Party

“ Fuuuuuuuccckkk you! And you! And you! And yoooooouuuuuu! I hate your friends and they hate me too! I’m through I’m through I’m throooouuughhhhh! It’s that hot bummer anthem, turn it up and throw a tantrum!” Myself, Brooklyn, and Gunner were in Gunner’s car on a rainy Tuesday night, driving around in the city of Billings, the biggest city in Montana singing Hot Girl Bummer Anthem at the top of their lungs. I took a drink from my red cherry sonic slushie then continued to sing along with the song on the radio. We continued to sing as we cruised around the mostly quiet city until the song came to an end.

“ Alright, Brooklyn, your turn,” Gunner said turning left.

“ Hey no, bullshit!” I said with a wide smile “She’s had three in a row!”

Gunner looked up at me through the rearview mirror and smirked " and what are you going to do about it?”

"Tell your girlfriend you're secretly into dudes! And fabricate evidence to go along with it!” Brooklyn laughed so hard her face was red, snorting a little as Gunner was forced to concede.

“So what are we listening to Josh?” He asked.

“IDGAF by Sik World. I know that song by heart.”

“Is that so?” Brooklyn asked, craning her neck to look at me.

“ Yep,” I answered.

“I got fifty bucks that you couldn’t recite it word for word.”

“ You are so on,” I said smirking. “Gunner, find me an instrumental version of the song. Gunner smiled and complied, typing something into his phone. A familiar tune began to play. I took another drink and cleared my throat.

“ Girl I sent you like seven texts. You didn’t reply it’s okay I guess. You found a guy? I’m not impressed. You wasted my time onto the next. Your world’s gonna crash down, now that I’m not in it. See, I don’t care where you’re at now yeah, I’m happy we ended. My music is dark, sorry my life ain’t pretty. Never had friends not a family really.

Just me and my thoughts and they always stick with me. If my head is down it’s cause I’m overthinking. Nobody gets me but you, you give me meaning. So I was happy when you started to see me. Girl we were so perfect I gotta be dreaming. Till I woke up like why the fuck did you leave me?”

I rapped the entire song without so much as stuttering or hesitation. I had listened to the song a lot in the past to the point I was convinced I could recite it word for word backward.

“ Gave you all I had and more. You were the one I’d adore. Till you showed me who you really were. Now I don’t give a fuck. Said we’d be friends after our split. You lied so your words, they don’t mean shit. Missing you used to make me sick. Now I don’t give a fuck. Yeah I don’t give a fuck. Yeah I don’t give a fuck. You’re just a memory to me. And I don’t give a fuck.”

Gunner and Brooklyn made a big show of applauding when I had finished and Brooklyn gave me the agreed fifty bucks. We kept taking turns playing songs on Gunner’s phone and singing alone for hours.

“ So Josh how's sleeping on Gunner's floor treating you?" Brooklyn asked.

“It could be worse,” I said casually." I'm really lucky his mom is letting me stay in the basement for $80 rent. Thanks again for helping me convince her Gunner. I owe you one bro. And you too Brooklyn. You and your family for helping me with clothes and other thingss I need since I can't go back and get my stuff from, what used to be my room," I said staring out of the window

" You don't owe me anything Josh. I couldn't just turn you away" Gunner asked.

" It's bullshit they just kicked you out because you don't believe what they do!" Brooklyn exclaimed.

“Sadly it happens more often than you think," I said. " You remember Lauren?"

“The girl you went to Freshman Homecoming with? I remember," Brooklyn replied with a smirk. " I tried like hell to get her to ask you out afterward, but she was too timid."

“ Yeah, I was there," Josh reminded her. " Anyway she was kicked out of her house this past June. Her parents found out she had been going to a different church. That's one of the worst things you can do, it's an even worse offense than mine," I told her.

" Speaking of Lauren, what happened to her?" Gunner asked. " I haven't seen her in school. Doesn't it seem like those that break the rules end up vanishing?"

" I think there's a program here in Billings that helps kids in that situation," I said. " Operation Underground I think it's called but I'm not sure," I told him.

" Her social media has been inactive since June though," Brooklyn said. " I've tried calling her, I've asked around but of course everyone pretends they have no idea who I'm talking about. It's like she never existed."

