The hand in the jar
Making out with Lucas was fun.
Like, really fun.
Maybe it had something to do with how surprised he always seemed, when she kissed him. Like he couldn't really believe what was happening. Later, when Max was alone in her room again, she'd always think back to these surprised looks on his face and laugh her ass off at the memory. Geez, he was such a stalker, Lucas. In a good way, though.
This time, they'd been sharing one of Billy's stupid old bean bags in the living room, her feet reaching halfway over Lucas' shins, and both of them trying to focus on the tv screen instead of on each other. They were supposed to watch this weird, spanish movie twice until next week: One time with subtitles and one time without. Max didn't really get why that was necessary, the strange, prism-break plot was not exactly complicated and she'd surely have understood it just by looking at the pictures. But she kind of liked the way she and Lucas sat here together, every now and then making some funny remarks about things they found particularly bad about the movie. So she was actually looking forward to another afternoon like this.
„Stop tickling me.", she laughed, when Lucas' hand accidentally brushed her stomach, on its way to the popcorn bowl next to Max. He frowned, confused, and when he realized what she meant, he guffawed.
„Oh, come on, I barely touched you! Are you that ticklish, really?"
„M-hm, m-hm, sure, a total accident. Very believable.", she replied in false-sarcasm, a grin on her lips. She was reaching for the popcorn bowl herself and put it down in her lap, between the two of them.
As Lucas smiled a little sheepishly and grabbed some popcorn from the bowl, Max couldn't help but to reach next to it and poke his stomach slightly with her pointer finger. He smirked when he saw her frowning.
„Nope, doesn't work like that.", he told her, grinning innocently. „I'm basically tickle-proof."
Max laughed, if a little annoyed. She shook her head and tried tickling him again, to absolutely no result. „What the hell?", she complained, as Lucas snickered.
„Seriously, it's kind of impossible to tickle me.", he explained, proudly. „It's like a super-power."
Max snorted. „There has to be a spot where you are ticklish, though. Everyone has one."
Lucas shook his head, still grinning all confidently. „Not this guy, though, nope."
Max smiled while her eyes narrowed. „I think you're bluffing, Sinclair.", she stated.
And what began then was one of the most lively tickling-duels Hawkins, Indiana had ever seen. In the end, both teens were laughing like crazy and a little out of breath.
„Okay, okay, you win!", Lucas grinned, through heaving breaths, and the two of them sat back on their old spots in the big bean bag. „Maybe I am sort of ticklish, after all."
Max shook her head, looking around for the remote control. „Okay, we've missed like, a third of the movie already, we relly need to pay attention.", she decided, knowing fully well that she probably would get bored again four or five minutes later.
„I mean, we don't have to.", Lucas quipped in, shrugging. „We could always say 'screw it' and just watch the thing on Saturday."
It was a tempting offer...
Max hummed, contemplating this. „So, what do you want to do instead, then?"
She didn't miss the way his gaze dropped to her mouth for half a second, right then, or the way he blushed almost invisibly. Max had to fight a knowing smirk, finally spotting the remote control and reaching for the 'off' button. And then...
Well, then Lucas's face got that hilariously surprised expression again.
A little later, when the two of them had picked up the sort of conversation that could easily fit between lazy kisses and jokes, Lucas told Max about the small bunch of horror movies he'd already borrowed for Halloween.
„I mean, it's not like Mike won't borrow any, but last year two of the tapes he got were broken, because Holly spilled her apple juice on his school bag, or something. And then we ended up watching „E.T." for, like, the tenth time, the day before Halloween." Lucas frowned. „I mean, it just could have been scarier, you know? So this year, I'm bringing some video tapes, too, just in case."
Max nodded. „Makes sense. Although I highly doubt that Wheeler will risk anything this year. He'd probably buy a whole video store just to make sure that this freaking party ends up perfect."
Lucas laughed, rolling his eyes. „That's true. He's not the only one like that, though. Dustin wouldn't even tell El any properly scary horror stories, yesterday, because he wants to 'save the best ones for Halloween', or something."
Max was intrigued. „Wait, El is into horror stories now?", she smiled, her mind already plotting something out.
Lucas shrugged. „Yeah, I mean, I guess. Why, do you know any good ones?"
Max smirked. „Don't know, depends on what you guys are used to, but given the absolute boringness of this town, I could probably scare you to death, I guess."
He didn't seem convinced at all. „Okay, who's bluffing now?", he chuckled, fingers poking her stomach again in a way that made Max widen her eyes. „Oh no, don't you start that again, Stalker, that would be the death of you!", she warned, amusedly.
„I thought your oh-so-scary horror stories were the death of me, Madmax?"
„That, too."
„Oh, obviously."
They both laughed.
„Okay, give it a try then!", Lucas dared her, cheekily. She raised an eyebrow at that.
„What, you mean, tell you a horror story?"
„Uh-huh, sure."
Max thought about that for a moment. „Hm, okay. Why not?"
She stood up from her spot on the bean-bag, to Lucas' surprise and confusion. „Where – where are you going?", he wondered, perhaps a little annoyed at the loss of contact between them, Max noticed.
„What, you think we're gonna do this in the living room? Nope, you're coming into the basement with me. That's way scarier.", she explained, and turned around again, her red hair flying behind her in a bow. She could have sworn her boyfriend looked a tad-bit scared, already. - Perfect.
So, here they were, then: The tiles on the floor were cold where they sat, the old walls covered in moldy, gray wallpaper. The only light in the basement came from the candle Max had just lit, - yes, one candle only, providing an atmosphere of 'Don't breathe to hard, because then it could be completely dark down here in just a second.'
