CAMPFIRE CREATIVE: "HORROR MOVIE SPECTACULAR"

This is a Campfire Creative from Writing.com, an organization for writers everywhere. Each addition to the campfire was made by a separate writer who entered the campfire not knowing what had been put into it before it was read. I think it hangs together pretty well for such a "crazy quilt" of a story.

I own full copyrights to all the material in this story, regardless of the original author.

[Introduction] This is to be its very own setpiece.

We are writing a horror movie here, and comedy is allowed. Also, anything along the lines of Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, Frankenstein, wolfpeople, shape shifting, the Addams Family, mysterious dark events, selling souls to the devil, fighting back against evil, the love of cats and very nasty dogs, or anything medieval and torturous you can think of that you want in a story is adding beans to the soup.

Cavort, send chills, add to this for cheap thrills. Let's see what we can do here.

[Anonymous 4467] I felt the chill breeze beckoning to the ripped-out roots of my ever-darkening hair as the night called out to itself all around me. I was in something far beyond a theater of the absurd.

Come, it said, and partake of the wisdom of your physical torture. Be glad, and appraise God rightly, where you must...as it cut off, I heard the vague hooting of morbidly giant owls and a few cruel, laughing wolf barks that were obviously headed my way.

I turned, to screechingly appraise the oncoming churning wall of flesh and bone that was soon to be me. Yet there was no redness anywhere. I knew this could last forever, and scrabbled at my own arm, to erase the marks that haunted me.

[Alone] I turned around and stared at the group of drunken club-goers folding over and kneeling with tears of laughter on the corner of the block. They were dressed in black leather and vinyl. The three young women that accompanied two men wore provocative halter tops squeezing their torsos so tightly their breasts were barely able to fit into the small pieces of material.

A charcoal colored truck drove around the corner, its headlights on, reflecting in nearby store windows up and down the street. A passenger threw a beer bottle out the window. The truck sped up as the bottle shattered into a million pieces of emerald green across the pavement. Then the truck skidded to an abrupt halt, pulling up to the rollicking partiers. The driver was very drunk.

I returned to the direction I was walking and took notice of three women in mismatched clothing, hanging around a street pole. One was barging her head into the charcoal colored truck, smiling and laughing flirtatiously. She had a leopard pattern halter top on and a purple snake skin pattern material hanging off her hips to serve as a skirt. Her hair big and black made her face appear slender and oval. Big red lips and too much eye shadow had been applied to her lips. She wore fishnet stockings and cheap ex-shiny heels from a Walmart or a K-Mart nearby.

The laughter behind me echoed through the streets and the loud buzz of neon signs blinked and flickered as I passed adult video stores and a strip bar. From inside the strip bar I heard loud howls again and cheesy music used as a soundtrack to the wolfish looking females' provoking advances to the men with the largest amounts of money. It easily amused me to see how people behaved once night came down to reign for several hours.

[Anonymous 4467] The park bench was covered by me. I stretched slowly, yawning, taking a vague and content appraisement of my surroundings. Covered in newspapers that crinkled and floated off me almost banally, as though all was suddenly well, I simply stood up.

I could stand, and had a touch of my former disability, which involved turning left. Patting my head with the flat of my right hand, I discovered my handicap had rather abated, and I heard a female scream to my immediate right, sort of echoing around in my head like a narcissistic wail of ecstasy. It was regal, mistaken, and I knew better. I suddenly bent over, like I was reintroducing my Marsha Larts self to me. I could junk me. Therefore, I had best get over there, and see what I would be interfering with.

Toddling off to Buffalo, like a peculiarly innocent and God-fearing drunk who had discovered exactly where I was, I found a panoply of a scene, reminiscent of what could actually be happening in a Stephen King novel where the reality of drug abuse and crime could've taken place. I wondered about the "unexpected," but stepped in to the scene as the bystander. There were four guys, my heart was thumping away, three were lined up on one side to my right, and the one to my left was clearly the leader, and he had a rather menacing looking knife in his hand and was threatening "the girl" with it, tossing it from one hand to the other ever so lightly. I was watching, and clearly looked intrigued and like I rather enjoyed the sight.

She was laughing merrily, strung out on drugs, lots of tracks on her arms, and was "grabbing the strawberry" like crazy. That means she was enjoying her last moments. Guy was going to slice and dice her, but way too slowly as usual. Something's up with that? I thought, hey, it's my turn. I know Marsha Larts!

