Chapter 1- The Start of Confusion
High school. My personal hell. Day after day of the same thing. Endless assignments harder than diamonds themselves, hours upon hours of torturous explanations of both the educational and social worlds, and worst of all…the excruciating punishment and ridicule for failure of the rules of both worlds. But that was all going to end…or so I thought.
Graduation, supposedly a celebration for accomplishing high school education. But for some it’s a reminder. I learned that the hard way.
It was just after all the boring speeches and everyone was joining in on either the post-graduation conversation or the celebrations involved once leaving. It was then that I heard what at the time was the worst idea ever suggested to me.
“A PARTY?! Dude are you crazy,” I asked my friend, Mark. “No bullshit. And keep your voice down, I think other people are staring at us,” he explains in a more hushed manner. I turned my head and sure enough almost everyone had their gaze toward us. I blushed, slightly embarrassed by my sudden outburst.
“So, are you going or what,” Mark asked, a hint of anticipation in his voice. “You know, this could be your last chance to get noticed around here, well, on a positive level at least,” he continued, a slight scowl on his face.
*Sigh* “Dude, do you know what they’ll do to me if I go? They’ll probably-“
“C’mon, you don’t know about that. Besides, I don’t think it would be right if I just left to this thing without you.”
“You need a designated driver don’t you?”
“Look, can you just come with?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” *Huff* “Alright, I’ll go.”
“Awesome meet me there at 9:00P.M.”
Before I could voice anything else on my mind, he left clearly ready for the party. ‘Great,’ I thought to myself. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ I disbanded those thoughts for now and went to my car. When I got in I turned the key in the ignition a brought the car to life.
The drive to the house was a rather smooth drive, no traffic thank God. The radio seemed to fit the mood as well, playing some decent songs. It was almost surreal that this kind of peace even existed. This peace would not last however. I knew what was coming up next.
I put the emergency brake on before stepping out and heading up the stairs to the front door of the house. A quick turn of the doorknob opened the door and made the room visible to my eyes. The empty place filled my heart with a saddening I always had to endure ever since… well maybe I’ll discuss my past later. At any rate, I went upstairs and got out of my cap and gown and soon adorned my work clothes. A simple cashier get-up. After this simple change in attire, I left to drive off to work. The only thoughts going through my head were the ones involving my disappointment that the one night of relaxation I could have gotten had been taken away because of Mark. That’s when my logical side snapped back that it was me who ultimately made the decision. The final thought I had was, ‘This should be fun.’
“OK, fuck this. I’m out.”
“C’mon dude, don’t be a pussy alright? Just chill man. Now let’s get going!”
*sigh* “Mark, I hope you know what I had to do to be here.”
“Yeah, you told me all about it on the way here. Now c’mon, let’s go!”
I sigh reluctantly as my friend makes his way up the stairs. Following close behind, I stepped into the scene, expecting the cliché drunk guy to walk into me. Nothing happened at the moment so I assumed the real drinking hadn’t started quiet yet. I figured it will only be a matter of time. Although that conclusion struck there was another thing that caught me off guard. It was the smell of weed. Not very strong but still there. It was at this I decided the best idea to do was map out the house. You know, just in case.
After about ten minutes of looking around I familiarized myself with the buildings layout. That and discovered where the “scent” was coming from. I was going to check out were my friend went when I was stopped by someone asking me, with a slight slur in his voice, “Hey… Wannna drink?” I thought back to the reason I was here in the first place and said, “No. Thanks for the offer though.”
He pauses for a moment before responding with, “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” At this point I froze a bit. He does know me. His name is Jason, in case I didn’t tell you. Another thing to note about him besides his name is his background. He is a complete and utter asshole. He would waste his entire days to make my life a living hell. To that reminder I snapped back to reality and hesitantly spoke, “No, we’ve never met before.”
