Be Careful What You Wish For

Pulling up to Jack's house, it was hard to find a space to park and I wondered if we should just turn around and go back. I didn't say anything because Jack is a good friend of Alex and I've been in a funk, so socializing will be good for me tonight. At least that's what I've been telling myself since Alex mentioned the party.

"Well, are you going to sit there or are you coming in?" Alex asked while unbuckling his seat belt. I hadn't realized how fast time goes by when you just sit there and think.

"Shut up, Gaskarth. I'm coming" I smiled to let him know I was just messing around.

We could hear the music from three houses away, some sort of techno pop, the kind that you wouldn't normally listen to unless you were at a party. At least half of the school was here. Cars parked on top of the grass, the side of the street, the driveway. It was obvious the police would be called in a few hours. That's about the time we would haul ass. I don't have a very good reputation with the police, given my prankster ways.

The front door was open and we just walked in. Girls grinding on guys. Drunk idiots spilling liquor all over the place. Jack's furniture was definitely going to have a few "love" stains. His parents aren't around much either. No one's really are. This is more of an upper class area, everyone has to work to survive.

"Hey, I'm going to find Jack. Just try and relax. You've been acting like a nervous freak all day. Have a beer, will ya?" Alex said while shoving a cold one in my hand before walking off.

I stood by the doorway alone for a couple minutes. Torn between just walking out and drinking by myself or actually trying to interact with people. It was a tough choice but Alex was right. I had been on the fritz recently and I needed to lighten up a bit. If those god damn carnies didn't mess with my head, I'd be alright. That one guy too, that pervert who forced me to kiss him, he's the one who really has me on edge. I just picked up a very strange vibe from him and I can't point at what it is but I have this feeling that he's bad news.

A half hour passed of me arguing with myself on weather or not I should report the incident but then someone bumped right into me.

"Hey, man. What's a matter with you?" I said while shoving the mysterious black wearing tee guy.

"Sorry, Kels. Hey, did you know you have soft hair? Like a cat. Meow!" an intoxicated Jack, started to meow at me while running his fingers through my locks.

"Alex is looking for you" I informed him, mainly so that he would not have his hands all over me. I like the attention but I'm convinced he has something with Alex and I don't want Alex getting the wrong idea.

"I knoooow. He's playing beer pong right now as I say hello to all my beautiful guests!" he spoke with such enthusiasm, you would have thought he was talking about being engaged. Drunk Jack is always fun, so is sober Jack for that matter.

"The party is cool. I mean, I haven't been here very long but everyone is having a great time." I made casual conversation while leaning against a wall and sipping from the half empty beer Alex gave me a while ago.

"Yesss! I know but guess what? It's about to get a lot better!" he told me while failing his arms all over the place and waddling back and forth.

"Settle down, man. Why is it about to be better?" I grabbed his hands and put him against the wall with me, afraid he'd fall over and on top of the people behind him.

"I hired someone to top this party more better than last year" his dialogue didn't make much sense due to his state of mind, but I still knew what he was trying to say.

"Who? More strippers? You got in a lot of trouble for that last time, Jack. Didn't you spend the night in prison too?" I asked while taking another big sip of the disgusting piss water but I was trying to get trashed, so I'll suffer the taste.

"Noooo! I mean, I had but ummm not the strippers. Even better" he went back to playing with my hair as he spoke his bullshit. I prayed Alex came by soon. Drunk people aren't my favorite to be around, no matter how fun they can be.

"It was those weird carnie men. They took a bunch of dough but it'll be so worth it. They're going to do tricks and other stuff that I don't remember but I'm sure it'll be fun" he continued and I felt my body tense up as he finished his sentence.

Questions coursed through my mind, ones that I had no answer to and I was afraid by asking Jack, he'd tell Alex I'm acting strange again. Was that man who kissed me here? I racked my brain for his name. My efforts were in vain though, I had been too drunk and too frightened for my life to hold on to such a minor piece of information. To my dismay, my concentration was interrupted to more of Jack's babble.

"They're starting soon. Let's go outside and watch them!! Alex bear will be there" Jack nuzzled into my neck and I wrapped an arm around his waist to support him.

No! No! No! No! Fuck! Think of some type of excuse, damnit

My brain seemed to just shut down inside of me and before I knew it, I had walked halfway to the sliding glass door that leads into the backyard. Slipping through close tight bodies that weren't much better at standing than Jack was at the moment. Speaking of that, why do I always get stuck physically carrying my fucked up friends?

