Louis
Mark pulled the SUV on the curb of the Nelson household. Char had moved into a subdivision called Rangers Grove late last year. They were both kinda devastated, Char for losing her childhood home and Louis for not being able to live next to his best friend anymore.
His dad placed the gear in park then looked to Louis. "Make sure you get to school tomorrow." He warned with a point of his finger.
"Okay dad." Louis sighed, knowing the only reason for his father saying such a thing was because he didn't trust Char.
"I'll call in and make sure. Don't play around." He warned again.
"Once again dad, I know." Louis said releasing his seatbelt and went to open the door, but stopped. "You think mom is going to be okay. I feel like she might need professional help dad."
Louis watched his dad sigh and run a hand across his face, as if that would wipe away the stress.
"I don't know Louis, she seems guilty about something, but never wants to talk about it."
"I just wish I could get inside her head. I hear her mumbling things like “He's coming” or “I can't take it back.” Dad I'm worried." Louis looked at his dad for some type of answers. Maybe he knew something, but didn't want to say anything.
"Don't worry about any of this. You should be focused on Friday. You're gonna be sixteen, officially a man." Mark joked, a toothy grin on his face. "Start planning your future, with how smart you are. It's pretty bright."
"Yeah dad, I should get inside though. Wasting study time."
Louis bid goodbye to his dad and made his way up the creaking wooden steps. He didn't have to knock because the door was already opened and Char's little sister, Catherine, stood smiling up at Louis. "Louis!" The six year old cheered, jumping in his arms.
"Hi Cathy." He greeted, placing the girl back on the ground.
"Cathy!" A voice called from inside the house. "How many times have I told you not to- oh. It's just you." Char's scolding voiced cooled.
Louis knew Cathy had a bad habit of opening the door for just anyone.
He laughed at Char's appearance, she stood with a half eaten slice of pizza and pajamas. A tank tops covered in hearts and cotton shorts with pandas.
"Yes it's just me," Louis repeated. "Did you find clothes from 7 years ago or?"
Char's face turned into one of confusion then lightly punching Louis when she understood. "Oh fuck you asshole. Get inside."
"Bad words Charlavoy!" Cathy exclaimed covering her mouth and giggling.
Louis smirked, "You heard her. Bad words Charlavoy." He laughed harder when Char hit him again.
"Cathy go watch tv or bother mom. Me and Louis are doing to study." Cathy frowned but followed her sisters directions and went into the living room.
"You hungry?" Char asked Louis motioning to the pizza box on the counter.
"No, I ate before I came. Surprisingly my mom was stable enough to cook dinner." Louis sighed.
"Hey, cut her some slack. At least she's not as bad as how my mom was. She went through this country phase. Only listened to Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley. God, she even talked in a southern accent. And I refuse to eat bbq now cause like-"
"Can we go upstairs now?" Louis asked, cutting off Char's endless rambling.
"Such a nice way of telling me to shut up." She laughed.
They rushed up the steps. Char's room was a fragrant of mint and fabric softener. She always kept her room clean. Louis always admired how organized and clean she managed to be. He took a seat on the perfectly made bed and pulled needed materials from his bag. Laptop, notebook, pens and pencils, and a family size bag of Doritos.
"Let the torture begin." Char groaned.
_____________
"Louis look at this one." Char called to him pointing at the desktop, making sure not to touch with her Doritos stained fingers.
Louis groaned in response. At home his self made bedtime was 10:00pm. Now at 12:37am, Louis was fighting his sleep just to keep up with Char, who always seemed to never have an off button.
The past hours spent studying tired Louis out, not to mention he wasn't too excited about the topic. But Char couldn't get enough and called Louis up every time she found something interesting.
He weakly lifted up to looked where she was pointing. He read.
"The Devil. In most mythologies and religions, a devil is a leader or ruler among evil spirits, a being who acts in direct opposition to the gods." He paused to write down a few facts in the notebook beside him. He continued.
"The general view is that devil is trying to destroy humans, to tempt them into sinning, or to turn them against their god." He sighed trying to regain strength. "Why am I reading this Charlavoy Nelson, I already know this."
She stuffed more Doritos into her mouth, "First, call me that again and I'll kill you. Second, excuse me. I don't go to church. Church boy." She mumbled under her breath.
"It's life 101. Everyone knows this already." Louis argued back, ignoring the church boy comment.
"Well some people have different views on the Devil." Char said defensively.
Louis starred at her skeptically. "Do tell."
The room turned quiet and Char sighed throwing the chips bag on the bedside table. "What if he helped people? Ever thought of that, maybe he's not all bad. No one ever tells his story so no one knows much I guess."
"Whatever, I need sleep. Can we stop this for to-" A loud static version of some heavy metal song blared from Char's song.
"Hold that thought. I think it's Liam." Louis laid back down as Char answered the phone. Form the smile on her face, he knew it was Liam.
"Liam, baby!- Yeah. Yeah. Yes! Oh, but Louis is with me." Louis lifted his head up at the mention of his name. "Of course he'll come...see you in six." She hung up and turned to Louis. Eyes already starting their begging.
"Whatever it is, No." Louis said.
"It's not bad, I promise. It's just, we've been talking about getting a bunch of friends to go this abandoned house. It's kinda haunted, something with an Ax and a man named Mickey. But please." She begged her hands together as if she was praying to Louis.
"I said no, why would you want to do that anyways. It's illegal." Louis pointed out.
"It's not illegal if it's been abandoned for over twenty years. I don't even think the town knows about it anymore." Char said.
"I'm sure they do. But even if they didn't I'm not going. I'll walk home." Louis said up and closed his laptop, gathering his things.
Char stopped him taking its from his hands. "Louis! Please. I barely get to see him. I don't want him to think I turned him down cause I'm scared." She pleaded pouting.
