Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Critter Volume 3 Chapter 10 : The Parting Glass




The Parting Glass


Mitchell lay in the bed, knowing that what was about to happen would be amazing, but also wrong, but he didn’t care. He felt Laurens fingers running up his leg closer to his inner thigh. Shivers were sent up his body, the warm touch of Ashley’s skin soothed him. Ashley’s hair brushed against Mitchells chin as she leaned over his shirtless chest to meet Lauren with a kiss. Lauren softly graced Ashley’s cheek with her perfectly soft hand and began kissing intensely. Ashley’s body thrust closer to Mitchell as the kiss began getting more in depth. Mitchell had one hand running down Laurens spine approaching her underwear line, and the other hand was placed firmly inside Ashley’s bra.

Mitchell then removed his hand from her bra and noticed it was dripping with blood. He flicked his wrist attempting to remove the blood, he then looked back up at Ashley who was now in a wedding gown “I was the one” she said as blood began pouring out of a gun shot in her chest, she then hit the ground, dead. Mitchell sat up in a panic and looked at Lauren. Dozens of tiny hands were pulling Lauren away screaming, “I don’t wanna go back!” she yelled. Lauren then disappeared into darkness, the darkness consumed the room. Our of the darkness emerged a man, wearing a suit. He laughed at Mitchell and then leaned in closer “wake up” he whispered, “I still need you”.

Mitchell then woke in a sweaty panic. He looked to his left and saw Ashley sleeping peacefully beside him. He wiped away the sweat when he looked down at his phone. The caller display read ‘Lena’ so he answered the call “Hey Mitch sorry for calling so early, I just wanted to make sure I had a job when I arrive today” she laughed “I’ll do you one better, you have a kid to raise, you are officially the head manager” he replied. After minutes of gratitude they ended their conversation. When he hung up the phone he wondered what the dream meant. He has had visions, but this was different. Things were different, but his biggest worry, would it come true?

Lauren and Mitchell’s grave stones were taken away, the restaurant was back under Mitchell’s control. Things began to seem normal again; a party was being thrown tonight to celebrate the return of Mitchell and Lauren. The restaurant was closed early to accommodate the party. Dayna and Jenna frantically served drinks to the town locals and friends. Kelly sat with Simone, Chandra and Tara. Lauren sat at one end of the bar with a beer, she watched as Mitchell and Ashley laughed and kissed each other at the bar. Clayton approached “hey there” he said “Hey Clay” replied Lauren “Ya know, you don’t need him, don’t waste your night thinking about someone who’s most likely not thinking about you” he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. Just then Mitchell looked up from his beer and shot Lauren a smile, this killed her. How could he be so calm, and act like nothing was between them?

Alex then walked in threw the front doors, her hair to the left resting on her shoulder in a tight braid. She looked around the bar, all eyes were on her when she spoke “What reason do you all have to celebrate? People have died so that you could all have your precious town. The truth is, this place is hell. If you stay here you will die, leave while you still can” she said as she left out the front door.
Dayna then cleaned up a slight spill on the counter and walked into the back room to rinse out the dirty cloth. Jenna came back with a tray full of empty beer mugs “it would be nice if we could sit and have a beer” she groaned “I’m loving the tips though” she stated. She then noticed Dayna was staring into the sink with the water running. She was non-responsive “Dayna?” Jenna nudged her on the shoulder, just then her body flickered. One minute she was there, and then the next she was gone. She then returned and continued to rinse her cloth “oh hey Jenna” she said as she pranced past her and back into the restaurant. Jenna was shocked at what she saw, it was like she had some sort of glitch and disappeared for a brief moment.  Jenna rubbed her tired eyes and began washing her dishes.

Alex stormed out of the bar and ran towards the woods, she was walking alone through the bush to get to her house. She began crying. Now that Jordan was dead, what was she supposed to do with herself? She heard a crack coming from behind her. She swung around and Dalton was standing there “I followed you” he said “Dalton! I miss you!” she shouted “Don’t be afraid” she said as she moved closer, his body was sweating and shivering “why do you look so scared?” she asked. Just then Dalton pulled a steak that he had clearly carved himself from his back pocket “you can’t live like this” he whispered as he drove it into Alex’s heart. She burst into blood and Dalton was covered. Just like that, she was gone and Dalton felt no better. He whipped blood off his face and then ran through the forest. He came to a halt when he saw a man in a suit sanding by him. “Hello?” Dalton yelled at the man who was facing the opposite direction.  “Thank you Dalton” the man whispered as he turned around with a shotgun pointed at his head, and with one shot he was dead. The man then looked up at the sun and breathed deeply, he then disappeared.

