Disclaimer: I don't own the Lost Boys. I just desperately with that I did.
"You know when you said carriage…" I suddenly wasn't so sure of myself, staring at the intended ride Paul brought me to. I couldn't stop the images of Josh's mangled corpse and the resulting crime scene from flashing before my eyes in a rapid, unwanted slideshow. With time, the pictures themselves had worn away becoming vague representations of the reality, but the feelings that accompanied them had aged like wine - the flashbacks became more potent and acrid with each passing year. My stomach lurched and I tried to force it all out of my head as quickly as possible before anyone noticed how badly I was affected, replacing that nightmarish night with memorizing the current details of Marko's face. I realized as I analyzed the wrinkles in his forehead that it appeared he had asked me a question.
"Sorry, what was that?" I tried to keep my tone even and I felt blood rush into my cheeks.
"I asked if you had ever ridden before? You don't seem like the type, but..."
"I, ah...No. I have no idea how to ride." I could feel the heat in my face burning brighter with every passing second. It seemed like I always felt embarrassed around Marko and his friends. They just had a way of making me feel so…Innocent. Like I was some sort child next to them. I despised it. "But my brother used to," I managed to croak out through the sudden constriction of my throat. I added a little cough to the end of my sentence to try and conceal the discomfort and redoubled my efforts to wedge my feelings somewhere deep down inside me where I could deal with them later. Not now.
"Come on," Paul mounted his bike, nodding to the back of it. "I'll be gentle for your first time." My cheeks, if it was possible, seemed to heat up even more. I was getting really tired of blushing but, hopefully, my makeup was covering for me. I couldn't let them see me weak. I had a strong feeling they would practically eat me alive.
"Why, you're such a gentleman, Paul!" My voice had noticeably raised in pitch as I attempted to disguise my embarrassment behind a thick wall of sarcasm, so I was only half successful. As I started to strut in Paul's direction, I hit send on my fourth or fifth text for the night. Jordan and Colette declined on meeting up, but that wasn't really a surprise at this point. They were always too busy for me these days. Phil and Will were too trashed to drive or they said they would have been happy to tag along. I determined I would have to start really digging through my contacts list to find someone willing. Finally, as I reached the motorcycle, my phone emitted the familiar "ding" of a received text. Someone had finally said yes.
"Hey, you're already doing much better than most people," Marko assured me. He led me to the left side of the bike, helping me on and taking my phone and wallet to stow in a pouch on the side of the bike. "You came somewhat prepared!" He was probably talking about my combat boots. I made to get on the bike in the most logical way for me by putting my first foot on a metal bit but was immediately stopped. "Woah! Feet off the pegs!" I placed that foot back on the ground and tried to simply swing a leg over the bike, but that wasn't really working out for me either. I just didn't have the height the boys did. With a laugh, Marko helped guide my foot."Ok, now feet on the pegs." He instructed once I was sitting down. I was exceptionally grateful I chose opaque tights for the evening as I tried to tug my skirt a little lower.
Alter Bridge - Cry of Achilles
"Alright, here's the rules," Paul leaned back to speak more clearly. "Don't take your feet off those pegs unless I tell you and slap me if you start to have a freak out so I can pull over and you don't kill us both." Marko, David, and Dwayne were all getting on their own bikes and I looked around. I wondered if Jay would be showing back up and where he had disappeared to in the first place. I tried to mimic how the remaining boys sat. "Relax! You have the easiest job of all. Just don't move from this position and, seriously, keep your feet on the pegs. I wouldn't want your piggly wigglies getting ground off on the road."
"What about leaning," I asked. "I thought I was supposed to lean?"
"Just follow me. Go with the flow!" Paul made a hand movement and suddenly he very much reminded me a surfer, regardless of his Halloween costume. I wondered if he came from a coast somewhere. He looked like he might fit in with the Cali crowd. I would have to ask at some point. "Oh, and one more thing…" He reached back, grabbing both of my hands and pulling them around himself. "Don't let go!" I knew he was trying to make me uncomfortable, but I was always one to take a joke too far. I scooted myself even closer, tightening my hold and pressing more of myself against him.
"I'll never let go, Jack!" I was trying to remain as serious as I could be, but I couldn't keep my mouth from twitching just a slightly.
"You ready, girl?" The bikes were roaring to life all around me, including Paul's. I hardly gave a nod, I wasn't even sure if he saw me, and we were off. The bike moved slowly at first as we navigated out of the neighborhood, giving me time to adjust, but the panic was already hammering at the back of my brain. "You better not have those eyes closed back there!" He hollered at me, and I begrudgingly pried them open, very grateful for my glasses. "You'll ruin all the fun!" I didn't understand how Paul planned on keeping his eyes open in all this wind, and it was bound to get worse.
