Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time

Brendon wakes to the feeling of his body safely pressed into his mattress. It’s a cool morning as the sun’s rays peek through the curtains. As he rises, his head feels heavy and his body feels strange. Oh, hangovers, what fun. He turns and kisses Sarah’s exposed shoulder before getting up and heading to the kitchen. As he approaches the end of the hallway, he notices other people lounging around. He remembers that he had a party last night. Damn, he thinks, it must have been crazy. His eyes cast down his own body and realizes he’s only in his underwear. He tries not to let his lack of clothing faze him as individuals look in his direction. Some of these faces he’s never seen before.
He quickly introduces himself and escorts individuals out of his home. The process takes about twenty some odd minutes. After that is handled, he starts to pick up random cups from the floor and tables.
“Oh wow,” Sarah starts, walking into the kitchen, “the party must have been a little over the top.”
“Yeah, and once again, it was one of those nights I can barely remember.” Brendon proceeds to check the liquor cabinets and finds them to be completely empty.
“Sorry I went to bed early, I got really tired for some reason.” She walks over and places a quick kiss on Brendon’s cheek before helping to discard trash.
“It’s fine. I have a strange feeling it wasn’t too…” There’s a pause.
Sarah says, “Too what?”
“Not sure.”
“Alright,” Sarah changes the subject, “I was thinking of making breakfast.”
Brendon smiles, turning around to face her, “That would be lovely.”
They both come in for a quick kiss as Brendon whips up a liquid concoction for his hangover. After, he goes back into the bedroom to get a shirt and some pants on. He then decides to check other potential areas of the house that could have been trashed. The backyard is just as much of a mess as the inside, if not more. His pool toys managed to get on the roof of his studio and some red solo cups slowly drift in the pool itself. Before he retrieves the trash, there’s a knock at the door.
He heads back inside to see who it is as Sarah opens the door. Both of his dogs come rushing in and Brendon greets them.
Zack says, “Dude, you must have had one crazy-ass party. The front of the yard is trashed.”
Brendon sighs, “Almost every square inch of the house is trashed. I can barely remember what happened.”
Zack shakes his head, “Not surprised.”
“Fuck you, and thank you for watching the pups.” His hangover is almost gone, so in no time he’ll be in a better mood.
“I was gunna offer help, but with that attitude-” Zack jokes.
“C’mon dude.” Brendon whines.
“Hand me a goddamn trash bag, then.”
Brendon goes and does just that. Sarah offers to make more food if Zack wants to stay. He accepts and is quick to take the trash bag from Brendon; heading back out to the front yard.
After the musician heads to the backyard to pick up some trash, he notices his dogs begin barking inside the house. Since Sarah is preoccupied, Brendon is quick to go see what’s up. Penny and Bogart both cautiously pace around the outside of the spare bedroom from down the hall. Brendon decides to see if anyone had been in there last night. The door had been left slightly ajar, which is minorly suspicious since he doesn’t remember opening it. Curiosity runs through his mind as he opens it the rest of the way, peering inside. The sheets on the bed are missing. He walks into the room, a heavy caution weighing in his mind. He glances at the floor and notices small blotches of a red substance sticking to the carpet’s fibres . He crouches down to further inspect what it could be and… it’s blood. He stands up and his heart starts to race.
No, no, no, Brendon thinks, nothing drastic could have happened. It was a crazy party, maybe someone had a nosebleed or something. His attempts to brush it off barely work as he checks the bathroom. There’s small reminisce of more blood in the sink and some faded smudges on the counter.
“Food’s ready!” Sarah shouts from the kitchen.
Brendon is startled, and as if by impulse, he turns the sink on and tries to clear the area of blood. There’s a tightness in his chest, a guilt of some kind. He knows it’s not his blood, so why the hell does he feel guilty? He quickly cleans his hands before heading into the kitchen.
“Mmm, something definitely smells good.” Brendon says, taking in the scent of bacon, eggs, and potatoes.
Sarah turns off the heat and takes out some plates, “Get Zack, will you, babe?”
“No prob.” Brendon finishes before sticking his head out the front door, “Food’s ready.”
“Cool.” Zack replies from the side of the house.
Sarah brings the plates of food over to the table and Brendon sits down. She says, “Find any other messes inside?”
“Yeah, some asshole stole the sheets from the guest bedroom.” Brendon says in an aggravated tone, because he definitely is bothered by it. He avoids mentioning the blood, however.
“Oh god. That’s not good.” Sarah says, with a look of concern on her face.
“Yeah, and there were people I didn’t recognize last night.”
“Friends of friends I remember you saying.”
“No, I think there were complete strangers here. Maybe it seemed like an open party. I’m probably never doing it again.”
Zack walks in and sits down with them, “What are we talking about?”
“How I’m gunna think twice before having a party here.” Brendon says before taking a bite of his food.
“Because of how trashed it got? House parties usually end up like this.”
“Someone stole sheets from the guest bedroom.” Sarah says.
“Well shit, if anything, you guys didn’t like those sheets to begin with.”
“I never said I didn’t like them.” Brendon protests.
“I hated them.” Sarah says, taking a sip of her coffee.
Both men look at Sarah, slightly dumbfounded by her blatancy.
She continues, “Stealing is awful, I don’t like what happened, but I definitely didn’t like those sheets.” She tries holding back a laugh.
“So whoever stole them did you a favor?” Zack questions, amused by the whole thing.
Brendon attempts to be serious about it, “Listen man, don’t joke about this shit.”
“I hope whoever stole it likes that ugly ass beige.” Sarah says, attempting and failing at holding in a laugh.
“Oh my god.” Zack says, now completely amused.
Brendon begins to chuckle.
Zack then decides to head home as both Sarah and Brendon spend the rest of the morning cleaning the backyard. When the chores are finished, Sarah decides to sit on the couch and turn on the tv. Brendon goes to the fridge and thankfully there’s a beer from a few nights ago only half empty sitting on one of the shelves. He takes a long sip of it and realizes he definitely needs to buy more booze later.
Brendon then makes his way into the living room, and the news is on. A ‘Breaking News’ banner flashes at the bottom of the screen and the headline reads ‘Two Police Officers Mysteriously Shot’. One news woman reports the location as well as the time, and Brendon stands there, shocked.
Sarah looks to Brendon and says, “That literally happened just down the street.”
Brendon remains speechless as the news reporter says that the only explanation for the deaths were suicide or the cops shot each other, possibly attempting to catch a culprit.
Sarah speaks again, “I’m so glad you didn’t go out last night- you didn’t right? Do you remember hearing gunshots?”
Brendon replies in a monotone voice, “No, I don’t think so and no.”
Then, there’s a report of a missing person by the name of Emmett Hoffmann. A picture flashes on the screen of a man with a short beard and ponytail. Brendon carefully examines the person’s face and somehow recognizes him. He’s not sure from where, but somehow he just remembers seeing him from… somewhere. The musician tries to just drop the thought as it becomes slightly overwhelming. He walks back into the kitchen and places the now empty beer bottle in the recycling bin.
He walks past Sarah towards the backyard and says, “I’m gunna be in the studio for a bit.”
“Alright, babe.” Sarah replies.
As Brendon sits down at his computer, Emmett’s face flashes in his mind again. This time, he seems to be in a dimly lit room with different colored strobe lights brushing against his figure. Instead of trying to ignore it, his curiosity gets the best of him and he starts remembering more. He pictures Emmett in his house now and figures he must have been at the party last night. He gets chills realizing his home was one of the last places this man was at. He shakes off his thoughts for now, proceeding to turn on his computer and getting to work.