Portal Hopping

Crimson Buccina stared in awe at the swirling portal before him. Despite his father’s position as a portal guardian, Crimson had never before gotten so close to one of these gateways. He gulped audibly due to nerves which his friends, who stood behind him, had noticed.

“What’s the matter,” One of them mocked. “You chicken?”

The group of horned devil teens snickered, excluding Crimson whose red tinted face blushed an even deeper shade of red.

“I knew it, he’s not going through. Told you he doesn’t belong in the club.” Another demon kid boasted.

This accusation changed Crimson’s embarrassed flush to a burning heat of anger.

“I’ll do it,” Crimson shouted at the other devil boys. “I’m just taking my time!”

“Well we don’t have all day!” A demon with impressively long horns tapped a spot on his wrist where a watch would normally be.

“Beil’s right,” Agreed one of the boys. “Isn’t your dad coming back from his break soon? You better hurry if you don’t wanna get caught!”

Crimson’s anger vanished in an instant at the mention of his father. He would be grounded for the rest of his unlife if that happened. He could hear his father’s screaming now, that it was forbidden to pass through portals and that the son of a guardian should know better. Well, Crimson did know better, and was appropriately terrified, but he had little choice.

Crimson’s friends were entertained by the look of fear on his face and they continued to smile and laugh at him.

“You know the rule,” The boy addressed as Beil said. “If you’re not going to do it then you’re not a Horny Boy anymore.”

Crimson rolled his eyes. He always thought the name was dumb, although, it wasn’t enough to stop him from joining the gang in the first place.

“I know the rule. I’m doing it. I’m not a chicken!” Crimson did his best to show off some confidence, though some of the boys weren’t buying his act.

“Then it should be easy.” Beil said with a grin.

There was no delaying it any longer. With the last ounce of courage he could muster Crimson turned away from his group of so-called friends and towards the interdimensional portal. Just as Crimson passed through the spiraling gate he heard one of the Horny Boys shout:

“Bring back something nice!”

Laughter from the other demons echoed behind him. Before he could think of something to shout back, he was through the portal.

Everything was dark and the air was cool and silent. As Crimson was about to continue walking forward he realized that his hooved feet were very cold and wet. He was standing in near knee-deep water. Crimson trudged farther into his new surroundings and soon realized that he had entered this world smack-dab in the middle of a creek that flowed underneath an aging steel bridge. Beyond the shelter of the bridge Crimson could see a star-speckled sky above him and what seemed like endless rows of tall trees around him.

The demon boy wondered if there were any humans in the area with him. As much as he didn’t really want to interact with other creatures he knew it would be an easy way to find some human paraphernalia to show his friends. They really weren’t making this easy for him.

Everything was quiet and, for a moment, Crimson thought he was very much alone, then a high-pitched shriek pierced the night air. The disturbing cry shook Crimson for a moment until he immediately heard laughter.

“Mike! You’re such a jerk!” A female sounding voice shouted. It was most certainly the same voice that screamed. The laughter continued.

“I can’t help it,” Came a male voice. “You’re too easy to scare!”

There had to be at least two humans close by. Lucky for Crimson, the female voice loudly chastised her male companion which allowed Crimson’s powerful ears to pinpoint where the humans were. The sound was coming from atop the bridge. With his superhuman strength Crimson leapt into the air and landed on the bridge with a thud. 

Just as he suspected, Crimson counted two humans, who didn’t look to be any older than their twenties. A girl and a boy sat on the dirty bridge huddled around a spirit board and surrounded by a circle of candles. The humans immediately froze and their conversation was halted.

“Did you hear that?” The girl asked fearfully, not moving a muscle.

“It was just an animal,” Reassured the guy, presumably the one refered to as Mike. “It couldn’t have been Goatman.”

“What if it is Goatman? What if we summoned him? The ritual worked!”

Mike sighed.

“Becky, I keep telling you that these stupid board games don’t really work. And even if they did, you can’t summon a demon with it. It’s a spirit board, not a demon board.”

Crimson couldn’t help but laugh at the human’s statement. The girl, Becky, heard Crimson’s chuckle and immediately shot up to her feet.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” She demanded. Before she could get a response, she screamed. 

Crimson didn’t know it but as he walked closer the humans could see his red hellish eyes glowing in the dark. It gave quite a startling sight.

At the sound of Becky’s scream, Mike looked up and saw the beams of red as well.

“Holy crap!” Mike shouted.

Becky reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a cellphone. She aimed the phone’s camera at Crimson, or what she could see. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably. Before Becky could get a shot Mike grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

“Let’s get out of here!” Mike yelled as he ran to the opposite side of the bridge, dragging Becky along with him.

“Wait, I didn’t get any evidence!”

Unfortunately, Becky wouldn’t get the evidence she came for.

With the terrified humans now gone, Crimson was free to examine what exactly these humans were up to. He walked over to where the two of them were sitting. In the center was the board and planchet they used to attempt conversations with the dead. The thin board had letters and numbers printed on it as well as the words ‘yes’, ‘no’,  and ‘goodbye’. As interesting as the board looked to Crimson he found the wooden planchet even more so.

Crimson picked up the planchet and examined it. He smiled to himself. This was definitely something cool that the Horny Boys would be interested in. He was staying in the gang, that was for sure.