Thirty minutes a away in a small town, Caleb was sleeping.
He attended C.Y.O.C., but wasn’t in a fraternity. Mostly he just did online classes.
“Come on man, it’s going to be fun!” Josh’s voice spoke excitedly from the phone.
Caleb sighed as he leaned up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Man, it’s almost midnight.” Caleb replied. “A little late for a get together, don’t you think?”
It was Halloween and all he wanted to do was stay home and finish sleeping.
“No, it’s perfect, come on!” Josh said excitedly, “Dustin said he had keys to… you know what? It’s a big surprise, but you’ll love it!”
Caleb sighed again, still on the verge of rolling over and going back to sleep.
“Caleb, this is the last time we’ll see Steve.” Josh’s voice cut through Caleb’s thoughts. “He’s moving to Boston to go to MIT.”
Caleb swallowed. Their best friend, Steve, had actually made it into MIT. It was great news for him, but terrible for Caleb. He was a geek, but not nearly as smart as Steve was. And while Josh was his best friend, Steve was his crush. Josh, of course, didn’t know but Caleb was gay. No one knew, actually, since he’d never told a soul. It was a conservative town and he didn’t want to become a pariah.
Caleb didn’t want to see Steve move away, so if he was going with Josh, then so was Caleb.
“Fine,” Caleb sighed, “When are we-?”
“I’ll come pick you up now.” Josh said.
“Are we in costumes, or?”
“Yeah, bro, I got you.” Josh said excitedly, “There’s this place called Second Skin and Condoms ‘N More. One of the frat bros at TFU gave me the tip-off. Bro, AMAZING costumes. I picked you up one.”
Josh groaned, “A fraternity party, really?”
“No, no, nothing like that. We aren’t driving into the city, way too much traffic. This is just a party for our highschool. Not many attendees, just our friends.”
“Okay,” Josh was relieved. He honestly hated frat guys. “Well, if it’s just our friends, sure, come pick me up.”
“Great, I’ll be there in ten!” Josh hung up.
Ten minutes later, there was a honk from Caleb’s driveway.
Caleb fixed his hair in the mirror. It was brown and rather mousey, cut and styled short yet stylish. He posed - his lean, athletic frame looking good in his crisp polo and stonewashed jeans. Caleb was rather handsome, if a bit twinkish. That was why he’d been afraid of approaching Steve. Or, hell, of approaching anyone. Caleb didn’t think he’d do so well if someone tried to jump him. But if he didn’t come out now,, he’d always regret never taking that pass. He just knew it.
The car outside honked again.
He took a swig of mouthwash and rushed outside. Josh was waiting in the car, an old Maroon beater with a bright green rosary hanging from the rear view mirror. His blonde hair was long and he was wearing leather and blue jeans. A black rocker shirt and patches on the leather jacket made it clear he was dressing as a biker today. As Caleb sat down, he noticed Josh’s midsection was bulging.
“Jeez, you’re gonna make us late!” Josh rolled his blue eyes, annoyed.
“What the hell is that?” Caleb grinned, slapping his friend’s tummy.
Josh flinched, then laughed, pulling out a pillow, “I’m supposed to be a fat biker! We’re all going as bikers.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. No way was he stuffing a pillow up his shirt. He wanted Steve to think he was sexy, not some middle-aged fatso.
“I’m duct-taping it in place when we get there,” Josh said as they drove out of town.
“Where? And why are we going so far out of town?” Caleb asked, watching the cornfields roll by.
“Se-cret~!” Josh said in a sing-song voice.
“Child.” Caleb rolled his eyes.
A few minutes later, the car slowed
“Here we are,” Josh said.
Caleb looked out the window and saw…
A rundown old bar. He’d seen it many times when riding out of town to the nearby city with his folks. In its prime, there had once been a brightly lit neon sign that said ‘Heckfire Club’. But time had not been kind to this place and the sign, along with everything else, had all broken a long time ago.
As the car pulled into the moonlit parking lot, Caleb saw weeds poking up through cracked concrete. Sitting at the end of the lot was a squat brick building. Cracks ran throughout the façade, though the few windows the building had to begin with were all still intact, if not totally blacked out.