So I grabbed her left arm, pulling her away from there, and danced The Unexpected. I moved right into place as "the girl," as Laughing Boy behind me took me right into his big ol' arms and locked me in right there, but he was shaking with laughter. Everybody seemed to be having a great old time, and some of that seasick motion eluded me completely. Instead of sobering up, though, I stood there smiling, grinning sorta medievally and said, "You look like a great leader, guy. Say, what's that?"

This had been said to The Leader, the guy right there in front of me.

"Huh?" he said, his Male Self suddenly alerted to the presence of a wise guy. He stood perfectly motionless, getting his drug-tired self to reappraise the situation. Which made a perfect moment to Japanese-karate-style side kick him. That was indeed unexpected. The knife went flying, I pulled the right arm of the guy holding me simultaneous to that moment of lurching time, just as I spasmed slightly too and that didn't matter, and I was out of there. The Girl had split the scene, slowly of course, but I had no idea where she was. She had been brown-haired, cute and sassy, and now I had to rescue my own ass.

This I had done before, several times, but a weird male character you've never heard of named Batman who never really existed wasn't there to rescue me any of those other times. I took off, running like the wind, but knew I was going to run out of it. Like a male character in a movie, I tried to relish the moment of my likely demise, while running. I was grabbing that ol' strawberry, but had no idea of how fast I was going to run out of breath. Basically, I was now headed down a weirdly angled city street that had been there before. Curious and a little off in my timing, I started to lose "running abilities" as I right-angled into a lengthy and obviously dead-ending ally.

Big wall, no way up it, gave up trying. Whew! Turned around, grabbing two trash can lids that were handy, I thought maybe I could distract them as my arms were not very tired and could at least lift those things. They weigh about as much as flotsam. I lifted Flotsam and Jetsam and waved them around at the oncoming four guys, whose Leader I had Shown Something, and they definitely had all their larger knives out now.

Then, something swooped straight out of the darkness itself, and clobbered their leader.

The trash can lids, as though disappointed, drooped down to my Marsha Larts sides. For indeed, my name was not that, and something most intriguing had shown up. I kept up a brief time of holding trash can lids as I felt their coldness sink into my grasping fingers. It, whatever it was, seemed to be a ninja made of shadows and not substance, and it took out the other three guys one at a time, as they looked up, clearly startled, and robbed as it were of their obviously easy victory. Then the moving shadow slowed down, took the shape of a man - meanwhile my oncoming sweat that had been there all along streamed away, but only in trickles. I couldn't be sure of what I was seeing. "Vlad," I muttered under my breath.

"No," said this deeply masculine but vaguely boyish-sounding voice, "I'm Me." I thought, I can't believe how much I feel. I'm disappointed, abject even, that I lost this fight I was going to lose anyway. It would have taken less time. Their dander had been up. They would have moved in, unless they had second thoughts. So did I.

Nobody at all likes being sliced and diced, but I had been waiting for nothing.

Well, uh, it wasn't Vlad Tepes, the original Count Dracula who was standing there right before me. I immediately fazed into an abject terror mixed with my lack of disability turning into a deep and childish sense of wonder. No it couldn't possibly be…

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing?" was said in this measured tone of someone trying to reach someone. I choked, reaching for my knowing throat. I had something to tell this guy, and I was sped up so fast I knew what it was well in advance. He thought I was "one of them," and he was trying to "reach me." Because he was Batman. He didn't really like what he was doing, he was stuck doing it. And, he was angry at me, for existing, for being what he wasn't, what…was he?

[Paige_Still W/O Internet!] But Batman, which he called himself, looked nothing like the caped crusader. His demeanor was not of a bat at all, more of a coyote or wolven even.
His lips quivered slightly and I could catch a glint here and there of fangs underneath them, glistening in the half-moon light. His shape was more svelte and sinewy also. Any rock monger could say Jim Morrison or Iggy Pop seemed to be lurking underneath his skin-tight black PVC.

I clutched my heart as I realized he was slowly moving forwards towards me...though his feet didn't leave the ground at all! His body seemed to float, yet not arise as it did.

The shiny sharp fangs glinted more menacingly now and all I could do was wait and try to survive whatever he was planning to do to me. My heart felt like a bongo drum without a good beat and my feet felt leaden and glued to the pavement. What the hell was going to happen, and why was I letting it?

[Emilbus] The dark cloudless night's moon shone down upon this diabolical scene playing forth in the dimensions of shadows that shielded me from total exposure. I felt compelled, even to the point of looking forward to complying with this stranger's every want.

As Batman and his alluring travail to me came closer second by second, I was totally frozen, not only in time but in my stance as well.

The moon shone in his eyes as though they were illuminated from sources untold. I felt emptier than the holes in his mask as he lowered his head to glare into my eyes...

