by Clive Reznor
Portia took a moment to look around at the circle. It was a question most in the circle wanted to her to answer as most of them didn’t think Portia was afraid of anything. She carried herself as an outcast, a tough girl, and that perception went unchallenged until now. What could someone who showed such disdain for most of life’s trappings have to be afraid of?
“Losing this game,” she said flatly.
There was a groan from someone in the circle. Portia didn’t catch who it was but had her suspicions. No one apparently believed her answer and Portia knew this, but she also knew she had, in fact, told the truth.
Without waiting for complaints, she motioned to Kerry to draw her Spirit Card. He did so with an upturned lip and handed it to her. Portia looked at the card and smiled to herself as if she had just gotten away with robbery. She then picked up the Pith Die and continued the game, drawing a one for the top number and a seven for the bottom. The Time Card had ten seconds on it, and she quickly looked to Callie as her Soulcather.
“Are you really a virgin?” Portia asked bluntly.
“Ooh, that’s a good one!” Kerry chirped. “Now we’re getting into the good stuff. Ms. Virgin Callie, a real virgin or not?”
“I don’t think that’s an appropriate question,” Callie debated.
“You’ve got five more seconds,” Portia said coldly
“This isn’t fun,” Callie said, “I don’t think I want to play this game anymore.”
“Answer the question, or you lose,” said Portia.
“No,” Callie spat.
She pushed a Spirit Card to Callie who didn’t seem too into looking at the card. Instead, she stood up and left the room. Portia watched her angrily as Callie headed to the bathroom, the card still sitting in her spot.
“Let’s just keep playing. Let the little bitch cry,” Liz said.
Portia hesitated and looked around the room as if she was expecting something to happen. After a moment, she twisted the Pith Die again and drew the Time Card. Five minutes. This time, Portia took a moment to pick her Soulcather. Meredith was her choice, and Portia knew exactly what she wanted to ask.
“You’ve been so quiet tonight,” Portia muttered under her breath, almost in a whisper.
“Just watching,” Meredith replied. “Wish your brother was here. This would be a bit more fun if he were.”
“Really?” Portia spat at Meredith. “Funny you should mention him. I know you’re not really all that quiet. In fact, you make a lot of noise when you’re fucking don’t you?”
Kerry and Liz looked at each other stunned while Latoya stopped her texting completely. Meredith bit her lip, wanting so badly to rip into Portia but thought better of it.
“If you’ve been listening to me and your brother having sex, that’s kind of creepy, you know. Maybe if you had a man you’d find better things to do.”
“It’s not my brother I heard you having sex with.”
“Aw, shit!” Latoya shouted. “Gettin’ real now.”
Meredith started to fidget where she sat. The truth behind the claim was evident in her demeanor, so there was no use denying it. Portia continued to stare at Meredith, her anger and bitterness at this woman’s betrayal of her brother so palpable now that Meredith swore she saw fire in Portia’s eyes.
“So my question is, who was it?” Portia asked.
The clock on the wall shook on its own. Liz was the only one who noticed it but thought it to be a coincidence. Not wanting to go any further with this, Meredith elected to take the Challenge instead of letting her personal business be spilled out for a room full of strangers. The Challenge Card asked for a dead bug to be placed in the bowl and consumed.
“What kind of shit is that?” Latoya said. “This is getting stupid, Portia. I mean, she ain’t eating no damn bug. Where are you going to find one anyway?”
“I’ve got one,” said Liz as she went to her box of items and pulled out a jar.
Inside the jar was a dead roach. She quickly dumped its lifeless body into the white bowl and pushed the container over the Meredith.
“You’ve got four minutes left,” Portia exclaimed.
“Fuck this! I’m out of here. Go fuck yourself, bitch!”
“You would know about fucking, wouldn’t you? But don’t worry, my brother doesn’t know. I didn’t tell him. I hoped you would.”
