Mark of Silence

CRACK! A shudder went through the room as the lightning illuminated the small group gathered around the fireplace. It was an unusual group, only for the fact that most of these people would never cross paths on a normal day. Sitting silently, Eleanore glanced around her. Now she was stuck, in the middle of a severe storm warning, with people she has hated since highschool. If only she had chosen a different day to invite these dull, brainless zombies over to her house to work on their final project. 

“So, I think we-” she was interrupted by the flickering of the lights, which dimmed to a dangerously low light before returning to normal. 

“What I believe Eleanore was trying to say, is that we should return to the project.” Kyle Moore, whose arrogance had only grown since his high school days, had been butting heads with Eleanore for years. Always re-explaining her ideas in that eloquent way of his. Manipulating everyone into believing it was his thought. Eleanore was almost positive Kyle had never had an original thought in his life. 

“What a great idea!” Sara Santos, full of fake cheer and even faker intelligence. Somehow she always managed to steal opportunities from Eleanor, even with her sub-par intelligence. “Now I was thinking we could-”. 

“Hold up hunny.” Amber Brown interjected. “We have to agree on a name first.” Now Amber was a special type of person. Her polished presentation always astounded her professors, it almost didn’t matter that she never knew what she was talking about. 

“Okay, but we already did,” said Joey Phillips. “I thought we already chose the name Eleanore suggested?” Eleanore looked across the circle and smiled at her friend. Joey constantly made sure her voice was heard, he’d been doing it since grade school. 

“Chill guys, we still have two weeks.” Cody Phillips sat against the wall, playing with his lip piercing, staring down the members of the group. His gaze washed over Eleanore and she shivered, his eyes were cold as ice. 

“Right, just because your future is already over, doesn’t mean you need to sabotage the rest of us,” Amber sneered. Joey shot her a look that said, you better stop talking now. An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Everyone on campus knew that Cody had been to jail, for what, no one knew. He’s also been suspended more than once. It was just a matter of time before he was expelled. 

“Guys, it looks like the fire is going low,” Joey noticed, breaking the silence. 

“And why does that matter?” Amber asked. 

“Because-”... “Because if the power goes out the fire will be our only source of heat and light for as long as this storm lasts, maybe even longer.” Kyle explained, cutting Joey off. “Eleanore, do you have some more wood?” 

“Yeah, it’s in the basement though.” 

“Alright, we’ll all go together and get some then,” Sara suggested. 

“Well really only one person has to go down,” Kyle corrected. 

“No, I think Sara is right. We should all go down together, tension is a little high right now and I think it’s best if we stay together.” Cody said, taking his sweater off while getting up.  

“Why make everyone go?” Kyle asked. 

“We can avoid making another trip if everyone grabs some wood Kyle,” Cody answered, his eyes narrowing into a threatening expression. 

“Alright guys, everyone up!” Joey leapt up, placing his hand on Cody’s shoulder. “Cody is right. Let’s all go.” 

As she got up, Eleanore noticed Cody looking at Kyle, fire in his eyes. “Um before we go, maybe we should all have a drink. Just to calm everyone down.” She added, glancing quickly at Cody, before she made her way to the fridge. “Cody, do you want to help me out?” 

Cody made his way over to where Eleanore was standing, pouring soda into six glasses and handing them one by one to Cody to give to the group. “Here you go, Kyle,” Cody said, handing Kyle the last glass. 

Kyle took a big gulp, his face puckering, “Damn, this tastes terrible. What is this garbage?” 

“Just regular soda.” Kyle placed his drink down on the table and made his way to the basement door. “If you say so Eleanore. Let’s just get the wood. It needs to dry out a little before we can burn it.” 

The group made their way to Eleanore’s basement, the dingy stairway light barely lighting up the steps. “Careful guys. It’s really easy to slip,” Eleanore warned as they made their way down. “The wood is in that corner over there.” 

Kyle and Cody were the first to reach the wood, each trying to pick up as much as they could carry. “Keep your hands off my wood Kyle.” 

“What do you mean Cody? I’m not even touching it.” 

BOOM! Thunder shook the foundation of the house, followed by a sharp flash of lightning, causing the power to give out, plunging the basement into a temporary darkness.  

As the lights slowly faded back on, like lights in a theatre after the movie had finished, Sara let out a bloodcurdling scream. Kyle lay on the floor, writhing and foaming at the mouth. Cody dropped to his knees beside Kyle, trying to hold him still. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Amber screamed. 

“I don’t know,” answered Cody. The five watched as Kyle’s movements became less energetic and then stopped all together. His eyes rolling back into his head as he lay still. 

“Is he…?” 

“Dead.” Cody said, falling back onto the wall, his head in his hands. 

Eleanore and Joey exchanged a look. Catching this, Amber looked from them to Cody. “What did you do?” she asked. 

“What do you mean?” Cody stood up, hard eyes laser focused on Amber. 

“I mean...” she paused, took a deep breath and looked up. “You were the one standing next to him when the power went out.” 

“What do you think I did? Look at him, only some sort of poison could have done this to him!” 

Sara gasped. “He said his drink tasted funny. You were the one to give him the drink.” 

“And Eleanore was watching me the whole time! When do you think I had the chance to poison his drink?” Cody cried, indignant. 

“Come on guys, let’s all calm down,” Joey intervened, placing himself between Cody and the girls. “Let’s all just grab the wood and go upstairs. Cody you first.” 

Cody picked up his pile of wood and made his way upstairs. Joey followed, picking up the pieces dropped when Kyle had fallen. 

  . . . . .

“Should we call the police?” Sara whispered to Amber. 

“I mean yeah. Someone just died. What else are we supposed to do?” 

