Sacrificing Is Our Religion

The day went on as any other, and school is almost over. A girl, let's call her Janice, was tapping her pen on her desk as the time ticks.

I need to get out of here, "Janice" thought to herself. See, beyond her parents' perspective, Janice wasn't very popular, in fact, she was almost a ghost in society.

She never really talked to anybody and blended in the back of the classroom. Typical, isn't it? Just like how all the stories of malicious murder are.

Janice was looking at the clock with more anticipation than usually, it was her birthday and she wanted to get home and see what she got from her parents. She really considered it a "Sorry we're always arguing" present, considering she has had poor amounts of sleep because of their constant fighting.

As the bell rang, Janice quickly stood up, gathered her things, and proceeded to leave the room. As she was heading the corner towards the exits, Janice was cut off by a girl, let's call this girl "Samantha." Samantha stopped her, smiled and started flipping the pendulum of her necklace around her neck.

"So, uh, I heard around that it's your birthday today, my friends Bobbi and Victor are wondering if you'd like to hang out and you know, celebrate?" Samantha asked smiling a sketchy smile.

Considering Janice didn't talk to anyone much, she was skeptical. She had talked to Samantha a few times before, but never really stuck in with her group. Janice thought about her parents and the fighting, and quickly but modestly said yes. Samantha smiled, hugged Janice, and said she wouldn't regret it.

As she backed away, Janice noticed the pendulum of a star in a circle. She's seen that before, somewhere, but was unsure of where. She still got a bad vibe, but decided it was too late to go back now. Samantha then asked for her address so her and the others could pick her up in a few hours.

Janice left school, said goodbye to Samantha, and went home.

"I'm home!" Janice exclaimed as she walked through the door.

Her mother came out of the kitchen, smiling wildly and her dad appeared behind her mom smiling, too. The both tugged on her arm to lead them into the living room.

"It isn't much," her mom said smiling wide," but it's still a birthday gift we're POSITIVE you'll just LOVE."

As she said that, Janice's dad gave her a considerably small and wrapped package. Janice tore the wrapping off and found that she had gotten a new iPhone 5 for her birthday. Janice gasped and hugged her parents.

"Thank you, this is the best gift I could ask for," Janice said, almost stammering while trying to speak.

"It's got unlimited everything, calling and all," said her father, smiling smugly.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Janice said as she played with her new phone," my friend Samantha wanted to celebrate my birthday with me."

"Oh, goody, you've finally got someone to hang out with. I hope you have fun," said her mother, not very convincingly, though. She was really hoping she could make a special dinner for Janice, but oh well.

While playing a new app on her phone, Janice heard a knock at the door. That must be them, she thought to herself, I can't wait. Janice opened the door, and, there enough, was Bobbi smiling and waved slightly at her.

"I'm 'ere to get you. Sam wants us to meet 'er and Vic at 'er 'ouse," Bobbi said, with that British accent Janice loved oh so much. Secretly, Janice has always had a feeling Bobbi knew she had a terribly strong crush on him.

"Alright, let's head out then," Janice said, blushing slightly.

They got in Bobbi's car, a nice Lamborghini. Janice found out his dad was a coroner making upwards of about $170,000 and his mom was a forensic scientist making around $80,000 a year, so he was able to get anything he wanted. Bobbi was, however, a reckless driver and would speed, scaring Janice.

Bobbi laughed," If you think that was a thriller, you should wait and see what we 'ave for you later."

Janice smiled nervously and relaxed. They arrived at Samantha's place. It was very nice looking, three stories, a nice backyard that seemed to just disappear into the woods behind it. As they walked in, Samantha and Victor ran to greet them and they exchanged awkward waves and Samantha hugged Janice, necklace swinging. They hung out around Samantha's place, played games, got to know more about each other.

Janice found out that Bobbi was directly related to a king of England that was overthrown. When that happened, his ancestors moved to France and came to America, settling in Louisiana. Victor was from, of course, Russia. His great-grandfather fought for the army during the Soviet Union era, and later moved his family to the north parts of America, which eventually led them to where they are now. Samantha was related to the people who called themselves the Druids from Gaul. Gaul was later France. Somewhere along the line, Samantha's family was linked to being Satanic and was exiled from Gaul and they moved to America.

The clock showed 7:06 on it and Victor realized what time it was.

"Ve 'ave to get zis party going, iz dead," Victor said, in his barely understandable Russian accent that still entertained Janice.

Samantha then stood up, grabbed some glasses, and poured some vodka into four glasses.

"Here. Vodka, Victor's favorite kind, too," Samantha said, handed everyone a glass and keeping one for herself, "nothing starts a party like a nice buzz."

Janice kindly declined, seeing as she didn't drink. Thinking she was going to be looked at as a 'party pooper' she almost hesitated to give the glass back, but Samantha shrugged, took the glass, and handed it straight to Victor, who downed it immediately after drinking down his own glass. As far as Janice could tell, no one thought any less of her, and not taking that drink would soon be shown as a mistake in the future.

