NightCurse

“I SWEAR I’M GOING TO KILL MYSELF IF I HAVE TO STAY ON THIS DREADFUL ISLAND FOR A SECOND MORE!” Mikey screamed at his brother, “I’ve never been this fuckin’ depressed or furious in my life, and I feel like I’m going to punch holes through my room’s walls!” His eyes were clouds in a harsh thunderstorm as he sobbed on the ground. He was a total, downright horrifying wreck. Just the expression on his face shot absolutely agony through my veins.

Gerard then kneeled down to face his brother, and he wrapped his arms around him in a loving hug. Mikey just kept crying on his shoulder. Even Gerard was crying at this point, even though he usually tries to hide his pain from others. Gerard had never wanted people to worry about him at all, even if that meant keeping the pain bottled up like an explosive in that bottle.

An odd smell came to my nose suddenly that sort of reminded me of s’mores. Where had I smelled that before. I suddenly then had a flashback of how my original family’s house had burned to the ground the night I jumped out my three-story window and met Gerard. That moment had changed everything. What was it, though, and why had I felt so stupid about not knowing what it was? Maybe it was because of how clouded my mind had become after seeing Mikey break down in front of Gerard.

That’s when Roxie suddenly burst into the room and knocked me right over without realizing I’d even been there. She then knocked Mikey over also and began licking all the tears off of his face with her slimy, chilly tongue. How beautiful. Mikey then let out a laugh, and I felt more than relieved. I also noticed Gerard smiling. I let out a sigh and then continued watching Mikey almost get eaten alive by Roxie’s huge, slimy tongue. It’s no wonder I love animals so much.

“We were walking down the hall to get a soda,” Frank interrupted unexpectedly, “And then she suddenly began barking ferociously for no apparently. You should’ve seen here. She growled, barked at, and lashed out at some blank space and then ran down the hall as if she were trying to kill some evil thing or something. She then began backing up but resumed barking madly. It was insane.”

“Shit,” I commented, “Wonder what happened with her.”

“I don’t know, but it reminded me of this one TV show. I think it was called Demon Hunters or something. Anyways, they were investigating a woman’s home, and the woman’s dog just began barking at space, just like Roxie had been, for no apparent reason. It was so freaky!”

“Wow.” That was all I was able to get out of my mouth, for it had suddenly frozen. I then began to think of what happened to me right before Gerard came out of the bathroom, and it froze my insides for a second.

Roxie then got up and walked into my part of the suite, where all of my stuff had been sprawled up onto my bed. That’s when I thought about Jackson receiving a message from a now-unusable phone, since Gerard had smashed his. I asked Frank, “May I used your phone? I need to text my boyfriend.”

“Woah, since when do you have boyfriends?” Frank asked in a half-serious tone. Oops. I sort of forgot to tell anyone about Jackson. “Sure, kiddo.” “Kiddo” I thought to myself.

He then handed it to me gently, and I began texted “Hey, Jackson. Don’t bother with the other number. That phone is smashed. Hope you get this.” It was sent in about ten seconds after I pressed the “send” button. I held onto the phone for a few minutes and awaited Jackson’s apply impatiently.

Jackson replied within five minutes. His text read, “Sorry for not answering the door before. I was sort of busy. Anyways, how’ve you been? I’ve been good. They caught that killer guy. Can we talk on the phone, instead?”

I asked Frank if I could use his phone for calling, and he agreed without even thinking about it. What a nice guy Frank is. I then dialed Jackson’s phone, and, without even noticing as I listened to the ringing, walked out the door with the phone. Roxie followed me.

Jackson picked up. Apparently, he knew who was calling, because he answered, “Hey, Cheyenne. Glad we could talk. I’ve missed you so bad, honey.” His angelic voice made my heart swell up inside, and I had stopped breathing for a half a minute after he said that. “Sorry for not answering the door that night. I was… busy.”

“God, am I so glad to see you!” I answered gratefully. I was. I missed him like you would miss celebrating Christmas or your birthday.

“So how’ve you been, Cheye?”

