The Dullahan

Chapter 1 :Setting In

     “They hide in the dark of night, waiting out to give a fright. On the grass that you may lie, be alone and you may die!” He read out ominously,
    “Ryan stop!” His mother replied, “You’re going to give your sister nightmares.” His sister Mia was snuggled up against their mom staring at Ryan.
    “She’ll be fine,-” Ryan shrugged, “-plus, if she does get scared she could sleep in your room!” He teased,
“Very funny!” his mom said. “Family game night doesn’t involve scary stories.” She got up and took his book away. She plopped it on the kitchen table and grabbed snacks to lay out for everyone to share.
“Aw c’mon! It should, just look outside.” Ryan pulled back the blinds, just as a flash of lightning struck a few miles away, giving a poor light source of the heavy rain outside.
“I’m highly aware of what is happening outside, our neighbors lost power. Just be thankful that we still have some, or we would have to throw everything in the fridge away.” Mia and her mom both grabbed small bags of chips from their pile of snacks.
“C’mon Ryan, it's your turn to roll!” Mia complained. Ryan glared before he grabbed the dice and spun it around in his hand. After a few spins he dropped it on the board,
“Six!” he moved his piece forward six spaces,
“Oo! You landed on ‘go to jail’!” His mother and sister laughed,
“This game is rigged.” he pouted. His sister moved his piece to the jail cell. Ryan smiled as he shook his head, “Not fair!” Everyone laughed.
The night went on with chatter, board games and food until they heard a knock on their door. Their mother got up to answer it as her children were laughing and arguing about who is going to jail, and that it's probably the cops coming to arrest one of them for ‘cheating’. She opened the door to see a man with brown hair, fair skin, and light blue eyes drenched from the rain,
“Can I help you?” The mother said kindly,
“Yes, sorry to bother you so late in thee afternoon but would you happen know where this is?-” He pointed to an address on a folded up map, “You see my family and I bought a new house out here, but we can’t seem to find it in this storm.” She looked behind him as he motioned to his car with his wife and child inside.
“Oh yes! You’re the new family buying the old Miller residence!”
“Yeah, came all the way from Scotland, been on the road for a while.” he chuckled,
“Well that makes sense-” she laughed “- well It's up the street about .5 miles to your right, you should see a set of trees lining the driveway.”
“Thank you miss! Have a nice evening and sorry for bothering you again!”
“No problem at all, we should all have dinner sometime when you guys are all settled in”
“That would be nice,” he smiled and tipped his hat before walking back to his car. Their mom closed the door and walked back to the living room,
“It was for Mia wasn’t it!” Ryan laughed. Mia glared and began tackling him.
“No, it was actually our new neighbors. The ones buying the old Miller farm.”
“Really? I heard they are Scottish.” He said as his sister began elbowing and kicking her brother..
“They are- Mia, get off your brother!”
“Fi-ine!” Mia got off of him and sprawled out on the floor.
“I just met the husband, he couldn’t find his way in the storm so I gave him directions, he’s got a nice accent.” Mia smirked,
“Oo! Momma li-ikes hi-im!” Mia and Ryan laughed,
“Oh my gosh!” Ryan rolled back laughing,
“I do not!” She blushed. She glanced over at the clock that read *9:30*. ”oh, it's time for bed Mia!”
“Noo!” Mia exasperated dramatically, “You're just trying to change the topic!” She accused,
“Come on! if you go peacefully, I'll read you a story.” Mia glared at her mom and thought for a second.
