This took me long enough...
I wanted to get this up by Halloween, but a bout with the flu put the kibosh on that plan. I hope you're all still in the mood for scary stories...
This is the first part of what will be a fairly long story, I think. It's very different from anything else I've written and I'm pretty nervous about it. I would really, really appreciate any comments or constructive criticism from the f-list before I post it at dcdailylife (along with all the other stuff). I'm really not sure how well "horror fiction based on my life as I imagine it in the DCU" works.
If you don't like it, that's okay. I'll be back to writing funny slash stories again soon : )
Title: The Preterite: Prologue
Characters: Batman, the Scarecrow, myself, and various fictitious college students
Rating: R for language and violence
Word Count: 733
Disclaimer: Batman and the Scarecrow belong to DC Comics. I am making no money.
Author’s Notes: Written for dcdailylife. This story takes place at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, home to the infamous Athens Asylum. You can read more about the now defunct asylum (and see some pictures) here and here. Not all of the information is completely accurate or unbiased, but it will give you a sense of the innate creepiness of the place as well as what most of the OU students believe.
Because Athens is supposedly so haunted, it’s also home to the Halloween block party, the biggest holiday party in the United States after Mardi Gras in New Orleans and New Year’s Eve in New York. Everyone gets drunk, puts on a costume, and congregates uptown to, well, get more drunk and check out everyone else’s costumes. A lot of people get arrested and, every few years, someone gets killed. I’ve survived three Athens Halloweens so far.
"You didn't really believe you'd be saved. Come, we all know who we are by now. No one was ever going to take the time to save you, old fellow."
- “Paranoia, Pynchon, and Preterition,” Louis Mackey
“And they say that sometimes, late at night, you can still hear their voices echo through the gym...”
“Boo!”
“You suck, Russ!”
“Will you guys shut the hell up?! I’m trying to tell a story here!” Russ Crawford shuffled his stack of computer print-outs and muttered darkly into the megaphone. He was sitting on a bale of hay at the head of flat-bed trailer currently being pulled uphill by a tractor. Twenty-odd additional college students were arranged on trailer, laughing, joking, drinking hot cider out of styrofoam cups. No one was paying attention to Russ except the hecklers.
“Tell us the one about the girl who jumped out of her dorm window!”
“Look, I’m the story-teller here and-“
Several people dressed as zombies shuffled out from behind buildings and waved their arms menacingly at the trailer.
“Wooooooooooooooooo!”
Fake screams filled the night air and Russ yelled through the megaphone in a vain attempt to regain his audience’s attention.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now entering the grounds of The Ridges! The Athens Lunatic Asylum opened in 1874 and was soon renamed the Athens Asylum for the Insane...”
The shrieks and giggles faded away as the wagon clattered back down the road towards campus. Two young men emerged from the tree-line behind the abandoned building that used to be the Tuberculosis Ward for the asylum.
“Dude, I’m really not sure we should be doing this.”
“Okay, then. I’ll just go back to the brothers and say “Sorry, guys. Looks like we’re not pledging after all because Kevin’s too much of a pussy.”
“I’m serious! This place has gotta be crawling with cops this time of year and-“
“Can I help you boys?” A tall, middle-aged man stepped out of the shadows of the building. He was balding, wore glasses, and was fairly non-descript except for the fact that he was so thin, almost like a...
“I told you this was a bad idea!” hissed Kevin.
The other boy, Ian, stepped forward. “Hey, man! We were just looking around. That’s okay, right?”
The thin man smiled. “Were you trying to break in to the Tuberculosis Ward?”
“No! No, we were just looking...”
“Because I can take you inside.”
Kevin and Ian started. “You...you can?”
“Of course! If you’ll follow me...”
Ian began to follow immediately, but Kevin grabbed his shoulder. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Jesus Christ, Kevin! Stop being such a little girl. The guy’s obviously a janitor or something. C’mon. He’s cool.”
The three of them reached the far side of the building and the man easily opened a door that had appeared to be heavily boarded up. A faint light, probably a candle flame, flickered inside, just barely illuminating what Ian saw when he stepped in. He doubled over and threw up.
“Oh. Oh my God...”
Kevin stumbled back out of the door in horror. He watched, paralyzed, as the man took a knife and slashed Ian’s throat almost gracefully, as if he had done it a hundred times before. He turned towards Kevin, blood splatters and an animalistic grin on his face.
Something instinctual took over Kevin’s body and he blindly ran into the dark. He couldn’t see anything other than the spots dancing in front of his eyes and couldn’t hear anything other than the blood roaring in his ears.
He was abruptly stopped several yards later when tripped over something and landed hard on his chest. The wind was knocked out of him, but he silently mouthed the word “fuck.” There was also pain, and he reached down to feel torn denim and hot wetness on his right knee. He dazedly realized he was lying in a small graveyard just before being attacked from behind.
The thin man was quiet as a cat and impossibly strong. Kevin struggled, but with no chance to breathe, he was easily overcome. The man stabbed something into his shoulder. The knife? No, a needle...
“I’m sorry...Kevin, was it? But I can’t have you telling anyone that I’m here and I always need new subjects for experimentation.”
Kevin no longer heard him. He was lying in bed, warm, basking in a post-coital afterglow. But something was wrong. He couldn’t move, couldn’t make any noise. Was he tied up? And then his ex-girlfriend was there, straddling him, but it wasn’t sexy at all. “Hey baby,” she said. “Remember how much you hurt me? Well, now, I’m going to hurt you...”