“Oh. Well then welcome to the party bro. I’m Jason,” he says without a hint of suspicion. It seems he bought my lie. He then held out his hand. Me, not wanting to look too outa place, took his hand in mine and shook it. “Pleasure to meet you Jason. I’m… Greg,” I lied. “Well, did I invite you or did you hear about it and think it would be fun?” he asked.
“Well, I was actually kinda dragged here.”
“So your, like, the… designer driver or whatever.”
I chuckled, “yeah something like that”
Another hour goes by and everything seemed fine. Jason was gone, hurrying to do something else after our conversation. If he hadn’t have figured it out by now I doubt he will through the night. It was, though at this point that I hadn’t seen Mark in a while. I wondered what exactly he was doing at this point. After another five minutes of walking however, I found him and a bunch of other guys in front of a TV. From the look of it though, he appeared not to be paying attention to the TV at the current moment. In fact, he looked like he was sleeping. ‘He must have passed out,’ I figured.
The funniest part of it all was what was actually being displayed on the screen of the TV. It was a cartoon; to be specific it was called ‘My Little Pony’. I started chuckling, thinking the fumes in the room finally got to his head. Looking around, the other guys around him were watching with intent. ‘Sheesh, and as if trekkies weren’t enough,’ I remembered thinking to myself.
While still in thought of the sight before me, I started to hear an argument. This was a little startling, considering how miraculous the evening was going. I considered it an obligation, through some random thought process, that I should be the one to stop this altercation from ruining this somewhat peaceful party. As illegal as everything was, from the ‘cigarettes’ to the ‘beverages’, I was somewhat enjoying myself.
A voice I recalled spoke to me. It was Mark’s. ‘This could be your last chance to get noticed around here.’ Well, it was time to finally do something I always wanted to do. Crash one these bastard’s parties. Not that I loved destruction or anything, but after the way these people treated me, I say, they deserve it.
So with a moment to prepare, I headed toward where I started to hear the struggle. Turns out, it involved my new ‘ buddy ‘ and another person. As I walked closer, I noticed it seemed he was trying to drag her to the upper floor of the house. Now, I’m not an idiot, I know what things go on at parties like these on the second floor. ‘Sorry for being a cock-block, but your time is up ‘I thought with a mischievous tone.
“Well, that ended swimmingly,” I said aloud, still wincing from the pain in my chest. It felt as if I had somehow survived an all-out battle against Chuck Norris. Okay maybe not that bad but it still hurt. And to think this all started by me saying ‘hey’.
The girl was fine, only suffering a bruise at the wrist. But boy did I get my ass handed to me. Who knew a leg sweep fail could hurt so much. Anyway after getting Jason knocked on his ass I ran out the door, friend slugged over my shoulder and the girl close in tow. When I started the car, the rest were ordered to throw stuff at it. A few bottles broke but we made it.
She seemed to have calmed down to, nearly screaming when I basically shoved her into the car. It took all my convincing for her to trust me and let me drop her off at home. She really seemed reluctant, but I guess that was for the best. After all, God knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t had stepped in. Great, now I sound like an egotist. Well whatever.
“What’s your name? I never got it,” she asked. It seemed we reached past the point of awkward silences. That’s a good sign. For now at least. Hope she doesn’t plan on calling the cops after that fiasco and claim me a kidnapper.
“Oh well, my name is-,”
“Yay! She did it! A sonic rain-,” snore… snore.
Mark then rolled over, still lying down sleeping like when I put him there. Still, wait to kill the moment. He must have-
“Ahem, so your name,” she asks again.
“Um, look we’re here. How convenient,” I tell her, trying to change the subject.
“Oh, well I guess so,” she says, sounding a bit disappointed.
Turning back to tell her something, I only then begin to noticed how she looked. She was tall, yet slender with a pair of the brightest purple eyes I think I’ve ever seen. Her face was nothing short of stunning but in the darkness I couldn’t see all of the potential beauty that there was to behold. Although I did notice her hair, which was long and seemed to flow freely.
Yeah, maybe that part is probably just me getting tired. After all it is 12:00 in the morning, most of my adrenalin spent from the fight.
