For Alaric Thomas, getting enough people together for a party was ridiculously easy.
One phone call was enough to bring several friends over, including Ryan, Tyler, Megan, Jessie, Mike, and Calvin, while Jennifer invited a few women from her own social circle.
Among them were Amanda, a blonde who openly disliked Jennifer, and Nicole, a black-haired friend who usually stayed close to her.
Everyone moved quickly once they heard about the party.
They bought beer, fruit, chips, pizza, and enough snacks to cover most of Jennifer’s kitchen counter, though Alaric naturally paid for everything since the gathering had been his idea.
Before long, the quiet suburban house looked completely different from the place where Jennifer had been frightened only hours earlier.
There was another reason Alaric had chosen these particular friends.
Most of them were horror fans just like him and had spent years reading about hauntings, urban legends, demons, and supposedly cursed rituals.
Unfortunately, learning that Alaric believed something supernatural might be inside Jennifer’s house only made them more excited.
Mike immediately suggested trying a ghost-summoning game.
Alaric didn’t know whether to admire their courage or question their survival instincts.
Soon, the small house was packed with people.
Beer, sliced fruit, snacks, and empty cups covered the living-room table while every lamp in the house remained brightly lit.
With ten people talking and laughing together, the frightening atmosphere Jennifer had experienced earlier almost completely disappeared.
Jessie sat farther away and occasionally glanced toward Jennifer, who had comfortably settled against Alaric.
Her expression was complicated because she and Alaric had survived the nightmare in West Virginia together and later spent a night at the motel.
Jessie had made her feelings fairly clear afterward, but in the end, their relationship had never developed beyond that brief connection.
Now Jennifer was sitting exactly where Jessie had once wanted to be.
Jessie wasn’t the only person watching them.
Amanda had arrived with Jennifer’s friends without being personally invited, and almost the first thing she did was look at Alaric before smiling at Jennifer.
“So this is your new boyfriend?” Jennifer immediately raised her middle finger.
“New boyfriend?
He’s my first boyfriend, bitch.
If you’re jealous, go find your own man and stop staring at mine.” The hostility between them clearly wasn’t new.
Amanda rolled her eyes while Nicole quickly changed the subject before the argument became serious.
“Jennifer, I heard Alaric’s family owns this huge old estate somewhere in Florida.
Is that actually true?” Another woman immediately became interested.
“You have to take us there sometime.
Imagine the pictures we could get.” Jennifer leaned more comfortably against Alaric and smiled with obvious satisfaction.
“Maybe.
If I have time, we could have a party there sometime.” The jealousy on Amanda’s face only made Jennifer’s smile grow wider.
She enjoyed the attention far more than she would ever admit.
People around campus might not know Alaric because of sports, student government, or academic clubs, but his appearance and family wealth were hardly secrets.
He had a large home, inherited money, and an old family estate, while his habit of keeping to himself only made some people more curious about him.
Plenty of women had noticed him long before Jennifer finally decided to make her move.
That was exactly why Amanda’s earlier question had been deliberate.
She wanted to imply that Jennifer changed boyfriends constantly and hopefully provoke an argument between them.
Jennifer understood the intention immediately and returned the insult without hesitation.
Alaric ignored the entire exchange because petty rivalry between Jennifer and her friends was nowhere near the top of his concerns tonight.
He was sitting with Mike, Ryan, Tyler, and Calvin while they discussed paranormal games instead.
Mike was easily the biggest supernatural enthusiast among them and had researched more rituals than anyone else.
After a few drinks, he started enthusiastically explaining something called the Closet Game.
“You go into a completely dark closet at night with an unlit match and close the door behind you,” he said.
“You stay there facing the door for a couple minutes,” Mike continued, lowering his voice for effect.
“Then you hold up the match and say, ‘Show me the light, or leave me in darkness.’ Supposedly, if you hear whispering, you have to light the match immediately.” Tyler’s eyes lit up.
“That sounds awesome.” Alaric had never tried the Closet Game before.
Bloody Mary and Ouija boards were much more familiar to him, along with dozens of other rituals people passed around online as entertainment.
Considering the world he currently lived in, however, deliberately testing whether any of those legends were real no longer seemed harmless.
Calvin was one of the first people willing to try it anyway.
Tyler quickly volunteered after him because several attractive women were watching and he clearly didn’t want to look afraid.
Alaric decided to stay out of that particular game and simply observe what happened.
With all the lights on and nearly ten people laughing throughout the house, nothing about the party felt frightening.
They played several paranormal games over the next few hours.
Nothing happened.
No ghosts appeared.
No shadows moved.
Nobody heard mysterious whispers or found a demon waiting inside a closet.
By eleven that night, even Alaric had begun wondering whether the presence he detected earlier had simply left.
Then Mike brought up another ritual he considered much more interesting.
“Okay, the little games aren’t working.
Anybody want to try the Midnight Game?” That name caught Alaric’s attention.
Mike leaned forward and began explaining the legend.
The ritual supposedly summoned an entity called the Midnight Man, usually described as a tall, shadowy humanoid figure associated with an old punishment ritual.
Once invited into the house, players were supposed to avoid it until 3:33 in the morning.
The requirements were simple enough: candles, matches, salt, paper, something to write with, a wooden front door, and a drop of blood from every participant.
