Virgin Offering

“Kate, you don’t gotta be such a killjoy about it. We’re going to the diner, that’s about it. If you don’t wanna go, then don’t go, but it’s not gonna be as much fun without you.” -Ryan, 8:35

“Don’t worry, Kate. Like I… know you don’t get out much, but you’re gonna be with us and we aren’t doing anything crazy or anything. Just hanging out. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you, might be kinda nice to talk. It’s not too late to come with us. Just saying.” -Ted, 9:09

“Hey. Hey Kate. Stop being such a pussy and get out here. I know you’re not doing anything else. Don’t you wanna see your friends on Halloween? I know we’re not kids anymore, but there’s more to meeting up than trick-or-treating. Get your ass over here. We miss you.” -David, 10:33

Kate slouched on the floor beside her bed. She’d started to ignore the messages they left. Not now, she growled inside her head. The girl already committed herself to spending this Halloween in her room.

She peeked out of her closed blinds. It got dark so fast tonight. And the way it looked out there now, things were only getting darker, just like the woman had said. It was a strange sight- the streetlights seemed helpless against the blackness… like a Winter solstice come early, it seemed to drown out everything spare the anxiety holding her heart.

I can’t go. Not after that.

The lady in the store that week was older than anyone she had ever seen before. She was buying bottles and bottles of some kind of hand cream or lotion, the things filling her two carts to the brim. Kate was already nervous in public, so when that woman approached her, ignoring her mother and everyone else in the general store she’d been dragged to in an attempt to get her to finally buy some new clothes- she couldn’t have been any more paralyzed than she was, watching that walking sack of flesh try to talk to her.

“It’s happening dear. The 31st it’s happening. Dark. So dark. Are you excited?” She’d laughed. Her accent was something Kate couldn’t quite place- her appearance was too ancient to differentiate. “The darkest in the decade. You’ll be there, won’t you?” The old bat nodded. Kate felt obliged to nod too, grabbing hold of her mother. She immediately wished she hadn’t, seeing that woman walk away laughing the way she did. With that, Kate swore never to leave her front door on this wretched Halloween, the mere 20th of her life. It was a sudden and superstitious kind of fear, but accepting new phobias was all but second nature to the panic-ridden child.

Her shivering thighs still placed firmly on the dirty gray carpet, she received another message from Ryan. It was troublesome, but- she couldn’t resist, picking the phone up just to hear her friend’s speech even if it only made her night that much harder, going right back on the promise she’d just made to herself not to let their voices in any longer.

“Hey. Kate. I’ve… gotta admit, even knowing you, I never expected for this to happen a second time. Is there something you’re not telling us? Like… whatever it is, we can work it out, you don’t have to suffer in silence like last time. You've come so far since then. Are you not feeling good about yourself…? We aren’t dressing up, there’s nothing to worry about… look, I want you to be here. I can’t lie to you, so please, don’t lie to me. What’s going on?”

The recording ended before she was ready for it to. Returning to the overbearing silence of her room, she stifled a cry.

“Oh… what the hell.”

She stood and wiped her face. Ryan was right. She didn’t want to spend another Halloween alone. There was nothing to worry about. What could be more embarrassing than not letting yourself enjoy time with your favorite people in the world all because some poor old foreign lady with late-stage dementia ranted about some nonsense to you? The thought was humiliating, and she wouldn’t take it any longer. Setting aside her unwashed shirt for the only nice dress she had, Kate left her room, and, seeing as her family was out trick-or-treating, stepped right out the front door. She breathed. This wouldn’t be hard. They hadn’t gone far.

The neighborhood was sparse as usual. By the time she left it there was seldom anything around her but the empty road and the hilly grass around it- that is, if you could see it. She needed her phone’s light just to get around- even the cars that occasionally ripped past the road looked like they barely knew where they were going. It was only getting creepier out here as the night progressed, but she ignored it. The diner wasn’t far.

She felt the chill hit her bare arms. She’d already messaged her friends she’d changed her mind, but hadn’t so much as received a single response. She couldn’t help but feel a little angry. Walking all alone in the dark like this, she… didn’t have any power not to feel scared. Not to feel like… maybe, somehow, something was out here with her.

She surely hoped that wasn't the case... She didn't need more things to worry about tonight.

Then she began to hear something.

It wasn’t quite like they were in pain, but the dozen- no, dozens- of voices just down the low, gentle drop to her right were quietly crying out, as if they were desperately longing for something just out of reach. Almost a wail, not quite a shriek- no matter how she squinted her eyes, she couldn’t make out what was lying on that blackness below, what all could possibly be making that sound.

Then she held up her light.

She dropped her phone in an instant. The image she saw for only a second was permanently ingrained in her mind- Ted, her own friend, frenzied and unclothed, gripping tight her arms as he pulled her in- at his loin, the sagging, flopping rear of the very same ancient woman she’d met inside of the store.