She must’ve noticed we were staring at each other because she then turned, shaking her head a bit. I myself was wondering how that started. When done, she tried opening the door only to find it locked. “Um, could you unlock the door please,” she asked. I soon snapped out of my own daze. “Oh, of course.”
Turning to my own door, I noticed my side was unlocked. A bit odd, I would think her door was unlocked as well. Shrugging that off, I pressed the button and turned to be sure her door was unlocked.
*Smooch*
Wait, what just happened? Did, did she just- why would she- she did. She kissed me. What?
“What… was that for,” I asked, confused.
“Oops, did I do something wrong,” she asked.
“No, nothing like that at all. It just… seemed a little random is all”
She smiled as she grabbed the handle to the door and opened it. Stepping out of the car, she turned back to look at me. “I hope to see you again,” was all she said as she turned back around and headed to the front of the house.
I had watched as the door closed and turned back to look back at the road. ‘Well, this was a fun tabular day, best get Mark home.’ With that I started the car yet again and began driving.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, I made it to Mark’s place. Not too shabby but nothing to be amazed about. When done fishing the keys out of his pocket, I once again lugged him over my shoulder and set him on the couch. Feeling generous, I grabbed a blanket and put it over him.
I then exited the one story house, leaving the door locked of course, and entered my car for the final time that night. The thought of going back home was a bit unsettling. Something irked me to be out a little more. Another twenty minutes passed when I reached the driveway. I put the brakes on and stepped out of the car. I looked around a bit and locked the car.
With the door knob within arm’s reach, the thought again came to me. Deciding this was goanna stop right now; I turned on my heel and ran. I ran to the first place that came to mind.
Ah, the park, the perfect place to rest and relax. Especially at night, with the stars just barely making it past the smog of our Earth’s atmosphere. It’s bold. Inspiring even. Makes you want to see how far you can go, test your own limits. At least to me it does.
It was empty, no doubt with everyone at some sort of shindig or sleeping. At this time of night, probably the latter. Thinking more on the matter, I felt sleepy myself. It also didn’t help that I was lying down staring into deep space. Oh, I didn’t mention that bit? Whoops.
Well, there I was, alone once again. Staring into nothingness. It’s odd, in a way. Usually there would be some noise. Crickets chirping, traffic going by, something. But that… that was something straight out of a dream.
Ah, but then it came, the thing that made the city a city. The noise, vibrations that made it into something of importance. But something wasn’t right. It didn’t sound like anything I’ve heard. It sounded as if something of unknown material was being torn. Soon though, it went hectic. Lights where the stars were burst and the sky I once knew was the night’s, turned to that of one belonging to the hot summer’s sun.
But it all happened so fast, next thing I know I’m being lifted in the air. Shapes came from nowhere, forming a box around me. Other things were happening, I knew, but it was all below me. I couldn’t see it. I freaked out, seeing the ceiling so close to my face.
Then, just like that, I started to fall. My screaming echoed in my head as it never made its way out of its confines. Then, something soft was felt under me. Then the air again. And then the softness. Then the air again. And finally the softness once more. Getting up from the oddly stable platform, I looked around scarred and frightened. I looked around a bit more and noticed an edge to the platform I was on. I looked over and the floor seemed a fair distance down.
I jumped, making quite the bit of noise and looked for a way out. Soon enough, a door stood a quick sprint away.
“Um.”
With that, I spun back around, soon casting my gaze into the new shade of blue from the otherwise midnight tinted room, equally as dark as the color.
“Hi?”
I didn’t even care if the whole world could hear what happened, but I left with the honor of screaming like a little girl. Running away, it looked like I was getting farther and farther each step I took. At least until I hit the door. Yeah, not going to lie, that hurt.
But surprisingly, the first thing I did was jump back up. It looked normal, the same park I was at not moments ago. I was confused, had that all really been a dream. Deciding to not dwell on that, I left for home, pondering what the hell that was.