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The Party

A Friday night Ritual

By SirCrispixPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 16 min read
1

James got the invite from Phoebe, who if he was being honest, he always thought was a bit of a weirdo. He was pretty sure she was around the same age as him, at least he assumed, she went to Redwood Community college just like him and she looked fairly young. He wouldn’t place her any older than twenty. She was attractive in a mousey sort of way, but he had heard around the school that her whole family were a bunch of religious nuts. So, when she stopped him after biology to invite him to a party he was surprised, to say the least. When she said that it was being held at Camp Firefly, he almost fell over. Camp Firefly had been a summer camp in the eighties, located in the forest outside of town, right on the shores of Lake Browin. It closed down years ago, so she and her friends would be trespassing. Maybe she wasn’t such a wet blanket after all.

He asked if he could bring one of his friends, she said of course he could, but not to spread it around, because they didn’t want to get into trouble. He smirked and nodded knowingly at that; James had been in his fair share of trouble. There was an awkward pause and then she pushed her long auburn hair behind one ear and quickly blurted out. “Ok, I’ll see you there.” Before hurrying down the hall and out of site. James shook his head in a bit of disbelief. He never would have believed that exchange would have happened if he hadn’t been a part of it. He hurried to his next class, firing off a text to his friend Toby.

“Hey man, we got a party tonight, you’ll shit yourself when I tell you where and who...”

“Oh, please keep me in suspense.” Toby’s reply was sarcastic as usual.

“Invite came from Phoebe.”

“The bible thumper?”

“Yeah!” James nearly ran into another student as his thumbs sped around the screen of his phone typing up his reply. “Party’s at Camp Firefly.”

“Fuck...isn’t that where all those kids died?”

“That’s a nice way of saying murdered, but yeah...that was decades ago though. What’s wrong? Scared?”

“Fuck off dipshit, no amount of ghost kids are gonna keep me from going to what might be the weirdest party in history.”

“That’s my boy!” James replied before tucking the phone back into his pocket, his philosophy professor took a dim view of cell phones and had been known to eject students from his class at the sight of them.

Later that night James and Toby pulled off the highway onto the gravel road that led to the now defunct Camp Firefly. James’ Honda Civic was at least a decade old and the cracked muffler made the car sound like a tank with some serious maintenance issues. After they had been on the gravel road for about ten minutes, they finally came to the entrance to the campgrounds. There was a large wooden archway over the main drive into the camp a wooden sign hung from it, at one point it had been held up by a chain on each side, but the left-hand chain had long ago succumbed to rust and the sign now dangled from the chain on its right corner alone. The words were faded and at some point, someone had spray painted black over part of it so now you could only make out Camp Fire. There was a metal gate across the archway, the property owner's attempt to keep teenagers out. The lock was broken. Toby looked at James, “All this place is missing is some crazy local shouting about how this camp is doomed and so are we.”

James rolled his eyes. “You watch too many horror movies man, all we are doomed to is getting drunk.”

“You sound like the jock that always dies first.”

“Yeah, well if a killer comes after us, I’ll be fine, because I’ll outrun your nerdy ass in a heartbeat.”

“You’ve always been a good friend James.”

James hopped out of the Civic and trotted over to the gate. He removed the lock and kicked the gate open with a flourish. He hurried back to the car and pulled through the gate. He gunned the engine, sending gravel spraying behind them as he accelerated towards the camp. The Civic's headlights cut through the darkness, revealing thick woods and the occasional flash of eye shine from some animal in the forest, as they careened down the road. Toby pressed his right foot hard against the floorboard, as if doing so would conjure a brake pedal for him.

“Christ man! Can you slow down? We won’t live long enough to enjoy the party if you keep driving like this!” Toby complained.

“Goddamn dude, calm down.” James muttered as he eased his foot off the gas.

A few minutes later they arrived at the main camp. Four bunkhouses sat in a rough circle, the logs that made up their structure were rotting and falling apart, behind them was Lake Browin. The moonlight glistening across the ripples on the lake surface were enchanting, if either of the young men had bothered to notice. Their attention was focused on the bonfire at the center of the circle and the collection of human silhouettes dancing around it to the beat of the music blasting out of the speakers sitting on the porch of one of the cabins.

“Shit, this looks like an actual party.” Toby said, more to himself than anything.

“Yeah, this could be a good way to spend a Friday night after all.” James replied.

James pulled the Civic off to the side where the other cars were parked. As they strolled up to the bonfire Phoebe came jogging up to them, a plastic cup in her hand, trailing behind her was a blonde girl neither James nor Toby recognized.