She held tight her mouth shut with her hands, taking a step back as what the noises were became very clear to her.

“Hey!” Ted laughed from far down below, startled. “Kate- was that you?”

The way he spoke, it was like he felt only the slightest of routine embarrassment at the occurrence. Even though Kate wanted to look again, check if she’d really seen what she thought she saw, she couldn’t bear to do so- until the light of a car came by and took away her choice in the matter.

In the short streak of the car’s beams before it disappeared forever, she saw them all. The naked bodies of dozens of cellulose-covered elders, men and women of ages ranging anywhere from at least eighty to something almost beyond what was even mortally possible- and among them, in a festering, sprawling orgy like something not of this time- lied and writhed Ted and David, indulging with the rest of them, the latter not far from the former as he was revealed, lying on the grass with a white-haired skeleton of a woman on top.

“Oh my god- T-Ted? David!”

The familiar laugh echoed from the crowd.

“What’s the matter?” David yelled back at her from inside the horde. “Finally- get bored at home?” He ceased to speak, his words fading into the grunts and moans of the rest of the crowd.

“O-oh- oh my god.” Kate collapsed to her knees, her mind failing to fully react to the inconceivable sight.

A man’s hand fell upon her shoulder.

“Ah!” She scream-cried, hoisting up her phone to shine it upward. But as she looked up, she saw what else but his face, the only thing that could possibly comfort her in this moment- Ryan, his red hair standing out even in the night.

“Kate?” He chuckled. “You alright?”

“T-they, they—“ She muttered. It was useless to try.

“Guys, I’m back!” He cried down to the clearing below the hill.

“Good!” Ted responded, presumably still forcing his way into the decrepit senior. Kate hid behind her hands, even though there was nothing to see. “Thanks for parking the car! Made up your mind yet?”

“I dunno!” He cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting down to his friends in the crowd. “You still having fun down there?”

“Uh, shit yes!” David replied. Kate’s head spun even more, hearing all this nonchalance. Ryan just chuckled again.

“R-Ryan.” She seized his arm. “Ryan. What- brought you here- I-“

“We were just passing by on the way to the diner. David said we should stop.”

“Why are they- I mean, why are they down there…”

“They wanted to! Sure seems to have turned out. I mean, listen to this!” He cupped his ear to the sound of the coitus. “Fuck’n crazy.” He laughed.

“But- Ryan-“

“Ah, you wouldn’t get it. It’s just a bit of fun. Stuff like this doesn’t always have to be a big deal.”

“So… why aren’t you down there…?”

Like something had crawled inside his head, he just laughed at her again, looking right past her flustered, terrified face.

“You know me, I’m indecisive. Maybe once things calm down I’ll dip my toes in.”

“Actually- can you- stay… here, actually, I’m- I’m really scared, and- and I don’t know what’s going on, or-“

The girl laughed behind her.

Kate nearly fell over, only catching a glimpse of the nymph’s blonde pigtails and dove-white dress skipping by before she giggled her way into the shadows. Breathing heavily, Kate watched as Ryan’s head followed her moments, whistling as it did.

“Now who was that…?” He grinned, pondering.

“R-Ryan.”

From out of the blackness, the girl whistled back. Soon a white dress landed in their little pocket of light as she discarded it, and Ryan’s grin only grew.

“See you later, Kate. Don’t wait up.”

“Ryan!”

It was too late. He dissolved just as he appeared, vanishing into the night as their laughs descended down the hill into the pile of lust below. Soon they were nothing but another pair of whimpers in the trembling, groaning masses.

Kate sniffled, her own brain cracking under the pressure of this chaotic night.

“There’s no need to cry.”

She pointed her phone ahead at the road. She hasn’t noticed him before, but somehow- a man, alone, was sitting on the nearest bench.

“Who…?” She whimpered meaninglessly, watching the well-dressed man write something in his notebook.

“Oh, don’t mind me.” He adjusted his simple brown hat that matched his jacket and pants. “Are your friends participating in tonight’s ritual?”

“Ritual…?”

“Yes, ritual. Er- you don’t mind if we get a bit closer to the fireworks, do you? Stay here if you like.” Before she could object, the only hint of sanity in this bizarre dream walked across the road and began to step down the hill under the watchful eye of her light.

“W-wait!” Kate begrudgingly followed him, the two both taking their seats on the grassy hill, the moans below only becoming that much closer. Trying to keep her body still, the girl focused on making sense of the situation. “Who… just who are you?”

“A researcher. Cyrus Fenderich, astounding pleasure to meet you. You know I’ve seen this festival four times now? I’ve participated myself, on several occasions… but that’s not my plan this time, I assure you. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Who… are these people? Why do they-“

“Fengarionisians. The island of their origin is near Greece, though its sovereignty is disputed. You can find their members all throughout the world- their lifespans stray above the average to quite a degree.”

