Lingering lights zoom past my eyes as the wind tries to decide which way to blow my hair.
“I just love your convertible Clark, especially on such an amazing night as this.”

Clark is a high school student, one of my closest friends. He’s tall and kind of lanky like a tree, has short dark brown hair, and dresses like the average jock, but had this one abnormality. Clark always wore the number 71, whether it was in his jersey, hat or even sometimes socks.

“Yeah man, I love my Mustang. I would probably die without it.” said Clark.

The girl in the passenger seat chimed in saying, “Of course you guys would start talking about cars.”

“Yeah I was thinking the same thing.” The girl from the back seat said, agreeing.

The girl in the passenger seat was Clark’s girlfriend. Her name was Buffy, and that name didn’t fit her at all. She was the shy type, kind of short, and very shy to people she didn’t know. The girl next to me in the backseat was named Zoe. She was the girl of my dreams, but she just didn’t know it. She had dark, vibrant, red hair, she was average height for a girl and her style of choice was on the gothic/punk side. I loved every part about her, especially her piercings. The way her nose piercing attracted just the right amount of attention to her face always made me admire her ambition to be different, and the way her lip piercing sat just to the left corner of her mouth and encircled her lip.

“So whose house are we going to?” asked Zoe, playing with her piercings.

“Umm, it’s my friend’s new house,” I said “he told me to bring some people to have a house warming get together type of event… well, I mean, that’s what he called it.”

“Oh ok then, and this friend of yours lives in the middle of nowhere?” asked Zoe sarcastically.

“Yeah I guess so. All I do is follow mapquest ok?” I giggled nervously hoping that she would return the smile. She did, she smiled, she giggled… She looked just as nervous as me.
Hours passed, and all we could do was blare music and talk to each other on this life changing car ride. Zoe and I kept talking to each other, getting to know each other a little more, and I’m not going to lie, it made me like her even more. Finally we come up to the road his house was said to be on. All I saw as I looked down this dark road were faint lights. They were three lamp posts. Two barely lighting the rode ahead, and one down the road, flickering, it seemed like it was about to die, but kept turning on again, and again. The house was in sight, and from what I saw this was not a house warming party, at least not to me. It was more like a full out party. Thumping of the bass could be heard from about thirty yards from the house. Lights were flashing uncontrollably in the front windows and coming from the back porch. Red, blue, yellow, green, a disco ball, this party was equipped with a professional DJ and it seemed like it even had some kegs.

“This is not what I was expecting,” said Buffy

“Yeah me neither...” I said

Clark stared at the rampant celebration and exclaimed “PARTY!! Let’s go” and he made a mad dash out of the car and into the lingering crowd around the house.

“What do you guys want to do?” I asked the ladies in the car.

“Let’s go in for a bit.” said Zoe with a grin on her face.


We exited the car a slowly walked up to the crowd. Buffy was getting a little scared so I made Zoe lead her into the crowd and I followed closely behind. While walking through the crowd I noticed the bushes that lined the house. Neatly trimmed and looking green as ever. Next to each bush there was some sort of flower strewn neatly within the flower beds provided, beautiful white flowers that had six pedals and long pistils and visible stamens next to many smaller flowers with five pedals in a star shape that had a wild variety of colors and stripes down the middle of the pedal. The oddity of the flower seemed that it only bloomed in the light of the moon. We had finally made it into the house, but the crowd wasn’t any thinner. As we walked around looking for Clark I noticed that the house was barely furnished. Everyone was standing except for a special few people. The music was pounding and the lights were flashing like series of turn signals during a cacophony of honking horns at rush hour. Finally we found Clark, in the kitchen, next to the keg, of course.

“Why did you leave us like that man?!” I said with a stern tone in my voice.

“Dude, calm down, it’s a party, just chill and loosen up, have a drink.”

