Purple

Homecoming Woes Part One

Homecoming. It used to be the time of the year that Jason Lee Scott was most celebrated, the star of the football team. Now he was just the drunken idiot that stole a cow and totalled a car and wouldn't be allowed to play. Hell, he was lucky he was even allowed around the field.

And that is why this was a particularly cruel brand of torture.

All of the Saturday detention kids had to organize the Homecoming dance. Painting backdrops and signs, hanging streamers, making punch. It was a whole big thing. A whole big, gross, disastrous thing and Jason couldn't wait for it to be over.

But one thing made it worthwhile. Casual time spent doing things with Billy.

Er... everybody . Zack, Kim, and Trini were there too. But Billy was the important one. They'd agreed in private that they were... well... dating . It's just that it didn't so happen to be comprised of any actual dates yet. So what better time to start? He could be scared of what his former friends would say, but really fuck this town. He was allowed happiness for once. So after they were let out for the day he told Billy he had some things he had to do, but to meet him by the quarry in a few hours, and he set off to plan his most terrifying escapade yet...

Asking Billy to Homecoming.

He got flowers. Flowers were good right?

'No. Fuck. No Jason, that's a stupid, dumb, stupid idea why are you so stupid?' The voices in his head ran rampant as he waited there by the bed of his truck. He even bothered to clean up, putting on a nice dress shirt and slacks and combing his hair back. He knew Billy was very particular about things and that Jason himself was always very rough around the edges, but he wanted to show him he had layers. That he could be a nice, clean-cut guy every now and then. Maybe that didn't matter to Billy. Maybe Billy thought he was cool because of their differences, but for some reason, making a good impression was important to Jason despite already knowing where he stood with Billy. Because...

Billy was perfect. Despite his flaws, Jason always wished he could be a little more like Billy.

He was so caught up in his internal monologuing that he barely noticed just how foggy it got so quickly. But when he did, oh boy did he.

"What the..." He squinted his eyes as he could barely even make out the shape of his truck just a few feet away from him. Where the hell did all this fog come from? It wasn't exactly ideal having this start right when he was near the edge of a goddamn cliff either.

Suddenly, a wailing. Like a macabre song sailing through the air. It sent shivers down Jason's spine. He might have been a teenage superhero, but somehow he was scared. He couldn't explain it. It was just... something in the air.

He heard the sounds start to zero in from one direction, so his face followed suit, turning and squinting in the thickness of the fog until he could see the vague outline of a shape. A woman in a dress that dragged behind her as she approached. The closer she got, the more her features came into view.

Her dress was white. Tattered and wet. Her hair was long and black, or was it blue? He couldn't tell in this fog, but in the center, peeking out just below her wet long locks was a blue jewel, as if she were a long dead queen and it were her crown. She had the palest of skin, like she had been long dead and hadn't seen the sun in over a century. There wasn't even any color in her eyes . Just blank white portents of doom boring straight through him.

He could morph. He should morph. And yet somehow... he couldn't. He couldn't move at all.

She pointed at him, long black talon-like fingernails extended toward him as her jaw lengthened, exposing rows of razor-like teeth, and a screech escaped her unholy mouth as the jewel on her head began to glow.

Suddenly everything went black.

Billy showed up just like Jason told him to. He rode his bike, which he wasn't very good at and didn't particularly like but he knew if Jason wasn't going to pick him up then it would be important and also very much worth it.

It was sunny out. No sign of inclement weather. He had to admit, the breeze felt pretty good on his cheeks as he rode up the hillside to get to their usual spot. He wondered to himself what could be so important that Jason would want to meet instead of just straight up telling him.

Then suddenly his mind was racing a million miles a minute. Oh no. Jason was breaking up with him. Of course he didn't want to pick him up. He didn't want to deal with the awkward car ride. And what a car ride that would be. Normally, Billy didn't let emotional things get to him. But things were completely different with Jason. He was the only person that treated him... well... like a person. Didn't coddle him for being on the spectrum. Didn't act like he was stupid. Really, neither did the other rangers, but there were times he picked up on them not knowing what to do or say.

Jason never did that.

He couldn't lose him. So when he saw the truck come into view, he let the bike fall and started running toward it, just babbling as he ran.

"Jason before you say anything I just want to start out by telling you how im-" He interrupted himself when he saw nobody around. Just the truck, still running playing his favorite country music station, but nobody was in sight.

Billy moved around the back of the truck and his foot crunched against something. He looked down and realized he'd stepped on a beautiful bouquet of flowers tied with red and blue ribbons, a single card in the middle that said ' Homecoming?'

Billy let out a huge sigh of relief, pulling the bouquet to his chest and laughing because he was just overreacting again. But then, the fear was back. Oh no, what happened? He wasn't around. Billy looked over the side of the quarry to see if he fell and hurt himself, but no dice. Just running water below.

In a flurry of finger movements, he sent out a series of frantic texts to the other rangers.

JASON GONE. HELP.