Chapter 13- There Will Be Blood
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my ideas, my laptop, and my procrastination problems. Sorry guys. All characters belong to MysteryBen27 and company.
Double Disclaimer: I'm completely going to spoil The Shining and The Hills Have Eyes in this chapter. I don't own either of these movies. Unless you really wanted to see these two horror films, I'd suggest scrolling past the parts where the movies are taking place.
"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!" the doorbell hollered from the living room. I quickly approached the door and pulled it open with one forceful yank. Standing outside were three children, all of whom were dressed as superheroes. One as Batman, one as Superman, and the other as Wonder Woman. "Trick or treat!" they cheered in unison. Slightly surprised, I reached into the candy bowl and gave each kid three chocolates. I expected Vivi to be behind the door. I quietly watched the giddy children leave before shutting the door.
"Who was it?" My mom asked calmly as she sat down on our blindingly white, pristine couch. "Just neighborhood kids?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Should we pick out horror movies now or wait until Vivi gets here?"
She took a second to brush a strand of bright purple hair out of her face before replying, "I was thinking maybe your father and I could pick out two movies and then you and Vivian can pick out two movies. How does that sound?"
"Fair, I guess. As long as Dad doesn't pick out all of the gory movies." I joked, smiling just a little.
"Alrighty then, you hand out candy to any children at the door and wait for Vivi while I go make some snacks." my mom instructed, standing up and heading into the kitchen.
I sighed and leaned back into the couch. Hopefully my parents wouldn't humiliate me in front of her when she gets here. I haven't had a friend over in years, so I didn't know how they were going to react to this. My parents mostly liked to embarrass me in front of my grandparents. If they were going to try to pull a fast one on me, it would be some other time, since I only just got accustomed to having Vivi as a friend. I only knew this girl for about three weeks and I was already able to call her my friend. And what about Arthur? Would he be considered a friend too? Maybe so. I acquired two real friends in sixteen years. Damn, I was making some real progress!
I chuckled to myself as I stood up to answer the door again. I pulled the door open to find no one there, to my surprise. "Huh," I spoke to myself. "It must've been ding-dong-ditchers."
I was about to shut the door when a mass of blue jumped up out of nowhere, screaming, "Your soul is mine!" at the top of her lungs. I jumped, accidentally knocking over the whole candy bowl and falling on my butt on the floor in one clumsy move.
I cursed in Italian out of habit, then quickly hoped my parents hadn't heard it from the kitchen. I stood up, my rear end feeling pretty sore, and let Vivi in, asking angrily, "What was that for!?"
Howling with laughter, she apologized, "I'm sorry Lewis! I had to! Oh my gosh that was so funny! And what did you say?"
"Something you wouldn't say in front of your parents. But seriously, why did you have to scare me like that!?" I exclaimed frustratedly.
"Calm down, Lew! It was just a little prank," the blue haired girl consoled, patting my shoulder. I noticed that she had washed off her makeup and was out of costume. I had long since rinsed off all of my face paint, but it was surprising that Vivi did the same. "You're gonna have to get used to it if we're going to that haunted house tonight!" she giggled happily.
"Right. Anyway, my mom said we can pick out the movies on demand for the marathon. Which ones shall we select?" I asked, scratching my head.
"Well, let's see what's on there!"
I sat on the left side of the couch with Vivi right next to me. But not too close though. I snatched the television remote and used the menu buttons to get to the horror selections on demand. A lot of the ones that we watched recently were on there, like The Conjuring and Fear. Right under those two were all of the Friday the Thirteenth movies. "See anything you like?"
"Ooh!" the blue haired girl shouted eagerly. "How about The Shining? You said the book was really good, right?"
"Relax," I hushed her. I couldn't help but smile at her energy. "The Shining sounds good. We should probably let my parents pick a movie or two, too."
"Wait, your parents are joining us..?" Vivi questioned nervously, her tone instantly changing.
"Yes, of course. What's the matter with that?"
"Well let's see," she shifted uncomfortably on the couch before confessing, "I barely know your parents and I'm kinda scared of them. I mean, new friend's parents right? I don't know why, but I feel like I have to prove something to them. Or impress them. And I haven't even spoken to them yet!"