[SoLar Falls . . . :P] I awoke to pain, not knowing where I was. I frowned as I looked around. I was in a park, the moon setting and changing the scene around to a muddling puddle of black and gray.

I shook my head and sat up, rubbing my aching head and trying to recall my past events. It was as if I had run into a wall. That couldn't be right. I looked at my hands. I know I had to have lived for quite some time. I was an adult.

But then the wind whispered and my ears caught the sound of a name, softly spoken and hard to make out. Klaressa. Yes. That felt right. My name was Klaressa. As I said my name to myself, the ground reached up with hands the eye could not see and beckoned me into the safety of her arms. With a smile, I accepted.

Let me heal you, the earth said. I closed my eyes and allowed her take me into her embrace.

[Faith Michaels] As the Earth healed me, I slept the sleep of the dead, not knowing that I had somehow attracted the attentions of a rather strange character. I awoke the next night to find a wolf resting near to where I slept. I knew automatically that this was no ordinary wolf.

"Well," I said, Change then, you mangy cur."

The animal regarded me with sad eyes. It just sat there and watched me as I rose and went about my nightly waking rituals.

"Either change or get the hell out," I ordered finally.

With a growl, the wolf turned human, "There are you happy?" He asked.

"No," I told him, "Why are you here?"

He sat there watching me yet again, and finally when I was pushed to the limits once more, he spoke. "I was guarding you."

I threw back my head and laughed long and loud. When I looked at him again and saw he was serious, I began laughing again until he finally growled. Regaining my composure, I asked, "What makes you think I need you to guard me?"

It was his turn to laugh, and laugh he did. "You don't remember last night do you?" He asked at last.

A spark of memory filled my head and I remembered bits and pieces. I remembered Batman and pain, but could not totally remember what happened to cause the pain or anything in between. The feeling reminded me of the black outs I used to get from drinking tequila when I was mortal. Oh, how I hated that feeling!

As I sat there thinking on last night, the need to feed filled me and without a backwards glance to the wolf, I turned to leave. "I need to feed," I told him, "So if you're here to protect me, then let's go." With a laugh I walked away and heard him shift back to wolf form. I added, "Heel, boy."

He ran ahead of me, then turned, and as I came walking toward him, he lunged and jumped on me. As we flew backwards and toward the ground he shifted into human form so that he was straddling me when we hit the ground. His held my hands above my head and I bared my teeth to him as he growled a warning. We struggled for moments until I finally gave in and lay still.

"I'm not a dog, tramp, so don't treat me like one," he ferociously growled.

Gathering my strength, I flipped him over my head and neatly landed straddling him in the same manner. He glared at me. I smiled then leaned down and kissed him full on the lips, giving him a bite with the kiss. "It's vamp, not tramp, mutt," I told him as I pushed up off of him. Getting to my feet, I offered him a hand up also.

He took my hand and allowed me to pull him to his feet. Then I walked away, and he followed once again. As I hunted my dinner, I tasted his blood on my lips from the kiss/bite I had given him. The thought occurred to me and I wonder what would happen if I fed on him. Would he even allow it? Probably not; he'd probably fight me.

Finally I found my prey for the night, a drug dealer who liked to sell to young children at the local elementary school. Oh, how I hated anyone who hurt children. I found him in an alley and stalked him for a while. I could smell his fear when he realized that he was being targeted, and I savored the scent as I played with him.

The wolf had transform back to human and made some remark about me playing with my food so with a cold stare I gave in and approached my night's dinner. He smiled, and I sensed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only a girl. He could not see the wolf, as I could. I had used the mind trick on my victim, and soon he was in my arms with my teeth deep in his neck. As I drank, I stared at the wolf, who stared back. I wondered if he could read emotion in my eyes. The thought of drinking from him occurred to me again as I finished off the drug dealer. With a shrug of indifference, I dropped him to the ground like yesterday's trash and approached the wolf.

He didn't realize at first that I was now stalking him so I got pretty close. Then he realized he was now my target, and he archly smiled at me.

"No way," he muttered snidely, "You can't."

I gave him a toothy grin, "Why not?" I asked.

Before he could answer I jumped on him, teeth ready…

[Lori McIntyre] …in mid air, it seemed, I was grabbed from behind and flung backwards into a the dirty wall of the alleyway. I slid down the wall into a heap on the ground, and heard laughter as I gathered my thoughts.

I looked up and saw two red eyes staring into my soul. It was him. The Batman, as everyone called him. He was a strange combination of good and evil. I surmised that at some point he must have been human, but wasn't sure exactly what, or who, had brought about the change in him.

