Chapter 7: The Promise

Michelle was silently glad it wasn't winter. She would profess to love all seasons, but winter was not a good time for her bones. Just at the start of winter, she'd start cramping up and her bones would crack and creak. There was no other explanation for it besides her old age. This thing that she was experiencing now though was something else entirely.

Michelle looked at herself in the mirror. It was the dawn of a new day; last night had come and gone, but the pain was still there, if not more obvious. She looked herself over and let out a small shriek when she saw something on her back. It covered the whole length of her spine and it was black with glowing red intertwined in it like veins. She was breathy as she thought, What is this?! It was then she remembered a similar ailment on her past loved ones. There would be a black thing with glowing red veins covering an area on them. It would spread, then it would come to life and overtake them. If this is anything like those past experiences, I don't have long. She turned around so that she was fully facing the mirror. "Well, any thoughts on what you should do before you die?" she asked her reflection. She waited, as if for a response. She spoke again, feigning shock, "A party?! We're stricken with an incurable disease and your solution for our final days is party?! All right, I'm good with that." The problem with the plan: who would approve?

At the park meeting, Benson said, "All right, you guys, I- where's Michelle?" Michelle wasn't there. It was after they noticed this that Michelle ran up the park path and collapsed on the steps, panting. "Why are you late?!" asked Benson.

"It all happened so fast... the walls came down... no way out..." Michelle panted.

"Whoa, slow down, what happened?" asked Benson.

"Here's a signed excuse. If you don't believe it, it's be on the news later at 5:00," said Michelle, handing Benson a rumpled piece of paper.

Benson looked it over and said, "Is everyone all right?"

"Oh, they all made it out fine, but it all came down so quickly."

"Well, I-" Benson was interrupted by his cell ringing. "Just a second." He went off to answer it. When he returned, he pulled Skips aside and whispered something to him. He turned back to the group and said, "I have to go. Audrey just called me from the hospital. Her aunt was in a fire and is unconscious. They think she was assaulted. I'm going to see if there's anything I can do. While I'm gone, Skips is in charge." He walked off toward his car. Once he drove off, Michelle jumped to her feet in celebration.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She saw the looks she was getting, so she stopped. "I mean, uh... that's really sad. I hope everything's okay."

"Did you have anything to do with that?" asked Renae.

"What? No! No, no... maybe?" said Michelle. "Okay, confession time, I may have possibly hit Audrey's aunt in the head with a baseball bat... but I had absolutely nothing to do with the fire! That was just... already in progress... oddly enough." Renae crossed her arms. "I'm being honest here!"

"Why would you do that?" asked Renae.

"I needed Benson gone so that I could throw a party," replied Michelle.

Muscle Man scoffed, "Lame... since when do ladies throw parties?"

"I'll have you know I am practically a party queen. I once attracted a crowd of 5,000 for a party," said Michelle.

"Yeah, right," said Muscle Man.

"What would it take for me to prove to you I can throw a party?" asked Michelle.

"Throw one better than Mordecai and Rigby did?" suggested High-Five Ghost.

"That party was all right, but I'd be willing to bet that you can't even reach half of the level of that party," said Muscle Man.

"What's your wager?" asked Michelle. Her arms were crossed, her hip was cocked to the left, and there was the fire of competition in her eyes. Anyone who knew her would say there was no swaying her once she got to this point.

"If you win and your party gets as wild or as many people as Mordecai and Rigby's party did, then I'll quit eating at Wing Kingdom for two whole weeks," said Muscle Man.

There was a resounding 'Ooh.' Michelle said, "I think it'd be wiser of you to wage something more reasonable."

"I stand by it. There's no way you could throw a better party," said Muscle Man.

"All right, then here's what would happen on the off-chance I lose. If my party blows, I'll be your personal servant for two whole weeks. Whatever you say goes," said Michelle. There was a resounding gasp at that one.

"Michelle, back out! There's just no way you could beat him!" said Rigby.

"Watch me," said Michelle. She took out her phone. "Before I slide through this like butter, what are the conditions of the wager?"

"You have to arrange it all yourself and you can't get caught by Benson," said Muscle Man.

"I agree to those terms," said Michelle. She dialed a number on her phone. "Hey, Jack, it's me. We're having another one. Deliver bottles and pacifiers to The Park. Don't leave out the good stuff, we need plenty of it."

"Delivery set and ready to go. I'll bring the goods," said Jack on the other line before hanging up.

Michelle dialed another number. "Hey, Roadie, my man. Bring as many people as you can to The Park. I'm looking for hitting it out of the park."

"All right," Roadie replied before hanging up.

Another number dialed and the food was taken care of. One more number to a musical friend and entertainment was in the bag. Michelle pocketed her phone. "Done and done," she said.

"Bottles and pacifiers?" asked Renae.

"It's better to say that than alcohol and drugs, now, isn't it?" asked Michelle.

"Oh, it's a drinking party," said Renae.

