Just Think Happy Thoughts

It was Frank's birthday, which also happened to be Halloween. Since it was a Friday, Frank planned a Halloween birthday party. He convinced his mom to go out for the night and let him have some friends over. I don't know how he did it, but she agreed. There weren't supposed to be many of us anyway, just the usual crew which consisted of me, Gerard and Mikey, and then a few friends he invited from music appreciation and band. After school I went to Frank's to help him set up for the party later. Halfway through completion, Gerard and Mikey stormed in through the front door.

"Happy birthday Frankie!!!" Gerard yelled as he tackled Frank into a hug. I rolled my eyes at his actions for it was about the twentieth time he had done that. He glanced over at me. "Kai, you're already here." I nodded my head.

"Well duh. Kai's my new bestie" Frank teased. He put an arm around my shoulder. My heart leapt at his touch. Gerard's eyes narrowed at me but I just shrugged it off.

"Nice of you to join us now guys" I said with sarcasm.

"Sorry but I had to do me and Mikey's makeup" Gerard explained. Their faces looked paler with white make up and there were dark circles around their eyes and a blood stain dripping from their mouths.

"Remind me why we're vampires again" Mikey asked, unsure of our costumes.

"Because WE ARE vampires" Frank said with his usual playful grin on his face. "Vampires are cool. They're dead and creepy."

"I guess" Mikey said, unenthusiastically.

"Well Frankie let's take a break because Gee, your’e doing our make up now!” I reminded him.

“Ok let’s go to my room” Frank said. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him. I blushed at his actions. Gerard and Mikey followed behind, one of them snickering in the background.

It took around an hour for Gerard to finish our makeup. He did a phenomenal job. All of us looked convincingly dead. We admired ourselves in the mirror, then headed back to the living room to finish preparing for the party. When we were done there was a table set up with fruit punch and all different kinds of food and snacks, some of which Frank’s mom had cooked earlier. Halloween decorations could be found all around, all of them prominently... bloody, but that's just how Frank liked it. We were done just as other people started arriving.

"I spiked the bloody punch bowl" Frank said, followed by a maniacal laugh. He walked over to the punch bowl and made a cup for himself. "Does it look like I'm drinking blood guys?" I laughed, shaking my head. I walked over to the punch bowl to scoop some up for myself and Gerard and Mikey followed suit. We walked back over to Frank. He was talking to a guy I recognized from our music appreciation class. He glanced over at us.

"Gerard and Mikey! What's up?" he greeted them with a smile.

"Hey Matt" Gerard replied and waved his hand.

"Sup Matt" Mikey replied, walking over to Matt and sending a high five his way. Matt’s hand came up and slapped Mikey’s.

"And you're Kairi right?" he asked as he turned and looked at me.

"Mhm. Hi" I responded awkwardly because that's what I was best at.

"Yeah yeah. Thought I recognized you from our music class. You're quiet but can't forget a cute face" he said with a weird smirk on his face. I shifted closer to Gerard, feeling slightly creeped out by the expression he was giving me. I think Frank noticed because he shot me a sympathetic look and then changed the subject entirely.

“So guys look what I’ve got!” Frank exclaimed. He pulled out what looked to be a rolled up cigarette and waved it around. Everyone else got excited at the new development, while I stood there baffled because I didn’t get what was so exciting about it.

“Dude is that a joint!?” Matt asked. Frank nodded his head in agreement and Matt’s eyes lit up. I realized now why they were excited but I still stood there unresponsive because I had never tried pot before. Frank lit up the joint, took two hits and passed it to Gerard. After Gerard it came to me. I looked at it hesitantly but accepted it anyway and took two quick pulls. I was thrown into a coughing fit. I passed it to Mikey as I chugged down some of my punch. The ice cold punch felt good against my burning throat. My coughs finally subsided and I sighed, relieved.

“You alright Kai?” Frank asked with a concerned look.

“I’m so fine” I giggled. I felt like I was floating.

“Damn right” I heard someone say but I couldn’t tell who it was because I zoned out. I felt someone nudge me and snapped back into reality to see Gerard passing me the joint again. We stood in the circle for a while smoking and drinking, getting into unusually deep conversations one moment and the next moment laughing until we couldn’t breath for what seemed to be no reason at all.

“Guys I’m so hungry” I whined. They laughed some more.

“Looks like you have a case of the munchies” Mikey said, then chuckled. “I think we all do. Come on let’s go get food.” We all walked over to the buffet table and started to stuff our faces. After we satisfied our cravings, we went back into the crowd of people to mingle. I started to feel a bit claustrophobic in the crowd and that’s when I realized there were definitely more than the invited at the party. That’s when it happened.

“Dude Frank, look who’s here” Gerard said as he pointed to a tiny, raven haired girl across the room.

“Damn it. That bitch just ruined my high” he spat out. His demeanor changed from elated to disgusted. My eyes widened at his response to her existence.

“Who is she?” I asked. I wanted to know why this girl made him so bitter.

“My ex. Jamia” he revealed. I grimaced at the thought of them once being together. Jamia was chatting with a few people when she looked over and noticed us staring at her. Her face broke into a smile and she began to walk over.

“Frank Anthony Iero. Happy birthday, dear. Surprised to see me?” she asked, a malicious tone in her voice.

“Jamia why don’t you get the fuck-“ Gerard was cut off by Frank.

“Gee I can handle this. Get the fuck out of here Jamia. You know you’re not welcome. And take your posse with you” he screamed at her.

“What will you do Frank? Call the cops?” she countered, undefeated. They started to yell back and forth and soon the other guys joined in. The crowd got restless and I stood there unable to help. I was nearly drunk, high and my anxiety was creeping up on me. I decided it was best to escape so I made my way out of the crowd and up the stairs to get away from all of the commotion. As I walked down the hallway, I thought I felt someone close behind me. I turned around to be face to face with Matt. I stepped back a little, perplexed.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Don’t be afraid” he whispered. His hand grasped my upper arm. I looked at it with unease.

“I’m fine” I lied. I just wanted to be alone. I looked up at Matt who was staring deeply at me.

“You’re really beautiful” he remarked, that same eerie expression from earlier upon his face again. Before I could realize what was happening I was pressed up against the wall.

“What are you-“ I began but was cut off.

“Shhh, I just wanna kiss you” he said as his face started to move closer. My body was trembling.

“No! No!” I yelled. “I don’t want to! Get off of me!” I struggled to get out of his grasp. His hands had my arms pinned against the wall and my body was pinned down with his. He was too strong for me to break free. My screams couldn’t even be heard over the pandemonium downstairs.

“You know you want it, Kairi Jae Kalver” he said. I gasped as I realized he knew who I really was. I couldn’t question it, I just had to get away from him. I continued to struggle but his grip on me grew tighter.

“Let go! You’re hurting me!” I yelled at him. He didn’t care. He pressed his lips hard up against mine and forced his tongue into my mouth. I did the only logical thing I could think of, I chomped down on his tongue.

“OW! You fucking bitch!” he shrilled. His grip on me loosened and I took that as the opportunity to escape. I shoved him off of me and bolted down the stairs. I passed the now settled crowd and ran out the front door. My eyes started to sting as tears threatened to fall down my face. I continued running until I was in front of my house. Before I could reach the front door I felt a hand grasp my wrist and my whole body jumped in a panic.

Notes