A Night of Flame and Blood

by Elisabeth Huerta

  “You’re… beautiful too.” I blurted like an idiot.

  “Yeah; word of advice. Don’t call a man beautiful. Say ravishingly sexy or handsome, it sounds better.” He looked at me expectantly. “Well go on say it.”

  “Do not get bossy with me.”

  He gave me a smile that promised trouble, the car turned the corner and he pulled up into a fast food joint. “We should probably eat something and kill some time. We have a couple of ours until school ends.”

  I nodded along, feeling suddenly guilty that I was the one who left Robert today. It was just after lunch time at school, I had texted Robert letting him know I would not be at school.

  Daston and I ate inside his car and talked more about ourselves until the time was up. I found myself wishing it would slow down.

  Daston drove quickly to my parents house and parked on the sidewalk outside it. “So, are you going to say I am sexy?” He asked picking up the conversation from earlier.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Let it drop already.” I said annoyed.

  He smirked evilly. “Isn’t that your house?” He pointed to the little yellow two story house that was indeed mine. “Why don’t I go in there and have a lovely chat with your parents. I could tell them all about our undying love, maybe have them invite me for dinner—“

  “Stop!” I interrupted. “Fine, you’re ravishingly sexy, handsome, yummy, delicious, and all of the above. Happy now?”

  “Ecstatic.”

  “Good.” I got out of the car before he was able to get out and open the door for me. He frowned at me. “What?” I shrugged. “It would have been dumb if you got out only to open the door for me.” I slammed the door shut before he could argue. It was three o clock. Rebecca would be coming home soon. I had sent her a quick text earlier letting her know that she could leave without me.

  As I turned to walk away, I heard his window slide down. “Brianna.” He called. I turned around and caught the look on his face. “So, you think I am delicious.”

  “Uhh, just get out of here.”

  “Will do Bri Bri.” He said as he drove away. I nearly tripped. How the hell did he hear about that nickname?

  “Don’t call me Bri Bri!” I yelled. I thought I heard him laugh, but that might have been a trick of the wind.

  I watched his car disappear at the end of the street before I turned around and went inside.

  “You are early.” My mother said as I came inside. “Where’s Rebecca, she usually comes in before you do?”

  “She’s…coming, soon.” I hope. “She got held up with her friends, you know how they always talk after school.”

  “Then how did you get here?” She asked suspiciously before her face lit up with recognition. “Oh, I see. You must have had a very nice ride home with that boy. What was his name?”

  There was no use denying it. “Daston, his name is Daston.”

  “Daston, that’s a nice name.” She looked ready to burst. “Sweetie, tell me truthfully, is Daston your boyfriend?”

  “No, he was just being nice because I was waiting for a long time and Rebecca wasn’t hurrying up, so he asked if I wanted a ride. Really it was just a matter of kindness.” I said, lying through my teeth. I did not know how my mother would react if she knew that I ditched.

  “Really, a boy gives you a ride home out of the kindness of his heart. Sounds more like this boy has a crush on you. If I were you, I would go right ahead and nose dive in. I did not get much of a look, but from what little I saw he looked like a handsome young man. You should go for it sweetie, if you want I could even call his parents and arrange a date—“

  “No!” Please, anything but that. Nothing would be more embarrassing than your mom setting you up on a date.

  “Well, you’ve got to do something.” She huffed exasperated.

  My lips tilted upwards as a laugh threatened to come out. I had never seen my mom look so worked up when it came to me.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Mom, really. You’d think that this was my only chance at love or something. Besides, if you even met him you would not be preaching about us getting together.”

  She took a step back her eyes took on a worried quality. “What do you mean? Is this guy bad news? If he is, do not be accepting rides from him again.” She wiggled her pointer finger at me in a stern gesture.

  “No, he is not bad news.” Well, kind of not bad news, there was a part him that was still very bad. “He is just a hormonal teenage boy that can get on your nerves.”