Meredith stood up and headed to the door. She stopped, not wanting to let this go just yet. She turned back to Portia, seething now with anger, and pointed her finger at her lover’s sister.
“You don’t know shit about me, okay. It’s none of your business what happens between your brother and me.”
“You can’t leave,” Portia said, ignoring Meredith’s words. “You have to finish the game.”
“I’m not finishing this crap! You know what you can do with your little game.”
“Time’s up,” Liz said, looking at the clock.
“Turn the card over,” Portia demanded.
Meredith scoffed and continued to the door. Portia drew the Spirit Card. She turned it over and walked over to Meredith who was at the front door now and showed it to her. Out of pure interest, Meredith looked at the card. It had a demonic female figure illustrated on it’s face, clad in red clothes with grey skin and fire pouring from between her legs. The top of the card had the title Mellachious and below the drawing was an inscription which Meredith read aloud.
“The Spirit you’ve called is Mellachious, the demon of lust and pain. You have lost this round, Soulcatcher, and are now owned by Mellachious. Your judgment has been told.” Meredith laughed at the card and threw it to the floor. “I guess I can leave now. I’m out, right?”
Portia didn’t say anything. She seemed to be waiting for something. Meredith just stared back, and when Portia didn’t have more words for her, she turned towards the door to leave.
Without warning Meredith was flung backward to the wall, pinned against it by some unseen force. She let out a shriek and then coughed as blood spilled from her mouth. Kerry, Liz, and Latoya ran into the foyer to see what was going on. Callie emerged from the bathroom, streaks of dried tears on her face, and immediately went to help Meredith.
“What the fuck? What the fuck?” screamed Latoya.
Callie turned to Portia who seemed to be enjoying whatever was going on. Meredith’s limbs began to twist, her knees bending inwards with a sickening series of cracks and pops. Callie and Kerry were now both trying to pull Meredith from the wall, but their efforts stopped when another set of hands reached from within the wall and took hold of Meredith’s midsection. They were sickly hands, reddish brown with green sores covering the flesh. Callie and Kerry backed away and could only watch as Meredith gargled up bubbles of blood. More hands forced their way from the plaster and paint, stretching to reach their prey. With a sudden thrust they pulled parts of Meredith’s body into the wall while leaving others to burst throughout the room in a shower of tissue and blood. Kerry and Latoya screamed while Liz turned to Portia in amazement. Portia wiped the blood from her mouth slowly, savoring the moment with a look of satisfaction.
“That was for my brother,” Portia exclaimed.
“What the fuck was that?” Latoya screamed. “This is some sick shit.”
“That’s the game, I told you the rules,” Portia said.
“You did this!” Latoya yelled again, now face to face with Portia. “I don’t know what kind of sick devil worshipping shit this is, but I’m out of here. You’re a sick little bitch, Portia.”
Stone-faced, Portia dismissed Latoya’s rants and walked back to the living room. Kerry stood stunned for a moment, but soon followed Latoya’s lead and headed towards the front door. Portia gave them the same warning she gave Meredith, but they weren’t having any of it. They opened the front door of the apartment and headed into the hallway. Callie took one more look at Portia who was about the business of turning the Pith Die again. She wondered if the game would continue even if they weren’t in the circle. I
f so, Portia could choose whoever she wanted to, and if that person didn’t complete the task or answer her question, they’d suffer the same fate as Meredith. It did make Callie wonder why she hadn’t been attacked when her Spirit Card was drawn, but there was no time to ask.
Another problem quickly put those worries to rest. As Callie followed Kerry and Latoya, she noticed they hadn’t gotten very far in their retreat. She looked over Kerry’s shoulder to see what had stopped them.
“I don’t believe this,” Kerry whispered to Callie. “I think we have to stay.”