"It'll be fine, my parents are good people. You don't have anything to worry abou-" I began before my mom came in, instantly shutting me up.
"Here, I brought some food in, in case you're hungry. Don't be afraid to let me know if you need anything else, Vivian. Anyway, I actually have to start preparing dinner soon, so I'll have to miss one or two of the movies. Which ones are you two picking?" my mom rambled, setting a small bowl of strawberries between us.
"Strawberries?" I raised an eyebrow.
"We already picked The Shining, but we'll still need two or three more movies. Would you like to pick any, Mrs. Hinsey?" Vivi asked charm fully, startling me just a bit with her mannerisms. She really did want to impress my mom and dad.
"I don't think so, thank you. But I think Lewis's father might want to select one. I'll be around to watch the second movie, so choose wisely. Well, I have to start making the lasagna, so I'll be off. Wait, you're okay with lasagna, right Vivi? You're not a finicky eater or anything?"
"Not at all," the blue haired girl smiled warmly. "I'll eat anything! I absolutely love food!"
"Alrighty then," my mother said as she strolled back into the kitchen, leaving the two of us all alone to watch The Shining.
"Have you ever seen it? Or read it?" Vivi asked curiously, still extremely chipper.
I responded and pressed the play button for the film to begin, not before checking to see that it was the original one and not the shitty remake. "I haven't seen the original movie yet but I have read the book quite a few times, yes. How about you?"
"I read the book once, but that was like three years ago," she replied bluntly. "As for the movie, I saw it once about a year ago. Except it was that bad remake, not the original one."
"Hold up," I spoke as the endless movie trailers started to play. "You read the book three years ago? That means you read The Shining when you were in sixth grade?"
"So?" the blue haired girl shrugged, snatching a strawberry to snack on from the bowl.
"You read that book, sex scenes and gore and countless curse words when you were eleven?" I asked, somewhat amazed.
"Yeah. I really didn't care." Vivi laughed at my awed facial expression. "I didn't understand it fully, but I enjoyed the book, nevertheless."
"Wow," I breathed. "I would've been mentally scarred if I had read that book at a younger age. You've got guts..."
"You got that right," she grinned, a smug look spreading across her face. She reached over and popped another strawberry in her mouth before continuing, "I was a brave soul. I still am! I don't think anything really phased me as a kid. Just my imagination."
"Your imagination?" I inquired, grabbing a few sweet strawberries for myself.
"Yeah, I guess..." my friend trailed off.
"That would make you a great ghost hunter," I explained, beaming. "If you, Arthur, and I ever started our own investigation team, I'm one hundred percent sure that you'd be the bravest person in the group. I don't get that scared, but I'm pretty sure you've noticed I don't react well to things jumping out at me. And then Arthur... Someone would have to teach him to block his emotions from ghosts. If he's even joining us, that is."
"True... I think you would do an ideal job of teaching him, don't you think? Before we were friends, I would always see you around being reclusive and stoic as ever. I'm not saying he has to become emotionless, but it could get dangerous if Arthur ever exposed himself to a ghost like that. Thank god he has Mystery by his side." Vivi intoned seriously.
"Me? No!" I waved my hands around anxiously to emphasize my point. "I can't do that!"
"Who says?" the blue haired girl questioned. "You've never even tried!"
"I don't know, Vivi," I sighed, snatching another strawberry. "Anyway, the movie's about to start so we might as well pay attention to it."
"Good idea," Vivi giggled, turning to face the television. "Hopefully it's better than the remake!"
A terrified woman, also known as Wendy Torrance, ran down the hallway of The Overlook, practically screaming bloody murder as a deranged man with a fire axe followed close behind. Wendy hid behind a door and locked it, all in one swift move. She made petty attempts to lock the door as her own husband, Jack Torrance, began whacking ferociously with his ax. Wendy sat there, shrieking as her possessed husband hacked away at the door. He had cut enough to where he could look inside and spot his wife. He let out an unstable cackle before shouting furiously, "HERE'S JOHNNY!"
"Run away, Wendy!" Vivi exclaimed. She was practically sucked into the movie. "Don't just sit there! Do something!"
