The Boogeymen: Chapter 1

I don’t like Mondays. The sidewalk seems like it’s pounding against my shoes, and the leaves are blocking my path. I know it’s a Monday because the clouds look like they retain the most color; Mondays I have to come straight home and start next week’s homework. I don’t really mind all the studying or work but there is no one around to even enforce the rule; no one who seems to care at least. I do this frequently, stall my impending return home. Perhaps I think too much, but when there’s nothing to think about, you tend to get anxious you know? All this going through the motions just makes it worse on me. It’s almost like I was homesick but I couldn’t remember what home even was. Something in me is full but undiscovered, simple yet hard to crack. I can’t quite figure out what, so I’ll just chalk it up to the raging hormones I guess. 

A smack at the nape of my neck can only mean Joseph got out early, as no one can invade a space like he can. Although, he will usually stay after school for yearbook or one of his other clubs. If I had to describe him I’d say he is one of the most infamous students at school but not necessarily popular (or even well liked). Joseph is plain enough that he attracts attention from his generic features, but it also helps that he is one of our school’s resident clowns. He is lean with a round face about him, he always stands assured and approachable. His posture is constantly trying to make friends and his jersey always fools you into thinking he’s athletic, but he’s far too lazy. Joseph is also my only friend, or so he would like to put it. It is weird though; we know almost nothing about each other if you think about it. I can barely remember his last name and we aren’t even in the same classes anymore. But he is someone to talk to, if not a little annoying sometimes. While advancing through the gates of my personal bubble, he asks me yet again if I’m down to play video games at his house. I said no instinctively as is the norm. It isn’t that I like turning him down, I just can’t right now or maybe ever to be honest. My life feels wrong to share with outsiders, I even started to enjoy the isolation. 

We…or rather I, live in a spacious loft downtown. On the top floor the metal door swings open with it’s own crotchety fervor. Some walls are laid with misplaced or misshapen brick. Industrial lighting as well as other cold furnishings imperfectly dot the apartment, as if the fans and pipes were an artificial intelligence come to life with blood and breath powered by cogs and oil. It makes the place seem really impersonal but I guess I’m used to it. I don’t bother to ask if anyone is home because I already know the answer. The emptiness makes what should be a home feel like a quiet forest. These walls only serve to connect me to a darker world and the roof provides no shelter for me. There are no animals that talk and the hymns of life are dead within. 

This…routine of mine…it makes me want to leave even without a chartered course. I think I could be content to forever follow the journeying moon with a sack on my back and my chin towards the sky. But what future could that hold? I can’t even be sure what to do with my life, let alone hope and wish for change. Just thinking about my mental exhaustion is even more tiresome. My cell phone rings and Joey comes to mind, but it couldn’t be him, could it? I know I gave him my number, but would he actually try to call me outside of school? With no pre-text at the very least? My anxiety builds as I dwell on the unheard of possibilities.

I answer to a blank line and his voice flutters as it beats. Joey lives for pranks so I think nothing of it at first, when he hangs up just as quickly as he called. His life is practically punctuated with pranks and he’s a naturally funny guy, but not this time. A moment later I get a message: MEET ME ON THE SOCCER FIELD, PLEASE. I grow more worrisome; who sends something this creepy to just an acquaintance at best? Not to mention it’s approaching the end of October. Then time feels to slow itself down. Say what you will of his sense of humor, but Joey is really earnest when it comes to being honest with others.

My brain has grown accustomed to pragmatic action. I analyze the nutrition information on everything i eat for god's sakes. But it too seems drawn to the idea of such an untold adventure, one far away from this place I call home. For some reason, let's call them hormones, the temptation in my heart overtakes the logic normally present in my head. I don’t forget to grab my green hoodie rushing my way out the door and then I hurriedly jog downstairs back to school. The sun has now fallen and darkness consumes the Earth, the world’s shadow chases behind me. On the cement sidewalk where my day both starts and ends, I start shaking even more than usual, which makes sense seeing as I can’t remember the last time I sprinted. An almost supernatural force guides me as I sit back and watch my body move itself closer to school. This time the leaves are swept aside and dance as they cheer me on. The silver streetlamps follow me like a limelight to the stage. I feel myself being pulled towards the soccer field where it appears a beacon has jettisoned a column of torch light that pierces the clouds.

My body begins to fail me when I am dragged around the building corner and thrown in front of what is unmistakably a shapely obelisk of pure sunshine. Although it most definitely appears a blinding white, I can occasionally make out some singular colors that switch and pulse at every glance like a lava lamp. Staring at it longer, it appears to be a luminous blank sheet of paper reverberating ripples of force. This must have been what was attracting me like invisible tidal waves that are in a magnet. 

Three other bodies manifest beside me, aghast by the anomaly same as I. They could have been standing there the whole time but I wouldn’t have noticed. It feels as though it may lead to something like some sort of a portal, but to where was anyone’s guess. The person to my left is olive skinned, a bit stocky, and a total jerk; I’ve never been his prime choice of meat, but I know Adam was a notorious bully back in junior high. Yet, nowadays he’s in and out of police cars and still kind of a jerk. His jaw is rigidly square and ripe for a left hook, but his eyes stab and shank you square in the chest. Funny I think he knew Joseph from the football team, but the only thing they have in common is that they were both cut short. Adam has an authority problem, but Joey just plain sucked at sports. In fact, I’m fairly certain he has a weak heart or something. The girl to my right is sun kissed head to toe. Everything about her is golden even her bronzed skin. She smelled like milk and honey and the stuff angels are probably made of. I couldn’t help but notice that her uniform was less than appealing if not a bit trashy. I’m just not into the grunge aesthetic, and the plaid on her dress was an erratic eye strain but her suspenders were pretty attractive. Despite all her rough edges she had a remarkably soft face that was hard to look away from. I know of her as Mari, a girl that everyone loves to hate. She could pass high school if looks were the only factor and she's got one hell of a personality to match; a girl like Mari is hard to come by and everyone knows it. It’s difficult to believe a girl as electric as her is as much of a pariah as she is. I don’t believe she really knew anyone personally, especially Joey, but she did come with a small pale faced girl of wool. This girl shrank into the sweater she wore which covered most of her body. The part of her head that wasn’t raven thick was lightly freckled and further pronounced by her warming gaze. Her creamy persona reminded me of her name: Sara, graceful and mysterious just like her homeland. I almost forgot she was an exchange student from some former Soviet country who also happens to be in my homeroom. She’s often teased by our peers for her foreign understandings and seemingly lack thereof. I could tell she was genuinely interested in being everyone’s friend, but seemed to lack the willpower to make it happen. 

We all stood there in bewilderment, waiting for something to react to. Mari took the first step and we all followed suit. I wonder if they were just as drawn to it as I was. Sara was the last to make a move when suddenly a silhouetted blur eclipsed the center of the column. An inky hand reached out abruptly took hold of Sara hoisting her and plunging her into the bright abyss. Adam and I were both reflexive enough to catch her by the hoof of her heels and desperately try to haul her back with cuffed hackles.