Sally's Portal Ch. 01

"You're going to make it hard for me to walk home," he grimaced.

"No one's stalking you," Sally narrowed her eyes.

Bren raised an eyebrow and shrugged it off.

"We don't want you to walk home anyway," Kendra told him.

"What?"

"You wanna tell the next part?" Sally asked her friend.

Kendra nodded and inhaled, pulling her fist regretfully away from her mouth.

-

Two nights later, overcome by fear, Sally showed up in Kendra's bedroom.

"What's the matter?" Kendra asked, instantly assessing the fear in her friend's expression.

"I still feel like some creep is following me," Sally said.

The black circles under her eyes and the dilation of her pupils told Kendra everything she needed to know.

"Holy shit, Sal," she said. "Have you actually seen the guy?"

Sally shook her head.

"But you still feel like you're being followed?"

"I was in my room," Sally said. "Two nights ago. And there was this bang at my window."

"Whoa," Kendra's eyes widened. "I remember hearing that. Should we call the cops?"

"I don't know," Sally held her hands out, palms up. "What would we tell them? I'll just sound like a paranoid idiot. The blinds were completely closed. No one could see in."

Kendra frowned but couldn't disagree.

"Can we," Sally started. "Can we sleep together? Just tonight?"

Kendra nodded, "You're probably just freaked out, right? Get a good night's sleep and you'll be fine?"

That night, lying in bed next to each other, the two girls talked, trying to keep things light and simple before they slept, but Kendra sensed the stilted, awkward way their conversation went, and it soon felt as if she was interviewing Sally instead of talking to her friend.

"Still worried, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Do you feel him now? Like he's watching you?"

Sally shook her head, probably. Kendra couldn't make certain in the dark.

"Alright," Kendra sighed, even as she tried to firm up her voice. "Let's try and get some sleep."

They stayed quiet for a while, both of them trying to find sleep, but eventually Sally rolled over.

"This is so dumb," she told her friend, her voice heavy with frustration. "There's nothing to be scared of. I was just playing with myself and probably some bird hit the window."

"You were masturbating?"

"Yeah."

"Just like at the party?"

"Um, yeah, actually," Sally's word came out slowly. "That is weird. That's what made me think it was the same guy."

"But no one could actually spy on you," Kendra said. "Not inside the house."

"Not without cameras or something," Sally pointed out. "But cameras don't bang on windows when I start masturbating."

Kendra muttered, "You're not horny right now are you?"

"Lying here next to you?" Sally huffed. "Sorry, you're not my type."

"That's not what I mean," Kendra sighed. "I'm saying all this stuff only happens when you're horny."

"It's only happened twice," Sally pointed out.

"Not much of a sample, I admit."

"But?"

"But what?" Kendra asked.

"You were going to add something, I could hear it in your voice."

"Well," Kendra drawled out, "what if you played with yourself?"

"That stalker is going to magically appear if I masturbate?" Sally asked.

"It sounds stupid when you say it out loud," Kendra replied.

"Because it is stupid," Sally told her.

"Just try it," Kendra said. "Convince yourself it's okay."

Sally took several deep breaths, trying to find some kind of calm.

"Next to you?" she said. "In your bed?"

"Either it's fake, in which case you have a problem," Kendra pointed out. "If that is the case, you need to see a therapist."

"And if it isn't fake?" Sally asked. "If something actually happens?"

"Then we have a really weird stalker," Kendra finished. "And we call the police."

Sally inhaled softly and breathed out slowly, "It has been a while."

"Two days is too long for you?"

"Well, four days," Sally rustled the covers as she moved her hands underneath the blanket, "I couldn't finish the other night."

"Right."

"Hush for a few seconds," Sally begged.

Kendra listened quietly as little vibrations shook the mattress. Turning on her side to afford her friend a little privacy, her ear became flat to the bed, allowing her to hear Sally's heart start to pick up its pace. Quick breaths came hard on the heels of the accelerated beating. Sally let out a little whine of a gasp and the bed shook suddenly.

"Whuh?" Sally gasped.

The bed jumped again, substantially more than it ought to for a single girl playing with herself.

Sally moaned, stroking herself harder and the bed began to shake as if caught in an earthquake.

"Sal..." Kendra warned, turning to face her friend in the dark.

"It's fine," Sally whimpered. "I need to-"

The window started rattling, as if a storm howled outside.

"Shit, Sal!" Kendra called out. "Do you hear-"

"It's fine," her friend begged.

At the moment, a pair of glowing eyes, like embers crinkling in the pit of a bonfire, appeared over the bed in the space between their feet.

"Shit!" Kendra shouted, leaping up for the light switch.

"Christ!" Sally yelled out, shielding her eyes against the light.

For a split second, in the blinding light, a black, vapor-like form appeared in the air, the eyes still glowing faintly, fighting a losing battle against the brightness of the halogen bulbs. The moment passed and the room appeared empty except for the two sweating, panicked girls.

"What the fuck was that?" Kendra whimpered. "What have you been doing?"

"I don't know, Kendra. I don't know."

=============================

Bren stared at Kendra, noting the weepiness and worry in her eyes. She held his gaze only for a moment before looking down at the table. He turned to look at Sally, who held her chin up firmly, daring him to say anything.

"Well," he choked out.

Sally continued waiting, folding her arms across her chest.

"Good story," he admitted. "Had me going. But you jumped the shark with the last bit."

"I didn't imagine you'd believe us right off," Sally retorted.

"Uh-huh," Bren's cheek twitched. "But besides messing with my head, why are you doing this?"

"We need your help," Sally said.

"My help?" Bren looked back and forth between the two girls.

"Either we're having some kind of weird hallucination," Sally explained, "Or something really happened."

"We need a third witness," Kendra blurted out.

"You're still going to push this ridiculous story?" Bren asked, his shoulders sagging. "Come on."

"Bren," Sally's insomnia blackened eyes wearily looked into his. "We need your help. I need to sleep."

Bren sighed and closed his eyes as he swept both of his hands back through his hair, adding, "Seriously?"

"What's your worst case scenario, Bren?" Sally asked. "You sit in a room with us while I play with myself. What do you lose?"

Sally watched him lower his eyebrows, glaring into her eyes, trying to figure out what trick she planned to play on him. He turned his face slightly, his expression turning darker and suspicious. Finally, he blew out his breath and looked at the ceiling.

"I can't see it," Bren admitted. "If this is some kind of game, I can't figure out what shenanigan you're pulling."

"So?"

"I'll do it," Bren held his arms up in surrender. "How's this magic trick of yours work? Do we have to wait for midnight or a full moon or what?"