Things went here and there, and out of nowhere, someone suggested they go make a fire in the woods. No one objected, so out they went. The other seem to be stumbling and Janice was laughing, they made it to the edge of the woods, and they kept going. They gathered fire wood, the two guys tripped and stumbled around, laughing until they were red in the face, Samantha kept working, still laughing. Janice noticed a small, black, box-like suitcase and thought it was nothing, so she continued working.

The finally gathered around they fire, Victor and Bobbi slapping each other lightly in the face and swinging their arms around like dead weight, Samantha was laughing, shouting things like "I bet you won't kiss 'em!" and "Ladies! Ladies! You're BOTH beautiful!"

They finally calmed down, sat next to the girls, Victor was next to Samantha, Bobbi respectively next to Janice. Inside, Janice was so ecstatic she could barely hold it in. Bobbi eventually wrapped Janice up in his arms after she complained about being cold. Samantha looked over and smiled.

Samantha then said,"We should play hide and seek."

Janice laughed, not thinking she was serious, but then realized Bobbi and Victor got up to hide, and Janice followed. Janice ran and ran, her heart racing, adrenaline pumping, and palms sweaty. She ran some more and tripped on something, and before she noticed, Samantha was on top of her, holding her down with all her weight.

"Gotcha," Samantha whispered. Out of their hiding places, Victor and Bobbi slowly walked up to them, Bobbi with the box in hand. Janice laughed nervously and looked at them.

"I-I guess I'm it, huh?" Janice said, stuttering slightly.

Victor quickly picked up some ropes tied to trees and knotted the around Janice's limbs.

"Ja, ve guss your eet. Zam, geet ze prod," Victor said in his now-scary accent.

Samantha got up and grabbed a metal cow prod with the circle surrounding the star. Janice was starting to have a panic attack and hyperventilating. She tried to squirm, but Victor tied them in slip knots. Bobbi put down his box and unwrapped a fine selection of Coroner's tools. There were all kinds of surgical steel blades, scissors, stitch hooks, all to be put to use.

Samantha came rushing back with the hot prod and Victor immediately lifted Janice's shirt and stabbed the prob to her skin, burning the symbol permanently. Janice hopelessly screamed in pain and looked at the permanent stamp on her stomach. She then realized where she remembered that symbol was from and what it meant. It was a Satanic symbol, it represented the head of the goat.

As Janice came to reality, Bobbi bit his lip, almost as if he was in pain, and slit Janice's cheeks, extending her 'smile', and then sew her entire mouth shut. Janice whimpered as she cried, and Bobbi made a motion as if whipping away tears from his eye. Samantha grinned menacingly, and Victor was nowhere to be found by Janice. Bobbi finished his job, and Samantha took out some candles and a lighter from the box, putting the candles at five separate points of a star that Janice was lying on. Everything was ready for their sacrifice. Victor came back with a cigarette, Bobbi took out a knife and carve an uppercase I into Janice's abdomen, shaking, and removed her intestines, leaving her heart in place. Samantha started chanting something in a language Janice had never heard. Bobbi finished his preparations, and covered the pentagram Samantha burnt into Janice's stomach, just below the incision, with blood. Janice quickly felt sticky blood around her and blacked out.

When she woke up, daylight shone, and the incision was stitched together. Janice was free from the ropes and started looking around, afraid to get up. She slowly rose, the stitches felt like the were on ripping as she carefully adjusted herself up. As she looked around, everything looked eerie and the colors looked faded. She slowly made her way back out of the woods. She couldn't believe she was still alive, for the moment. She saw another body in the same position she was in only the night before, and the person was still breathing. She slowly approached the body and it started panicking. Janice noticed the person's eyes were missing, and she threw up next to the body. She kept walking, thinking she was going to get caught if she tried to help. She walked to the neighbors next to Samantha's house, and only then realized she left her new phone at home, and asked to use theirs to call her mom. She called her mom, and called the cops. She was sent to a hospital and returned home after everything was fixed. She felt unnerved, but grateful to be back home. As time for her to go to bed came around, she took her phone and went to her room. She lay down, got under her covers and got a text from a number she didn't know.

Funny, she thought to herself, I never gave anybody this number.

She opened the text thinking it was a mistake and started shaking and breathing heavily as she read the message.

The message said," You could've saved me. You could've helped me, untied me, anything. But you didn't. You left me there to rot and die, and now it's your turn."

She quickly turned the lights on the see a deathly skinny, eyeless person with a pentagram burned in their stomach standing in the corner of her room. The person was holding a spoon in their hand and charged Janice with unspeakably great speed, far more than anyone in their shape should be capable of. The person stuffed a pillow over Janice's mouth and carved her eyes out with the rusty spoon. The figure then threw her out of her second-story window and disappeared. The next day, cops found Janice's body lying outside her house, eyes missing. The death was ruled murder, but nobody was ever able to find the killer, and her case was sent to the vaults, never solved. Though many speculate it was the same people who carved the pentagram and dissected her, but the police never found a Bobbi, Victor, or Samantha that she claimed to have done it.