(C) 2021 CHRIS TONEY – All Rights Reserved

Written By Chris Toney

RATED R – For Language

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A black 1998 Pontiac Sunfire GT pulled into the gravel driveway of a two-story house out in the country. It came to a stop, then the motor shut off, and after a minute or so of muffled talking, the doors opened and Willie and Liza emerged. Before they could take more than three steps toward the house, a middle aged man appeared on the front porch.

   “Two people?! That’s not no party!” It was Willie’s uncle, Jethro. He had a grayish-brown beard, a receding hairline, a very nice shirt striped in shades of brown that almost covered his pot belly, and a LOUD… ASS… VOICE. The guy was crude and rugged, but he was one of the kindest and warmest men Willie had ever known.

   “We’re just hangin’ out,” said Willie. “Gonna watch a movie. I think Liza’s got a friend coming over, it’ll just be the three of us.”

   “Yeah,” said Liza, rolling her eyes and smiling, “we’re not having a huge house party or anything. Thank you for letting us house sit for you while you’re gone.”

   “Oh yeah, thank YOU. Come on inside,” said Jethro. He opened the door and one by one they stepped over the threshold. “Three’s enough for an orgy, is it a swap meet or a meat swap?” Jethro laughed. “No beer?… What the HELL’S that?” Jethro pointed at the object Liza was carrying. She held it up.

   “VCR,” said Willie. Jethro’s eyes opened wide.

   “VCR?! Where the hell’d you find THAT thing!?” Willie and Liza laughed. Uncle Jethro always made them laugh with his loud voice and exaggerated body language.

   “It was sittin’ on a shelf at the thrift store,” said Willie. “We’re gonna try to watch this old, uh, VHS… cassette?”

   “A video tape,” said Uncle Jethro. He chuckled and rolled his eyes as he said, “One of my dumbass coworkers calls ’em VCR tapes.”

   “Will this play on your TV in the living room?” asked Willie.

   “HELL no! Well yeah, but if you’re gonna do it you might as well do it right. There’s a little 15 inch TV in the attic, old school, tube TV. I got some old comfy chairs and EVERYTHING up there. I think I got some beer left in the little fridge. You should be able to plug that VCR in and go. Just unplug my DVD player.”

   “Wow,” said Liza, “a 15 inch TV? Isn’t that kind of small?”

   “Yeah but we didn’t give a damn,” Jethro chuckled. “We had a BALL watching those little TVs when I was a kid. Anyway, they’re waitin’ on me. I better get goin’ or there’s gonna be ‘Wanted’ posters all over the place.” Willie and Liza laughed. “You kids be safe. Only have sex with people, ya know, who breathe, and don’t touch the powdered sugar in the cabinet, I haven’t cut it yet. I mean I haven’t cut  the bag open yet!” They all laughed.

Uncle Jethro headed out the front door, jumped in his white Ford Ranger, backed out the driveway, and disappeared down the road. Willie and Liza went upstairs to the attic and sure enough, Uncle Jethro had made a nice little hideout spot. “Wow,” said Liza. “Nice little hideout.” Willie nodded. They knelt down to look at the little TV. He started fiddling with the connectors and moving things around.

   “Yeah, I think this is where he hangs out when Aunt Linda’s pissed at him. She’ll actually get red faced drunk and literally fist fight him.”

   “Are you serious?” asked Liza.

   “Yeah,” laughed Willie. “She can fight better than you might think, when she’s drunk. Once they cool down they make up so loud you can hear ’em outside. It’s kinda disturbing actually.” Liza laughed. The doorbell rang suddenly. Liza jumped up.

   “I’ll get it, it’s probably Hailey!” She ran down the stairs and peeked out the window of the front door. It was Hailey, but behind her in the driveway stood a guy, probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s. His head was shaved on one side and on the other side his hair hung down over one eye. He was wearing a black denim trenchcoat and black gothic looking boots. Liza opened the door letting Hailey in. They greeted and hugged.