Finally, as if she was listening to Vivi's word of advice, Wendy pulled out a knife and slashed her possessed husband's hand and made her escape.
"Now she's gotta find Danny," I thought out loud, grabbing a strawberry from the bowl, now sitting on Vivi's lap. She had been hogging it from me for pretty much the entire movie.
"She's probably going to die. Danny and that Halloran guy are out in the hedge maze, remember?" she corrected, adjusting her pink-tinted glasses.
As expected, Wendy began frantically roaming the enormous hotel, searching for her missing son. "Doc, where are you? Danny, come out!" she cried hysterically. "We have to get out of here!"
We were interrupted by my mother, who walked into the living room wearing her winter coat and held her keys in hand. "Lewis, I forgot some ingredients for the side dish, so I have to go to the grocery store really quickly. I'll be back in fifteen minutes and your father will be home shortly, too. I need you two to behave while I'm gone, okay? I'm sorry I have to go, but I have to."
"Okay Mom, we'll be fine." I reassured her. "It's only fifteen minutes. We'll behave."
"You better," she chuckled. "Now I'll be going. Don't answer the door for anyone but trick or treaters and don't mess with the oven!"
"We know!" I called back to her. She then went outside the front door, leaving us to our horror movie. Halloran was running down the hallway as fast as he could, but he wasn't fast enough. Jack was able to keep up with his dwindling stamina. The possessed caretaker took his fire ax and swung it into Halloran's head.
"Ooh, right in the noggin!" Vivi hollered as poor Halloran was bludgeoned by Jack's ax. I cringed as blood spattered on the floor.
"Poor dude had it coming," I exhaled. "You're not a gore fan, are you?"
"Hell yeah I am!" the blue haired girl proclaimed. "I'm not startled by blood one bit! I've seen quite a few gory movies, too."
I tuned back in on the movie, were Wendy and Danny escape on the snowmobile Halloran brought to the hotel in the first place. They had abandoned their frozen, possessed Jack back in the hedge maze, leaving him there to die off. Then, the screen slowly faded to black as he let out one last demonic cackle, followed by the credits.
"Well, that was a great movie, even though it was a bit different from the book." Vivi stated, sighing contently. She stood up, announcing, "I'm gonna go use the bathr-" she quickly sat back down, not bothering to complete her sentence.
"What is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The blue haired girl just sat there, a nervous expression on her face. "What is it, Vivi?"
Her anxious blue eyes were locked on me. "I'm fine, just put on another movie," she said shakily. Her legs were crossed and her foot was tapping the floor repeatedly.
"Not until you tell me what that was all about," I demanded, crossing my arms. What was she so freaked out about?
"I-It's nothing!" Vivi stammered, putting on a faux demeanor. "Just p-p-put on the movie!"
"You can tell me, there's nothing to worry about." I consoled. "You're worrying me, just say what's wrong."
"It happened," she whispered.
"What happened?" I questioned, trying to hide my frustration. I studied my friend, who was sitting uncomfortably, with her hands on her lap. Covering her lap. My stomach sank. "Stand up," I ordered, now feeling equally nervous as to what she was hiding.
Finally giving up, the blue haired girl stood up, gripping her skirt. She looked slightly mortified, and that's when I realized it. Taking in the conflict before me, my face began to redden almost as much as the dark, bloody spots on my used-to-be-clean, white couch. I looked at Vivi. Then back at the couch. And back at Vivi. The front of her skirt looked clean from what I could tell, but I had a creeping suspicion that it wouldn't be the same story for the back side. "I'm sorry," she mumbled sheepishly, her voice quavering.
I was speechless, but I had to do something. I had to... My stomach plummeted even deeper. "Oh no..." my friend breathed in a hushed whisper. "Your parents. They'll see it! Oh my god, this is humiliating!" she cried.
"Come with me," I muttered, blushing profusely. I lead her to the bathroom and crouched down in front of the cabinets under the sink. I frantically dug through the mess of hair and cleaning products. It had to be somewhere. Finally, I found a box of pads and tossed them to Vivi as if it had burnt my hands. "Take these. There's gotta be instructions somewhere on the box," I said quietly, my face burning with secondhand embarrassment.
