Unlikely Tales

James' Revenge

*This was written as a birthday present for a dear friend. Not my usual cup of tea. Only for you Inky, only for you...

James watched as Olivia handed out her birthday invitations, nervously blotting his hands on his shirt as she came closer. She stopped in front of him, riffling through her pile of cards, as James reached into his shorts pocket. This was it: now or never.

"Umm, Olivia..."

"Hey James," she said, smiling prettily. "I was wondering if you'd like to come to my birthday party?"

"Yes! I mean, umm no, that wasn't what I was asking. I mean, would you like to ummm," James snatched his hand out of his pockets, presenting a fistful of wilted red petals to Olivia's startled face. "Wouldyouliketogooutwithme?!" He snapped his mouth shut, staring at her with mingled dread and hope.

"Excuse me?" Olivia was obviously baffled by his too-fast babbling.

"W-would you like to g-go out with me?" James' face was burning red now, and he was dearly wishing he hadn't opened his mouth. The crumpled rose petals drooped forlornly on his palm.

Olivia gaped at him, her obvious bewilderment somehow hurting more than an outright rejection would have. The invitation card for James fell from her senseless fingers and spiralled down to land in the dirt, keeping James' pride company. Finally, she spoke, half-choked by shock and what seemed like anger: "We're eleven!"

James watched, heart clenching, as she stormed off, spilling birthday invitations in her wake. The flush bled from his cheeks, leaving him cold and pale.

And that would have been that, if James hadn't later overheard Olivia talking to her friends about the incident as they walked past his hiding place.

"And I was just like, what?! You look like bat dung and you smell twice as bad!" The girls walked off amidst gales of laughter, unaware of the crushed boy hiding amongst the bushes behind them. They didn't see the pain and fury on his face, or the red glow deep in his eyes.

Two weeks later, Olivia's birthday party was interrupted by a knock on the door. Puzzled, Olivia detached herself from the festivities and wandered over to answer it, wondering who it could be given that all the invited guests were there.

Opening the door, she found James standing there holding a present and smiling eerily. Olivia flushed, "James! I, uh, I thought it was clear that you weren't welcome!"

James continued smiling crookedly, and the expression sent chills along Olivia's arms. "I'm not here to crash your party," he said, "I just wanted to give you this." He held out the present, and Olivia took it warily, holding it with her fingertips as though afraid it would explode.

"Uh thanks, I guess?" She turned abruptly and closed the door, shutting out James' scary smile and intense eyes. She dumped the present with the others and tried to lose herself in the party.

It was dark when the present opening ceremony was finally held, and Olivia had successfully forgotten about James up until she found his present in her hands once more. Unwilling to let it ruin her evening, she opened it quickly and went to put it down, before realising what it was she was holding. A dark, perfectly smooth stone sphere nestled in her palm, and it was warm.

"What is it?" One of the other girls asked curiously. Olivia passed it over reluctantly and the girl squealed as it touched her skin. "It's cold!" She dropped it, a look of distaste crossing her features, but then gaped soundlessly as the sphere floated rather than falling. A red light welled up within the centre of the ball, soon outshining the other lights in the room, and casting the faces of the surrounding children and parents in stark relief.

The stunned silence was broken by a piercing scream as the girl who had dropped it reached out her hands towards the sphere. Except she didn't; the strain in her face and arms made it obvious that she was trying to pull away from the glowing ball. Slowly her trembling hands were drawn closer by some gravitational force felt only by her, until her fingertips brushed the sphere and it exploded in a burst of red light.

The brilliance left the onlookers blinded, and it was a few seconds before they could see again. The room looked normal: it was no longer lit by a red glow, and the sphere had disappeared. A shriek of anguish from one of the mothers heralded the realisation of what else was missing: Sophia, the girl who had held the sphere, had disappeared with it.

The room erupted into chaos; parents grabbed their children, children whose parents weren't there huddled together, and Sophia's mother sobbed as she uselessly searched the room for her daughter. Mr Trabb gripped his son by the arm and rushed for the front door, determined to escape from the suddenly terrifying party. He yanked open the door and barrelled through, the room suddenly lit once more with that horrible red light as Mr Trabb and his son disappeared into a  glowing red, filamentous web stretched across the doorway. More screams erupted as those who had been following the Trabbs backpedalled into the living room and those still in the room saw the web.

Those familiar with the layout of the house rushed through the kitchen to the back door, but were warned by the red light glowing under the door that no escape lay that way.

While hysterical and terrified people were rushing around the house, finding glowing red webs stretched across every doorway and window to the outside, Sophia's mother had collapsed in the spot her daughter had disappeared, keening wretchedly. She was interrupted by a faint call from another room. Winding through the chaos was the quiet but distinct sound of Sophia's voice, calling weakly for help. Desperate hope flared in Sophia's mother as she stumbled to her feet and headed for a before now unnoticed doorway. Seeing the shadowed doorway, untainted by red light, others rushed after Sophia's mother, thinking she had found a way out. They stepped through into unnatural darkness, free of the red light now shining in every other room of the house. They stepped through and were lost forever; the illusory Sophia's pleas for help turning to cruel laughter, moments before the screaming began.

Only two people witnessed it: Olivia and her mother, who had remained in their beloved living room while their familiar world was transformed by evil. The screaming from the shadowed doorway – one which had never been there before, and which would most certainly not show up on building plans – ceased. The rest of the house was eerily silent too. Nearly twenty terrified people rushing around trying to escape should make plenty of noise, even if they weren't in the same room as you; but Olivia and her mother could hear nothing. Their home was transformed by glowing red light and deafening silence into something unfamiliar and horrifying.

Olivia's mother clutched her daughter painfully tight, straining desperately to hear some evidence of other life. There had to be other people there. Nearly thirty people had been at the party: two had disappeared through the front door, and six had gone through the dark doorway, so where were the twenty others?

The red light throbbed through the room, shadows shifting uneasily on the walls and crawling on the ceiling. The light began throbbing more insistently, the glowing web in the front doorway seeming to grow with each pulse. Olivia tried to struggle free of her mother's arms to run – run anywhere, as long as it was away from here – but found her mother's limbs stiff and unmoving. Looking up, Olivia saw her mother's face was frozen and blank – lifeless. Her hair floated around her head as though charged with static, but her body was utterly still, and her arms were clamping Olivia in place.

Olivia sobbed and writhed in her mother's arms, but she was locked in place and now her feet weren't moving. She looked down and saw shadows flickering over her feet and twining sinuously up her legs. A hysterical scream bubbled helplessly up her throat, vibrating in her vocal chords before flying between her lips, only to be halted by a shadow curling over her mouth. She screamed helplessly into its ebony nothingness as it wound around her head, tickling at the edges of her vision. She could hear it, whispering wordlessly to her: a song of eternal night. Just before the shadows covered her eyes and claimed her forever, she saw James in front of her, eyes glowing red and mouth smiling crookedly, holding out a red rose.