Portals

Tristan brushed his hand through his auburn hair as he surveyed the crowd sitting in the bleachers. The opposite stands were jam packed with fans for the Milton Wildcats football team, waving their orange signs. They already were creaming the home team, the Sharks, and the first quarter wasn’t even over. Not that Tristan came to the school’s football games because he had any hope of his school winning. He enjoyed the games for other reasons. “Pass me that,” he called over to his friend Devon. His friend Devon handed him the bottle. “Man, we are never going to win a game.” Devon nodded agreement. Tristan took a swig of the drink. It was the same bottle that school’s concession stand sold root beer in. However, it was common for many of the students to take the empty bottles home and fill them with beer. While some students had been caught, most got away with it since many teachers either didn’t care or they pretended that since the students were drinking in plain view, it couldn’t be something illegal. Devon had been getting away with it for three years, since their sophomore year when some seniors had told them the trick. He passed the bottle over to Riley, another one of his friends sitting above him on the bleachers. Just then the Wildcats made another touchdown.
“That makes 5.” Riley said. “ Let’s face, we will never see a game where Crestwood High wins. Our team sucks.”
“Oh, our team might win. The baseball team won last week.” Tristan argued. “Course they were playing Forrest Hill.” All three laughed.
“Hey, Tristan, Lacey and her friends are over there. Why we don’t we invite them to join us. We could use some girls.” Devon said with a mischievous smile. Lacey was Tristan’s sister, and even though Tristan knew that no guys on campus had any chance with her, it still bugged him when guys talked about her.
Lacey, with her pure Irish looks, was the kind of girl who had always attracted guys’ attention. Only a year younger then Tristan, she had always hung out with Tristan and his friends, especially Devon. Devon had flirted with her the entire time too. Unlike most siblings Tristan and Lacey were best friends, agreeing on almost everything and knowing each other’s deepest secrets. Tristan often thought that is was the one secret they shared together since early childhood that had made them so close, until recently. Tristan and Devon had started hanging out with a new group that was more into partying while Lacey had started making new friends as well and going to the local church’s youth group. They rarely saw each other outside of home anymore.
Lacey was sitting with some friends about one bench over from them. Megan was talking in Lacey’s ear when they both got up and started walking towards the stairs, near where Tristan sat.
“Hey, Lace where you guys going?” Devon called out.
“My purse fell.” Megan said blushing.
“Didn’t that happen at the last game?”
Megan’s cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red. “Yeah.” Megan’s black hair fell over to cover her face as she stared down at the ground.
“What are you drinking?” Lacy asked as Rie passed it over to Devon.
“Beer. You want a sip?” Devon said offering it to her.
“No way. You guys could so get in trouble for that. Besides it’s stupid. Won’t you be driving later?”
“Won’t get in trouble if no one finds out. And you should loosen up some. It’s only a few sips” Tristan responded looking at her.
“You really shouldn’t be drinking that.” Lacey pursed her lips and glared at him.
Megan pulled on Lace’s sleeve. “I need to find my purse.”
“Yeah, kay. Tris, mom wanted to know when you’ll be home from Devon’s?”
“Tell her I’ll be home tomorrow evening.”
“You tell her, I’m going to Megan’s for the weekend, remember? Well, I’ll talk to ya later.”Lace rushed to catch up with Meg who was half way down the bleachers.
“Man, your sister is hot.” Devon said. “Oh, and since when are you staying at my house?”
“Since Matt dared me to go hunting with him tonight in the woods and mom would have a fit if she knew I was hunting.” Tristan said. Suddenly everyone in their section of bleachers jumped up, screaming and cheering. Tristan looked up at Rie who was also cheering.
“What happened?”
“You missed it. Thomas scored the first touchdown for our team all year, ” Rie shouted over the roar of the crowd.
“All Right!” The three joined in a chant of Thomas’s name as the cheerleaders started doing a cheer with actual enthusiasm. Thomas who had come up close to the bleachers had a completely bewildered look on his face.
Once the crowd had calmed down some, the threesome sat back down to watch as the players got in position again.
“Can’t believe we missed it,” Devon said. “You should stop distracting me from the game.”
“Me distract you?”
“Your sis and Meg haven’t got back yet,” Devon said glancing down to where they had sat before.
“Probably decided to find a seat where Meg can’t lose her purse,” Rie joked.
“Or maybe they need help. They’re being attacked by some psycho in the noise and will be grateful for a strong man to save them,” Devon said laughing. “And if I saved them Lace would have to go on a date with me.” Tristan’s mind was too stuck on the first thought to have a comeback for Devon. It was the middle of a football game and people where everywhere. No way Lace would get in trouble now. No way he thought to himself as he stood up.
“Get lost. I was gonna go find Matt and see where he wants to meet anyway. I’ll see where they are.”
