Love is a joke

Chapter 1: Maggie Lacroix

(All artwork drawn and coloured by Paranosomnico.)

It all started with the dream...

It began with Maggie standing on stage in a sold out concert hall of some kind. Maggie didn't know why she was here, what she was supposed to do, what the people had come to see, heck, she couldn't even see their faces. They were all just darkish smears beneath the spot lights.

What was she supposed to do? Her mind started racing, desperate to try and remember her lines, or her dance steps, but nothing was coming.

Frantically she'd look around for some kind of clue but there was nothing. The stage was empty except for her and she was supposed to be doing something. But what?

"Get on with it!" Cried a voice, either from the audience or behind the curtain she couldn't tell which. But nothing helped.  The spotlights burned like a flaming pyre and the silence was soul crushing. Maggie wanted to flee, but there was nowhere for her to go. She couldn't leave the stage till she did her performance but she couldn't remember her lines.

And then...she appeared. 

The girl with the chestnut brown hair and braces. She'd come onto the stage in the mime outfit Maggie recognized so well and begin performing for the crowd. 

The crowd would laugh.

Maggie would laugh.

And then the scene would suddenly switch and it would be an old fashioned type of play. Maggie and the mime would be sitting at a table talking in old fashioned English. The brown haired girls outfit would change into a period dress with big thick glasses. 

Maggie would never be able to remember what they were talking about, all she could remember is the last line.

The girl would say, "Truly Magdela, I cannot marry him."

Maggie would then say, "Prithee, why not? He is a worthy gentlemen?"

And the girl would stand up and dramatically proclaim, "A worthy gentleman he is. Handsome, honourable and kind. But I already love another and I know not what to do!"

to which Maggie responded. "Pray tell. Who is it that has captured your heart?"

And the girl would take Maggies hands and stare deep into her eyes. Maggies pulse would flutter. Their lips would touch and just as the crowd would roar...

And Maggie woke up violently in her bed and yelled, "WHOA!!!!!!!!.....What the fu-?"

That's how Maggie Lacroix first learned of her sexuality.

.............................................................................................................................................

The girl with the brown hair was named Luan Loud.  Maggie first met her on June 21st, which was Maggie's thirteenth birthday.

Maggie, by nature, was a very sulky child. There weren't very many things in life she found pleasant. All of the popular musicians were sellouts. All the movies that came out were terrible. The news was filled with misery and sadness and junior high was full of phoneys, liars, bullies and cheats.

Some said Maggie was going through a phase. Others said she was just lashing out because of the trouble at home.

Either way, Maggie had become what is known as "Emo".

And there she was. Her jet black hair, pale skin, blue T-shirt, dark eye shadow and steel toed boots. Standing in the backyard of her house with all of her friends from school, where her mom had prepared...sigh....a piñata....pin the tail on the donkey (what?) and birthday ca....well actually the birthday cake was alright. Maggie still liked birthday cake, but it felt weird for her to like anything so she pretended to hate it.