If there was one thing Max really enjoyed about this house they'd moved into, last year, it was the creepy, quiet basement. Sometimes, she'd sneak down here just to have some peaceful silence, when Billy had once again turned his music up too high, or when everything upstairs was nothing but a giant, stressy mess. Max couldn't stand her step-dad, and sometimes, she couldn't even stand her mom. So, the basement it was. None of her other ''family-members'' came down here very often.
„So, when were you going to tell me that you share a basement with Dr. Frankenstein, Max?", Lucas asked, looking around them in disbelief. „Seriously, this is super-spooky."
She grinned. „Yep, it's pretty awesome. My mom only ever spends time here when she puts clothes in the washing machine, but even then she's always in a hurry. So it's basically just me here."
„Rad!", Lucas murmured, looking awed and a little freaked-out.
„So, the story I'll tell you is called: The hand in the glass."
Max cleared her throat and watched him, as she talked. The orange gleam of the candle flame painted colourful shadows across his features.
„A couple years ago, a man entered an old bar in Florida. It wasn't a nice bar, it was actually pretty shabby and dirty, but the few custumers that kept visiting it were enough to keep the pub running. The middle-aged man that had just walked through the door sat down in front of the barkeeper, and asked for a beer."
„So, wait.", Lucas stopped her, curiously. „Is this something that actually happened?"
Max smirked. „Don't know. Maybe.", she shrugged, a twinkle in her eyes before she kept going.
„Anyway. The man ordered something and started chatting with the barkeeper, when suddenly, he noticed something super-weird next to him, and jumped in surprise. On the bar counter, there was a giant, big jar with water inside. And in the water, there was something that looked a lot like a human hand."
„Okay, so this didn't actually happen.", Lucas smirked.
„Oh, just wait.", Max smiled. „Maybe you'll find it more realistic later."
She continued with the story. „So, the man screamed a bit and was like: „Oh god, what's that?", and the barkeeper just laughed and said: „Calm down! That's just Wendy. Well, we call it Wendy, anyway. It's an electronic toy, to scare the customers. It's hilarious!" But the guy with the beer was really scared and wanted to know why anyone would ever put that thing in a bar.
„It's from the previous owner, he was really into spooky stuff.", the barkeeper explained. „Look", he said, and pulled out a little remote control. He pressed one of the buttons, and suddenly...-"
Max reached out to touch the jar that was currently standing in between her and Lucas, the one that held the candle,
„And suddenly, the hand behind the glass started moving, and it scratched against the jar, from the inside."
Max mimicked the scratching movement, lightly scrabbing against the jar, the quiet sound reverberating in the completely lightless basement. Lucas actually looked a little nervous, now.
„The man seemed super freaked-out by the electronical hand, mostly, because it looked so extremely real. The barkeeper laughed and offered him to take the remote control himself, but the man didn't want to take it. „Make it stop!", he said, „I hate scary stuff, make it stop!" So the barkeeper made the hand stop moving, and put the remote contol away. „No worries! It's just a toy!", he said, and the man seemed somewhat calm again.
But then... the hand started scratching at the glass again. Even though no one had touched the remote control."
Max repeated the scratching movement against the candle jar once more.
„What is going on?", the man asked the bar keeper, and he started to get hysteric and angry again. „I said I don't like this stuff, make it stop right now!"
The barkeeper seemed confused. „Oh, that's probably just Larry. He has the second remote control, wait a second."
The barkeeper turned around and opened the door to a little kitchen next to the bar. „Larry?"
„Yes?", said some lanky guy, in there, and walked towards them.
„Hey, this one here doesn't like the hand-thing, maybe give it a rest for a couple minutes, yeah?", laughed the barkeeper."
Max was mimicking all the different voices slightly, excited when she saw Lucas smile at her as a result.
„Larry looked confused. „Huh? I didn't do the hand-thing, Peter."
„Wait, what?", asked the barkeeper, laughing a little. „Of course you did, it keeps moving around!"
Right then, the hand started moving again. It suddenly turned around, in the jar, and scratched and knocked louder than ever. It almost looked, as if the hand was pointing at someone... At the man with the beer.
„I said, stop it! Stop it!", the man screamed, but the hand only pointed harder in his direction.
Larry held both of his hands up. „I'm not doing that! Peter, come on, you need to stop this, he's terrifyed!"
„I'm not doing anything, either!", the barkeeper said, in confusion. The noise from the jar got louder and louder, the plastic hand moving and moving, and then...
„Fine, I'll admit it! I killed her! I did it!", the man screamed, and the other two saw him pull at his hair, looking completely insane.
The police arrived, a little later. Turns out, the guy had once killed a girl in that bar, and was convinced the hand in the jar was hers. But no one ever really found out, whether that was true, or not. Maybe it was just a weird, crazy horror toy that was somehow broken. The end."
Max smiled at Lucas. „So, what do you say? Scary enough?"
Lucas laughed. „I liked it! The different voices were nice."
Max gave him a little bow and a grin. „Thank you, thank you."
It was quiet for a moment. Then, Lucas asked: „So, do you want to go upstairs again, now?"
Max only smirked. „Nah. It's so much scarier, down here."
And with that, she suddenly blew the candle out that stood between them, clouding the room in complete darkness. The last thing she saw was Lucas' surprised look, when she pulled him closer and kissed him again. Even here in the darkness, the look was priceless.
(The end.)