   “Who’s the guy?” asked Liza, leaning her head to look out the doorway at him and looking confused. “Friend or date?”

  “Neither,” said Hailey, “he said he was delivering something. Kinda weird.” Liza walked outside.

   “Can I help you?” She stayed on the porch. The guy walked closer but stopped about 7 feet from the steps.

   “Yes, I’m from the thrift store,” he said with an accent. Liza had never seen him before in her life. “I don’t work there of course, I’m just delivering something for your boss.” Liza didn’t recognize the accent, Italian maybe? He talked at a relaxed pace, with his lower midrange voice. “The VHS tape you bought has the wrong cover. So your boss called me and asked me to bring the right tape to you.” Just then Willie appeared and stood next to Liza.

   “What’s goin’ on?” he asked.

   “This gentleman says my boss sent him here to give you the right tape.” Willie looked puzzled for a moment, then slid the tape partway out of the cover and saw that it was not Demons but a copy of Titanic.

   “Huh,” said Willie. He had never even thought to check. The guy walked closer to the porch and Willie handed him the tape. He removed Titanic and slid Demons into the cover and handed it back to Willie.

   “I thank you! Enjoy the movie!” he said as he walked over to a beat up white van. He got in, drove to the end of the driveway, turned onto the road, and shrank into the distance. Willie saw the look on Liza’s face.

   “What’s wrong?” She hesitated for a moment, then answered.

   “I can’t figure how he would know to come here. Did you tell my boss where we were going?” Willie started to blow it off, then realized what she was saying.

   “No, actually, I didn’t. Have you ever talked about comin’ out here?”

   “No. And I’ve never seen that guy before in my life.” They all suddenly felt uneasy. It wasn’t just what Liza was saying, the whole situation was creepy from the moment the guy appeared, they just hadn’t allowed it into the front of their minds until now. It was like there was something in the air. But Hailey cut through it with her voice.

   “Well, that was creepy. What’s the movie? Is that the… VHS cassette?” Willie handed her the tape. Hailey looked at the cover. “Creepy. Old 80’s movie I presume? Or 70’s maybe?” Willie and Liza were still looking down the road contemplating what just happened. Hailey decided to take a closer look at the video since she had never seen one up close before. As she pulled the tape out of the sleeve, the side of it was cracked and somehow she managed to cut her hand on it. A surprisingly large amount of blood began to pour from the cut. “Damn. Shit!” The other two turned to look, surprised, since they had never heard Hailey cuss before. She wiped the blood away but it kept bleeding. “Where’s the restroom?” Willie took the tape back from her and they all went inside and walked towards the bathroom.

   “This has been one creepy ass day,” said Willie.

   “I know, right?” said Liza. “Might wanna wait to watch that creepy ass movie. Ever feel like there’s something evil on the prowl and it just chooses YOU some days?”

   “No,” said Hailey, with the utmost confidence, as she cleaned and bandaged her wound. “We have too many cellphones and cameras and the internet, and all these people scrunched up together. True evil doesn’t want to be known, it wants to be feared. You don’t fear what you understand, so it hides in obscurity. That’s why ghosts and creeps don’t mess with people who gather in crowds and carry pepper spray.” She smiled cleverly as she pulled a pepper spray bottle out of her pocket, Willie and Liza laughed softly. They felt better after Hailey’s encouraging monologue. What they didn’t know was how wrong she was. Her blood sacrifice had opened the portal, and now her defiant statements had stoked the fire. They might have been able to back out of the fate that await them had they just not watched the film, but her disrespect of the other dimensions presented a challenge, and evil never backs down from a challenge. It was time to bring some Chaos into the equation and set things in motion.

Somewhere, someone they knew, someone who had previously rejected their invitation to hang out at Uncle Jethro’s house that evening, began having car trouble and would have to cut their road trip short and stop at that very house to avoid being stranded. Three’s company, but four is chaos, a perfect recipe for terror.

TO BE CONTINUED…