John Tulip

"Dad! Can we get out of here? I hate this place!" John said angrily at his father. John took off the party hat and chucked it across the table. "This party is stupid!" John knocks over a cup of fruit punch off the table.

John looks around the pizzeria which is covered in party decorations. Balloons fill the ceiling and confetti is sprinkled all over the red and black checkered floor. The only area of interest in John's eye is the arcade room which is filled with small children yelling their lungs out at every arcade machine. Only five of John's friends made it to John's party which definitely didn't make John feel any better.

"But I thought you loved it here. We did when you were younger." his father said with a sad look in his eye. "We always come here on your birthdays."

"Dad, I'm fourteen. This place is for babies! The last time we were here I was eight and mom was still alive! You can't get anything right." John gets up from the wooden chair and leaves his father alone with the other five party goers.

His father closes his eyes and begins to sob.

"Don't sweat it sir." a woman says comforting him. "He's a teenager, every teenager gets this way."

The dad looks up and smiles slightly. "I understand, I just want my boy to feel happy."

John grabs a bottle of water and goes through the front entrance of the pizzeria. He sits down on the bench placed outside and begins scrolling through his phone, trying to make time go by quicker so he and his father can go home. The day was almost coming to an end, the sun was slowly setting and the clouds were a shade of lavender.

John was fixated on his phone, but he saw a figure walking towards him through his peripherals. He didn't pay much mind to it. To John it seemed like an ordinary man walking to a convenience store that was sitting by the pizzeria. The man stopped directly in front of John.

"Excuse me." a raspy voice said to John.

John looked up and his heart skipped a beat the minute he looked at the man. The man was wearing a pair of ripped jeans, the left leg was white while the right leg was jet-black. He was wearing a hoodie that also had the same color scheme as his jeans but the hoodie was noticeably filthier; more so on the right side. However what really made John paranoid was the mask the being was wearing. Like the jeans and hoodie it also was split in the middle, with the left side of the mask covered in white paint. The right side was covered in black paint, despite that, the right side appeared to be rushed. It didn't have the same care or smoothness as the left side. The eyes on the mask were carved in, using fabric for the person behind the mask to see clearly, but the mouth was hastily drawn with cheap marker giving it a permanent ear to ear smile.

"Excuse me." the man repeated. "Do you mind if I sit next to you? I'm waiting for some people to come by and pick me up. We're going to a Halloween party."

John didn't say anything, he was so fixated on the mask.

"How could anybody wear such a hideous mask as that?" John thought.

The man stood there waiting for a response from John but nothing. John didn't mutter a syllable. The young fourteen year old tried to look everywhere else but every time he did his eyes would always come back to the mask.

"I see. John Tulip, the loud mouth fourteen year old is now, for once silent." the man leaned his head to his shoulder. "That's a first."

"How do you know my name?" John managed to speak.

"I always come prepared, I've been observing you for months now. Patiently waiting for this moment." the man said, his voice sounding more metallic than raspy.

"What do you want?" John grabbed his water bottle by the bottom.

"Honesty. For your entire life you've been nothing but scum and trash. You are one filthy liar John. Always have been and will most likely continue to be one." the man shocked his head in shame.

John raises an eyebrow. "So what? I lie, who doesn't?"

"That's the sad part. You show no remorse. Your poor father has been a victim to your lies, his trust in you is blind and you don't deserve anybody like him in your life. Especially today. How many lies have you told? One? Two? Maybe three? Tell me."

John gets up. "Look dude I don't care. It's my life, get over it." Johns walks back in the pizzeria leaving the masked man to stand there alone.

The masked man watches as John enters the building, he peaks through the fingerprinted covered window as he watches John make his way towards his father.

"Yo Walter!" John called out to his dad.

Walter turned around, his eyes were red from excessive crying. "Yes son." his father answered.

"Lend me twenty bucks please. I want to buy more tokens, I just used my last one at the claw game."

His father sighs, he pulls out his denim wallet and lends John the money he wanted.

"Thanks pops." John walks out of the pizzeria and enters the nearest convenient store. The smell of booze and the sounds of the fluorescent lights buzzing makes John feel right at home. He grabs a handful of potato chips and grabs two bottles of ice tea and makes his way to the clerk.

"That'll be twelve dollars." the clerk says bluntly.

John hands over the money and walks out the door. John sits back down on the bench and notices the masked man standing from across the street. John rolls his eyes and flips off the man. His fear of the man was gone for John thinks the man isn't as intimidating as he appears. Still John felt uneasy looking at that mask.

The sky began to get dark, the sun was making its departure while the moon was making its appearance. John goes through his phone again to make time go by faster, scrolling through every social media app he has installed. He looks up and sees that the man is gone. John chuckles and goes back to his phone.

"I'll be doing your father a favor." a metallic voice said behind John.

John felt a sharp pain enter the back of his neck, a blade tears through John's skin and tissue. Blood drizzles out of John's mouth making it impossible to speak. The masked man draws his knife back and watches as John falls onto the pavement. John tries to get up but the masked man slices onto John's ankles making a blood sprinkler. John collapses back onto the pavement.

The masked man flips over John, allowing John to take a good, closer look on the mask. John tries to crawl away but doesn't get far as the masked man enters his knife into John's back. John lets out a gurgled yell, bubbles of blood form inside of his mouth, his blood dribbles onto the sidewalk.

John looks behind him but the masked man is gone. He manages to see his father inside the pizzeria talking while laughing with one of the female employees. It's been months since John has seen his father genuinely happy. In a desperate attempt John tries calling out for his father but the constant flow of blood makes it impossible. John feels a tight grasp pull his hair back, the masked man holds his knife to John's throat.

"Like I said, you don't deserve anyone like him, John." the man says.

John can tell that the man was smiling underneath that dreaded mask. He wanted to fight back but with his wounds it'll be impossible. John looks as his father talks with the female employee, John begins to shed tears as the only thing he can do is submit to his inevitable end.

He shuts his eyes tight as he feels the blade make its way across his throat. He feels his neck become weak and his eyes begin to twitch. John tries to fight back but his surroundings rapidly become dark, the sounds of the cars driving by become inaudible. Only thing he can barely make out is the sound of the man chuckling. John's eyelids become heavy and after an admirable attempt John gives in, lying his head on the blood covered concrete and allowing his eyes to close. His arms twitch and his muscles relax, with all of that, John was no longer alive.

"I honor the living, happy birthday John." the masked man says. He grabs a tissue from his pocket and cleans his knife. He kicks John's body making sure John is down for the count. The masked man hides his knife in the pocket of his hoodie and walks away into the night. Acting as if nothing happened.