Students were prohibited from wearing costumes for Hallowe’en but YCCI’s faculty were given clearance. One teacher was wearing a wizard’s outfit and another was a panda costume with face paint. Ms Buscombe was a fairy. Or an angel. Kay couldn’t tell. The teacher had butterfly wings but had a halo, too. Mixed messages.

  It was before fourth period, though– reaching the end of lunch– where Kay was walking the empty halls to his locker. A single person consuming all that hall space like a sole survivor after the Rapture.

  A voice called up behind him, though. “Kay!”

  Well, it was his actual name and not ‘Rockstar’ so Kay figured it was someone he knew. And someone he knew, it was.

  Kay stopped and turned around. “Oh hey, Huxley.”

  Huxley caught up to Kay and slowed his jog. “Hey Kay.” He got a breath and smiled. “Glad I found ya! I wanted to know if wanted to come to my party tonight?”

  Oh. A party. Kay dreaded the things. He was cool with having some friends in class, but Kay was not up to get to know Huxley anymore than he already did– Huxley or anyone else that might have been at the party.

  Huxley gazed at Kay with a warmhearted grin, happy to invite Kay to the affair! But Kay didn’t want to involve himself in any social activities: he had rules about that.

  Kay shifted his stance around, thinking on how to let down Huxley easy. “Uh... a party?”

  It was clear to Huxley that Kay was uncomfortable with the situation, so he disarmed the situation. “It’s no big deal. We’re going to behave ourselves...” He looked up and down the hall and lowered his voice. “More or less...” He perked back up again. “We’re just going to hang out and play Halo. You don’t need to dress up at all if you don’t want to.”

  God, Huxley was really selling Kay on it. Kay didn’t want to go. He was fine with Huxley just being a school chum. Their friendship didn’t need to grow any further.

  Kay squirmed as the words left him. “No, uh, I, uh, don’t want to...”

  Huxley forced a chuckle to hide his disappointment. “I’m serious. It’s going to be on the level. There won’t be more than... ten people there, including you.”

  Huxley was making this very hard for Kay. Kay turned his body away in discomfort. “I-I-I got something to do. I can’t make it– sorry.”

  “Listen, Kay–”

  Kay slapped a wave, already turning away to get out of there. “Yeah. See ya.”

  He got out of there, like prey fleeing from a predator.

  Huxley was disappointed. Why was Kay like that? Huxley wasn’t going to let it bother him too much but he was little hurt that a supposed friend of his was almost literally running from an invitation.

  Watching his school flee from sight, Huxley sighed, thinking, Why do you got to make it so hard to be your friend, Kay?

  Kay dared not look over his shoulder to see if Huxley was following him. His steps were long, his pace was quick, and he made record time to his next class. He shivered, knowing this would make Media Studies a little awkward for the time being.

  Daff regretted stuffing his cowboy costume with a coat.

  It was late fall in Ontario, for crying out loud. How was he supposed to know that Hallowe’en night was going to be so surprisingly warm? Was it the body heat of all the people walking their candied patrols in festive costumes? Was that enough to make the streets of Toronto feel like a nice spring day? Somehow, Daff refused that idea. But his body cooked anyways.

  If it was just the coat it would have been tolerable. And if it was just the poncho it would have been fine. But it was both and Daff had the bright idea to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and undress himself– as awkward as it could be– and free himself of the oven he was wearing. He rejected the idea, knowing that he was close to Huxley’s house anyway.

  Among crowds of excited kids with baskets and bags full of candy, Daff curved along the sidewalk. He kept his eyes on the row of houses, hoping to spot the abode that had the green top with two roof-windows. Identifying that house was a lot easier under daylight but even well into nighttime, Daff recognized the pumpkin banner on Huxley’s front window so he had found the place.

  In the light in the front door stood Huxley. Daff saw him with eyeglasses on and wondered if it was a Harry Potter costume but as Daff got up to the door, he saw a scarf and a nice sweater on Huxley and clocked it as a dad costume.

  Huxley opened the door. “Daff! You’ve arrived!”

  Daff stepped in, the house warmer than outside, and said to Huxley. “You got a coathanger? I gotta shed a layer.”

  Huxley walked Daff into the living room and then pointed through a door. “We’re hanging up our coats and stuff in the corner there.”