Each person had to write their name on a piece of paper and place a drop of their own blood on it.
All the lights in the house would then be turned off before midnight.
The papers and candles would be placed near the wooden front door.
The players would knock twenty-two times, with the final knock occurring exactly at midnight, then open the door, extinguish the candle, close the door, and relight it.
According to the legend, that act invited the Midnight Man inside.
Afterward, everyone had to move through the darkened house while carrying a lit candle until exactly 3:33 a.m.
If the temperature suddenly dropped, whispers appeared nearby, or a candle inexplicably went out, it meant the Midnight Man was close.
A player whose candle died supposedly had only a few seconds to relight it.
If they couldn’t relight the flame, their last protection was salt.
The player had to create a complete circle around themselves and remain inside until the game ended.
Nobody seemed certain what actually happened if the Midnight Man caught someone outside the protection, although the darker versions of the legend claimed victims suffered terrifying hallucinations or died violently.
Mike’s expression became increasingly serious as he explained everything.
Then he suddenly grinned.
“So?
Who wants to play?” Calvin laughed immediately.
“Man, we’ve done this kind of crap with you before.
You’re always the one hiding somewhere and making noises to scare everybody.” Ryan and Tyler immediately agreed.
Mike put a hand over his chest as if deeply offended.
“I can’t believe you people don’t trust me.” Alaric, however, found this game more interesting than the others.
Whatever had targeted Jennifer still hadn’t appeared despite hours of activity, and if supernatural rituals actually worked in this world, intentionally inviting something inside might force the hidden entity to react.
The danger was obvious, but unlike everyone else here, Alaric wasn’t defenseless.
“This one sounds good,” Alaric said.
“I’m in.” Mike pointed at him with a satisfied grin.
“See?
I knew you’d understand.” Tyler immediately raised his hand.
“I’m playing too.” “Same,” Ryan said.
Calvin shrugged.
“Fine.
Count me in.” Jennifer was still leaning against Alaric and raised her hand without hesitation.
Once the others saw that Alaric and Jennifer were both participating, Amanda, Nicole, Megan, and Mike quickly agreed as well.
Within a few moments, almost everyone in the house had committed themselves to the ritual.
Only Jessie hesitated.
After being hunted through the West Virginia wilderness by cannibal mutants, she had developed a much healthier respect for things people claimed couldn’t exist.
The thought of deliberately summoning another monster didn’t appeal to her at all.
Unfortunately, being the only person refusing while everyone else played made her reluctantly join.
That made ten participants.
Mike began preparing everything.
The living-room lights went dark, leaving only candlelight flickering across everyone’s faces.
The cheerful atmosphere from the party vanished almost immediately, and even those who had been joking a few minutes earlier became quieter as the shadows around the room deepened.
Mike handed everyone a small piece of paper.
“Write your full name and add one drop of blood.” One after another, everyone followed the instructions.
Alaric watched carefully while completing his own paper, expecting the Ghost Card to react if something supernatural appeared.
Nothing happened yet.
The clock crept closer to midnight.
Everyone stood in the dark house holding a candle.
Mike approached the front door.
Nobody spoke.
He began knocking.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The slow knocks echoed through the silent house while everyone watched the clock.
Mike carefully timed each one until the twenty-second knock landed exactly as midnight arrived.
Then he opened the front door, extinguished the candle, closed the door again, and immediately relit it.
Everyone stared toward the entrance.
Nothing happened.
A minute passed.
Then several more.
The tall faceless shadow they imagined never appeared.
Eventually, people began relaxing.
“This is it?” Amanda asked.
Mike looked disappointed.
“Give it time.” Calvin laughed and set his candle down on the table.
Of everyone present, he had always been the least superstitious and treated the entire ritual like another excuse to drink with friends.
“I’m going to the bathroom.
If the Midnight Man shows up, tell him to wait.” He walked away while jokingly rapping to himself.
Nobody stopped him.
Even Alaric began believing that nothing had actually been summoned.
He continued drinking and talking with the others while occasionally checking the Ghost Card for a reaction.
Jennifer stayed close to him, clearly feeling much safer now that the house was filled with people.
Half an hour passed.
Alaric suddenly looked toward the hallway.
“Where’s Calvin?” Mike barely glanced up.
“Probably taking the world’s longest dump.” Several people laughed.
Alaric didn’t.
Something about the silence from that side of the house bothered him.
Another thirty minutes passed.
Calvin still hadn’t returned.
By then, even Mike stopped joking.
Everyone went toward the bathroom together.
The door was locked.
Mike knocked several times.
“Calvin?
Dude, you alive in there?” No answer.
They exchanged uneasy looks before forcing the door open.
Mike entered first.
Then he froze.
Calvin’s body lay inside the bathroom.
Something had torn open his torso, leaving blood and mutilated remains scattered across the floor around him.
Whatever had killed him had done so violently and silently enough that nobody in the living room had heard a struggle.
Tyler took one look.
“Jesus—” He turned and vomited.
The joking atmosphere disappeared instantly.
Their first victim was dead.
Before anyone could understand what had happened, a terrified scream suddenly erupted from the living room.
It was Nicole.
[Community Goals Ongoing]