The Terror #wattys2017 #TNTHorrorContest

Danny

        Danny lit a few candles around the room and some incense before he sat down on the couch. He lit one that looked like it had been melted to the table for a long time with a lot of different colored candles making a melted mosaic. While lighting the last one he said,

        "So, Worm  was telling me you were having some kind of heavy experiences with the dead, is that right?" He had a slightly southern accent, greenish eyes that looked through you like a laser and slicked back almost platinum blond hair. Definitely intimidating, in a quiet, laid back way.

        Michelle was squeezing the shit out my hand again and I squeezed back with a smile to try and deflect the moment of tense awkwardness I was experiencing.  Danny was as intense as he was laid back, pale skin with some acne scarring and somehow, before he had sat down he had slipped on a pair of wrap around dark sunglasses, what we called back then Junkie Shades. He held out his open box of Marlboro Reds and Michelle and I both took one. As he was lighting our cigarettes for us he asked,

        "So you got a dose of that Purple Pyramid that was going around and now you are seeing ghosts or something, is that right?

        I took a drag and thought for a second the best way to answer the question.

        "Yeah, something like that"

        "Were you aware that that acid was four way, as in it was meant for four trippers?"

        I guess he could tell by the way I looked at him that I didn't.

        "I'm guessing  you didn't."

        he drawled,

        "Were you aware that Dale got that shit from me?"

        Stunned, I didn't say anything, just shook my head and clenched my jaw unconsciously .

        'Looks like you didn't know that either"

        "No sir...on both parts"

        "So in a way one might say that I have a certain amount of responsibility in Ol Dales death and your other friend; what was his name?

        "Steve"

        "Right Steve...I guess my giving that LSD to Dale precluded the accident that cost the life of three people"

        "Almost a fourth, who will never be the same," I interjected

        "That would be Heather, right?"

        "Yeah, that would be correct sir." I wanted to make sure he knew the scale of the disaster but at the same time give him his due respect.

        "She's still in the hospital as we speak, with burns over fifty percent of her body and many broken bones. She's all fucked up and is going to be for some time."

        "I see," He said with a despair I wouldn't have expected

        "I am sorry, but as I am sure you know, I can not be held responsible for a choice that brother Dale made. He was aware of the potency of the product in question and as for who he decided to share said product with, I have little if no responsibility for that as well. I am not the seller of that stuff nor am I the maker of it. As soon as I heard about the accident you were all involved in I stopped circulating it, but that's not what you came here for is it?"

        "No sir, it is not, my problem is Dales' head."  

        So I told him the story from the beginning and as I told it, he went into the kitchen and brought out three beers, put two in front of Michelle and myself, sat back down and loaded the pipe on the table from a small copper box that he took out of a drawer in the table.  He lit the pipe and sucked on it hard making the water in it bubble, filling his lungs.  He then offered me the pipe and I passed as did Michelle.  Worm reached over and Danny handed it to him. He then sunk back into the sofa and let the pungent intoxicant escape through his mouth and his nose.

        As I watched this drama unfold before me I began to feel the weight of Dale's stupid fucking head on my lap again. 

        "Every time I talk about it, it shows up," I said

        I couldn't see Danny's eyes so I didn't know if he could see it or not. I looked over at Worm and he was nodding his head looking at my lap, pointing with his freckled shaky index finger. I decided this time to attempt to pick it up and put it on the table. I grabbed a hand-full of his hair and lifted it from my lap, Jaws snapping, eyes bugging out of their sockets and dropped it on the table before me.

        Danny leaned forward pulling the sunglasses from his face and looked at the snapping head of Dale with terror on his face.

        "GODDAMN! THAT'S FUCKING DALES HEAD!" He howled.

        That's when the shit got really scary...

        "DALE, IS THAT YOU?" He asked looking at the head

        Then Dales head turned toward him, recognition on his tortured, mangled skull of a face and tried to speak.