It was Halloween weekend, and the young people of the town partied all weekend. Not Paul. He skipped all that this year and picked up work at The Fireside Tavern. He slept in late that Saturday when his mom burst into his room and opened the blinds. "Alright, young person. Up and at ‘em."
Paul swiftly put a pillow over his face. "My shift starts at four. I don't need to be up and at them."
Grace saw Paul's black eye. "What happened to your eye? Did you get into a fight?”
"Nah, I just broke one up and got hit with friendly fire.”
"I'm going to trust that you are telling me the truth. Now, sunlight is good for you. You need photosynthesis." his mother jokingly said.
He sat up in his bed. His mom tossed a bottle of pills. "Hey, new vitamins. Take them every day."
"What's wrong with my old ones?" Paul questioned.
"These are better. Protects against more things. Have more vitamins and what not.”
Paul got ready for this shift, took his vitamins, and brushed his teeth. He grabbed his keys and said goodbye to his mom. When he got there, it was pretty dead. Just some teenagers killing time. One person that was there was Noah. He was at the bar drinking. Paul went to talk to him. He went behind the bar and poured him a shot.
"Aren't you too young to be the bartender here?" Noah said before he took the shot.
"Well, technically the bar isn't open until 5, so I thought I’d play pretend for a bit." Paul quipped back.
"Hey, look at you taking charge."
"Look, man, I don't know what your problem is, it seems like you go out of your way to get people to hate you." stated Paul.
Noah took another shot and slammed the glass on the bar upside down. "You know what? You won't remember this, so who cares? My brother and I have been feuding for decades upon decades, and it all started because of me. Because I couldn't forgive him. I kept taking it further and further. I even tortured him. I took every opportunity to make him regret his actions. After all that, I think it changed me. Even now I want to help, but we have different opinions on problem solving. There's no limit for me now. No line to watch out for. The worst part is I know I'm gonna betray him again because of her."
"That's a lot to unpack there. Have you considered just not being a dick?" Paul said.
"I've tried that. It doesn't work because eventually I have to be a dick for the greater good." responded Noah.
"Is her meant to be Delilah?"
Noah flipped his glass right side up and slid it toward Paul. He filled it and Noah slammed it back. 'Of course it's Delilah. This wouldn't be the first trouble we've had over a girl."
"You could just not do that and go find another girl." Paul stated. He followed up, "It seems like a pretty easy solution."
The man on the stool looked dumbfounded. "You know what, high schooler five," Noah grabbed Paul on the shoulder and looked him in the eyes, "You are going to forget we had this talk."
Noah left before Paul could get out any more words out. He was confused for the most part. There were so many more questions he wanted to ask. He shrugged it all off and chalked it up to someone drinking way too much alcohol.
The rest of the shift was boring except for some kids egging the place. He and his coworkers closed up the tavern, and they all went home. The next day was the same but with no drunk confusing guy.
Although tragedy showed up in Autumnvale once more. Paul learned from Kelley, who was there for dinner, that Father Tivy was found dead. The word was he slipped on his stairs and broke his neck. It made him think about what Quinn said at his father's funeral, about not being able to plan for the future because you never know what will happen. They also got egged that night. Which to Paul was just a waste of eggs.
Monday morning was here and everyone was excited. Paul didn't have any real plans yet but he was okay with that. Honestly a chill night home watching horror movies sounded awesome. The twins would definitely love that idea. His second thought was about Melissa. He wondered what she would be doing for Halloween. Before he could think about her any longer the bell rang.
Paul was very thankful this was his senior year and most of his classes were electives. It meant he didn't have to focus or try or even pass most of his classes to graduate. All of the required classes for graduation had already been passed. He had a hard time focusing on anything today.
The next few classes would breeze by, leading to lunch. The group were discussing what to do tonight. Paul suggested a horror movie marathon and the twins agreed with that. Quinn wanted to go to a party. Paul had no desire to go out to a big wild party. The rest of the table felt the same.
Melissa chimed in, "Well it's short notice but I can plan a fun night; small group for dinner then a few movies. We can do it at Zane's house. It's certainly big enough. I'm gonna order decorations and some food.”
Melissa pulled out her phone and started texting.
Beatriz joked, "Look at her go, planning away. If she ever turned into a villain she would be so successful."
