Midnight After Halloween

  It was past midnight and I couldn't sleep. I looked at the half open window of my bedroom. A good run doesn't sound so bad right now. Maybe it'll tire me out and help me sleep. 

I swung my legs over the bed. I exchanged my PJs for sportswear. I was ready in three minutes. But I still needed my earbuds, I thought as I turned—

I screamed. 

I hadn't heard the stranger in the clown mask crawling in through my window. There was a stranger in my bedroom! Luckily, I kept a bat underneath my bed. Just in case. I was already swinging it. Until I heard an all too familiar voice: "No, wait! Alex, it's me!" 

   My bat stopped mid-swing. I frowned and lowered my weapon. "Nico?" I said. 

The mask was removed, revealing the wide-eyed face of my best friend. "Nico, what the hell?! You scared me! What are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?" 

   "I didn't know where else to go" Nico said, looking out the window. "A, you're a lifesaver, you know that?" 

His vagueness was cutting my patience short. "Nico, what's going on?" I said, placing the bat on my bed. I crossed my arms. 

Nico was still panting. It occurred to me that he'd probably been running. "Bobby— he.. he was tryna kill me."

"Bobby?"

"You know Bobby! My biggest nemesis? Practically bullied me all senior year. But you probably don't remember that."

My memory refreshed, thinking back to an athletically built boy with a white smile. Bobby Evans. I might've had a little crush on him. Don't judge. "Why the hell does Bobby Evans want to kill you?"

And then a familiar voice echoed from outside, loud and clear: 

"HEY! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, VALDÉZ!"

   I couldn't believe Bobby Evans was outside my house screaming at the top of his lungs. 

   Nico's face fell. "Oh no", he said. 

   "Nico", I said, trying to keep calm. "What the hell did you do?" 

   He hesitated. "I might've.. toilet-papered his house."

"You what?" 

    Bobby's voice boomed again. "COME OUT YOU COWARD! I'LL CALL THE POLICE!"

   That's it. I wasn't gonna let Bobby wake the whole town. Or worse, my parents. I marched to the window. "Hey!" I shouted. Bobby looked around, trying to follow the sound of my voice. Then, we locked eyes. "Go away or I call the police!" 

   Bobby's face softened. "Alex?" I couldn't believe he remembered my name. Not that that was important. 

   "Get the hell off my property!"

   Bobby looked determined again. 

"I saw him— I saw Nico go this way. I know he's in there."

   "Nico's not here", I said, "Now go away or I call the police."

   "I'm not leaving", Bobby said stubbornly. 

   I ducked my head back in and turned to Nico. "We're going out there."

   Nico looked horrified. "What?"

  "He's not gonna leave and I'm not gonna let him wake up my parents!" 

   "VALDÉZ!" Bobby shouted again.

   I opened the window wider and I slipped a leg through. I looked back at Nico impatiently. "Come on!" 

   And then we were on the roof of my house, climbing down a tree and then on the ground.

  Bobby was marching towards Nico before his feet even hit the ground. His eyes were green flames. "You—"

  I held out my hands and shielded my best friend with my body. Bobby was only a head taller than Nico but he had a lot more muscle mass on him. "Wait, wait , wait!" I said. "Just hear us out."

  After long minutes of finally convincing Bobby and Nico to take this discussion elsewhere, we were walking down the empty road. Now, I was sandwiched between my best friend and his bully. Aka my high school crush. This was a strange night. They have already been bickering for the past ten minutes.

  "Bobby, listen!" I intervened, "Nico didn't mean to toilet-paper your house, alright?"

  "Oh yeah? He didn't mean to egg it, too?" Bobby peered around me. "Classic Halloween move!" 

   Nico peered around me, his eyes dark. "I'm sorry I egged your parents house and trashed it, I really am. It's not their fault their son is a heartless jerk."

   Bobby's face broke into laugher. He looked pretty for a moment and I almost forgot he was a jerk. "You got a problem, man?"

  Nico looked at him incredulously. "You're joking right?" He said. "Did you forget all of last year? You've been nothing but a bully to me, you and your little jock friends. Just because you were the new kid, that didn't make you special. You just needed someone to pick on to make yourself feel better."

   Bobby sighed. "Look, maybe I was a bit of an ass but that doesn't give you the right to egg my house! And in the middle of the night?"

  "When was I supposed to do it? In broad daylight?" 

   Bobby scoffed. "You're pathetic." 

   "Hey", I intervened again, "We promised to be nice to each other, remember? This is a discussion, not an argument."

   But Bobby wasn't listening. "You trash my house and then you run off like a little baby—"

   "You were chasing me!"

   "And what's up with that stupid clown mask?"

   "It's Halloween, idiot!" 

   "I don't get it", Bobby said, shaking his head, "I apologized to you on the last day of school."

