Matthew is an up and coming horror author that started writing as a hobby, only to find a deep interest in all aspects of storytelling. Being a lifelong fan of horror films, especially slashers, he hopes to use his knowledge of the genre to provide a fresh experience that will keep readers wanting more.
You can read more from Matthew right HERE.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
by
Matthew Mercer
The memory of that moment bounced around in my head. “Happy Birthday!” they yelled: my friends surrounding and staring at me, my mom staring even harder–anger, impatience, and disappointment written on her face, and the strawberry shortcake she held before me, decorated with a candle in the shape of the number 16. They came for a surprise party, and quite the surprise it was.
My Mom told me she was going out for the night, which wasn’t unusual for her. Since she’d finally gotten over the divorce, she found herself diving from bar to bar, ending up waist deep in a bottle–a metaphor she also repeated when she painfully–and drunkenly described how men would find themselves waist deep in her. Not the kind of mental image a teenage boy ever wants to have of his mother, but she must’ve figured I was old enough to deal with it now that I was in High School–which was just an incorrect assumption of hers, just like my assumption that she had forgotten it was my birthday.
Rather than going bar hopping for the night, she had already planned and arranged for all of my friends to meet just outside of my place, sneak them inside, and throw a bigger party than she ever had for me before. What she didn’t plan for, was me walking around the house comfortably in just my boxer briefs while she was away. What can I say? It gets hot this time of the year, and nobody was home. At least, they weren’t supposed to be.
I heard a noise outside of my bedroom door, and thought that a burglar breaking into my house at 7 o’clock in the evening was more likely than my mother arriving home early, during the peak of her midlife crisis, so I thought it would be best to scare them away as quickly as possible. I hopped out of bed, ran to my door, and swung it open to find my surprise.
Perhaps I wouldn’t have been as embarrassed if I were in better shape, or maybe if I didn’t see so many eyes travel downward and smiling–holding back laughter, or maybe if Nina, my lifelong crush, wasn't there to partake in the laughter; how my mother knew to invite her, I’ll never know. But, of course, here we were.
I wish you would all just go away.
Such a silly thing to wish for, and for such a small reason. But how was I to know that my wish would come true, and so literally. I blew out the candle to try and save the moment, but didn't even wait for the smoke to fade–or for my mom to serve me the first slice. Instead, I pushed her out of the doorway, ran through my friends in the hall, even shoving Nina a bit harder than I intended, and locked myself in the bathroom. I sat on the floor and cried, thinking of how I was ever going to show my face around these people again. They kept knocking on the door and calling my name, taking turns even–seeing which one of them might convince me to come out. I started thinking about it when Nina said, “Please come out. We’re all here for you, and nobody meant to laugh.We were just caught off guard.”
I started to look around the bathroom for ways to cover myself up, at least to walk back to my room and put some clothes on, and the towel hanging from over the shower curtain rod was my only real option. I started to wrap it around my waist when I felt my house shake with a bang so loud my ears instantly started ringing in a way similar, but much worse, than when I leave large concert venues.
My legs shook as I trudged to the bathroom door, forgetting about the towel I had dropped. I pulled my way out of the bathroom and felt a warm breeze grace my torso, as my house had a new opening in it, thanks to the school bus that must’ve lost control on my street, crossed over my lawn, through my house walls, and now crushed multiple bodies on my living room floor while the driver sat unconscious–likely dead–in his seat.
Either the ringing in my ears was finally calming down, or the screams only got louder as the bus’s engine erupted in flames. My eyes shot to the bottom of the bus, as I noticed my mom crawling out from under the frontside of the bus, and I took a step toward her, just as the bus completely exploded, setting the rest of my living room ablaze with it. Though I was still in shock, I knew that she was gone.
“Come on, this way!” a voice behind me yelled. I turned and saw Nina waving me toward my bedroom, and remembered the window I had in there. I looked around for any other escape routes and decided that this was it. I went to her, stumbling over my own feet and opened my window. “I’m gonna check for others,” Nina said.
Speechless, I only nodded and crawled to my escape. Once a minute or two passed without anyone following me through the window, I went back to it and looked inside. Smoke burned my eyes as I put my head inside and yelled Nina’s name. I froze when I saw her crawling from the hallway, her clothing and hair covered in flames and her skin red and boiling. She reached her hand for me, and screamed, “Help!” with her last bit of energy before her arm and head flopped into my carpeted floor. I collapsed on my grass and sat there until the firemen arrived and pulled me away from the house.
Worst birthday ever.