The goat head was starting to smell like a moldy fart as it lay there, seeping blood onto the garage floor. Stephanie could barely contain herself, “How much longer do we have to kneel? My calves are killing me. I’m starting to get a headache.“

Her circle of friends, friends who forced her into this, were smiling, she felt like she was the only one who didn’t get the joke. The candles weren’t scented enough to rid the air of the grotesque nausea.

“Shhh, I’m about to finish the incantation.” Sarah had always been into scary movies but this was ridiculous. Stephanie never understood how she became part of their clique anyways. The words she recited were probably from something she found online. “Hear us, Kalfu. You are being summoned to this realm of earthly existence. Hear us, Kalfu. We compel you to rise from your demon grave and grant us a boon.”

The other girls chuckled while Stephanie shifted her legs with a halfcocked expression. She wasn’t timid about showing the others that this was a dumb idea or that she was bored. Taylor, her hair always in perfect condition, was looking back, nodding in agreement.

The eyes of the goat were like decaying grapes, the only other face that was looking back. She considered smashing the goat and walking back inside. The cup of gin on the counter was calling her name. It would be just her luck if someone had poured it out.

“Hail to Lazarus of the underworld. Hail to the spirits of the crossroads. Hail–“

“To the chief?” Taylor interrupted Sarah, who was looking stupid with her arms stretched out.

The girls laughed and Haylee said, “Seriously, get to the good part.”

Why did they even let Sarah into their group? It wasn’t like she had the same interests. She didn’t even like Starbucks. But the way in which she was blathering on in a random language made it seem like she didn’t care. The words came out like diarrhea. At least the others found this entertaining. There must’ve been a draft going through the garage because Stephanie shivered. She wasn’t usually scared and didn’t intend to reveal that to the others.

“What is that?” As Sarah’s spell chant came to a crescendo Haylee looked to the mirror over the work table. “That. What is that?”

All the girls looked at once when they saw their friend’s angst-ridden face. The mirror fell to the floor and shattered with a crash. It jarred Stephanie, causing her heart to skip a beat.

“Oh my god!” Someone exclaimed.

“We’re done. I’m done.” Stephanie stood, already to the kitchen door. “You guys can do whatever.”

The other stood as well, except for Sarah. “You can’t leave. We have to close the spell. It shouldn’t be left incomplete.”

Haylee and Taylor were muttering something about bad luck and who would clean up the mess. The crayon drawn circle and dying candles looked almost sad. Stephanie would have her brother clean it up tomorrow and immediately opened her phone, only focused on distancing herself from the creepy affair. Bobby would never believe her. It was pathetic to think she would have to tell anyone at all, even her boyfriend. She twirled her hair in her fingers and bumped her leg on the coffee table while she laid down on the couch.

The next thing she remembered was waking up the next morning, a persistent state of fogginess numbed her senses. Her phone battery was drained. She bumped her leg on the coffee table, the same place she hit it before. The pain reminded her of the night before. Had they really tried to resurrect an ancient demon? She laughed to herself but soon realized her phone had been drained. She was so drunk she forgot to charge it.

In the kitchen she grabbed a teacup which slipped out of her hand and broke against the floor. She cursed and leaned down, hitting her head on the counter, falling back. Is everything going to go wrong today? The others were still passed out and didn’t hear a thing as she plugged in her phone and cleaned up another mess. With a towel she chucked the broken cup into the trash as hard as she could.

The time on the microwave read: “11:34.” She cursed again. Bobby was probably pissed, being left at the train station. He had warned her about being late. This might be the final straw. She sighed heavily and wanted to cry. Even the tea that she finally made tasted bitter and watered down. Everything felt like it was falling apart. Maybe the seance last night had left her cursed. It wouldn’t be surprising since it seemed the whole universe was against her.

Stephanie searched for her keys after tossing coats around wildly. They weren’t in her coat pocket. Crap. If they were anywhere, they’d be in her car, sitting on the center console. She unplugged her phone at 1%. Jumping toward the door she slid on the carpet and smacked her nose, trying to grab for the handle. When she was outside, she felt something warm on her lips. Just her luck. It was bleeding. As she came to her car the door was locked and her keys were in the middle compartment as predicted. How could things get worse? Bobby’s face appeared in her mind as time slowly ran out, with that same look of disappointment.

She pulled on the car door even harder, hoping somehow the door would magically open. The handle broke, her body flew backwards onto the ground, while blood from her nose sprayed her face and forehead. The door opened a crack. Good enough. It was only when she got inside that she realized the passenger side door was unlocked. This day can go straight to hell, not like it wasn’t already there.

The car started with its typical rumble. Another sign that she would soon owe more money to a scumbag mechanic. She sped toward Bobby’s place, knowing by this point he would be home. She tried to plug in her phone into the charger but that too was busted from when she pulled it from the wall socket. She begged the gods of misfortune to stop this madness but even the traffic was against her.

After nearly being struck by three different vehicles she finally made it to Bobby’s apartment. The construction in front of his place blocked all the visitor parking. Something in her intuition told her that there was another bout of bad luck headed her way so she parked a few blocks away. She became surrounded by a sense of gloom. She choked it up to not taking her meds and walked down the street, watching her back, keeping her head on a swivel. The danger was all consuming, drawing her attention to the smallest details. What did Sarah say last night? Kalfu was a demon of calamity, or something. “The lord of the crossroads.” All nonsense, all pointless of course, but what if it were true?

She checked her phone. There wasn’t enough bars for a signal. Another setback. With the screen facing her she held the phone high. No change. But in the reflection of the screen a black form was moving along with her. She spun, wide-eyed. No one was there. Just an empty side walk. This day needed to end. Her hair was frizzy and the hangover made her feel bloated.

She had to keep trying. He might not even be home. Again, she raised the phone and held it out towards the buildings but the signal was only one bar. The sun cut into her eyes like laser beams. A loud crack was heard above but she was too miserable to look. If she had she would have seen the large sheet of glass that had fallen from a worker’s hoist. A triangle shard cut through her wrists and before she could realize both the phone and her hands were lying on the ground. Her mind refused to accept what happened and she reached down to pick them up but she couldn’t.

She moved her arms in protest, seeing the crimson stumps and the bone inside. Quickly she lowered her head in dismay, barely making a sound and held the stumps to her chest. She didn’t want anyone to see. Workers came to the site of the accident but she was already wondering away, adrift in madness and thought. They didn’t try to stop her. When she crossed the street to Bobby’s front yard the grass seemed so comfortable and inviting. Her head swirled and the grass smelled like poison. Every one of her senses became numb and cold. It was only when she reached the front porch, crawling and struggling to breathe, that she realized she forgot her phone.

For a moment there was a feeling of loss, like when her dog died, then there was nothing again. The sweat that was now cold dripped a copper taste into her mouth. The blood was still on her face. As the door opened, men screaming from the streets behind, Bobby came rushing out. She couldn’t see him, her last thoughts were those of disappointment, knowing that his last memories of her would be of a freak accident victim, of an ugly, blood smeared face. In the same moment, she could barely remember the resurrection spell that brought her this cursed fate.