PACKING HIS school stuff, Jake's eyes landed on the big black book still lying on top of his desk even after wishing that it had been all a dream when he got up from bed that Monday.
He did have a dream but not one about witnessing some guy's head pop open like the pumpkins at the Pumpkin Park after being run over by a truck. Nope. That also happened. He saw it on the news the previous night while his mother let out a long speech about how dangerous that part of town is and another flow of words of how she was glad that Jake was okay.
Oh, mom, you're just the best...
Back to the actual dream, Jake had found himself
standing at the Pumpkin Park and it was dark out, the silvery wave of light from the full moon being the only thing that enabled him to see. There was nobody in sight
He felt something tugging at his right arm only to look down and find the book in his hand.
A cold sensation began to fill him up and he could whispers, trails of hushed voices drifting past him right before his sorroundings began to darken, like the moon was dying out.
Looking up, Jake watched the moon turn to a pale red like an eclipse and the voices began to grow louder and fast approaching. Jake then saw some kind of shadowy figure materialise before him.
He could not make out what it was until it began to drift slowly towards the ground and gradually change form into something else.
Jake took a step back while the new form was taking shape and becoming more vivid and that's when he saw it.
Two yellow dots appeared through the darkness as the creature lowered its head at Jake.
Its ears pointed with its four legs planted to the ground with sharp protruding claws that tore at the ground and then the face.
It was a wolf.
Jake took another step back as the wolf began to snarl, exposing its bloodied long teeth. It hunched itself, preparing to attack when another voice suddenly filled Jake's ears.
Use the book!
The creature lunged itself forward towards Jake who quickly reacted by holding the book with both of his hands before him and for a spur of a moment, he thought he saw something like a yellow glow suddenly light up, blinding his eyes before a loud ringing sound replaced the voice in his head and he found himself waking up in bed from the alarm's beeper.
Halfway through the day in class, Jake realised he hadn't actually opened the mysterious book yet.
His mind landed on that part lastly after spending the first periods trying to drown the voices that had followed him the moment he stepped out of the house.
Nicole happened to have noticed this from her spot, one desk in front of Jake in the opposite column to his left. There were a few times she would catch him staring at her before dropping his head back to his head.
At one time, Nicole saw him press a hand against his temple and wince, like he was in some sort of pain.
This time, it was her turn to be caught staring as Jake looked at her briefly and then pretended to be thinking about something.
Well, he could not take it anymore, even if it meant pleasing a girl he never had the courage to talk to. Jake excused himself from the Literature class which surprised Matt and Gabriel. They sat behind him in the same column: Matt first, then Gabriel.
Jake had never gotten out of class in the middle of a session.
He bumped into two boys, who were probably seniors while the voices in his head began to intensify.
"Watch it, jerk!"
Ignoring them, Jake dashed into the washrooms where he locked himself up in one toilet before sitting on the toilet seat. Not to go number two of course but to remove the big black book he had slid into his jacket upon getting out of class.
Yap. He had decided to bring it to school with him.
The moment he turned it up to look at the cover, the voices immediately left him.
He observed the cover again, feeling the five-pointed star with a circle circumscribed around it. He went on to open it. To his surprise, the book was sealed shut but he could feel some movement.
It was like all the pages were glued together.
'Come on, you stupid book!'
Jake grabbed at it and heaved his arms, pulling hard from either side.
'So much for gym class!'
Giving up, Jake stopped heaving and set the book on his lap.
"You show up in my life and now you can't open! And I'm talking to a..."
He had hardly finished that statement when a low whirring sound filled the toilet followed by what Jake could see was fire.
The book opened itself up, its pages flipping madly and at the very centre of it, a fountain of orange flames shot up about three feet in the air.
'What the fuck!'
Jake quickly grabbed the book by the sides when a rapping came on the door.
This time, he didn't have much closing it than opening it as the two sides of the book hit each other and the flames vanished.
Jake was gasping for breath, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
He quickly slid the book back into his jacket and opened the toilet door where he was met by the janitor.
"You okay in there?" the middle-aged man asked with in his usual sotto voice and sloppy manner, not really showing any interest about anything.
"Sure..." was all Jake could say before dashing out of the toilet.
Towards the end of class, Jake met up with Matt and Gabriel in the school library.
"Sup, Jake?" Matt began.
"Guys, there's something I have to show you..."
"Oh boy, I always had my money on you that you would never do drugs and now it's finally happening," came Gabriel.
"What?" Jake shook his head at him.
"Relax, we won't tell..."
"I'm not doing..." Jake stopped, getting back to his matter, "never mind. I wanted to show you this..."
He slid out the book and placed it at the large table which was furthest in that part of the library.
"Great, you joined a cult!" Matt scoffed.
"What is it?" Gabriel asked, observing the strange symbol on it.
"Well, I don't know, yet."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" came Gabriel, "I think a book's supposed to be opened to know what it is..."
"Ok,this is going to sound insane but when I opened it, fire came out of it, literally!"
"Huh..." Matt exhaled, completely accepting their friend had finally gone nuts.
"Well, open it," requested Gabriel.
"Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"There's only one way to find out..." Matt reached out to the book and let out a low yelp, quickly withdrawing his arm from the book.
"What? Are you okay?" Jake reacted, watching Matt's expression turn into a sneer then laughter.
"Dude, I cannot believe you fell for that!"
Jake glowered at him.
"Guys, I'm serious!"
Gabriel reached out and flipped over the cover to reveal two blank sides of the book, with nothing on it.
No flames shot out of it this time.
"But..."
Jake slumped back in his chair. Had he imagined this like the other incidents?
Well, at least they could see the book and that's when things got crazy.
"I think your brother's beginning to corrupt you..." Gabriel pestered on.
"Very funny..."
"Holy shit! Guys, look!" Matt pointed at the book, getting the others' attention.
"Woah..."
Gabriel's eyes went wide when he saw the weird markings begin to materialise on both sides of the former blank pages like an unseen invisible force was writing on the book.
The markings seemed to be in a strange language, unlike any they had ever seen and was in black ink. Once the markings had filled up both pages, the book began to spin after shutting itself up, much to everyone's surprise.
It spinner for like ten seconds then stopped and slid towards Jake, remaining stationary in front of him.
"Please, tell me you all saw that!" Jake started, his eyes fixated on the book.
"For the millionth time, Matt, it wasn't a prank!" Jake was saying after they'd left the library.
"I can't say I didn't see a book write itself..." Gabriel shrugged.
"Who did you say gave it to you again?" Matt asked.
"I told you, at the Pumpkin Park on Saturday by some creepy guy in a hood!"
"Who you say is dead now."
"Exactly!"
"And you just thought, 'hey, I should take a book from a dead guy' whose body just happened to vanish right in front of you!"
"Oh, well you're not the one who was being terrorised by a fucking pumpkin...!"
Jake felt the book stir in his hand. He held it out and watched the symbol on the cover begin to glow.
"Still think it's a prank?" Jake went on, "why does it have a pentagram symbol on it, though?"
"That's not a pentagram," Matt corrected, "that's a pentacle."
"Of course!" Jake snapped, "how could I forget, Mr. Henry's class!"
Henry Crawford or as he was called by his students— Mr. Henry—was the head of the History department in Barnstable High and had taught Jake's class a couple of times.
"Think he might help us?" Jake asked.
"It would be better if you didn't show him the book, though, " Matt added, looking at the book which was still glowing.
"Probably..." Jake sighed.