“Fi-ine,” she groaned. She gave little effort as she stomped up stairs to get ready for bed,
“Ry, can you put the board game stuff away?” His mom asked, Ryan nodded and began doing what he was told. His mom went upstairs, following Mia into her room. A flash of lightning flickered outside and it caught Ryan’s attention. He walked over to the window and waited for another beam of lightning. *flash*. Further in the distance he thought he saw someone outside. He shook it off as his mind playing tricks on him as it seemed to disappear in the next flash of lightning. Though he thought it was odd that he was seeing things as he wasn’t tired. He finished putting everything away and went up stairs. He looked into his sister’s room as he past by, overhearing his mother mid story,
“- and then he rode, day and night. Until he reached-” Was all he heard. He closed his door and flopped on his bed. He laid there for a minute before turning his phone on and scrolling through his notifications,
*10 Messages from Gf<3* he sighed as he scrolled through all of her texts of her saying that he is never around his phone, and he was probably cheating on her. He texted her back,
“I told you, I was having a family game night tonight and wouldn’t have my phone on me.” He tossed his phone on the other part of his bed and rubbed his face.
He got up and walked over to his window as he remembered what he saw in the living room. He watched the wind blow the tops of the trees left and right, along with the rain creating many puddles he thought could almost be lake sized. He sat there and watched the lightning dance in the sky and the low grumble of the ground after every strike. He moved back to his bed and plopped himself down. He sighed loudly as the sounds of the heavy rain soothed him. He laid there almost falling asleep to the sounds of the heavy rain, when he heard a knock at his door. He sighed,
“Yeah?”
“It's just me, I wanted to wish you good night,” His mom replied,
“Oh, goodnight, love you” he responded.
“Love you too,” He listened as her footsteps slowly walked down the hall. He laid there in silence, until he heard a *ding* from his phone. “Again!?” He thought.
“1 Message from Devon” popped up on his screen, he opened his chat
“Damn, the weather is really bad where I am, hbu?”
“Same here!” Ryan replied, though he secretly wished the conversation was over so he could sleep.
“By the sounds of it it's going to last till the morning!”
“Dang, first big storm of the year is coming early.”
“How’s family game night so far?” Devon texted,
“It was fun, it ended a few mins ago.” He could feel this conversation was only beginning, so he rubbed his eyes and sat up.
“Oh... How ‘bout your first day at work?”
“It was okay. rather boring tho, but i didn’t really expect being a cashier was going to be super exciting.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t think so either.”
“Tho my new neighbors just arrived today.”
“Oh? Are they nice?”
“Idk i didn’t meet them, my mom did.”
“Oh..” Ryan yawned,
“How was your day?” He asked,
“It was uneventful, my dad made me shadow his job. I don’t know why he is so hell bent on me being a sheriff..”
“Yeah, that’s weird. Was shadowing his job fun?”
“no.. all we did was ride around and write a few tickets.”
“Oh, I'm sorry man. What was it that you wanted to be?”
“I wanted to be a computer and information research specialist. But my dad says that it isn’t a “real job”..”
“That’s stupid.” Ryan replied,
“Yeah. It pays better than being a stupid “Sheriff”.”
“Yeah.” A couple minutes went by,
“Anyways.. I’m probably going to go to bed before my dad forces me to look at forensic pictures and asks me which picture has the murder weapon in it.”
“Lol, good night.”
“Night Ry.” Ryan put his phone on the side table and once again laid back down on his bed. He watched the water droplets on his window as they slowly raced down. He watched as the droplets on the top were fueled by the ones below them. He felt his eyelids grow heavy. his thoughts started becoming less conscious as the feeling of drowsiness became all he felt.
    The sound of a horrific demonic shriek filled his ears, he opened his eyes and turned around. Though he couldn’t pinpoint where the sound was coming from as it always seemed to come from the other direction. The shrieking got louder and louder as did the sound of rattling bones and whispers filled the air. Ryan covered his ears but the loud demonic voice was now louder than ever. Fearing the worst, he closed his eyes and curled up on the floor. Somehow the noise kept getting louder, even though it sounded like it was right in front of his face, his head started to pound as his ears began bleeding. He yelled at whatever it was as the sound started to become unbearable, *silence*. He started shaking as he looked at his hands, still feeling his blood run through his finger. Nothing was there. He looked around, nothing. There was nothing but dark woods all around him. Though he didn’t remember leaving his bed. He took a second to recover himself when he heard the sound of horse hooves pounding on the ground, he looked over and the sound of the hooves sped up. Faster and faster, Through the shadows he saw a headless demon racing towards him. He briefly looked over as a mirror appeared and he looked at himself. He was a different person, a boy with roughly the same hair and size as him but yet different facial features. He looked back as the headless being held out a whip made of human spines. A loud scream was heard as he whipped his whip in Ryans direction. Two pieces of bone that were perfectly spiked had stabbed Ryans eyes, deep enough for them to be torn from his eye sockets as the whip retracted. Ryan fell to the ground and screamed.