Louis sighed. "Your mom is not going to let you go." He pointed out knowing her weekday curfew was nine o'clock. It was well past one.
"You don't worry about my mom." She said getting up and opening her closet. Louis turned his head while she stripped down and pulled on washed jeans and a white tee shirt. She reached for her burgundy cardigan and placed it over her shoulders because the night air is cool.
"Charlavoy you can not be serious. We were supposed to be working on homework." Louis reminded her.
His words fell to deaf ears as she laced up her converse. "You coming or not." She asked, hands on her hips.
Louis contemplated the situation. His parents already were skeptical about letting him over Char's house thinking she was a bad influence on him. If they found out about this he would for sure never be allowed to see her again. But he wouldn't risk his best friend going out with her horny boyfriend and his friends, only to have something happen to her.
"Fine." He finally said.
Char threw herself at Louis, holding him in a tight embrace. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She squealed. "You won't regret this."
"I know I will, but I'm not going to think of all that could go wrong." Louis said.
When Liam arrived Louis and Char snuck out the house, past Ms. Nelson who was passed out on the couch. It was a weird feeling for Louis, doing something he wasn't supposed to. But he kept calm telling himself it was to keep Char safe.
"Hey! Tomlinson, you made it. Guess you're not a bitch after all." Liam said from the drives seat.
"Hi Liam." Louis said getting in after Char. Another one of Liam's friends occupied the passenger.
"He's not a bitch. You don't want me to tell him the real reason, you begged for him to come. Someone has a crush." Char joked, smirking into the rear view mirror.
Liam scoffed, looking at Char through the rearview mirror. "Oh yes! Please tell Louis about my undying love for him."
"Guess you did it for me then. I think Louis would top tho, show Liam who the real bitch is." Char smirked back at him.
"Cute, don't get too snappy back there. Just make sure you watch the kid." Liam remarked.
"Stop bickering and fuck already. You're both too tense, let lose!" The boy in the passenger seat groaned.
"I brought beers!" Someone yelled in the back and cheers erupted throughout the car. Cold beers were passed back.
Louis respectively declined.
Abandoned house, drunk teenagers; some under age, and it's only two at night. 'What could go wrong?' Louis thought. Everything, his gut told him.
The drive lasted for about half an hour. Half an hour of constant drunken cheers and headache inducing Rock and Roll." Louis was somewhat relieved when they pulled into the long trail. Trees, trees and more trees. Long and twisted, hiding the night sky. Louis could see a sliver of light. He turned to Char wanting to see if she had any idea what it could be. But she was too busy sucking love bites onto Liam's neck. Gross.
Liam drove for a few minutes more before stopping at a sign. "PRIVATE PROPERTY. DO NOT ENTER. TRESPASSING." Could be read from a tree branch. He put the car in park and turned to face the group. "First one to find the house. Scream!" Liam's voice startled Louis and he jumped.
Everyone started cheering, rushing out the car and off to different directions. Some in pairs, while others decided to explore alone. Louis didn't know if it was because Char was a tad bit drunk or if she genuinely forgot about him. She grabbed Liam's hand and ran off, completely leaving Louis alone.
He should have stayed put and waited for someone to realize he was left behind. But Louis didn't like the thought of standing out in the darkness waiting. He wanted to try and find Char. So, he turned on his mini flashlight he always kept on his key chain. And drifted off into the to the woods.
Louis started walking in the direction she ran, soon picking up his pace as he drew more weary. A knot started to form in his stomach as he drifted deeper into the darkness. He knew his gut was right. Turn away and go back to the truck. The problem was, he couldn't remember what direction the truck was in. Louis was lost with only a flashlight to guide him.
He sighed, ashamed that he idiotically let Char talk him into going to an abandoned house. He understood you had to make sacrifices for your best friends sometimes, but this drew the line.
Now, standing out in the middle of nowhere, Louis regretted it. A lot. He could hear faint sounds of the other people he squished inside Liam's truck with. But they always seemed to drift further away when he got close.
He couldn't think of a logical answer as to why a group of kids decided to break into an abandon house on a Thursday.
"Come on it's this way!" A female voice called somewhere on the right of him.
He tried to follow the voice, but as fast as it came it disappeared. He couldn't remember why he didn't think to follow someone.
Louis was still trying to find his way, when he came across a river. He remembered from the excited talk in the car, the house was near a shallow river. Louis also remembered Liam telling the story of the man who lived in the house. He was a farmer who worked hours on end trying to provide for his family of ten. One day he went mad after finding his wife with another man and slaughtered them all with a sledgehammer. He took their corpses and threw them into the river, with bricks tied to hold the bodies down.
Did Louis believe him? No, but the thought spooked him. He stood at the edge, peered down at the river wondering if he would see anything. The others were long gone, probably already inside the house . Louis didn't want to risk trying to find it and getting lost even more. He decided to stay put and hope someone would come find him.
The river was oddly unlike any Louis had seen, most he'd come across were a mucky brown. This river was a deep blue, looking out of place with it's surroundings.
The moon reflected off the top and Louis knew this was what he'd seen on his way in. He carefully walked closely to the edge and flashed the light into the water. Not sure what he was looking for, but he sighed in relief seeing the light reflect back.
As he went to turn back away he felt two hands on his back pushed him forward.
"Hey! Not funny let go." He said sternly, guessing it was probably Liam trying to get back at him for the conversation in the car. Or one of his stupid friends. Louis tried to get away, but he couldn't turn around.
He lost his balance for a moment, before catching himself.
"I said not fun-" He looked, only to find a pair of red eyes looking back at him. Louis panicked as the eyes came close, he tried to run be he felt frozen. All he could do was stare into the blood red eyes. The hands once again could be felt on his back. This time pulling him back and down into the river, water engulfing him.