You Know I Make You Wanna Scream

The remainder of the car ride stayed relatively silent, thankfully. Matt went back to his side of the van, and I stayed to myself, not like I had much of a choice otherwise. I tried gathering any signs of where we were going by looking out the window, but all I found for the most part was starless skies and trees.

After driving down a very bumpy road, until Brian hit the brakes hard, jerking me forward. Through the windshield I could see that we were officially in the middle of nowhere off of a sad excuse of a dirt road. A small one-story shack rested atop the small hill, complete with crooked shudders, missing shingles, and decrepit wood.

I can’t believe something as unstable as that was still standing, let alone supporting all five of these lunatics.

“Home sweet home,” Jimmy said with a ridiculing smile as he quickly undid the chains and pulled me out of the van.

As soon as we got inside, I felt tears fill my eyes as my nose caught wind of the horrid smell. I couldn’t precisely describe the stench, but if I had to make an attempt, I’d say it was rotting flesh, stale blood, and molding food.

It was like death itself was present in the living room. Brian watched me intently before explaining, “You’ll get used to it soon enough.” I just gagged even more.

To distract myself from the smell, I looked around the room to see if I could form any sort of escape route. The room was connected to the kitchen via a small opening in the off-white wall. There were two large windows to my left, one of which had a bullet hole penetrating the glass. Some portions of wallpaper remained on the walls. It was brown, peeling, and entirely unattractive.

The carpet looked like a rainbow with all kinds of colorful stains from God knows what. Lastly, there was a couch and table in the middle of the room, a square TV from the 90s, an old Play Station, a recliner, and some knives scattered across the carpet; all of the knives were permanently dyed red from blood.

After surveying the room, I began to wonder what exactly they planned to do with me. Were they going to kill me? Rape me? Hurt me? Make me beg for my life? I guess I should have seen this coming. I mean I always knew there was something wrong with them…ever since I had told Brian I was moving, things just weren’t the same.

Brian was never the same.

-Flashback, 2 ½ Years Ago-

“Brian…there’s something I have to tell you,” I mumbled into the phone receiver.

My parents had just told me that in a couple months we’d be moving to Utah. It was for my dad’s job, but even so I couldn’t really bring myself to accept it. I’d spent my entire life in this house…and quite honestly, I didn’t want to leave.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“You know how my dad lost his job? He got a new one.”

“That’s great, Myra! Why do you sound sad about it?”

“Brian, the job is in Salt Lake City. We’re going to be moving in a few months…and I wanted you to be the first to know. I haven’t been able to tell anyone else just yet.”

There was a long amount of silence on the other end before he was finally able to respond. He must be just as shaken up as I am, which I completely understand. We were just now starting to really get into our relationship. “W-what am I supposed to do without you here, Myra?”

I sighed heavily, unsure how to answer. “We’ll make it work, Brian.”

“Ok, I hope so. Anyway, you should get back to work on your paper. Call me when you’re done.”

I clicked “save” at the top of the document, admiring my work briefly before exiting. Words couldn’t describe how relieved I felt to have finally finished my exam paper for English class. Excitedly, I reached for my cell phone and dialed Brian’s number.

After getting nothing but an answering machine, I tossed the phone back on my bed and sighed. Maybe his phone was on silent. I guess I’ll just have to go over to his house and surprise him. I’m sure he wouldn't mind. I drove over to his place and knocked on the door, but there was no response. I knew that he kept a spare key on his back porch, so I went there and got inside.

“Hello?” I called.

Once again, there was no answer. I was about to just turn around and leave, until I heard a thump on the floor above my head. I wonder what that could be? I slowly walked up the stairs, despite the chills of fear that were terrorizing my spine. Something wasn’t right here…yet I found myself continuing forward to Brian's room.

"Brian, is that you?” I asked cautiously.

I heard more strange thumping noises, followed by laughter. I opened his bedroom door slowly and gasped at the sight. There was red liquid splattered all across his hardwood floor. Was that blood? I followed the liquid trail to its source.

Kayla, Zacky’s girlfriend and one of my best friends, was sprawled across the floor with a huge gash running along her body. The blood was spilling out of Kayla’s body. In addition to the stretching gash, there were multiple stab wounds in her chest and random scratches all over her body. Blood pooled into the cracks of the wood, and doused their clothing.

“Kayla?” I screamed in horror.

Brian turned around and smiled, “Oh hey there Myra, come to join the party? You’re next in line, you know.”

Next in line for what? Death? I could feel my lungs constrict tightly, trapping me in a choking episode. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak.