“I’ve been alright,” I lied flatly.

“Is that so?” he asked. He certainly hadn’t believed me when I said that. I then began wondering for a second what was going through his head as he thought of me lying about it.

“Yes! Of course! How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been pretty good, except my father hasn’t been home in days. He always leaves like this, though, for some random reason or another.”

“Oh.” Really, I had no idea at all how to respond to this. How would one respond to it, anyways? I seriously hadn’t a clue at all.

“Anyways, where are you?”

“Oh. I hadn’t had a chance to tell you. I went on vacation with my family. I left right after that night I knocked on your door. Wait, you don’t know why I was knocking, do you?” I then began to wonder if I should even tell him.

“No, not at all. What was it?”

I hesitated a bit. “Well, don’t you know that killer guy? He was chasing after me and nearly killed me.”

“Wow.”

“I’m perfectly alright, though. I was a little freaked out at first, but I am fine.”

“That’s good. Can’t wait for you to get home, so we could get together.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “We surely had fun that night when I was at your house. That reminds me. Don’t you remember how you told me I needed to lose a bit flab or something? I think I lost a few pounds. Ain’t that great?”

“That’s awesome!”

“Yeah. I’m trying to eat less at the moment. I’m doing pretty well.”

“Can’t wait to see you, then, and then we can have some more fun!”

“Yeah.”

“Anyways, I have to go get a shower now. Some of my friends are over. Talk to your later?”

“Of course! Just call this cell.”

“Great. Bye.”

“Bye.” He then hung up. Him getting a shower…

Roxie was still beside me, and apparently, we had walked into the exercise room. “Shall we exercise?” I asked her. She gave me a bark, and we walked over to the treadmill. I hooked up the clip and was off.

Apparently, Roxie also wanted to ride the treadmill with me, even though that was significantly dangerous to do. When I began running, she jumped on right next to me and did the same. I then stopped the machine, and she stopped with it. “No, Roxie, treadmills are definitely not for dogs.” I then led her off of it and told her to stay. After, I hopped back on and put the speed back up to where I had it originally.

However, Roxie jumped back on, even though I’d told her to stay where she was. I had to stop it again. That time, I simply said no and put her on the other side of the room. This time, it seemed as if she’d actually listen. I ran back to the treadmill and turned it back on, this time putting the speed up much higher.

I had to be running at least ten minutes when I decided to turn up the speed once again. I was running at at least six miles per hour now, which was pretty fast since I rarely ran at all. Glad Roxie hasn’t bothered me, yet. She’s being rather obedient, now. Nonetheless, Roxie was soon at my side again like a loyal yet disobedient partner. I’d just given up and let her run with me.

She was a rather energetic dog, though of course Labs are supposed to be rather energetic. Still, she seemed so bouncy and youthful that it surprised me just a bit, even for a Lab like her. We were soon at eight miles per hour, which was immensely trying for my strength, but she embraced the high speed rather gratefully, unlike me. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it more than a half a minute at this speed, yet she ran like a monster at that speed.

Suddenly, however, Roxie jumped off of the machine, which worried me horribly, but she was alright. I turned the speed all the way down to five, and she began pacing around aimlessly. Something had made her so restless that it worried me enormously. My intuition told me it was something serious. Very serious.

When I was down to three miles per hour, Roxie came over me and began tugging at my shirt. Something was wrong. “What, Rox? Do you have to go or something? Hold on.” I then took my speed down to 1.5 and walked for a half a minute. Roxie persisted on her attempts to get my attention, even though I persisted on ignoring her for a half a minute. I then abruptly shut off the treadmill and ran off it. “C’mon. Let’s go outside, where you could do you business.”

However, when we were out of the exercise room’s doors, she didn’t run for the outside exist; she darted for the stairs near the elevator and began scratching at the door desperately as if she’d wanted to go up them. I opened them and followed her up as she ran a few flights in half a minute. That’s when she paused at another door before I could even get up to where she was and began scratching at another one in desperation. I opened it and realized it was the flight where our rooms had been located on. She dashed for our door and began barking fiercely at it.