Lena then came barging through the front doors with Athena, within minutes people were surrounding her “SO CUTE!” they were shouting. “Clear the way people!” yelled Mitch “say hello to the new manager of Mitchell’s Bar & Grill” he said as he shook her hand. “So good to be back” she said. Mitchell caught a glimpse of a familiar vehicle parked outside the bar. Logan was leaning up against the back of his little car, Mitchell then ran outside to greet him. “Logan, I have to be honest I never thought I would see you again, come in for a drink?” he asked “I came to show you something” he said “come here” Mitchell walked towards the car. Logan then pulled out a small box, he slid the top off and threw it on the front seat. Inside were hundreds of photographs, he handed the first one to Mitchell. “What is this?” he asked “read the back” replied Logan, Mitchell turned the photo around to read ‘Mitchell Age 4, Logan Age 2’ he looked up at Logan “I think we’re brothers mate”.

Jasmine was cleaning her kitchen when she heard a knock on the front door, she ran to answer it “hold on, hold on” she yelled. She swung open the door to silence the very impatient knocking, but there was nobody there. She stepped on the front porch to look around; she eventually gave up and headed back inside. When she went back to the kitchen she could feel a draft, she had shivers down her arms so she went to shut the window. She then saw a reflection in the window from behind her, the man in the suit. She turned to greet her death. A large knife was shoved into her heart. She fell to the ground. The man smiled and disappeared.

Kelly stepped outside to get some fresh air; she had a few drinks in her and was feeling a slight buzz. There was a ringing in her ear, more like a siren. She then realized that the sirens were coming from afar. Down the road came three fire trucks speeding towards town with the sirens blaring. Clayton and Lauren came running out of the bar to watch as they passed “let’s go see what’s up, you can never be too careful these days” said Lauren as the three of them hopped into her truck and followed the trucks. They eventually could start seeing smoke; black smoke was billowing from an area in town. They came to an opening where they could see that it was in fact the library, where Clayton got the exorcism advice from that old man who owns it. They parked the car and ran towards the caution line. They could hear people screaming “HE WAS STILL INSIDE!” just then the building collapsed.

Rachel ran through the woods, whipping past tree after tree until she got to a clearing. She was panting as she was out of breath from running so far from her house. She was clearly scared, she then pulled something out from her bag, it was the folder. Rachel threw it on the ground and then pulled out a flask from inside her leather jacket. She poured gasoline over the folder. She was trying to stop it from happening, Athena was gone from the book but yet another was added. The wind gusted through her feet as it flipped the pages to the most recent, as Rachel lit a match and dropped it on the folder she could see her face. She was in the folder.

Mitchell sat in his office, unpacking things that were placed in boxes after he disappeared. He placed the picture of him and his friends on opening day back on his desk. Ashley walked into the room slowly “I need to tell you something” she said as Mitch took a seat in his leather office chair. “I was with Traci, while you were gone. I know it sounds stupid but I needed to learn how to protect myself” “from what?” Mitchell asked, “If you only knew what it’s like being me, the only one that seems at all human. I’m haunted by images of what happened to me, I never sleep.” Mitch stood up and held her in his arms “I got you now” he said “there’s something else, your crystal ball. She has it” Mitchell had a blank stare “she can see everything now” he explained “It’s time for this parties parting glass” he said as he rushed by her to send everyone home.

The swamp was so peaceful. The sounds of frogs and crickets flooded the air, the moonshine down upon the murky waters leaving a glowing reflection. The air was still, that was until the portal opened. A burst of light appeared near the swamp. When the light disappeared, there was a group of men and woman who stood in battle suits. The woman who lead the group stood in front of them “Let’s bring her home, kill anyone that gets in your way but I need Lauren alive, she’s our princess” said Evelyn as she shot a look at Ericka who signaled the group to move in on Bon Temps. 


The Parting Glass

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