“You sure man? You already missed the first touchdown of the year, really want to miss the second?” Rie asked.
“Think there will be another one?” Tristan made his way down the stairs all the time looking for Matt or the girls. He spotted Matt sitting on the third row of the first stand in front of the cheerleader break area. He started walking over to talk to him but thought better of it. Devon had to go and say something like that Tristan thought angrily. There probably just gossiping somewhere and I’m gonna look like the biggest geek in the world checking up on them . His anger subsided some when he realized he preferred that to the idea of his worry being right. When he didn’t see the girls anywhere, he walked to the side of the bleachers toward the concession stand and restrooms. They were about ten feet to the left of the bleachers. He turned to the right and ducked under the seats. It was dim, and the ground was covered with left over food and containers. The girls had been sitting in the third stand over. It was too dark to see if any one was over there, let alone if a purse was in among the trash. Walking over, he found he was alone under the bleachers though he found Megan’s purse sitting in plain view. It was vivid, repulsive pink. Where are they? Another cheer erupted in the stands above him. Another touchdown? Team must have been switched for other players. He picked up the purse and headed back out and on to the restrooms. He couldn’t imagine the girls staying that long in the restroom especially without finding the purse first, but it was a worth a try. He tried to calm his heart but he couldn’t. The worry that he had first had up on the bleachers wouldn’t leave. What if it had started again after these last months of peace? He walked out from under the bleachers. The stand was closed till half time so he strode around to the back where the restrooms were. No one was at the front of the building. He knocked on the women’s door. “Hey, Lace, Meg you in there?” He pressed his ear to the door. It sounded like someone was hitting something. Suddenly he heard someone cry out. “Lacey?” He opened the door a crack. “Laacceeyyy? Any one in there?”
“Tristan!” Lacey screamed.
Tristan rushed through the door. A man had grabbed Lacey’s arms and seemed to be trying to drag her towards one of the stalls but had stopped to look at Tristan. Tristan ran the few steps towards him and punched him in the jaw. Lace fell to the ground as the man let go of her. The man grabbed the side of his face and hissed. Tristan, his fist in the air for another punch, stopped dead when he heard this. He actually looked at the man.
The man was no taller then Lacy, but of much bigger build. His face was brown and the skin looked almost like pleated paper. So did his hands coming out from a dull brown shirt stained with mud. The man’s eyes were glowing orange with flecks of purple and pink. Tristan forced himself to breath again. This man was defiantly not human.
Lacy had backed away from him and was now kneeling behind Tristan. She wore an extremely shocked expression on her face. “Who are you?” Tristan asked, once again raising his fist.
The thing looked from Lacey back to Tristan. Suddenly he turned around and, on legs with knees that seemed to point the wrong direction, ran through the stall door. Tristan quickly moved to block his path back out. His system got yet another jolt of adrenaline. The stall was empty. The creature was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the toilet. Starting about two inches from where the door would close it was pitch black as if light didn’t even exist there. There was nothing. Tristan stood staring at it. This had been what he was afraid of. “Man, please let that be the beer.”
“No, I see it too. Something took Megan into it.” Her voice was shaky. He turned his head to look at her. She was standing behind him rubbing her arms. “You found her purse.” He looked down in his left hand. The purse was still there.
“What are you guys doing here? Why didn’t you grab her purse?”
“On our way we heard someone crying and it sounded like Meg’s sister so we came over here to find out. We walked in, and two things jumped us.”
“It didn’t occur to you as odd that you could hear crying over the den?”
Lacey blushed. “Ok, so, yes,.. no, but... Well I wasn’t worried about finding creatures and some black nothingness. There hasn’t been anything weird for months now.” Tristan turned back to the stall. The nothings had receded a few inches. “It’s shrinking.”
“Good.” Tristan said. “Maybe it’s closing. Can’t be a portal to anywhere good if it is that black. Once it’s closed those things won’t be able to come back.”
“Neither will Megan.” Lacey said. Her voice was steady now, and was getting the tone she got when she had made a decision and was going to be stubborn about it.
“Well we can go grab some teacher. Call the cops.” Two more inches of the bathroom became visible.
“There’s not enough time. Besides what would they do? You know we’re the only ones who can...”
Tristan interrupted her. “So what? You gonna go in there? And do what? You wouldn’t be able to help her any or get back. It’s stupid.”
“I have to try. It’s the right thing to do.”
“You’re not going in there,” Tristan said. “I’m not letting you.” He turned around to face her fully and crossed his arms, dropping the purse.
Lacey gave him a dark look. She reached down to grab the purse. The second she had the purse in her hand, she dove around Tristan into the stall and disappeared.
“LACEY!” Tristan called out, turning. The blackness only took up about one square foot now. “Man, when I get my hands on you...” Tristan stood still for a second more before diving himself into the blackness.