I swear I'll actually be in the next part. Let's just say I was on the hay ride, but you didn't see me.
This is the first part of what will be a fairly long story, I think. It's very different from anything else I've written and I'm pretty nervous about it. I would really, really appreciate any comments or constructive criticism from the f-list before I post it at dcdailylife (along with all the other stuff). I'm really not sure how well "horror fiction based on my life as I imagine it in the DCU" works.
If you don't like it, that's okay. I'll be back to writing funny slash stories again soon : )
Title: The Preterite: Prologue
Characters: Batman, the Scarecrow, myself, and various fictitious college students
Rating: R for language and violence
Word Count: 733
Disclaimer: Batman and the Scarecrow belong to DC Comics. I am making no money.
Author’s Notes: Written for dcdailylife. This story takes place at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, home to the infamous Athens Asylum. You can read more about the now defunct asylum (and see some pictures) here and here. Not all of the information is completely accurate or unbiased, but it will give you a sense of the innate creepiness of the place as well as what most of the OU students believe.
Because Athens is supposedly so haunted, it’s also home to the Halloween block party, the biggest holiday party in the United States after Mardi Gras in New Orleans and New Year’s Eve in New York. Everyone gets drunk, puts on a costume, and congregates uptown to, well, get more drunk and check out everyone else’s costumes. A lot of people get arrested and, every few years, someone gets killed. I’ve survived three Athens Halloweens so far.
"You didn't really believe you'd be saved. Come, we all know who we are by now. No one was ever going to take the time to save you, old fellow."
- “Paranoia, Pynchon, and Preterition,” Louis Mackey
“And they say that sometimes, late at night, you can still hear their voices echo through the gym...”
“Boo!”
“You suck, Russ!”
“Will you guys shut the hell up?! I’m trying to tell a story here!” Russ Crawford shuffled his stack of computer print-outs and muttered darkly into the megaphone. He was sitting on a bale of hay at the head of flat-bed trailer currently being pulled uphill by a tractor. Twenty-odd additional college students were arranged on trailer, laughing, joking, drinking hot cider out of styrofoam cups. No one was paying attention to Russ except the hecklers.
“Tell us the one about the girl who jumped out of her dorm window!”
“Look, I’m the story-teller here and-“
Several people dressed as zombies shuffled out from behind buildings and waved their arms menacingly at the trailer.
“Wooooooooooooooooo!”
Fake screams filled the night air and Russ yelled through the megaphone in a vain attempt to regain his audience’s attention.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now entering the grounds of The Ridges! The Athens Lunatic Asylum opened in 1874 and was soon renamed the Athens Asylum for the Insane...”
The shrieks and giggles faded away as the wagon clattered back down the road towards campus. Two young men emerged from the tree-line behind the abandoned building that used to be the Tuberculosis Ward for the asylum.
“Dude, I’m really not sure we should be doing this.”
“Okay, then. I’ll just go back to the brothers and say “Sorry, guys. Looks like we’re not pledging after all because Kevin’s too much of a pussy.”
“I’m serious! This place has gotta be crawling with cops this time of year and-“
“Can I help you boys?” A tall, middle-aged man stepped out of the shadows of the building. He was balding, wore glasses, and was fairly non-descript except for the fact that he was so thin, almost like a...
“I told you this was a bad idea!” hissed Kevin.
The other boy, Ian, stepped forward. “Hey, man! We were just looking around. That’s okay, right?”
The thin man smiled. “Were you trying to break in to the Tuberculosis Ward?”
“No! No, we were just looking...”
“Because I can take you inside.”
Kevin and Ian started. “You...you can?”
“Of course! If you’ll follow me...”
Ian began to follow immediately, but Kevin grabbed his shoulder. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Jesus Christ, Kevin! Stop being such a little girl. The guy’s obviously a janitor or something. C’mon. He’s cool.”
The three of them reached the far side of the building and the man easily opened a door that had appeared to be heavily boarded up. A faint light, probably a candle flame, flickered inside, just barely illuminating what Ian saw when he stepped in. He doubled over and threw up.
“Oh. Oh my God...”
Kevin stumbled back out of the door in horror. He watched, paralyzed, as the man took a knife and slashed Ian’s throat almost gracefully, as if he had done it a hundred times before. He turned towards Kevin, blood splatters and an animalistic grin on his face.
Something instinctual took over Kevin’s body and he blindly ran into the dark. He couldn’t see anything other than the spots dancing in front of his eyes and couldn’t hear anything other than the blood roaring in his ears.
He was abruptly stopped several yards later when tripped over something and landed hard on his chest. The wind was knocked out of him, but he silently mouthed the word “fuck.” There was also pain, and he reached down to feel torn denim and hot wetness on his right knee. He dazedly realized he was lying in a small graveyard just before being attacked from behind.
The thin man was quiet as a cat and impossibly strong. Kevin struggled, but with no chance to breathe, he was easily overcome. The man stabbed something into his shoulder. The knife? No, a needle...
“I’m sorry...Kevin, was it? But I can’t have you telling anyone that I’m here and I always need new subjects for experimentation.”
Kevin no longer heard him. He was lying in bed, warm, basking in a post-coital afterglow. But something was wrong. He couldn’t move, couldn’t make any noise. Was he tied up? And then his ex-girlfriend was there, straddling him, but it wasn’t sexy at all. “Hey baby,” she said. “Remember how much you hurt me? Well, now, I’m going to hurt you...”
I swear I'll actually be in the next part. Let's just say I was on the hay ride, but you didn't see me.