THE NOISE OUTSIDE

Genre: Horror

 

 

 

THE NOISE OUTSIDE

By Randy Romero

 

Friday, October 8, 1993.

It was an unusually brisk, windy evening in Ravensville, Pennsylvania for early October, so Ray and his friends decided to stay in. Not like there was much to do anyway in a town like Ravensville. There was a house party four blocks down, but none of them were invited. They were freshmen and weren’t exactly popular with the sophomore or juniors, hence the lack of invitation.

“Who’s holding?” Smith asked. Of course, Smith wasn’t his first name. His first name was Matt. But everyone called him Smith to avoid confusion with the other Matt in the group, Matt Morgan.

“I thought you were holding,” Morgan said.

“And I thought Morgan was holding,” Kevin said.

“So nobody’s got any weed?” Ray asked. His parents were away until Sunday night. They left his grandpa in charge, but Ray knew he would be passed out by seven-thirty or eight. And right on cue, his grandpa was asleep in front of the television by eight o’clock sharp.

“This sucks,” Kevin exclaimed. “It’s Friday night and I just want to get stoned and play some Mortal Kombat on Super Nintendo.”

“We’re not playing Mortal Kombat, we’re playing Sonic,” Morgan said.

“Sonic is for the Sega Genesis, dumb ass,” Smith said.

“Chill out, dick wad. I know it’s for Sega. I brought mine from home.”

“Boys, boys, no need for childish name calling,” Ray said. “It’s my house and I say we’re playing Street Fighter 2. As for the weed, give me a minute.” Ray left his bedroom and came back less than a minute later with a Ziplock bag. The buds were little green nuggets that looked dried out and aged. They were light green, almost yellow in color, and looked as stale as it probably tasted.

“What decade is that weed from?” Smith asked.

“Shut up. It’s my grandpa’s stash. He rarely smokes anymore. An ounce can last him for years.” He tossed the bag at Kevin. “Roll it up.”

“Kev sucks at rolling,” Morgan said. “Let me do it.”

“No way,” Smith said. “You never take out the stems or the seeds.”

“What are you talking about? My joints are perfect.”

“Would somebody just roll it so we can get this game going?” Ray said.

Kevin passed the bag to Morgan. He took out a few smaller buds that looked like dry moss and started grinding them up with his fingertips. Ray passed him the rolling papers.

“Wanna hear something totally fucked?” Kevin asked as they waited on Morgan to finish.

“Always,” Smith said.

“You know how people sometimes try to smoke magic mushrooms instead of eating them like you’re supposed to? I heard a story about this dude who tried injecting shrooms.”

“Get the fuck out of here.”

“I shit you not, bro.”

“So what happened to the guy?”

“What do you think? Dude almost died. The shit started growing inside his veins. He was nauseous, disoriented, his skin turned as yellow as that weed we’re about to smoke. Eventually the dude started vomiting blood. His organs were all starting to fail; liver, lungs, kidneys.”

“But the guy made it?” Ray asked.

“Yeah, he was hospitalized, but he pulled through. Crazy shit.”

“Where did you hear that from?” Smith asked.

“My mom,” Kevin said. “Dude was a patient at the hospital where she works.”

“Done,” Morgan said. “Are we smoking it here?”

“Yeah, fuck it,” Ray said, opening his bedroom window. “Just don’t get any ash on the rug.”

“If we’re smoking in here, I’ll do the honors,” Morgan said, lighting the joint. He took a few puffs and passed it to Ray, since it was his house. Ray could tell from the smell that Morgan had used too much paper, and had neglected to remove the seeds and stems.

Ray took a few small tokes, seeing as he was the light weight of the group and passed it to Kevin. They went around in a circle. Puff, puff, pass, as they called it. You take two puffs, pass it to the next person.

The noise was sudden and brief, but it made Kevin nearly rise out of his skin. He had been in a daze, his mind on video games and Doritos until he heard that horrible din. His head pivoted towards Ray’s bedroom window, then back to the circle of chairs they had formed.

“Did you hear that?” Kevin asked.

“Hear what?” Smith asked.

“The noise outside.”

“And what noise was that?”

“I don’t know, it sounded like a shrieking, screeching noise. Like a bat, or a raccoon or something.”

“Dude, I think you’ve smoked way too much of that weed,” Morgan said.

“Wait, none of you guys heard that?” Kevin asked.

They all shook their heads. “I didn’t hear a thing,” Ray added.

“I’m telling you, I heard something outside.”

“Smoke this,” Smith said, passing him the joint. “You’ll feel better. Or maybe you’ll have a few more auditory hallucinations. Either way, enjoy.”

They resumed passing the joint around, all the while Kevin’s head drifted back and forth between the window and his friends. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something dash past the open window. All he made out was a tall, dark figure, and, if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, a black cape…

“What the fuck! Please tell me you guys saw that.”

“Saw what?” Morgan asked.

“Something just moved past the bedroom window.”

“Dude, now you’re tripping for real,” Smith said.

This time, they all heard the noise, and it made their blood run cold.

Kevin was the first to stagger to his feet. “I’m going outside,” he announced.

“Whoa! Hold the phone, bro,” Morgan said. “Haven’t you ever seen like any horror movie ever? You never go outside to investigate a strange noise. That’s a death sentence.”

“If there’s something out there, I want to know who or what it is.” Call it bravery or curiosity. Call it stupidity, but something inside Kevin made him move from Ray’s first floor bedroom to the front door without even thinking twice.

He opened the door and tiptoed out to the front porch. “Is somebody there?” he called.

It happened so fast. He saw only quick, terrifying flashes. A dark figure descending upon him. Wings. Fangs. A black cape with red lining.

His friends didn’t see it happen at all. They only heard the screams and saw the aftermath. Saw the bloody stumps that were once his feet. Whatever it was, it came down with such force and strength that it ripped him out of his shoes, literally. Two shiny white knobs of bone pierced through the meat of his ankles. In the distance, they saw it take flight, its vast, membranous wings flapping effortlessly in the breeze. And it was carrying something with it, or rather, someone…