“Help!” He yelled, but there was no response. The sound of Hooves slowed to a stop next to him, he fumbled backwards as he tried to escape the beast. Though he felt every attempt didn’t get him any farther away. All of a sudden he felt a heavy hoof push on his chest, stopping him from moving. He began to gasp as the hoof got heavier and heavier. The beastly sound of the horse’s shriek filled his ears as the weight of the hoof had begun crunching his ribs, sending pieces of bone to stick down into his stomach and through the skin in both directions. He felt a bitter cold surrounding him as his lungs collapsed and tore from the shards of bone. He began coughing bits of blood out as his body bled out. A Loud demonic shriek filled his ears and his eyes widened..
    Ryan opened his eyes, petrified. He couldn’t move. He turned his eyes to look at the clock. It read *12:37am*. He looked all around for any movement in his room. Nothing. Though he moved his hands and got spooked. He was positioned as a corpse, he was laying on his back with his legs straight down and his arms crossed on his chest. He looked through his window and saw the storm had died down. He took one deep breath and he sat up. He slouched as he rubbed his eyes. He took one last good look around his room, but didn’t see anything. A few minutes went by and he laid back down, But he couldn’t fall asleep. A few more minutes passed but he still couldn’t sleep. He then turned his phone on and played quiet music. With the sound of the rain and soft music, he thought for a little bit. It had been a while since he last had a nightmare. And a horrifically realistic one at that. He rubbed his chest and tried to change his thoughts to something more pleasant. After an hour of random thoughts, he was able to calm himself and drift back to sleep.
    Morning came quick and unwanted as he barely got any sleep. He woke up but refused to open his eyes. He tried to go back to bed, but His brain abruptly woke him up with a static feeling as he heard,
    “Ry are you awake?” He squinted as he tried opening his eyes,
    “I am now…” He looked at the clock and sighed *6:30am*.
    “You gonna get up?”
    “Ye-ah i’m getting up.” Ryan groaned. He sat up and looked at his phone,
*two messages from Gf* He opened it up,
“Oh… We should hang out soon! <3” “Your mom just invited me to dinner with you guys and your neighbors! :)” Ryan jolted up and quickly walked downstairs to the kitchen where his mom was making breakfast,
“Mom, did you invite Avery to have dinner with us?” He questioned.
“Yes, I thought it would look better if we invited other people. They’ll both get to know more people, and we’ll look more involved in the community. It's a win win!” Ryan let his shoulders drop as he leaned on the table, “Why, trouble in paradise?” She mocked,
“No…” He replied with a sigh. He turned and went back up to his room. He knew he couldn’t fake being sick because she would still go and hang out with his family. There was nothing he could do so he texted back,
“Yeah, it will be fun” He flipped his phone down and stuffed his head in his bunched up blanket and made a loud groaning sound. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, it was just that ever since he went out with her, she was super clingy and never allowed him a second to himself. He knew he would have to break up with her if he was ever going to have a life again. He thought that he could just invite Devon in hopes of making the night more bearable.
“Hey Devon, my family is having a family dinner tonight with my neighbors and was wondering if you wanted to come?” Not long after he got a reply,
“Sure. But if it’s a family dinner with your neighbors then why are you inviting me?”
“Well my mom invited my girlfriend and it would be great if you could come..”
“THAT is the reason you're inviting me? I mean of course i will but you really need to end it soon.. Like, tonight!”
“Tonight?! I don’t think that my mom would like me ruining her dinner party with drama..”
“Well your guy’s relationship is not healthy. She is obsessive and to be honest kinda mean to me!”
