Occupied

by Koji Jagust

“Shhh, be quiet you’re being hella loud.” “Alright. Damn, it’s a lot creepier down here at night then during the day.” “ I know, I can barely see anything.” Daryn and Sam made their way down the dark silent trail of Aquatic Park. They notice a lone car parked in the lot of one of the buildings there. “Someone’s workin late,” Daryn says. The two’s footsteps sound through the empty park. The thick algae odor makes it harder for them to breathe, as they make their way down the trail. The full moons glow glistens across the lake shining, creating the silhouettes of the two. They settle down on a grassy hill. “Did you get it?” Daryn asks. “Yeah,” Sam replies. “Where did you get it from?” Daryn asks. “I can’t tell you,” Sam says. “Why? Whatever. Just get it out,” Daryn demands Sam opens the main pocket of his fanny pack and digs around unzipping another hidden pocket and pulls out a tiny baggie with two white tabs enclosed inside. “Here,” Sam hands one to Daryn. Daryn slowly put the white tab to the tip of his tongue. While retracting his tongue he closes his eyes, tilt’s his head back exposing his neck. His adam’s apple bobbed up, then down as he swallowed. Sam, then began to go through the same actions. When all of the sudden they both hear a car door slam and tires screeching off. The two immediately jump up to see what was going on, but notice it was nothing and go back to their business. The two begin heading back down the trail. “Ugh I gotta piss,” Daryn says. “There’s a porta potty at the end of the trail near the lot.” Sam says As Daryn reaches the porta potty and opens the door, the odor and darkness of the port a potty made it seem like a cave. He began to pee but something seems wrong. The sound of his peeing is not making the familiar slap of piss to water. It’s more like a thud as if he was peeing on a basketball. Curious about it, Daryn grabs his keys, finds his small flashlight keychain, and shines it. But as soon as he does there is a head looking right up at him with its mouth wide open, bloodshot eyes and hair covered in shit, blood, and blue liquid floating in the toilet. “Oh shit!” Daryn screams while dropping his keys. He busts the door down of the porta potty as he scrambles his way out. Bent over, and breathing heavy with his hands at his knees, he looks up at Sam with wide eyes. “What happened? What’s wrong?” Asks Sam. “There’s a, there’s a, head in there.” “What, are you crazy?.” “Go look for yourself if you don’t believe me.” Sam slowly creeps over toward the spiraling turquoise door. He opens the door little by little until finally it’s completely open. The radiance of the lone light in the park creeps its way into the porta potty, illuminating the inside with dazzling colors, revealing the head. “You see there it is!” Daryn yells. Sam squints and all the sudden a jolt goes through his body. “Oh my god is that, it is! It’s fuckin Mr. O’Brian!” “Who?” “Professor O’Brian you know,” Sam replies. “Holy shit it sure is.” All the sudden a car engine howls through the park. “Someone’s here, come on lets get outta here,” Daryn says. “Which way?” Sam asks. “There, in those bushes, we’ll hide.” They quickly sprint across the neon colored field, hurdling over shimmering muddy puddles, and dive into dancing brush and leaves. As the car approaches they notice it’s the same car as before. A small figure gets out of the car and glides its way toward the porta potty. Once the figure is under the orange and green glow of the light the two notice who it is. “Look its Dean Smith,” Sam points out. “Dude look at you hand,” Daryn says. They both look with engorged eyes as blonde hair bursts out of Sam’s hand and curls down toward the ground rooting into the mud below. Sam starts flailing his arms, freaking out. Just then they hear the slamming of a car door and see the car drive off. “We gotta follow him,” Sam says. “What no way. Lets just call the cops.” “We can’t call the cops the way we are,” Sam replies. “Well where do you think he is going?” Daryn asks. “Probably up to the campus, come on let’s go.” The two begin their journey up. After they cross the train tracks it started to get a little hard for them to navigate themselves. Their minds were wondering creating such a sensation of everything and anything they saw. They knew they were heading in the right direction but had no idea how far they had really gone. Every step they took, they felt their feet sinking into the cement below. Then they finally found themselves on campus, aside the baseball field. It was dead silent, not a person on campus. The only life on campus was the morphing buildings. As the two crept up alongside the field, a gliding figure similar to the one before slithered past their peripheral vision. “There!” Sam shouted, The two ran after the figure, kicking and swinging their ankles side to side like they just learned to run. They turned the corner and saw the small figure slide into one of the morphing buildings. They closely followed. As they entered the building the shine of the florescent lights against the white tile floor blared and blinded them both. Once they regained their vision they found themselves walking through a twirling hallway. Scared and confused they began to run through the halls turning at random. Left, right and every which way. “He went this way!” Daryn points out. “Then he went this way!” Sam also points out. The two are like lab rats in a maze trying to find the cheese. Then they see a man standing, facing a bulletin board putting up some flyer. “Hey did you see a guy pass by here?” They ask. As the man turns around, both of them jump back. “Oh hey guys. No sorry haven’t seen anyone. Sam twice in one day, I hope you liked the first batch I gave you. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” “Okay Mr. O’Brian see ya.” Sam replies Once he leaves, the two stood there, gazing with their dilated pupils as they watched Mr. O’Brian’s head float out the door. “Dude you got the acid from Mr. O’Brian?” Daryn asks.