“I’ve never heard of them…”

“They can see things. Ataraxites, they call them. Little lights in the darkness. That’s why on dark nights like these- the darkest holiday nights predicted to fall throughout the given decade- the local groups all gather in public to celebrate."

“Can’t they d-do that alone…?

“No, no. See, that’s the most fascinating thing about them, that they take advantage of their innate abilities to this degree. Kind of impressive, is it not? They’re nothing if not bold…”

Kate pretended to laugh. It was not convincing.

“Why are… my friends there…?”

“Newcomers are welcomed to join. See, just look-“ He seized her hand and waved it against her will, her tugging down on his arm to no avail.

“H-hey! Let me go!”

She froze as the invisible crowd howled with laughter.

“Kate, what?” She could just barely hear Ted cracking up.

“You want to join?” Some old man cackled. “Hm… I don’t see any space, do you?”

“I’ve already got my hands full with her little friend!” The hag riding Ted moaned. Kate wanted to bury herself in the ground. Cyrus giggled.

“Well, that’s a first. Don’t take it so personally! I’m sure they’re only having a bit of fun.”

“I don’t like this…” Kate mumbled into her knees.

“Are you scared of the ritual?”

“Of course I am!” Rising out of her legs, she yelled at the researcher.

“Scared… or jealous?”

“W-what are you…”

“You can’t be happy about the way they’re treating you when your friends were so easily accepted.” He smiled knowingly at the girl like some kind of father. “It is infuriating, is it not? Tell me- did you love any of those boys?”

“I don’t-“

“Why, it’s only kind to share, girl! My word, young people these days.”

“I don’t p-plan on participating.”

“Well, why not? They can’t exactly throw you out if you run in stark naked.” He eyed the girl up and down.

“I… I should… call the cops.”

“For what?” Cyrus recoiled, offended. “We are both incredibly lucky to be here. No harm is being committed in what these people are doing. Are you a narc?”

“…I’m not a narc…” Kate muttered.

“So sit back and enjoy the show. Here- why don’t you take these.”

Digging around in his bag, she thought of a million terrible possibilities before the man pulled out two pairs of military-grade night-vision goggles, forcing them onto her head before strapping on his own. "Ow!" She shrieked as it folded her ears down on themselves. "What are you-"

Kate froze solid and gasped.

“Haha! Finally seeing what’s going on at the moment, ay? What a tremendous sight- I’ve seen nothing like it before!”

In the center of the display, right in front of their eyes, she witnessed them. Dyed in night-vision green, they set upon her- with the young blonde pigtailed nymph as their focus, her friend’s every sexual will was controlled to enter her, a twisted display of devotion with one of them on every end of her body.

They looked happy.

She laughed in Kate’s face, out of more joy than simple schadenfreude, as tears flooded the lenses of the virgin’s NVGs.

Cyrus laughed for the hundredth time.

“Doesn’t she look like she’s having fun.” He smiled. Kate grit her teeth.

“Oh- change your mind?” The researcher gasped as she threw the goggles into his lap, alongside the jacket she’d been wearing. “Bravo! I do so love seeing young people come out of their shells. You’ll be much happier when you let go.”

He made sure to watch as the woman stripped herself of everything left on her. Running headfirst into the crowd, forgetting all her anxieties, the nude entry made it clear that, no matter the circumstances, she didn’t wish to be left behind.

Kate shivered as she found herself in a horde of silence. She could sense their eyes on her, but nothing was happening. The grass on her feet and the cold on her back was all she could feel, spare the fear. If there was a hell, this was it.

"H-hello...? Ryan...?"

She looked all around to no avail. Then, they began.

“Paramorfoménos… Paramorfoménos…”

It was a low rumble at first. The oldest of the crowd moved in first, but the creature in their midst was the immediate focus of everyone there. Soon they all joined in- even her friends.

“Paramorfoménos… Paramorfoménos…”

“Ted? …David? R-Ryan…?”

“Paramorfoménos… Paramorfoménos…”

“S-stay back…”

As they increased in volume, she felt them grow not only angrier, but closer. Much closer.

“Paramorfoménos! Paramorfoménos!”

“HELP ME!”

“PARAFOMÉNOS!”

Helplessly, Kate stepped back, but there was nowhere to run as they howled at her, leaping at her pale body and tearing at it with their fingernails, stripping her of her skin, her hair, her eyes, her loins, every part of her that showed, the researcher simply watching as her body was turned into a red mist of sacrifice spilling over the ritual’s participants.

Watching them bathe in her blood, Cyrus finished his notes and shut his book. He found it so satisfying to have successfully witnessed a part of the ritual he’d only heard tell of before. With full notes and a smile on his face, he left the Fengarionisian people and their new additions behind just as he had so many times before.