Monsters

Prologue Two

"I guess I'm going as a pirate." Jack settled on bringing a pirate costume to the party the next night. And as soon as he settled on the idea, he heard the garage open and knew his mom was home from work. He glanced at the clock and saw two hours had passed since he had gotten home from school. He ran downstairs to see what his mom had brought home for dinner. Jack's mom was a nurse who worked at a nearby hospital. So she wasn't around much. His father wasn't around much either, his job kept him traveling almost constantly, so Jack usually only saw him around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and his birthday sometimes. "What's for dinner?" Jack asked as she walked through the front door with a bag of fast food which looked like chinese.

"Chinese tonight," She told him, placing it on the table and putting her keys on the counter, "Bailey! Hailey! Dinner!" The sisters trudged down the stairs and walked over to the table. They sat down without a word and started to eat dinner. "Why are you guys so quiet?" She asked, eating some rice.

"No reason." Bailey mumbled, eating an egg roll and staring at the table. Jack did the same and ate silently. Hoping that his mom wouldn't find out about the party, because he knew if she knew he would be grounded for some time, maybe even for life. They finished eating in a short amount of time and his mom had to head back to work in about an hour. So she decided for them to watch a movie together to pass the time as a family. To celebrate Halloween, they watched "Friday the 13th." After it was over, Jack was more than ready for the party. His mom headed back to work and he decided to get some rest. He got ready for bed and lied down, thinking about the party. As he thought of all of the possibilities, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

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The next day, Jack felt like time was crawling slower than a snail. But the time eventually came and he rushed upstairs to grab his costume and shove it into a bag. He went back downstairs with the bag tossed over his shoulder and looked at the clock. He saw it was 8:55 and he rushed out of the house. The sun was setting and he saw all of the little kids running around in costumes, trick or treating. So he put a bowl of candy on the porch and put a sign saying, 'Take One!' Even though he knew that they would take more than that. He walked down the street and saw the full moon rising above a small cloud. He sighed and let the breeze flow through his hair, and suddenly heard loud music coming from down the road. He followed the sounds and found the source. The house at the end of the road, in the back of the neighborhood. He saw a bunch of high schoolers walking into the house and hanging out in the yard. Some of them were wearing costumes, others weren't. He decided not to wear his costume to avoid any extra attention. He walked up to the front of the house and none of the high schoolers seemed to see him. Before he could walk through the front door, he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned to see Xavier in a vampire costume.

"Like it?" Xavier asked, smoothing out his cape.

"Are you trying to get us caught!?" Jack whispered harshly.

"What?" Xavier replied as Jack pulled him into the house and dragged him through the crowd of partying teenagers. He dragged him into the bathroom,

"Change. NOW." Jack demanded, shutting the bathroom door as he left. Xavier sighed and started to change. Jack walked back outside and saw Milly coming up to him.

"Hi Jack." She said to him. He nodded back at her, as his words got caught up in his throat, leaving him speechless. She stood next to him as they waited for their friends to start showing up. She glanced up at him and he side eyed her. Xavier walked out of the house with a red cup in his hand as he rested his arm on Jack's shoulder,

"Isn't this nice?" Xavier asked, taking a sip of whatever was in the cup.

"I mean..I guess," Jack replied, "but we're still waiting on everyone else."

As soon as Jack said that, Justin skipped up to them,

"Am I late?" He asked, stopping in front of them.

"Not yet," Jack said, "but Sam and Jordan are."

"I wonder why." Justin said sarcastically. Xavier shrugged and walked into the house with Justin next to him. Jack and Milly stood outside, watching the moon slowly rise.

"So Jack.." She said in a small voice, making Jack turn his head to look at her.

"What is it?" Jack asked, his curiosity peeking.

"You know that...I haven't been having the best of luck..in pretty much everything.." Milly said softly, her eyes turning glassy, "and..my family isn't doing too good either.." Jack knew exactly what she was talking about. Her mother was in the hospital after suffering some mysterious blunt trauma to her brain.

"I know Milly." Jack said gently, putting an arm around her shoulder. She continued to look down at the ground,

"I just wish I had something to distract from it all." She mumbled, not looking away from the grass. He suddenly had an idea,

"I think, I know what will." He told her. She tore her gaze away from the ground and looked into his eyes. She knew exactly what he was thinking,

"Not here." She whispered, looking back at her house a little ways up the road, thinking that she saw someone sitting on her front porch.

"Then where do we go? The woods?" He asked.

"Good idea." She replied, grabbing his arm and leading him off of the lawn and over to the side of the house that led down into the woods.

"I was joking."Jack tried to explain, but she was already taking him down the side of the house, as his bag slipped off of his arm, and into the dark forest...