“Oh good, you guys made it!” Phoebe beamed at them, only taking her eyes off James for a moment.

“Yeah, well when you get an invite as unlikely as this how do you resist?” James smirked at her as he said.

Pheobe smiled and then gestured to her friend. “This is Callie, she’s a friend of the family.”

Callie gave them both an uncomfortable smile and started fidgeting with her blonde hair. Toby stepped forward a little bit and offered his hand. “Hi, I’m Toby and this lunk-head is James.

Callie took Toby’s hand and shook it, somewhat meekly. Phoebe nudged her with an elbow. “Why don’t you show Toby where the coolers are, Cal?”

Callie nodded and then turned back towards the fire, gesturing for Toby to follow her. Phoebe turned back to James and smiled again. “Follow me.” She said and led him off towards the coolers as well.

As the evening wore on James and Pheobe continued talking to each other. James told Phoebe that he was a little surprised that a person that always seemed so pious would be involved in organizing a party like this.

“Oh, don’t be fooled James, no one is what they appear to be.” She grinned mischievously at him.

“Fair point, but I gotta say I like this side of you.” He drank some more of his beer. “You wouldn’t want to go check out the dock, would you?”

Phoebe leaned closer to him, put her hand on the bottom of his cup, guiding it back to his mouth and tipping it, emptying the rest of it into his mouth. “Sure, I always liked the water.”

James swallowed the beer, wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his hoodie and spoke. “You trying to get me drunk?”

“I have a feeling I wouldn’t need to try that hard.” Phoebe said as she turned towards the dock and began walking.

“Ok....This may have been a very good decision.” James said quietly to himself before grabbing another beer off the table and following her.

Toby and Callie were sitting on a log near the fire, chatting and nursing their drinks.

“So, you’re not a big drinker?” Callie asked.

“Yeah, not really. I mean I’ll have a few beers, but I don’t really like getting drunk.” Toby said. “Honestly, James usually gets wasted enough for both of us.”

“Seems strange that you would come to a party like this when you don’t like to drink.”

“Well, I try to look out for James, usually I end up driving us home from these things, since James will be too far gone by that point.”

“It’s noble of you to want to protect your friend, even if it’s just from himself.”

Toby chuckled. “Heh, yeah well, James and I have known each other since we were kids and he always used to keep the bullies off me back then. So, I feel like it’s the least I can do.”

“Do you ever worry that it will get you into trouble?”

“Maybe, I mean he’s never really done anything that crazy.” Toby took another sip of his beer. It was his second beer of the night and he was feeling it harder than he normally would have. “Man, this beer is getting to me, I guess maybe I am a light weight.”

He looked around and saw a number of the party goers had passed out, laying on the grass and dirt or slumped over a log. He could still seem James and Phoebe out near the dock, but it looked like one of them was on the ground. He stood up and the world tilted a bit. “That’s probably the Valium you’re feeling.” He heard Callie say, but she sounded muffled, like there were pillows on his ears. “If you had drank faster, you wouldn’t be feeling it.”

Toby tried to push through the haze falling over his brain, but he could tell he was losing that fight. He started running toward James, but his legs were hesitant to obey, and he stumbled and staggered his way across the camp. His vision was beginning to blur and dim by the time he had a good view of James. He was laying on the ground, a plastic cup of beer spilled all over the ground near his hand. He wasn’t moving, even in his altered state that sent a thrill of panic through Toby. Phoebe, who was standing over James, examining him with her head canted to the right, looked up at Toby.

“Don’t worry, he’s just sleeping.” She said in a conspiratorial tone. “Which begs the question, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“He’s not a big drinker.” Callie said from behind Toby. “Give him a minute, he should be out...”

That was when Toby’s vision went black altogether.

He wasn’t sure how long he was out when he finally woke, but he was pretty sure the moon had moved in the sky. He tried to move but he wasn’t able to, that was when it registered that his wrists and ankles had been bound. He also found that he couldn’t move his head. He looked around as best he could with only moving his eyes and saw he was near the water now. He could see the other partygoers all tied to wooden frames, like he assumed he was, in a rough circle around a fire. He was vertical, roughly at least, it seemed like he was tilted slightly forward. A dark figure moved around on the side of the fire opposite him. He tried to scream for help but the gag time around his mouth reduced it to a primal, unintelligible shriek. A cloaked figure moved into his field of view.

“You can scream all you like, it’s very secluded out here.” The cloaked figure moved in front of him and took down their hood, shaking out their blonde locks. Callie gave him a smile that would have seemed kind in any other context. “If you were a heavier drinker you would have slept right through this. I told you trying to protect your friend could get you into trouble.”