Standing between them and the staircase the led downstairs was a grotesquely obese man holding a meat cleaver. His head was bald and full of spots that also covered his shoulders and arms. He wore a white cotton undershirt that was two sizes too small. The shirt itself was covered in a variety of stains that one could only speculate the origins of. He stroked the cleaver against his stomach which billowed out from the bottom of his undershirt. He seemed to enjoy scratching the sharpened end against a rash of bleeding bumps around his bellybutton. The fat man made no attempt to speak, but grunted and wheezed at the trio. It was clear that he had no intention of moving from that spot and none of them wanted to get within arm’s reach of him and that cleaver.
“Get back inside! Get back inside!” Latoya ordered the rest of them as she pushed backward into the apartment.
She closed the door and locked it behind her. Callie began looking for another way out of the apartment while Kerry chose to confront Portia.
“Okay, I’m on your side, you know. We’re friends,” he said to Portia, almost pleading with her. “I mean, I know you’re into some weird shit, obviously, and it was fun and cute and all but … really? This is some twisted shit, a bit much for me, and I … I … I think I just want to go home. Okay?”
“Sit the fuck down,” Portia demanded.
Kerry’s pleading stopped. Portia and Liz both stared him down as if daring him to continue his whining. Callie came back into the living room after looking in all the other rooms for an exit.
“There’s no fire escape or anything. We’re too high to jump off the balcony. We’d break our necks. So, that’s why you wanted us to play here,” Callie said directly to Portia.
“Smart, isn’t she?” Portia laughed. “You should sit down too. We’ve still got a way’s to go.”
“I’m not playing anymore, remember,” Callie countered.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Kerry whimpered, already back at his seated position in the circle.
“Latoya!” Portia yelled. “Come sit down.”
Latoya was at the front door, feverishly trying to send out text messages and becoming increasingly frustrated that they weren’t going through.
“That’s not going to work,” Portia told her. “You can keep trying, but the phone is not sending out anything until we’re done.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Latoya yelled. “Someone’s going to get this message. And when I tell my brothers what you did, they’re going to ….”
“They’re not going to do anything because they won’t know anything because you won’t tell them anything,” Portia said in a controlled and even tone. “Now, put the phone away and sit down. We have to keep playing, and I’m picking you as my next Soulcatcher.”
“The hell you are!” Latoya said and rushed at Portia.
The two girls wrestled to the floor. Latoya swung violently at Portia who covered up. Liz was trying to pull Latoya off but did not have the strength to control her. Kerry noticed the Time Card had already been turned over. It revealed a minute and a half for this next question, but Portia had yet to ask it. She was desperately trying to between punches and kicks from Latoya.
Liz finally managed to wrestle Latoya backward, wrapping her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist to get some separation between the two fighting girls. Portia stood up and put her hand to her bludgeoned face. She spat at Latoya and pushed her black hair out of her eyes before finally asking her next question.
“Latoya! Do you think you’re a genuine, real person?”
Once her anger subsided, Latoya stopped fighting against Liz and asked to be let up. Liz complied, untangling their bodies. Callie and Kerry watched with anticipation, expecting Latoya to strike Portia at any second. Instead, she picked up her cell phone and tried to make another call. The battery had died. Seeing this, Latoya laughed at the phone and then threw it at Portia as hard as she could.
“Fuck you,” is all Latoya could muster.
“Uh, you better answer her or do the challenge or something,” Kerry warned. “Who knows what the hell is going to happen if you don’t.”
A large slam came from the master bedroom. Latoya turned to look into the bedroom but didn’t dare get any closer. She looked up at the clock, seeing only thirty seconds left for her time. Panic began to set in. There wasn’t anything she could actually do here but answer the question or take the challenge.
“Before you say anything,” Portia started, “you should know that if you lie, it’s the same as failing the challenge or not answering. They’ll know if you lie.”
“They’ll know?” Callie asked. “Who will know?”
She didn’t get an answer as Portia had her entire focus on Latoya. Latoya’s focus was on the splattered body parts in the foyer. That would be her if she didn’t answer honestly. It was a simple question though.
“I am,” she said.
“You lied.” Portia responded.
“How are you going to tell me whether or not I’m for real? Do you believe this bitch?”