“Did you kill Kayla? Zacky, that's...that's your girlfriend! She was my friend! She never did anything to you! What were you guys thinking? You're all gonna go to jail!"

Matt stepped forward with a menacing look in his eyes. “We're not going anywhere, and neither are you."

He quickly grabbed my arm, but because his fingers were coated in wet blood, he lost his grip quickly, giving me just enough time to get the fuck out of there. I immediately ran back down the stairs, slowing down halfway upon noticing that I wasn’t being followed. Could it be that I just imagined I saw all that? It would make more sense than believing that my boyfriend was a crazed murderer, that’s for sure!

Before I could leave his house completely, I slipped at the stairs, losing consciousness after banging my head into the banister. When I woke up, I was in my bed with nothing more than a small band-aid on my forehead and a little bruise on my leg.

All of that had to be a nightmare. There is no other explanation. None of them could really be capable of murder could they? And it’s not like Kayla was the kind of girl to get herself in that kind of trouble.

Regardless of whatever the reality of it all may be, I could never could get rid of the sinking feeling in my stomach. The next day, my parents told me that we'd be moving sooner than expecting, and for the first time since I initially heard the news, I couldn’t be more than thrilled.

The following day I ended my relationship with Brian and refused to speak to any of the guys before moving. The chances may have been small, but truth be told, I was scared that that dream could have been real. My life could have been truly endangered. I didn’t tell him any of that though. The move was enough of an excuse.

Given the recent chain of events, I think it’s pretty safe to say that they really did kill Kayla that day. They intended to kill me next, but I moved away before they could get me. And now that I walked right into the lion’s den, they were ready to finish the job by killing me. I felt the strained expression of fear reform on my face as I made the effort to back up as far as I possibly could to be a fair distance from them.

Brian knew all too well what I was up to. He quickly came over behind me and pulled me closer to the group. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere soon, Myra. We’ve got loads of fun planned for you.”

I wanted so badly to free myself from his grip, but before I could begin struggling, a loud gunshot echoed throughout the house.

“What the hell is going on down there, Vengeance?” Matt yelled.

The guys all sprung up to their feet and ran into the nearby hallway. Zacky was lying on the floor, clutching his shoulder. Blood was leaking onto the carpet. A burning, circular hole appeared in the wooden door to the right. Someone shot him from behind that door.

-Randi Allis-

Escaping here is gonna be much easier than I originally anticipated. The floorboards above my head were endlessly creaking, and I knew that more of them had since arrived. Time to go kill. I gripped the gun tightly between my fingers as I walked toward the staircase.

I stood on the first step at the bottom and noticed that they were wooden stairs and would probably creak with each of my steps, greatly reducing the element of surprise. Nevertheless, I crept up the stairs as slowly and silently as possible, maintaining a minimum amount of creaking.

Once I reached the top, I could see a strip of light beneath the door. I waited and watched until a shadow of someone would walk by.

As I was waiting, I heard a female voice in the mix of male voices. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was hearing Myra’s voice. I can’t believe Parking Lot Creep was serious about knowing her, but it was honestly irrelevant.

Now I’d have to save both of us, which only made the adventure even greater. A small smile formed across my lips as adrenaline rushed through my veins. Oh, how I love a good adventure.

After about ten minutes, someone finally came near the door. I jumped up to my feet and wasted no time kicking the door open slightly and firing through the wood at whoever was stupid enough to cross paths with me. After the body fell to the floor, I peaked through the bullet hole to find that it was the parking lot creep! How perfect.

I grinned evilly as I watched him writhe on the ground, groaning in pain for the second time this evening. I saw four other men run into the hallway, staring down at his body in disbelief. The buff man in the center of the group turned to look at the door and saw me through the hole.

“Rev, take care of his wound. It looks like I’ve got a pest to exterminate,” he growled.

I laughed, “Uh, pest? Please, I’m more of a pestilence!” I held the gun in position, shedding the extra bullet shell, and aiming it toward Mr. Muscles.

“Ready to die?” I asked with a cocky smile.

The guy next to him in the Fedora hat smirked and pulled a knife out of his back pocket. “Wow, she’s pretty aggressive. This will be fun.”

Mr. Muscles stepped forward, his chest making contact with the barrel of the gun. I glared at him for having the nerve to show me any disrespect. “Get out of my way so that me and my friend can ditch this shitty place!” I demanded, not once feeling my aim falter.

“Oh, I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon.”

This guy seemed way to confident for someone who was about to get shot.