“You’re right.”
“Of course I am! I am always right! ;)”
“Lol, okay. I’ll end the night with it so there isn’t a huge scene.”
“Alright, I’ll get there around 5.”
“Okay.” Ryan felt a wave of relief that Devon was going to be there too, But at the same time he was anxious because he had to end his relationship with no idea how he was even going to start the conversation. “Hey, we should break up.’ ‘hey, so you know how we are dating and all.’” He thought
The day dragged on, Ryan thought on and off of that night and how it could go. He figured that he could just take her outside and tell her right before she left.
Later in his shift he began feeling the effects of his poor sleeping schedule. When no one was in his line he took a five second break to stretch, though he knew he would need something to help him stay awake. He thought he could take a few minutes to go and get some coffee. He used his walkie-talkie to inform the others working that he was going on break and then went to the staff room.
“Anyone in here?” he asked with no response. With one one there he figured he could use the tv while he brewed his coffee. He filled the coffee maker and turned it on with the coffee cup under the nozzle. When the hissing of the cheap coffee maker started up, he went over to the television and turned it on. With his coffee made, he sat down on their cheap deflated couch and began sipping his cup while flipping through channels,
“Hello?” someone opened the door,
“Hi” He replied with a mouth half full of coffee,
“Oh hey Ryan,” Ryan turned around and saw his coworker Lizzy,
“Hey,”
“How’s the coffee?” She asked while going to pour herself some,
“Super strong” She took a sip and spit it back in her cup,
“No kidding,” She dumped her cup in the sink along with the rest of the coffee,
“Hey! What if I needed more?” She looked at him with a look that said “doubtful”
“Why do you need that much coffee anyways? Family night go longer than expected?” She made a new batch of coffee,
“No, rough night.. I must have overheated.” He overheated
“Ooh, nightmare?.. Wanna to talk about it?” She snuggled herself into the corner of the couch with her coffee in her hands,
“I don’t know, it was kinda scary.” he took a sip of his coffee,
“I love a good spooky story!” She smiled,
“Yeah you love it until you're in it!” he laughed,
“C’mon! Some people say that telling others will help you get over it!” She insisted,
“I’m not scared of it,” She made a begging face impression, “Fi-ine. At first I heard a horrifying demonic scream that got louder and louder until my ears bled. At that point I yelled and for a moment the noise stopped. I looked down at my hands that still felt my blood running through, but there was no blood. And all of a sudden I heard a noise..” He paused, “-it was the sound of.. Horse hooves-” He remembered, “- and they started out far but came closer and closer. I looked over to my side and there was a mirror, when I looked through it I saw that I looked different. Obviously less handsome.” He joked. “ I looked back and a headless thing was coming towards me, riding a black horse. It had what looked like a white whip made of a spin..” Lizzy looked at him, confused. “- and when he hit me with it, it gouged out my eyes. -”
“What happened next?!” Lizzy said as she was intrigued with the story, Ryan smirked,
“I totally kicked his ass!” He teased,
“No, what did you actually do!” she laughed
“What do you think? I fell, my eyes were gouged out!-” he laughed a bit, “-Then the horse or whatever it was stepped on me and I woke up,”
“Well you know what they say, you can’t die in your dreams or you die in real life!”
“Yeah, but you can have your eyes poked out by a demon holding a glorified spinal cord..” He glared, and she laughed.
“Yeah, you definitely have quite the imagination. Turning a headless horseman into something actually scary,” She sipped the last bit of her coffee. Ryan never thought it was a headless horseman, in the brief time it was even on his mind. After the morning’s events, he actually forgot about it. All of a sudden the door opened and their boss walked in,
“Are you still on break?” he asked Ryan,
“I was just about to head back to my line.” Ryan got up to put his cup away,
“Would you be able to work late? The storm last night caused a mess in the shipping area in the back.” He asked,
“Uh, how late?”
“Until 6 if possible.”
“I can’t, I have a family dinner thing to go to.”
