It Could Get Worse

“Its fine. Personally, I think having two parents is a little overkill. I mean really, who needs both? We all pick a favorite anyway, right? ” I think about it for a second.

”Yeah, I think thats true. ”

”Mona! ” Charlie calls me from the doorway of the game room. I take a big drink and head over telling Oliver Id be back in a second.

”What? ”

”Why are you giving me attitude? ”

”Sure, Im the one giving you attitude. ”

”Don act sour just because I call you out on your shit. ” I take a drink to stop myself from yelling in front of all these people.

”Don act jealous just because you
e insecure. ” He stops smiling and clenches his jaw.

”Im not the one inviting another guy to our date. ”

”Date? You asked me to leave you alone in the first 10 minutes. Also, you didn plan this. Your friends happened to invite you to a party, so you invited me. Thats not a date. Thats circumstance. I thought maybe it was a surprise for me, but as soon as you picked me up, I realized it wasn . If it were a date, you wouldve been on my team, or not be acting like a jerk. ”

”I saw you and Phil talking when he came in. You seemed pretty excited to talk to him. ”

”Is that what you think excited looks like? ” I let out a deep laugh. ”Damn, if thats what you think a woman looks like when shes excited; you must be awful in bed. Your friend is gross. ”

”They say people insult others when they
e attracted to them. ” The pure, hot desire to knock him rushes me. I throw back the rest of my drink, crumple my cup, and throw it in his face.

”Then I guess Im really attracted to you, huh? Did you call me over here just to be an asshole or did you actually have something to say? ”

”We
e going to go upstairs in a bit to smoke. Ill come grab you in thirty. ”

”I don smoke. ”

”Then you can sit there. ” He gets in my face to say. He backs up and goes back into the game room. The guys all turn as soon as he enters the room as if they were waiting for him. Phil looks past Charlie and makes eye contact with me. He puckers his lips and sends a kiss in my direction. He turns and starts laughing with the group as if he didn miss a thing. I make my way back to Oliver and we go to the back yard.

”Sorry it was getting kind of stuffy in there. ”

”Did you want me to drive you back home tonight? You don seem to be getting along with your ride. ”

”You saw that? ”

”You did throw trash in his face. ” I laugh.

”Yeah, hes got something up his ass. Normally, hes not that bad. ”

”You know there are people who aren assholes. ”

”Not any that I know. ” I take a cigarette out of my pocket and light it.

”You smoke? ”

”Nah, I quit. ”

”When? Tomorrow? ” I laugh and take in a deep breath of air.

”I go back and forth. Depends on my nerves. ” The grass waves in the slight night wind. I look over to their small pool. It has little leaf corpses floating all over it. They look as if they
e holding hands.

”Hey, you, okay? ”

”Yeah, just a little tired. ” I throw my cigarette on the concrete. ”Lets go back inside. ” When we walk inside theres a group of people starting to dance. ”Uh oh, the drunk girls are starting to dance. Watch your toes kitty. ” He bumps my arm and I giggle. Someone grabs my left hand.

”Dance with me honey! ” A busty dark-haired girl insists. I let her hold my hands and wiggle around. I give her a little bit of movement. After about ten minutes she realizes Im not on the same wavelength as her and leaves.

”Can believe you actually danced with her. ”

”You don tell a drunk girl that she has to dance alone. Its suicide. ” Somebody turns the lights to dim and flips on the disco lights. I turn away my face. The lights are so bright they sting my eyes. When I finally look back up from the ground, theyve also turned on the strobe lights.

I lean into Oliver a little bit to keep my balance. The strobe lights make the floor look like its moving. Normally, people look slower in them, but I swear its speeding everyone up. The disco lights and the strobe lights look as if they
e fighting on the dance floor. ”Here. ” Somebody hands me a cookie and goes on to the dance floor.