Vivi nodded awkwardly, shooing me out and quietly closing the door behind me. I dashed to my bedroom and opened the dresser. She obviously needed a new pair of pants or something to wear besides that bloodstained skirt. I barely knew anything about 'that time of the month,' but I had a little background information from my older relatives. I also knew my mom kept a box of feminine products in the back of the cabinet. I fished around in my bottom drawer until I found an old pair of blue jeans. There were holes in both knees, but they were small enough for Vivi to fit into them, since I hadn't worn them in years.
I knocked on the bathroom door and called out shakily, "I have some pants for you to wear... They're worn out, but it's the only thing I have that could possibly fit." The door opened just slightly, and a hand snaked out of the crack to snatch the jeans. Then it shut again.
"Thank you," Vivi sighed exhaustedly from the other side of the door. "I'm sorry this happened... This one's gonna be hard to forget." she laughed half-heartedly.
I exhaled and replied, "It's not your fault. I'll be in the living room when you're done in there." I silently walked into the living room, examining the golf-ball sized blood stain on the couch. "God, what did I do to get myself in a situation like this?" I thought reluctantly as I sat on the chair next to the couch.
I buried my flushed face in my large hands, panicked by all of the embarrassment and awkwardness. I couldn't even imagine how Vivi must've been feeling. I felt humiliated and I wasn't even the one who bled on the couch. The couch I was going to have to clean before Mom got back home. She probably felt mortified. Maybe I should try to forget it had happened, just to make Vivi feel a little more comfortable about the whole thing.
"Are you okay?" I glanced up to see Vivi staring at me, hands on her hips. The pants I lent her were baggy on her, but they still fit.
"Yeah," I nodded. "How about you pick the next movie while I clean up this, err... Mess?"
Vivi took a seat on the couch. "That would be nice. I'm sorry you have to do this. You sure you don't want some help?"
"Nah, I'll be fine," I stood up and went to get some cleaning products from the bathroom. "You just sit there and select another movie from on demand. Pick whatever you want!"
"Kay," the blue haired girl replied bluntly. I gathered my supplies and returned to the living room. I wished myself good luck before proceeding to clean my friend's blood off the couch.
"I'm home!" my mother hollered as she burst into the house with a handful of groceries. "Did you two behave?"
"Yeah," I called back. "We finished the first movie, so now we're watching The Hills Have Eyes."
She set down the groceries in the kitchen and stepped into the living room. Vivi and I were sitting on the couch, now closer together since nether of us wanted to sit where the blood spots had existed, even though I already washed it away. Vivi shifted slightly next to me, probably uncomfortable with having to sit so close by me. "Ooh, The Hills Have Eyes? That's a scary one! It certainly scared me when I saw it! You sure you won't have bad dreams, Lewis?"
"I'll be fine, Mom," I groaned. Vivi was dead silent. "Is Dad going to be home soon?"
"He said he'd be here in about a half an hour. Traffic's bad today," my mother informed. "Once he gets home dinner will probably be done so we'll eat and then head up to the haunted house. Afterwards, we could all watch another horror movie, if time allows it. Vivian, did your parents say a specific time they wanted you home?"
"No they didn't," she answered. "Should I text them later on about it?"
"Probably," my mom shrugged, brushing her bangs out of her aged face. "I'll leave you two alone to your movie now." she said as she scurried back into the kitchen.
I turned back to Vivi and asked, "You sure you wanna watch The Hills Have Eyes?"
"Yeah, I picked that movie. We're either watching this or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And if I were you, I'd stick with The Hills Have Eyes," she chuckled, her blue bob bouncing as she laughed.
"Okay fine," I sighed and turned back to the screen. The movie had already begun, but thanks to my mother's interlude we missed the first five minutes or so. The gas station owner was talking to a rather large family of seven about short cuts to get to their destination. The father nodded as everyone poured back into the RV. There was a mother, a father, two teenage children, and adult sibling, her husband, and a baby. Not to mention the two German Shepherds accompanying them.
The whole family was arguing and causing mayhem. The baby was crying, the teenage son wanted a cigarette from his brother-in-law, the parents were fighting. The air conditioner was broken. It looked like total chaos. Then that's when their tires got punctured by random spike traps, just sitting there in the middle of the desert.