We were outside now and the air was thick with smoke from a bonfire some had kept going since the start of the party. I had no real reason to not be with my two friends watching what is suppose to be an amazing performance. Besides, even if I wasn't watching it, I couldn't leave the party, Alex drove us here.

"Hey, Kells. Feeling tipsy yet?" Alex asked, while taking Jack into his arms, basically trying to see if I had loosened up a bit. By the looks of it, he wasn't drinking either.

"No. I had a killer hangover this morning. Drinking two nights in a row just isn't fun for me" it wasn't a complete lie but he seemed to believe it well enough to drop the topic.

"Shhhh. It's starting!" the words fell out of Jack's mouth and he put a finger on each of our lips.

He was right. The lights from inside the house and the few on the outside completely turned off. There were a handful of party goers who screamed and even some that had obviously fallen over. Nothing else happened for about fifteen seconds, we let our eyes adjust to the new change and things settled down. Until a spark of fire on some sort of rod flew up in the air just to drop back into someone's hand. Just as quick as it was thrown in the air, it disapperad. I hadn't even see someone strike a match or hear the click of a lighter.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Drunk immature teenagers-" the crowd screamed in excitement at the last part.

"We are the Otherworldly Circus. And tonight, we have a very special performance. Something that will make you second question your pathetic lives. We present to you; The Amazing Vital Vic. Get ready to never sleep again!" a familiar voice gave the introduction but was nowhere insight. He must have been using the PA system, Jack's parents bought to play music outdoors; in order to project his voice.

The group went wild with hollers and cheers from almost everyone standing there. One moment no one was on the small performance platform and the next; the familiar face of the tan skinned man who kissed me appeared. My breathing hitched as our eyes made contact for just a moment. They were red like last night. Maybe he was dangerous, maybe I should tell someone.

As I was having these thoughts time seemed to stop. I wanted to look away from him but just like before, I couldn't get my body to do what I wanted. The feeling went away and I was able to avert my attention to the ground beneath my feet. I have never felt this small in my life. As freaked out and scared I was in my head, my body felt very calm and relaxed.

"I'm going to need a volunteer for this trick. Any takers?" as dangerous as he seemed his voice overflowed with the sweetness of honey but still a slight edge of a razor blade. I felt so memorized and hypnotized by the things this freak did.

A million hands flew up and voices were raised while I kept my head down and just hoped that I could turn invisible in this moment. I was taken back and strangely even a little hurt when I heard a high pitched squeal from the front. I looked up in time to catch this Vic guy roll his eyes at the peppy blond pig tailed that practically had to crawl to make it up to the elevated wood they were standing on.

"Now for this one I want you to close your eyes and think of one thing. Doesn't matter what it is. Just think for a moment. Tell me when you've got it." he smiled at the end and his cheeks widened, making his nose ring pop out more. Why was I looking at him in detail?

"I've got it!" she squeaked out and chuckled about, like a joke that only she had been in on.

"Now, watch as what you desire; you become" he said and on the last word, the chubby drunk blond was no longer there and in her place was a pack of Newport cigarettes that fell on to the wood.

We stood there for a half second, trying to process what had happened. She had just been standing there one moment and now in her place was an inanimate object. She had been right there only a second go! My brain couldn't keep up with what my eyes were seeing, neither could the others around me. The once rowdy and disturbing sound of drunk teenagers was replaced by the hushed silence from shock and disbelief.

"No worries, my friends. She's here just in a different form" he said it so nonchalant and in the next moment, with no warning, the cigarettes were gone and the high school girl had returned.

Everyone cheered and demanded more while the intoxicated chic jumped up an down before returning to her pack of friends. The noise level had risen again with the newly impressed crowd, people practically flung themselves at the farce magician to perform more tricks on them. He smirked and scanned over the heads once again, looking for more options. I could just tell he was loving the attention, arrogant prick!

This kind of thing continued for the next hour. Vic would whoo and sway the easily amused partiers by doing unexplainable tricks. He turned the leaves on the tree from green to black and white polka dots. He levitated a fellow classmate of ours. At one point, he even made a third arm grow out of his stomach. Disgusting!

The whole thing seemed kind of idiotic and out of place. We're a bunch of young adults, for God sakes! We're supposed to be getting wild and trying to hook up anything with consent and a pulse. Not watching some dumb fake act by a pushy asshole. His tricks aren't even real, no magic is anyway.

