At last, Halloween had finally come. Now was Steven's time to shine. With him and Connie dressed up as Gomez and Morticia Addams, it seemed like nothing could stop him, especially where the Halloween party down at the rec center was concerned.
Garnet, Amy, Peri, and Greg had also decided to come along for the Halloween party. Just like Steven and Connie, the plus-ones also decided to don costumes for this special occasion. Garnet, for example, had decided that she would be dressed up as Foxxy Cleopatra from "Austin Powers: Goldmember." Amy, for her part, was cosplaying as Lara Croft, a video game character that she found rather attractive. Peri was so enthused about joining in on the Halloween festivities that she wasted no time dressing up as "Invader Zim," someone that she could relate to on a somewhat personal level. And then there was Greg. Greg was dressed up as a middle-aged Kurt Cobain, down to the oversized plaid shirt and the worn sneakers.
The first people to greet the group at the Halloween party were Sadie, Shep, and Lars. Sadie was dressed up as Michelle Pfeiffer's take on Catwoman from "Batman Returns" while her partner Shep donned the costume of Black Panther. It seemed totally like the couple to dress up in thematic costumes. Steven and Connie couldn't help but envy Sadie and Shep a bit over their costumes being on fleek. As for Lars, he was donning the costume of Captain Harlock (who was apparently a character from an anime Steven wasn't too familiar with). Lars' girlfriend Esmeralda was with him as well, and she happened to be wearing a Sailor Pluto costume.
"Oh, hey, guys," Steven greeted the four people. "Nice Halloween party you've got going on, huh?"
"Oh, yeah," Sadie replied. "Pretty much everyone who lives her showed up. Even my mom is here."
"Awesome," Connie chimed in. "Hey, do you know where the food and drink table is? I'm pretty famished."
"Uh, me too, actually." Steven looked around and noticed the variety of Halloween costumes that were on display. "Wow, so many people are here."
"Yep," Esmeralda said. "I'm surprised by the turn-out, to be honest. I only expected, like, 20 to 30 people to be here, but 90? Guess they were really eager to celebrate Halloween this year."
"I guess so," Lars agreed. "Especially since the pandemic wasn't that long ago. Seven years ago, maybe?"
Steven chuckled. "Yeah, I still can't believe that was even a thing. Man, all it takes to make civilization come to a screeching halt is a coronavirus, huh?"
Sadie nodded yes. "I mean, humans have gone through worse things before, but yeah. I certainly never expected to live through a pandemic."
Connie shook her head in amazement. "Me neither. Anyway, do you know where the food and drink table is?"
Esmeralda smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, sure, it's right over there." She pointed towards the left top corner of the room. "It's got everything you might want: guacamole, Cheetos, Doritos, salsa, cookies, Sprite, Coke, Mountain Dew, et cetera, et cetera."
"Thanks." Connie grabbed Steven by the hand and led him over to the food and drink table. "C'mon, Steven, let's go."
Steven was more than happy to follow her there and hopefully have a good time. In fact, he was more than happy to try to let loose and enjoy himself. He needed it, after all. Ulysses had told him how he needed to try to have fun after everything that had happened. Honestly, Steven missed feeling like a teenager. He missed that feeling of trying to mingle with kids his age and participating in activities typical for his generation. He just missed... being a kid. He'd been weighed down so much by all the terrible things that had happened that somewhere along the way, he forgot that he had an inner child.
And so Steven and Connie decided to dance and talk for a bit at the Halloween party. Meanwhile, Garnet, Amy, Peri, and Greg decided to stay where they were and chat it up themselves.
"Man, I've been looking forward to this all year," Peri said. "I can't wait to show off how cool my costume is."
"Me too," Amy rejoined. "I bet all the guys will be thirsting on me when they get a gander at my cosplay."
"You still haven't explained to me what it means to be 'thirsting' someone."
"Oh, right." Amy cleared her throat. "Thirsting is when you're horny for someone and you want to flirt with them."