"She is like the Hannibal Lecter of party planning." Tyler added with a smile.
Paul ended up in his last class, history. Mr. Everald was talking about more Halloween origins. It was always interesting in Mr. Everald's class.
After the bell rang. The teens went to their homes with the promise to meet at Zane's house at 6:30. Paul did just that. He pulled up to the house. It was bigger than he remembered. Noah was outside smoking a cigarette. "Hey Scott, how is my favorite normal high schooler."
"It's Paul. And you call my high schooler five. If I was your favorite, I'm pretty sure I would be number one and not number five." Paul replied.
Noah took one last puff from his cigarette, dropped it on the ground, and then stepped on it. "You are correct. I'm officially upgrading you to normal high schooler number one." Noah put his arm around him and they entered the house together.
When Paul walked in. Beatriz, Tyler, and Melissa were trying to pick what movies to watch. Quinn, Rhea, and Aiden were hanging up some last minute decorations. Delilah and Zane were making food. A few more people from school were chatting in the living room. Even Mr. Everald and Sophia were there making a couple drinks at the bar for the adults. Paul looked around. He made notice of how big the house was. He also wondered where were Zane's parents, so he asked. "Where are your guys' parents?"
Noah simply stated. "Dead"
He felt a sense of embarrassment for asking such a blunt and rude question. “Oh sorry.”
Noah smirked before he replied "Don't be. Feels like a century ago."
The group sat down for dinner. It was delightful. The food was great. They had Italian. Conversation was fun. Everyone got along well. Paul was a little worried about Melissa and Rhea because of the whole Quinn situation. He was also waiting for Noah to be a jerk and ruin it but he didn't. The dinner was coming to an end when Mr. Everald excused himself. “Alright young people, Me, Sophia, and Noah will get out of your hair and let you do whatever teenagers do."
The adults headed to the door. Noah turned around and warned, "Don't touch my good whiskey.”
The teenagers all settled in for the movie. The first was titled The Babadook. Paul enjoyed it. They were about to start the next movie when the group decided on an intermission. Paul just went to the bathroom while everyone did what they need to do, including Melissa going to fine Noah good whiskey.
Beatriz was putting on the next movie, when the group inside gathered.
"I'll go grab the musketeers." Referring to Aiden, Rhea and Quinn who were taking a smoke break out back. She returned back a minute later. "They're gone. Weird."
Paul took out his phone to call Quinn. He figured they left to go get something. The phone rang. A phone went off on the table. Delilah picked it up. "That's Quinn's phone."
Melissa took out her phone and tried calling Aiden but it went to voicemail.
Zane walked to the back door and started to look into the vast forest. "Does anyone have Rhea's number?"
Tyler pulled his phone out with no luck getting in contact with them. The group grabbed some flashlights and went to take a quick look in the woods out back. Paul and the twins were in a group together.
Tyler whispered to the other two. "Does anyone else think this is a terrible idea? Teens in the woods on Halloween. Did you know it's a full moon tonight?
"Well on the bright side if we're attacked I just have to run faster than you," Beatriz joked.
"Not funny." Tyler responded.
A twig snapped causing the teens to stop. "What was that?" Paul questioned.
"It was a twig, the woods have a million of them." Beatriz replied.
Tyler began to suggest going back when they found one of their friends. "Aiden what the hell man." Paul said relieved to see one of them.
"We were out back when we heard someone in the trees, so Quinn went to see what was up. Then Rhea wanted to follow him. We got separated, I don't know. My phone doesn't get a signal in the forest. It was all dark and spooky." Aiden explained half out of breath.
Paul and the twins went back to the house and waited. They rejoined their classmates who stayed behind. They were all relieved to see Aiden unharmed. A few minutes went by when the others arrived back home. Zane busted through the door, "Did you find them?"
"We found Aiden." Beatriz said while pointing at him.
"Well we found Quinn." Delilah added.
Quinn was beat up. His clothes were tattered and there appeared to be blood.
"What happened to you?" Paul asked him.
"Oh. I fell down a very steep hill. There was a lot of rolling and bashing. Look, never mind me. Rhea is still out there, and we need to go find her." replied Quinn.
The group all look around at each in silence.
Delilah looked at Tyler. "Don't worry we're gonna find her