Whispers In The Dark

Reximus

Reximus

The New Year’s party was Victoria’s idea, as usual.

It was at Riley’s house. Why? Victoria’s parents were fighting. My dad would not make good party material. Anna lived in a two-family-house, and her downstairs neighbor was a middle-aged woman whose crankiness never ceased. Jessiah had two little brothers, both likely to be nuisances. Robin’s sister was having her boyfriend over and he explained that he had already made Christmas awful, he didn’t want to do the same on New Year’s. Riley’s house seemed to be the only plausible choice.

Jessiah, Anna, Victoria, and I showed up together. Robin said he would drive himself.

We were early. Riley answered the door and put a finger to her lips.

“Sorry,” she whispered. She pointed up the staircase, where another voice could be heard. “My dad’s been on the phone for over an hour. He’ll be gone soon, though. I promise.”

She was right. At eight o’ clock, her dad kissed her on the cheek and shuffled out the door with a small wave to us. He didn’t seem too worried about his seventeen-year-old daughter having five people, three of them guys, spend the night.

Until Robin showed up at nine, we mostly just lounged around her living room. Victoria tried her best to get popcorn into my mouth, though neither of us were very good at it. Anna, Jessiah, and Riley watched reruns of Spongebob, oddly enough.

Finally, Victoria blurted, “Let’s explore.”

Riley cocked her head and flipped off the TV. “What?”

Victoria jumped up. “Do you have a basement?” At Riley’s nod, she asked, “Can we explore it or something?”

Riley shook her head. “My dad keeps his work stuff down there.”

Victoria tucked her hair behind her ears. “What about an attic?”

Riley nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t really go up there anymore… There’s probably a gazillion spiders and crap.”

Victoria shuddered. “That’s why we have Jessiah.” She grinned and patted Jessiah on the shoulder. “Let’s go!”

There were spiders. From the moment Riley pulled down the folding staircase, all that was visible were spider webs. Victoria screamed and hid behind me.

Riley shrugged. “I told you we don’t go up there.”

After Jessiah knocked down all the webs with a broom and Victoria was armed with a full can of air freshener, we climbed the creaking stairs.

Victoria was immediately drawn to a series of old chests and a rack of clothes in bags. Anna and Jessiah went with her. I surprised myself by following Riley to a pile of photo albums.

She handed me one, and then took one for herself.

I think that if Riley really knew what photo album she was handing me, she wouldn’t have done it. I could see that the pictures in her book were in black and white and sepia, some torn, but all obviously decades old. The book in my hands, however, were all in color and seemed to go throughout the last seventeen years. Even odder, was that in almost every picture, there was a boy aging the same as Riley.

The pictures went from potty training to first day of freshman year before stopping. I couldn’t hold back my curiosity any longer.

“Riley, who’s this?”

She looked at the picture from freshman year; Riley, with a metal retainer and a smile brighter than I had ever seen her wear, and the mystery boy, with brown hair, hazel eyes, a slight height advantage over her, and a smile that mirrored hers.

Her face resembled a deer caught in headlights. “He’s, uh,” She cleared her throat and did her best to compose herself. “That’s my brother.”

“Where is he now?”

The words seemed to punch her in the ribs. “He died,” she choked.

My eyes widened. “I’m sorry.” I looked back to the picture and let out a shaky breath. “You guys look so alike.”

“Fraternal twins,” she explained. Her hands quivered as she took the photo album back and piled it under the one that she had been holding.

“Are you o--”

Victoria cut me off. “How do I look?”

Riley and I turned our heads toward her. Victoria had pulled an oversized suit on over her clothes, along with a dusty brown fedora. She tipped her hat toward us. “Good evening, sir and madam.”

Riley rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. I jumped up and laughed.

Victoria shed the suit and fedora and threw them at me. I caught them as they slammed into my chest.

When I just stared at her puzzled, she said, “Put them on!”

I didn’t even bother protesting. I put them on over my clothes as Victoria proceeded to pass Anna, Jessiah, and Riley outfits. They also knew better than to protest.

In the end, Jessiah and I were in oversized suits and fedoras, and Victoria, Anna, and Riley were in dresses. Victoria and Anna were in pink bridesmaids dresses that cut off just above their knees and covered their shoulders in lace, while Riley was in a flowing white dress that brushed against the floor.

“I can’t believe my dad kept this,” Riley murmured in awe, running her fingers over the flawless white fabric.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

“I got it!” Victoria screamed. She grabbed another suit and fedora and raced treacherously down the quivering staircase. We followed, though our footsteps were much more cautious and slow.

“Put this on!” she screamed at Robin.

He stared at her with wide eyes from the front porch, backpack and gift bags in his hands. “What,” he deadpanned

It only took a few minutes, but soon we were all dressed up and the coffee table in the living room was brimming with gift bags and a few wrapped presents.

There were a lot of excited hugs, and a few awkward ones, as we opened presents. I received a short-sleeved button down shirt from Victoria, a book with flowers on the cover from Riley, cologne from Jessiah, a wrist watch from Anna, and an unmarked CD from Robin.

He rubbed his neck as he explained. “It’s just a bunch of songs that I thought you might, uh, like.”

I had to admit, the night was eventful and exciting, but my favorite part was definitely when the ball dropped.

The ball dropped and Victoria started screaming, “I’m gonna be seventeen this year!”

I was laughing and holding onto the couch for support because damn, another year.

Robin grabbed my shoulders and crashed his lips to mine. It took me a few seconds to break through the barrier of shock clouding my mind, but when I did, I kissed him back as hard as I could without cutting into either of our lips with my teeth.

Victoria’s screams intensified and Jessiah was kissing Anna so hard I feared for their oxygen levels. Riley was laughing and crying and jumping around with Victoria. We were all in shock, but it was all lost in clashing teeth and swollen lips.

“Screw this!” Victoria yelled, and when I opened my eyes, she was kissing Riley’s cheek. Even though it was just a peck, it sent us all into fits of laughter.

I made it. We made it. It was officially 2014, and we made it.