This is probably going to be the only chapter this happy.
John Egbert grinned to himself as he placed his father's vacuum cleaner back in it's rightful spot in the hall closet. He had invited his three closest friends over for a night while his father was on a short, three-day business trip. Of course, John did not expect his little party to be one that one stereotypically throws while their parental figures are away. He simply wanted time to spend with his friends. Plus, he did think that his father would appreciate the suddenly clean house upon arriving back home.
As John turned to relax and wait for his friends, the doorbell rang. Perfect timing he thought to himself cheerfully. He pulled open the front door to reveal a young woman in a long black skirt, her lips painted darkly to match. The short blond hair kept in control with a deeply colored headband and her clever violet eyes confirmed the woman's identity as Rose Lalonde.
"Good evening, John." Rose smiled as John greeted her and let her across the threshold and into the warmth of his house. Snow fell lightly outside, some flakes still lay gently in Rose's hair.
Glancing around John's empty home, she asked, "Oh, am I early?"
"No, I think you timed yourself perfectly." John replied with a grin.
Rose's mouth quirked upwards again. "Good." She walked over to the couch and sat down, admiring the cleanliness of the location. John sat beside her.
"So, how's the new place?" John asked. Rose had recently moved into her own apartment, leaving her alcoholic mother alone once and for all.
"It's wonderful, living alone is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me." She admitted. "Mother was never the kindest woman I had the misfortune to know."
John frowned sympathetically. He had heard thoroughly on how Rose's mom had abused alcoholic substances, and about how Rose had to suffer through an emotionally exhausting relationship with her. The two made small conversation for approximately fifteen more minutes, the uncomfortable topic changing to simple things like book and movie genres. They were interrupted by a loud series of four knocks on John's door. John rose to answer it.
Standing in the doorway was a smiling woman, her green eyes bright and her long, messy hair done back against her casual clothing choice. The woman was Jade Harley, and she had known John since they were very young. She had been his very first friend.
"Hi!" she greeted simply, before inviting herself in. "Hi, Rose!" she waved a little to the violet-eyed girl on the couch, who returned the gesture kindly.
"Is Dave here, yet?" Jade questioned, referring to their final friend.
"Nah, knowing him, he's gonna be late." John answered, rolling his eyes.
"Again." Rose added, her tone amused. John nodded in agreement. Jade laughed a little, and plopped herself down next to Rose.
"So!" Jade said cheerily. "What should we do while we wait for Dave?"
"Well, Rose and I were talking about movies a minute ago. We could watch one until he gets here?" John proposed.
"Sure." Rose shrugged. "What do you have?"
John grinned. "We should totally watch a Nicolas Cage movie because Dave's reaction'll be funny."
"That's a stupid reason for watching a movie, John." Jade informed him. "Why do you even own Nicolas Cage movies?"
"He used to be one of my favorite actors, remember?"
"Yeah." Jade said flatly. "I know."
John pulled National Treasure out of the cabinet in which he kept his large collection of movies. Rose rolled her eyes and pulled her knitting materials out of the bag she had put by her feet.
Jade sighed and leaned back, crossing her arms in a movement of useless protest.
Halfway through Jade making fun of the actors (and John joining in as he saw he wasn't going to get to watch his movie in peace), the door abruptly opened, a tall blond man with dark sunglasses walking in. He took one glance at the television, said "Nope," and walked back out the door.
"Oh, no you don't!" Jade cried, jumping to her feet and rushing to fling the door open once more. "Dave, you get your ass back in this house and save me from John's horrid movies this instant!" she yelled at him, John bursting into laughter from the couch inside.
Dave turned back around to face Jade. "Jesus, Harley." he said, starting to walk back towards her and the house. "The entire neighborhood doesn't need to know I'm a douchebag."
"I think your very being advertises 'douchebag'." Rose commented, flicking her vision towards Dave as he walked back in.
"Oi." Dave warned, pointing at her for emphasis. "Untrue."
"Very true." John said, turning the movie off.
"Look who's talking." Dave lazily threw his backpack across the room, leaning against the back of the sofa.
"So, anyway." Rose glanced at each of her friends in turn. "All douche-y appearances aside, I have an idea for what we can do, or more correctly, where we can go. If you all agree, of course." She started putting the partially finished jade-green scarf and her other knitting supplies back away.
"Sure." John said. "I didn't have anything specific planned, so go ahead and tell us!"
"Have any of you heard of the Midnight circus?" Roses voice deepened, her mouth set in an unnerving smile.
"Isn't that that creepy-ass circus that only shows at midnight?" Dave warily asked.
"Yes!" Rose answered excitedly. "I have wanted to go since I was a little girl, but my mother never allowed it."
"Why not go?" Jade smiled. "Sounds properly scary." she waggled eyebrows at Dave, who they all knew was not as brave as he made himself out to be.
"I have money enough for the four of us." Rose added, digging around her bag once more. "I checked the prices for tickets and everything." She pulled out a significant amount of cash, starting to count it to make sure what she had in her hands was the proper amount.
"Dude, how expensive are the tickets?" Dave asked, staring at the thick wad of bills, "Or are those all just ones?"
"I've been saving for a while..." Rose admitted with a nervous smile.
"I think this is a good idea." John put in. "It sounds like fun! Plus, I haven't really been to any circus-y things since I was little!"
"I think you all are crazy." Dave said flatly.
"I think you're just scared." Jade grinned, leaning towards him.
"It'll be fun! Let's just go watch the clown do his thing, and the magician cut someone in half or whatever. It's not like there'll be any puppets or anything." John teased.
"Hey, shut up." Dave didn't exactly like his fears being advertised.
"So, the show starts at midnight, are we going? If so, we should leave soon." Rose said.
"I think we should go." Jade said cheerfully.
"I think so too." John agreed.
"Great." Roses mouth was still set in a smile, a warm one. She stood up, putting her coat back on. The other three of her friends followed suit. "We'll take the bus."
Outside was bitterly cold, snow still falling in small amounts, flakes gently landing and resting in the groups' hair.
The bus was a welcoming, warm contrast to the biting snow, with John offering to pay so they could just go sit down, much to the appreciation of Jade and Dave.
The only seats available were the sets of two towards the back end of the vehicle, a surprising amount of people for the time of night.
Jade and Rose sat a row in front of John and Dave, occasionally turning around to talk to them.
The ride to the location of the circus was about an hour long, and all four mourned the welcoming warmth of the bus as they stepped off.
They approached the building with the bright lit-up sign, advertising The Midnight Circus! Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Starts at Midnight, ends whenever.
The four started to walk up to the door, before Rose noticed Dave wasn't actually with them.
"Dave?" she questioned, turning to face him where he stood, staring at the sign.
"I'm not going in there." he said simply.
Jade sighed exasperatedly. "C'mon, Dave." He just shook his head.
John took the initiative to walk over and hook a finger through one of Dave's beltloops. "Too bad." And he dragged Dave (with a bit of struggle) to the rest of the group, where Rose was already paying for tickets.
"Alright, let's go." A wide smile was present on Rose's face. It was obvious she was excited. Dave gave a groan of protest as they walked through the large doors into the theatre, but Jade slapped his arm to shut him up.
Rose and John were both eager to sit in the front row, and Jade managed to convince Dave to bend to their wishes.
They spent the next forty-five minutes talking amongst themselves, all expressing excitement in one way or another (or nerves, in Dave's case. He tried his best to hide them.) And then the large, green curtain rose to reveal a rather short, pale, bald man in nice white and green clothing.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Mister Scratch, and welcome to the Midnight Circus!"