Play Date Vinny Worsley

Color Block Art

Ruby Ross

Skipping Boy

Coco Davis

Play Date

Vinny Worsley

The church attic was cramped, almost claustrophobic, smelling like sycamore trees and stale air. Dust hung suspended in wavering sunbeams, acting as barely visible reminders of the room’s disuse. The floorboards bowed and scraped under Tyler’s light-up sneakers. He shushed them noisily. “Hey!” he whispered to the floor, assuming a stern face. “Quiet! Ellie said be quiet. ” “And I meant that for you, silly, not the creaky floor, ” Ellie’s voice admonished from ahead of him.

Tyler wiped his nose with the back of his hand, then stood up tall to see what she was doing, hunched over like that.. and why there was ketchup on the floor. “Ellieee.., What’re you doing?” “Be patient, ” she grunted, turning back to the floor. “Promise— This’ll be way better than Sunday School. ” Tyler didn’t ask any more questions. Partially because he didn’t really like Sunday School (incense made him sneeze), and partially because a reddish glow had started emanating from the floorboards. “Whoa.., ” Tyler breathed, stepping towards it. A hand caught him by the cuff of his itchy dress shirt. “Ah, buddy, don’t do that. See that? Don’t step on that. Okay?” He looked down at the ring of ketchup (watery ketchup) then back up at his older sister’s face. Her cheekbones were lit up with eerie scarlet light; her glasses vibrated on her nose, the frames quaking as something jostled the flimsy walls. “Ohhhkay, brace yourself.., ” Ellie said, protectively winding a hand around Tyler’s shoulders. Normally he would have shaken her off (he was a big boy now), but something big was tearing apart the floorboards in front of them. “WHO DARES SUMMON ME, ” a cavernous voice cried from somewhere below. Ellie stepped forward, pressing a finger to the papercut on her palm. “I did, ” she said calmly, “and you shall do my bidding. ” “YOU?” The formless thing said, and growled like a thousand voices crying out in fury. “AGAIN?!” “Yeah, again, ” Ellie snorted, crossing her arms. “Now hush. I’m not paying you to talk. ” The thing in the circle snarled and heaved itself up from the floor. It was bigger than the horses at the petting zoo, and twice as toothy. Now that the red glow was fading, Tyler could clearly see tusks jutting out from a deep slit (that could’ve been a mouth) that stretched on until the body split off into clawed feet bigger than his head. “Are you the boogeyman?” Tyler asked. “What?” The beast said, and its obsidian black eyes (the size of basketballs) locked onto Tyler, and it’s upper ‘lip’ curled. It whipped its spiny head around to glare down at his sister. “WHAT IS THIS?” It yelled at Ellie, ignoring his question completely. “An even SMALLER child?! This is insulting!” “So be insulted, ” she shrugged. “I don’t care. Just don’t whine about it— I gave you the blood. ” “Blood, blood, always blood…, ” the thing hissed, and began pacing back and forth in an angry, agitated way. “YOU PROMISED ME SOULS!”

“Yeah yeah, later, ” Ellie scoffed, then she crouched down to

Tyler’s level. “Hey, buddy, look at me.

” He looked at her. She fidgeted a smile. “Sooo… Remember my girlfriend? Amelia? Well I.. um, need to bring her something, but I didn’t want to leave you alone.. So… I’d like you to meeeet... uh…. What was your name again?” “SEITHONYAMOR THE WRATHFUL, ” came the anguished howl from inside the circle. “DESTROYER OF WORLDS, LORD TO— ” “Call ‘em Seth, ” Ellie interrupted with a smile. “And he’s your new playmate. ” “Oh. ” Tyler looked dubiously over to where the terrible beast was quivering in rage. He wrinkled his nose. “But it doesn’t look real friendly. ” “That’s because he doesn’t know you yet!” She cried encouragingly. “He’ll be nice!” “NO, HE WON’T!” “YES, he WILL, ” Ellie said through gritted teeth. She turned back to Tyler and kissed the top of his head. “Okay. I gotta go— Amelia’s shift just ended. Have fun, yeah?” “Okaaay.., ” Tyler hummed, his eyebrows scrunching together. Ellie looked at him for a minute, then kissed him again. “You’ll be fine, buddy. I’ve done this before. ” He watched her leave the room with a concerned frown pushing his cheeks. When the attic door shut, Tyler turned to the beast with the black eyes and infinite teeth. “Do you know how to play Go Fish?” A frustrated growl was his only answer. The creature— Seth, Ellie had said, shook out its spiky mane and shuffled its claws on the wooden floor. “This is just embarrassing.., ” It muttered, head turned away,

