The doorbell rang. Sedah set down a bowl of chips and rushed to the entrance. As he clutched the knob, the door pushed open with force. A 6 foot tall figure entered the foyer. His skin was a hazelnut color and patterned with scales. He tossed off his green snow jacket revealing a skinny frame underneath a dark blue t-shirt. He was holding a 12-pack of whiskey. A tail the size of a shovel thumped on the ground as he walked in. His silver hair hid his ears. Red reptilian eyes gave Sedah a welcoming look. I cowardly hid behind Sedah, but he just patted my shoulder.
“Calm down, this is the guy I was telling you about.” The guy at the door immediately grabbed his hand.
“Sedah, my man! Haven’t seen you since college! And who might this be, your girlfriend?” He stared at me. I stared back at him.
“No, she’s just my roommate. Her name is Anna.” The man held out his hand, it was as big as a piece of paper. We shook them lightly. After a second, he let go and sat on the couch, almost too big for it. “Anna, his name is Naveross. He’s an old friend from college. He got off finals and we decided to hang for his birthday.” Sedah explained. Naveross pulled a bottle out of the pack of alcohol.
“You asked for the tough shit? This will get you wasted in minutes.” He said. He popped out the cork and took a quick swig. He tossed the bottle over to us. The bottle was glass green with a red label, “NEKNURTEB”. “So Anna, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” I sat down in the recliner.
“Well, I’m not originally from here. Sedah actually found me passed out in a car accident. Now I’m in this new place.” I was explaining before his eyes looked surprised.
“No fucking way you’re from the other side!” He exclaimed from the other side of the room, his voice echoing through the house. “Can you tell me what it’s like over there?” Not wanting to leave him hanging, I answered his question.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s practically the same. Aside from all of the monsters, demons, and whatever else.”
“That’s it? No wonder we stay here.” Naveross took another drink of the bottle. He offered me a drink afterwards. I did, and it was horrible. The bitter taste lasted on my tongue for far too long, and the aftertaste was like spoiled milk. “Wha… whaddya think of it?” He asked tipsily. The alcohol was already kicking in to us.
“It’s bad. Why don’t you try?” I handed the bottle to Sedah this time. He chugged most of it down in less than a minute.
“Its started off like shit, but it got better the more I drank.” He responded, Naveross giving a thumbs up with both hands. Sedah handed me back the bottle and told me to finish it off. I gulped the last down. It now tasted like soda.
The rest of the night was a blur for me. I remember us playing some cards, watching a movie, even playing beer pong before my mind went blank all of a sudden.
Multiple bangs from the living room woke me up out of my drunken state. I climbed out of my bed and slugged out in the hall, Sedah slowly doing the same behind me. Naveross was passed out on the floor, and a man was sitting on our couch, flipping through channels on the tv. The pale man was covered in thick brown hair. He had leather pants, black leather gloves, and an old gray Victorian style tunic. A black beard made his scowl even more threatening. His skinny black tipped tail was wagging angrily in the air behind him. His muscles making themselves very obvious, he was the most burly man I'd ever seen.
“256 channels and yet still no Arozball?!” He yelled in a low, gruff voice. He began slamming the couch before he looked over at us.
“Oh hey, it’s about time two of you got up. I’ve been here for seven hours and I find out you’re the people that summoned me.” Sedah immediately got defensive.
“What the hell are you doing in our house in the first place?” The man pointed at a mess made on the opposite side of the room. A pentagram was crudely drawn on the carpet. Three unlit red candles sat in place.
“Some drunk people decided to conjure me up last night at a party, here I am.” The man stood up and faced us. “So, what’cha names?”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, just leave!” My friend yelled out.
“Can’t.” The man snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared out of thin air. “It’s listed here under section 66.S, ‘Once the summoner(s) signed their name on the devil’s contract, the demon must stay until the given action listed is completed'. You three bozos were so drunk I can't even read what you wrote!” He pointed at an area on the scroll. Unintelligible scribbles filled out the ‘COMMAND’ box. On top of the scroll, the name "FACHROA" was labeled. Our sloppy signatures were beneath it. “Let’s see here. One of you is S-see-day?” The man tried to pronounce our gibberish writing.
“It’s Sedah.” Sedah answered.
“Ah.” He responded, then pointed at me. “And you must be Anna?” I nodded. Sedah grabbed the man by his shirt and dragged him to the mess on the carpet. He stood the man onto the pentagram.
“Look. We don’t want you here. Go!” The man began to knock on Sedah’s head.
“Hello? Anybody home? How many times do I have to say it before it gets into your thick skull? I’m stuck here. The only way for me to leave is when I do what you three wrote down. What are you, deaf and stupid?” He slumped back onto the couch and began to flip through the channels again. Sedah grabbed my arm and ushered me into his room.
“I don’t know what the fuck this dude thinks he is, but I don’t want his ass here!”
The character "Naveross" was inspired by halflizard on Twitter, and "Fachroa" was created by victorysnow on Instagram (Permission was granted).
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