Evenfall

Party

Today (Mid-Morning)

In the car, Theo looped his finger beneath the paper wristband and tugged on it, watching how the edges cut into his skin. Abel slid into the driver's seat with a big exhale, then reached over his shoulder for his seatbelt while reminding Theo to fasten his. Someone was waiting for them to pull out, their blinker on to stake their claim to the spot because it had gotten crowded while they were wandering around petting the animals.

Once they were back on smooth highway, the asphalt stretching for miles in long, sweeping curves ahead of them, Abel relaxed into his seat and threw a glance Theo's way.

"Are you excited to see your aunt?"

Theo abandoned fiddling with the paper wristband and shrugged. "I guess."

"You weren't close? When was the last time you saw her?"

"I don't really remember." Theo waved his hands on either side of his head. "Most of my childhood was a blur. My parents had me on a lot of medications. But I think maybe sometime in middle school? She didn't get along with my dad."

"You were on medications that young?" A little crease appeared between Abel's brows as he checked over his shoulder before turning on his blinker to pass the car in front of them. "What kind of stuff? If you need to be taking something, we should try to get you back on it."

"No, I'm not on anything anymore. I stopped taking that shit back in college." Theo assured him. "I just...my parents made me see a lot of psychologists when I was younger, and they put me on all kinds of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds and whatnot. Anti-psychotics 'cause I was a psychotic kid."

Not much had changed there. He waited for Abel to tell him that he should probably get on that shit again. Because he was always talking about demons and having fits where he forgot where he was or who he was or what he had been doing moments before. Even Ken told him he was crazy twenty-four-seven. Despite saying he did not need his medications when Theo had first asked for money to go see a psychiatrist so he could get his prescription refilled the first time that his parent's insurance had stopped working.

But Abel did not say anything along those lines. Instead, he said, "You were in college? I didn't know that."

"Yeah, well..."

Five years ago

College was not really what Theo had expected. Not that he really knew what to expect, but he thought it would at least be freeing or something. He kept his grades up all through high school, did his best on all the entrance exams, and wrote all the stupid letters to the colleges his mom helped him pick out. All so he could come here, live in a dorm, stress over assignments, eat three times a day, and stay in his room 24/7.

His roommate was a ghost, which was maybe a blessing or maybe not. The friends he made in his classes last semester did not last over the winter break, probably because he never was active in the group chats or went out with them. It was a lot like high school, except even more lonely.

Which was why he ended up at a frat house on a Friday night. He'd seen the crazy college parties in movies – hand-painted Greek letters over the door, beer pong on the front lawn, people getting up on the tables and mooning the crowd. Not exactly his scene, but he was determined to make lasting friendships this semester and that meant accepting invitations to go out and hang out with people.

Although the people he had come with were nowhere to be found in the living room, where a bunch of girls were squealing while some people pulled the guy whose ass was hanging out down from the table. Theo went to take another drink from his beer and realized it was empty. About all he had been doing was drinking a beer and then getting a refill, just for something to do with his hands. Maybe he should go outside. Maybe Jamie and the girl he kept forgetting the name of had gone outside to watch the beer pong.