”Here. ” I hand it to Oliver. ”I don take presents from people I don know. ” He sets it down on the table next to him. I feel a little tingle in my toes. I start wiggling my feet trying to keep them awake. More people start to run over to the dance floor. It reminds me of a pack of hungry dogs. ”What time is it? ”

”Its 11:20. ”

”I got it right on time this year. ” I whisper to myself. The floor swirls beneath the people dancing. There are little shapes on the carpet. When the lights flash over them the shapes pop out.

”Got what? ”

”My birthday. I was born at 11:20. My mom says thats why she named me Mona, because when I was conceived it was 11:20. She picked Mona because; thats the only good thing that came from you. ” I try and mimic my mothers voice. It almost sounds like shes talking through me. I laugh but I can tell if its funny or scary. I grab on to Olivers elbow when people start to pair up. Their bodies start to mush together as they grab each other. People start pairing up and as soon as they grab hands, they
e one. Its like globs of people.

”Its your birthday? ”

”Yeah. Normally, I go to the cemetery. ”

”On your birthday? ”

”Well yeah, 11:20 is a particularly important time in my family. Wow! ” I look up into Olivers eyes and squeeze his arm tighter. ”Its been 10 years down to the second. ” Suddenly, its as if Im him and hes me. This was the exact moment.

”Mona are you okay? ”

”Names Bill. ” I whisper and then start laughing.

”Hey babe. ” I look over to the tall body on my left.

”The **. ” He looks like a mix of slender man and salad fingers.

”Come on we
e gonna go smoke. We
e you headed home cat? ” The nasty tall boy grabs me away from the cat boy.

”I mean I was seeing if Mona wanted a ride home. ” They both look at me.

”I don have a home. ” I blurt out and then start laughing.

”I think shes had a little too much to drink. I don want to bring her home like this. You can head home if you want. Ill take care of her from here on out. ” He starts leading me toward the people globs.

”Ew no, not by them. ” I whimper and try to get out of nasty mans hands. I look back to my cat, and hes gone. He must have gone back to being a cat. ”I want to sit and mourn. ” I whisper.

”Mona stop acting like a spaz, come on. ”

”Charlie? ” I whip my head over to nasty man. He brings me over to the stairs, but I can go up them. They start to shift back and forth and its hard to look at them. The shaking thats accommodating them makes my head start to spin. I feel my hand touch the wall and try to sit down.

”Mona, knock it off. ” I try to mumble okay. I grip the railing and close my eyes as I stumble up the stairs. With my eyes closed I feel like Im just floating. Thats much better than going up the stairs. I open my eyes when I hear a door shut. I open my eyes to my feet, but they
e not on the stairs or floating. I look up and see a group of guys. In the middle of the circle is weed. Charlie lets go of my arm and goes over to the group. My feet don float once he lets go and I stumble. I fall onto a bean bag on the ground.

The crunch the beans make sound like little bugs. I make some sort of sound and start trying to roll out of it. An arm helps lift me up. When I get up my head is so heavy. I lay it on their chest. ”Aw, you did miss me. ” Even in the fog I recognize his nasty voice.

”You wish pervert. ” I rip myself away from him. Luckily, Im close to a wall and catch myself on it. My head starts to spin, and the floor won stay still. ”Wheres Charlie? ” I whisper as loud as I can. I see a sliver of light and look toward it. Charlie stands with the door open. ”Oh good. Help. ” Is as much as I can get out with my hand slightly raised.

My hand remains empty, so I look up. Charlie shakes his head. He throws a piece of paper onto the floor and leaves. I look down and see the bright flyer with Leo and me. I start to notice my surroundings. Phil stands behind me waiting for whatever I decide to do. The group of guys are still smoking but are all faced toward me now. Lee and Phils followers are all there. The ones I noticed looking at me when they came in now smile at me.

The sudden urgency to run away hits me like a freight train. I try to run to the door, but my legs collapse. Phil slowly walks over to me. He looms over top of me like the grim reaper. ”You know Charlies not a bad guy, but he doesn take deceit well. ” I feel tingles start to run up my body. My feet were the first to go numb while I was floating upstairs. Now, its making its way into my stomach. My chest is rising so fast I start to worry that it might pop.