  Daff looked around. There was a handful of kids in the living room and then a few in the back, looking like they were up to something. Daff gave a quick wave to some of the folks hanging around and went into the kitchen– a strip kitchen with two rows of counter space– where some kids were making popcorn and hovering over a plate of brownies that Huxley had prepared earlier. Music was coming off the stereo with a CD case nearby.

  Fen looked up from the popcorn maker, peeking at the cowboy, and smiled. “A cowboy! Niiiice!”

  The girl, who Daff shared a class with but only became acquaintances through Huxley, was dressed as a nurse that evening. It was a costume idea she had wanted to try ever since she saw a couple of her mom’s coworkers dressed up as nurses. She thought that was so cute and 2003 was the Hallowe’en she got to give it a shot of her own.

  Charlie, a fellow YCCI student but only got to know Daff through their mutual friend Huxley, was not wearing much of a costume. She had more makeup on than usual, though. Sitting on a chair at a table, she looked over Daff’s garb. “Is that poncho real?”

  “Hold on a sec,” said Daff, his voice a little gravelly for someone who has just turned sixteen.

  He took off the cowboy hat and put it on the counter. He then leaned down to pull the poncho off, letting it drop to the floor. Leaning back up, he zipped down the jacket to reveal that he had a sweater on underneath.

  “Oh,” said Fen, walking over to the door to see who else had arrived yet. “So you were cooking out there, huh?”

  “Like a turkey,” said Daff. Addressing Charlie, he said, “The poncho is real. My uncle got it in Mexico.”

  The music filled a brief silence and Daff listened in to its breezy pop rock chords. His mouth wavered. “Is this Lizzie McGuire?”

  “Hilary Duff,” Charlie corrected.

  While he listened in on the talk among the kitchen, Daff took the coat off and put it with the others, stacked on a chair by the window. The sweater could have gone, too. He rose his sweater up, a little embarrassed for the brief second where his T-shirt was pulled upward and revealing some of his navel to the girls in the room. After tossing his sweater on the pile of coats and straightening out his Metallica T-shirt, he picked up the poncho off the floor and flipped it right-side out.

  “Is that show still on?” Fen asked Charlie. “I keep seeing new episodes.”

  “They’re probably old,” said Charlie. “You just haven’t seen them before. Why would there be new episodes? They graduated and then there was the movie.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Fen went back over to watch the popcorn popping in the machine. “I swear there’s new episodes.”

  Putting his hat back on his head, Daff straightened his poncho. “Those Family Channel shows– like, it’s a factory for teen stars. Hilary Duff is done her show so now she makes music.”

  “I guess so.” Charlie picked up the album to look at the back. She then looked over at the stereo. “I hope ‘Metamorphosis’ gets a music video. It’s the best song on the album!”

  Fen nodded. “It should, because the album is named after it.” Fen sat down at the small table with Charlie. “Do you think they’ll make a new show? With them in high school?”

  “I don’t know,” said Charlie.

  If that is what they were going to be talking about, Daff had other places to be. He went back out into the living room. Huxley’s living room was living room made for get-togethers. It was large with a couple places for groups of people to sit. It was furnished with potted plants and nice paintings. Anyone would agree it was quite cozy!

  So Daff got introduced to Huxley’s other party attendants, recognizing only a few of them since most of them went to other schools. Huxley hinted that his friends in the back were mixing up something special, and Daff let them be.

  Huxley wasn’t kidding about the Halo, so when his friend Andrew turned on the X-Box and offered a controller to anyone that wanted to play deathmatch, Daff sat down on the floor to join him.

  “Nice costume,” said Julian, looking over Daff’s cowboy outfit.

  “Yours is alright, too,” said Daff, looking over Andrew’s wizard outfit. It could have been Harry Potter-related but something was off that Daff couldn’t put his finger on. Asking if a person’s costume was supposed to be Harry Potter would have been rude, though, so Daff avoided it.

  Andrew looked out at the crowd. “Anyone else want to play?”

  Mirella shook her head, the veil of her undead bride outfit swaying across her back.

  Jia, who came to the party wearing a witch’s uniform with a lace gloves, sighed. She looked at Huxley. “C’mon! I thought we were supposed to watch a movie! Something we can all enjoy.”