"Leave the wolf alone! You NEVER feed on anything but human and only the dregs of society! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" He snapped at me.

I lowered my head, half from fear and half from still being dizzy. "Yes, I understand." I said softly.

"Good" he growled at me as he flew straight up and away into the night.

Laughter surrounded me again and the wolf stood in front of me, his eyes full of some emotion I was unclear of.

"Try that again and you will die" he barked with laughter in his voice as he started to walk towards the street. He looked back at me as he turned human again, this time into a person I'd not yet seen him become. He flashed a beautiful white smile at me, and was gone from my sight.

I decided that home was a good place for me to go, as the sky opened up and rain started to fall on me. At least I was full.

[Paige_Still W/O Internet!] I had a fitful sleep that night, though I don't know why I didn't dream about this man of the night, this bat without wings! I arose to a hazy morning, one which seemed to have foreboding written all over it. I had hoped for a bright sun to greet me after such a bloody evening, but I was sadly mistaken.

The morning didn't bring me any more answers, only more questions, and I wasn't in the mood for wracking my brain at that hour!

The coffee tasted sour as I sipped from my 'I LUV NY' mug. I had added three teaspoons of sugar and decided one more would be needed to awaken my deadened taste buds.

As I was settling into my lazy-boy with my cup and bagel a soft knocking came. At first almost inaudible, then getting more and more insistent and angry. I almost dropped my mug as I sat up and thought for a few moments whether or not to open the door. My heart raced as I slowly stepped carefully towards the persistent knocking at the door. I was expecting no-one at that hour and didn't think it to be a delivery of any kind either. My male throat, which used to be moist from the coffee, now felt dry and tight.

As I reached my apartment door I choked out something in the way of "Whooo...is...it?" the voice which came out did not sound very masculine or sure of itself in any way.

There was dead silence and I was about to go back to the safety of my chair when the knocking started again; first slow and soft then reaching an almost deafening BANG!

[Anonymous 4467] Like one arising from the dead, I moved slowly to the thundering door. In my mind, I could hear the name "Klaressa," echoing like the moans of lost souls. I knew that was my name, even though I was a man now, who had been sipping coffee from a giant mug of German design, a beer stein actually.

As I opened the door, I raised the beer stein on high, ready to bean whoever it was who was knocking so loudly. Shaking with rage, I opened the door with one swift motion.

Before I could bash the knocking being out of consciousness, he brushed me aside and boldly waltzed into the room. No, it was more of a rhumba he was dancing. He was dressed in...a fly costume. Or some kind of giant insect suit.

"Hi, I'm the Bug. Have you seen Batman?" he timidly inquired, flitting nervously about.

"Not lately," I replied with a "whew" of relief. I had seen so much as Klaressa, and I was finally back in my human form as a man. Albeit I still had this crazy yen to fit into a pair of skin-tight hip hugger jeans from K-Mart and eat only Special K for breakfast. And the Butt, I mean the Bug, looked weirdly attractive.

"I used to be Batman's junior partner, before Robin," sighed the insect-clad superhero as he settled lightly onto his perch just above the sofa. I began to reach for a fly swatter, and held it hidden behind my aching back. It hurt from having fallen asleep on the ground, back when I'd been talking to the wolf.

"What happened?" I asked him, feigning that I cared. The Bug's wings buzzed in a perturbed manner as he fastidiously cleaned his mandibles.

He looked at me with hundreds of multifaceted eyes. "Batman is a bat. No, really, he is a bat, and sometimes he's a wolf. He shape shifts. Most people think it's a costume, but it's not. And when he's a bat, he gets hungry like a bat...you know all those rumors that Batman and Robin are gay? Well, when Bats and I were partners, he kept trying to EAT ME!!!"

The Bug now broke down sobbing, as if in deep mental anguish. "I only narrowly escaped! But perhaps you didn't. Examine your big toe! That's where vampire bats bite their victims and then lick off the blood."

Blushing, I took off one shoe, then the related sock. Nothing was there. "I think I've had enough of you, buddy. Out the door you go." Wielding the fly swatter, I shooed the Bug out the door in spite of his protests. "You'll see, you'll pay! He has you in his power!" I slammed the door.

Returning to my cup of coffee by the fire, I decided to remove the other shoe and sock, as it was getting warmer...my big toe was weirdly red and swollen, but my shoe had been pinching so I didn't think too much of it.

And then it was time. As I had been doing for the past two nights, I broke out my moon boots and hung upside down in my bedroom door to sleep throughout the day. The next night, this town would pay for how it had been ignoring me.

Yes, this town would be kneeling at the feet of the nighttime identity of...Klaressa.