Charlie Hoffman's Story

"But any place and all places can be The Twilight Zone" The TV flickered ominously and PJ clutched the James's throw pillow closer to his form. The traditional Twilight Zone theme began to get louder and louder - CRASH - PJ jumped nearly six feet off the couch nearly taking the decorative coffee table with it. "Damn it" He muttered under his breath as he collected himself and made his way to the basement door. Before opening the door he hesitated and stopped, pressing his ear against the door slightly the muffled voices of the kids flooding through the thin oak door. After contemplating for a moment he finally cracked open the door and peeked inside. He could barely see the outline of the kids past the stairs leading down to the basement. "Hey! Is everything alright down there? Fletcher didn't break anything did he?" He called out raising an eyebrow.

Wes all but yelled at his friends as they raced to go check the dice he had rolled that had bounded off the table and tumbled under the tall book shelf. If they weren’t careful—CRASH. Great. They weren’t careful. His book collection all but reigned down on his scuffle of friends while they still frantically searched to find the dice. It was a matter of life and death, however. If the dice had landed on anything but a 3 or 11, the Demogorgon would eat every single one of their heads. Ugh! None of this would have happened if Luke hadn’t slammed his hands down on the table earlier which caused the dice to fly off. Wes with all the frustration he had built up over the course of the night hit his forehead on the fold out table they had set up for their Dungeons and Dragons game. Trying his very hardest not to yell and flip out, he only lifted his head up when PJ’s voice carried down the steps to the basement. Sliding his reading glasses back up his nose, Wes hollered back, “nothing’s broken other than my patience!” Luke popped his head out from behind the couch rolling his eyes at the boy. “Oh can it Wes, I don’t see you looking for the dice”. Wes shot him a look of complete exasperation as he replied, "that's because I'm the game keeper and way more civilized than you."

PJ shook his head a hint of a smile on his face, “alright, your parents should be home soon so you guys better start cleaning up”. As if on cue, Wesley's mother and father strolled through the front door after struggling (slightly drunkenly) to get the keys within the door. PJ's attention strayed from the basement to the door as he smiled at the rather intoxicated Mr. and Mrs. James. Mr. James was the first to greet Pj as he hung his coat on the door, "PJ! Nice to see the house hasn't burnt to the ground yet. Hope the kids haven't been into too much trouble". PJ let out a small laugh, "No, not anything too drastic. I didn't let Wes anywhere near the oven this time, lesson learned". He couldn't believe the boy actually tried to bake a cake on a 500-degree level for 50 minutes. He was lucky all that happened was some serious smoke inhalation and a burned towel.

"Found it!" Christopher's voice rang out from behind the half fallen bookshelf, proudly holding the lost die in his hand. "Thank god, I couldn't stand to hear those two goons fight anymore" Charlie spoke shooting a curt glare at Wesley and Luke. Wes grunted in response to Charlie's comment. Standing up from the table, he walked over to Christopher and asked "did you see what number the dice landed on?" He was honestly a little nervous to see what would be the fate of their party. Dungeons and Dragons was serious business, after all. Christopher shifted back and forth on his heels as all eyes in the room shifted to him, he saw what was on the dice but he knew none of them really wanted to hear what it had landed on. "Oh, uhm I actually erhm didn't catch what it landed on". There was a collective groan of annoyance from the others.

A knock at the door startled Mrs. James out of a small giggle fit as Mr. James retold a story about how once when Wes was a toddler, he cut himself on his science set and ran up and down the hallways screaming about how he was dying while blood dribbled from his finger and splattered on their new wall paper. PJ was grateful for the sudden knock on the door distracting Mr. James from his usual banter. Opening up the white painted chipped door, Audrey Fletcher offered a small smile as she was ushered in. "Hey mister and Mrs. James. Is Luke ready to go?" Audrey felt absolutely drained from the stupid date she was just on. She honestly didn't want to go in the first place, but her friends pressured her too. The guy was on the basketball team, and while he was nice, he could barley hold a conversation. Not that conversation was what he was really after. Audrey basically had to tackle him to stop him from throwing himself at her at the end of the night. "He should be, PJ dear would you mind getting Luke for Audrey?" Mrs. James said turning her gaze to him. "Yeah, of course... Hey Audrey" He offered the girl a small rather dorky smile before heading to the basement door. Pj only ever saw her when she came to get her brother and occasionally at school. She was rather quiet and definitely not apart of the crowd that he hung out with, but he gathered that she was sweet. Audrey offered back her own small "hey" to PJ, slightly curious if he knew the boy she had just gone on the date with. They were kind of in the same "sporty" group. Oh god, she hoped he wouldn't hear that she knee'd the kid in the balls. Now she definitely wasn't looking forward to school. Mrs. James gave Audrey a gentle nudge with her shoulder, both eyebrows quirked up promiscuously as she stated "PJ is such a nice boy, isn't he?" Great.

PJ ventured down to the basement, his eyes widening slightly at the mess. "What happened down here?" Luke gave him a cheeky smile, "The demogorgon". Charlie piped in after him, "Oh Peej it was horrible, he destroyed everything". PJ let out a small laugh staring at the rather innocent faces of the kids. "Really? That sounds terrible! Did they demogorgon happen to have the name Luke Christopher Charlie Wes?" This wasn't the first time the kids had blamed their mess on one of their imaginary game characters. "That seems like a pretty long name for a monster" Luke said sarcastically, "I'm pretty sure its name was Wesley James". Wesley threw up his hands rather dramatically as he exclaimed, "I had no part of this! It was all those three!" Charlie whipped her head around to Wesley, "Excuse me? I had no part in this James. It was you three". Wes raised his eyebrow at the girl, stating firmly, "I don't recall running head first into a book shelf like some blonde girl I know." PJ rolled his eyes and gestured to Luke, "Alright you guys can sort this out later, Luke, time to go your sisters here". Luke let out an overexerted sigh, "Great, Audrey the Monster is here. Can't wait to here about how disastrous her date went tonight". PJ covered his mouth sightly to keep from laughing, "Fletcher. Move it". Luke frowned and trudged his way upstairs rather angrily, he stopped at the top of the stairs and leaned over the banister, "see you guys tomorrow!" The boy made his way up the stairs and glared when he saw his sister, who was currently getting chatted up by Wesley's parents.

