Cosmic Confluence

Chapter 10: a light in the dark

My dad sped off in the Camero as I rang Kenzie's doorbell. As I heard her holler "coming!" followed by little footsteps down the stairs, I turned around, ripped up a handful of grass from the lawn and threw it at her when she opened the door.

"Bitch!" 

"Hi," I said in a monotone, taking off my jacket and shoes. I hadn't actually visited her dad's house in some time, and I forgot how nice it was. Everything was so tidy and spotless because they had someone who came to clean every month. They also had really nice furniture too. If you couldn't already tell, Kenzie's dad was sort of rich. He worked with customizing and building cars in his backyard for even richer people. It was pretty sick. 

"I have a bunch of new RuPaul's Drag Race recorded, do you wanna watch it together?"

"Sure." I entered her room to set my stuff somewhere as she worked on the tv. 

I had been in Kenzie's room hundreds and hundreds of time, had seen it change over the years as she did.

But this was fucking weird.

On every shelf, all over her desk, and basically every other surface it was safe to be on-- was occupied by candles. I felt like I had entered a set from The Phantom of the Opera. But honestly it was kind of wonderful. In a weird way. My pyromaniac ass was bewildered. I wasn't sure if I would ever stop staring, the harmonious glow of little flames all together looked like how a choir sounded. More specifically, a Welsh boys choir. Ever heard one of them? Legendary.  

"What?" I asked Kenzie, pointing into her room.

"What?"

"The candles bro. Are you having a midlife crisis at 16?"

Her eyes widened like she forgot about her fucking hoard of candles. I'm serious. Kenzie stopped everything that she had been doing with the tv and joined me in her gothic room. 

"Call me crazy, but I'm almost totally sure my house is fucking haunted, bitch!"

Uh oh.

"You always say that, what's new?"

I wasn't freaking out on the inside like I had with Jaymie earlier that day. I meant it when I told her "she always said that". Remember how I had said she's always been telling me stories of how she heard footsteps in the attic at night, or how her bedroom door would creak open then close at late hours as well? I knew whatever freaky shit was among us, was probably not an indefinite demise. 

"It's the goddamn candles again!"

"Dude! Fucking obviously! Elaborate, gosh!"

"Shut up, bitch!"

"Bitch!" 

Kenzie pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and sighed with annoyance. She looked really pretty in this lighting--I happened to notice as I waited for her to talk. 

"Ever since that night when the power went out, its been almost like, something out there wants me in the dark." 

"haha what," I said as a shiver went through my body.

"I-I'm being serious Mary! Fuck you." 

It was really hard to feel this fear as strongly as she was. And it was almost impossible to take anything as seriously as I should've. At the time I wasn't sure if this was either a perfect formula for disaster or success.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'll be here tonight," I reminded Kenzie as I walked past her to face the assortment of candles. She slapped me before I could put one out using my fingers with spit on them.