Our Turn

Everything was ready for the ritual. And there were what seemed like hundreds of people stuffed into my house. I stand on the front lawn my hand gripping a plastic cup as I stare at the front door. People were still arriving too, all dressed in costume, with varying degrees of effort put in. A body pushes past me and I shove back, the guy stumbles and looks back.

“What the fuck bro?” he’s annoyed.

“And what are you supposed to be a bitch?” he snarls as I frown at him. I chuckle at his choice of words; he’s pretty close.

The rude man in the cape shakes it off and runs into the house whooping; his case of beer still firmly tucked under his arm. I make my way to the door and groan in disgust as I take one last breath of fresh air before plunging myself into the writhing sea of twisting bodies. The music pumping through the house would have been imperceptible over the chatter had it not been for the floor rattling bass. Some people are dancing half-heartedly by the fridge in the kitchen, really the only place with enough space to make any moves that could be considered dancing. I smile at a few people I recognise from school but don’t stop to try and talk. None of these people are my friends.

They are hers.

My eyes find my sister as she flirtatiously leans over the beer pong table and misses the cup by a mile. I watch her pout and I scoff. My sister, Creya, has played eight years of netball. I check the clock hanging on the wall and take a seat on a stool at the bench. It's sticky and I grimace as my dress clings to it.

Hot breath tickles my left ear and I whip my head to see Joshua, my sister’s boyfriend. His dark hair is styled up in spikes and he’s wearing eyeliner on his waterline. His clothes resemble an eighteenth-century vampire.

“Lily! Have you seen Creya?” he shouts as loud as he can but I still rely mostly on the way his lips move around the words.

I roll my eyes and tilt my head back toward the table and follow his narrowing gaze to see Creya pushed up against the wall hooking up with some chick I had definitely never seen around. Josh swears beside me and downs the last of his drink. He motions to my empty cup and waggles his own. The universal sign for do you want another? I hand him the cup and he disappears. Checking the clock again I reckon I have fifteen minutes before I really have to get a hurry on anything. My sister is no longer macking on but is currently downing tequila shots like there’s no tomorrow.

That bodes well.

Josh is back now, handing me my drink and I take a hearty sip. I sputter on the burning liquid.

“A bit strong aye?” Josh laughs and makes quick work of his own, the glint in his eyes saying to take the liquid courage. I down it in a couple gulps.

A hand grips my forearm and I look down to meet Creya’s eyes.

She slurs slightly as she speaks, “Someone split their drink on me, I needa new shirt.”

At that she stumbles pulling me off the chair and along with her. Crossing the threshold of the kitchen I look back for Josh who winks before disappearing into the crowd.

Creya is flipping through shirts, the soiled one flung over the bedhead, MY bedhead. We’ve ended up in my room, no surprise there and I perch on my bed as she rifles through my closet, annoyance prickling me. She was the one to throw this ungodly party, no telling what was being wrecked in the house right now. Creya turns to me, too drunk to see the distaste in my eyes.

“How about-” her sentence is interrupted with a hiccup, “This one?”

“It’s fine” I remark.

She smiles and begins the struggle to pull the strappy fabric over her body. I make the short steps to her and shove her hands aside doing all the work.

“You’re my best friend lil sis,” I recoil at her fake tone and stay silent. This woman has never called me a friend in her life.

She’s already moving to the mirror to give herself a once over. My sister has always been horribly selfish and I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. It had never really been a problem until there had been a solution. Until- Creya was on the move and I lurch forward to grab her shoulders and steer her out of the room and to the right. Toward the back of the house.

“Where are we going? The party’s s-that way,” her whining voice grating in my ears.

“I just wanna show you something, you can get some fresh air too.”

Her shoulders slump beneath my hands and she walks ahead.

Outside is heaven compared to the stifling heat of inside. The cool night air dries the sweat on our skin and Creya laughs tilting her head back to the sky.

“Quiet,” I whisper.

“It’s Halloween Lil, let loose a little,” her voice has the biting edge I’ve come to know very well. Oh, I would let something loose alright.

“Just walk a little further,” I say ignoring her jibe.

We’re in the bush behind the house now, the trees thickening, dry leaves crunching under our feet. A slow mist runs slowly along the ground, the cloudy film swirling at our ankles, goosebumps rising in its wake.