Josh pulled his beater around to the back.
The back lot was more broken and overgrown concrete. Heavy brush obscured much of the lot, though he thought he could see a few rusted-out hulks looming here and there in the back, hidden by brush and overgrowth.
Caleb saw some movement in the overgrowth and realized that a few of his friends were here, pulling brush and hiding their cars.
“Come on, Caleb,” Josh said, parking next to their friends, “We gotta cover up the cars so the cops don’t figure out people are partying here.”
“You mean at the Heckfire Club?” Caleb snorted, “Really? Nobody’s going to give a shit that we’re out here.”
“Oh, so you’ve heard of it,” Josh waggled his eyebrows conspiratorially, “They say it’s… haunted!”
“You’re dumb,” Caleb said, but got out.
As soon as he stepped onto the concrete, he felt cold. It was strange, since the night air was warm. They were having an ‘Indian Summer’, so it had been unnaturally warm these last few weeks. But for some reason, this vacant lot felt like a fridge.
“Hey Caleb!” Dustin waved, grunting as he hauled some heavy scrub brush over the hood of his car. “Ooof! Gotta be careful or it’ll scratch the paint!”
Dustin was Steve’s best friend. He wasn’t Josh or Caleb’s friend. Yes, it was complicated like that. But Dustin thought he was Caleb’s friend or something, because he was always bothering him. Caleb wanted to be rude to him, but he was always kept in check by the fact that he was friends with Steve – and that was it. Caleb wanted to get closer to Steve, which meant tolerating Dustin..
Steve was wearing a heavy leather jacket and had stuffed a beach ball up the front of his shirt or something, because his ‘gut’ was inhumanly round. Whatever it was, it didn’t exactly sell the illusion. The fake beard he was wearing was streaked with gray. When Caleb looked closer, he realized it was a wizard’s beard Steve had done a poor dye job on to appear black.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Steve said as he stepped around the front of the car.
Caleb’s heart stuttered as he stared at his boyhood crush. Steve noticed him staring and gave him a smile and wave. Caleb waved awkwardly back. He was sooo hot!
“Hey, help me hide the car!” Josh said next to him, hauling some brush over to his beater.
Caleb pushed his emotions down and helped Josh with the makeshift camouflage. He worked steadily, and soon the car was lost in a sea of brush. Not totally, of course, but no casual observers would think anything of it.
He wiped off his hands and took a breath.
“Good job, man!” Josh slapped Caleb on the back, making him nearly fall on his face.
“Ass!” Josh snarled.
“Heh, come on,” Josh walked over to the trunk. “So have you heard the stories about this place?”
“What, the Heckfire Club?” Caleb asked.
“Mmmhmmm…”
“My dad said it was full of fags.” Caleb shrugged.
“Pfft, shows what he knows.” Josh snorted. “No, back in the 70’s, this motorcycle club, the Heaven’s Devils, used to run the joint. It was literally their club. They say they made a pact with the devil and ran cocaine up and down the highway.”
“So what? A biker gang hung out here?”
“Yes and no. Your dad had some of the story right. The part about the gay orgies, them being fags? Probably fake. The devil worshiping part? Totally true.”
“Uh-huh,” Caleb rolled his eyes, hauling out cases of beer and putting them in the rolling cooler as they talked.
“Tucker McCabe was the head of the gang. He was a burly sort, alright? Had eyes that pierced you right down to your soul. When he built the place, he made it so the walls inside form a pentagram. Then he killed the architect so no one would ever know..”
“Okay,” Caleb shook his head.
“Look at it!” Josh insisted.
Caleb turned. The squat brick building WAS circular, but that didn’t mean anything.
“Okay, so what?”
“Well, this is the good part.” Josh whispered. “Everyone involved in the construction dies. Architect is murdered, electrician dies of a heart attack five days later, and the workers just outright disappear. Weird thing is, people say they see them every once in a while out here in the parking lot.”
Josh glanced around.
Caleb looked too, in spite of himself.
Just an empty overgrown lot. He frowned when his gaze slid over Dustin’s car. For some reason, he thought it looked like the windows were broken. But he hadn’t heard anything. Maybe they’d just rolled them down?
