"Where'd all the damn pop tarts go?!"
If I hadn't drenched my face in halloween makeup, I would have scowled hard enough to make the already spoiled milk in our fridge curdle into cottage cheese. Travis, my boyfriend, knew of all people that yelling in our little apartment was pointless, especially when I was sitting on the floor of our bedroom... which was next to the small kitchenette and its supposedly pop tart-less cabinets. I shut my eyes, inhaled, and tried to think of a rational way to explain that I'd eaten them all.
While I loved Travis, I didn't love that he never put an effort into his appearance, even when we were supposed to be going out. I peered at myself in my small mirror and continued my attempt at drawing a sugar skull design on my face, "I don't know."
He slammed the cabinet door shut and stomped into our small room. With the gusto of a Disney princess, Travis flung himself onto our bed, audibly groaning. I chose to ignore him.
I was lucky to have found Travis, even luckier that he loved me despite my seemingly old soul. He'd been patient when I'd struggled through my college midterms, even offering to help make flash cards.. He'd made the flashcards, and as usual, I procrastinated my studying the night before. Living with Travis was a chore sometimes, I was a slob, and he liked everything to be meticulously organized. We had an unspoken agreement that I was to clean the front room and cook while he kept things organized and paid for practically everything. There were perks to dating a nurse. Perks like he had a substantial job while I slaved away as an assistant to the ballet teacher at the local dance studio at $15 an hour... which would've been great if I worked more than 4 hours a week.
"You look nice," Travis said without looking up, his red hair clashed with the baby pink comforter on the bed. Another perk of dating and living with a nurse: I got to decorate with items purchased from Ross.
"Thank you," I smiled reaching for the false eyelashes I'd reused since the 4th of July party we'd been invited to. I peeled them apart and tried not to notice that they stuck together because of the eyeliner residue on them. "Are you going to dress up?"
The sheets rustled as Travis shifted, "Probably not, doesn't mean you shouldn't."
Travis was the one with all the popular friends, I was buddies with the other engineering majors, a.k.a the other nerds. Travis was a likeable guy, and he'd been lifelong friends with Caleb Baker, Arizona State's star volleyball player. The season was coming to an end, and Caleb was determined to celebrate it with a huge halloween party. He'd gotten a venue and everything. Supposedly there would be a live band. Travis had been one of the first people invited, which meant I'd get to come along too.
Curling my hair took much shorter than I'd planned, though the bouncing curls showed off my faded baby pink underlights. I looked like I'd colored parts of my hair with a cheap highlighter and tried to wash it out. It wasn't like there was much more I could have done. I put my beauty supplies away, careful to avoid the mirror so I didn't want to change my face last minute, and stretched. Travis was snoring, why do men fall asleep so quickly?
I put on the rest of my costume, complete with a pair of tall black wedges to match my black dress. The gown was partially loose, and the skirt came past my knees, but the frumpy style made me comfortable in the way I looked. And I knew I'd stand out in a crowd filled with skimpy vampire queen dresses.
Despite my best efforts to wake him, Travis remained asleep. Until, that is, I began to poke his side. Travis jerked awake, his red hair standing on edge. He grinned at me, "Well that's cute."
"Can we go now?" I chuckled, shoving him. The clock on the floor read 9:47, and the night sky was covered in clouds, perfect fall weather. We were late enough. We were always late to things.
Travis announced that he needed to brush his teeth, which was understandable. He didn't bother changing out of his t-shirt, but thankfully he did pull on a flannel to spruce his modest outfit up. Ten minutes later we were pulling out of the apartment garage and speeding along main street to the Clayton on the Park. Travis kept his hand on my knee was we sat in his small prius.
It was still 70 degrees outside, enough to melt of my makeup if I stayed outside for too long.. But luckily the line to get into the club wasn't nearly as long as I'd thought it would've been. Travis was busy playing Ballz as we marched into the building.
Red light dominated the building, which was decorated with every Halloween decoration known to man. I knew I was in heaven, but Travis didn't care for that stuff. Music played so loudly, I had to internally yell to hear my own thoughts. Travis didn't seem to mind the ear splitting volume and the fact that I was clutching onto his hand like he'd float away. It took a few minutes for my vision to adjust to the hazy light. As Travis and I walked to the bar, I began to calm down. Caleb Baker parties were always overwhelming for a sane person.