"The best kind. You know, when I'm drunk, I can play the drums like a prodigy," said Michelle.

"No way!" said Renae.

"I don't lie about the skins," Michelle replied with a wink.

"Now, hold on a minute, Michelle. Aren't you going a little too far?" asked Skips.

"It'll be fine. No matter how drunk I get, I'm always aware of what's going on... at least, so long as I drink the right stuff. If I drink the wrong stuff, I can be throwing up until the next evening," said Michelle, already feeling queasy at the thought.

"When's the party start?" asked Renae.

"8:00," replied Michelle. "I've once had a party go from then until midday next day. Thankfully, my party buds know when the party starts... always."

"What was your fastest clean-up time?" asked Rigby.

"Fastest clean-up time? Hmm... let's see... I believe 30 seconds was my clean-up time. Of course, I didn't time myself, but I could have sworn the minute hand never moved and the digital clock still read the same time. It was weird too because for a second, I thought time had stopped," Michelle recalled.

"How long ago was your last party?" asked Mordecai.

"Let's see... my last party was in the year 2000. That happened to be the same party that attracted the crowd of 5,000," said Michelle.

"Oh, yeah, Y2K," said Renae.

"Yeah, exactly, so, I got drunk, played the drums, and the people went nuts," said Michelle.

"And what do you intend to do if this goes wrong?" asked Skips.

"Oh, quit being a mother hen. Nothing will go wrong," assured Michelle.

"This is totally wrong!" Michelle said some hours later. She threw the bottle at the man 'Jack.' "You got me this worthless booze and you expect me to have fun with it?!"

"Hey, this is the thing with the kids these days," said Jack.

"I can't get drunk off of this. If I can't get drunk, then there will be no drums. If there are no drums, then there will be no party!" said Michelle angrily.

"What's that I hear? No party? Well, I guess this means I already won the bet... slave," said Muscle Man, who had come up behind her.

"No, no, there'll be a party, rest assured," said Michelle.

"Yeah, good luck with that," said Muscle Man, walking away.

When he was gone, Michelle slapped a hand to her forehead in frustration. "Okay, I guess I'm going to have to get my own booze since my most reliable booze provider just went sober. I mean, Ale? Really? Why don't we just attend AA? You and I both know there's more alcohol in that room than in one bottle of Ale."

"Look, this is what I got. Are you taking it or not?" asked Jack.

Michelle sighed. "I can't take anything less than the best. I'll provide my own alcohol. What's the status on the drugs?"

"I'm out of your usual preferences."

"Well, what do you have?"

"Green."

"This isn't a green party, Jack. This is a crazy party like back in 2000. Where's the sugar?"

"Don't have any."

"What?! That's- you know what, you know what, no. You're off of the guest list, Jack."

"What did I do?! This is the stuff they want!"

"It's not what will be fun though."

Jack just looked at her. "Do you want it or not?"

"I'm doing my own thing. If anybody asks, I'll just tell them what they want to hear. Now, go." Jack packed up his things and went, leaving Michelle rubbing her forehead in dismay. "Can't ask for help, so I'll have to find a by-way of doing it." She put her hand to her chin in thought. Then, Mordecai and Rigby walked by, so an idea formed. "Hey, Mordecai and Rigby! Come here."

"What's up?" asked Mordecai.

"You're not asking for help, are you?" asked Rigby.

"No, no! I just... I need a way to do two things at once. Can you guys give me advice on that?" asked Michelle.

"Well, you could ask for help..." suggested Rigby.

"I'm not asking for help! I just... um..." Then, the light bulb hit full brightness. "I'm asking you guys to not help me." She rolled her hands, expecting them to get the hint.

"Yeah, that's what we were doing," said Rigby.

"Oh, I think I get what you mean, Michelle," said Mordecai. "You want us to not help you by not looking after things while you go someplace else."

"Exactly not that," said Michelle. She walked off, hoping they got it.

Once she was gone, Rigby asked, "Did you get any of that?"

"Not a clue, dude. Come on, let's go sit on the roof and see the sights," said Mordecai.

"You did get what she asked, didn't you?"

"I didn't get what she didn't ask." Rigby was so confused that he didn't say more.

7:30 rolled around and the first guests were starting to pile in. Michelle hadn't come back yet and neither had Benson. There was certainly an amount of worry coming from the park crew (excepting Muscle Man) and an unrest happening among the guests. It was beginning to look like there would be no party at all.

Then, a bright light came up the drive. It was a huge semi. It stopped just short of the end of the path. The trailer opened up from all sides and turned into a platform with drums on it. Michelle was at the drums with a smug and confident smile on her face. The platform inside the trailer was attached to a crane. This crane put Michelle on the roof of the house. The remaining items in the trailer were the good kind of 'refreshments' and refreshments. A few strong men emerged from the truck and started handing things out to the crowd. Michelle waved a hand and one of the men tossed a microphone up to her and hooked up the sound system.

