The Initiation

“Tell me why we have to do this, again.” Jimmy asked in the darkness.

“I already told you. All new kids who want to join the club have to do this. Do you want in or not?” Bobby hid his smile. This new kid Jimmy was in for the surprise of his life. The initiation into The Kings of Second Street club was real but the kid was unaware that Jack, the club’s president, was hiding in the closet ready to jump out and give him a good scare when they opened the door.

“Yeah…, yeah, I want in but…, what is a Djinn again?”

Bobby shook his head in frustration. “Man. How many times have I got to tell you? A demon that tries to make you do bad stuff. Only this one has gone too far. You’ve heard about all those kids who’ve been disappearing around town?”

“Oh, yeah. He eats them. How do you know he is in your closet?” Jimmy whimpered.

Bobby turned on his flashlight and shined it into Jimmy’s face. Man. He thought to himself. This kid really looks scared. Maybe we shouldn’t do this. This kid is a lot younger than most of the guys in the club. He remembered his own initiation. He was so scared he almost wet his pants. That was a year ago and back then, there were no missing kids. Now there are real boys in the newspaper almost every day. And if that wasn’t convincing enough, they started telling the new kid about this from the very first missing boy almost the first week they met him.

“I saw him go in there a couple of times and always at three o’clock in the morning.” The boys looked at the alarm clock. The numbers 2:59 were displayed in ominous glowing red.

“Okay, put your hand on the knob and get ready.” Bobby said. “And remember, he can’t hurt you as long as I have my flashlight on him. The light renders him powerless.”

Little Jimmy reached up with a trembling hand. Bobby could feel the tension in the room getting thicker. I can’t believe he is doing it! Bobby thought to himself.

“Okay, it’s three o’clock. Wait till I say go.” Bobby lit the door with his light and whispered, “GO.”

As Jimmy opened the door, Bobby turned off his light, just as they had planned. Jack was standing there with his light under his chin, illuminating his features in a ghastly light. He was supposed to scream but instead he just stood there staring at the new kid. Bobby couldn’t understand why he looked so scared. He followed Jacks terrified gaze to Jimmy. The new kid’s eyes were glowing bright red. An evil smile came over his face and he chuckled. “Hello, Boys. Welcome to The Djinn of Second Street club!” Then he reached out, grabbed the two boys by the hair, and dragged them into the closet. The door slammed shut behind them.

Djinn fed.