When we were finally out of the winding neighborhood, and once we hit the open road, the boys gunned it. I let out a yell, not of my own accord, but initial fear was rapidly replaced and soon a smile was plastered on my face as adrenaline flooded my veins. I immediately understood Josh's obsession with his bike and was furious with myself for not trying this out sooner.
"Oh my god!" I yelled.
"You called?" I could barely make Paul's voice out over the rushing air and I thought about smacking him, but I didn't want him to think I needed him to pull over and I also didn't want to get us killed.
"Fuck! This is amazing!" My hair whipped in the wind, certainly tangling it, but that was the last thing on my mind.
Now that we had been cruising at the same speed for a bit and the initial excitement died down some, it felt like I was bathing in some sort of afterglow and I melted into Paul. As I did, I realized that Marko and Dwayne were almost flanking me as guards. They seemed happy, albeit marginally bored, leading me to suspect that they were riding safer for my sake. David was just ahead of the pack, taking the lead. It suited him and I couldn't picture things any other way. His gaze snapped to mine from over his shoulder and I had to force myself not to jerk away as they pierced me. I just smiled lightly, laying my head against Paul's shoulder and diverting my gaze to watch the landscape fly by. The sky was beautiful this far into the country, blanketed with the shimmer of stars.
We arrived at our destination far too soon for my liking, the bikes rolling to a smooth stop in the parking lot. Marko was at my side in what seemed like an instant, coaching me off. I didn't move, just like Paul requested. Dwayne and David pulled up beside us but idled rather than cutting their engines. Regardless, I could still already hear the attraction's organ music playing in the distance.
"You enjoy that, Brenna?" David called. I didn't quite have my words collected at that moment and a few of the boys catcalled at me. I couldn't be sure which ones because I felt the need to hide my face in my hand instantaneously. My stupid grin still showed through and with my free hand, I waved them away.
"Maybe you fit in better with us than I thought." Paul nudged me in the ribs forcing me to finally drop my hand so I could cross my arms and regard him. "Look at you! You're just a leather jacket away…"
"I think it's much more than that" I laughed, shaking my head. Yet, suddenly, I really wanted that jacket...
"Come on, Brenna!" David called my attention back to him. "How far are you willing to go?"
'As far as it takes…' The thought had come and gone before I fully recognized it. His smile was Cheshire, distracting me.
"We're gonna take off," he addressed Paul next who leaned in to have a brief conversation I couldn't hear.
"Left side, never the right" Marko instructed, pulling me off the bike and my attention away from the apparently secret conversation. "Unless you want some awesome scars." I nodded, dismounting. The others were already gone by the time I turned around again and I was grateful for that. My legs were jelly and I very nearly tumbled ass over teacup into Marko.
Once feeling a little more balanced, I began to run my hands through my hair, trying to tame my mane. It was hopeless. There were way too many knots at this point due to the wind and I had to admit defeat. Fortunately, I had a hair tie in my wallet. Using it, I wrapped my hair up into a messy bun, happy to finally have it out of my face. Hopefully it was passable. I then realized Marko was making a face at my neck and I couldn't help but rub at the spot that had his attention. I felt my choker first, then remembered the bite marks I had drawn there. Maybe he didn't realize what they were?
"So, how ya feelin'?" Paul poked at my sides and my concern vanished.
"Oh my god," I repeated for the umpteenth time, eyes alight as all the feelings hit me again just by reliving the memories for even a moment. I felt like running a marathon; robbing a bank; getting into a fight; getting laid; something more than all of those things...The ride brought something back to me I had forgotten I lost. I felt alive.
"Yeah, I know," Paul crossed his arms, a smug smirk crawling across his face. "I'm that good." I gave him a half-hearted smack in the gut, but I couldn't disagree.
"You sure you're good?" Marko pressed his hands against my face and I was only then made aware of the fact that I was freezing. My limbs finally began to send feedback to my brain, screaming from the cold. "I imagine you're turning kind of blue under all that lipstick."
"Shh, I'm fine. Can we go again?" I asked, ignoring his question.
"I thought you were excited about the haunted house?" Paul chuckled. "You have a friend coming out here to meet you and everything."
"I mean, not RIGHT this second..."
"How do you think we were getting you home, girl?" Paul gave me a bop in the center of the forehead. I shook it off and hugged him.
"Thanks for this."
"Stuff it. Don't go getting sappy on me." Paul tugged me off of him and steered me toward the ticket booth, slapping down enough cash to pay for himself, Marko, my guest, and me before I could say a word about it. That didn't stop me from complaining all the way to the front gate, though.
"Paul, that's a lot of money!" I was exasperated that he wouldn't hear me out.