A full bar dominated the back wall of the huge 3-in-1 room, and I made a mental note to steer clear of anything alcoholic -I always drove home after parties like these so Travis could drink to his heart's content- as well as the huge punch bowl on the refreshment table. A small stage had been set up for the DJ, who had a mosh pit of people dancing on a checkered dance floor. Even more Halloween decorations decorated the dance area, every thirty feet it seemed like there was a plastic witch cauldron. Pillars were swathed in spider web chiffon.
"Duuuuude!" Travis called once he found Caleb, who was chugging a beer with an arm around his girlfriend. She smiled and cozied right up to Travis.
Caleb finished his can of booze and set it on the table, "Duuuuude."
Travis waved over the bartender and asked for a shot of straight vodka. Idiot. He drained the glass in one swig, laughed as he reacted to the strong drink, and asked for another. "How was the game?"
"Crushed it, like I always do," Caleb grinned. Out of the blue, he jerked to attention and threw his arms around me. "Nooooora, hey! Are you having, like, fun? Travis being a lil' dick yet?"
I laughed dryly while I waved off Caleb's comment. He was a nice guy when he was sober, but I liked to avoid him when he go drunk. Travis snatched my hand again. "Oh no, he's the best, I've got no idea why you'd say that," I teased.
"Bottoms' up," Travis said casually, draining another glass of Vodka. Caleb had gotten another can of Bud Light.
Once again, Caleb took a long swig of beer. His girlfriend began to giggle. I wondered just how drunk she was. I'd never seen her before, come to think about it. She smiled at me. Caleb slurred something about knowing where to find him if Travis ever started treating me wrong.
"You'd tell me if I was acting like a jerk, right?" Asked Travis, he set his shot glass on the counter. If he kept this whole vodka act up, he'd be drunk before the hour was up. For a moment, I swore he looked genuinely concerned that he wasn't a nice guy.
I kissed his cheek, "You'd never act that way though. I'm worried though that you might get alcohol poisoning tonight."
"Think so?" He wasn't focused on the probability that he'd consume too much alcohol.
"Oh darling, I know so," I insisted. Then I poked his side, "But I'm telling you right now to avoid too much booze, don't be blaming me for your hangover."
A few more drunk frat boys spotted Travis and started rushing towards him with excited shouts. I stepped out of the way to avoid getting trampled by a herd of these boys shouting about the volleyball game. Travis laughed at something somebody said. Despite the space I'd given them, I still had to avoid getting squashed as they began to freak out about the foosball table.
"I'll text you!" Travis promised as his friends violently dragged him off to find the foosball table.
I shrugged him off, and instead began to marvel at the building's interior and the various comicon worthy costumes... As Caleb and his girlfriend had begun smacking lips against the bar. The large crowd made me lonely. So, instead of waiting for somebody to talk to frumpy old me, I shuffled through the venue. Everything inside was sleek and modern, definitely one of the trendiest venues in Phoenix. The DJ shuffled through somebody's spotify playlist, picking as many Post Malone songs as he could much to my personal chagrin. The speakers were blasting and everyone was jamming out in a Halloween themed mob, and sure enough, I looked more like a stick-in-the-mud than cute in my longer dress compared to Lily Nicholls' short bodycon dress.
I wandered to the refreshment table and, wary of the potential narcotic laced brownie, picked out a frosted cookie from an untouched store-bought package. There were far more interesting things to look at than stare longingly at the mosh pit and wish I was outgoing enough to join.
"I've decided I don't like these kinds of parties. Too many sweating bodies."
Beside me stood a man in the most extravagant costume I'd ever seen. He had four arms sticking out of his body, and his skin was pale blue. Aside from the impressive four arms, the blue man wore an impressive pair of embroidered harem pants as well as some kind of Bollywood costume jewelry.I tried not to gawk in awe, "Your costume... It's amazing!"
The man crossed a pair of his arms, I assumed the other ones were prosthetics, "You like it? I am the god Vishnu."
