Wayde Woods Massacre

"You're fucking trash!" Megan's father bellowed, chucking an empty beer bottle at her head as she ran out the door. Tears stung her eyes as they had done so many times before. But this time they were tears of joy, joy that she would be away from this man for the next two weeks.

Megan barely noticed the cold until she blasted the heater in her car. Suddenly shivering she zipped up her jacket. The sound of the screen door startled her, as her father drunkenly stumbled outside.

"Where in Sam Hell do you think you're going?" He yelled at her, a new beer in hand.

At first she was going to ignore him. Take the high road, she wouldn't have to deal with him for awhile anyway. But as she started backing out of the driveway the low road prevailed. After violently cranking down the passenger window, she bid her father goodbye with an enormous, "FUCK YOU!"

She sped away before he could respond. Looking in her review mirror, she saw him just standing there. Probably in shock at her outburst. Her father had never earned much respect from her, but she was too smart to confront him face-to-face. She could be in trouble when she got back from her trip but figured he was too drunk to hold onto the memory long.

He is not ruining this for me, she thought, even if he cuts me into little pieces when I get home! With that glamorous thought of defiance, she turned up her radio and began singing loudly to Lita Ford.

Before long she was pulling into the gas station where they had all agreed to meet up. Most of the others were already there. Tony Varcurolli was pumping gas into the van he had borrowed from his dad. Ben Young was reading a book, Megan could not see the cover but she figured it was either science or science-fiction. Manny Lopez and Nichole Stewart were chatting by the pumps. She figured Fat Bill and Suzette were inside the station. The only ones not accounted for were Michael Strave and Jenny Putz.

* * *

"Listen dear, I want you to be careful. Lakes can be very dangerous places." June Strave fretted, fixing the collar on her son Michael's shirt.

"He'll be fine, dear," His father answered from the couch without removing his attention from the newspaper.

"I will be fine, Mom. And it's not a lake house, it's a cabin," Michael offered.

"A cabin? Where's the cabin?" June enquired.

"In Wayde Woods."

"Oh Heavens!" She moaned, "Don't get me started on how dangerous the woods are!"

"For God sakes June, he'll be fine," his father spoke again, visibly annoyed his paper reading was being disrupted.

"I'll be careful," Michael promised.

"Okay," his mom said defeated, "Don't forget to buckle up in that expensive car Jenny has. Why didn't she come in anyway? That's awfully rude."

"I told her to wait in the car, Mom. To make things faster," he hoped the hint would stick.

"Well she still could've come in to say hi. I swear children today are so rude! Of course just look at her parents. I mean, you know I love Jenny. Her parents, not so much. You know, I went down to her dad's supermarket and he was having a special on tuna. I went to get some but he was all out. So I asked him if I could have a rain check to keep the same discount and he said, 'no rain checks.' Can you believe that? The nerve!"

"Are you ever going to let that boy get out the fucking door?" Michael's dad yelled.

"Oh okay, have fun," she mumbled as she hugged her son.

"Goodbye Mom. Goodbye Dad."

His father lit his pipe, "Goodbye Son."

It wasn't until Michael was halfway down the sidewalk that June, still standing in the doorway, realize what foolish thing she had said. "Michael! When I said have fun I didn't mean too much fun!"

Jenny waved from the car.

"At least wear a condom!" June hollered at her son who spun around in horror. Realizing she had gone too far, she shut the door quickly. Now inside, she went over and sat down on the chair opposite the couch her husband occupied. "I just don't understand what would make him want to leave home to spend a weekend in a cabin."

Her husband looked up at her, then back down to his paper. "I can think of a reason."
June wondered what he meant.

* * *

Megan turned off the engine and stepped out of her car. She pulled the pony tail out of her dirty blonde hair and fluffed it. Running over to Tony, she greeted him with a passionate kiss which he happily embraced.

"Well hello there," Tony said, still embracing her.

"Hi yourself," She replied in that young romance sort of way.

Still in Tony's arms, Megan swung to the side facing the boy whose head was still in a book. "And hi to you, Ben."

"Oh, hi Megan," Ben said with a slight smile, glancing up from his book.

"Whatcha readin?" She inquired.

"Oh nothing really, it's just Dread Woods Haunting." Ben answered.

"OHH, sounds exciting. What's it about?" Megan asked.

"Um, it's basically about this family that wants an adventure so they spend the night in a cabin in the woods that's supposed to be haunted. During the night they are haunted and slaughtered by demons."

"Cool," Megan flashed a smile.

"Dude," Tony said, removing the gas pump from the van, "Why the hell would you read a book about a haunted cabin in the woods, when you're going to be spending the weekend in a cabin in the woods?"

"I don't know, it just seemed fitting," Ben shrugged.

"Well I think it sounds very interesting," Megan reassured him.

"Hey, you can borrow it when I'm done if you want," Ben offered.

Megan winced, "Um, maybe when this weekend is over."

* * *

The vehicles all stayed within eyesight of each other. The van, transporting Tony, Ben, Manny and Fat Bill stayed in the front. Megan followed in her car with Nichole and Suzette. Jenny and Michael brought up the rear in her car.

"Can you get your head out of that book for five seconds?" Tony teased Ben, trying to knock the book out of his hands.

"Leave him alone Tone," Fat Bill ordered. Bill had always felt like a big brother to Ben and felt the need to protect him, even though Tony really meant no harm.

"I'm just screwin' around Bill," Tony replied.

"Hey guys, I wanna show you something," Manny piped up, pulling a black box out of his jacket pocket and opening it for them.

"Holy shit Manny, is that what I think it is?" Fat Bill asked, surprised.

"Yep, sure is," Manny replied, "I'm going to ask Nichole to marry me."

"Come on, Manny," Tony said, "We just barely graduated. Are you sure you want to marry her so soon?"

"Why the fuck wouldn't I?" Manny became defensive.

"Well I think it's a good thing," Ben spoke up.

Tony, rather dangerously removing his eyes from the rode, confronted both of them, "Shut up Ben, you don't know shit about it. And Manny, it's nothing against Nichole. I love Nichole. But you guys are so young still. Are you sure you want to tie yourself down with marriage?"

Fat Bill turned to Tony, "Well you're with Meg. Doncha wanna marry her someday?"

Tony thought for a moment, "Maybe someday, but not right now."

Ben spoke up again, "Well I still think it's a good thing, Manny. I mean, if I had a wonderful girl I would want to stay with her as well."

Manny patted Ben on the shoulder, "Well I guess I know who my best man is going to be."

The remark made Ben smile. Then Tony noticed AC/DC had come on the radio and he cranked it up.
"Highway To Hell for the class of '88, boys!" He cheered.

"With your fuckin' drivin' I feel like I'm on a highway to hell." Fat Bill said.