“Oh..” He got a snack out of the snack drawer,
“I probably could.” Lizzy mentioned,
“You have already worked your limit this week. I’ll just radio Jason. He missed the first two hours of work. I'll probably be able to guilt trip him into working a bit later.” Lizzy did a little laugh,
“I hate being 17..” She put her cup down and Joined Ryan,
“Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts.. Oh and your shift ends in an hour, make sure you’re gone by then. I don’t want to get in trouble because you worked too late.” She Soluted right before closing the door behind Ryan and her.
“How was your day so far?” Ryan asked as they walked down the hall,
“Ehh, not too bad. How about you? Have you decided on how you’re going to break up with Avery yet?” Ryan looked at her,
“How do you know about that?”
“Devon. Sometimes when he annoys me, I’ll look through his phone and read his contacts..”
“Ah, I forgot you guys were siblings.” Lizzy smiled,
“Soo.. have you decided?” Ryan rolled his eyes,
“I’ll probably just tell her before she leaves, It’s not that big of deal”
“I guess.. You should invite me to the dinner party thing, -” She smiled “- I want to meet the new family!” Ryan looked at her suspiciously,
“Are you sure that's the only reason you wanna go?” She smiled bigger,
“Okay! I ALSO wanna annoy Devon..”
“I don’t want to get in between your family feud, if you come just say my mom invited you..” Lizzy smiled,
“Thanks!” They opened the door to the customer section where they split ways. They waved and said their goodbyes and they walked their separate ways. Ryan went back to his line and turned his light on, showing that the line was open. As the first customer arrived he quickly realized what he had just done. He smiled at the customer as he thought of how much of a mess their dinner party had become. With sibling rivalry and a break up, This dinner party might turn into a disaster.
    When Ryan’s shift ended, he got in his car and started driving. He decided to take the long way home, and purposely made wrong turns, Hoping it would delay the dinner. He turned the music up and began rocking out as he started to slowly speed up on the back country roads. His mind raced and he began to space out, thinking about what he would be doing if he never had to break up with anyone. He rolled down his window and put his arm out and leaned his head on his hand while the other loosely gripped the steering wheel. He glanced over at the fields of fruits and vegetables flying by, til they turned into the huge corn fields. He saw the farmer as he planned the routes throughout the field, next to his tractors and farm hands.
    *Buzz* *Buzz* he heard his phone on the passenger seat go off. He slowed down and grabbed his phone,
“Mom is calling..” Ryan answered it,
“Hey mom,”
“Hey Ry, where are you?”
“I’m just driving the backroads, I'll be there soon.. I'm next to the old Henderson farm.”
“Oh how is he?!” She asked,
“I don’t know, I didn't go say hi. I drove past him and his farm hands next to his big corn field.”
“Oh. he is probably going to open it up soon! Maybe we can all go there sometime. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Sure,” he ran his hands through his hair.
“When is your friend coming over?”
“Around -” He checked the time on his phone “-now, why?”
“Cause the O’conners are on their way,”
“The who?.. Oh the new people,”
“Yeah, and I don't want them to come here to an empty house.” She said
“Well i didn’t know they would get there so early, you never really gave me a time frame” He complained,
“What, did you think they were just gonna eat and leave?” i paused for a second
“.. well, yeah!”
“No!..” She scoffed, “-I was busy planning the dinner, you could have taken the initiative to ask me”
“It's fine, I’ll most likely get there before them. It'll just be the family for a bit.”
“Oh and your girlfriend. She just got here,” Ryan face planted on his steering wheel, “-... Ryan?”
“Yeah?..” he sighed, though he tried to make it not noticeable.
“What was that noise?”
“Uh, just a rock hitting the windshield, I’ll see you soon mom” he felt his anxiety start to settle in.
“Oka-y..” she replied suspiciously. He ended the call and began to finish his drive home. The rest of the ride he felt nothing more than a constant burning feeling in his stomach, he thought about it all day and tried to convince himself that it wasn’t a big deal. Though at the end of the day, he knew what he had to do and how messy it was going to be.