"This family doesn't get along to well," I said to Vivi. "If they argue so much, it isn't exactly smart to go on a vacation together."
"Very true, especially since they're in a survival horror movie." she stated. "I've never seen The Hills Have Eyes, but I have small background knowledge on what happens."
"Then you're at an advantage" I asserted. "I haven't seen this movie either, let alone heard about it."
I tuned back in on the movie. The father and his son-in-law, who don't get along at all, decided it was a great idea to wander out into the desert together to look for help. At first, they walked together, but they soon trailed off separate ways, another bad decision. Back at the RV, the son, Bobby, was relaxing and doing absolutely nothing was startled by one of his dogs escaping from the trailer and running off into the middle of nowhere. The boy bolted after the dog without a word. "Beauty! Beauty!" he cried. "Get back here!"
Bobby chased after the sound of barking, determined to catch his dog. But when the barking stopped, the teen reached the dog... Who was lying dead on the desert ground with its stomach torn open. He ran over to his pet with tears in his eyes, only to trip and knock himself unconscious.
"Smart child they got there," I chortled.
"I know right?" Vivi giggled in response. "These people don't seem to know what they're doing!"
"Yeah.. I'm surprised you picked this movie. I honestly thought you'd pick another ghost flick." I confessed.
"Eh, you gotta have some variety every once in a while. Besides, a lot of ghost themed movies these days are just plain terrible." she informed me.
"True..."
"Now look back at the screen! You can't miss this part!" Vivi demanded excitedly.
A strangely deformed girl in a red sweatshirt was now next to the fallen boy, as if she was trying to protect him. Her face was badly malformed and her posture was very thrown off. She was growling at another deformed person, who was looming over the dead dog. Instead of answering my question about what these humanoid creatures were or why they were killing animals, the scene simply cut out to the father, who was back investigating the gas station. He flipped through newspapers in the owner's office, reading the dusty headlines. They all said things like, 'nuclear disaster,' or 'dangerous radiation.' That must've been how these malformed people became malformed in the first place.
I shot a quick glance at Vivi, who silently stared into the television, and I looked back at the film. The father managed to get himself kidnapped by the humanoids and was currently being dragged into the mining caves. I involuntarily shuddered.
The scene then cut back to Bobby, who was reawakening later on that night. His mutilated dog was nowhere to be seen. Distraught, the boy headed back to the trailer, somehow without getting lost. Because they are in a horror movie, the rest of the family makes the poor decision of not asking Bobby where he had been. And of course, the teen decided not to tell his family what had happened either.
"That choice is going to come back and bite him in the ass now, isn't it?" I asked Vivi as if she knew the answer.
"Probably," the blue haired girl replied. "I like this movie so far but it appears that everyone who isn't a radioactive mutant is brainless. They're making all sorts of bad choices. The only smart human in this movie is the baby!" she jested.
I chuckled and turned back to the film. In the .005 seconds I wasn't paying attention, the father was burned alive, the oldest child was shot to death, and the baby had been kidnapped by mutants. "I take that back," she giggled.
"These people need to get it together!" I laughed along.
"I think I'm on the mutants' side now," Vivi chuckled, happy to see me actually laughing for once. "They've got this thought out!"
As the other German Shepherd, Beast, attacked one of the spying mutants, I heard commotion from the kitchen and knew my dad was home. He always made a noisy entrance whenever he came home from work. Vivi shifted uncomfortably next to me.
"Dinner's ready!" my mom hollered from the kitchen. Pausing the movie, I stood up and motioned for Vivi to come to the kitchen.
Hopefully nothing goes wrong.
(A/N: Gosh, it's getting worse! I'm almost done with Chapter 14, but I'm getting crammed with final exams and projects now. However, I'm just about done with Chapter 14 and I'm starting 15 today. Hopefully I can pull myself back together because I missed the daily posting. Ahem, anyway. In the mean time, I wrote a shitty one-shot called Parallel for MSA Ghost [duh] and you can go ahead and check it out during the brief hiatus, if there is one. But there won't be because I'm gonna work my butt off XD Anyway, I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye!)