Only Five Minutes

Sheriff Parker popped a tic-tac (strawberry and cream flavored) into his mouth to calm the nerves in his stomach. He looked around and saw that the civilians in the town square were either talking amicably with each other or waiting patiently for their mayor and the town council to arrive. He looked up and saw the sun shining brightly and warmly, without a cloud in the sky. Sheriff Parker looked at his watch and read the time as 2:43 pm. The solstice ceremony was supposed to start at 2:45 pm, and his Deputy just radioed him that he, Mayor Cox, and the others were one minute out.

Everything was going as planned, so why was Sheriff Parker so apprehensive?

Well, maybe it was because Sheriff Parker had no idea what a solstice ceremony was. Brisley never held such a ceremony before, so why now? What made this year any different? And it was so short too, only five minutes, why? What did their mayor and the town council have planned for this ceremony? Were Mayor Cox and the others just going to talk some facts about the solstice for five minutes? And then there was also the town’s ‘most special’ person that they had to announce and award. What was that about?

There were also Mayor Cox’s and the town council’s faces when they told him about the ceremony. He...he hadn’t liked their smiles.

Sheriff Parker glanced at his tic-tac container and noticed that it was still half-full. Satisfied, he popped two more tic-tacs into his mouth, even though the one he popped in previously hadn’t melted yet.

A car honked loudly several times. Sheriff Parker, who was leaning against one of the posts on the makeshift stage, looked up and saw his Deputy’s car driving into the town square’s parking lot, followed by two black cars. The civilians cheered and clapped as the three cars parked.

They were here.

The Sheriff sighed as he straightened up and debated against having another tic-tac. Whatever this was, it was going to be over soon, and he will finally have answers to his questions. It would be alright.

Then Mayor Cox and the town council members got out of their cars. They were dressed in black robes that hung to their feet, and sleeves so long that their hands were covered. Even from where he stood Sheriff Parker could tell that the robes were hemmed with red, the same shade as blood. The robes also had hoods, and the inner linings were also red.

All in all, the robes just screamed cult.

Apparently. he wasn’t the only one who thought that since some of the civilians took one look at them and quietly but quickly left the scene.

Sheriff Parker popped in three more tic-tacs.

As the Mayor and the town council walked the distance from their cars to the stage, with his Deputy right behind them, they waved to the civilians. The civilians’ resulting cheers were a lot less enthusiastic than before.

Before Sheriff Parker knew it, the Mayor and the others reached the stage (his Deputy sat down in the front row). However, one of the few town council members, a woman by the surname of Blake, stopped in front of the stage and laid down a blanket. When she was done, she joined the rest of them. The blanket was black and it had some kind of red design. Sheriff Parker stepped forward to get a better look at it and when he did, his eyes widened.

The red design in the middle of the black blanket looked almost exactly like those circles in the movies the occult followers used to summon a demon.

Sheriff Parker backed up to the back end of the stage, popping in four more tic-tacs as he did so.

“Hello, my fellow citizens of Brisley!” Mayor Cox exclaimed cheerfully despite several more civilians quickly leaving. “I know many of you are wondering either what a solstice ceremony is or why it is so short but trust me, the shorter it is, the better it will be for us all. So let me announce our town’s most special person, Dennis Jackson! Come on up my boy!”

As a young man blissfully got out of his seat and walked towards the stage, Sheriff Parker started to chew on the many tic-tacs in his mouth. He knew Dennis. Dennis Jackson was a cheerful and honestly a very nice guy, but unfortunately, he was not the sharpest tool in the shed. Of course, he could have gotten the award for being a helpful person, but the Sheriff doubted it.

Mayor Cox and the others valued intelligence over kindness.

“Now Dennis, step right onto the circle on the blanket and wait while we explain the purpose of the ceremony,” Mayor Cox said with a warm voice that didn’t seem completely genuine.

“Okay!” Dennis exclaimed happily as he did what he was told.

“Now, for answers,” Mayor Cox continued as he looked at his watch, missing a few more civilians rapidly taking their chance to escape. “A couple of weeks ago, one of the cleaning ladies in our town hall found a small book hidden away in the attic. She quickly brought it back down to us, afraid to read it in fear of accidentally breaking it. Her fear was founded because it turned out that the book was a couple of centuries old. It belonged to our Brisley’s founder, Michael Gray.”

An intrigued murmur broke through the crowd.

It almost covered the sound of the town council members chanting.

“Now, this book was very thin, and some parts of the pages were lost, but we found out that Michael Gray and the other first town inhabitants had a tradition that they held at every summer solstice, to ensure the town’s prosperity.”

Sheriff Parker stopped himself from having any more tic-tacs, even though he desperately wanted to, especially when the town council members’ incoherent chanting grew louder and more ominous. As more civilians wisely left the scene, Sheriff Parker wondered if he should put a stop to all of this. He didn’t exactly believe in the occult, but that didn’t mean he was open to the idea of doing anything like this either.

However...so far, Mayor Cox and the others hadn't broken any laws. What could he arrest them on? For making him and others uneasy?

“They did this by making an offering to the sun in exchange for what they most desired.”

As the words sank in, Sheriff Parker looked at Dennis, then down at the symbol he was standing on.

Oh no.

“Dennis, get o-” Sheriff Parker started to yell as he raced towards the front of the stage, his Deputy also racing towards Dennis.

But it was too late. Right after Mayor Cox and the town council members shouted a word that sounded like Latin, there was a bright, golden-red light. Sheriff Parker was forced to stop and shield his eyes despite himself. When the light and screaming from the civilians still present finally faded, Sheriff Parker desperately looked forward, hoping that Dennis was somehow alright, that he was somehow alive.

“Wow! Look, everyone! I got nachos! A bunch of them! Yay, I’ve been craving these!” Dennis exclaimed happily as he held up a giant red bucket. Thanks to Sheriff Parker’s elevated position, he could see that the bucket did indeed hold nachos.

“What?! But the ceremony was supposed to give us eternal life in exchange for the town idiot's life!” cried Mayor Cox. “Not give him nachos!”

“No, you’re wrong. Everyone gets nachos! C’mon guys! I can’t eat this all by myself!” exclaimed Dennis as he quickly dug in before anyone could stop him. As the few remaining civilians cautiously stepped up to Dennis (his Deputy included), Sheriff Parker sighed with relief. Then he took out his handcuffs.

In the years that followed, it became a new tradition of Brisley to select a ‘special’ person, someone who had done a lot of the town, and perform the ceremony to give them what they most desired. The gift always happened to be food, whether it was because the people getting the award just wanted their favorite food or the ceremony only offered food, they would never know. But it was fun and harmless, and everyone was always smiling afterwards. Sheriff Parker was even a special person one year and got a whole bucket of tic-tacs as a result.

These solstice ceremonies all happened with a new Mayor and town council of course.