Reddit: r/nosleep

PART XI: I'm Having a Picnic

My jaw drops. “Paschar, is that you?”

He winks at me. “It’s time to wake up, Lily.”

No no no no no.

Dad and Roger start playing a song, but it doesn’t sound like music. Dad blows into the harmonica and it makes a sound like a siren. Roger strikes the drums and it sounds like crashing and things breaking. It’s not a very good song, but it sound typical for what Roger used to play when Skeeter and Dutin were over.

Out in the lake, Susie is screaming and headbanging to the bad music. Her head kind of bends further back than normal, so she really whips her hair around. I imagine if she had hands, she’d be doing devil horns or something. That’s where you put your index and pinky fingers up and hold your middle and ring fingers down with your thumb. Roger used to love to do devil horns while rocking out.

“Oh dear,” Mom says, and stands up, walking over to the barbecue grill. “Something’s burning.”

Black smoke is coming off the grill and forming dark clouds in the sky. I can smell the hot dogs and hamburgers burning and it’s upsetting because I really wanted a hamburger, but not if they’re burned.

“Get them out of there!” I yell to Mom.

She turns and looks at me and her face is all waxy-looking and melting. I can still see her mouth and her teeth, but her eyes and her nose are sliding right off her face. “It’s too late, Lily,” she says, “everything’s burned.”

Paschar puts his hand on my shoulder. “I warned you.” he says sadly.

“But I’m not dead.” I tell him.

The sky is getting dark with the smoke from the grill. Out in the lake, susie sinks below the surface of the water and leaves nothing but a big red spot where she was. Dad and Roger stop playing the bad song. Dad watches as Mom melts by the barbecue grill, and then looks at me and shakes his head as he starts to melt too.

“This is all your fault.”

I open my eyes.

I’m lying on the floor of Meredith’s bedroom. Everything’s smokey but I can see some off-white stickers on the ceiling that look like stars and planets and comets. I bet they’re glow-in-the-dark. I wish the lights were out so I could see them glow.

It’s really hot in here. I glance around and realize the room is on fire. That’s not good. How long was I out for? The picnic didn’t seem... well, okay, the picnic seemed to last about an hour. The wallpaper has flames coming out of it and even the bed is burning. Nobody’s going to be sleeping on that now. There’s a crash from somewhere close by, and then the sound of someone struggling.

“Meredith?” I say. Oh my God, I can speak!

“Lily,” I hear her, but she sounds tired. It has definitely been a long day for both of us. I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast. No wait, I had Frosted Flakes. That’s right.

“Lily, I burned her. I burned her right up! I didn’t mean to do it.”

She must be referring to Officer Flowers, the lady in black, the police woman who carries a totem of Dumah, the angel of death and silence. She has been popping up all over the place lately. First the mall, then school, now she showed up at Meredith’s house in the middle of Meredith and Felix making their grand escape. Wait, where is Felix?