Headphones | An Original Story

0.4 - Mama

{Calix}

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It was Halloween.

"Mama, we all go to hell, Mama we all go to hell. I'm writing this letter and wishing you well...."

I was awoken by the sound of faded explosions.

My Chemical Romance.

I knew I should have been worrying about the ominous song, but I was terrified instead of the poem written in the sky-blue notebook I had found yesterday.

I had been struggling all day yesterday, trying to think through the poem. Usually, I was good at figuring out the hidden meaning in poems, but this one seemed pretty straightforward:

How are you sure of anything at all?

It messed with me. The writing teased me all day, and it affected my homework and my train of thought all day. I could hardly sleep.

I knew that some random piece of writing shouldn't affect me this much, but something was tugging on me to keep looking at the pages to make sure it was there.

And it was. The writing was always there, except when I tried showing it to my mom.

My dad was almost never home--he left before I even woke up in the morning and came back around 10:00 every day, except, of course, on the weekends. I didn't have time to even try and show him.

MCR shirt, black and white flannel, ripped jeans, planet choker.

"Mama, we're all gonna die..."

I shivered listening to the lyrics. Suddenly, my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Was I going to die tonight?

"Mama, we're meant for the flies...."

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My school wasn't filled with students that day. It was filled with every type of Halloween costume you could think of.

There were the originals--people who dressed up as ghosts or devils or witches--and there were the gross-outs (heads of an amazing range of bloodiness were rolling down the halls), and then there were the fangirls/fanboys. People of every fandom dressed up as their favorite characters. Some people would just wear random items that they probably found around the house, and would make up names for themselves.

And then there was me.

I forgot that Stella wanted me to dress up, and I still didn't know what I wanted to be for Halloween. I was kind of surprised that so many kids had actually willingly put on a costume and wore it to school. I knew my school was crazy about Halloween, but I didn't think this many people would be in character.

I walked into school and up to my locker. Stella was at her locker, too; the one right next to mine. Of course, she was dressed as a cat. That's what she is every year. Simple, fast, fun.

"Hey, Stel," I greet her, clicking in my combination and opening my locker.

She clucked her tongue at me. "Shame, shame, shame," she said. "I thought you were better than this."

"I know, I forgot," I apologized. "I didn't wanna be the only one dressed up."

Her jaw dropped. "C'mon, Cal. You're looking at the school with the most Halloween spirit in the entire world."

It nearly made me cringe to admit that she was right. Even the teachers dressed up.

"You're right. Can I just copy you and be a cat?" I pleaded.