FREAKS

2: Hard Pass

In the canteen, Eddie was sat with his friends, reading a magazine. I could basically hear his whole conversation because of how loud he was talking,
"The devil has come to America. Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned. Studies have linked to violent behaviour to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even... murder!"

I stood in the middle of the canteen, debating whether I should sit with my brother and his friends.

A boy with a cap was stood in the middle of the canteen too, with his friend. He turned to his friend, "Eddie seems pretty revved up today."

The other replied, "He's always revved up, just act casual."

I walked over to them, "You get used to it.. the revved up behaviour."
The boys both turned to me, giving me a confused look.
I held out my hand, "Deena Munson."

The tall boy shook it, "Mike Wheeler."

"Dustin Henderson." The other boy said, "Wait... you're-you're Eddie's sister?"

"Pleasure to meet you." I smiled sarcastically, "Why are we acting casual?"

Mike looked at Dustin with a concerned look on his face.

Dustin sighed, "We were gonna ask to reschedule the Hellfire campaign."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I would definitely act casual. He's been going on about that shit for weeks."

I decided to sit down with them, Mike and Dustin seemed cool.

"We're the freaks because we play a fantasy game." Eddie explained, then he jumped onto the table, "But, as long as you're into band or science...or parties." Eddie shouted over to the popular table, "Or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!"

Jason stood up, "You want something, freak?"
Eddie put his hands to his head and pretended they were horns, then stuck out his tongue and sat back down. I couldn't help but laugh, sometimes Eddie can be hilarious.

Dustin took a deep breath, "Uh, speaking of monsters. Lucas has to do, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So, he's not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight. And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So me and Mike, we were talking, shooting shit, and we were thing that maybe we might..."

"Postpone." Mike added.

"Postpone!" A boy shouted.

"What!" Another said.

"Over my dead body!" Another shouted.

I rested my head in my hands, "Shit."

"Shut up!" Eddie shouted, "You're saying that Sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?"

"Uh, something like that." Mike replied.

"Something like that?" Eddie questioned, "And rather than find a sub for him, you want to postpone The Cult Of Vecna?"

"I don't want to postpone it. We don't want to postpone it. It's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game." Mike explained.

"Oh, it's the championship game?" Eddie questioned.

"Yeah." Mike replied.

"Can I level with you?" Eddie stood up and starts hyperactively pacing around, "Jeff graduates this year. Gareth's got a year in a half left. Deena, is just Deena. Me, I'm army crawling my way towards a D in Mrs O'Donnell's. If I don't blow her final, I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma. And I'm gonna run like hell outta here."

"Didn't you say that last year?" A boy asked.

"And the year before that." I added.

"Yea, yeah, and I'm full of shit." Eddie replied, "This is my year. I can feel it. 1986, baby. Do you know what that means?" Eddie walked over to Dustin and Mike and put his hands on their shoulders, "It means, you boys, are the future of Hellfire. I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat on that table, right over there, looking like... looking like two little lost sheep. And I showed you, that school didn't have to be the worst year of your lives right? No. No. No. Now I'm telling you, that there are other lost sheepies out there, who need help. Who need you. Now I'm telling you, to get hour Bo-beeps on and go find one." Eddie pushed them both away.

Dustin walked over to me, "Wanna join Hellfire?"

I smiled sarcastically, "Umm, let me think. That's a hard pass."

~

That evening, I came home from school. Eddie brought a girl, Chrissy, back to our trailer, apparently they were doing a drug deal. Chrissy doing drugs? No way.
My uncle Wayne works at the Plant, doing night shifts, so he's barely home except mornings.

All night, I was in my bedroom, laying down on my bed and listening to music with headphones on. I love music.
Suddenly, I heard a scream. It sounded like Eddie but it could just be him messing around with Chrissy. I took off my headphones and heard the front door slam shut.

"Eddie?" I walked out of my room, "Eddie? Was that you?"
I found myself doing the '1,2,3,4' pattern with my fingers again. I walked down the hallway, it was silent.
"Eddie, this better not be some shitty prank." I said, but there was no reply.

I walked into the small living room to see Chrissy laying on the floor. As I walked closer, I noticed all of her bones were broken. I let out a scream, and almost gagged at the sight of her like this. My breathing increased and I felt like I was going to faint.

"Chrissy? Fuck. Shitting shit." I panicking, putting my hands over my head, "What the fuck. What the fuck!"

Stupidly, I walked closer to Chrissy. I put my fingers on her neck... No pulse.
I covered my mouth with my hands, gasping loudly. Her eyeballs were gone and her jaw was snapped. Her fingers were facing all different directions and I'm pretty sure I could see a bone sticking out of her leg.

Realisation kicked in and I stood up and started running.
"Eddie!" I screamed through the trailer park, "Eddie!" His van had gone. He had completely abandoned me with Chrissy.

I noticed a figure, crouched down next to a dog cage. They were looking at me.
I sprinted over to them, I didn't know what to say.

It was the girl.