Some Boys are Monsters

Notes and Novels

Craig's song of the day: Grouplove - Colors

I always knew I was different than the other guys at school. Since I was a little boy I hadn't been interested in girls like they were. I wasn't always trying to get a girlfriend like Clyde was, I didn't get cute little crushes like Token did, and I didn't get kisses on the playground like Craig did sometimes. Still, I didn't really start worrying there was something wrong with me until I finally got a kiss of my own. It was on the last day of fourth grade when Craig's cousin, Red, got it in her head that I was her boyfriend. It was just the two of us under the slide when she leaned over with puckered lips and planted a kiss right on my mouth. I'm embarrassed to say that I immediately ran across the school yard and hid behind Token because I didn't want her to find me.

Because of that innocent little kiss a lot of energy was wasted that summer trying to understand what was the matter with my head. Boys were supposed to like girls, and I always just assumed that I did too. That's why it got really confusing when I didn't feel anything when I got a kiss from Red, but I got bubbles in my belly when I hugged her cousin, who just happened to be another little boy. I didn't realize what it all really meant until that summer when Craig and I literally began spending every day together.

It was bright and sunny the day Craig's mom decided to take the two of us out to the playground to have a picnic and some playtime. I think Mrs. Tucker and I formed a pretty close bond over that summer. I considered her the mother I'd always wanted and she just happened to love children, even the kind who had random spasms and accidentally made messes of her house. I'm getting off topic, though. That day wasn't about Craig's mom; it was about feelings, and how Craig and I finally made it to outer space.

"It's a rocket ship!" Craig blurted excitedly as he took a hold of my sleeve, his eyes glistening with more joy than I had ever seen before or since. "There's a rocket ship on the playground!"

"GAH! What? Who would just park a rocket ship here?" I asked in utter confusion, twitching and convulsing as my voice cracked in disbelief.

"I don't know!" He laughed, my obvious doubt not deterring his excitement in the slightest. "It's really there, though, I swear!"

"Come look!" he chanted over and over as he dragged me along behind him. Mrs. Tucker followed on our heels while Craig's short little kid legs pumped underneath him, and my even shorter little kid legs struggled to keep up. It was bright outside that day, the sun's hot rays beamed down on us as my giddy best friend literally jumped in joy. Healthy green grass crunched under the soles of our shoes, and the branches of lush oak trees shed pleasant shade all around us. It was just another perfect day that would've never even been if it wasn't for him.

"See?" he exclaimed, one finger pointed ahead of us as I was blinded by a white glare. The sun's light reflected off of something shiny in the distance, and the closer we got the more in awe I became. He was indeed telling the truth, and it was absolutely gigantic through my little green eyes. Tall, white, and metal, the rocket ship seemingly stood stories above me and my best friend. It had all sorts of familiar looking thingy-kabobs, like a set of yellow monkey bars that jutted from the side of the vessel and something that looked a lot like a slide coming out of the other. I assumed those things were alien space hatches, because those spacemen were excellent at disguising their superior technology.

"Gah!" I shouted in horror. "We shouldn't go over there, Craig! What if it's an evil alien's ship? What if they want our brains?!"

"Or," Craig presented another idea. "It's the ship of a spaceman from another galaxy!"

I convulsed, not at all liking what I was seeing. He let go of my arm and lurched forward, running towards the ship and whatever horrible dangers were lurking inside. I screamed out for him not to go, but he paid no mind to my pleas as he grabbed a hold of the metal ladder and scrambled up into the hull of the vessel. I couldn't see him through the rocket's white belly, so I ran around and around the horrible thing, stumbling over dirt clumps as I shouted his name repeatedly in a horrible panic.