Chapter Text
This wasn’t how Gavin had expected to be spending his night, hidden under a messy pile of unwashed clothes, whilst frantically typing away at his phone to try and find some way of fixing his demonic dilemma. The Brit let out a string of curses, If It weren’t for Ryan's bright idea he’d be perfectly safe and sleeping. But no. Gavin had a knack for being gullible, especially when he had alcohol in his system.
An hour earlier-
“Oh come on Geoff! Don’t wuss out, it’s a dare for fuck’s sake!” Ray whined, trying not to laugh at how stubborn Geoff was acting. Gavin and the other Lad had dared the gent to drink the remaining 3 beers in the pack, when he had already drunk so many by that point. It was basically impossible, but god did the lads want to see him try. When it came to these “truth or dare” games, Jack and Ryan would usually join in, but this time they were too busy, wrapped up in reading about this new trend that didn’t really spark anyone else's interests. It went by the “Charlie Charlie Challenge”, and frankly, Gavin thought it was a piece of crap, made up to entertain immature 12 year olds on the internet. But that opinion wasn’t new; a majority of these internet challenges irked him beyond belief.
“Guys, no fucking way. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, I don’t want to be walking around like a zombie all day” Geoff sighed, slightly eyeing the remaining bottles.
“Who cares! You’re not the only waiter at that damned diner.”
“Gav, no.”
“You suck,” Gavin mumbled, a little pissed that his friend wouldn’t even attempt the dare. Leaning back, he took a sip of his jack and coke, trying to ignore Ray obnoxiously yelling “got ‘em!” to Gavin's annoyed response.
After a moment of silence, everyone turned their heads at the sound of Ryan clearing his throat. “Sooo, who’s next?” he inquired. As gavin raised his hand, the two gents seemed to exchange growing smirks with each other. This couldn’t be good. As they were led to the study, they were still clueless as to what was going to happen. “Dude, you’re not going to fuck us are you, ‘cause this was only a dare for Gavin,” Ray smirked. A laughter filled the space around them, but Gavin still couldn’t feel at ease. He had been feeling on edge ever since Jack and Ryan had mentioned this stupid challenge that afternoon. Something wasn’t right, but he knew that if he were to say something like that to the guys, they’d just take advantage of him being scared of this damned internet trend.
After being told to sit down at his desk, the rest of Gavin’s friends curiously surrounded him as Jack and Ryan gathered what seemed like. . . office supplies? Gavin was completely lost as to what was happening, that was until Ryan passed his phone to the brit. The illuminated screen read “How To Successfully Perform The Charlie Charlie Challenge” in bold text. An audible groan escaped Gavin as he read the detailed steps “Really? This isn’t even funny. And ‘Charlie are you here?’-really? How would this even work-”
“Just do it already, numbnuts” Geoff sighed, ruffling the seated boy’s hair. Gavin lowered the phone to see two pencils and a piece of paper with “yes” and “no” written messily on either side of each other placed in front of him. After taking one last sip of his drink, Gavin reached forward with surprisingly shaky hands (even for a non-sober person) and numerous failed attempts later, finally got the pencil to balance properly. After a few deep breaths and a re-read of the steps, Gavin cleared his throat and closed his eyes. “C-Charlie Charlie… Are you here?”
Silence…
Not even the sound of his friends who were behind him a second ago.
Something wasn’t right. A chill made it’s way up Gavin’s neck as he contemplated if he should open his eyes to what might be in front of him. After all, he couldn’t just sit there with his eyes shut all night.
Opening his eyes, Gavin jumped back and let out an excruciatingly loud scream to the sight infront of him. A black skull with pearly white teeth and eyes that looked like… human eyes… “Ryan you lousy mong!” The lad squawked, the rest of the group bursting into tears of laughter. He should’ve seen it coming, but knowing it was all a joke still didn’t put him at ease. Rolling back in front of the desk, the lad’s eyes once again widened. “Did you do this, Ryan?” Gavin pointed to the mess in front of him. The once whole piece of paper was ripped into two, dividing the “yes’ and no’s”, whilst both pencils lay scattered, snapped into pieces. Ryan shrugged, not thinking much of it “I probably just snapped them when I was crawling across the table to get in your face when you opened your eyes,” he let out a soft chuckle and continued to make his way to the front door where everyone was saying their goodbyes, as the group only saw each other once or twice a week.
Gavin’s stomach dropped as he realized he’d be left home alone in this anxious state of mind. He would’ve asked one of the guys if he could sleep at their place. Surely Geoff wouldn’t mind. But what would he do there? Get spooned by Geoff so that no demon can get to him? No. He’d be on the couch, alone, even if someone was in the other room. So he eventually decided to just stay home. It wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
As he said goodbye to each of his friends and the door was finally closed and locked, Gavin turned around to the sight of Ryan's damned skull mask on the end railing of the stair case. “Jesus christ, Ryan,” he hissed to himself as he picked up the mask, threw it to the front door where he could give it back to ryan later, and made a quick pace up the stairs to his bedroom. Not even bothering to use the bathroom, Gavin stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed whilst making sure that every bit of his body was under the covers.
But not using the bathroom before bed has its consequences, as only 15 minutes later, Gavin was awoken by his bladder full of liquids. While groggily making his way down the hallway, Gavin never noticed the odd sight awaiting his arrival a few small steps ahead.