  She looked confused. “Then why would I not like him? Is he making lude advances on you?”

  I shook my head. “No, mom, forget it. He is not bad, maybe that came out wrong. He is annoying when he wants to be, which is practically always, and charming in only small occasions.” I thought about it. “And I think he would be very awkward, he seems to not like many people, so I think if you ever did meet him, he would not give the best impressions. Think of Robert, remember when you first met him and he started making that weird conversation because he was nervous. Something like that I imagine with Daston.” I finished. Daston was flirtier than Robert, and could be way more charming, but at his core, he was very much like Robert.

  Her confused look turned into a frown. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you keep making friends like that?” She asked.

  It was my turn to look confused. “Like what?” I said defensively.

  She gave me a look that seemed to say, you know what I am talking about.

  “I don’t know mom, maybe it is because I have the best taste ever.” I said seriously. Robert was quite frankly the best friend any girl had ever and could ever have. I could not vouch enough for Daston, but in regards to Robert, I was certain.

  “Fine.” She threw her hands up. “Sorry I mentioned it.”

  “You better be.” I mumbled.

  Her eyes narrowed, daring me to repeat it again. I gave her an innocent smile, and she let it drop.

  The soft sound of the door creaking alerted us that someone came in. We turned in that direction and were met by Rebecca’s curious eyes.

  “What’s going on here?” Rebecca looked back and forth between mom and I. Her eyes were suspicious.

  “Nothing.” My mother waved off casually.

  Rebecca still looked suspicious, but her suspicion was mostly directed at me. “I need to talk to Brianna, privately.” She said to no one in particular. “I’ll just go to my room. Brianna.” Rebecca turned towards me. “Come with me to my room so we could talk.” That’s weird. Rebecca never wants to talk with me. We live to ignore each other.

  She walked up the stairs and I followed behind her. I was kind of hungry—the junk food went down quickly—and I was really hoping to take a trip to the kitchen soon.

  Rebecca’s room was a fluffy pink wonderland. Her bed had a light pink comforter layered with millions of pillows varying in darker shades of pink. She had a big fit when she was younger, stomping her feet and screaming to the top of her lungs until my father conceded her wish and put pink carpeting and painted her room bubble gum pink. It was too pink, every time I enter this room, I feel like I was trapped inside a pink cotton candy.

  “Ok, what do you want to talk to me about?” I asked.

  Rebecca paced around her room before she asked. “Are you and Daston together?”

  “No.” I replied quickly.

  She looked at her pink nail polish—pretending she did not care—but I saw a muscle in her jaw twitch. “You two ditched today, didn’t you?” She finally looked up at me, but there was something different in her eyes. They didn’t look reproachful it was more like resignation. “You don’t have to answer that, I know you did.”

  “And you’re not mad?”

  “No. He seems more your type anyway. I mean Daston’s cute, real cute, but he’s kind of like you. He does not care what he looks like and he pulls it off. And he does not care about hanging out with us cool people. I should have seen it before. Daston’s not my type o
f guy. Even if I did manage to snag him, we would have nothing in common.” She smiled timidly. “Plus, he has a thing for my little sister.”

  “What…no Daston doesn’t like me.” I said quickly. “He has a hoard of women after him. He can choose whoever he wants.”

  “And he chose you.” Rebecca finished. “Now, I am going to tell you something I’ve never said before.” She took a deep breath; I could tell what she was about to say was hard for her. “You’re actually really pretty, did you know that? And even though it pains me to admit it, you have a rocking body. I wish I had your curves.” She frowned when she looked down at her own body. “As for the hoard of women, I can guarantee you he’s never looked at them once. His eyes are only for you.”

  This was the first time Rebecca had complemented me on anything. It made me feel like I had the old Rebecca back, the one from where we were kids. She used to be my best friend, and I really missed her.

  “Thank you.” I did not know what else to say, but that felt like enough. She made me feel better. Besides she gave me the most important thing back, my friend.