"Eh…" He made shooing motions at me with his hands. "Money is a social construct." I couldn't help but laugh, but then my lip caught on something and I immediately covered my mouth as the self-consciousness about the fake fangs slapped me in the face again. I had forgotten I was even wearing them. I began fiddling with the right canine, trying to take it out, only to have my hand pulled away by Marko.
"And stop that! You've been fucking with them all night. Just leave them in. Relax!"
"Well, if it's for you, Marko…" I batted my eyelashes, but the sarcasm was apparent. He looked pleased with himself anyway. It was all in good fun.
I anxiously waited for Miriam, the only friend (acquaintance, really) of mine who agreed to come, by the front gate. I couldn't stop bouncing my foot while I sat, scouring the parking lot, but I had no idea what her car looked like. Fortunately, it didn't appear I would need to wait long. I finally caught a glimpse of her exceptionally dark brown, naturally curly hair and popped up onto my tip-toes. I enthusiastically waved at her over, restless to get moving toward the house. She gave me a half-smile in return, glancing around apprehensively and wrapping her arms around her torso. My face fell.
"Shit," I grumbled allowing my heels to hit the pavement again. "I know she said she isn't the biggest fan of these places, but I really hope she doesn't bitch out on me." The guys tried to hide their snickering as she approached and I brought a smile back to my face as quickly as I could to hug her hello.
"Haven't seen you in a while…" I started awkwardly, following the boys to the line now starting to snake its way out the front door. Seeing as it was Halloween, this shouldn't have been a surprise, but I was already feeling impatient.
"I know! I've missed you! How have you been?" The nervous façade melted away and gave way to Miriam's typical boisterous personality. She hugged me again.
"Great!" I tried to convey my confusion to the boys as I patted her on the back, praying this would be over soon. Hugging while walking was incredibly awkward, not to mention Miriam was one of those friends who always thought we were way closer than I felt we actually were, and I could never exactly figure out why. We had only met in group settings in the past. She did finally release me what felt like ages later, catching both of my hands as we separated and holding them between us. Her light brown irises glittered and we came to a stop at the end of the line. Oh god. It was going to be at least an hour and a half before we made it to the front.
"I, uh…I really like the new bracelet!" I said the first thing that popped into my mind. I was drowning, praying she would throw me a life preserver. In reality, I had no idea if that bracelet was new or not. How the hell was I going to keep the conversation moving the rest of the night?
"Oh my god, right!?" She dangled her limp hand out in front of my face to show off the silver Alex and Ani bangle. It had some sort of swirly design in it that resembled a figure eight with two cursive E's attached on either side. She went on to explain how it represented the path of life and had metals in it that gave her energy and wisdom. I began to further doubt my decision to bring her. She did not fit in with this crowd.
'Really? What, you're worried your old friends aren't cool enough for your new friends?' My thoughts scolded me.
"And so I'm studying abroad next semester!" I had clearly missed a large chunk of what she said, so I just smiled and nodded, blinking rapidly.
"That's fantastic!" I hoped my enthusiasm didn't sound too fake because it absolutely was.
"What about you?" She goaded me on.
"Oh, you know, just living the dream…" I gestured my hands nondescriptly, not exactly sure what to say. Up until tonight, my life had been pretty blasé: work, school, eat, sleep, study, and occasionally interact poorly with another human being, but I couldn't exactly say that. Fortunately, what I verbalized was all the response she was looking for. She immediately launched into another story about her own life, but my brain could hardly keep up with half of what she was saying. Something about the honors program.
It was difficult enough to look like I was paying attention, but it was even tougher to maintain my composure while Paul and Marko proceeded to do impressions of Miriam behind her back. I kept my poker face as best as I could, but I was going to slap the shit out of both of them as soon as I got the chance. My nostrils flared and my eyebrows twitched with effort. Fortunately, this game did not last long. We only endured about five more minutes before Paul, apparently bored, grabbed my arm and hopped the gate.
"Woah, what are we doing?" I tried to put the brakes on, but he just kept on pulling. I looked back and realized Marko had started tugging Miriam along in the same way.
"I know a guy," was Marko's only explanation. It sure seemed like he did the way the crowd parted for him. I thought security would stop us for sure, but after Marko leaned in and whispered something that seemed to work. The guard only told us to wait until they were signaled to let us in. My eyes widened as I stepped through the entryway, my heartbeat already picking up and a smile overtaking my face.
In case you didn't get the picture earlier, based on the fact that I routinely dream about them, I loved haunted houses. It may have even legitimately become a minor addiction for part of my life. I visited at least one house every weekend from the moment they opened in September all the way through my birthday in November provided I had people to go with. Hell, sometimes I just went alone.