Overhearing the conversation, Eleanore answered, “As far as we know, Kyle had some sort of seizure. We’re all safe, and the police are going to be busy with weather emergencies.” 

“But there’s a dead body. In the house.” 

“I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it until the storm is over.” 

The room fell quiet again, nothing but the rumble of thunder clearing the silence, as everyone tried to process what had happened. Amber and Sara kept casting suspicious looks at Cody, who was huddled in the armchair in the corner of Eleanore’s living room. An apprehensive aura was slowly spreading through the room. 

“What are we going to do? Just sit here the entire time?” Amber’s shrill voice cut through the uneasy silence. 

“I think that’s the safest thing to do,” Cody answered. “Just wait until the storm warning is lifted.” 

“You seem awfully unconcerned about this,” Eleanore noted. 

“I just don’t see the point in panicking,” Cody answered. 

“Well I don’t know about you guys, it’s getting dark and I’m kind of hungry. Ellie, what’s for dinner?” Joey asked, his smile lightening everyone’s spirits. 

“There’s probably some lettuce in the fridge, we can make a salad. Everyone up and to the kitchen.”

Eleanore rummaged through the fridge, taking out various vegetables and handing them to the group. “Here Cody,” she said, handing him a knife. “Cut up the lettuce will you?” 

“You’re trusting him with a knife?” Sara asked, taking a step away from Cody. 

“Oh calm down, here you can have one too. Help him cut the vegetables.” Sara took the knife gingerly and started cutting. 

BANG! A giant wave of thunder rolled through the room, and the lights began to flicker. Suddenly, the room descended into darkness, the only light coming from the weak glow of the fire. Everyone waited for the lights to come back on, but they didn’t. 

A scream pierced the air. “Is everyone okay?” Cody shouted into the darkness. “I can’t see anything.” 

A light came on from the far corner of the kitchen. Eleanore was shining a flashlight around the room. “It’s okay. Is everyone here?” 

“I am,” Amber answered. 

“Me too!” Joey called. “Does anyone see Sara? I thought I heard her scream.” 

Then a low moan sounded from the middle of the group. Eleanore’s light caught a manicured hand in it’s light, following the line of the body until Sara’s face was revealed, the light glinting off the knife in her chest. 

Eleanore swung the light around until it found Cody, the knife she gave him still in his hand. 

“Oh my God,” Amber cried. “Did you stab her?” 

“Yeah man,” Joey added. “It’s starting to look a little suspicious.”

“Guys what the hell? Why would I have any reason to hurt her? Besides, this knife has been in my hand the whole time.” 

“Everyone needs to calm down.” Eleanore’s voice carried across the room. She walked across the room and handed Joey a second flashlight. “Let’s all just go back to the living room and wait until the power comes back on.” 

“Are you kidding me? We have to call the police.” Amber grabbed the flashlight from Eleanore’s hands. “Where’s the phone?” 

“In the next room. Let’s all go together.” 

“Cody goes first,” Amber said, her voice shaking. 

Cody and Joey walked into the next room, Amber trailing them, while Eleanore took up the rear. The next room was pitch black, the two flashlights barely making a difference. Without warning, Amber’s flashlight extinguished, leaving only a spot of brightness among all the dark. 

“Get the light on Cody!” Amber shrieked. 

Joey swung his flashlight wildly, illuminating the sports memorabilia Eleanore kept on the wall, given to her by her father over the years. Finally, it landed on Cody, leaning against the wall, his expression impassive. Another wave of thunder shook the house, causing Joey to fall, the flashlight jumping from his hands and sending shadows dancing across the wall, what looked like a baseball bat in the air --

 “Amber watch out!” Eleanore cried, as Amber’s high pitched scream filled the air. A bolt of lightning caused the lights to flicker, revealing the pool of blood surrounding Amber’s head. And the room plummeted into darkness again. Joey lunged for the flashlight, swiveling back to find Cody next to Eleanore. 

“ELEANORE MOVE!” The words escaped from his throat in a guttural cry. Joey bounded up and grabbed Eleanore by the arm with one hand, and the phone with the other, pulling her away from Cody. 

“We have to run Ellie, he’s insane.” Joey gasped as he dialed 911. 

Eleanore looked to her right and saw the door to the basement open. “You’re right,” she said. “Give me the phone.” 

As Joey handed her the phone, Eleanore shoved him down the stairs, the light tumbling down the treacherous, stone steps; the deciding thunk at the bottom of the stairs meaning that she had accomplished her goal. 

Another flash of lightning revealed Cody at the end of the hallway, staring at her in horror. She grinned at him, the lightning revealing the blood spatters that covered her clothing. 

“911. What’s your emergency?” The phone buzzed. Eleanore brought it to her face and screamed, “HELP! There’s a man in my house, he’s killed all my friends. HELP ME!” Dropping the phone, she began to walk towards Cody. The lightning flashing steadily as the apex of the storm reached her house. 

“Eleanor why?” He gasped, backing up into the wall.

Eleanore let out a cackle, “Why not?” she responded. “For years I’ve had to deal with all of these people overshadowing me, and now…” She paused. “I’m the only one.” 

“But why… why me?” 

“Oh,” she shrugged. “I needed someone to blame.” 

“I’m going to tell them the truth.” 

“Yeah? And who are they going to believe? Little ole’ me… or you?” Her sinister voice echoed throughout the house. 

“You’re not going to get away with this,” Cody whispered, bolting for the front door. 

Then flashing red and blue lights, followed by the screaming sirens and the sound of men knocking down the door. 

“But I have,” she said simply, laying down on the ground as the police swarmed in. 

“HELP ME!” Eleanore cried, as the officers handcuffed Cody and dragged him out the door. “Please get him away from me.”

“It will be alright honey,” said an officer coming over to her and helping her off the ground. 

“It will all be okay.”