Page 8 of Fright Night
She’s not walking home, but heads in a different direction. One I haven’t stalked her to this week in the days I’ve been back, so I ensure to keep her in view. Eventually, she reaches a dead-end road attached to a large fenced-in park.
It’s there she crosses the leaf-covered ground to the two pumpkin stacks serving as the makeshift entrance to the Halloween festival.
So little Oakley’s running it this year.While I hate she’s not opening that event business she dreamed of, this outcome brings a smile to my face. It’s a big task and one she’ll undoubtedly succeed at.
Every year, City Hall puts on a Halloween festival on the thirtieth. It’s mainly for the kids and teens, to keep them occupied in the hours leading up to the actual holiday. It’s an all-evening thing that stretches right to dusk, involving themed activities, food galore, games, and other Halloween-related shit to entertain the young minds.
Oakley waves a greeting to the two staff setting up a sign that’ll soon rest atop the pumpkin columns. One stares a beattoo long for my liking as she passes, and my grip crushes the cigarette until it’s useless.
On the opposite side of the road, I stop and wait, propping myself against a pole while keeping my face shrouded by my hoodie. Presumably, she’ll be in there for a little while. I watch her go deeper into the festival’s set-up, mind whirling with a plan. A way to have a little fun with her.
She stops every so often to type something on her phone or talk to a worker. Each time she’s about to set off to her next task, her head lifts, scans the area, and then returns to work. More than once, she’s looked right at me, but never stops to realize the figment of her imagination is real.
That around Halloween, monsters come out to play.
FOUR
OAKLEY
He’s here.I know it. Ifeelit.
There hasn’t been a moment today where I haven’t been searching for him. Work was spent with me sitting on what felt like literal pins and needles, which has been very distracting, considering my never-ending list of tasks to do before the event in a couple days.
I’ve been just waiting for Knox to make an appearance.
He never did, leaving me at one point to rewatch the video, half convinced that my sleepy mind made the entire thing up.
What if it’s not him? What if he’s putting someone up to it, to torment me intobelievingit’s him?
That’d be exactly Knox’s level of assholery.
Dealing with Knox on top of Julian takes the fucking cake. An hour into work, I finally got around to reading Julian’s three texts, all sent around six a.m.
J
Where’s my money?
Tick tock, Oak, or else daddy and mommy will learn of your whoring ways…
Don’t forget, the 31st is approaching.
Like I could ever forget the second biggest mistake of my life. Second to ratting on Knox. Dating Julian at all, and ever getting on my knees for him—unaware at the time how a blowjob became ammo against me.
Our loathsome deal is for the final day of the month, which isn’t today, so once finished seething over the messages, I delete them. As I do every month, never wanting to see his name in my phone.
I leave work a bit earlier than normal to stop by the park and ensure set-up is going according to plan. The team’s been working hard, and vendors are using today to get their booths in place. Tomorrow morning, the food trucks will be setting up, and then it’s a matter of final checks.
Working at City Hall, even on the event planning team, wasn’t my life’s goals, but Henry insisted and got the job lined up for me. Once I passed the interview, it was mine.
That was over a year ago and I hate every second of it.
My dream was to go to school, to gain a bit of business know-how before opening an event planning business. So yes, I’m basically doing what I want, which has made the Halloween event—the biggest I’ve organized so far—super exciting, but I didn’t work for it. Being handed a job reminds me of Mom’s entire marriage to him. It’s like they’re using one another, and not working my way up the ranks doesn’t sit well with me.
But when I bring up going back to school while still keeping my role at City Hall, Mom brushes me off with a reminder of a shopping trip she insists I attend or Henry reminds me of the connections working alongside him can have.
Why I even bother anymore is beyond me.
Which reminds me of the breakfast I’m stuck attending tomorrow morning. Normally, it’s dinner and not so soon after recently seeing them, but with the upcoming holiday, Mom was insistent.