Clark handed me a drink of something; it looked like water but smelled disgusting; it had a strong distinguished odor, like a neon green scratch on a canvass of black paint, something that stood out in a crowd. Clark walked away and I threw the drink down the drain and watched as the liquid spiraled down the grated metal plug. I began to walk into the front room and heard a very distinct sound. A sound that whipped back memories into my mind like rocks into a pond. My vision became blurry and all the figures in the room disappeared. I went deaf and one black silhouette came into vision and I knew it was him, the man who haunted my dreams for years. He walked slowly toward me and all I could do is fall to the ground in a forced fetal position. Seconds later the image vanished and the sound came rushing back to me. The crowd came into vision and a small group of four people had surrounded me making sure that I was ok.

“What happened?” I asked dazed from my condition.

The bystanders had no clue as to what had happened and only offered me some water to try and help my situation. I slowly regained consciousness and got up to try to find my friends to see if any of them would stick with me for the rest of the night. I walked into the next room and it seemed fairly silent and oblivious to the thumping party going on right next to it. There were a few couples in the room, but none of them were my friends. A low chatter gave the room a homey feeling although this room, like most others, had no decorations, or furniture. There was one lamp that was glowing an apricot tint in the corner of the room on an end table that came up a few inches below my waist. The walls had floral wallpaper that was mostly a dark green with the same four o’clock flowers on them as the flowers outside. The wallpaper was peeling in spots, but it still looked like new.

“Could I borrow your cell phone?” I asked one of the unsuspecting guests in the room.

“Sure, do you want to go use it in a quieter room?” the college student responded.

“That would be great.”

We walked into a small room that was very secluded from the rest of the party. No music was heard, no lights were seen. All we could hear were people passing in the hall outside that was only feet from us. I dialed Clark’s number. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, Hello? Hello?? It was Clark, and then an automated woman began to speak. “Please leave a message after the tone.” Damn answering machine. I dialed Zoe’s number and within the first ring she answered, frantic.

“Are you ok?!”

“Zoe, calm down I’m fine. Where are you?”

“I’m…” Zoe’s phone had cut out and seconds later I called back, but it went straight to voicemail. It must have just died

“Damn it. Umm... Thanks for the phone,” I said graciously.

“Yeah sure no problem.” The college student replied.

As we began to walk out of the room a drunken person ran down the hall with a flashing red light and a siren. I began to lose vision again; I became unbalanced and fell to the floor almost silently. My vision began to return, but this time I was outside and I still saw the flashing light. A mixture of blue and red and again the same silhouette was walking toward me, baton in hand. I was frozen with fear, what was I supposed to do? I began crawling backward, but the silhouette just came faster. It raised a hand high in the air, and the baton came swinging down toward me. Without thinking, I viciously thrusted my foot out toward the image’s abdominal area and the silhouette curled like a rollie-pollie after you touch it. Everything went black again and the room I was in came to view, but something was missing. Where was the college student who let me use his phone? I looked next to me and on the floor was the college student in the fetal position.

“What the hell man!” the college student managed to wheeze out.

“What did I do?” I said in rebuttal.

“What do you mean what did you do! You kicked me in the stomach!”

