Bonfire Night '13
Jody put her head on her hand as she sipped at dinner. She was bored, tired and sleepy. It was dinner on 5th November and they were going to have a bonfire outside. All but Harry were there; he was too young for this and he and Floss were staying at a friend's. Jody hated fireworks – they were too loud. And a waste of space.
She looked as Faith, Elektra and Frank were at one side of the table, finishing their meals. Johnny, Tee and Tyler were on her end, finishing up. Carmen and Lilly were half-asleep, eyes rolling. Mike and Gina were in the main part of the kitchen, clearing up. But Jody just felt weird.
"Come on," Gina called, "or you're not getting fireworks. And put coats on, it's freezing!" Jody was walking to her room to get her coat when she thought in the dim light of the upstairs corridor, she saw someone. Someone in a white sheet. Like a ghost. She blinked, and then turned the light on. Nothing there.
Turning, she went into her room.
Walking to her bed, she picked up her coat and gloves, as somebody stood in the doorway. A boy in pyjamas. But no ordinary boy; he had pale cracked skin, huge black bags under and around his eyes, almost like a corpse. As Jody turned, he'd vanished. Walking downstairs, a tall boy in swimming trunks stood at the top. Slowly, he ran down silently, and turned, disappearing in the curtain between.
Then a little boy in a dressing gown hid behind the doorway between the corridor and the den, watching. Silently.
Jody didn't see him, or the girl in a hiding place under the table, with long wavy black hair. Unsmiling, nearly dead. Or the girl in the red dress at the patio, seeing the bonfire.
Tonight, the child would be chosen. And taken.
Rick looked at the reels, curiously. Could there be any more proof before he called the police?
He just skimmed through the box until he found something he wore he hadn't seen before. Extended Endings.
He put it in the projector and watched.
It had the Halloween one. The drawings on the wall in blood, of pumpkins, ghosts and witches. But then, it showed a child in painting overalls, dragging an axe.
In the doorway, he could see them, the doorway of the house, just after walking out. A flash of lightning illuminated …BB.
Rick sat up. BB, holding the axe in his right hand, his hand rising to his lips as he shushed. Then he walked forward, vanishing. It then went to the Happy New Year one. In front of the burning house, the boy stood there, in his dressing gown. And shushed.
The Christmas one. The dead bodies swinging, dead. The tiny fireplace crackling just underneath them, the tree on a cart being driven away. And Jacob came up to the screen in his pyjamas, staring right at it. And shushed.
Valentine's Day '82. Rick sat up as he saw the little girl put a syringe down on the table, smiling as she did. Then shushed.
Then it had little Fall taking off gardening gloves, her red dress almost unstained. The graves were now filled with mud and the Easter egg baskets were scattered round. And shushed.
The beach. The boy sat on one of the towels, turning to the camera. And shushed before pushing himself in the water and vanishing.
Then the reel stopped. Rick felt sick. It wasn't just the news the children had done it, but he felt uneasy. Looking down at his glass, he saw an odd green liquid. And then he heard talking at the door.
"I really like the extended endings, they make things much nicer."
Floss.
Outside, Frank, Faith and Tyler were lying on the bench, half-asleep. Gina was sitting in a chair, wondering why she felt so tired. The guy on the bonfire was nearly burned out, the fireworks still packed, sausages uneaten.
Tee walked up to her and said, "Gina, I'm tired." Very child-like. "Tee, just lie down." She went over to a picnic blanket Carmen and Lilly were on, before nestling down by them. Johnny and Mike, inside, were beginning to put their heads in their hands. Jody was the only one standing away from anything.
But then Jody fell over, her vision blurring and falling deeply asleep.
She was asleep before she hit the ground.
When she woke, she was on one of the sofas. She could hardly see, but felt her wrists wrenched behind her. Looking round, she could see on a mattress on the floor near the table were Faith, Lilly and Frank. All were tied up, on their sides. On the other sofa, she could see Gina and on the floor beside her, Tee.
On the table were fireworks, lined up. On the floor scattered were fireworks and a black-brown powder. Gunpowder. It was also all over Jody and the others.
Jody swore she could see Mike lying by the door. Also tied up and not moving. And Carmen and Tyler's feet behind the other sofa. The pool table had been moved to beside the two, put on its side. The cues lay beside Faith. Johnny was propped up in one of the chairs, bound and gagged.
Jody looked as she saw someone. A figure in a dark cloak with a pointed face.
***
Sorry Rick." She said, as he began to close his eyes.