The Party House

I held the tightly rolled joint to my mouth and sucked in the sweet smoke. "Don't bogart it, man," I heard as I started to take another hit. I handed the next guy the joint as I sat and relaxed.

The party moved on around me. There was the faint sound of a guitar in one corner and the laughter of a drinking game being played elsewhere. The house was bright and alive, and I enjoyed being there.

The buzz took over my body as the hours went on. I rose from the place on my couch to hear a guy talking. "Then this voice says 'Leave this rock alone!'"

"No way, man," another guy replied.

"Yeah. But I was like, 'Fuck You,' so then this Indian dude started haunting me. People from my old church surrounded the rock in bibles and and buried it. He'd been quiet ever since."

I laughed. This guy had obviously been smoking way more than me, and I was pretty fucked up.

"They said the Indian dude would leave me alone as long as his rock was undisturbed," he continued.

"Cool," the other guy replied.

"But they plowed the field last week and I think they disturbed the rock because this psychic chick told me someone was after me."

"She was probably talking about some guy you owe money to..." I thought as I walked into the bathroom. But before I entered, a rush of cold air blew past me...

Minutes later, but what seemed to me like seconds, I laid back with a pot filled pipe in my hand. I exhaled the smoke and laid my head back. I looked straight up into the ceiling and saw strange shapes appear. Then there was a click and a rush of air from behind me. Although there was no one near me, the fan had turned on.

I jumped and looked with bewilderment toward the owner of the house. She smiled and said, "That's just David."

I looked at her in amazement so she just continued. "He used to live here. He was all fucked up and said he'd haunt the house after he died. So now you hear him, night after night, moving shit and walking back and forth down the hallway from the bathroom."

I felt chills go up my spine and just stared toward the television.

I finally turned my head away from the t.v. All that were left were me, the owner and the fucked up guy. "He's out there. Now," I heard him say. "He's waiting for me." The house was darker, allowing us to more easily see the outside. The wind was blowing through the trees and seemed to be calling us.

"It's okay," the owner said.

I stood up and walked toward the kitchen. Through the den, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure walk through the kitchen. I turned to tell the two, but thay they were involved in each other.

"He's here, he's here..." the guy kept saying as the girl held him close.

"It's okay," she said."

All those words floated through my head as I wandered around trying to make sense of it all while trying to shake off the buzz.

"AAAHHH!!" I heard from the living room. "He's here!!" Another noise stole my attention. I looked across the dark and empty den toward an unused door leading to the outside. I saw, and heard, the door knob shake. Something wanted in, and the guy knew it.

The room spun around me. I could see the kitchen behind me, the shaking knob to my side, and the guy screaming in torture all at once. "Save me! Save me!" I heard. Shadows surrounded me and footsteps followed me. I couldn't make sense of anything. Then it all seemed to go silent and I was alone.

I awoke the next morning in a bed in the house. I lifted my head slowly and looked around me. I tried to decide if everything was a dream or reality. Then, when I walked into the living room, there I saw the two laying where I had seen them last. Their bodies still breathing and surrounded by the signs of the previous night's party. The doorknob was silent. All was calm.

I never asked them if everything had really happened. I didn't really want to know.