    He pulled into their long driveway, subconsciously driving slower than he normally would. When he goes to park, he is greeted with a huge shiny red truck with massive tires.
“Hey!” he hears a familiar voice say.
“Devon, hey!” He replied as he turned his smaller, beat up truck off. “Is this your car?” Ryan asked,
“Pshh, I wish. Did your mom invite my sister?” He asked.
“Did she?”
“Yeah, apparently.”
“Oh, well there's your answer.” He laughed.
“Why did she invite her? When did she get my sister’s number?” he sulked,
“Probably when she goes through your phone.” they walked together into the house,
“I told her to stop doing that!” he said, irritated. “You're lucky you and your sister’s age are far apart.” he paused, “-And that she doesn’t go through your personal property..” Ryan laughed. They walked into the dinning room where Ryan’s mom, girlfriend, and Lizzy were sitting and talking. His girlfriend Avery turned her head towards Ryan and smiled.
    “You finally made it! I didn’t know when you were coming here so I came three hours early just in case!” Ryan forced a smile as Avery ran up and gave him a hug. Devon looked at him and motioned ‘crazy’ with his hands.
“Yeah, I never did say when I was arriving..” he chuckled uncomfortably.
“Hey! I'm glad you made it before the neighbors arrived,-” She gave Ryan a quick hug, “-though they will be here shortly so go get changed into some clean clothes!” She nudged him up the stairs,
“Alright,” He walked upstairs.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here Evan.” Avery mocked Devon.
“Well Ryan invited me so.. I came here..” He felt rage building up as her words hit him hard. Avery used to like Devon but she slowly started to get jealous of how much he and Ryan hung out.
“Hmm.” She smirked and walked to the table to talk to Ryan’s mother like they were best friends. Devon bit his tongue as he struggled to not say anything he wished he could. Lizzy knew how much he didn’t like Avery and didn’t quite like her either, though Avery likes to act like they are friends even though they weren’t. No one knew why but Lizzy thought it was just her trying to annoy her brother more. Devon went upstairs to Ryan’s room. He knocked.
“I’m not decent!” Ryan said from the other side of the door,
“Dude! You need to break up with her, soon!” He told Ryan through the door,
“What did she do now?” He responded with an annoyed tone,
“She’s just super annoying!”
“I know, I am going to. Though it's hard for me cause I don't ever see that side of her.. much.”  Ryan came out wearing jeans and a tan hoodie, showing off his light brown messy hair that he tries to move to the side, though it always seems to go its own way.
“I will gladly show you! If it’ll make this process go faster!”
“It’s gonna happen in about 2 hours, how much faster do you want?”
“Now!” Ryan walked into the bathroom that separated his room and his little sister’s.
“Now you’re just being ridiculous.” he laughed a bit, “If I do it now the party will be ruined for my mom and there really is no problem in waiting just a little while longer.” He began brushing his teeth,
“Yes there is! It will make this night more bearable.” Devon leaned on the door frame as he complained,
“Are you p-elling me yu kant-”
“-I can’t understand you when you have a mouth full of a toothbrush.” Devon interrupted, Ryan glared and took his toothbrush out.
“Are you telling me you can’t deal with one more night of her, I thought you were here to help me deal with her?”
“I don’t know why.. She is more of a bully to me than you...” they heard the faint sound of the doorbell ringing and Ryan quickly finished up in the bathroom.
“C’mon,” Ryan and Devon made their way down stairs and into the dinning room, where everyone was standing around and greeting each other,
“Oh! Look who decided to join us-” She joked, “This is my son, Ryan. And his friend Devon.”
“Hey!” The O’conner’s shook their hands,
“Ryan, Devon, this is Malcolm and his wife Emma.”
“How old are you guys?” He asked,
“Oh, Devon and I are eighteen” Ryan answered for them both,
“And I am eighteen as well,” Avery squeezed her way next to Ryan.