"Just to be clear: I found everything and got everything. These guys are just the delivery boys. Now, are we ready to rock?!" asked Michelle. The crowd cheered. Michelle took a long drink from a bottle in a brown bag. It took so long that it was almost as if she were drinking water. "Now, forgive me if I'm a little terrible at first. It'll get better as the night goes on." She rapped her sticks together before starting into a pretty decent solo.

It was about an hour later that the party hit a peak. Everyone was having a good time and Michelle's drum playing was reaching expert levels. "All right! Now, ladies and germs, get ready for la main event: the best... solo... ever!" Surprisingly, Michelle still sounded pretty sober. She began a drum solo that sounded really great. It was couldn't hold a candle to the 500 piece solo, but for a solo just done on drums, it was really good.

After the solo was done, the crowd went up in cheers. Michelle looked at the crowd and there were plenty of smiles and happy people. As her eyes met Skips though, she saw disapproval in his eyes. It was understandable enough since it was a reckless activity in which she could get caught at any moment, but she wasn't going to back out now. She was all in.

"All right. Are you guys havin' a good time?" asked Michelle. The audience cheered. "Yeah? I'm glad. I'm glad... of course, not everyone can have such a good time. Sometimes... sometimes you have an even better time than you thought you were expecting before! So..." She would have continued, but she caught sight of something foreboding on the horizon. From her vantage point, she could see beyond the park walls... and what she saw wasn't good. "All right, guys, thanks for coming, but party's over. Time to bail!" The 'delivery guys' had been prepared for this. They picked up everything, quick as a flash, and got everyone out of there in less than a minute.

Michelle got down from the roof and was just in time for the car to pull up the drive. The delivery guys were gone. Now, the only problem was getting rid of her guilt. She decided not to hide her guilt on drinking, but the party would forever lie in secrecy.

It was Benson's car. He came out of the car and was greeted by his staff. "Audrey's aunt will be okay. She was awake when I left and it's looking like she'll be able to go to Audrey's place to stay until she can find somewhere else to stay," said Benson in explanation.

"Oh, that's just great, Benson. Just great," said Michelle.

Benson went toward her and sniffed. "You're drunk, aren't you?" he asked.

"What? I'm not allowed to drink? I'm over 200 years old. I think I'm legal," said Michelle. Her eyes were drooping, but her voice was still relatively sound.

"Go to bed, Michelle," said Benson.

Michelle blew a razz-berry and said, "Fun killer," before heading toward the house.

"Michelle?" asked Skips.

Michelle turned back and said, "Yeah?"

"I just wanted you to know that I've thought about what you said the other day and I'd like to get to know you better," said Skips.

"Oh? Okay, you can start by giving up the promise you made about skipping forevermore. I mean, how is anybody supposed to walk side-by-side with you if you're skipping? It's like listening to a record with scratches on it when you skip-talk," said Michelle. "I'm sorry about that. I think I'm entering the stage of drunkenness where I don't care so much anymore about what I say. Maybe in a few more swallows I'll be speaking gibberish." She pulled the bottle from her pocket, but had it taken away by Skips.

"Don't you think you've had enough for tonight?"

"Oh, I see. Now you're the fun killer. Well, you know what? I still have booze on me." From out of her shirt she pulled a clear plastic tube. She sipped at it and a clear liquid came up to her lips. She sighed and said, "There's no way you can take this away."

"Come on, Michelle, I'll take you inside," said Renae.

"You're all- you're all turning on me. No, you know what? No, K?" she held the tube and kept sipping from it as she stumbled toward the house.

Skips came up to her and said, "Why don't I make a new promise then?"

"Oh, you again... what'd you have in mind?" asked Michelle.

"I promise to be your friend and do all I can to make you happy."

"A friend." She scoffed quietly. "What else should I have been expecting?" She gripped the railing and slowly made her way up the steps. Skips tried to help her, but by the time they reached the top, she swatted him away. "Look, Skips, I haven't got long, so don't make this any harder than it has to be. I'd like to go to sleep tonight blissfully ignorant. I want to have another of my best dreams before I lose this haze. Now, leave me." She went inside and Skips sighed.

The following morning, Michelle woke up with the same tired bones, but when she looked down at herself, she noticed the disease was spreading. It was going to get hard to hide it... and even more impossible to convince people to leave her alone. That was all Adam needed was another target. No, she'd take the fall... she didn't care. It wasn't like she had anything left to live for anyway. She looked over to her bedside table since something caught her attention in her peripheral. Bringing it to her frontal focus, it was a white rose in a vase with a note attached to it. It said, Hope your hangover's not so bad. If you've got a headache, there's a pain killer right beside the vase. I hope we can still be friends, Skips. Michelle reached over further on the table. There was a glass of water and a pill. She took the pill in her mouth, swallowed it, and drank some of the water. She put the glass back on the table and thought, Well, it's not what I was hoping for nor does it help in any way... but at least I've still got a chance.

Where will it go from here? Please keep reading and reviewing to find out! Thanks, guys :)