"Never heard of him, is that something from a video game? So much cooler than the 57 witch costumes I've seen."
"Close, in a way. Vishnu is a god from Hindu mythology, sometimes he tells the future to passing souls," The man continued with a smirk. "I never understood the point of witches. I don't believe they ever existed in the way we think they did. I believe they were just people who... Fell out of favor?"
"Are you taking that new Occult class?" I arched an eyebrow, genuinely interested.
The blue guy chuckled, and shook his head, "Just a lover of history. I'm fascinated by the treatment those we call rejects receive."
"You talk funny."
"I could say the same to you."
I frowned, and rather than say something stupid, glanced back at Travis, who was on another beer. "I'm Nora Oakes by the way, I'm an engineering major as ASU."
"Engineering? I wouldn't have expected that. Have you got a job interning anywhere?" The blue guy asked, strangely, he didn't tell me his name.
I shook my head. I dreamed of working for Boeing, a company that built helicopters, somewhere at their European locations, or even Airbus, but I hadn't had any luck with my applications. None of my emails had been returned, and nobody called me back for an interview. "Haven't been that lucky, I've designed some water pipeline systems for a town in Haiti though. Maybe I'll get a job in the near future."
He stroked his beard with one of his actual hands, "There's an international company called Rajaram Industries, have you sent an application in for them?"
The cookie I was holding was getting a little mushy, so I took another bite from it. The blue man continued to gaze at the Halloween themed posters across from us, squinting at the images as if they held a secret message in gibberish. I'd always thought that Rajaram Industries would never take a little Arizona girl like me. But then again, I did have hopes to get a job with Boeing. "I haven't applied, but I've heard about the company. My professors gush about all of the things they've done for people in need, like building wells and such out of recyclable items. I thought the company didn't hire college kids as interns, let alone a white girl from the USA."
"And who told you that?"
"I kinda just inferred that, but the New York Times debunked the company a few years ago."
"Miss Oakes, you don't really believe everything the media tells you, now do you?"
I frowned, "Well.. No, but I've just never met anyone from the southwest that's worked for Rajaram Industries."
The blue man shut his eyes, and then he laughed at me. "That's because you're a college student, you're still young. Plenty of people from all over the world work for Rajaram Industries in several different branches. The company's so large with programs ranging from little cellphone apps to water wells and even special planes to allow easy access to rural jungle places. Speaking of a Rajaram Industries app, give me a moment while I feed my internet cats."
Internet cats? This guy and I would get along great. I asked him about the app, and in turn he showed me the little game. It was nice and simple, you tapped on your smartphone screen to set out a bowl of either cheap, moderate, or expensive cat kibble and attracted many cats. Then you waited to see which ones stayed, and then you adopted them and took care of them. The blue man's only cat was a large cartoon drawn solid black tiger. I used some of my precious cellular data to download the app as well.
"It's been nice meeting you Nora, but my ride said they'd be leaving by eleven, and I'd rather not walk alone in Phoenix," the blue man chuckled. He held out a hand to shake.
I shook his hand, "Nice meeting you t-"
My knuckles began to dry out as I registered how freezing cold the blue man's hand was. Suddenly, the music stopped completely, as did the mosh pit, everyone dancing was frozen in the midst of doing the macarena. Across the room, Caleb was leaning down to kiss his girlfriend, both were utterly still. Travis held a beer in his hand... And the blue man's eyes had taken a green shimmer. Mist poured out of his mouth.
Did somebody put pot in the cookies?
"You will be faced with difficult choices, and you must have faith in yourself," the man said calmly, his other two arms clasping behind his back. "When there seems to be no other options in sight, you shall have the strength to do that which is right, Nora. Have the courage to trust in those around you."
Yeah. I had to be high.
As soon as the world around me froze, everything roared back to life. Post Malone finally stopped playing, somebody had put on a song by Lana Del Ray, one of my favorite artists... But Lana singing about summertime sadness didn't phase me as I began to push through the crowd. Two seconds ago, the club had reeked of alcohol, but now it was filled with a sweet scent, much like fresh flowers. I began to panic, I'd never done drugs before, what had just happened? I forced myself to breathe steadily as I made my way over to Travis at the bar, trying to think of what I'd seen.
