HORROR THEATRE

Stories from the Dark Pages part 2

By

Ben Howell and C.T. Mewith

 

The Horror Theatre Membership of Storytellers

 

Marcus Jones

Leader of the H.T.M.o.S.

(And possibly a bit psychotic)

Rita Jones

Oldest member and Marcus’s older sister

(Also a complete chocoholic)

Dwight Peterson

A wannabe rapper with big dreams

(And an even BIGGER ego)

Shannon Kalfrie

The youngest (and only normal) member and narrator of the story

Mickey Dejesus

A moocher who likes anything with food or ghosts

Ryan Massey

The chicken

(Yep, that’s all we can say)

 

Great! I’m late! I hate being late to a meeting, but Lila (my stepmother) wouldn’t let me go out unless she knew where I was. Hey, I don’t ask her where she goes every night! Why does she have to know when I’m going to a meeting?

 

Finally *pants and gasps for air* I’m here…

 

Shannon: Hey, guys!

 

Mickey: What’s up, Shannon? We’ve been waiting for like an hour.

 

Rita: *bluntly* 5 minutes, Mickey.

 

Mickey: *looks embarrassed* I-I knew that.

Shannon: Sorry. It was Lila; she keeps bugging me about where I go at night.

 

Mickey: Same here. My dad gets on my back a lot.

 

Marcus: It’s alright, Shannon. We all have parents who badger us from time to time. *picks up checklist* Okay, everyone. Role call.

 

Dwight: *annoyed* Marcus, skip the checklist. We all is here.

 

Rita: Try speaking correct English, Dwit.

 

Dwight:*with flames in his eyes* That’s Dwight!

 

Rita: *yawns* So? *starts munching on a carton of malted-milk balls while Dwight pitifully moans under his breath*

 

Marcus: First, let me say happy birthday to our senior member and my sister who has turned 17 tonight. *everyone but Dwight claps for Rita*

 

Mickey: Congrats, Rita!

 

Ryan: Good for you, Rita! *smiles*

 

Rita: Thanks. I’m glad to be celebrating one more year of life.

 

Dwight: Yeah, Rita. Anotha year, anotha grey hair on ya mole. *snickers evilly*

 

Rita: It’s called a “beauty mark,” dork!

 

Dwight: It’s okay, Rita. We all suffa some inferiority complex. *laughs until he notices Rita’s skin peeling off, revealing a skull with hellfire consuming it*

 

Rita: *with a demonic voice* WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!!

 

Dwight: *whimpering like a little pup* nothin’.

 

Rita: Good. *returns to her calm appearance and takes out a piece of chocolate birthday cake*

 

Marcus: Okay. Since it’s Rita’s birthday, she’ll pick who’ll tell the story.

 

Mickey: Great. * thinks to himself “Not me! Not me! Not me! Not me!”*

 

Ryan: Cool. *thinks “Oh God! Don’t let her choose me!”*

 

Shannon: Sweet. *gulps*

 

Dwight: Whoop-die-doo. *thinks “Crap! She’s gonna pick me.”*

 

Rita: I pick… myself. *everyone sighs in relief*

 

Marcus: So, what is it about, sister?

 

Rita: Start the fire and I’ll tell you. *Marcus takes a match and lights up the firewood*

 

Marcus: It still seems to be a bit small. *takes out a bag full of acorns* Perfect. *throws it in the fire*

 

Mickey: What are you planning, Marcus? *fire crackles higher and sets fire to Dwight’s coat and his CD’s*

 

Dwight: Dang! Not again!!! *sobs over his CD’s and his coat*

 

Marcus and Rita: Pathetic.

 

Shannon: So, what’s the story? *smiles anxiously*

 

Rita: Everyone, look into the fire and imagine.

 

Dwight: Good grief!

 

Rita: *fire shoots from her mouth* What?!

 

Dwight: It’s good. *shivers*

 

Rita begins to shed her sweet appearance as she starts to tell the story. Everyone stared into the fire, waiting for Rita to give it life. Finally, she’s ready to start her story, and as she breathed, we could see the fire beginning to breathe as if it were alive…

 

Dwight: It’s actin’ freaky again. Marcus, is this some kinda magic trick y’all pull?

 

Marcus: It’s not a trick or an illusion, Dwight.

 

Dwight: Then what is it?

 

Rita: The fire is a living spirit. Whenever you tell a story around it, you give it its soul, its spirit, its life. When the fire has a soul, it begins to live and breathe as you tell the story.

 

Marcus: If you can concentrate, focus on the story hard enough, you can look into the fire and see the story being performed inside the flames! Think of it as a play.

 

Dwight: *bluntly* Bull crap.

 

Rita: Then you focus on it while I tell the story.

 

Dwight: Whatever.

 

Rita: This story takes place about 30 years ago in Africa.

