SHTM; ParaMollNan

The After Hours

I tried to decompress in the bathroom- I could immediately tell that this WASN'T my day... I splashed water onto my face caked with dried soil and stared down as the brown mush went into the sink. When I had finally gotten rid of every little speck of dirt on my face, I immediately took some recreation time to decompress. I inhaled and exhaled. Then, I muttered under my breath;

"I hate Aggison Pranderghast..." and THIS WAS true.

School was a living hell. I dread going to it almost every day, but it's the only way to get my mind off of a traumatic event that happened when I was little, but I won't tell you what it is until later on in my story. Sure, High School gives you freedom in the courses you take, as well as being mature about your food choices (they have snack bars and cafes), but I refuse to eat from them because I just want to get in, learn, and get out. And Aggison bullying me in the halls, along with insulting Gale's reputation/family name was way too much...Well, at least my work wasn't a hell like school.

Just like my ancestor, Amelia Wilcott, I too am a custodian at a garden... Okay, maybe it isn't REALLY a garden, but it's similar. It's a greenhouse for plants, don't judge me. Every 2 days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) after school, I get to forget all about my worries at that hellhole and go into my happy place- sort of. I walk down the street with my little pink sack of gardening supplies to Ms. Scott's Greenhouse, which, like the name suggests, is a greenhouse for plants and flowers. I am a custodian there, usually in charge of cutting the elongated roots of unruly plants and cleaning the place from floor to window to make the place look presentable and clean for customers coming in. Today WASN'T my day there as well.. An alive Venus Flytrap plant almost tried to eat me.

After my shift was done, I got into the car that Aggison bullied Gale for- a small blueish-grey van- and sat down. As I had plopped down into my seat, Gale smirked. "You're late... Again.."

I told her that today OBVIOUSLY hasn't "been my day", starting off with Aggison Pranderghast bullying and humiliating me at school, and then during my shift, a Venus Flytrap plant almost tried to kill me. Gale looked like she was on the verge of bursting out into laughter. "Alive Venus Flytrap plants? This isn't Little Shop of Horrors... You're losing it, Addie..." Sighing, I leaned my head onto the car window on my side. "I've already lost it..." I said. Gale's expression seemed to look like she was thinking. She then smiled at me. "Well, since you had a bad day, how about a sub at Kwik-E's, would that cheer you up?" For the first time in a long time, I grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah!" I answered with no hesitation. Gale turned back to her steering wheel. "Well, I guess that means I have swerve my car into the other direction..." She gripped her hands tightly onto her wheel, her face filled with determination. "Hold onto your hats folks, this is gonna be a looong ride..." And with that, her steel toed boot pumped the brakes that drove us on our ways to the Kwik-E's convenience store as "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees blasted loudly inside of her minty-green van.

The song had ended once we had reached into the parking lot. Gale got out first, then me. As the doors slided open, Gale looked optimistic. "See, suffering through school was worth it for this, eh Addie?" I didn't feel like answering, but I sighed and shrugged. "I guess", I mumbled. Suddenly, Gale stopped walking in her tracks. Across from us, there was a boy about our age. He had tan skin, brown eyes, freckles and curly dark brown hair that was held up with an athletic headband. He wore a jersey that was green and orange- half of his attire was that color palette. On the back of the jersey, there was the face of a zombie and words that read; " ParaNorman; est 2012". One thing I should note is me and Gale are avid horror film watchers. Whether it's John Carpenter's "Halloween", "Beetlejuice" or anything that includes a spook, monster or ghost, we are all in. My jaw dropped as I saw the words on the jersey; we were forced to watch ParaNorman to learn the history of the Pranderghast Massacre- a horrific event that happened in 1692- when a little girl by the name of Agatha Pranderghast was accused of witchcraft by 7 people- 5 men, 2 women (the women being Gale and I's ancestors), later placing a curse on them. After a couple of years, they had been dropping like flies- falling dead mysteriously. That's why it's called a massacre- many people died, be we are unsure of what caused it. I grew to have loved the film because of it's humor- as well as it's usage of zombies. Me and Gale LOVE zombies. It was refreshing to see a zombie movie without them eating brains- just roaming the Earth without a purpose. Modern zombie movies are overrated to me and Gale. Sure, "Night of The Living Dead" is freaky even for it's time, but Paranorman is a modern approach to these misunderstood rotting corpses.