  “Just don’t get all sappy with me. And don’t tell anyone I said those complements, got that.” She warned halfheartedly. I could tell a change had happened within her. The way she looked at me was different. She was looking at me like a sister instead of the person she had to live with. It reminded me of the way Michelle looked the last day I saw her. Michelle had not talked to me since the sixth grade, but the last day that everyone saw her she came right up to me and looked at me the same way she did when we were eleven, like a friend. The words she whispered to me that day are ones I would never forget. She trusted me with a secret, a secret she told no one else but me.

  Chapter 12

  “Rebecca,” I needed to think fast, “can I borrow the car keys.” I had been putting it off for too long. I needed to find the dingy old room that Michelle died in, if only to prove to myself that it was real. I needed to find it for Michelle. From my dreams, I knew it had to be a place around town.

  “Why?” Rebecca never likes it when I use our car. She believed that as the eldest, it should be hers not ours.

  “Just checking out possible creepy rooms for Robert.” I lied quickly. I was really getting into the habit of lying. Rebecca looked at me as if I was clearly crazy. “He’s trying to do this ritual, and he can’t do it at his house, otherwise his parents will catch us. So, I am trying to find us an abandoned room.” I recalled some of my dream, from the looks of it, the room was all cement, hidden among trees. It seemed to be far from any houses. “Something that’s away from any houses, just alone, you know what I mean?” I asked. It was a long shot, but if I was trying to find it, it would be good to ask around. Rebecca knew a lot of people, it was possible that she had heard of something like that around here.

  Rebecca was still giving me weird looks. “That’s oddly specific.” She said, her eyes narrowing.

  “Well, Robert is a specific guy.” I said lamely.

  “I guess.” She said. “Why doesn’t he just do it in the middle of the forest?”

  “That’s too creepy, even for Robert.” A small smile tugged at my lips thinking about Robert doing a ritual in any creepy spot. He was a weirdo, but he was actually not as brave or crazy as people thought. He would do rituals in his room only, any other place especially out in the forest freaked him out.

  “Robert is creepy incarnate” Rebecca shook her head. “But I guess I have heard of a place like that. Some of the kids from school use a place by the towns edge to drink and do drugs. A few of them have even used it to have sex in.” Her nose wrinkled. “But that place is gross. I went there once with an ex-boyfriend of mine and he actually wanted to make out there.” She gagged. “I dumped him instantly.”

  My eyes widened. “Take me there.” I had to see for myself if it was the same place as my dream. It was worth a shot.

  “No!” Rebecca whisper shouted. “What if there are people there doing drugs? I do not want to barge in on them.”

  “I’ll go on my own then, just give me the address.”

  Rebecca’s eyes went impossibly wider. “No, it’s dangerous.” She bit her lip. “Fine, I’ll go with you, but we got to text someone the address, and let them know we are there. We don’t want to get murdered.”

  I nodded in agreement, that was smart. “I’ll text Robert and let him know.”

  “Ok.” Rebecca agreed. “You should tell him to come with us. It’ll be better if a guy is there with us.”

  “No.” I said quickly. Robert would out my lie. “He’s busy today, but he’ll be on standby for sure.”

  “Fine, I guess. I think I have some pepper spray.” She rummaged through her drawers and pulled out a pink pepper spray triumphantly. “I forgot to tell you, the place we are going to is in the cemetery.” I could not stop the gasp that slipped out as she laughed at my horrified expression.

  ∆∆∆

  We were in the car, Rebecca was driving towards the cemetery. The trip, for once, was not quiet. Rebecca kept asking about Daston, if he had tried to kiss me yet, and how it felt to be alone with him for so many hours. She was practically swooning for me and was genuinely giddy. “When you do kiss him, tell me everything. I need to know if his kiss is like I imagined it.”

  “Shut up.” I reached across the car and slapped her hand lightly. My cheeks blushing furiously.

