Peter (The Devil On My Shoulder)

Five Years Ago

Peter's Flashback From Five Years Ago 

"Do you think they'll play their old hits?" Eli asked as we drove down the road in my old pickup truck. 

I laughed, "I'm pretty sure they will."

"Awesome!" Eli said, excited to be going to the Linkin Park concert. It was his first concert ever and I had bought him the tickets for his 15th birthday last month. He was obsessed with the band, and after a rough year, the least I could do was spend my spring break taking him to a fun event. We both needed a break.  

As I came to a red light, I heard my cell phone vibrate. 

"Can you see who that is?" 

"Sure." Eli said, opening the text message for me. 

 "It's your roommate," Eli said, "Brian." 

"What's it say?"

"'Can you meet me at Shallows Cove?'" Eli read out loud.

"Tell him I'm busy."

A couple of minutes later my phone vibrated again. 

"He says its urgent and can't wait. Something about a frat." Eli said as he looked at me in confusion, "You're part of a frat?" 

"No, I'm not." I said as I turned the car around. 

"Are you really going to go meet him? We'll miss the concert!" 

"Eli, relax, okay? This will be quick. We'll see what he wants and then we'll go straight to the concert."

Eli folded his arms across his chest and stared out the window. 

"Look, I'm sorry but this is important. I promise we'll make it to the concert on time. And afterwards we can grab food from wherever you want. I'll even sneak you some beer." 

"Seriously?" He said, his face lightening up at the word beer.

"Yes, you loser. Just don't tell mom or dad." 

He was silent the rest of the car ride to the cove but I could see the smile across his face from the corner of my eye. Who knew the road to a 15 year old boys heart was beer. 

I pulled up near the entrance to the cove, which was surrounded by trees on all sides. There was only one trail that led in and out of the cove area. I didn't see any other cars around, so I texted Brian to see where he was. 

                  By the water, set up a campfire.

                           - Brian

"Where is he?" Eli asked.

"He's further down the trail." I said as I stared at the text in confusion. 

"You stay here," I said, "keep the car running, I'll be back soon." 

"You better be." Eli said as he played games on his phone. 

"Just stay here, don't move unless I tell you to." 

"Yes, ma'am." Eli fake saluted to me. 

I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. Fucking smartass.

The further I walked down the trail the brighter the light of the campfire got. I could see Brian standing next to the fire, throwing wood in, with his back turned to me. 

"Brian, what's up?" I said as I got near him, "What was so urgent you needed to see me now?" 

Brian didn't reply. He just kept throwing wood into the fire. 

I took a step closer and put my hand on his shoulder. But when I turned him around, it wasn't Brian. 

It was Brett. 

I took a step back, caught off guard. "What the fuck!?" 

"Pete, what's up man, long time no see." Brett said, a sinister grin planted on his face. 

"Where's Brian?" I asked, my heart racing. 

"You brought a friend." Brett smiled, looking behind me. 

I turned to see Eli standing a couple of feet behind me. "I told you to stay in the car." I said angrily. 

Brett laughed, causing me to turn back to him. 

"Where the fuck is Brian!" I said, fed up with his games

Brett stared at me unblinkingly, then he took a step to his right, revealing a black, lumpy tarp a few feet behind him. 

"What the fu-" before I could say anything else I noticed more figures emerging from behind the trees that surrounded us. It was the rest of the fraternity. 

Luke, Brett's second hand, walked over to the black tarp and pulled it back, revealing what looked like chopped up human remains. 

I felt my stomach drop. I wanted to hurl as I recognized the jacket near the remains. 

It was Brian. 

"Eli run!" I screamed as I turned around to do the same. Eli sprinted backwards and I tried to follow him. One of the members of the frat was gaining on Eli. I pushed myself to go faster and then I tackled him. We fought on the ground before more members came and pinned me down. 

"Let me go!" I screamed. 

Brett stalked towards me as I was held back. 

"I won't say anything. Just let us go. Let Eli go. I promise, I won't say anything to anyone. I don't care what you guys do anymore! Please!" I screamed. 

Brett sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "You see Peter, I want to believe you, I do, but I just can't take any chances." 

I stared in disbelief as Brett walked back to Brian's body and ordered his friends to throw the remains into the pre-dug hole. A hole I hadn't even noticed until now. 

As soon as the body was thrown, they started filling the hole in with dirt, and they did it as if it was a casual Saturday night activity. No one broke a sweat. No one said a thing. 

Once the grave was filled, they took a huge stone that was placed near the campfire, and they placed it over the dirt. 

That's when I noticed the odd, random placings of all the large rocks and stones that surrounded the cove. There had to be about fifty of them sprawled out. 

Each stone marked a grave.

I stared at Brett, "So when you said you protect the fraternity, what you really meant was you bury all those who go against it." 

"Well, we have no choice but to bury them," Brett laughed as he walked over to a second tarp, "We ran out of room in the lake."

He pulled the tarp off the ground to reveal another freshly dug grave in the ground, with my old fraternity jacket laid neatly beside it. 

My heart stopped. 

It was for me.