" I've heard a rumor that the church finds them," Gunner said. " Makes them pay for walking away somehow." I frowned and stared out the window. " I never heard that. But I doubt it's true. It's not a cult after all." Brooklyn sighed and rolled her eyes.

" Even so this is why I'm glad my parents aren't religious! Narrow-minded dickheads!"

" My mom was raised in the church," Gunner said. " She never made a big deal about me not wanting to go. She never said why but I think she went through something like you Josh. It would explain why she was all too eager to let you stay with us after I explained what happened."

" Think you and your parents will ever talk?" Brooklyn asked me. " What about your siblings?" I shook my head regretfully.

" I'm dead in their eyes."

" That's fucked up," she said angrily.

We decided to change the subject to the current World Wrestling Grand Prix tournament going on in Japan right now and how amazing it would be to compete in it one day. Gunner dropped Brooklyn off when we got to her house then drove to his house. We made sure to stay quiet as we snuck into the basement. It was four in the morning after all and we didn’t want to wake Gunner’s mother who had to get ready for work in a couple of hours. We didn’t say anything more, we just went to our respective rooms and fell asleep.

School the next day was the same as it always was. Boring, uninteresting, and long. At the end of the day, I dumped my textbooks in my locker with a sigh of relief which was followed by a groan as I thought of all the homework I had to do. I was so caught up in my lamenting that I jumped when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I spin around to see a six-foot-three Native American girl. She had jet black hair and brown eyes. She wore a black top, blue jeans, and a lot of bracelets and other jewelry.

“ Hey, it’s Josh right?” She asked.

“ Uh yeah,” I replied.

“ I’m Vala Marshton, I’ve seen you in World History."

" Vala... oh you're that new girl!" I exclaimed. "you're from, Arizona, right?" She laughed and shook her head.

" Not even close. I'm from New York."

" Oh," I said sheepishly. " Well don't I feel dumb now?"

" It's okay," she reassured me. 'Anyway, my parents are out of town for the week so I'm inviting people to a party." She handed me a folded-up piece of paper. I opened it to read an address neatly written as well as the time and date. Due to my religious upbringing, I immediately opened my mouth to tell her I wouldn't be able to make it but stopped myself. You're no longer bound by that shit, I told myself. I smiled at Vala.

" Ya know, this is the first time I have ever been invited to a party," I said. " So I'll definitely come.

" Great, I'll see you there," Vala said walking away. I thought about telling her not to expect too many people as most kids in the school would turn their noses up at the invitation but decided against it. The bell suddenly rang and I bit back a curse.

Screw this I'm skipping class.

Gunner, Brooklyn, and I pulled into the gravel driveway Vala's three-story light blue ranch house. I was surprised to see her spacious front lawn covered in cars. To be honest I thought we would be the only ones here. As I exited the car and headed for the front door I saw a few faces I knew, faces from the church. We entered the doorway and walked left to the living room. It had two blue couches on a white carpet, red blinds covering the windows, flat-screen TV, and a coffee table in the center of the room. Loud rap music was blaring over the loudspeakers, since Vala lived out in the country we didn't have to worry about the cops being called by an angry neighbor.

" Hey Josh!" I heard someone call. I looked to my right to see Vala approaching the three of us wearing a white sundress and heels. " Glad you could make it."

" Thanks for inviting me," I said somewhat awkwardly. " Quite the turnout,"

" Yeah, what did you do, promise to summon Richard Glever himself?" Brooklyn asked looking around her eyebrows raised.

" Who?" Vala asked.

" You don't know who Richard Glever is?!" Gunner asked, his eyes wide.

“ Should I?” Vala asked. I was shocked as well but reminded myself that someone from New York wasn’t going to know of some guy who has invented a small religion in a Montana town with a population less than five thousand. It was easy to forget he wasn’t known world wide when you lived in an area that revered him as a god.

“ It’s not important,” I interjected. All around us people were starting to drink beer, eat the food Vala had provided, dance and talk.

“ Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Brooklyn said. “ If someone asks you to talk about him, just say no thanks and walk away. Trust me, you’ll be spared a lot of headaches.”

” Noted,” Vala said. “ Anyway, you guys want a drink?” She asked. She held up four plastic cups of Budweiser.

” Where did you get that?” I asked in a hushed voice. I got the same feeling as when I was eight and a friend had stolen a dirty magazine from his house and was showing it off at school.