Portia snickered to herself and sat back down in the circle, lighting candles that had been blown out during all the commotion from earlier.
“When we were little kids Latoya, you were just as much of an outsider as I was. Your brothers called you weird; your mother called you weird, everyone called you weird. You used to like the same shit I did. We used to read the same occult books, go into the woods and pretend we were summoning spirits.”
“That was a long time ago,” Latoya said in a much calmer tone.
“Yeah, but all of a sudden you tried to act like you were hood when you’ve never step foot inside a ghetto. You started wearing this shit you’ve got on, talking like you’re on BET and hanging out with a bunch of assholes. Assholes who, by the way, beat the shit out of me in eighth grade.”
“So that’s what this is all about? You mad because my girls beat you down. I told them not to. I told them …”
“You didn’t stand up for me. You didn’t do anything. You’re phony Latoya. You know that, and so do I.”
“So what?”
“So, you lied, and that means you lost.”
The time had expired. Latoya couldn’t look at Portia any longer. It was clear that Portia wanted Latoya to come to some admission of guilt for abandoning their friendship in order to be more socially accepted. Latoya didn’t care. There was no great revelation. There was no agreement. Instead, there was just resentment that she had been tricked into this trap and couldn’t get out of it. Whether or not she felt she was a fraud in personality, Portia’s deception nullified any remorse or repentance Latoya could possibly feel. Now, she just waited for the final card to turn over.
“Look at it,” Portia said, holding the Spirit Card in her outstretched hand.
Latoya had turned her back completely on Portia and didn’t care to read what was on the Spirit Card. She remembered the rules of the game though, and it was possible that the Spirit Card was not murderous, but perhaps forgiving. The one she had collected earlier was certainly not. It held a mischievous demon whose name she couldn’t recall at the moment. That creature would certainly lead to a horrific death.
Taking her chances, Latoya turned back to Portia and took the card. She sighed for a moment and then looked at its face. Her fortunes were none better with this one. It was a spirit whose name she also couldn’t pronounce, but the illustration told the whole story. The imag
e was a three-mouthed creature with a singular eye, devouring victims at will. She sat down and closed her eyes, waiting for the end.
“Come on with it then!” she shouted.
Nothing happened. Perhaps the spirits were no longer interested. Perhaps a rule had been overlooked. Perhaps Latoya had answered correctly after all.
Portia was not pleased, but Latoya couldn’t have been happier.
“Seems they know better,” she exclaimed, standing now. “Your bullshit is broke, Portia. And I don’t give a shit if that fat bastard is sitting outside. I’m getting out of here. You can finish your game on your own.”
Feeling vindicated, Latoya picked up her phone. The battery apparently had regained its charge. She smirked to herself and then dialed her brother’s phone number. A ring! She put the phone to her ear, eagerly waiting for her brother to answer.
A sharp pain quickly shot through her skull. She dropped the phone and put her hand to her ear. It fell off into her hand. She held it in her palm, bleeding heavily from the side of her head. Another crash came from the bedroom, same as before, and this time Latoya could see what had made the sound. The three-mouthed demon, very real and larger than she estimated from the card’s illustration, sat in the doorway to the master bedroom. She collapsed to the ground, the pain now shooting from both sides of her head as her other ear fell to the carpet.
Callie and Kerry screamed, seeing the blood fill the carpet and Latoya grasping at her face. Her nose slid down past her lips, leaving a trail of blood and mucus. Latoya quivered as her body continued to fall to pieces, and just before she passed out from the pain, the demon snatched what remained of her body, dragged it into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut. The sounds of eating — ravenous chewing and slurping — came from the room, so loud that even covering your ears wouldn’t drown out the sickeningly wet sounds. Then, all was silent again, and Portia went back to the Pith Die.
“Enough!” Kerry yelled. “This is insane Portia. Stop this now. Why are you doing this?”
“Oh dear, he wants a motive,” Portia grinned to Liz.
