Halloween Mystery

Wyatt

Wyatt watched El as she stared out the window. She looked so cute in her gray beanie, camp t-shirt, and ripped jeans. If only she would notice how much Wyatt cared for her. Looking at the t-shirt reminded him of how they first met.

It had been this past summer. They had both went to Great Woods Music Camp. Wyatt loved music and was fairly good at singing but was more-so interested in the technical aspect. He wanted to learn how to adjust the sound and the microphones, control the lights, and edit audio recordings. He was a total computer geek and wanted to figure out how that stuff worked. Secretly, part of Wyatt wanted to sing and play guitar in front of a huge crowd. He had written a couple songs and was quite proud of them but performing was not something he would ever be brave enough to do. Getting the confidence to speak, even to his friends, was hard enough.

On his first day there, a camp counselor showed him around everything. Five or so people to each cabin. Boys and girls stayed on opposite sides of camp. There was a huge firepit in the middle where they would meet each night to take a rest, eat dinner, roast some marshmallows, and sing stupid campfire songs. One building was bigger than the rest. It held a couple recording rooms where some of the campers would have a chance to run a radio show for that week. They could do talk shows, singing, interviews, whatever they wanted. The important thing was having fun while learning about the technical and musical aspects of having these types of careers. There was also a huge auditorium in the building with a stage and spotlights. This was where Wyatt would spend a lot of his time backstage. At the end of week, the participants would put on a concert for their families and he, along with a couple other kids, had to make sure everything ran smoothly.

The next day it was time to get to work. Wyatt was in his spot behind the curtains, in charge of the control panel. To be honest, he was terrified. That morning Wyatt had gotten a quick run-through of what switch did what, and now he wasn't so sure he could remember for the concert auditions.

"Mic, lights, then signal the curtains. Mic, lights, then signal the curtains," he kept repeating over and over under his breath.

By the time El came onto the stage, it was night. About a hundred auditions had been done throughout the day and Wyatt was beat. He went through the motions he had worried about so much earlier as if they were second nature to him. Then he looked up and saw El.

She walked onto the stage confidently, but not with an air that she was the best. Deep down, El was scared to death, but whenever she got nervous, she made herself look even more confident. As the music began to play, she tapped her foot to the beat. It was almost time for El to begin singing. She took a deep breath and let the words flow out.

The judges sitting in chairs offstage were wowed by her performance. El sang each note with ease and strength that the judges had not seen in a long time.

Almost absentmindedly, she began twirling across the stage. Her eyes were closed as she sang to her heart's content. Finally, the song closed and El sang the last note beautifully and bowed.

Applause burst out from backstage. Wyatt glowed red and stopped clapping as everyone's eyes turned to him.

"Oh, um...I'm sorry... I was, um...That was great," he said sheepishly.

El looked at him and turned back to the judges.

"You can go. Results will be posted tomorrow," one of the judges replied to her staring them down and nodded toward the side of the stage.

El walked toward Wyatt. Wyatt freaked out as a million worries rushed through his head. How would he talk to her? What would he talk about? Should he just run away now?

Before Wyatt decided what to do, El started a conversation, "Thanks for the compliment. What's your name?"

Wyatt stuttered in his raspy voice, "I-I'm Wy-yatt. Wh-what about y-you?"

"Ella, but I go by El," she smiled warmly, "You don't have to be scared of me, you know. I don't bite."

Wyatt laughed despite his fear, "Sorry, I'm not really g-good talking t-to people."

"No problem. Wanna join me down at the campfire? Or are you scared I might secretly be an assassin waiting to be alone with you," she replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I think I can take care of myself, even if you are an assassin," he replied, slowly becoming more comfortable with talking to El.

They had walked off the stage and through the large double doors leading outside.

Sometimes Wyatt wished he had more time to be with her alone. She was the only one who made him feel somewhat a part of the group. Other than that, Wyatt felt somehow disconnected with them. He wanted to be able to express himself and talk to the others like everyone else so easily did, but he could never find the words. That was why Wyatt preferred writing stories and songs. Then he could look back on them and fix his errors. Wyatt could look up the best words to explain what he was trying to communicate. But talking didn't allow him to do that.

The only one Wyatt had ever shown his stories to was El. Wyatt was closer to El than anyone else, but El never felt the same way. She thought of Wyatt as a little brother that she looked after and made sure wasn't ignored. Annie was her bestie. They would talk for hours on end about stupid girl stuff. Once they got tired of that, Annie would act out scenes from the latest play she was doing, with El giving critique. Then El would play her newest songs on her guitar while singing and Annie would applaud her greatness. Annie was El's other half.