   Nico looked bitter. "Oh yeah, wait till the last day of school to make up for a whole year of crapping on me. Great apology." 

   Bobby stopped and so did I. "Jesus, what else do you want from me? Do you want me to kiss your feet or something? Why are we having this stupid intervention anyway? I should be calling the police—"

  "No, no!" I said quickly. "No one's calling the police. Look, it's Halloween night. Stuff like this happens all the time. And, no offense Bobby, but you kinda deserved it. Why can't we just...forget this ever happened?" I gasped as an idea popped into my head. "Let's do something! The three of us."

  Bobby gave me strange look. "What?" 

  "Look around you. The whole town's asleep!" I must've sparked their interest because the two boys looked around. The streets were empty, the lights inside the houses were off. The only lights on we're those of the jack-o-lanterns decorating the lawns. "It's Halloween! Let's go ghost-busting or something." Before either boys could protest, I added, "Look, Nico and I will help clean the house before your parents see it—"

  "I won't—" Nico started to protest.

  "Yes, you will", I cut him off, "Now, come on! This will be fun. Let's forget about high school and drama and life!" No answer. "Fine, let's make a deal. We can pretend to be friends tonight and then tomorrow you two can go back to killing each other." 

  "You know", Bobby said, "Technically it's not Halloween anymore. It's 2 am, it's November 1st."

   "Not if I say it isn't", I said, walking backwards. And then I was running. I wasn't sure where I was going but I hoped the boys would follow. And they did. It was a small town so it was hard to get lost. 

The first store we reached was the party shop, my personal favorite. You could find things that ranged from Halloween costumes to birthday gifts to Christmas wrappings. It was dark and empty inside. I tippie-toed, reaching for the little key rested on top of the door. Got it!

"Oh Mark", I said, "You've got to find a better hiding spot." I felt the boys stare at me as I entered the key into the doorknob. 

Nico shifted on his feet, uncomfortably. "Alex, what are you—"

The door creaked open. "Relax, there's no alarm. No one will notice." 

"Why do I have a feeling you've done this before?" Bobby said. 

I shrugged. "I get bored sometimes. My insomnia gets the best of me. Come on, I'm sure Mark won't mind."

Once we were inside the party shop, 

I immediately went to the Halloween mask section. I picked up the scariest one— a bloody head of a pig— and put it on. It stank and I couldn't breathe. 

"What do you think?" I asked Nico. I noticed Bobby was standing ten feet away, avoiding Nico. Well, at least they weren't killing each other. 

   "What the hell are we doing?" Nico asked. 

   "Living in the moment", I replied, taking off my mask. I exchanged it for a Freddy Kruger mask. 

   "That's my favorite movie", Bobby said, approaching me. "Nightmare on elm street." I noticed he was holding a plastic sword in his hand. "This palace has a lot of cool stuff." 

   "Yeah", i said, "it's my favorite shop in the entire town." 

   "Guys!" Nico's voice came from the other aisle. "Check this out!" Me and Bobby found him by the register desk. He was looking at a pair of pictures in his hand. In the photographs, Mark the store owner was posing happily with another man. In one of them, they were getting married. 

  "Did anyone else know that Mark was gay?" Nico asked. 

   "No", I said, "I had no idea!" I stared down at the photographs. Mark's usual serious face held a smile. "Aww, I've never seen Mark so happy, he usually grunts whenever he sees me."

   "Looks like he's just as human as the rest of us", Bobby said. "Guess you never know a person." 

   I looked up from the photograph, something catching my eye. "Guys..."

I brushed past Nico and crouched down. When I straightened up, I held a bowl of candy in my hands. 

  "That's a lot of candy", Nico said, eyes wide. 

  "Mark must've forgotten these here. These are leftovers from trick-or-treating!" A smile tugged at my lips. "Come on!" I said, and then I was out of the store.

  Awhile later, the boys and I were sitting on the steps of the big gazebo in the center of town. Everything was still and quiet, the only sound was the crunch of candy we were chewing. 

   "Mark's gonna kill us", Nico said, popping the last M&M into his mouth. 

   I shrugged. My stomach was already beginning to hurt from all the candy we've eaten. "Who would've known he was gay. I mean, I've known this guy practically all my life— and this is a small town. Maybe I'm just oblivious." 

   "Everyone has their secrets", Bobby said, chewing on a chocolate bar. 

  "What's your secret?" I asked, curiously. 

   Bobby stopped chewing. Nico chimed in, "I used to eat insects when I was a kid." 

   I made a face. "Gross." I reached for some more candy.

   "I used to have a crush on this girl", Bobby said, "And I would always send her love letters. But I never told her it was me." 

  My chest felt warm. "That's sweet." 

  "That was in middle school. Wow, I never told anyone that before."