I blinked in disbelief. Had I really just kicked this person? All I could do was manage to get off the ground and offer my help to the suffering college student on the ground. I apologized deeply and thanked them again for the phone. I walked away very confused and tried to organize my thoughts as quickly as possible before the music hit me like a wave again. I didn’t know what had just happened and I couldn’t think anymore since I walked back into the main room and the music was blaring through my thoughts. I walked quickly through the house and tried to find a room that was mostly empty or silent. I only found one and it was too silent but it only had one other person so it was going to have to do. The other person looked like a stronger version of Clark, but he was on the phone so he wouldn’t bother me. I sat against the wall and tried to collect my thoughts. Nothing was falling into place and ten minutes later I decided to just try and find my friends and leave this place. I got up off the wall and heard the DJ over the speaker.
“Now this is a party! But what’s a party without some party sirens?” the DJ had no sooner finished his sentence and turned on the sirens. I began to feel a little relaxed this time around, and then a whooshing feeling overcame my senses. Pain overcame my body and I felt like I was dying. I tried to slowly sit against the wall again but before I knew it I had hit my head and scraped my arm on a bare nail. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I blinked trying to regain sight, but all I saw was the flashing lights and starry night again.
The sound of a siren began to ring through my ears and the silhouette appeared again, hovering over me. I looked down and saw my clothes covered in blood. A puddle on the ground close to me had been still, I looked inside and saw that my face was covered in blood and I was bleeding from my nose and mouth. Then I looked at the puddle again and realized that it was my blood, a puddle of only my blood. The silhouette didn’t seem to be done with me yet. He began to walk toward me again with the bloody baton in hand, but I wasn’t about to go down without a fight. I mustered all the energy I had in my body to get up and throw myself at the figure. We both fell to the floor and I began to pound in to this figure. Punch after punch, all I could do was punch. I punched for so long that my fist began to hurt. The silhouette lay motionless and I retracted myself off the body.
The world I saw before me again dissipated into the room I was in before. This time I knew something was wrong. The guy who had looked like Clark was lying on the floor. Motionless. He lay motionless. I looked down at the throbbing pain in my hand and it was coated with blood. I looked at the body again and saw he too was covered in blood. The blood on my hand wasn’t mine, it was the body’s. I quickly ran to him and checked for a breath. Nothing. I checked for a pulse and again, nothing. I lunged for the door and slammed it shut. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO! I looked at the body and all I could think was to run, but instead I took the body, pushed it into the closet, and covered it with a nearby sheet.

I walked out of the room and found the closest bathroom. I washed off the blood and watched as it spiraled down the drain. I made sure to inspect for extra blood and made sure that I looked presentable, I was a pale white. As I opened the door I saw Buffy walk by with Zoe. Thank God.

I ambushed them and told them, “We HAVE to leave.”

They looked at me confused and asked what was wrong.

“I don’t have time to explain, we just need to go before something happens.”

“Ok ok, calm down we’ll find Clark and go.”

I sighed with relief and took off to find Clark. I searched everywhere but he was no where to be found. In the kitchen all I saw was an empty keg and Clark was no where, in the living room I only saw a moving mass, it almost looked like it was breathing, but still no tall, scrawny Clark. I looked into the room where I had found the generous college student, it was empty, silent. I sat for a moment on the only couch in the room. It was green with legs that reminded me of the ones you would see on an old bathtub. The couch looked kind of worn and the springs in the seat were almost flat from all the usage. I leaned on my knees with my elbows, rested my head in my hands and ran my fingers through my hair.
I listened intently and heard nothing other than a faint siren, something that was really far in the distance. Was I really hearing a siren? No, there was no siren. Then why was I hearing this damn siren! It wasn’t really there! THERE IS NO SIREN!
I got up and paced the room trying to figure out why I heard this siren. I hastily walked into the room with the booming music and the crowd trying to get rid of this sound. I could still hear it. Even with the music blaring I could still hear it. Then I began to start seeing the lights. The mixing blue and red lights were coming in through the front window. It can’t be true. There are not any lights out there. No. No. NO! Crazed I ran to the basement, and there I was comforted with the sight of my friends.

“I’m so glad to see you guys!” I said with excitement.

“Hey, so are you ready to leave?” asked Buffy

“You have no idea how badly I want to get out of here.”

“Uh oh guys,” Clark slurred “the po-po is here” I quickly whipped my head to the small slit of a window and saw the flashing blue and red lights. I started to get clammy, and urged for us to leave. I heard someone upstairs scream “POLICE!” and the crowd sounded like it scattered. The music stopped and it became silent. Seconds later I heard the front door get smashed in. “FREEZE” was muffled through the floorboards.

“Guys we need to get out of here.” Buffy said, terrified.

