What You Deserve

Throughout the night, I continued to stare at the ceiling, trying to figure out why Frank had wanted me to know what the upcoming day was. Halloween? How was that special? It was just another day, but one with little kids wandering around asking for candy. I wouldn't feel bad about not passing out candy. I rarely feel bad about anything, and when I do - I just drink those feeling as far away as possible. Now I couldn't do that. All I could do was finally drift into an uneasy sleep.

"Jade?" a voice from the other side of my bedroom door echoed. "It's Bob, can I come in?" I could practically hear him smiling. It seemed like he'd still be upset about yesterday. Then again... it was Bob. Though he looked a bit intimidating, he wasn't really very scary once I got past the whole 'vampire' part of it.

I glanced at the door, and looked down to what I was wearing. Frank's old pajama pants and a short sleeved shirt with the letters "S C" that had bones between the two letters. I had no clue what it stood for, but I knew that Frank chose comfortable shirts. "Sure," I mumbled, figuring that he would easily hear me if Frank had been able to the night before.

With that, the door swung open revealing what appeared to be a monster made of outfits... and wings... glittery looking wings that appeared to belong to a fairy. It was only slightly weird that an adult male was carrying around fairy wings and clothes. I knew I wasn't going to put the glittery wings on. With that, he dropped the small pile of clothes on the foot of the bed, and looked at me. "It's Halloween. We've got five costumes here that were still in good enough shape to be re-used. Choose one of them and put it on... they should fit you since you wear clothes around the same size as Frank, and I'm sure he'd be able to fit into these," he mumbled, examining my current apparel. "There's a vampire costume in there... thought I'd tell you so that you didn't get confused when looking at it... and there should be some fangs in there that aren't full-gum things... they're just two teeth..." he mumbled, poking at a small bag, "makeup, fangs," he responded, "get ready by five," he smiled a little. There was plenty of time until five. It was only eleven in the morning, and it only took me about half an hour to get ready.

I did take my time, too. I took an unusually long shower, as it seemed that only Bob was home, and seemed to hold no care for the amount of time I took. Really, I couldn't care less. Finally, I made it back to my room, and looked over the costumes.

One was pink and glittery, matching the wings to a fault, so I assumed it was a fairy costume. Needless to say, I wasn't going to put that on.

Another was brown and had a striped shirt. As I picked up the shirt, an eye patch fell onto the bed within it's shadow, and I finally noticed a pirate's hat sitting in the pile. If I couldn't find anything, I guessed that I'd wear the costume. It wasn't half bad.

I found what appeared to be the vampire outfit. A black dress with red marks on the shoulder, as if it had been bitten. The collar was long, and curved, with red lining. I probably wouldn't wear this costume - I was pretty sick of vampires.

Onto the next costume. Instantly, I noted pink fluff around the neck, and a long pink tail. My eyes widened a little staring at the costume. Did Bob really expect me to wear that? It was a short dress with a low-cut V-neck. I could feel my eye twitch at the thought of wearing it, before immediately throwing it onto the pile of clothes.

Finally, the last costume. It was a loose, long, tattered dress, that was black, with white and a cobweb design on it. I could see a veil beneath it, and easily established the bridal outfit. What type, I wasn't sure. I could make it a vampire bride. True, I was sick of vampires, but I was curious on what the fangs looked like.

My eyes slowly slipped over to stare at the bag, and reached over to open it. Inside were all sorts of makeup and props that were small, and easy to lose. It didn't take long to find what I was searching for, and was a little surprised when I looked at the fangs. They were merely two fangs with dental impression stuff. I shifted a little, and began to put on pale makeup, circling my eyes with dark gray eyeshadow. Afterward, I put in the fangs, and carefully slipped the dress over my head, glancing towards the door as I heard footsteps.

Bob appeared in my doorway, wearing a cat costume and fluffy kitten ears, "it's four thirty-five... are you done?" he glanced over the outfit, then to me, a faint smirk on his face, though I was holding back my own smirk... and laughter. "Interesting choice," he mumbled, as I nodded that I was done. "People are already here... so I figured you'd like to come outside? The only rule is that you don't tell anyone that we make you stay here..." his tone grew serious, "if you do..." Though he sounded threatening, someone with cat ears doesn't really scare me.

"I get it. I won't tell anyone," I promised, following him down the stairs. He brought me to the door, and grabbed onto my wrist, leading me around the house to a fenced in area that I assumed was their backyard. He pulled open a gate and led me in. To my surprise, many people were talking in the yard. I didn't think that the vampires would know that many people. Then again... they were probably pretty old. They probably knew these people's great grandparents..