The room swayed, my head throbbed. Everything was so loud. Too loud.
"Nora, you look stressed!" Travis slurred loudly, stumbling over to me. He nuzzled my neck, "Youloooook great."
"I wanna go home," I whined, hoping that would be enough for him to take me home.
"Try one of these brownies," Caleb said, beckoning to a plate of... something. I shook my head.
Amidst everyone at the party, I realized something. I realized just how alone I was, nobody really understood me, and right now it seemed like not even Travis knew just who I was.
But then, somebody new guided me to the stools by the bar, "You alright goldilocks?"
"I think I, uh, ate a pot cookie?" I muttered in confession. "I want to go home, this just isn't fun anymore."
"Oh come on kid, you gotta at least tell me where you got the pot cookies from so I can get rid of them," Wes Hatch said, the nice texan who'd spent so much time scuba diving off the coast of India that he'd decided to double major in underwater archaeology and plain archaeology to uncover the hidden secrets of hidden lands. Or at least that's what I remembered from when we'd first met over a false pen heist a year ago.
I started rubbing my eyes, smudging my makeup in the process, "I only touched the orange sugar cookies, the Walmart one. I've never eaten a pot cookie before! This is bad! What's gonna happen to me?!"
Dramatically, Wes held my head in his two hands and inspected every inch of my face. His silence only frightened me that I'd definitely gotten myself into a pickle.
"You are definitely," He paused. "Not in any danger of any narcotic. I brought those cookies last minute."
"Oh."
"Why'd you think you were chasing the stoner experience?"
"Well... I saw a man, and he told me my fortune. His eyes glowed too, also I forgot to mention that his skin was blue."
Wes scratched his chin. He'd dressed up like a scarecrow from what I could tell. The stool beside me creaked as he sat next to me, "Did he have four arms?"
I nodded, "Yeah! I know I must sound crazy, but I swear I saw something!"
"You gotta promise me one thing," Wes said, suddenly serious. I nodded, he certainly had my attention. Wes sighed, "Don't tell anyone about this."
"Wait... What? Why not? Shouldn't more people know about this? What if that guy's a serial killer or something?"
A group of boys the next room over began to yell excitedly, I caught a glimpse of Travis laughing about something. He held a red solo cup; liquid had stained his shirt. There was no way he'd be sober enough to drive himself home and he probably wanted to stay at Caleb's stifling party longer than I did.
"Listen, just don't tell anyone," Wes stood up, and motioned for me to do the same. "Just drive home, and go to sleep. Meet me at the library Monday for lunch."
"What about Travis?" I asked, drying my sweaty palms on my long chiffon skirt. I didn't want to go home and sleep, I wanted to know more about the blue man who'd frozen my hand.
"He'll be fine, you don't need to wait for him, he's got his posse," Expertly, Wes snaked through the boisterous crowd, tugging me along by my elbow.
It was only when I could see the glass doors that the urge for fresh air began to constrict my skin. There was no way I could live the life of a party girl. This wasn't who I was, or at least I thought it wasn't who I was. The warm desert air was far different from the hot and sweaty fog in the venue. The Halloween decorations still smiled at me, and Wes finally let go of his grip on my arm. He walked me to the car.
"Get some rest goldilocks," Wes said. I barely had the time to thank him before he spun around on his heels and walked right back to Caleb's party.
As I sat in the car, I slowly tried to piece together the possibilities of Wes's strange attitude and the blue man who'd spoken to me. People didn't pay attention to me, not since high school at least. It must have been a misunderstanding, maybe the blue man had thought I was somebody else.
I shook my head, and for once put my music on the aux cord. The prius purred to life. While Travis' car wasn't my dream vehicle, a car was a car and I couldn't complain. The car lights reflected in the eyes of what was probably a stray cat. I pulled out carefully, my mind swimming with muddled thoughts.
The stray cat eyes watched me as I slowly drove away from Caleb's party, but they weren't normal cat eyes.
These eyes were far more golden as they reflected the car's headlights.
And they were gone as soon as they had appeared.