“Last time I ever answer a summons from FLORIDA, that’s for

sure.. ” Tyler shrugged. He sat down on the creaky floor, right outside the circle of what he was now thinking might NOT be ketchup, and took out his bag of toys. Army men and plastic dinosaurs clattered across the floor. Seth’s head snapped up. “What are you doing?” It demanded through a mouthful of fangs. Tyler popped his lips and grabbed a purple stegosaurus. “Playing. ” “ ...Why?” “Because it’s fun. ” He considered for a moment, then nudged a brontosaurus towards the circle. “Here. You can be the yellow one.

The thing snatched up the toy in one gigantic claw, and held it close to its face. “This…, ” Seth rumbled, turning the plastic creature over in its palm, “Is… useless. ” “Your mom’s useless!” Tyler fired back, offended. There was a long spurt of humid air that was probably a sigh. “You haven’t the foggiest clue as to what is going on, have you?” Seth kept using fancy words that Tyler didn’t understand, so he didn’t bother answering. He just hummed to himself, and picked up his toys.

“The strong dinosaur raised its head and roared… ” Tyler roared quietly, how a dinosaur in church should. “And then he saw the other dinosaurs, an’ they were his friends, an’ ... ” “One of them ate him. End of story. ” Tyler set down the triceratops and frowned up at Seth’s endlessly black eyes. “NO, no. These ones are his friends!” “Fine, ” it snarled, and picked up the yellow brontosaur in one clawed hand. “THIS thing eats him. The end, go away. ” “What!” Tyler giggled at the absurdity. “THAT one can’t eat him! It’s a veggie-dino!” Seth closed its eyes like his Dad did after a long day at work. “Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me. ” “Nooo, I’m not! The brontosaurus only eats veggies, so it can’t eat my dinosaur, ” Tyler explained smugly. He liked when he got to tell dino facts. It made him feel smart. “But…, ” the monster paused, tilting its head a little too far. “They

would eat each other, if they were sentient, yes? So.. what is the

purpose of this?” “I.. dunno what that means, ” he admitted. “But I can show you how to play pretend, if you want. ” There was a short pause. “Fine, ” Seth said after a while, “Not like I’m able to GO anywhere. ” An hour later, when Ellie knocked on the attic door, Tyler and the beast were engaged in a violent war of army guys VS. plastic dinosaurs, and it looked like the dinos (aided by acorn bombs) were about to win. “An’ then, the triceratops goes all POW POW BLAMO and- and the army guys are all AAAH NOO… ” “And subsequently, their entire left flank is taken out! The Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches to devour their remains… ” “You two having fun?” Ellie asked amusedly from her spot leaning against the doorframe. Seth dropped the toy like it had burned its hand. Tyler just laughed, and ran over to hug his sister.

“AW YEAH WE DID! We talked, and played dinosaurs, and I got to be the purple one, and— ” “That sounds like a great play date, ” she cut him off with a grin. “Buuuut… Dad said he was gonna get us ice cream! Wanna go and tell him what flavor you want?” “YESYESYES!! OK! Bye bye, Seth!” Tyler cried, and raced from the room, forgetting about the bag of toys in his overflowing excitement for ice cream. Ellie shook her head then turned back to the now-dried circle of her own blood. “Alright, Seithonyamor. You are hereby released from your contract. ” A hazy red began filtering up through the floorboards, and the beast’s form began slowly melting away into shadows. “Wait, ” it said, twisting to keep the shadows from engulfing its head. “Can I… Will I be able… Will you ever.. summon me again?” Ellie had enough sense not to laugh. “I might, ” she acknowledged, then allowed her face to break into a smile. “See you next Sunday, Seth. ” The monster’s hideous fangs contorted into an almost-grin, and then it was gone. The blood had filtered down into the baseboards, and the candles she had lit had been snuffed out. Then Ellie heard her little brother’s voice from downstairs, and soon she was gone too. All that was left in the dusty attic of their church were dust mites, creaky floorboards, and a bag of toys that was now missing one yellow brontosaurus.

Chance Encounters

Catherine Zarr