Be Careful What You Wish For

I woke up in a panicked cold sweat, rapidly shot up in the soft bed and looked around to identify my surroundings. I was in Alex's room, next to me was the still passed out blue haired boy. I panted heavily, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was overwhelmed and frightened by last nights events.

I tried to peace it together and for about fifteen minutes, I ran it over in my head repeatedly. It still made no sense to me and the more thought I put in it, the crazier I felt. None of this was possible. How could some man shout so loud that makes blood drip out of my ear? How could someone's eyes turn red? How did a tent randomly appear? And more than anything, how did we end up back here? Was I just really drunk and imagined things? I had to be. None of that was real, it just couldn't have been.

Alex stirred beside me and I put my hand over his head, he had a slight fever. Probably alcohol poisoning. I nudged him until his eyes locked with mine and he tried saying something in a groggy voice.

"Hey, you okay, man?" I asked with concern in my voice

"Yeah, I'm okay. I don't feel so well but I'm fine. What the hell happened last night? I remember the explosion but that's it. How'd you even do that?" he questioned and I suddenly remembered he had no idea bout the gunpowder.

"I just switched the fireworks they had out to with some of the powder for the canon that they shoot that little man in" I replied smoothly, I don't think he understood anything, being how hungover he is.

"I bet the whole town is going to be talking bout this, man. Too bad I was pretty hammered to see all of it" he laughed over the thought of everyone's faces.

I agreed with him but I wasn't focused on what he was saying. I knew I had to go back home. I don't think I even texted my mom to tell her I was with Alex but I also don't think she's home. I hopped out of bed and said goodbye to Alex before walking downstairs and out the door. I stopped in the drive way and sure enough Alex's car was there.

"Someone must have drove us home.." I mumbled to myself. I don't remember driving and Alex was knocked out.

The more thought I put into what happened, the less it made sense so i decided to just write it off as a crazy drunk night and move on with my life. The walk home was only twenty minutes but it seemed to drag on. It felt as if my feet we're stuck in jello and I kept walking in the same spot. I must be having an off day. I finally made it home and sure enough, my mom was waiting up for my arrival.

"Where in the hell were you last night, mister? Huh?! Do you have any idea what it's like to come home at one in the morning and see your child not there? You could have at the very least called? Who were you with? Where did you go?" she just kept spitting out too many questions and my head couldn't handle her loud voice at the moment.

"Mom, oh my god, shut up. Im sorry. I got busy and ended up falling asleep at Alex's house. I was going to text you but we were at the carnival and it wore us out. I'm sorry. I didn't think about it" I told her while rubbing my temples.

"The carnival? Didn't they have an explosion last night? Were you there for that? Are you okay?" her tone changed from angry to worried in a matter of a second. If only she knew who was behind the explosion.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Alex and I left before it happened. The show was over by then. How'd you know about that anyways?" I lied but just so she doesn't make herself sick with anxiety and never let me out of the house again.

"It was all over the local news this morning, Kellin. Just be more careful and for god's sake, text your poor mother once in a while. Listen, I know it's Saturday but I have to be heading to the office. There's pizza on the counter. No drinking. You can have friends over and don't leave without telling me. Got it?" she lectured while grabbing her messenger bag and heading to the door.

"Got it" I confirmed and she kissed the top of my head before leaving me alone once again.

As soon as she left, I felt the temperature in the room drop about ten degrees. I looked at the thermostat and it read to be: 85. I messed with the buttons for a couple minutes but I couldn't help the shaking of my hands and legs. I was freezing. I tried reasoning and telling myself that it was probably because of all the alcohol consumption but I've never experienced this as a hangover side effect.

I decided to take a hot shower in an attempt to warm myself. I undressed and removed the sweat stained blue shirt I had from last night, as well as my black skinny jeans that hung nicely around my hips. After the water was warm enough, I stepped in and instantly felt more relaxed. In a strange way I even felt safe. Like, no serial killer would come in the shower to stab me, that's just rude. I laughed out loud to the ridiculous thought and cleaned myself up.

I scrubbed my body and rinsed my mouth out with some of the water from the shower head. Since waking up this morning I felt a strange after taste in my mouth, one that I couldn't identify. For a moment, I wondered if it was due to that pedophile forcing me to kiss him. He didn't seem much older than me, maybe that was a bad choice of words. But it sure as hell was wrong of him to force me to kiss him. I still had no clear reason as to why I couldn't push him away but I decided to not think about it.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist, covering myself and drying my hair with a second towel. As I looked up, I felt my heart drop right down to the floor. I couldn't move, overwhelmed with fear. Written in the bathroom mirror from the steam was; "I can't wait to see you".

I ran out the door and straight into my bedroom, I barricaded the door and sat still on the bed. I debated calling the cops but I don't know what the hell they could do for me. So, I sat there for a half hour and when nothing happened, I decided to get dressed and stop acting ridiculous.

As I was pulling on a plain muscle tee and old black basketball shorts, I felt hands around my shoulders. I was too scared to look back but I decided that I had to defend myself. I tore out of the person's grip and roundhouse kicked the intruder.

"Ow! What the fuck, asshole?" I heard a cry of pain and instantly regretted my decision. It was Alex.

He was hunched over and holding his head in his hands. Blood was dripping from his mouth onto the hard wooden floor.

"Dude, i'm so fucking sorry! I just-" he cut me off

"What the hell was that? Jeez, Kellin. Thanks a lot!" he yelled at me and I handed him a wet towel from the hamper to hold against the wound. He took it out of my hand and applied the pressure to the bleeding area.

"I'm sorry, Alex. I just. With the bathroom thing. I didn't know you were pranking me!" the words came out flustered and I could hardly control my breathing.

"What bathroom thing? What's wrong with you? Do you need me to call someone?" he asked with an edge of anger but mainly out of concern.

"Seriously, don't fuck with me, man. I know you wrote that shit on the mirror. I'm sorry I just panicked." I rushed the words out of my mouth and examined his injury.

"Okay, dude. I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I came over to see if you wanted to go to Jack's party tonight but obviously you're busy being a fucking nut" he said and stood up to leave but I grabbed his arm.

"Wait! I'll go. I'm sorry about hurting you. Are you sure you didn't write that note on the mirror though?" the question came out with desperation, I just wanted things to start making sense.

"No. Now come on. You're going to fucking buy me ice cream for my mouth, you ass" Alex said in a humorous yet rude way and pushed me down to the floor. I let out a playful laugh but inside I was shaken up.

I sent Alex downstairs and told him to give me a minute so that I could change into something a little nicer. I'm not insecure about my body or anything, I just needed a moment to collect myself so i don't fall apart. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. None of this made sense. I felt unsafe in my own home. Maybe I'm just having an off day, I thought to myself while putting on a short sleeve gray button up and white skinny jeans. Some time out will do me good. Nothing bad can happen to me when I'm with other people. This party will definitely help me keep my mind off of whatever unexplainable things were happening to me.