“Our son Logan is your guys’ age too! He turned eighteen just recently. He is in the bathroom right now,” Ryan nodded politely
“Oh Ry can you get your sister? She should be in her room.” Ryan nodded again and removed himself from the greeting circle they had formed. He made his way upstairs and knocked on his sister’s room,
“Hey Mia, the O'connors are here.” He said,
“Kay! Be down in a sec!” she replied.
“Alright, hurry up. My reputation is at stake here.” Mia laughed, and he began his way slowly down the stairs. He looked up and saw someone else joined the group and he assumed it was Logan. Everyone looked over as he made his way back to the group, and Ryan thought he recognised him.
“Logan this is Ryan,” Malcolm said and Logan smiled,
“Hi!” He reached his arm out for a handshake and Ryan hesitantly shook his hand. “Something wrong?” He asked.
“N-no, you just look oddly familiar,” Logan's smile switched to confusion. Ryan squinted as he tried to place where he thought he recognized him.
“... Anyways, dinner is almost done. Why doesn’t everyone take a seat,” Ryan’s mom went into the kitchen and everyone grabbed a seat at the table which was already set. Lizzy sat next to Logan and the O'connors and to the right of her was her brother Devon, then Ryan, and clinging onto Ryan was Avery. Mia walked downstairs and her mother asked for her help, together they grabbed two bowls of vegetables, two loaves of garlic bread, and a huge pot of expensive, home-made spaghetti, with sides and their choice of toppings.
“Everything looks so delicious!” Emma said,
“Yeah!” Malcolm replied staring at the bowl of spaghetti with a smile,
“Thank you!” she replied, sitting next to Malcolm and Mia. They began to eat, passing around all of the food so everyone had the option to get everything and ate their food. For a moment everyone was quiet while they crunched on their bread and chewed their spaghetti.
After dinner, they went into the living room to play a game of pictionary. They split up into two teams, The O'connors Vs The Horseman. They chose that name because it was the main character of Ryan and Devon’s favorite childhood comic. The horseman would ride his loyal steed and whip his whip and catch the bad guy. Towards the end of the game, the O’connors were winning by one point and it was Ryan’s turn to draw and was going up against Emma O’connor. Ryan picked a card “Cowboy” he cringed and showed Emma, they both knew it was going to be hard to draw. He put the card back down on the used card pile and picked up his marker. He looked over at Emma and began,
“Okay, 3.. 2.. 1.. GO!” He began scribbling a horse, he started with the head, drawing an oval for the snout and then drew a curved line to shape the neck. Followed by two long bumps for the front two hooves, he moved his marker to begin the top of the horse, he quickly drew another curved line for the top of the neck and drew the back of the horse with a dipped line that went down and back up. He quickly glanced over and saw how Emma drew the horse one go without picking up her marker, one continuous line. Their teams began guessing,
“A ROCK!.... A NECK!.. A DOG!!...” Ryan drew the belly and back legs and connected his lines and scribbled a mane and tail for his horse, “A LLAMA!.... A DONKEY!!.. A HORSE!!” Ryan motioned a yes and then began drawing the person. He made various curved lines and shapes to make the person look like he is sitting on the horse, “RIDING!!...” He pointed to the person, “O O HEADLESS HORSEMAN!!..” Lizzy guessed right before someone from the other team exclaimed,
“COWBOY!!” Ryan tossed the marker in the air,
“Really?.. Headless horseman?” he complained,
“YOUR PERSON DOESN’T HAVE A HEAD!!” Lizzy exclaimed.
“YES HE DO-” he looked at his drawing and saw the cowboy he drew had a very small bump for a head, he paused for a moment before saying “- I don’t want to talk to you anymore..” he glared and sat down on the couch with his arms crossed in front of his chest as a funny way of throwing a fit. Everyone laughed, though Avery’s seemed a little fake. As the night dragged on for Ryan, Avery was less and less social. Ryan had caught on to it half way through the night. Deep down some part of him started to worry about it. He thought it was because she somehow knew what was about to happen, though he reassured himself that she didn’t and there was no way she could know. Though it didn’t help.