Toby growled impotently and thrashed against his bindings. Callie shook her head. “How about I remove this gag? It’ll be a minute before we are ready to begin anyhow.” She untied a knot next to his ear and pulled the gag off of him.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Toby yelled.

“You and your lout of a friend are being put to a higher use.”

“Are...you’re going to kill us...” It wasn’t a question as much as him stating a fact that just clarified itself in his mind.

“The preferred term is sacrifice.” Callie answered in a conversational tone. “You and your friend are going to be given the chance to assist in the ascendance of something great.”

“Jesus, fuck.... We thought you guys were some sort of weird Christians.” Toby was almost whimpering now.

“No, our lords are much, much older.” Callie’s eyes were taking on the fevered glint of a zealot. “Before the Nazarene preached and sowed the seeds of that faith, our gods were already ancient.”

She moved closer to Toby, he instinctively tried to shy away from her, but he couldn’t move his head enough to manage it. “Please just let us go, we won’t tell anyone about this.” Now he was whimpering. “This is fucking crazy, you two are out of your minds.”

“Sorry Toby, I really can’t do that. I did enjoy our talk earlier and I feel like in any other circumstances we could be friends, but the ritual needs to begin now, and I can’t complete it without you.” With that she moved towards the fire, facing her back to him. He could see the figure on the other side of the fire now, he felt no surprise to see that it was Phoebe. Both of the women drew blades from their robes. The daggers were sharp, twisted affairs, the metal was marked with a mix of whorls and swirls, Damascus Steel popped into his head unbidden. They held the blades to the sky and Callie raised her voice.

“Hear us Lords of the Deep! Our predecessors purified this shore with the blood of the innocent and the time needed for your seeds to germinate has passed! Now the time has come to burst forth into our world and take what is yours by right!” Both women moved out of his sight line and then Callie called out once more. “We, your humble servants wash this shore in fresh blood, that it may rouse you from your slumber!” Toby wasn’t sure but he thought he saw the sands of the shore moving as if something was shifting under them in anticipation. He strained against the restraints at his wrists, he could feel them biting into the flesh, course rope from the feel of it.

Almost in unison Toby heard the wet sound of flesh being cut through mingled with muffled cries of pain. He could see James across the fire from him. Toby could feel his right wrist beginning to grow slick with blood, maybe if he twisted and pulled just right he could free that hand. He could hear Callie and Phoebe working their way around the circle, more slashing sounds followed by the wet patter of blood on sand. He continued to struggle, he surpressed a cry as the skin of his wrist tore open. He could still hear the women going about their grizzly work, his heart was racing and his wrist felt like it was on fire, but it was working, the rope was now squeezing his hand.

He pulled the hand free just as Callie’s face appeared before him again, speckled with the blood of her victims, eyes alight with zeal. His hand lashed out before he could think, latching onto the front of her robes, her eyes went wide with shock. He pulled her towards him with strength that surprised even himself. “Let me go you psycho!” He snarled. Callie responded by slashing at his forearm with the blade, he was beyond caring and the wound did nothing to discourage him. He felt the rope around his left wrist begin to give with the increase tension of another persons weight pulling on it, the pain in his left wrist nearly unbearable, but he didn’t care if it got him out of there.

Phoebe appeared before him, there was a brief flash of silver in the moonlight and a smile spread across her face. The knife must have been incredibly sharp because at first he didn’t feel anything. Then he felt a burning pain in his throat as the wound opened, his shirt was rapidly becoming damp with blood and his limbs suddenly felt loose. He tried to call out, to hurl one last insult at his murderers, but there was too much blood in his throat and all he could manage was a weak gurgling sound. As the women stepped away from him he could see James across the way, his life staining the sands below him crimson. Toby’s last act was to weep.

“Don’t cry Toby, you are the gateway for something glorious.” She whispered to him and wiped her blade clean on his pant leg. “Try to keep that in mind now.”

As his life faded and his vision dimmed once more Toby saw black, oily tentacles snake up out of the sand below and reach for the wound in his neck.

Phoebe and Callie stood near the fire and watched with pride as the writhing creatures they had called forth drew themselves into the wounds of the sacrifices, forcing their partially gelatinous forms into the bodies with a squelching sound. They had been taught that the metamorphosis, or apotheosis as Callie liked to think of it, would be quick and not without violence once it began.

But once complete the old gods would walk the Earth again.

Long may they reign.

supernatural
1

About the Creator

SirCrispix

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