 

As I listened to Rita’s voice, I began to focus on the fire as it writhed in front of us; when I focus hard enough, I saw that what Marcus and Rita had predicted came true: the fire began to show the story like a movie theater or like a stage play! I always noticed the fire’s mystical ambience, but never have I seen anything like this happen! Nothing like tonight…

 

Rita: *inhales then smile with a seductive evil* 30 years ago, a wealthy group of men decided to go explore some of the darker parts of Africa. There were six of them: Sarge Wilson, a captain from the Navy, Jorge Martinez, a young merchant, Dean Meadows, a car salesman, Bill King and James Andrews, two spelunkers, and Jeffery Burke, a business tycoon. Each of them was hoping to find something extraordinary to bring back home to America, although they were there for an apartment development project.

 

“Sarge, how long will it take till we reach the nearest village?” Jogre complained while they treaded the muddy ground.

 

“Not far, Jorge,” Sarge answered while fighting off mosquitoes, “Not far. We be there in a few minutes, gang. Just keep walking.”

 

The team had four several miles on foot. Some of the group complained; others held their peace, but the only one who actually enjoyed the trip was Sarge. Everybody thought he was sort of creepy in his own way. Finally, they arrived at the village they were looking for…

 

“Here it is, men,” Sarge spoke with a breath of victory, “This is the village on the map! Now let’s see if we can find the contractor you hired, Jeffrey.”

 

For a while, they looked all around the village for the mysterious contractor until one of the locals said they had just buried him last night. This got the crew a little worried. Where would they find a replacement for him? Would he accept the job? How were they supposed to get their money back since the other guy was dead.

After an hour of looking for a replacement, they found one in a man named Allen Lispers. He was a little snobbish but he seemed right for the job. After a small discussion, the group chose him for the apartment project.

 

“Glad to have you on board, Mr. Lispers,” Jeffrey shook his hand an ease of distrust, “Now, all we need is a guide into the deep parts of the jungle.”

 

“I’ll be your guide, sirs,” a young and beautiful dark-skinned girl walked over to them and introduced herself as Beauty and she definitely lived up to her name.

 

Finally, with Lisper’s development crew ready and Beauty as their guide, the group headed into the jungle, mapped out the location of the apartments and set up camp for the night.

 

Dwight: Wait a minute! This story is getting kind of lame. Where’s the scary stuff?!

 

Marcus: Dwight, please! I like this story. Go ahead, sister.

 

Rita: Thank you. Anyway, after they slept in their tents the first night, they discovered something terrifying.

 

Mickey: A demon?

 

Shannon: Bones?

 

Dwight: Did they discover that this story sucks?

 

Rita: *knocks 15 of Dwight’s teeth out* No. They found all of the development crew and Lispers partially devoured. Now things started to get much to handle…

 

Ryan: *trembling with fear* Uh… c-c-can I go home please?

 

Marcus: *smiles like a demon* I don’t think so… What happens next?

 

Rita: The next night, Sarge decided to hike back to the village to find yet another replacement. Little did he know he was about to meet the same fate as Lisper and his crew… *hisses like a vampire* He saw a beautiful girl dancing in the river nearby. Sarge was a gentleman, but he couldn’t help but walk over to her.

Suddenly, the beautiful maiden transformed into disturbing creature and began drain the ruby liquid out of his throat!!! And--!

 

Marcus: Uh… Rita? *points at the other peeing in their pants and curdling up in fetal positions* Maybe you ought to tone it down a bit?

 

Rita: Oops. Um… When James and Jorge found Sarge lying in the woods, he was near death and pale as a blank piece of paper. They looked around to see where the creature vanished of to but to no avail. James turn his back for one second and suddenly Jorge was gone! James tried to call out his name, yet Jorge never answered.

James carried Sarge back to their camp and told his remaining partners what he had seen. At first, Dean the car salesman got a bit skeptical and it was hard to convince him. However, Beauty began to support James’s story, much to the surprise of the others…

 

“What makes you think this is some kind of supernatural mumbo jumbo?” the doubting dean spoke harshly.

 

Beauty looked at Dean coldly, “My people have told the stories of a creature that protects this land from trespassers. She takes the disguise of a beautiful woman and lures men to the river. Afterwards she sheds her disguise and drains the blood out of her victims’ throats.”

 

“How do you know that’s not a load of crap?”

 

Beauty became enraged at Dean’s words. Her eyes became as red as blood as she said to him, “I am that creature.” Beauty suddenly transformed into an even more beautiful woman! Her dress was like diamonds and pearls and her eyes like lovely crystals. Her hair began to flow like a raging river.

She looked upon the 5 remaining businessmen and spoke with a goddess like voice, “I am the spirit that protect this forest. Heed my warning, gentlemen: if you dare harm a single tree in this land, I’ll take great pleasure in making you all the next courses for my dinner! That is your only warning.” With that she transformed into a pool of mist and blew away, leaving the 5 men in awe. The End

 

Shannon: That was excellent, Rita!!

 

Marcus: Marvelous!

 

Mickey: Wow!

 

Dwight: It was… cool.

 

Ryan: I think I need to wash my pants now, guys. *smile nervously*

 

I didn’t need to hear that! *shudders* I think I’d better go home. It’s getting late. That was still a wonderful story though…