That’s when I smelled that s’morey smell again. It was fire! Why had I been SO stupid not to realize this before? Wow. I joined Roxie in trying to get Gerard to open the door, but he didn’t answer. Where was he? I thought to myself as I almost began to panic. My breath was surely shortened, and I felt my heart hammer harder than I’d ever imagined it could hammer. It nearly pounded right through my bone and out of my chest.

That’s when Frank opened the door to his own room. Gerard peered out and immediately smelled the fire also. “Oh God,” is all he could say, and Frank and him began banging on the rest of the bands’ doors.”

“Why aren’t the alarms going off?” I asked whoever would answer.

“No idea,” Gerard answered, “But we must get everyone out! Cheyenne, go call the main office. Tell them there is a fire somewhere, and everyone has to get out.”

“On it,” I said as I was running toward the phone inside the room. The phone was dead.

“The phone’s dead,” I announced to Gerard.

“Ugh, that’s not good. Maybe you should start yelling or something,” Gerard said without really using his brain. Guess it was the adrenaline.

“I was thinking that, actually.” I then grabbed Roxie by the scruff without realizing I hadn’t grabbed her collar, instead, but she didn’t seem to care. She looked up at me, so I began running down the corridor and screaming, “FIRE!” Roxie helped out by barking boisterously. We were such a great team.

I bumped into a boy who appeared to be my age in the hall. He was had jet-black, untidy hair that sort of reminded me of Gerard’s old hair but shorter. I honestly wished Gerard would grow his hair again and get it dyed back to black.

When the kid looked at me, he scowled, let out a short growl like a dog, and then went back to his business. He surely didn’t seem too friendly. What was his problem? I probably would’ve wanted to get away from him swiftly if the hotels’ guests weren’t in peril at that moment.

As we ran up the corridor, the scent became much more intense. I also noticed how I’d begun sweating much more than what is normal for a running person. The fire had to be close. Deadly close.

Apparently, the fire had come from a room at the end of the corridor. For a split second, my mind began to wonder if anyone made it out alive, but then I realized it was definitely not the best time to think at all. The blaze was gigantic. How many people had it swallowed up in its hungry, evil mouth?

I suddenly began choking; I hadn’t realized there’d been smoke at all, probably because of all the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I knew I must get out of the smoke immediately before I passed out and was devoured by the monster that was the flames. However, by the time I realized that, it was too late. My eyes shut, and my body fell to the ground.

After midnight, I woke up in a hospital that smelled of a mix of pansies and clean laundry. What an odd smell for a hospital. The room was nearly pitch-black with the exception of a TV playing in an almost-inaudible volume Nightmare on Elm Street. Gerard had been sitting in a chair right next to my bed, waiting for me to awake. However, I kept shut for a few minutes, so I could reminisce what I’d been through in the past twenty-four hours.

Let’s see. Mikey nearly killed Gerard on the plane. When we were off the plane, we went to a restaurant, and I made myself puke my food out. Then, we checked in our hotel rooms. I texted Jackson, but then Gerard smashed the phone. Oh, yeah. I saw that demonic dog apparition, and it scared this shit out of me. Then, I used Frank’s phone to text and call Jackson again, and we talked for a bit. He really missed me. After that, Roxie and I ran on the treadmill for a while, and then there was a fire. That’s it. I must have passed out sometime during the fire. But when? I probed through my mind but could find nothing. Had the smoke knocked me out that bad? Gosh. The entire remembering process took me twenty minutes the least, but Gerard hadn’t moved an inch.

I just laid there for a few minutes and waited to see if Gerard were going to make any movements. The clock on the wall ticked and tocked monotonously as minutes upon minutes inched out of reach. He then got up and got himself a cup of coffee across the hospital room. Then, he trudged back to his seat grimly and sipped on the coffee.

When he finished it, that was when I decided to make my move. I simply turned over to my side. When I did that, he jumped out of his chair in startling surprise and fell to the ground. I laughed so obnoxiously at him as he tried to get himself up. He smiled.