Once the gate was closed, Bob let go of me, allowing me to wander where ever I wished. People were dressed in odd costumes or creepy costumes. Probably the strangest one I saw was Mikey's. In truth, I had no clue what it was, until I walked up to him and asked.

"I'm a suicidal emo..." he mumbled, turning to stare at me. He was wearing a t-shirt with a broken heart on it and black tight pants, fake blood lining his wrists as if he had just taken a razor to them, and black rimmed glasses, while one eye was hidden behind his hair. It actually looked natural to see him with the glasses. I didn't really know why. "Nobody else here is a suicidal emo. I'm creative," he smiled, before a woman walked up to him and began a conversation.

I took that as a hint to leave, and began searching for the others. I spotted Ray carrying around a blue inflatable guitar, and talking to people, seeing him stop and talk to a familiar looking black haired man wearing a top hat and suit, along with a form of cane. He looked like the ringleader as a circus from behind. When he turned to stare at me, I realized it was Gerard, and he probably was a ringleader. He had strange makeup on, and a crooked grin. It made a small shiver slip up my spine. Rather than speaking to me, though, he merely nodded in acknowledgment, and went onto talking with Ray.

Finally, I spotted who I realized I had been searching for the entire time. Leaning against the fence was a black haired man, holding a cigarette in his hand, as the smoke lifted into the air. He was wearing a long black jacket and pants. As he took a hit from the cigarette, I noticed two long teeth in his mouth that gave away his costume. As I made my way to him, a confused look grasped him when I pulled the small item from his hands, "didn't you know? Smoking will kill you," I muttered, pressing the cigarette to my lips once, before looking at him curiously.

"I'm not afraid of a little lung cancer," he managed a smirk, looking over me for a second, "dead bride, hm? Not very creative, are we?" in response, I merely stuck my tongue out at him. For the next few seconds, he was shifting his arms around, in attempts to get his cigarette back into his hands, only to fail... for those few seconds. At the next second, he had my back pressed tightly against his stomach and chest, and reached out delicately, snatching the item from my hands, and putting it in his mouth. "You didn't think that you can keep that away from me, now did you?" I heard a chuckle rumble in his throat. His skin felt like the dead of winter.

Frank and I talked the majority of the party, remaining in the position as when he had retrieved his cigarette, merely because I couldn't remove myself from his grasp. Well, we talked for most of the time... save for when a young woman walked up, holding a box wrapped in silver paper. She was dressed as a mime, and had a beret slanted on her head. Unlike her character, she spoke up, "happy birthday, Frank," her voice chimed, "I hope you like my present," she smiled.

"You know I don't like it when people get me presents," the man smiled. I could hear his smile in his voice. He held the box in front of me, keeping me trapped between his arms as he opened the present, revealing a small book, which held a title that I didn't have time to read before Frank had slipped it into a pocket in his jacket. I hadn't even held enough time to react, before he held onto me again. "Thanks. I haven't seen any good books around lately, the title made it sound good," he responded. The woman nodded, and turned away, leaving us after taking numerous glances at me.

That's when I realized what day it was. Not Halloween. Frank's birthday.

It was Frank's birthday and I didn't even know. "I didn't get you a present," I mumbled lowly. I had a habit of getting people presents, even if I barely knew them, provided I knew their birth dates.

"You don't like me anyways," Frank shifted a little, removing his hands from me, and shoving them into his pockets, where I could spot the book sticking partway out of one. "Plus, whatever you were to get me, I probably have two of already." A slightly saddened look held his face, "unless you can forgive me for being a monster? That would be a nice gift."

I stared at him for several seconds, fighting the urge to slap him for the insult he had just given himself. It annoyed me to no end when people insulted themselves like that. "You aren't a monster, Frank," I muttered through my teeth. "Don't argue with me, because it will only result in me hitting you."

A moment of silence passed, though the area was not quiet. At all. Every minute, more people seemed to appear in the yard, loud mumbles being heard. I couldn't even completely exhale before I felt arms wrap tightly around me, and Frank press his face against my neck. Him doing so made me uncomfortable. Extremely uncomfortable. A vampire near my throat was not a desired thing.

"Don't hate me. Don't be mad at me," he mumbled lowly, "I like you. Don't hate who - or what - I am. Please?" I made out each of his words to sound weaker and weaker, as I carefully wrapped my arms around him, to comfort him. "Can that be my present from you?"

"I don't hate you," I sighed dully. "You choose terrible presents for yourself."