This past weekend in Los Angeles, a Zine came out called “The Worlds Tallest Tales” by ITSWOLF. Within this sleek booklet is a 500 word story that I wrote specifically for this publication. A Big thank you to a former student, Renee Reizman for talking me into do this.
Without further ado…
It’s a hot Saturday afternoon and the block is unusually quiet. My cousin and I are spending another slow summer day wishing high school never starts up again. We’re sitting on the stoop enjoying the summer breeze while eating ham & cheese heroes, and drinking malta since there’s no AC in the house. My father thinks that living in a house without air conditioning builds character. I think he doesn’t want to give Con-Ed any more money than he has to, otherwise we’d be in my room playing yet another game of Contra on my Nintendo.
Our house sits on the corner of Gildersleeve, so our stoop overlooks much of this area. Our neighborhood is a nine block radius connected by Gildersleeve that starts from Pugsley Creek and ends at Harding Park.
We see my buddy Stephen and his two sisters walking down the block abnormally fast. I call out to him before he can pass my house. They look totally spooked, so I walk down the stairs to stop them.
“Hey man, you look bugged out,” I say as I look at them. The girls look like they want to cry. My cousin comes up behind me because he’s as curious as I am.
“Oh man, we just came from Kirk’s house. You won’t believe what happened,” Stephen says. His voice sounds a bit shaky. Kirk is one of the kids we hang out with, he lives right up the street on Gildersleeve.
“So what’s up with Kirk?”
“He invited us over so we can play with his Ouija board.”
“Well, why the hell would you do that?”
“I don’t know! He said we could talk to this friendly ghost in his house, so I felt compelled. I didn’t believe him at first, but then we started playing around and asking questions. Everything was cool until the lights flickered. Then the only word the board started spelling was, die!”
“Holy shit,” I say looking at my cousin.
“The friendly ghost took over and said he would get rid of the evil spirit tonight. He said when you hear a loud bang, you know the deed is done.”
“Get the fuck outta here. I don’t believe that,” I say.
I’m a little freaked out, but I know this isn’t real. We watch Stephen and the girls walk away. My cousin and I laugh, then go inside the house to play Contra.
Hours later we’re on the stoop again, eating ice cream cones from Mr. Softee when we hear a loud blast coming from the direction of Kirk’s house. My cousin looks at me, wide eyed.
“You don’t think…?” He asks.
We walk slowly down the stairs and then up the block when we see it, a raging inferno coming from Kirk’s house. I’m paralyzed with fear, not knowing what to do. It must’ve been an explosion!
I hear Stephen walk up behind us. He stares at the fire and smiles. He says, calmly in a deeper voice, “The deed is done.”
****
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Anthony Otero 