Killer Party

Chapter 15

The sun lowered, slowly readying itself to drown in the ocean when Christophe escorted Sadie, Jordan, Moss, Autry and Gigi from the kitchen out onto the marble balcony. The isosceles platform shot straight out from the face of the cliff and offered an uninterrupted view of the great blue.

At the southern corner, where the balcony met the cliff face, a wrought iron cage waited. The cage was part of a tram system that followed a nearly vertical track, bolted straight into the stone cliffs, descending to the shore and the boathouse one-hundred feet below.

Christophe unlocked the tram door and swung it open. He motioned for them to enter with all the formality of an elevator operator at some glitzy hotel of yesteryear, "All aboard, see." He said with an anachronistic gangster accent.

After Sadie laid out her cards the rest of the group had doubled down on their refusal, emphatically not wanting to participate in this idiotic exploration in spiritualism, but Sadie had insisted, "You're all partying here tonight and there's not enough time to go home, so really, what's with all the resistance? You're all acting sus."

She could see that the others didn't want to appear sus, which was sus onto itself. And none of them could come up with a good answer as to why they didn't want to do the seance except for Autry who was just plain terrified. So, eventually they relented and Autry peer pressured and now here they were entering a small steel cage balanced over a sheer rock face.

They crammed themselves into the tram. Christophe fanned the wrought iron doors shut. They locked with a clunk. It was uncomfortably tight and they could feel their weight teetering the cage.

"Down, down to Goblin Town," Christophe crooned as he cranked a lever with both hands. A motor grumbled to life and the cage jerked into motion, descending in a slow chop down towards the shore.

Sadie felt uncomfortable and sweaty. She imagined herself packed in a sardine tin and the other sardines were the last fish in the world she wanted to be trapped with. She felt waves of vertigo crash on the lining of her stomach as the tram bounced, wobbled, and trundled towards what could be one loose bolt or rusted rail away from certain death.

She detected Gigi and Moss actively trying not to make eye contact with her. But Autry, who was sandwiched behind her, leaned her purple painted lips up to her ear and whispered an olive branch, "Your hair smells nice."

Sadie knew she was lying. Her hair smelled like yucky pizza, but it had always been Autry's way to compliment, even if the compliments were unfounded. Autry wasn't one for bald lies, she just liked to say nice things and the facts to back them up were irrelevant to her. It was just her nature. And Sadie had always loved her for that.

Sadie looked over her shoulder and gave Autry a warm smile, but the moment was cut short when Moss pulled Autry away from Sadie and caged her protectively within his forearms. Moss kept his constipated expression straight out into the setting sun.

The tram came to a stop with a groan and a crotchety clank. Christophe tried to open the door, but it was stuck. He rattled it with an escalating urgency. Before any one could blow their top Christophe said kidding, and opened the door easily. No one enjoyed the gag.

By the time they reached the boathouse the sun had set and the sky over the ocean was cauldron of fluorescent pinks, yellows, and oranges. A cluster of stars blinked alive, creating a straight dotted line in the sky. Although if any of them had known anything about astronomy, they would know that these were not stars but planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and if you squinted with twenty-twenty vision, Mercury too. An exceptionally rare alignment. The Syzygy.