“ Fake ID,” Vala said with a smirk. Brooklyn reached for a cup.

“ Don’t mind if I do,”

” You don’t drink!” I told her, shocked she was actually reaching for one.

” Shows what you know,” she said with a wink. She grabbed the cup and began to guzzle, belching as she finished the drink. Gunner and I looked at each other hesitantly.

“ I mean, I’ve had a shot or two,” he said grabbing a cup and started to drink it. I looked at the two cups in Vala’s hand and sighed. What the hell, I thought as I grabbed the cup and took a drink. I recoiled from the taste, it was completely alien from anything I had ever tasted. My first instinct was to spit it out but I stopped. Actually…

I took another drink. And another. And another. Before I knew it I had drank the whole cup and was staring at the bottom. Vala chuckled and traded the empty cup with a new full one. “ Enjoy yourselves,” she said before walking away with Brooklyn. And enjoy ourselves we did.

As the night went on, I got myself into my first ever beer pong game in which I throughly got my ass handed to me. I didn’t get the ball in the cup of my opponent once, and wasn’t even able to finish half the cups on my side before I forfeited, got into a drunken debate about tennis, something I know nothing about, and entered a dance-off with Gunner where we both made colossal jackasses of ourselves.

My final moment of clarity takes place when I was outside, getting some fresh air. The sounds of the party echoing throughout the night. I was looking at a phone number scrawled on a piece of paper trying to recall when it where I got it.

“Yo Josh!” A voice slurred. I looked to my left to see a scrawny white kid with red hair and green eyes stumbling up to me. I was beyond surprised to see this kid.

” Alex?!” I asked, looking at the grandson of the High Priest of the church. “ You’re the last person I expected to see here!”

” Well you know,” he said with a awkward looking shrug. “ Thought I might as well live a little. Haven’t seen you on Sundays lately.”

” Yeah. I… Uh, I quit with all that,” I said, tensing. The outcome of telling someone that was unpredictable. Some smiled and were respectful, whereas some exploded in anger. Alex surprised me even further with his reaction. He smiled widely and slugged my shoulder.

” Good for you man! About time you grew some balls and left that circus!”

“ You feeling alright man?” I asked him, perplexed.

” Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” He slurred looking at me with his left eye closed.

“ I don’t see why you would be happy about that. Not with how devout your family is.”

“ Screw that shit! I’m done with them!” Alex exclaimed, his happy demeanor erased in an instant and replaced to one of anger, and sadness. “ I know what they did to Lauren.” I tossed an eyebrow to that. In the spring of our Freshman year Alex and Lauren had grown close with rumors they were dating often discussed.

” What do you mean?” I asked. Alex looked at me with both eyes now, then looked around. He looked, scared. As if expecting to see someone emerge from the darkness and drag him away. He looked back at me and spoke in a hushed voice.

“ They took her man. Those bastards fucking took her. And they’ll come for you if you’re not careful.”

” Who?” I asked but I felt like I already knew. Alex gave me a look as if I had just asked something weird.

“ Who do you think dawg? The church. They took her away. Every September 15th they select someone from a large book full of people who’ve walked away and take them. “

” Wait… but that’s when Richard established the church,” I said. “ Last Saint’s Day.”

” Exactly!” Alex hissed. “ I don’t know what they do but their target is never heard from a agin and this whole fucking town covers it up!”

” Why are you telling me this?” I asked taking a step back. Alex gave me a wild look.

” Because you need to know. As long as you don’t go out September 15th you’ll be okay. It’s too late for Lauren, and they’ll be coming for me next. Well I’m not going to sit and wait for them! I’m going to warn as many people as I can. If I’m going down, I’m bringing them down with me! Just promise me, you won’t let them get you Josh. Promise me!”

” I promise,” I swiftly said. I didn’t quite believe Alex but he was starting to freak me out. Best play along with him.He took a deep breath and smiled at me sadly.

” Thanks. I always liked you and your siblings. See ya around. Remember me, Josh,” he said before stumbling away. I stared after him, unsure what to make of what had just happened.

“ Hey! I’ve been looking for you!” I heard Vala call from the doorway. I looked back at her and gave her a half smile.

“ What’s up?” I asked.

” Just wandering if we can talk about something,” she said.

“ Sure,” I said. Before I followed her inside I looked back at the direction Alex had gone.

Could it be true?