“What the hell Lil, I’m going back.”

We’ve made it to the clearing now anyway and Creya sees Josh standing in the middle. She shrieks, forgetting her apprehension and runs to him, launching herself into his arms. He smirks at me over her shoulder and looks to the moon.

“I thought you’d be late,” he calls to me.

“Ye of little faith,” I reply.

In my sister’s drunken stupor, she hasn’t noticed the lanterns which light the space arranged in concentric circles. The candles burning within are deep red, the wax dripping down the sides like pouring blood. The moon hangs directly above us as Josh lets her down, pushing to hold her at arm’s length. After a second of what seems to be consideration, though I know better, he smacks her hard across the face. She falls in a heap to the ground, eyebrows crinkled in confusion. I step into the clearing fully now gripping a book that the fog had hidden well on the ground. Creya turns her face to me, eyes searching for answers. Those same eyes then take in their surroundings, noticing the candles, the book in my clutch and the animal bones strung from the tree branches which droop in from the clearings canopy, like spindly hands stretching to steal what’s not theirs.

“Lily?” Creya’s voice shakes as she tries to stand but Josh is there with a hard kick into her ribs.

“Lily.” Its Josh’s voice this time, a reminder. I peer down at the words in front of me, they’re swimming on the page, am I crying? I wipe at my face to find it wet.

Doesn’t matter I memorised these words long ago. I don't need to wait for my emotions to catch up with my brain for this to work.

I begin to chant as Creya cowers on the ground, Josh is grinning down at her.

“What is happening!” she cries, “if you guys are trying to scare me it's worked.”

She pushes up again and Josh holds her down.

“Trying to scare you?” he laughs incredulously and she flinches away.

“Babe we’re not trying to scare you. We’re killing you.”

Her jaw swings open at his words and his head snaps up to me.

“Keep going,” he bellows. I hadn’t even realised I’d stopped. The wind is picking up, howling through the bush; seemingly mocking the screeching noises Creya is now making.

“It was always about you, huh?” Josh is shouting above the noise, bats flying overhead joining with their shrieks.

“You always get what you want, fuck everyone else yeah?”

She was sobbing now.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” she cries.

“We don’t want anything from you now sweetheart, except maybe your life, call it payback, a sacrifice,” he laughs, “after all the things everyone else sacrificed for you. It’s our turn now.”

He blows a kiss my way and Creya turns to me again.

“Lil please.”

I harden my gaze.

“We call upon the powers of Leviathan, Dian Cecht, the Fomhoire, Cain, Pithius, Rusalka,” my voice is lost in the cacophony of sounds, the wind whipping my hair up and around, the flames of the candles flickering violently. The power is here now I can feel it rise in my words, taste it on my tongue. It’s my turn to laugh now and I throw my arms out grinning. I can’t hear Creya but I can see her screaming on the ground, hands clutching her ears. Josh holds his hand out to me and I take it. Together we whisper the last words and I feel the cold metal of the knife in our joined hands. Josh raises it and it plunges straight into her heart, the squelching of the blade cutting through her flesh rings crystal clear in my ears. The wind whips us back now and we land with a thud on the hard earth, I hiss as my elbow cracks painfully. I pull it to me as Josh helps me up.

The blood is flowing up around the knife and pooling in the air forming demented teeth in the air which bite and snap. Creya’s body jerks on the ground her spine bending and head smashing back. Her movement pauses for a second before her neck snaps to the right, twisting at sickening ninety-degree angle. She slumps down and the wind stills, the candles extinguish one by one, the last flame roaring the air before disappearing. In tandem Creya’s body bursts with a pop and a rain of ash floats slowly down.

I smile at Josh, “I’ve never seen snow,” I say as I stick my tongue out catching a flake; it dissolves immediately. He cackles and grabs my hand pulling me back toward the house. The party is still raging on just as loud. A group of girls standing at the backdoor catch sight of us and rush over, they’re Creya’s friends, the in-crowd.

“OMG Lily THERE you are! You won’t believe what happened.”

They wrap me up in their circle and I smile again.

As we walk into the house people shout our names. A guy I have definitely never met swings an arm around our shoulders and yells nonsense, hyping everyone up.

“Our turn,” I say as I spin to Josh.