Amson, 17, "Kiss of Death"

"What the hell have we done..." I muttered, struggling not to rip the hair clean from my head.

I hunched over at the kitchen counter, a small drink lying in front of me as I recounted all of the thing's I'd even done since I came to high school; it was next to nothing. I'd done nothing, made no new friends, and stayed to myself, so why... why was my house filled to the brim with strangers.

The sound of my thoughts was completely drowned out by the bouncing bass of the DJ's speakers, and I was sick to the stomach, still forcing myself to eat as everything around me was so loud and annoying. Pandemonium, the likes of which I could've never imagined, festered like insects around me, and every other second, I was thrust from the solace within my mind to the madness outside.

It'd all begun after just about an hour-- hour and a half of playing video games; Hordes of people flooded into our house at once before Lorelai'd even arrived on scene. In that moment, everything was taken from me. My friends, my belongings, and my will to live were consumed by the mass of bodies... I hoped they'd at least found refuge wherever they were.

Droves of people circled the couch, each waiting for their turn at the helm, while the stragglers had given up, leaving their brains to be rocked to rot by a million decibels of EDM music. Tyriq and Baun partied somewhere else, and Ty's friends, Ian, Bailey, and Dwight, scattered, the whereabouts of but one known to me.

At my side, keeping me company through the slow but sure descent of my mind, was Dwight, the polite, lanky guy who seemed to also be scared to join in on the fun. He seemed more comfortable when it was just the few of us, but who could blame him; I knew not a single soul within sight of where we sat.

"What's up?" He said, trying to outweigh the sound of the music. "Your name's Amson, right?"

"Yeah." I responded, finally lifting my head to look at him. "How do you and Ty know each other?"

"We've been friends for the longest, ever since elementary. I don't think I could say the same for Ian or Bail, though." He waved a chip in my direction. "What I'm curious about is you, man. You look shellshocked, dude."

"That's putting it lightly. I wasn't expecting it to be much more than us. I wasn't sure Ty would even show."

He finally ate the chip.

"You're right." He leaned back in the lifted chair. "Normally, it wouldn't be smart for Cayman dudes to show up to a Butcher party. There's beef between the schools for whatever reason."

He looked me in the eye, an indifferent look in his own.

"As for me, I couldn't give a shit." He chuckled a bit. "Ty said we could trust you, so that was enough for me."

That struck me. He was willing to risk something like that for me? I know we'd been friends since the beginning of high school, but to put so much faith in me...

To me, it still felt like we were strangers to one another.

"Still, Ty says you're a mystery." He tapped me on the shoulder, jolting me back to reality again. "And, from the looks of it, an astronaut too."

He laughed at his own joke.

"What's your deal?" He suddenly asked, stopping his laughter with a straight expression.

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure of how to respond.

He faced the back of his fist toward me, lifting a finger with each point.

"First, you pulled this party out of your ass, and second, Butcher kids're behaving themselves around you." He leaned toward me, trying to get a better look into my eyes. "I haven't sat a second here without eyes down my neck, or... were they looking at you?"

I didn't respond, only looking at him as he inspected the expression along my face. After a long staring contest, he stood up, leaving his seat to stand behind me. His voice was heard throughout my being.

"I know your kind, Mr. Grinner." He whispered. "Tread carefully, lest you fall into the shit you lay behind your every step."

He vanished within the crowd of people, and again, I sat there alone, same as I'd been left when the bulk of our party arrived. I need not turn around; I knew he was gone the instant his voice'd stopped.

'My kind, eh?' I sighed. 'Eyes like a hound...'

I finally found the will to tap the counter to the rhythm. It wasn't any kind of music I'd listen to on my own, but it sufficed to keep my mind focused. I couldn't just sit there and sulk for the duration of the party. If I was going to set an image-- not even that. If I was going to live a little, I might as well indulge. Had I remained there, nothing would have changed; I would have wallowed in my loneliness until the ceaseless noise died down.

Yet, I didn't want to. I didn't have the strength of body to throw myself into the crowd.

'I'll think it over in my room.' I settled. 'That'd help me sort out the things within my mind.'

I started to stand, but as I raised, I was pressed back into the seat by some outside force. The object, molding the feeling of two hands upon my shoulders, restrained me, peering at my side as I searched for them, stunned.

"Where do you think you're going?" A familiar voice called my head to the opposite direction it was facing. "The party hasn't even started."

A woman, her face dainty yet crude all the same, stared into my soul with her black and white eyes, a white ring outlining the middle of her jet-black iris. Her hair was white with black chunks within itself, and by her expression, I could tell she was wild, ready to join the party herself. She looked and dressed like a Dalmatian, as she always did. Nothing suited her better.

"About damn time, Lore." I grumbled. "What the hell took you so long?"

She got close to my face, invading my personal space like no one else could. I winced a bit, still uncertain of the proximity.

"I..." She rummaged through a bag at her waist. "...Was just bringing in the life of this party."

She dug for a while, to no avail. I could tell she got more irritated by the second. Eventually, her annoyance exploded, drowning out even the sound of the DJ booth.

"Will you shut that ass off?!" She yelled. "The hell'd I pay you for?!"

The DJ shut the music off immediately, and in an instant, we sat directly within the epicenter of all attention. She continued to search through the gargantuan bag at her hip, likely carrying a lot more than what she was looking for. I was a bit curious, but at the same time, I was uneasy.

She grabbed hold of something, and as she pulled it out, she yelled to the crowd.

"Today, we turn you baby-cake bitches into adults!" She held a giant glass of liquor, brandishing it to the crowd. "Tonight, ya'll are going through my liver-fucking gauntlet!"