Killing Chris

Saturday- During High School

  The red and blue lights flashed across my face piercing the window, the cold, unforgiving metal of the seat sent a shiver down my spine, the distant sirens whaled, and the muffled chatter of the anxious officers had my nerves almost so strong I could feel each one. I wasn't scared, or sad. I was... empty, drained of everything living inside me that resembled a normal person. I was convinced I wasn't even a person anymore, I was a shell of a person that was once high on life. As I sat in the backseat of the police cruiser I watched my two best friends lay lifeless in the middle of the street. 

The forensics unit was taking pictures of their mangled bodies. One of the officers was talking to me but I couldn't hear him... no, I wouldn't hear him. I refused to let him pry open the still open wound of what had happened that night. Graduation was supposed to be an epic milestone in our life but instead turned out to be the end of a dead-end street for the two people I loved most in this world. if you can hear me right now or watching me sitting here then I'm so sorry Lake, and I'm even more sorry to you Margo. I'm sorry that the last words we exchanged were something as simple as "No" and not epic last words that translated to how epic you were.

BEFORE GRADUATION

"Can't believe there are only 2 weeks left in our senior year that flew by right guys" said an annoying rich girl in our class that spent 4 weeks of this year in bora bora. My two best friends and I rolled our eyes at her and turned our backs to her sort of huddling up behind her. Our friend group was unordinarily epic there was three of us, Lake (yes that's a name and its a guy) was the classic high school athlete except he didn't get the douche part of the personality, Margo, however, caught all the bitcheness in the whole wide world I swear she collects it like a plant collects sunlight. 

Our parents were friends when they were kids and we were friends as soon as we joined the world. The friendship that starts when you're not even a whole year old tends to die off before the end of high school or maybe right there after high school. But not us our group was just as alive as the day it was created which I guess was only a small fraction alive since we weren't even one yet. Oh, and my name is Chris hence the title of this story being "Killing Chris". Margo, Lake, and I did everything together. The type of everything where you show up to their house and walk in without even texting them cause you saw they were home on snap maps.

 You know when something horrible happens on a specific date and for some reason, you don't know why, you remember the date perfectly and maybe someday get it tattooed on your arm, that homecoming Saturday was the day for me but I wouldn't even realize it till it was too late. The day of homecoming was of course a Saturday and as Lake and I got ready together, Margo was at home getting her younger sister to see how much makeup she could pile up on her face like a game of stack the states. 

Lakes date to homecoming was one of the girls in our secondary friend group, like the one we hang out with when we want a bigger group activity, her name was Arizona. Arizona was stunning with curly brown hair, nice but mean when she needed to be. Arizona isn't exactly important to the meaty part of the story but helps fill in some of the blanks. Margo's date was just another guy in the rotating door of guys she talked to but never dated, his name I promise isn't important because two days after homecoming he will have been expunged from her memory forever. My date, Derek, however, is the most important of dates not only because it's my date but also because he doesn't get to the end of the story so I'm writing it down in hopes that one day he will get to read it.

HOMECOMING

Senior year homecoming is supposed to be one of the best moments of your life but instead became one of the horrible days of my life even to this day. It started normal with the pictures and the party bus and then the dance is when it takes a turn for the worse, ending up starting the body count that would only end the day my best friends were murdered right in front of me. When we got to the homecoming dance it was pretty cliche, the theme for the homecoming dance was devils and angels so everyone was wearing red or white and cool little props that went with their outfit. 

The gym was all decorated for the theme too, on one side clouds made from cotton balls floated from a string attached to the ceiling, and on the other flames on the walls. I had an amazing dance with Derek and I just felt normal and loved and so happy to be in the moment. After our slow dance, Derek and I sat down at a table and watched the homecoming halftime show which was the teachers doing like a talent show thing, which was so funny every year. When the halftime show was over Lake and Arizona disappeared to do... stuff and Margo and her date fought and she was talking about how boys ain't shit with her girlfriends. 

Derek and I were still sitting down and he was telling me about his trip to Paris he had just got back from. Derek was 5"8 about the same height as me and he wasn't ripped but he gave off like strong dad bod vibes. Derek went in a cute white suit with a little black bow tie and I wore red with a regular black tie because I wasn't extra. I wish when I had the time with him I had just been there with him instead of focusing on other things in past or future moments. Derek was a poet and an environmentalist and I was a nerd and a TV fanatic. 

As Derek sat there telling me about the art piece he saw called disappearing animals a bell rang and our school principal walked on to the stage which was set up in the corner of the gym. On the mic, he announced that he was going to announce this year's homecoming king and queen... as he read the names Joanie Retford and Micheal Foster, that is the moment right before my life changed as I went from the boy at prom with his boyfriend to the boy who was about to witness the two dead bodies od my classmates fall from the pillars of the ceiling and smack on the ground next to the principle on stage.

 Micheal and Joanie weren't just dead though, they were more dead then that word can wrap around, they were carved up like a ham on thanksgiving only a blind person was cutting it with a machete. their faces were untouched but there was a gaping hole in their chests were hearts are usually and a slit across their stomachs. I don't remember much after that until I got home and I was told by a friend that they were holding each other's hearts and their entrails had been... No, I refuse to keep going on about this one. Don't worry though theirs many more deaths before the story ends, that, I promise.

                                                                                                                                                                Chris logged off