Luckily the night had ended with no incidents or fights, other than Lizzy and her brother bickering on who’s turn it was and who said the right answer and who didn’t. Everyone started to grab their stuff and leave when Avery quietly told Ryan that they should talk. Ryan agreed. Devon looked over at Ryan and Ryan puffed his cheeks full of air and slowly exhaled with his eyes widened. Devon understood what was happening and gave him a sympathetic smile and a ‘good-luck’ thumbs up, that he kept at his lower stomach so Avery wouldn’t see. Ryan opened the door and stepped outside while everyone was doing their about-to-leave chatter. The Moon was out and full, though it was being filtered through a few layers of dark clouds that were slowly passing by. The atmosphere of the outside air was peaceful, with nothing but a windless chill. When they closed the door, the only sound they could hear was the sound of crickets and other nightly creatures waking up. They walked further to the side of the house so they wouldn’t be interrupted by people leaving or seeing them through a nearby window. When they made their full round about to the side of the house, Avery stopped and turned around to face Ryan, who was behind her. He wasn’t feeling very brave and didn’t like the feeling of knowing he was about to break someone’s heart,
“So-, what did you want to talk about?” He finally asked, feeling as though with those words he had become half a man. Avery seemed displeased with what he said,
“What do you think?” She said, getting rather annoyed, “-do you even wanna be with me anymore?-” ‘well now that you say it’ he thought “- Or are you just done with me?” She complained, He took a deep breath, at the same time, the door opened with the O'Connors leaving in a rather chatty mood.
“I-... don’t think.. I want to go out with you, anymore” He managed. She looked at him in arrogance and shock.
“Are you kidding me?” She said loudly, crossing her arms. Just then Logan turned the corner,
“Everything okay?” He asked, smiling at Avery. She looked over at him and then at Ryan.
“I will once you give me your number,” She said to Logan, glaring at Ryan. Logan smiled,
“Sure!” He grabbed her phone eagerly and put his number in. Ryan looked at him dumbfounded. Logan handed her phone back to her and smiled, “Text me.” He winked at her and left back to his parents.
“Are you serious? You’re that petty?” Ryan said accusingly,
“No, are YOU serious! I gave you a chance and you blew it.” She began walking away,
“You were such a waste of time!” Ryan whispered bitterly. She turned around and opened her mouth when Devon popped around the corner.
“Hey, how is everything over here?” he said. Avery glared at him,
“I Fucking hate all of you!” She said loudly before walking away. Devon raised his hands up defensively.
“Didn’t go well then,” Devon asked. Ryan looked at him,
“You think?” They quickly rejoined the group saying their goodbyes.
“Thank you so much! It was wonderful!” Malcolm said. He hugged Ryan’s mom,
“No, it was no problem. We should do it again. It was fun!” Ryan’s mom replied,
“I can't remember the first time we even played a board game.” Emma said,
“Oh yeah. My family loves them. We have a family game night every week.”
“That's a fun idea!” Emma said. Malcolm agreed with her.
“Well we best be going,” Malcolm said as he put his arm around emma.
“Alright, well drive safe!” Ryan’s mom said. Devon and Lizzy also said their goodbye’s and got in their car. Ryan’s mom walked Mia back inside and Ryan followed behind them. He grabbed the door handle and heard a noise from the malcolms. He turned around and saw Logan slamming the back seat door closed and walking down their driveway by himself. Malcolm yelled for him to get back into the car but Logan just kept walking. Emma opened the door and stepped out but Malcolm yelled for her to leave him. She stepped back into the car and closed the door. He angrily drove off of their large gravel driveway, passing Logan in a flash. Ryan looked at Logan walking alone and debated helping him. Though the thought left just as quickly as it came. He never considered himself to be one to hold a grudge, however he wasn’t about to help his ex’s new boyfriend. He closed the door and locked it.
“What was that?” Ryan's mom asked,
“Nothin, just the O’conners leaving.” Ryan replied. He managed to walk up one step before hearing something that made his heart race. Everyone’s head turned at once. Panic began to sit as everyone froze for a few seconds. The sound of a gut wrenching scream.