  Rebecca laughed at my frazzled state. “Stop being such a prude. You should probably start practicing with your hands, sometimes a bad kiss is a deal breaker.” She said seriously. I blanched. My kiss would certainly be bad, I had absolutely no experience in that department.

  Rebecca noticed my face. “Uh oh. You haven’t kissed, have you? Not even with Robert?”

  I cringed. “Why the hell would I kiss Robert? He is practically my brother!”

  “To practice” Rebecca said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What use is a guy friend if he is not going to help you out in the most important things.”

  “There are other things to do with guy friends, other than kissing. Besides Robert is practically a girlfriend. You know he made me promise to tell him everything about my date with Daston.”

  Rebecca snorted. “Fuck, Roberts a total girl.” Rebecca turned into a small shabby parking lot. There were no iron fences surrounding it, or any other method stopping someone from coming in. There were no other cars parked. Her face brightened. “I think we are in luck, there does not seem to be anyone here.”

  I sighed in relief. Barging in on a couple making out was not something I wanted to do.

  I glanced down at my phone before I slipped it in my pocket. Robert had responded back to my text asking what the address was.

  The cemetery was covered in knee high grass and scattered trees. Leaves littered the ground, some tangled so deep in the grassy vines they became a unit. It was rather sad what this place had become. The dead underneath were long forgotten in this rotting cemetery. They built a new cemetery on the other side of town. They said this one was full and old they needed a better place to rest the dead, but really what they wanted was a better place to hold funerals. They did not want the visitors who were sending off their deceased to see this old cemetery.

  I could not see the little room from where we stood. It would be deeper in.

  “Lead the way.” I called to Rebecca. She looked hesitant to go in. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s the first time I am going into this cemetery without a group of friends. Everything seems so much scarier when it is just you and me.” She worried her bottom lip, her eyes wider than usual. I felt bad for leading her in here, but I could not let her off the hook just yet.

  “Don’t be a chicken, it is just a little cemetery. The dead can’t hurt you” I told her.

  “No, but they can still scare the shit out of you.” She grumbled.

  “Just come on and show me the way. The faster we do this, the faster we can leave.”

  Rebecc
a lifter her head up, a sly smile on her face. “That is all you had to say sister, let’s go.” She took the lead and I followed behind her.

  The tall grass kept tickling our legs like phantom hands the further we went in. The skin there started to get red and blotchy from the weeds and from my constant scratching. The cemetery was a big piece of land ranging to about two acres. The room was difficult to spot because of the trees. They were huge and planted carelessly, all over the cemetery. The branches of each tree twined together, linking each of them to one another.

  We spent a long while searching, Rebecca could not remember exactly where the room was, and we wondered aimlessly for almost thirty minutes. I almost gave up, when I caught Rebecca looking intently at a scuttle of small trees all clumped together, at closer inspection there was something peeking from between the small cracks they left between each other. It looked like a wall.

  “Where are you going?” Rebecca asked. I hadn’t realized I was walking towards it until Rebecca asked. I was already halfway to the trees. “Wait up.” I heard her footsteps hurry behind me.

  I already knew what it was before I got there. I squeezed myself between the trees and saw a little room with peeling paint and boarded up windows. The door was scratched up like in my dream. The graffiti littered the ancient door, it was barely hanging on to the hinges.

  “Oh, we found it.” Rebecca said from behind. Found it indeed. It was the exact room I was looking for. Rebecca’s nose wrinkled. “I just remembered that it smells like piss and feces in there. Bums and the druggies use it sometimes.” She gagged. “I am not looking forward to that smell.”

  I held my breath as I walked inside, I did not want to smell any of that.

  As horrible as the place looked from the outside, what was inside was more shocking. Every inch of the room was wiped clean. There were no traces of dirt, no hot wax on the floor, even the brown armoire was gleaming as if recently polished. Someone had cleaned this room spotless.