, "I thought you were scared incase we summoned a real life demon!" Billy looked annoyed, but couldn't help smiling. "We'll start filming tomorrow, if that's ok with everyone." He looked over to Rajeev, who nodded, confirming that Sunday was the day.
"Well, it's getting late. We should head home." A very tired Shanilla said before stretching her arms. Usually, she wouldn't be so bothered about how late it was but she would have to get up tomorrow for filming as she was on special effects.
Rajeev followed her to the door, "See you guys later!" And with that they were gone.
After working for most of the day, the two boys were pretty tired. Or rather, Spencer was tired as he was the only one of them that did any work. "Hey, dude, what time is it?" asked Spencer as he flopped onto his bed.
Billy took his phone out, turned the screen on, "Just a bit past nine." and placed it back in his pocket.
"Oh man! I'm so tired!" He sighed, "I think I'll just go to sleep..." His muffled voice came, face buried in pillow.
After a long night's rest, Spencer woke up to the world's worst sound: An alarm clock. Okay, maybe that's a little over the top, but he had to set his alarm for 6:30. There was lots of preparation to do for the first scene; he needed to draw the circle with the symbols in rather large on the floor, place some candles, get smoke machines set up, tripods, lighting... He was just glad that Billy would help.
With groans of complaint, the boy dragged himself out of bed, pulled his clothes on, and grabbed his camera. All the props and such had been moved down to the garage (where the movie would be filmed) yesterday with the help of the twins. "Come on, let's set up." He called over to the ghost, who tiredly followed the boy out of the room, into the lift, and into the garage.
Spencer flicked the light switch next to the lift door; white lights flickered on, blinding the boy for a second. The air was cool, making the whole getting up early thing seem even worse to Spencer, he shivered a little before adjusting to the temperature. He looked over to Billy, "Could you get some candles? I'm gonna start drawing that circle thing." He gestured to the floor and headed over to the table at the far wall to find some chalk, meanwhile Billy dived into a pile of boxes next to the door. Finding a chunk of white chalk, he set about drawing a circle and failing to do so. Muttering under his breath, " I hate circles." He looked up, "Hey, Billy, found those candles yet?"
The ghost poked his head out from a box near the top of the pile, "No." He spoke in a huff.
"Wanna switch places for a bit then?"
Billy was far better at drawing the circle, mainly because of his ghost powers.
Spencer looked up for a second, "Oh, BRB, I forgot to get a photo of the victim"
"Who's photo are you gonna use?"
"I'll just get a low quality one of me, no one'll notice."
Near the end of setting up, Rajeev and Shanilla arrived. It wasn't long before they could start filming.
The camera was rolling, the smoke machines were ready, Rajeev took his place and spoke his lines, "Triangulum, entangulum. Metefori-"
"Cut!" Spencer stopped the video, walked over to his friend.
"What was wrong with that?" He said, sounding slightly offended.
"You sounded a little too unenthusiastic." He took the script out of his back pocket, "Maybe try something like..." He paused to remind himself of the lines, then with the emotion he wanted spoke, "Triangulum, entangulum. Meteforis dominus ventium. Meteforis venetisarium! Asetnoheptus, Asetnoheptus, Asetnoheptus, Asetnoheptus, Asetnoheptus!" He turned to face Rajeev again but before he could say anything blue light filled the room. Everyone's eyes fixed upon the cipher wheel as something appeared in the air above it. Manic laughing rung through their ears. The light flashed before fading to reveal a bright yellow triangle. Spencer was the first to speak, "th-that's Bill Cipher!?" he stuttered.
"Whoa! Good job on knowing my name there, kid!" The demon laughed again.
Billy flew down to Spencer's side, clutching onto his arm as if for protection.
"I would've thought a ghost would be less scared of me!" he teased.
Shanilla, who was standing in a corner, suddenly stepped forward, making a cross shape with her forearms she shouted, "Be gone, demon!" But Bill just laughed, she tried again only to have the same response.
"You humans think that stuff works on me? Oh! I haven't laughed like this in centuries!" He cackled. Once he calmed down, he continued, "Look, surely one of you wants to make a deal, why would I be here otherwise?" Of course he knew that his summoning had been an accident but why pass up a perfect opportunity?
Spencer looked at Billy, if Bill had been summoned because someone wanted to make a deal then maybe this was why. "If this is why you came here, then..." He paused, thinking about what he was about to do, "Then I'll make a deal with you. Give Billy his physical body back. What do you want in return?" His expression was stern.
Bill thought for a second, "Hmm... How about you let me use anything in your studio?" And with that, they shook hands.
But, something was wrong. Bill pulled at Spencer's arm, ripping his soul from his body. His ghost hung above the ground as he took in what just happened.
The demon let out a cackle, snapped his fingers, blue flames licked at the floor revealing a horrific sight.
Billy's dead, decaying corpse.
Shanilla gave a shout in shock, Rajeev screamed, Spencer looked at Billy. The ghost had a blank expression, then let out a pathetic laugh before breaking down. Spencer floated over to him, trying his best to comfort Billy. "What the hell?! This wasn't the deal!" The boy shouted at the demon.
Bill laughed again, "Sorry kid, but you said I could use anything in your studio. So, Im going to use you!" He turned to leave, "Well, I've got work to do!" and left through the lift.
If Billy wasn't so upset then Spencer would have gone after the demon but there was no way he was leaving the ghost like this. He wondered what to do about the corpse. He whispered to Billy as he held him, "Don't worry, everything's ok." He looked over to the Bugwati twins, wondering if they could see him, however his question was soon answered when they both called out his name.
"Billy, I need to get something so Shanilla and Rajeev can see me." he spoke with a calm voice. The ghost didn't want to be left alone so clung onto the other boy while he made his way to his bedroom to gather a couple of items.
Upon returning, he gave the twins each a bracelet that he found. "Ah! Spencer, what happened?" Shanilla asked. Spencer explained, then turned to an even darker matter.
"What are we gonna do about..." He couldn't finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant. No one knew what to do about it, it wasn't like they could just hide it in the house.
"We should bury him." Shanilla spoke softly, "I doubt we can get to the graveyard where…" She trailed off, seeing that Billy was growing increasingly upset, "Spencer, you take Billy and, if you can, try to keep an eye on Bill." She gave a reassuring smile, it seemed forced though.
Rajeev found a cloth that was laying around in the room, used it to cover the body. Spencer escorted Billy to their bedroom, he trusted the twins could take care of things without him for now.