Phil makes his move and starts to straddle me. I grip the pocket on my jacket as hard as I can. When he reaches down to my shoulder, I swing up at him. My body is going to sleep, but it hasn reached my arms yet. I slash his face from his cheek down to his chin. Like I said, I always have a knife under my pillow. He stumbles back onto his ass. He sounds to be in less pain than I would hope. I try to get on to my stomach since I can still use my arms. Somebody runs over to the door to block it. I see the blood all over my hands. There are streaks of it on the floor from my jacket smearing it.

I get the feeling that Ill have to cut my way out when a hand grips the back of my hair. I wince and look over to the tattooed arm holding on to me. The scream that comes out of my lungs surprises me as well as everyone else. I start to cry, ”Leo no. ” I try to push his arm away from me, but he just grips harder. Somebody else grabs my hair and turns me over. Phil looks down at me, fire in his eyes. Blood runs down his neck.

I stop crying and sigh. ”Glad to see you. ”

”Crazy bitch. ”

”You think your scary you bitch? Try being beaten by a gang leader thats 66 ”. Thats scary. ”

”Hold her mouth. ” The tattooed arm grabs my mouth, but not before I get out another scream. It gets cut short, but I keep trying. I start to swing my knife before someone pins my hand to the ground with their foot. When I try to pull my hand out, they push down. I look up to Phil, and I can hardly make out his features anymore. I see his smile and the blood dripping down his neck. The rest of him is turning into one of the blobs from downstairs. Im suddenly struck with the fear that the tingles are in my elbows now. One more. Just one more.

I quickly flip the knife and stab it into the side of the tennis shoe on my hand. He steps back, but I can hardly see it. I use the last of my hand strength to push at Phil, but the tingles move up my fingers. Im losing his smile as well. All I can see is the blood and his hands on the waste of my jeans.

I guess this is it; I can feel my stomach turning. My eyes are closing, and my brain is becoming fog. Im aware that Im gonna pass out, but I can access how to feel about any of it.

I see a crack of light, and then it gets bigger. ”Dad. ” I whisper and try to reach my hand to the light. The weight on top of me gets off. The light keeps being interrupted, but there are still slivers here and there. I feel something slide underneath me, and the floating is back. They take me toward the light. I look next to me but am surprised not to see my dad. I try to struggle and get away from the stranger.

Im able to get the tingles out for a split second of adrenaline and grab their hair. I feel the soft little ears and lean into them. ”You turned back. ” I whisper with a few tears. I knew he wouldn go back to being a cat yet. I feel the cold hit my face. I feel a rush of calm across my body.

”Can…stand? ” Kitties voice comes in and out. I try to talk like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Thats kind of what it sounds like. I feel the cold metal and lean on it. The floor threatens to pull itself out from underneath me.

The next thing I know Im laying in the back seat. I move my fingers and find there are extra fingers gripped in my hand. The extra fingers are soft. The biggest one rubs my hand once I start to wiggle some of my fingers. Lights flash past us one after another. I try to watch them, call to them, but they
e moving too fast. My head starts to spin watching them, and I don think I want to throw up yet. I lay my head back down.

The floor is so cold, tile at night is always freezing. My stomach feels on fire. I breath out the fire. The soft hands brush my cheek as they hold my bundled-up hair. The washcloth is so rough. I try to turn away from it, but then the warm water on it touches my face. I lean into the warmth. I try to look up to the soft hands, but all I can make out is little black points. ”Kitty. ” I giggle and lay down on their lap.

”Mona? Y… okay? ” I grab a hold of the hand by my face. Sleeping here would be nice.

Such soft blankets. I try to crawl inside of the threads of the blankets. I want to absorb all the warmth they have. I feel the weight of my cat next to me. I pet it for being such a good pet. Most cats just leave you when you
e struggling. Not this cat. This one is special.

When my eyes start to close, I see a little light. Theres a little orange light in my cats hands. He puts it by me. I follow it and fall asleep waiting for dad to come wish me a Happy Birthday.