{"id":602,"date":"2021-12-12T00:18:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T00:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackbox.black\/?p=602"},"modified":"2023-01-13T00:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:12:07","slug":"the-party-final-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackbox.black\/?p=602","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Ten"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Party’s Collapse<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Chapter Ten, (Spring, 1978)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(2.8k words; ~10 min read)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In twenty minutes all but two emergency vehicles in all of Winton had parked outside the Butterfield\u2019s house. Bathrobed neighbors stood anxiously on porches giving muddled descriptions of what they heard and saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ryan and the officer arrived at the scene, they found Chase Thrush passed out on the Butterfield\u2019s driveway and everything else seemed quiet. They checked on Chase and made their way to the forest. Ryan cowered behind Officer Penny who had her gun and flashlight drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only took them a few seconds of walking in the woods to find their first body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flashlight beam browsed and revealed more which seemed to disappear in the darkness and reappear as the flashlight moved over them. As quiet and dead as a scrapped locomotive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan heaved and vomited. He knew these people and had gone to school with them for years. Now they were here torn to pieces, bags of blood emptied onto the forest floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several minutes later, more flashing lights arrived and by that time, half of Winton\u2019s police force was barreling out into southwest Winton where in the woods were innumerable bodies of highschool students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan was given a blanket on his shoulders and sat in the back of Officer Penny\u2019s car as she helped Chase Thrush into the ambulance. He was the first survivor they had found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cChase, we\u2019re having trouble knowing what you\u2019re talking about when you say what murdered….\u201d Officer Penny gestured to a working list of Winton High students they had found so far. She didn\u2019t want to say something crass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a monster. Black skin like a lizard and…huge teeth. Its teeth were longer than my arm. It\u2026 it didn\u2019t have eyes. Its head was just like…dry. Like bone.\u201d Chase\u2019s voice shook as he said this. \u201cI watched it tear Brent to shreds. Ripped his chest up and, ug-\u201d He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, the memory of innards sliding out of a body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChase,\u201d she said again, more to keep him awake than keep his attention. Would she stop treating him like he was insane? He knew what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid they check the house?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sighed, \u201cNo, they did not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t. Those…monsters came from it,\u201d Chase managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, Penny,\u201d A voice from the side of the ambulance said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMurl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A younger officer walked to the open back doors of the ambulance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFound the Butterfield kid. We-\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I see him?\u201d Chase asked quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penny and the man who had just walked over, his shirt patch spelling \u2018Baker\u2019, looked at Chase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh. Um…\u201d The new officer said, holding several polaroids in his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re ready to see these?\u201d Penny asked. \u201cThey\u2019re messy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chase nodded, \u201cI want to be sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker showed him two photos. The first was a closeup of Brent with a small yellow card next to him labeled with a \u20183\u2019. His guts were squeezing their way out from under his stomach. He was looking down his left shoulder, his mouth and eyes wide open. The polaroid\u2019s flash offered a sickening brilliant emphasis. Chase took a few long blinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second photo of Brent was shot further away, with a better look at the rest of the clearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrent died only a couple yards from the front step.\u201d Chase said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t move him, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker shook his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, where\u2019s the house?\u201d Chase handed the photos back, looking the cops in the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing,\u201d Baker said, taking the photos back. \u201cThe house you guys said you were in… there isn\u2019t a house. We\u2019re still looking in the woods for whatever made these tracks…but we haven\u2019t found anything about them either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No house?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t have imagined<\/em> it,\u201d Chase said, suddenly thinking clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thinking a bear or even a non-carnivorous animal caused this.\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNon-<\/em>carnivorous? This thing tore my friends to pieces!\u201d Chase boiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thinking maybe an animal was there at the wrong time and went crazy. Whatever it was, it didn\u2019t kill to eat,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIt left the bodies mangled but uneaten after they were killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chase looked out of the ambulance to Ryan White being questioned by some other cop. \u201cSomething demonic or supernatural. Whatever you want to call it. The…things<\/em>…that attacked and killed us were something that shouldn\u2019t exist. I\u2019m telling you. They came from a house in the woods. That\u2019s where we were partying. We were doing a keg\u2026\u201d He didn\u2019t mean to say that, but figured he may as well go on. \u201c…like two feet from the front porch. It was a house<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penny reached for her belt and produced a notebook. \u201cTell me about this house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chase described the House and what it looked like in the daytime as best he could. He left out the part where they broke the lock and entered and instead told them how there was no road or driveway connecting it. How the windows and doors were mostly boarded up to discourage visitors. How it looked like it was built a hundred years ago, not just because it was worn, but the style and the dumbwaiters and where the rooms were positioned. Tall ceilings, everything was covered in sheets, wooden accents\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The nightly police patrol in