From Beyond The Grave

My phone lights up, sending out a dark little tune. "I'm not a bad man, even though I do bad things. Very bad things, such horrible things..." It sings as I tap my fingers to the beat. Something hits my head. It's soft and fluffy; a pillow.

"Answer the phone or I will kill you." Jasmine threatens.

Quickly I flip the silver apparatus open. "Hello?" I ask into the silence.

"Jada! Get Jasmine and you two get down here at the dock. We found something really cool!" Alex squeals in excitement. I groan as our friends are laugh through the other end. "Get your butt down here!" Alex adds.

I sigh, "No, Alex. I'm not going down to the dock, climb my ass down the rocks to see some stupid jelly fish that washed up. I am not doing that again!" I almost feel bad. "Well what is it?"

Alex screams for someone to touch it. "It's this weird tube-thing. It washed up yesterday afternoon. It's really cool. Every time we touch it something comes out. We are about to push it back into the water. I want you to see it."

I yell out to Jasmine. She walks over to me, still in her pajamas and sits down on my bed. "What does he want?" Jasmine then stuffs her mouth with a spoon full of cereal. My stomach growls; I love cereal.

"Alex wants us to go to the dock and watch them harass the public. Oh, and vandalize a strange object that washed up. Do you want to go?" I ask her. Jasmine shakes her head. "Me neither."

Alex starts to yell on the other end again. Jasmine finally takes the phone away from me, pressing it up to her own ear. "Alex do not touch that thing. You know there is a sewer plant across the bay. There could be shit in there." He answers her and hangs up.

"He had to go. One of the bone heads fell into the water." Jasmine explains and continues to eat her breakfast. I roll my eyes and get off the bed.

"I'm going to get some breakfast." I eat and get dressed for the day.

When I return down stairs my Mom was waiting with a large bowl of red gelatin. "Seconds?" I ask, with a coy smile.

Mom shoves the bowl into my hands. There was plastic wrap protecting the red goodness from me. A note lays on top, saying 'Welcome to the neighborhood.'. "Bring this down the street. Do not be rude. I mean it Jada."

It only happened one time.

"How come Jasmine doesn't have to do this?"

"Because Jasmine is in trouble with me." Mom looks up the stairs at Jasmine. She scampers away to our room.

I walk because I might as well get some exercise into my day off. The house is just as ugly as I saw it yesterday. The grass is high enough something could hide and eat me. I climb across the yard, keeping the gelatin as safe as I can. I don't know if anyone is even home. There isn't a vehicle in the drive way. The only thing that can transport someone is an old bike chained up to the porch.

The porch moans under my weight. Once knocking, I then shift the large bowl. It's starting to eat heavy. Why does the house warming gift have to be gelatin? I wish it was a flower, or maybe a pillow. Something light.

No one answers the door. I knock a few more times. There is a noise, like talking, coming up from the house. Someone has to be there. I knock even louder. There is no way I'm carrying this heavy thing back up the street. I could ditch it, but Mom would kill me. This time I bang on the door.

"HELLO? I CAN HEAR YOU INSIDE! I COME BARING GIFTS!" I scream into the silent door. I look around. This is the right house. The talking continues. When I hit the door again it opens. Guess I jiggled the lock enough. I shrug, and let myself in.

In the horror movies those idiots who walk into the houses are usually the first to die. Like, who the fuck walks into someone else's house? I do.

There is no furniture anywhere. I couldn't even set the stupid bowl down and run for it. "Hello?" I ask again. In the distance I hear a whistle. It's going by the tune of my favorite song. My phone's ring to be more exact. Out of habit, I hum along.

Stepping over boxes, I make my way towards the whistle. It's coming from the kitchen. When I pass through the living room it gets louder. The kitchen light is the only one on. I walk towards the light.

I press myself to the wall. Reaching over to knock, the whistle stops. I peek my head over to see why. There stands a man; he must be the one I saw yesterday. Wolverine, as I like to call him. He's slender; about 6'5 and had gloves on that reach past his elbows. I watch him. The tune starts back up. Before long I find myself standing in the door way, like an idiot, holding the bowl. Wolverine's black hair is stuck up in every direction - like a mad scientist.

The tune stops again, and Wolverine mutters something. He turns around. I scream as loud as I can. There is blood all over him. In his hands lay a man's head. The fear controls my body. I scream again as he looks up, startled. The gelatin goes crashing down between us. This is why no one should go into a house!

My fingers become numb, along with my toes. It lingers up through my body. My eyes shut and everything shuts down. I black out.