SHITWIZARD Chapter Three

A Splatter-Fantasy Experience

Trigger Warning: This story contains subject matter that may be upsetting to some. Scenes of bullying, violence, foul language and body horror are present throughout this story. Also, it’s titled SHITWIZARD, so I figure that should be a good indicator of the story you’re about to read. Good luck!

Recap: In chapter two we met Claire, Brent’s vindictive twin sister, and her sidekick Ashley Conti. After a verbal argument in the kitchen, Brent retreats to his room and experiences something otherworldly.

Brent kicked off the sidewalk and twisted his body back onto his skateboard, feeling the wind whipping past him. He spotted the sign for Pizza Pete’s at the bottom of the hill, standing above the white and red checkered canopy hanging below. Cassie sat at a booth near the back of the restaurant, her phone in hand. She waved when she saw him through the large glass window and pointed to the pizza on the silver pan. Brent brought himself to a stop, kicking down hard on the tail of the board, snapping it into his hand.

“Hey, Brent, you doing okay?” Cassie said, drool leaking from the orthodontic hardware protruding from the corners of her mouth and wrapping around her head. “Sorry about everything, but I got your favorite, mushroom pep.”

He slid next to her in the booth and they embraced. The feeling of her soft breasts pressing against his chest made the butterflies in his stomach flutter wildly as the crotch of his jeans began to tighten.

“Thanks for the pizza, you look really nice today.”

Cassie blushed, scooting closer, causing the pair to bump elbows. Brent watched as Cassie worked the cheese in her fingers and slid the gooey ball between her lips.

“Why are you watching me eat?”

“Are you even allowed to have pizza with, you know, the braces?”

“I just have to be careful. Anyway, stop changing the subject, are you okay?”

Brent thought about the question, mulling over his answer. He knew Cassie wanted to know more about the Andy Redding situation, but after the strange events surrounding the Granado card, he wasn’t sure which one bothered him more. He was still unsure if what he experienced was real or just a vivid dream brought on by the trauma from school. After his father’s death, his mind struggled with accepting reality, and he swore on more than one occasion that he saw his Dad sitting in the corner of his room. It felt all too real, but in the end, the therapist said it was all in his mind. Recalling the man in the robe made him shudder. He wanted to tell Cassie everything, but he didn’t know how to start that conversation.

“I’m angry. Andy’s made my life miserable since freshman year. I wish I could hurt him, but I can’t.”

“I get it. Sometimes I imagine myself plunging a screwdriver into Ashley Conti’s eyeball, pressing hard until the tip stabs into her brain and then scrambling it,” Cassie said, moving her overlapping hands in a circular motion. “Kind of like they used to do with the mummies.”

Cassie’s face turned red with embarrassment after saying her murderous fantasy aloud.

“Yesterday I thought about shoving Claire’s face into the oven and watching the skin melt off her face.”

The two shared a laugh that was interrupted by a loud bang from outside. The sound startled Brent, causing him to turn and scan the surrounding area. People looked around in confusion, wondering if what they heard was an explosion. In an alley, Brent saw the man from his dreams, curling his beckoning finger in a come here motion. His face was covered in angry pustules, and a brownish film coated his skin. A box truck drove past, obscuring the view, but after it passed, he was gone.

“Brent, what’s wrong?”

“I-I thought I saw something.”

“What did you see?”

“It’s nothing.”

Cassie scowled, using a plastic pick to clear the leftover cheese from her mouth. They packed up their pizza and made their way to The Laughing Lich to pick up their weekly Summoner booster packs.

***

The Laughing Lich was a common hangout for kids like Cassie and Brent, acting as a safe haven for nerd-kind. They’d spent countless hours inside the store, playing Summoner and every other table top under the sun. A man in his mid-thirties waved them in as they stepped through the sliding glass door.

“Hey, Marvin,” Cassie said, sliding the leftover pizza onto the counter. “I got a couple of slices of mushroom pep in the box. Is that enough for some loot?”

Marvin laughed and combed his stringy hair over the worsening bald spot on the top of his crown. He pulled a key from a lanyard across his neck and unlocked a small metal box he kept hidden behind the counter.

“These gold boosters don’t hit the market until next week. I’m technically not supposed to be selling these, but seeing as you guys are my best customers, I could make an exception. We’ll call it even for the pizza and fifty bucks?”

“Done.”

Brent reached for his wallet, but Cassie stopped him, gripping his forearm.

“Let me get you something, your birthday is coming up anyway, and I haven’t gotten you anything yet.”

“My birthday isn’t until November.”

“Shush.”

Brent wanted to tell her no, but once Cassie made up her mind, there would be no changing it. Marvin took the cash and tossed in a couple of extra stickers and flyers, before leaving to hassle one of the customers spending too much time near the Vampirella display.

