Bloodstained Bathtubs and an Absence of Death (Frerard)

7 - Let's Kill Tonight

Saturday arrived quicker than I thought it would. Ray, Frank, and Mikey were all very excitedly plotting how they would get revenge on Bob at the upcoming party while I silently assessed how I was going to get the guy alone so that I could kill him.

From what I remember hearing about Bob's renowned parties, I knew they were quite loud and crowded. He was very popular despite his nasty personality, which always amazed me. I guess not everyone could see through his fake persona.

Surely with all of the chaos of the party going on, I could easily get his ass upstairs, murder him, and no one would hear a thing over all the music and socialization.

Plus, parties meant drugs and alcohol, and if Bob decided to partake in either of those, which I assumed he would, I'd have an added bonus on top.

I already knew tonight was going to go very well. I could barely contain myself just thinking about seeing the horror in his eyes as I shoved a blade into his bitter heart.

When nighttime finally arrived, the four of us were ready to head over to Bob's. I was forced to drive, as I was the only one who had ever actually been to his house before and therefore, knew the way there. With Ray occupied with giving Mikey a pep talk in the back seat, Frank turned to me from where he was sat in the passenger's seat.

"Having you come along with us is going to be great".

"What do you mean?" I asked him. I hadn't told Frank about my own plan for the night out of the fear that he'd try to stop me or even worse, tell the others, so like usual, I had no idea what was running through his mind.

"You can be very intimating," he explained after he lowered his voice. "Which I imagine this Bob guy will find terrifying. Maybe you could threaten him a bit? I bet his reaction would be priceless. What if he pisses his pants or something? I'm sure Mikey would get a kick out of it".

"You find me intimidating?" I asked in surprise. "I always thought you took me as a joke".

"Well no, I'm not afraid of you," he chuckled. "But I imagine other people are." Leaning in, he added in a whisper, "Like your victims".

Immediately, I pushed him away from me and signaled a throat cutting motion at him. I couldn't risk him mentioning anything to do with what I did in my free time near the other two. Sure, Mikey and Ray were busy chatting in the back seat, but I couldn't afford for them to hear anything about my murders.

Frank, as always, didn't take me seriously and simply laughed even more, only proving his point of how he's not afraid of me.

Thankfully though, I turned down Bob's street soon after that, and everyone's focus shifted to his giant house at the end of it. Cars were lining the sides of the road, and the faint sound of music could be heard coming from his home.

"Woah, a popular, rich guy," Frank commented. "No wonder he was a bully in high school".

Once I managed to find a place to park, Frank, Ray, and Mikey all filed out of the car. I remained for a brief moment to snatch up an extra knife I had placed under my seat earlier in the day. Then, with a devilish smile I simply couldn't contain, I quickly caught up to the rest of them.

Before we knocked on the door of the house, Ray turned to face us, "Alright everyone, make sure to keep an eye out for Bob. If you spot him, text the rest of us, so we can all meet up and give him a taste of his own medicine". Everyone nodded in agreement as Ray knocked on the front door.

After a few moments, we were let in by one of the party guests who clearly already had a couple of drinks in him, "Hey guys! Come on in!" He shouted over the music and then immediately went back to singing and dancing his heart out. 

Frank giggled, "Did you see the size of that dude's forehead?" I nodded, as I did notice his forehead was abnormally large. "But hey, he's got an amazing voice, he could totally be in a band or something!" And with that, Frank excitedly dragged me into the party. 

Right off the bat, I was not a fan. There was far too much action going on around me and all I wanted to do was go home and crawl back into the dark silence of my bedroom, but I knew I had a job to do. 

"I'm going to go get a drink!" Frank yelled, "Do you want anything?" I shook my head no, and Frank took off into a crowd of dancing guests. Quite honestly, I felt a bit on edge without him by my side all of a sudden, but at least I still had Ray and M-. Nope, never mind. Glancing around, I realized they had somehow already disappeared into the mayhem of the party as well.

I was all alone. 

Now, normally I adored getting to be all by myself, but here, I was surrounded by strangers upon strangers upon strangers. Technically, I was nowhere near being alone, and I didn't like it one bit. Frantically, I tried to located where Frank had gone, but I could hardly see anything through the dim lights flashing along to the music. I felt my heart start to race as I panicked. 

Pulling out my phone, I tried calling and texting Frank, but I received no reply. I couldn't wait for him to return back to me though. I wouldn't be able to last that long.

Not even knowing where I was going, I took off in a random direction, hoping I could get somewhere less intense. As I hurried by, I occasionally shoved and bumped into people, causing me to receive stares from unfamiliar faces. I hated all the attention. What if they could tell I was a murderer? What if I had killed their friends or family? Surely they'd all turn against me and beat me to death with their Solo party cups. I could kill a few people in self defense if I had to, but not all of them at once. Ugh, where the fuck was Frank?

Finally, I saw a sign of hope- a door. With any luck, it'd take me somewhere calmer where I could recover for a few minutes. Upon opening it, I discovered it was a bathroom, and I quickly slipped inside and closed the door. 

Finally, away from everyone, I leaned back against the wall and sighed, but soon realized I wasn't the only one in the room. To my right, the same guy with the big forehead from earlier was puking his brains out into the toilet. After flushing it, he turned and saw me, but only smiled joyfully in response. 

"Hey, you again! How are you enjoying the party?" He asked, trying to stand up without losing his balance. 

Taking a step back from him to avoid coming in contact with his beer-stained clothes, I replied, "It's... great".

"I know right?!" he enthused. "My name is Brendon by the way".

"I'm Gerard," I answered awkwardly. "Listen, have you seen a short, black-haired guy with tattoos all over him? I really need to find him".

Brendon thought about it for a moment, but eventually replied, "Oh yeah, I saw him somewhere... but that reminds me, I've gotta go find Ryan! I told him I'd grab us another round of drinks."

"Wait, really? Where was he?" I tried to ask.

"Just a sec! I have to go get our drinks!"

I was going to protest him consuming anymore alcohol, but in reality, I didn't give two shits about what happened to poor Brendon or his buddy Ryan. Especially since he was being of no help to me. In fact, as he stumbled out of the bathroom, I almost considered stabbing him in the back, but figured it wasn't worth it in the end. Besides, the original plan was to go for Bob, who I had also not seen any sign of at the party.

No one had texted about any sightings of him in our group chat, nor had Frank answered my desperate cries for help, so that meant I was going to have to venture out on my own again. It was either that or stay cooped up in a bathroom that stunk of Brendon's vomit. 

Gripping one of the knives I had stored in my jacket pocket for comfort, I braced myself for the wild energy of the party to surround me once again.