"Right..." Peri didn't really care for all that romantic and sexual stuff anyway, so she wasn't even sure why she asked in the first place. "But what about that girl you've been seeing lately? Won't she get mad that you wanted to flirt with other people?"
"I don't see why she would be. We haven't actually made a commitment yet, so what's it matter?"
"Uh... fair enough?" Peri turned to face Greg. "Greg, do you have anything to comment on that?" She didn't get an answer right away. "Greg?"
"Oh!" Greg shook his thoughts away. "I was just distracted by something. What did you want to talk about?"
At one point, Steven caught sight of Kevin talking with another guy. It didn't take long before Steven had an angry glint in his eyes. He still hadn't forgotten what Kevin had done to his babysitter Stefani a few years ago, but he was here to have fun of Connie and that's exactly what he was going to do. Steven started dancing along with Connie to the Monster Mash song. The whole time the song played, Steven couldn't help but remember all the great times he and Connie had had together. They'd been through so much and for that, Steven was grateful.
All of a sudden, Connie was attacked from behind, with Kevin practically tearing her costume off and doing unspeakable things to her. Steven could feel his blood boiling through his veins. Without even so much as a hint of hesitation, Steven rushed over to where Kevin and threw a punch into his nose. As soon as the fist connected with Kevin's face, the latter started bleeding out from his now-skewered nose.
"Whoa, what the fuck's your problem, dude?!" Kevin yelled at Steven.
"You raping my girlfriend is my problem, you douche!" Steven yelled back. "Back the fuck off!"
"Whoa, whoa," Greg suddenly interjected. "Easy with the colorful language, Schtu-ball!"
"Dad, priorities," Steven replied. "Don't you even realize what just happened?"
Greg sighed and lowered his head. "You're right. I'm sorry. Let's just get out of here and report this to the police."
Steven slowly lifted a bloodied and battered Connie from off the ground, and he and the rest of the group sauntered off to the police station.
Connie's parents had been asleep when they got the call about the rape. Without even bothering to change into their normal clothes first, Mr. and Dr. Maheswaran rushed down to the hospital, wearing nothing but pajamas and a nightgown.
"Connie?" Dr. Maheswaran cried out for her daughter. "Where are you?"
A doctor led Mr. and Dr. Maheswaran to the room where Connie was being held. They saw their daughter silently laying in bed, her wounds having already been cleaned up. Mr. Maheswaran threw himself at his daughter and hugged her tightly.
"Oh, Connie!" Mr. Maheswaran started to wail. "Oh, my baby! I'm so sorry!"
"I-it's fine, Dad," Connie quietly murmured. "It's not your fault. There's no need to cry…"
Dr. Maheswaran noticed that Steven and his dad were also in the room. Garnet, Amy, and Peri had gone home after accompanying Steven to the police station.
"Steven," Dr. Maheswaran said gently. "Do you know who did this to her?"
"Yeah, it was Kevin," Steven immediately replied.
"This wouldn't happen to be the same Kevin who sexually assaulted Stefani a few years back, would it?"
"Yes, it would."
All of a sudden, Mr. Maheswaran jerked his head upwards upon hearing what Steven said, and he slammed his fist onto a nearby nightstand. "That son of a bitch! He's gonna pay for this!"
"Honey, why don't we leave that to the police?" Dr. Maheswaran asked her husband. "I'm sure he'll be brought to justice."
"Bullshit!" Mr. Maheswaran yelled. "He'll probably only get a slap on the wrist and then move on with his life. Meanwhile, Connie will have to live with what happened to her for the rest of her life. It'll be the Brock Turner scandal all over again."
"So what? We're just supposed to accept that Kevin might get away with this?"
Mr. Maheswaran let out a heavy sigh. "Apparently. I mean, isn't that how justice works in this country?" He started walking off to out in the hospital lobby. "I think I'll go and get some water."
Dr. Maheswaran started trailing behind her husband. "I'm coming with you."
Soon, it was just Connie, Steven, and Greg in the room. They were now left to reflect on what an awful night this had become.