“You want to come to my house? My mom’s got a weekend shift and my dad doesn’t come home until Sunday.”

Brent spent plenty of time alone with Cassie, but recently, his urges when she was around were getting harder to hide. While most people made her the butt-of-the-joke because of her dental situation, Brent saw the real Cassie beneath the headgear. She was one of the sweetest human beings he’d ever met, and over the last few months, he found himself wanting to be more than friends. He let out a hard exhale and tried to calm his nerves. As they were leaving, Brent caught the reflection of a dirty man holding a stick a few feet behind them. Brent slowly turned his head—his vision cresting over the slope of his shoulder. There was no man, only Marvin yelling at a chubby customer in a coat about putting something back in his pants.

***

Cassie’s house wasn’t too far from Brent’s apartments, sitting just on the other side of Fifth Avenue. The houses in her neighborhood were rundown, much like the ones surrounding his complex—with cast iron bars bolted to the exteriors and discarded trash strewn throughout the overgrown lawns. Cassie leaned closer to Brent as a group of men sped past in a dented Dodge Charger.

“Damn, bitch, you get wifi with that shit?” One of the taller boys said, taking a drag off of his bright orange vape as he patted his braids. “She got some titties on her, too, don’t she?”

Brent stepped in front of Cassie and tried to shield her from their view.

“Come on, leave us alone, we’re not bothering you.”

“Oh, you think you’re some kind of fucking hero, kid?”

The door swung open and two men hopped out, followed by a kid who looked to be about his age. The one with the braids wore an oversized red shirt, while the shorter and heavier one sported a basketball jersey and skinny jeans. Brent stepped backward, trying to create space, but they were too fast. They knocked him to the floor within a matter of seconds, stomping down on his head and back. A shoe collided with his face and felt his cheekbone crack under the force, blurring his vision. The taste of nickels filled his mouth as a flurry of punches rained down from above, shredding the inside of his cheek—blood flooding his mouth. Cassie screamed as one of the boys lifted her shirt and cupped her breast, squeezing hard until splotches of red formed underneath his fingers.

“She do got a pair on her, T,” the chunkier one said, scratching at his backside. “I’d love to get me a piece of that. Don’t be hogging it now.”

Brent struggled to his knees and crawled toward Cassie’s cries, but a hard kick to his ribs stopped him in his tracks.

“Got his bitch ass crawling around like a dog, ay Darnell, don’t he look familiar?”

The name rang a bell. Brent didn’t know Darnell personally, but he’d seen him around during his lunch period at Chesterwood High.

“Oh, fuck, ain’t you the Shitboy from that TikTok?” Darnell said, sucking on the roach of his blunt. “Yeah, I seen that video where that white boy dumped all over your face. You a fucking celebrity now, bro.”

Brent heard Cassie gasp as the one called T threw her to the ground. They took turns kicking him over and over until he thought he was going to lose consciousness. Before he could drift off and escape his beating, Darnell brought his heel down on his balls, sending a brutal wave of cramps through his stomach. He tried to cover himself, but there was no fight left inside him. When the assault finally stopped, he looked to his right to see the assholes circling Cassie, pulling at her clothes, and licking their lips like rabid dogs. Brent dug down deep, mustering every bit of strength he could manage from his ravaged body.

“Cassie, run!” Brent shouted, tackling T to the ground.

A hand grabbed a fistful of his hair and cranked his head backward, pulling him off. Brent’s eyes caught sight of a man standing on a porch, yelling something inaudible. It was the man in his vision. He mouthed the words release me, spittle flying from his mouth every time he spoke. In his hand was a twisted staff composed of a light-colored wood, curling around a black gem. Brent heard the sound of sirens, and whoever was holding him let go as he fell toward the blacktop.

Cassie’s arm wrapped around him and she sobbed into the nape of his neck. The swelling in his left eye worsened, making it hard to see. An officer knelt next to him and fingered the lapel mic clipped onto his vest.

“I’m going to need an ambulance and two additional units on the fourteen-hundred block of Fifth Avenue. I got two assault victims, holding off on pursuing until I can get some extra bodies.”

“Please, be okay, please.”

He opened his mouth, feeling his busted lips split further as he spoke.

“I-I’ll live. It’s better than being shit on,” Brent said, trying to form a smile. “A-are you o-”

A wave unconsciousness washed over him, but before he drifted into the darkness he heard a voice utter a phrase. Release me.

Author’s Note: Thank you for reading chapter three! If you missed out on chapter’s two, it’s linked above. SHITWIZARD is currently in its beta phase. My goal is to release a chapter every few days in order to get feedback from the amazing writers here on substack to mold this into something great. I know I’ve been teasing Fecaldo, but I promise in chapter four he comes full force, delivering a brutally good and disgusting time.