Camisado

“There’s a step here,” Ryan told me as we walked in the darkness. The power had probably been off for a good ten minutes now, and we were moving really slow. The storm continued to rage on as we looked for flashlights. The thunder and lightening never really stopped. The lightening was nice because it made us able to see for just a small moment. We already tripped once, so I think Ryan was trying really hard not to let me fall. I put my foot out a little bit to find it, but I ended up stepping on the very edge of it. I lost my balance and almost fell flat on my face. However, Ryan took a strong hold on my and saved me from my utter doom. I laughed nervously. This is so awkward, I thought. “Haha. Gotcha’ ” He said. I heard the smile in his voice.

“Yeah,” I replied with relief. As much as I hated Ryan, I hated falling on my face more. We continued to move in the darkness, but after a few minutes we ran into another step. Needless to say, I was really starting to hate Spencer’s house. This time it was Ryan who slipped, and since I wasn’t nearly strong enough to hold onto his body, I just came tumbling down with him. I squealed a little as I came hurdling towards the ground. I muttered a curse with him as out bodies came in contact with the wood floor. I didn’t know where I landed besides somewhere on him. I couldn’t see anything other than very faint shadows.

“Ow,” I heard him mutter. I felt his arm rubbing against mine and made the assumption that he was rubbing his head, or some other body part. “Are you okay?” he asked me. I nodded, but then realized that he couldn’t see me nod so I answered him verbally.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I answered. I was about to get up when I saw a light coming toward us.

“Ry? Genny? Is that you guys?” it was Spencer speaking, holding a flashlight and coming toward us.

“Yep,” Ryan answered. I felt him started to get up. He reached around for a moment though, and eventually grabbed my hand to help me up. I wanted to refuse his help, but obviously, I didn’t.

“Here,” Spencer handed Ryan a flashlight, and he clicked it on. Spencer smiled at us. “What were you guys doing?” he asked, an eyebrow cocked in curiosity.

“Looking for flashlights,” I said plainly.

“But obviously, we were going the wrong way.” Ryan chuckled. I smiled a bit. I was trying to be happy, for Spencer. There was a pause in the conversation.

“So…” Ryan said. I almost rolled my eyes. But again, I was trying to be happy. I think Ryan felt my mild annoyance because he looked over at me a sly smirk on his face. His face was fairly close to me and so I flicked his nose away from me. He seemed taken aback, but amused. Spencer laughed, and so I did too, a little bit.

“What do you say we start looking for people again, since we can see now.” I nodded.
“Okay,” I replied. The search was a lot easier when we were using the flashlights. We started to find people pretty quickly. Ryan and Spencer were pretty big helps. They told me everyone’s favorite hiding spots. We found Hayley first; she was hiding in the closet under the stairs. Then we found Miranda under the kitchen table and we found Brent hiding behind a current in the living room. Brendon was really difficult to find though. We didn’t find him for awhile. We were about to give up, when Miranda announced that she knew where he was.

“Follow me,” she said, and led us to the laundry room. “The little bugger always hides in here,” she said and opened what looked like a cupboard. Inside was Brendon; standing in what I found out was the laundry shoot.

“Damn you, Miranda!” Brendon whined, coming out of the shoot. “You ruin everything!“ He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. She smiled with Triumph.

“It’s not my fault,” she said. “You just need to find a less predictable hiding spot,” she retorted, smirking. Brendon glared more, if that was possible, and stuck his tongue out at her.

“You’re a loser!” he said. “I want cake!” The entire group either rolled their eyes or laughed.

“Me too!” Miranda mocked. Brendon scowled and pushed her out of the way, heading straight for the kitchen, where the cake was. But he seemed to have forgotten that the power was out and left without a light source, causing himself to fall flat on his face. We heard him groan and we all laughed. Spencer then came over to pick him up off the ground.

“Come on, Bren. You can have first piece.” Spencer said, getting Brendon to his feet. Spencer’s promise made Brendon grin with satisfaction. We all headed to the kitchen. Candles were placed and lit, happy birthday was sung, and Ryan and Spencer blew out their candles. I thought their cake was really cool. Hayley made it herself. What she did was really awesome. She took Spencer’s favorite cake, devil’s food, and Ryan’s favorite cake, vanilla, and put them together. She decorated them too. Ryan’s side had a blue electric guitar on it and Spencer’s side had a shimmery green drum set on it. It was awesome. As we were eating I sat next to her, and feeling bold, I told her how awesome I thought it was. I figured it was a mistake at the time, figuring that I would completely mess up everything for myself, but it went okay. She was super grateful and started telling me about how she wanted to go to culinary school. I didn’t speak, only nodded. I didn’t say anything stupid thankfully. I know, surprising for me.

The power was still off while we were eating cake, using out flashlights to light up the room, but when about everyone was done, the lights flickered back on. We all cheered and decided to do something fun with the returned power, which was to watch a movie.

After everyone was done with cake we went upstairs with some popcorn and soda to watch the movie. The seven of us crowded onto Spencer’s bed. We were all over the place trying to find room. I was leaned up against the wall with Ryan and Spencer at my sides. Brendon laid his short body across us, making himself comfortable. Miranda was next to Ryan on the wall and Hayley had her head on Brendon’s leg. Brent decided to sit below the bed, which was probably a smart idea.

Anyway, we put in the movie, which was The Ring, and it began to play. It was about nine o clock when we started it and it ended about and hour and a half later. It was pretty lame, I have to say. There’s been times where I was more afraid of my mother than I was of that movie. We had fun though, because Brendon would start throwing popcorn at the girl whenever she did something stupid, like watching the movie in the first place.

The night pretty much turned into nothing after that. We all made random conversation with each other, and I surprised myself when I realized I was enjoying myself. Brendon acted like a total idiot the entire night and most of us peed our pants laughing. Just not literally.

I was so weirded out though. I haven’t laughed like this in a long time. It seemed so odd and unusual for me; it made me uncomfortable at first. I didn’t want to have fun when I should have been feeling like crap. After all, my dad just died. Shouldn’t I be reverent and mourn for him? Shouldn’t I be sad? Why did I have the right to be happy when my mom cried herself to sleep every night? Why should I laugh with my friends while my father will never do that again?

I was the first to fall asleep that night, and I was first to get up in the morning. I stepped over bodies at six trying to get to the bathroom so I could change into my school clothes. I didn’t bother to mess with my hair, or my makeup. I put a note on Spencer’s face and I left.

Happy birthday. Thanks for having me. See you at school.

It seems weird that every time I’m happy, it makes me depressed.