I loved more than just the special effects, though. I learned to truly appreciate the rush of a good scare and what goes into creating one. After visiting as many houses as I had, you start to catch onto the real game. You learn what to look for on the floors and walls. You learn how they expect your attention to be pulled so you can watch in the other direction. You learn how to draw monsters in by pretending to be afraid and to repel them by making eye contact. It becomes a different game, but you gain a better appreciation for the art. I wasn't sure what going through a haunted house with Miriam and the boys would be like, but I was fairly certain Miriam would be a good time if she didn't have a panic attack and the boys would be fine as well if they didn't act too macho around the actors.
As it turned out, the boys were mostly quiet and strangely watchful. It was uncharacteristic, for sure, but I tried not to pay it any mind. I had a new focus: from the first moment I heard Miriam's ridiculous scream and watched her flail, I knew exactly how this night would play out for me. It was almost like a ballet, gracefully stepping over pressure plates, bending around lasers, and always twirling Miriam just in time to get the full dose of the next scare, whatever it may be. I couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't long before the boys were trying to play the same game with me.
"Boo!" Paul grabbed my sides, hoping to make me jump. I just laughed some more. "You're no fun!" He huffed.
"No, I get it," Marko decided to chime in. "Big Brave Brenna isn't scared of anything with two hunks protecting her…" I knew what the challenge would be before he even verbalized it.
"Then let's make the next one a game" I smiled sweetly, cutting to the chase and turning to look at them, continuing to walk backward. We were just about to the entrance of another portion of the house marked by an employee passing out plastic gloves. "This next one is a mirror maze." Paul jerked, not insignificantly. "Calm down, jumpy!" I handed him his protective wear. "Let's ALL go through individually. We'll make it a race. Last one out owes the rest of us dinner?" I knew I didn't have the money to be paying for everyone, but I also knew that I would not be the last person out.
"Deal!" Paul took the bet and Marko nodded with him vigorously. "We'll even give you a head start." Miriam, eyes darting between the rest of the group, finally and timidly agreed.
Maybe it was cheating that I already knew how this area operated, but it wasn't like I had a layout memorized and I was fairly certain they changed it yearly. All I knew for sure were the tricks they would be using. Miriam started in first. She extended her hands out in front of her, Frankenstein-like, to avoid running into walls. I, right behind her, simply found the left-most barrier and placed my left hand on it, reaching out a few inches with my right, mostly to protect against the random actor milling about. Unfortunately, I caught up with another group and was stuck moving at a snail's pace behind them as they bumbled about.
The second the lights cut, as I knew they would, I bolted around them. Electricity crackled above the room, simulating firecrackers, and I avoided plugging my ears just to push myself through faster. Following the left wall was a sure way to get out of any maze, but there was always a faster way through. The actors were meant to keep you off that path, but that didn't mean that the rest of my group couldn't have happened upon it in a case of sheer dumb luck. I hoped I wasn't too late. The lights came back on, but with no one in my way, I briskly walked out of the room. I discovered, with a small hop, that first place would be awarded to me.
The lights cut again and I was legitimately startled, for the first time this night, to find Paul and Marko right in front of me when they came back up, arguing over who got out first.
"It doesn't really matter," I put on a snooty act. "Because you are BOTH second to me."
"Yeah, girl!" Paul high-fived me. "How did you make it out so fast?" I shrugged, a confident smirk crawling across my face.
"Sorry boys, trade secret."
It took Miriam about five minutes after that to come stumbling out, screaming and with a clown hot on her heels. When she bumped into Marko and Paul, she shrieked again in a panic, scrambling away from them. Verging on hysterics, I thought she probably had enough for a while, so I pushed her behind Paul, grabbed Marko, and buried my face in his chest, screaming. As expected, the actor swiveled away from Miriam and went directly for me. Once we made it to the next room and the clown stopped pursuing, I dropped the act. Miriam still looked pale, though.
"Sorry about that." I brushed Marko and his jacket off. He just shook his head at me. "Why, Marko, I dare say you look impressed."
"This place is just one giant game to you, isn't it?" I let out another blood-curdling shriek at the next monster, still trying to pull them away from Miriam. I added a bit of extra flailing as I ducked behind Paul.
"More or less," I whispered, raising and lowering my eyebrows. I was completely in my element and it showed. He smiled as he looked down at me, and it seemed like he might be proud. I positively glowed under that gaze.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Now, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that this chapter actually got a bit long, so it's not quite over yet and I'm splitting it into two parts! The bad news is that you have to wait until Friday to see the other half. :P
Thanks, as always, to Jakkiisukaru ShiplessOceans for your reviews. Love hearing from you both! I adore hearing your theories and you are both always so sweet!
So, what do you all think? Where did Jay vanish off to? How do you think the mirror maze is going to go? Find out on Friday!
- A