Sooo Cool!

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Sooo Cool!

"No way!  That is sooo cool!"  Chloe paused for a moment to let her best friend get a word in, and to eat another handful of chips.  She talked around the chips and said, "I'm so amped!  This is gonna be the best party ever!"

Chloe got off the couch and walked out of the living room.  She crossed the dining room and went into the kitchen for a soda, phone still glued to her ear.

"I know, it sucks.  Can't believe my mom wouldn't drive me to the mall.  She gave me a smack down about doing my homework, and I said, like, "Flash!" 'cause that wasn't gonna happen, which she already knows.  So I'm just hangin'.  Stuck in this mausoleum and there's like, nothing to do." 

Chloe noticed a big wet spot on the kitchen floor.  That's weird, she thought.  Well, I'm not cleaning it up.  She walked around it and deftly opened the refrigerator with one hand, secured a can of soda, then bumped the door shut with her hip.

"Oh, that is sooo dark!" she giggled, listened for a moment, and said, "He is all that and I'm so going to his party.  I'm gonna wear the black shirt, the one with the silver death's head.  What're you gonna wear?"

Chloe smiled as she heard the reply, "His party's gonna be sooo dark!  The darkest ever!  Your mom's gonna let you have the car, right?"

A flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder distracted her.  "What?  Oh, yeah, your mom is the coolest.  My mom's just crunchy.  Yuck!  You should see all these stupid new palm trees we have all over the house.  You can't move without tripping over one."  Chloe crossed the dining room, glanced at the offending potted palms, and continued, "All 'cause her New Age Goo-roo," she stretched the syllables out in derision, "told her they'd make the house 'breathe' better.  Like a house can 'breathe,' anyway."

Chloe jumped as the wind drove a sea of rain against the windows.  She walked back into the living room and said, "And you should see her new crystal collection.  I'm tellin' ya, she's just too crunchy."

Chloe settled back on the couch, took a swig of her diet cola and listened to the reply.  She absently noticed the TV was off.  Funny, she could have sworn she left it on. 

"Hey, girl, I'd trade my mom for yours, any day," she continued to her friend as she put the soda can down and picked up the TV remote.  She frowned in disgust.  It was covered with gunky stuff.

There was a brilliant lightning flash and the lights flickered briefly, immediately followed by a spectacular crash of thunder.  All the lights in the house went out.  Chloe gazed around in costenation.  Dim patterns of light came through the windows from the streetlights outside;  they only shed a little light into the house.  Well, this is just great, she thought.  But at least her phone still worked.

"Crap!  You're not gonna believe this.  All the lights just went out."  She listened to her friend's reply, then giggled. 

"I know.  Ooo-wee-ooo!" she mimicked eerie music, laughed, and continued in a monster movie voice-over: "All alone…in the dark…"

A thump and a slithering noise sounded from the entry hall behind her.  Chloe's laughter cut off with a gasp.  She jerked her head around, eyes riveted on the opening to the hall.  She could still hear her friend talking, but it seemed from a great distance away.  In the darkness, he saw a shadow move, then a large silhouette blocked the entry hall doorway.

"M-m-mom?"  Chloe asked in a voice almost too low to be heard.

An inhuman, whispery, hissing sound came from the dark.  "Cuh – oooool."

Instinctive fear ran up Chloe's spine.  That hulking silhouette was too big to be a person, she realized.  It swayed into the room.  Electrified, Chloe dropped the phone as she leapt from the couch.  She flew toward the only other exit.  She ran from the living room and into the dining room where she caromed off a chair, into a potted palm, and fell down.  As she rolled she thought she felt a wisp of something against her shoulder, then she was up, running around the table toward the kitchen and the back door.

She passed the refrigerator, slid on the gunky, wet spot and almost went down again.  She righted herself and hurtled into the back door.  She yanked on the handle, but her hand slid off.  The door knob was covered with slimy goo.  She scraped the knob with her nails to penetrate the sticky ooze.  She couldn't turn the knob.  She couldn't get out.

Chloe froze at the door and listened.  Nothing.  She looked slowly over her shoulder back into the dining room.  Nothing. 

After a few moments, Chloe tiptoed back toward the dining room.  She paused, her ears strained to hear anything.  The only thing she heard was her own rapid heartbeat.  She eased into the dining room, making no sound.  She took one more step.

From behind one of her mother's potted palm trees, a sinewy arm slowly reached out and effortlessly grabbed Chloe by the hair.  She shrieked as she twisted and tried to break free.  The hold on her hair was too strong, and she bumped against a rock hard chest.  She could feel the cold, wet, mucus of its body get all over her hands and arms as she fought to get away from the slippery thing.  It tightened its grip on her hair and twisted her head back.  She whimpered as she looked up into its crimson eyes.  Rows of jagged white teeth slowly came into view as it opened its mouth.  A forked tongue twisted around as it formed words.

"I'm Dark…You're…Crunchy…" 

It proved its point as it bit through her neck into her spinal cord.



(Word Count: 983)



Author's Note: This story was originally written for the Aug 5 Writer's Cramp contest.
The prompt:  Write about what happens when a storm knocks out the electricity while you are alone in the house.

Special notation: The slang expressions: amped, smack down, dark, flash, all that and crunchy can be found in The Online Slang Dictionary.