The siren noise was still ringing in my ears. “Clark, where are your keys?” I asked.

“Right here.” Clark tossed to me the keys and I heard the basement door open.

Without thinking, I screamed “I HAVE HOSTAGES!” the steps stopped immediately and the officer retreated while saying, “We have a hostage situation, I repeat a hostage situation” into his walkie-talkie. I looked over at my friends and all they could do was stare at me, jaws on the floor.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Clark slurred at me.

“Listen guys, I killed someone up there. I didn’t mean to, really I didn’t, but I just don’t know what happened.” Tears began to build in my eyes and my voice began to crack. “That was the first thing that came into mind.”

“We can’t let you do this,” said Buffy.

“I-I-I DON’T HAVE A CH-CHOICE ANYMORE!” I stuttered.

Zoe interrupted with “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Clark made a lunge for me and missed. In all the mayhem, I saw a screwdriver and grabbed it.

“Whoa man, what are you doing with that?” Clark managed to slur.

“Listen we will all be fine, you guys just stay down here. I’m going to take Clark’s car and make a run for it.”

“You know there is no way they will let you go without some sort of fight.” Zoe explained.

As she was talking, I managed to look at her for what I thought might be the last time. Her beautiful dark red hair glistened in the dissipated light. Her piercings shown in the almost apricot colored light. It brought clarity; it told me what I needed to do. I needed to go, to run now.

“Yeah I know, but right now I just have to, there isn’t much of a choice.”

I started dashing for the window and Zoe told Clark to hold me back.

“Don’t let him go Clark.”

“Zoe what are you doing?” I said shocked.

“You’re not going. That’s that.”

“I have to.”

Clark grabbed my arms and restrained me from moving very much. Zoe stood in front of me and held me close.

“I won’t let you go without me.” Zoe kissed me and looked deep into my eyes.

“I love you too,” I responded “but there is no way your coming with me. Now I have to go, I can’t play games.” I jerked away from Clark but he didn’t let go. I ripped my arm from his grasp and the recoil ended up punching Zoe in the stomach. She clutched her stomach and fell to the ground in a fetal position. I looked at her and saw blood spilling onto the floor. I forgot I still had the screwdriver in my hand, but it was too late, I already stabbed her. Rapidly I fell to my knees. The sound of her groans of agony made me feel terrible. I pulled her to my chest tightly and held her, trying to comfort her.

“Oh my GOD! I STABBED HER!” I said in disbelief. “Clark, take her! TAKE HER!” he knelt down and grabbed her and held her close. Buffy stayed in the background and was just balling.
“I-I-I-I just have to go now. If I leave they will bring an ambulance.” I ran to the window that I planned to leave through earlier and cracked it. “I’m sorry Zoe. I love you, really I do.”
I slowly climbed out of the window into the window well where I peeked to see who was around. Surprisingly no other units had arrived yet. I managed to slink through the shadows to the car that we parked in the back of the house. I turned on the car as fast as I could and sped off onto the road going away from the squad cars, but that didn’t last long. A police unit had caught up with me in seconds. All I could do was speed up and try to get away. I looked up the road and tried to find serenity. I couldn’t. I knew all I had done needed to be resolved, but I didn’t want to go to jail. Down the road I saw the street lamp that was flickering earlier. It was still flickering, but it seemed to have a harder time lighting back up. I couldn’t help but stare at it even in this moment. As I got closer, I saw the light turn on again. I got even closer and the light blew out.
I saw a big flash of light and the light blew out. Flashes of memories streamed before my eyes. I saw him again. The silhouette and his baton. His blood covered baton. The glaze over my eyes finally lifted and I saw his face for the last time in my life. A man I would’ve trusted on the streets, a police officer who had merits and awards for his good work.
In my obsession I forgot to steer, and slowly drifted off to the side of the road. By the time I realized I need to adjust my steering, I had hit a ditch, my car flew up into the air and hit the base of the lifeless street lamp.