Caleb shivered, feeling colder, “Come on, that’s bullshit.”
“Well, that was the first part of the story.” Josh pulled the cooler’s handle, “Come on, help me carry it over to the back door.”
Josh rolled his eyes and helped. Together, they huffed and puffed to the backdoor, where Dustin was standing with Steve. Dustin was fidgeting with the keys.
“It won’t fucking open!” Dustin snarled, kicking the bottom of the door.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked.
“His dad fucking tricked us,” Steve said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the door, “Key doesn’t fit the lock.”
“What about the front?” Caleb asked.
“He said it was the back!” Dustin insisted, grunting and trying to turn the key.
“Stop it, man! You’ll break it off in the lock and we’ll really be fucked!” Steve hisssed. “Let’s try the front.”
Dustin sagged, “Fucking fine…”
“If we go in the front, the cops will definitely notice the padlock isn’t on the door,” Caleb pointed out.
“Right…” Steve murmured, rubbing his chin.
“Me and Dustin will go around the front,” Josh announced, “Caleb, you and Steve stay here and watch the cooler. If the cops come, just toss it in the brush.”
“And if it doesn’t open?” Caleb asked.
“We can party in the haunted parking lot!” Josh shrugged.
“I don’t wanna stand out here,” Steve said, shivering, “It’s fucking cold.”
“Yeah…” Caleb licked his lips, wanting to ask if he could warm Steve up as a come-on. “Maybe…”
“What?” Steve asked.
Caleb swallowed and turned his head away.
“Nothing.”
“You two lovebirds stay,” Josh grinned, watching the exchange. Dustin just seemed confused by the whole situation. Josh nudged him. “Let’s go.”
The young men left, leaving Caleb and Steve alone. Caleb eyed the costume Steve was wearing.
Steve wore what looked like a fat suit and had a big fake beard that trailed over his foam belly. With a red bandanna tied around his head and the denim jacket and black shirt, he looked more like an extra from Dick Dynasty than a biker.
Steve noticed Caleb checking him out and turned.
“Got it from my dad’s closet.” Steve grinned. “I even got a full sleeve of tats. There’s these skin-colored shirts I found online with them. It’s like, you ever see those guys running around in those green skintight bodysuits? It’s like that but for tattoos. It’s really cool, right?”
Caleb leaned forward, checking out his friend’s arms. He could barely notice the fact that they were fake in the poor light. The sleeve made his skin look darker than usual, almost sun-tanned, like a real biker who’d been out in the sun on his big metal beast all day.
“That’s fucking cool, actually,” Caleb grinned.
“Thanks, man,” Steve replied, looking away, “You know, Caleb, I’ve been wanting to ask… do you like me?”
“Uh…” Caleb stammered, his mouth suddenly dry, “Well, yeah, duh!”
“No, I mean” Steve paused, “Like, you know, like me.”
“I…” Caleb’s voice cracked, “Yes. I really like you, Steve.”
Steve smiled, “I like you too…”
Caleb’s heart was in his throat, “Steve…”
The door unlocked and swung open, hinges creaking.
Steve and Caleb exchanged looks. The interior was pitch black, yawning like the mouth of a predator. Caleb peered deeper and thought he saw a flicker of movement in the darkness. He leaned forward, his breath puffing in the suddenly frosty air.
“Dustin?” Steve asked.
“Wait, I think…” Caleb said, stepping forward.
There was something there, a man’s shape, just inside-
“The stupid key won’t open the padlock either!” Dustin said angrily.
Caleb jumped and turned.
Josh and Steve came around the back. Caleb glanced from them to the opened back door, then to Steve, who was staring at him wide-eyed. He looked back into the darkness and realized, with a cold feeling in the bottom of his gut, that the shape was no longer there.
“You two look like you saw a ghost!” Josh joked. “Hey, you got the door open!”
“Uh, yeah. about that…” Caleb started to say until Dustin cut him off.
“What are you guys waiting for, an invitation?” Dustin snorted, “Come on, wheel the beer inside. If we stay out here too long, the cops will notice.”
Caleb looked at Steve, who shrugged. Maybe he’d just imagined whatever that was? With a sigh and increasing anxiety, Caleb wheeled the cooler inside.