The van swerved suddenly, causing a few shrieks as the six passengers were thrown to the side. Deisha shifted, leaning against the window next to her while adjusting her headphones. She glanced back but saw nothing in the utter darkness surrounding them. Crooked branches appeared out of thin air in the limited well of light from the van, their old, bent shapes seemingly reaching for the passing vehicle.
"Jesus, Ben," the girl in the passenger seat said, scolding the anxious driver. "I'll never understand why mom thinks
you're
the safer driver."
"You broke the fence," the older boy said tersely, his hands locked to the wheel while leaning forward to peer into the darkness. "Twice. With the car. You still have your learner's permit and you're graduating this year. Well, dad has your permit. Besides, there was something on the road."
He turned the wheel but the left tire dipped into a hole and the van bounced. Deisha grabbed the seat in front of her to hold steady but shrank back as the tip of a branch scraped against her window. She shivered with her eyes closed as the sound of it pierced through the music playing over her headphones. The girl shoved her hands into her black jean jacket to pull it close against her body for security.
"Are you sure it's out here?" Benjamin asked. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard but then back to the road, turning the wheel to avoid yet another pothole. "We've been in these stupid woods over ten minutes now."
"Jake said it was," his sister told him, staring at her phone as she double-checked her texts. The screen highlighted the freckles high on her pale cheeks. "Tomasen Drive and the road goes straight to the- look! There it is."
Sharp, wicked shadows lined the narrow path, fading to nothingness as they turned a corner. A gigantic house lay in a clearing, looming over the surrounding forest.
Deisha leaned forward from the cramped rear seat, ducking her head to see what the fuss was about. The house was a full three stories tall with a Mansard roof and jutting quatrefoil windows. A scattered assortment of pinnacles and chimneys lanced through the roof to reach for the endless black night.
"Oh," said a girl from the middle row of seats. "I didn't know the party was at Dee's house."
An auburn-haired girl next to her tittered but then glanced back at Deisha with a wince and a mouthed 'sorry' before turning to the one who spoke.
"That's not funny, Gabriela," the thin girl said from the middle seat. She twisted one of her long pig-tails in her finger as she licked her lips and looked back at her friend.
"At least I have a house," Deisha said, leaning back once more. "Not some little dinky trailer at a trailer park."
Gabriela glared back at her and opened her mouth. The white skeletal paint covering her dark face scowled ominously. For a brief moment, the girl's face vanished in the darkness and the paint writhed, lines connecting and shifting. Deisha blinked as the van's dome lighting came on, leaving an angry girl in amateur face paint rather than a skeletal horror.
The van rocked as more doors opened and everyone filed out, groaning as they stretched their legs. Lyla pushed the middle seat down and then slowly arranged her oversized dress as she maneuvered her way out of the vehicle. She turned, lowering her chest and her left breast popped out of the cheap bodice. The girl squawked and shoved it back while almost stumbling from the side of the van.
Deisha shook her head as she crouch-crawled her way out of the vehicle. She jumped lightly and then stomped her boots in the dirt as she pulled her headphones down over her neck. Sharp, cold air lanced through the holes in her black stockings but she ignored it the best she could while she looked at the cars already parked by the house. The girl settled her short hair back as she went to her tiptoes to look further down the field. Studs lined the thin, delicate brown skin of her ears. The metal spikes and fake gems shined as she scanned the area. High overhead the crescent moon glowed in a perfectly clear skin. It was huge and lay directly above the house.
"Where the hell is Simon?" she asked herself quietly. She grabbed her phone from her jacket as she followed the rest of her group. The screen blinked on and she navigated to her messages but the last she had from the boy was, simply:
Yeah, I'll be there.
Where are you?
she typed, her nails ticking on the small screen. She'd painted them earlier - Obsidian Abyss and they absorbed the light surrounding them. The message popped into her screen with a red exclamation point and a tiny "No data" beneath it.
"Dammit," she cursed, shoving her phone back into her pocket. She pulled her jacket tight again, hiding all but the "NC" of the bright red spray painted lettering for band "RANCID" covering the front of her tattered shirt. "What the hell am I even doing here, then?"
A strong gust of wind swirled, stirring leaves and shaking branches that groaned as they creaked and rubbed together. Deisha grabbed her hat as it lifted from her head. The wide brim of the bent, conical "witch's hat" fluttered in her hand but she held it tight with her jaw clenched. It was the single concession she gave to her classmates for their ridiculous Halloween party. She already regretted coming and if Simon didn't show, the evening was ruined.
"It's
huge
," Jasmine said. The short red-head was dressed in an elaborate, expensive outfit from Harry Potter. She'd put it together over several years, hand sewing most of it as a labor of love. A yellow crest lay stitched over her breast with a black badger standing alertly in the middle of it. She smiled widely at the sight of the house as they stepped onto the wide porch, already imaging the mansion as Hogwarts.
The double front doors were cracked open and the light within wavered. Deisha stuck her head through the door and then stepped fully inside to see Jasmine speaking to a young man dressed in a toga with gold foil lightning bolts in a crown around his head.
A giant staircase dominated the entry with paths curving left and right around it. An old school oil lamp hung from a black post at the base of the stairs. The small flame within bent and swayed on the thick wick floating above the amber liquid.
"Everybody else is already here," Jake said. "The house is fucking huge. I set some crap up on the ground floors and other people brought their own shit Just pick a room and hang out. I'll look around to see what's upstairs. Told everyone else we could meet here in about two hours for a big party with everyone together."
"Thanks, Jake," Jasmine beamed. The girl turned to the rest of the group. "Where should we go?"
Deisha pulled her headphones back on, settling the band carefully against the back of her hat. The music drowned out everyone's conversation as she checked her phone's data once more. She pressed on the message she'd tried to send earlier in order to resend it but it once again complained of no Internet connection.
A light tap on the girl's arm made her look up to see Jasmine jerk her thumb to the left. The rest of her group was already moving so she followed them, hunching her shoulders with a frown as she trailed the rest.
Her boots sunk into the plush red carpet to leave dusty footprints behind. Jasmine held an LED lamp aloft to light their way. Despite being long empty, the house was surprisingly clean and in amazing shape. The contoured wood work of the molding and walls themselves were a spotless mahogany that shined in the light. No paintings hung on the wall and only the sounds of distant laughter echoed through the house, sporadic and sudden before falling silent once more.
"Fuckin' creepy place," Deisha muttered to herself.
"Thought you'd be at home, Dee," Gabriela laughed.
"I hate that nickname," Deisha told her, staring up at the girl with barely restrained ferocity. "I've told you that before and I'm getting tired of telling you. So fuck off with that shit before I do something about it."