Winton. On the radio was EJ, the hippie broadcaster from Wilkes-Barre and his stories (it was just that way he told them that was interesting.) He read many frightening books, and the officers and gas stations and donut shops that still had their lights on at three in the morning would tune in to 100.1FM and listen in to a scary story or book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Yale and Officer Baker were moseying around their patrol. After about ten in the evening, the roads became desolate and since Baker was new to both the force and town, he thanked heaven he wasn\u2019t alone for his first few nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNights get real boring,\u201d Yale was explaining to Baker. \u201cGreat way to get extra hours though. Only two radio stations playing good stuff at this hour: One is a scary story talkshow thing and the other is music. Latest hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the patrol is so slow most nights, we just jump between the two places that stay open through the night: Bryce\u2019s Donuts and the Exxon up in the northeast corner. Coffee at both places and they both usually give \u2018em out free. Dustin usually slings the donuts and some highschooler is on Exxon duty. I think they really only make coffee for the cops. Some places are open way late, but not 24\/7.\u201d Yale spoke on autopilot; he seemed miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re real new. Any questions about the patrol or anything else?\u201d Yale went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker did have one, \u201cHave there ever been any murders or big-time cases here? What\u2019s the most exciting thing that\u2019s happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale grinned, \u201cMost exciting thing?\u201d He chuckled, thinking. \u201cWe did<\/em> have a homicide way back in the day. Forget where and who… I wasn\u2019t on the force then. Guy killed himself afterward anyway. Guy he killed was a nobody. More of a spat between them two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing else, huh? Pretty boring?\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale thought for a second. \u201cPretty boring. Sometimes we\u2019re called to break up parties. Sometimes calls on a street where the one crackhouse is. We\u2019d arrest the whole damned building, but we don\u2019t have enough cells. I mean, once they all got out, they\u2019d go right back anyway. They haven\u2019t done much to anything or hurt anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale snapped his fingers, \u201cNah, you know what? We\u2019ve had some weird stories about kids going missing near the woods on Beck\u2019s Creek bend where all the old guys go fishing. We suspect some kind of kidnapper. Everyone knows now. I mean, it\u2019s easier to target people who live out in the boonies\u2026 unless they\u2019re armed, which…most people here aren\u2019t. That\u2019s one weird thing about Winton: not a lot of armed people. It\u2019s smart to have at least a rifle over the door or something. Can\u2019t be too safe in a small town. Weird shit happens. Something about the small town\u2026 I don\u2019t know. You know? Stephen King and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker didn\u2019t know, \u201cInteresting, certainly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe I\u2019m listening too much to \u2018DJ EJ\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker was still lost in the conversation, but kept quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patrol car drove through the dark roads, swishing from side to side. The trees shot up on both sides of them and obscured most of the night sky. The headlights\u2019 yellow range was limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRoads aren\u2019t bad once you\u2019ve driven \u2018em a few times. If someone were to break down out here, I\u2019d not want them to be stuck. On my way to Bryce\u2019s Donuts, I take this route. Gotta do your job at least partially, right?\u201d Yale chuckled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lazyass, <\/em>Baker thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winding road didn\u2019t seem to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale read his mind. \u201cCrazy how long a mile on this road feels, right? Feels like we\u2019re in Ohio about now, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou said it,\u201d Baker agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five minutes later, but what felt like twenty minutes, Baker and Yale rolled up to Bryce\u2019s Donuts on the other side of town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale shut his door and said as they walked in: \u201cWe took the scenic route; usually it doesn\u2019t take more than five minutes to get anywhere in town. And hey, after this stop, you\u2019re going to do the driving. Yeah? Get a feel for the roads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker grinned, \u201cHell yeah.\u201d He opened the door for Yale who thanked him and began to step through, but heard the radio in the car crackle with a voice. He couldn\u2019t understand the words, but it sounded like Officer Penny. \u201cWait, Yale, the radio.\u201d Their personal walkies weren\u2019t switched on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale turned around. \u201cHear something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker left the door and half-walked-half-jogged back to the car. The windows were left open just for this sort of occasion. Made the mosquitoes a bitch and a half, but these were peoples\u2019 lives on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c-bodies on Bushkill Avenue or this kid\u2019s really tripping on something. Requesting backup, over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale grabbed the mic through the window. \u201cWe\u2019re coming, Penny. What were the streets again?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFourthy-fifth and Thirfy- dammit. Forty-fifth<\/em>. and thirty-fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCopy. Heading to Forty-fifth and thirty fourth.\u201d Yale said and tossed the mic back into the car as both officers climbed into the car again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, go right to Butterfield’s,\u201d Said Penny. \u201cThat\u2019s up on Bushkill; heading there now. Over and out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale didn\u2019t touch the radio again. He threw the car backward and sped off, switching on the lights and siren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baker and Yale were the first to arrive at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two young officers aimed their guns and flashlights (flashlight arm over the gun arm, both weapons pointing forward, to block the recoil was how they were trained) into the woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was new to Baker: Bodies lay everywhere, exposed by the flashlight. Junior and senior highschoolers had painted the forest. There was blood all over his shoes in only a few minutes as he and Yale poked through the forest, ensuring the area was safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They taped off the forest from the Butterfield\u2019s to the end of the trail of dead bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they secured the area, more cop cars arrived and Officer Penny provided more details and described the situation which was clearly a great emergency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point, Baker