Once the little kids were all exhausted and worn out from watching immature baby entertainment, the crowd started to clear out. I watched as Alex dragged Jack to his bedroom, considering Jack was no longer just stupid drunk but unstable drunk. Alex and I actually happened to be fairly sober and well functioning. It was surprising for us to do so but maybe it's better than to be trashed all the time.

I grabbed a black garbage bag from inside the kitchen and started picking up the plastic red Solo cups that took up every walkable space in the house. Even though this wasn't my place to clean up, I figured it's the least I can do considering Jack always invites me to the party of the school year. Too bad this year was a bust, in my opinion, at least.

"Hey. Do you want some help?" a tan hand rested on top of mine while I was reaching for another cup to throw out. I immediately jerked my arm away.

"Stay the hell away from me. I don't need help from fucking perverted freaks who come in here and act like they are better than everyone" I snapped without looking at him, in truthfulness; I was sort of scared to look him in the eyes. I held my ground none the less and meant every venomous word that left my mouth.

"Ouch! That's really harsh, Kels" Vic said with a small laugh at the end, like he didn't even care that he practically assaulted me the night before.

"Don't laugh at me, damnit! How do you know my name? Who the fuck even are you? You're lucky I didn't call the police last night because of your sick bullshit or whatever that was!" I practically screamed at him and this time I was looking him directly in the eye. The only thing I wanted right now is to punch him right in the face. What a creep!

"I'm lucky? Oh, no. I think you're the lucky one. You're lucky I didn't just let Jamie torture you to death for what you did. Which by the way, you are lucky about no one being hurt. Also, if I remember correctly, you are extremely lucky to not have had the police come arrest you." he said it so calmly that it seemed threatening. I took a small step back and then i noticed his eyes. They were brown. Not brown-red, just brown. I was captivated by his good looks but still pissed off and refused to back down.

"Yeah, well. I. You" Fuck! I couldn't think of a god damn thing to say because I knew he was right but I didn't want him to be right. I didn't care how correct or good looking he was. I wanted him to stay away from me and go be right somewhere else.

"Listen, darling. You can hate me and be as angry as you want but you're not going to get away from me. So, I suggest you start to love me now and make things less difficult for the both of us" he spoke with such certainty, his voice didn't shake or anything. He just gave me a dazzling smile that left me confused. I wanted to yell at him to stop being a creep and leave me alone but I also kind of wanted to kiss him. He's a fucking dick but I couldn't deny that he was quiet handsome.

"Let me tell you something, Vic. I will die as lonely and confused as I feel right now than be with you. Stop being so arrogant. You're not as great as everyone thinks you are. I see right through that little bullshit act you did out there. None of that was actually possible. You are an absolute fake and you think you are so great and can just fuck any guy you want. But I'm not any guy because I'm not falling for any of what you're trying to feed me" I said all of this in a cocky tone with my arms crossed over my chest. Two inches away from his face and four seconds away from hitting him. Him just standing there with that cocky smile and relaxed expression only fueled my anger.

"I know you're lonely right now, darling. But trust me, for the rest of your life, you won't be. I've waited so very long for you, Kellin. I've been so lonely throughout the centuries and now you're here. We'll never have to feel alone again." when he said this, he actually meant it. He reached forward in the middle of his sentence to caress my face and with a small form of contact, all emotions of anger were gone. Each second I was near him, the more confused I became. How did I go from wanting to beat him up to wanting to be close to him?

"I have to go. I don't think you should come see me again. Please" I practically just begged him to leave me alone and even that took all the strength I had. I didn't want him to stop touching my face but I knew I had to get away before I did something weird and stupid. None of this wa making sense, my head was spinning.

"I can't completely stay away from you, my love. I know you're overwhelmed and a little bit scared but that's okay. That's exactly how Tony was with Mike" he said it so simple, like I was supposed to understand what he was talking about and who these people are. I just gave him a dumbfounded look.

"Right.... You'll know overtime. But I'm afraid I can't give you much space. The sooner you adjust, the better. But I will leave you alone for the night. Just remember, I'll be missing you. Sleep well, Kellin." he spoke softly and kissed my forehead before turning around to leave, after my eyelids closed in a blink, he wasn't standing there anymore.

I just stood there for a second, confused and in awestruck. Trying to make sense and put the pieces together of what just happened. The worst part is I was more upset about him leaving than not knowing what the fuck just happened.