“Glad you’re up and feeling good enough to laugh so hard!” he told me, keeping his bright smile on his face. There were dark circles under his eyes blood-shot eyes, and he appeared much older and more exhausted than he normally did.

“What happened?” I asked him in my confusion.

“You passed out while trying to get people out of their hotel rooms. You had to have at least saved ten people, including a newborn baby who’d just been born two days ago. When you passed out, Roxie dragged you away from danger, and then I picked you up and ran out of the building. Ray and Bob were already out of the building, but Mikey, Frank, and I waited for you to get back. We wanted to make sure you were safe.” He paused for a second, and I wondered exactly why. “I shouldn’t have let you run off like that. That was very irresponsible of me. I guess I didn’t even realize you’d run off like that. Glad you’re alright.”

“Did anyone get hurt?”

“Well,” Gerard hesitated, “About fifty people weren’t able to make it out alive. If the firemen had just come a half an hour sooner, everything would have been fine for them. Kids, parents, vacationers— many people lost their lives to that fire. The cause of it hasn’t even been found out, yet! Well, as far as I know, anyways.”

“Where is Roxie?”

“She’s with Frank at the vet to get checked out to be sure she’s fine for breathing in all that smoke. She seemed okay, but we just wanted to be sure. Didn’t want to lose her.”

“Yeah.” There was a three minute silence as a absorbed that all, and then I asked, “Where are we staying for the rest of vacation?”

“They gave us another room in another section of the hotel that hadn’t been up in flames. Not a lot of our stuff made it out of the hotel room. I got all of your stuff and our money, but that’s it. The rest is gone. Well, that’s what I got out, anyways, not the rest of the band. Don’t really know what they got out, but I didn’t really have time to ask since I had to be with you the whole while right after I got out of the hotel.”

“Wow.” Really, I had no idea what to say. Almost everything Gerard had brought, probably even his clothes, were destroyed in the malevolent flames.

I had the most horrible time falling asleep that night. Gerard had fallen asleep on the air mattress as soon as his movie was over. It took me at least two hours to finally fall asleep, and when I was asleep, I kept having to wake myself up from nightmares. From demon-dogs to human-like monsters, my sleep was filled with the worst treacheries I’d dreamt of in months.

One monster, however, really stood out in my nightmares. It was that kid who I’d bumped into right before passing out. He had fangs in the nightmares, and he was always the antagonist in them all.

In one of the nightmares, I was walking through a park that was near my old house in New Jersey. It was twilight, and I was on one of the swings all by myself. The playground was completely deserted with the exception of me. To the left was the usual wildflower garden and to the right were the slide and the jungle gym. Another swing a few yards away from me had begun to swing in slow-motion. The air was arid and bitterly freezing yet rather fresh, sort of how it is on an autumn night.

That is when a jet-black Schipperke dog began walking slowly from the path of the wildflower garden. It was sort of like he was moving in slow-motion, though he was moving much faster than the swing had been. His eyes read malignant, and his dog-smirk read spiteful. A chill shot right down my spine and the rest of my body as I realized where I’d seen this exact dog before—the hotel room.

First, he howled at me in a husky tone. Then, he began to slowly trudge my way in a slick manner. That is when something totally freaky happened. He then transformed into the kid I’d bumped into in the hall right before I had passed out. However, he now had shining-red eye, sharp, snow-white teeth, and dirty-yello claws. His jet-black hair whipped behind him in a strange breeze once he was completely himself and not the dog. “You’d think you humans would finally learn to keep the fuck out of someone else’s territory,” he said in a Devil-like voice. He proceeded toward me with complete malice and the wickedness of the Devil himself.

I was paralyzed in pure fear merely from the aura he gave off, never mind what he’d said. He edged painfully closer second by second, and finally he was right on top of me. He then seized my throat and said, “You stupid mortal! You are coming with me to meet my king! He’s going to have some fun with you, stupid girl!” He then instead seized me by the wrist and began to drag me to a hole he must have dug. That was the end of the dream.