was handed a camera and while Yale staked different bodies\u2019 locations or possibly important footprints, Baker took photos. They continued following the trail of pounding footsteps and every once in a while they would find another body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snap<\/em> went the camera and splick <\/em>went the stake into the soft soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker\u2019s latex gloves were getting sticky from the sweat as he gripped the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, they came back to the clearing absent of trees and leaves where a collection of bodies rested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJe-sus have mercy,\u201d Yale breathed into the warm air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blood washed the ground in a dark, sticky mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snap<\/em> went the camera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of it seems to have started in this clearing,\u201d Yale said, tromping around with a flashlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the hell did all of this? These kids were shredded to pieces.\u201d Baker covered his mouth. It had been a while since he\u2019d seen a dead body at all. Yale\u2019s calm demeanor put him at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t a person, unless that person changes on a full moon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wasn\u2019t funny. \u201cA bear?\u201d Baker guessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale put his hands on his hips and let his flashlight shine around. \u201cMust have been rabid if it was. If<\/em> it was a bear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2026\u201d Baker couldn\u2019t take it anymore. He held the camera out of the way and vomited air. Then bile. He kept spewing and spitting until he felt very empty and at peace. Felt he could stomach a lot more. He spat his mouth clean once more and wiped his lips dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat were you saying?\u201d Yale said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust\u2026 what do you mean, \u2018if\u2019<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale sighed. \u201cI\u2019ve heard weird stuff about these woods. That things come out of it. Did you know the whole street moved away a few years ago because of some \u2018pupilless, sharp-toothed men\u2019 that came out of these woods? Wouldn\u2019t have come out here alone if you weren\u2019t with me. I think this is it, Baker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker spat once more away from the crime scene. \u201cWhat\u2019s \u2018it\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m leaving. This bloodbath of a bunch of highschoolers\u2026 I\u2019m done with this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot\u2026 right now?\u201d Baker asked. He liked Deputy Yale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo weeks, I\u2019m outta here. It\u2019s not sudden, either. I\u2019ve been planning this a long time. And I\u2019d say that kid,\u201d He pointed to a boy who lay on his stomach doused with a large helping of blood. \u201cWas the first to go. Trail starts here, and it looks like\u2026\u201d Yale stepped carefully to the boy. Didn\u2019t touch him, but looked at his face with the flashlight. \u201c…Butterfield. Got his stomach and rib cage ripped right off of him.\u201d Yale removed his hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker tried to process the number of dead kids. He wanted to cry; He felt he was going into shock. His first week on the force, this wasn\u2019t fair to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou wanna cry, this is the place.\u201d Yale\u2019s own voice was breaking. \u201cCan\u2019t believe this mess. I knew Brent.\u201d He pointed at the body he had just identified. \u201cThrew insane parties. Probably had a bad relationship with his dad, but he wasn\u2019t a bad kid. Didn\u2019t deserve this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker put down the camera and, so as not to contaminate his latex gloves, cried into the sleeves of his uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sniff<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale huffed out another breath which cleared out any emotion he had. He looked away from Baker as he said, \u201cMost exciting thing to happen to Winton? Looks like we\u2019re living it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation whooshed by. Police sketches were mocked up: A strange creature with huge teeth, a large house in the woods where they found Butterfield, and flashing lights. Talking to neighbors, telling them everything was okay. Reporters asking him questions that he waved off. He remembered being quite calm and eventually indifferent to the moods and emotions surrounding the scene. The feeling frightened him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By four in the morning, half of Winton knew of the Bushkill Massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presses for the Winton Daily<\/em> were hot at that time, changing the headline, ready to print the slaughter of over twenty highschoolers. The headline was to be two big words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker stayed with the force, determined more than ever to keep the town safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Yale transferred two weeks later with honorable mentions and a sendoff party at the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The highschoolers\u2019 detailed, specific descriptions of a house and monsters only baffled the police further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sketch artist created several mockups of the house after questioning Ryan White, Chase Thrush, and Jenny Prismine. The sketches were just about identical. The house wasn\u2019t just made up. But that was overlooked since there was only their word of a house. The phrase \u2018group hallucination\u2019 was spoken and few detectives or police looked further into it after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next year, only eight of the survivors still lived in Winton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following two years, all had moved out and by then half of the police force had transferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The years passed and Bushkill Avenue lore both died and grew. There was no mistake that kids were killed there (property values fell to all-time lows). The street became a site of legend, of sinister happenings. The stories surrounding it sprouted into unrealistic tales until eventually, nobody feared the Avenue since it all sounded so impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official police case eventually shed its fantastical layer and metamorphosed into a story about a rabid bear causing a party to go wrong. But one local officer, Officer Baker, never left the Winton Police Force nor forgot what he saw and heard from the terrified victims of the Bushkill Massacre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Party’s Collapse Chapter Ten, (Spring, 1978) (2.8k words; ~10 min read) In twenty minutes all but two emergency vehicles in all of Winton had parked outside the Butterfield\u2019s house. Bathrobed neighbors stood anxiously on porches giving muddled descriptions of what they heard and saw. When Ryan and the officer arrived at the scene, they … <\/p>\n

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