   "It's the candy, sweetie. It's making you confess." I savored the watermelon flavored candy in my mouth. "Can't. Resist. The power. Of candy!" Bobby smiled at that. 

   Nico was chuckling to himself. "I once", he began, "I once crapped my pants at work and hid my underwear inside a box that got shipped to a customer."

  Bobby and I exchanged looks. And then we were laughing. The candy in my stomach only made the laughter painful but I didn't care. After a moment of practically rolling on the floor in stomach pains and laughter, I said, "When I was in kindergarten, I used to go up to random people and slap them in the face cause I wanted to know what it felt like."

   "Hey, wasn't I one of those people?" Nico said. 

  "Oh shoot, you're right!" I said. "That's how we met. Sorry bout that." After a while of sharing stories, I laid still on the floor of the gazebo, staring at the pointed ceiling. Suddenly, I sat up. "You know what would be dope? If we scream our secrets out loud."

   "Are you crazy?" Bobby said, "We'll wake the whole town." 

  I stood. "I USED TO SLAP PEOPLE FOR FUN!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  "Alex, what the hell!" Nico said, wide-eyed. 

   I shut my eyes and spread my arms proudly. "I ONCE BOUGHT A WHOLE BAG OF DOGGIE TREATS AND ATE THEM THINKING THEY WERE A NORMAL SNACK!" I looked at Bobby. "Your turn." 

  He stood up to take my place. He cupped his hands around his mouth. 

"I USED TO THINK ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY WERE THE SAME THING!"

  I broke into laugher. "What? That's the stupidest confession I've ever heard!"

  Nico stood. "I got a better one." We gave him some space and he cleared his throat. "I USED TO SECRETLY EAT THE FAMILY CAT'S FOOD WHEN I WAS A KID AND I LIKED IT!" 

  I made a face, still laughing. "You were just one weird kid!"

   "I WAS A WEIRD KID!"

   "WE'RE ALL WEIRD KIDS!" I screamed back. "SCREAM OUT LOUD IF YOU'RE A WEIRD KID!" 

   And then we were all screaming at the top of our lungs. Next thing we knew we were running down the road as if zombies were chasing us. We were running on adrenaline, on sugar rush. I felt like a little kid again. Not like an eighteen year old adult. I was laughing, hair blowing in the wind. Bobby was just a happy blond boy, not a bully. And Nico was a laughing maniac, not a boy who just egged someone's house. I wasn't thinking, just doing. We were on an adventure, just the three of us, in what felt like a ghost town. 

  And then things were calm again. The three of us walked around a corner, we were just five houses away from mine. Even though I was exhausted and it was already 4 am, I didn't want to go home. We were silent as we walked, our sugar high was coming down. 

   "Hey", Bobby said suddenly, "Nico, I'm sorry. I know I was a jerk—"

  "Whatever, man", Nico said. "That was high school. It's in the past now." 

  We walked in silence again. Until we reached my house. "Well, it was fun while it lasted, boys. But, I gotta crash. I got work tomorrow. Er...in a few hours." 

  "I had a good time", Bobby said, oddly close to me. Senior year me would've melted.

  "See you tomorrow, A", Nico said. 

  "Sleep tight."

  Nico shook his head. "Can't. Not yet." Then, he looked at Bobby. "Me and Bobby have to go do something." He was going to help clean up Bobby's house, I thought proudly.

  "Uh oh", I teased, "You're not gonna go kill each other, are you?" I smirked. "Or make out?" When the boys gave me a look, I added, "Ha, kidding!" 

  "Goodnight, A", Nico said, already walking off, hands in the pockets of his hoodie. 

  Bobby departed from him. "Hold on", he said, reaching me. "There was one secret I didn't confess." I stared up at him, waiting for him to go on. "And it's that...

I like you."

   What? Bobby Evans, my high school crush likes me? I couldn't hide the surprise in my face. "But—" I began.

  "Oh come on", Bobby cut me off, "Why else do you think I agreed to do this? All of this? If it weren't for you, I probably would've..."

  "Killed Nico?" I offered. "Strangled him to death? Body slammed him?" 

   "Let's just say it wouldn't have ended well."

  I smiled. "I like you, too", I said. And then I turned away before Bobby could reply. I jogged toward my house, reaching the big tree that grew near it. I was already climbing it when I heard Bobby's voice. 

  "Can I at least...take you out sometime?" 

   "I'd like that!" I said. And then I was crawling back inside my bedroom. I watched the boys leave together as if they've always been good friends. I closed the window and flopped onto my bed. Then, I spotted Nico's clown mask on the floor. He'd accidentally left it here. It was smiling up at me with its creepy blood-red smile. I picked it up and stared at it. I hoped Nico wouldn't mind if I kept it as a token of our midnight adventure.