  Andrew smiled across the room at Jia. “We can all enjoy Halo. C’mon! Come over here and try!”

  Jia shook her head. “No. I hate video games.”

  Paying no attention to any drama, Daff suggested, “Let’s do Hang ‘Em High. I like that map.”

  “Okay,” said Andrew, returning his attention to the game. “Slayer Pro.”

  Huxley walked over to join Andrew and Daff, reassuring Jia, “We’ll play a little bit and then watch a movie.”

  “What movies do you have?” asked Andrew, looking around the cabinets nearby for DVDs. He looked over at Huxley, offering the controller. “Take over.”

  “We should watch a horror movie,” said Mirella. “Do you have Halloween?”

  “No,” said Huxley, taking the controller from Andrew. Andrew went to the cabinet with all the DVDs, in which Huxley’s family had a good spread. He flipped through them and assumed most of them were Huxley’s because there were a lot of comedies and action films.

  Fen and Charlie emerged from the kitchen, big bowl of popcorn in Charlie’s hands. Its aroma filled the room. When Charlie sat down on the sofa, Mirella took a handful and snacked.

  “Is Chainsaw Massacre on DVD yet?” asked Charlie, picking up the conversation in the kitchen.

  “That’s still in theatres,” said Jia. “I just saw it.”

  “Was it any good?” asked Daff. He thought and then looked over at Andrew. “Hey– see if Huxley has the new Lara Croft movie. That’s a good one.”

  “It was alright,” said Jia.

  “Couldn’t be any worse than Gigli,” said Huxley, smirking up.

  Some chuckles were abound. Everyone nodded and agreed, thinking of 2003’s biggest box office bomb. Even those without a tight ear to pop culture had heard of the infamous bad film Gigli.

  Charlie took a handful of popcorn. “Yeah. That movie suuuuuucks!”

  Jia crackled a smile. “They say it’s one of the worst movies ever!”

  Mirella hadn’t heard of it, though. “What’s Gigli?”

  “It’s that movie with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck,” explained Huxley.

  Andrew turned to the room. “It’s baaaaaaad!”

  “I knew it was crap when I saw the trailers,” Huxley said, quiet enough for it to be exclusive to Andrew and Huxley.

  “Oh?” Mirella looked around. “Has anyone seen it?”

  The mocking stopped. The chuckling went silent. No one could answer. No one had seen it. All they had was hearsay. Infamy. None of them had actually watched the film.

  “Uh... no,” said Huxley, “but I heard its bad. Really bad!”

  “How bad is it?” asked Jia. “Is it fun-bad? Because my brother showed me this movie called–” She couldn’t remember the name so she squinted aimlessly while gesturing her hands– “Planet 9? I think? It was a terrible film but we were laughing.”

  Mirella, relaxing in her chair, asked, “What’s bad about it even– Gigli? Like... are the computer graphics bad?”

  “I don’t know,” said Charlie, giving a shrug.

  Huxley recalled what he had heard about it but was drawing a blank on specifics. “I guess the acting is cheesy?”

  That was as good of a guess as anyone else had.

  As her mind trailed off, Jia thought more about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and how she saw it in theatres. That was the night she saw Kay at the ‘plex. Jia looked around, wondering if he had arrived. “When’s Kay getting here?”

  “Oh...” said Huxley. He gave a sigh. “He’s not coming. I don’t think he likes parties.”

  “Who’s Kay?” asked Fen.

  Charlie turned to Fen. “Rockstar.” Fen and Charlie went to YCCI along with Huxley so they had seen the boy in the halls.

  “That’s a shame,” said Jia, “I guess he’s more anti-social than I thought.”

  Sebin and Zack came in, Zack flashing around the big pitcher of red fruit juice. Red fruit juice and a little something extra. Zack had a mischievous smile on his face but he calmed down when erratic movement nearly splashed some of the drink over the rim.

  “Who’s ready to taste some potion?” asked Zack like he was wearing a wizard’s costume and not Neo from the Matrix.

  Charlie got up from her seat. “We’ll need cups.” She went to the kitchen.

  Huxley went and looked in the backroom. “How are you going to get rid of the evidence?”

  “I’ll take the bottle if you need me to,” said Daff, pausing the game while Huxley was away from his controller. “I got two older brothers in college so nobody will notice an extra bottle of...” He looked at the punch– “Whatever that is.”

