Episode 8

Natalie and Jen half carried Tina out of the theater and didn't stop moving until they made it safely out and hidden behind a popcorn cart outside. The air sounded eerily still. Natalie pooped out and had to stop running first; her forehead pressed against the menu sign displaying the prices.
"You've got..." Jen rubbed her thumb against her cheek.
"What?" Natalie grumbled.
"There's chalk on your face."
Natalie reeled her head back and wiped the white powder away, "Ugh! Whatever... Grandma. Now would be a great time to explain yourself."
Tina sighed as if she were lifting an incredibly heavy load, "Well I can't exactly remember anything... I was taking a nap, not feeling well, and then I was being dragged off of a huge stage and hundreds of people were looking at me!"
"Probably because you were acting crazy!" Natalie said.
Jen shrugged, "There was also a dead body hanging above you."
Tina's eyes narrowed, "You know... I haven't been feeling well since that night where Button's..."
Everyone became solemn. The feeling of dread made all of them queasy when remembering Button's unsolved murder. Natalie fiddled her fingers, playing with a loose piece of string from her cardigan.
"I think we're all scarred from that," Jen said.
Tina's eyes moved to Natalie, "Granddaughter. My head's been cloudy for a long time. Dark energies have been stalking us... I've also noticed an absence in our rituals."
Jen's eyes shifted to Natalie's.
"Grandma..." Natalie huffed.
"I thought at first it was all part of the sacrifice... our duty protecting the stone, but NOW I'm seeing a bit more clearly."
Jen spoke up, "What stone?"
"It's..." Natalie grit her teeth. Jen and Tina both watched her intently, waiting for her next move, or confession.
"Ok... Alright!" Natalie exclaimed, "It was my fault. I looked when I wasn't supposed to!"
Tina gasped, "You looked? As in you looked into the bowl..."
"Yes! The bowl! During the ritual... I saw something freaky come out, and then Buttons died!"
Jen looked flabbergasted, and Tina looked as though the reaper came for her soul.
"What are we talking about..." Jen asked, "I mean I knew you guys did cool witchy things, but I thought we did this for show."
"You..." Tina's face turned pink, "I warned you!"
"I was ten!" Natalie said, "How could you trust me with something like that? Of course, I looked..."  Saying it out loud didn't make her feel better about her case. Natalie turned her eyes to the ground, kicking pieces of fallen popcorn puffs with her foot.
She sighed, "I didn't think a murderous monster creature thing would come out if I just looked."
"Still have no idea what you're talking about," Jen sang.
Tina rubbed her little wrinkly hands on her eyes. Of course, she felt disappointed, angry too, Natalie expected that. She carried the blame of Buttons these last years, knowing and not knowing how she could've been responsible. The guilt just hovered like a dark cloud, following her everywhere she went, at every ritual they performed thereafter when her grandma looked confused as if something was wrong.
"Why didn't you tell me then?" Tina asked, "It's been too long..."
"Too long for what?" Jen pleaded, "Fill me in, please? Hi, hello?"
A woman's scream alerted them. Different from the screams of joy the theme park normally filled itself with from the attractions, this scream riddled itself with terror. It sounded like it came from the entrance of the park.
"Grandma," Natalie approached her, "I confessed, now you need to too. What exactly is that stone?"
Tina's thin eyebrows furrowed, "It's who."
"What?"
Jen looked up in mild interest as well.
"The stone is... was... a cage for a whom."