Projects > Story-of-the-Day > summon

Nobody shows up at home until eight, so I spend most of my time after school at the library. Normally I just sit at a desk with my ear buds and listen to music or post photos of myself. I was bored today though and went into the Special Collections room. They have a bunch of old books that you can just read in a special room.

I look around anxiously. I found a small book written in fancy calligraphy. It's not titled, but inside are a few incantations. The foreword says that the words must be spoken in an open forest. This all looks like something a goth-minded person would love. Now I'm not really into the whole black death sort of thing at all. I think I have maybe one black shirt. But it seems like fun to try out just to see if anything would happen. I look around again and don't see anybody watching me. I flip to the end of the book and peel off the RFID tag, then slip the book in my backpack.

My heart is pounding as I walk towards the door. I feel sure that there was some security camera pointed at me, and at any moment a guard would show up to grab me. Is this something the police are called for? Would I get a criminal record and never be able to get a job? Too late. I walk out like I do every day and nothing happens.

Living in rural Vermont has many disadvantages when you are a teenager. There's a real lack of any sort of culture, things like museums. There's nowhere to hang out at other than the Dairy Queen or McDonalds. But if you need open forest to recite incantations, then you're set in spades. I ran across the street from the library and within two minutes could only see trees around me.

I took the book out of my backpack and flipped to a page with an incantation that says it will summon a demon. "Watatoka giza mapepo." Nothing happened. I tried saying it again, going slowly to make sure I pronounced each word correctly. Still nothing. Well, this was all really worth risking becoming a criminal over. I start walking back and evaluating the risk of bringing the book back and getting caught in the act of returning it. Suddenly I heard a whooshing sound and felt a burst of cold air shoot from behind me. Startled I turned around. There was nothing there.

Suddenly, a bright point of light appeared, floating about three meters in the air. It hung there for about ten seconds while I considered approaching it. Then it started slowly moving, leaving a trail of light. It traced out a perfect circle almost touching the ground. Just as it closed the loop, the inside of the circle turned black. I moved my head back and forth a few times. It looks like a hole in reality. I took my phone out, this is going to get lots of likes on Instagram!

The portal disappeared as it stepped out of the black. It was a large creature that could very adequately by described as a demon. Hoof looking feet. Curvy horns. Black/red tinted skin. It checked off all these types of boxes. "You dare summon me mortal?" It had the typical demon sounding voice you would expect. Super deep and rough. It took a step towards me.

I turned to run, but figured that anything with a hoof could outrun me. Maybe there's another incantation to get rid of the demon. I quickly grabbed the book and opened it to a random page: "Lazima kuoa mimi."

The demon stopped moving towards me. It cocked its head and looked at me. "I accept. It is done."

"Umm what?" I looked down at the page I just read. It was titled "Proposal of Eternal Marriage." Mom's not going to like this.