  Charlie came out with a bunch of glasses in her hands. “Okay. Who all wants some?”

  Mirella took a glass of the forbidden potion then returned to her seat. Huxley got a glass for himself then went back to the game.

  Jia took a sip. “I can’t taste anything.”

  “There wasn’t a lot left in the bottle,” said Sebin, careful that his pirate’s bandana didn’t get in the pitcher. “Whatever. No one wanted to get smashed, right?”

  Jia giggled. “I was hoping!”

  They laughed. Charlie went back in to get more glasses and Zack handed them out.

  Jia clanked glasses with Fen and took another sip. It was good. “Can’t believe Kay missed this.”

  Huxley rolled his head, looking deep into his glass. “No idea what his deal is. He seems cool but...” Huxley trailed off, unable to figure out what kind of thought he was having.

  “Leave him be, then,” said Mirella. “If he doesn’t want to hang out, that’s his problem.”

  Mirella had a point, even if Huxley acknowledging it felt mean to Kay. Maybe Huxley was being weird carrying about someone else like that, but even other people would acknowledge that Kay had a mysterious way about him, and– evident by the conversation yesterday– might have had some real pain dwelling underneath.

  Jia looked out the front window at the busy Hallowe’en streets. “Well, hopefully he’s having a good night.”

  Kay was shacked up in the apartment for the evening. Mom and Urban had gone to dinner with some friends and Aubrey was out at a party herself. Kay was left alone, watching an old Ernest movie– the one with the troll– while he listened in for doorbells or knocks. Not wearing any costume himself, he felt underdressed compared to the kids that came to his apartment for trick-or-treating. His level of dress didn’t match his visitors and neither did his enthusiasm. The best he could muster was a slight hum in his voice showing interest at the array of costumes the kids had.

  The apartments had a lot of foot traffic so the bowl of candy that Mom had left for Kay to hand out– it depleted quickly. Fearing that a trio of children would appear at the door and create a situation where Kay had to divide the two remaining candies among a larger number of children, he took the last two chocolate bars for himself and put up a sign on the door that they were out of candy.

  That Hallowe’en, like all Hallowe’ens, there was an energy in the apartment and all of Toronto, too. It was the one night where the community lived as a community, where neighbours came together and associated with each other. Everyone was talking and seeing one another, or at least that’s how it seemed to Kay.

  And then the place depleted its candy, and that connection was severed. Kay was alone.

  Did that symbolize something, he wondered. He got up from the TV, letting it play as he walked to the window in the corner of the kitchen. He looked out into the night, other windows in the buildings around the block with golden glow shining across the darkness.

  Kay put his ear against the window and he could hear the cheers and laughter of people and children. Where those sounds came from, he couldn’t know. That window had no view into the alley or streets below, but, regardless, the night would soon come to an end and the laughter would fade.

  By the window, Mom had left out a photo album she was showing Urban the other day. Idle fingers opened the book and Kay took a look through the photos. Towards the beginning of the chronicle were many pictures from Mom’s childhood. She came from a larger family and had two sisters and two brothers. In many photos, Kay’s mother was pictured with Aunt Ginger. Mom didn’t have a lot of stories that didn’t involve her sister.

  When was the last time Kay had seen Aunt Ginger? She lived down in Brantford and didn’t make it to family gatherings very often. Kay wasn’t expecting to see her at the family dinner come Christmas. Mom and Aunt Ginger were inseparable but then adulthood came around for the two and they rarely saw or talked to each other.

  So many things are temporary, thought Kay. His parents’ marriage, his dad being around– but the temporal nature of things hardly stopped there. As Kay was sitting around that evening, a thought was swimming inside the muddy waters of his soul. He was halfway through his high school career. He had two years left of YCCI and then he was off to college or whatever he chose. Any friends he was going to make were going to vanish come the end of Grade 12. What was the point?

  What was the point of any of it? Relationships were so temporary. People got sick of each other. They lost interest and heard their stories too often. Love ended. After awhile, there was nothing in relationships.

  Idle fingers flipped through the photo album more and Kay turned a page with a picture of Dad and Mom on their wedding day. Kay sneered and slammed the book shut. Fuming and staring out into cold night.