"You two as well, I'm sure your mom is almost here Charlie" PJ stated nodding to the two stragglers. Charlie grabbed her coat and made her way over to the stairs, "I won't forget that comment James" She threatened before heading upstairs followed by PJ. Wes stuck his tongue out at her. The room was rather quiet now with just Christopher and Wes. Anyone could tell the quietest boy had something to get off his chest, he was fidgeting like a mouse. Glancing over at his friend, Wes's arms that were previously crossed over his chest dropped to his side, immediately reading the tenseness in his face. "Hey, is everything okay, Chris?" He questioned, taking a small step forwards towards the brown haired boy. The sound of hands claping together startled him as Wes heard his mothers voice call, "Come on, everyone up the stairs! Mama is going to bed!" Christopher hesitated slightly as he looked from the stairs to Wes's concerned expression. He set the dice on the table slowly, and guiltily looked at his friend. "I lied. I did see what the dice rolled. It was a four. The demogorgon, it got us". Wes's eyes locked onto the four on the dice. Was it unfortunate? Yes. Did everyone have to know? No. Walking towards the table, Wesley picked up the dice and inspected it for a short second, before setting it down onto the table with the 3 facing upward. Turning to look at Chris with a wide grin, he said "No it didn't. See? it landed on three. We beat it." Christopher blinked slightly as Wes changed the four into a three. If no one knew it was a four that meant they were fine, right. Wesley always had Christopher's back, if Wes believed it was a three then so did he. Clapping his friend on the back, Wes's grin grew as he hollered, "I'll race you upstairs!" before running rocket speed up the pick carpeted staircase. Christopher grinned at Wes and ran up the stairs after him, "Hey! You got a head start! That wasn't fair!"

Luke walked past Mr. James grabbed his sister's hand turning back to offer his friend's father a smile. "Thank you for letting me stay over Mr. James, Audrey and I better get going. You know how my mom is." Audrey slung her arm around he little brothers neck, squeezing lightly. "Bill me for any damage he did. I'm still not sure the whole cake incident was Wesley's fault and not his." Mr. James laughed and ushered the two to the front door. "Of course, of course. Wouldn't want Maura getting worried. Have a good night you two! Drive safely!" He dragged his sister outside and to the car rather aggressively, "Come on Aud, the faster we get home the less I have to hear about your date". Audrey rolled her eyes as she opened her car door. "You sure about that? I kicked him in the nuts." Luke's eyes widened at Audrey, "Holy shit Aud you punched him in the nuts?" He then clamped a hand over his mouth, "I mean crap. Holy crap". Trying to cover up his little slip he quickly changed the subject following Audrey's gaze to the house. Audrey snorted, saying "this scenario calls for a 'holy shit' exclamation." Peering at her brother, she asked, "hey, does Chris have a ride home?" Luke continued, "yeah, uhm, I'm pretty sure Henry's at work but Chris can just ride his bike home". Audrey stared at the door for a couple more seconds before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, get in the car, and if you tell mom and dad that I kicked someone, you're next." Luke didn't give up a fight after that and got into the car.

Wesley watched as Luke and Audrey left in the car, before turning to his increasingly louder parents. "Alright! I'll wait with Charlie and Chris, you guys go to bed." If he had to hear them reiterate anymore embarrassing stories, he was going to jump in front of the Fletcher's car. His mother pinched his cheek before saying, "Fine, fine. Get home safe kids! Jim, pay PJ will you?" Mr. James nodded as he opened his wallet, pulling out whatever cash he could see in his drunken slate. Slapping it in PJ's palm, he exclaimed "Thanks again, son. We have a party next week, so expect a call from us!" PJ's eyes widened at the couple of twenties Mr. James laid in his hand, it was more than he had ever been paid. He opened his mouth to ask Mr. James if the amount was correct but the couple had already headed upstairs. A small ring of the doorbell interrupted the group yet again and PJ opened the door to Mrs. Hoffman, a short but simple woman. "Hey mom!" Charlie grabbed her things and gave her mother a small hug. "Charlie honey, we have to hurry, I left your father to finish the chicken and you know he can't cook to save his life". Charlie giggled and turned to wave at the boys hanging her gaze a little bit on Wesley. "Bye guys, see ya tomorrow." Wes gave a small and awkward smiled back, waving his hand with a flick of his wrist trying to act nonchalant. With that the two girls were out the door leaving PJ, Christopher, and Wes.

"Well, I better get going too. Henry is going to be back from work soon and he always gets worried when I'm not there" Christopher said shifting his weight back and forth from side to side. "Are you sure you don't need a ride buddy?" PJ spoke, honestly ready to go home himself, the kids always wore him out. "Yeah, I promise, I ride my bike home a lot". Wes yawned, stifling it behind his hand. "Come on PJ, Chris is a big kid." Pj shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded, "alright, just be careful ok?" Christopher nodded and waved shyly at Wesley before heading out the door.

No one knew that was the last time anybody would ever see Christopher Byrd.