The Ritual

Five candles were placed on me, in the shape of a star. A knife was found and the candles were lit. The ritual had begun. The people around me clapped and sang an ancient song. They held hands and skipped around the table, me stuck on it. From what I could see, smiling faces, triangle hats. Creepy smiling faces.

After skipping, they sat down, leaving a child standing. They gave him the knife, telling him what to do.

"Stab it, stab it, stab it," they chanted.

The child raised the knife above me, both hands holding the weapon of ritual.

"Stab it, stab it, stab it."

The child stabbed me.

"Yay!!!" the people jeered.

"You are now..." I heard, not clearly. The last I heard before passing out was, "Who wants to cut the..."

When I woke up, I felt weird. Part of me cold, part of me dissolved halfway. I tried to move but yet I was stuck, the door shut in front of me, no knob or handle.

From what I could hear outside, the ritual had ended. Plates were being washed, forks cleaned. The knife too.

The table stained with my blood wiped clean, no signs left of my mutilation.

"Happy birthday," I heard a woman say. "How was the birthday cake?"