Marshall would’ve barreled right into Krish Balwani if he hadn’t looked up at the last second. He just managed to divert his course and came to a stop three inches shy of the older boy, letting out an unmasculine shriek in the process. Krish, who’d been leaning against a pine tree smoking, was currently laughing hysterically. Marshall sniffed the air around him and confirmed it wasn’t tobacco.
“Dude, you gotta watch where you’re fucking going.” He was wearing one of those tank tops with arm holes all the way to the bottom. The edges of his abs were visible. “You dart around like a fucking bat.” The tall boy smirked at him. “A fruit bat.”
“Uh…whatever. Sorry.”
This was a chronic issue for Marshall. It wasn’t his fault, really; he’d been moving through the same boring scenes of suburban Raleigh for too long. It all might as well have been an empty white hallway at this point. The world in his head was much more dynamic and vibrant.
Marshall made to start moving again, but Krish reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder with the joint-free hand. It was strong and knobby. Marshall could feel the body heat through his t-shirt.
“Why you out here, batboy?” The older boy looked down at him and took another drag of his joint. He exhaled right into Marshall’s face. He let out a small cough.
“Here” was the wide corridor of woods that separated the back of Krish’s subdivision from Marshall’s.
“Just going home.”
“Did you walk all the way from school? Freak.”
“I took the bus. This is like a shortcut.” This wasn’t true. The school bus let off at Krish’s subdivision first. It took an extra fifteen minutes, but he’d rather walk through the woods than sit through two more traffic lights of kids shouting various racial and gay slurs at each other.
“Mmm.” He was still holding Marshall’s shoulder. “You can get your license in February, right?”
“I guess. Daniel’s never gonna let me borrow the GTO, though.”
“Yeah, no shit. You’ll definitely wreck it, Marshmallow.” His smile was friendlier than when Daniel was around. That could just be the pot, though.
Krish and Daniel had been best friends since sixth grade, when Marshall’s family moved down from Baltimore. They’d bonded over Krish’s N64 and making fun of Marshall.
Marshall rolled his eyes and made to pull away, but Krish reasserted his grip. He was about to say something else, but then he stopped himself and immediately stubbed out his joint. Both boys looked to their right. They’d heard pinestraw crunching, but it’d stopped after a few steps. They waited a few more seconds and still didn’t hear anything else.
“Somebody’s dog, probably,” Marshall offered.
“Yeah, probably.” Krish was still looking in the direction of the noise.
“OK, well, bye.” Marshall finally got Krish to release him and started walking away. He was starting to feel a little funny – probably from the smoke Krish’d blown in his face.
“Happy Halloween, Marshmallow!” Krish called after him. Marshall raised his middle finger without looking back.
He’d made it well out of Krish’s line of sight when the crunching sound knocked him out of his thoughts. He wasn’t sure how long it’d been there before he registered it. It sounded like it was coming from behind him, but it stopped when he turned around to look. He figured it was Krish following him, but he didn’t see anybody.
He shrugged and started walking again but paused after a couple steps when he heard the crunching again. It stopped when he stopped. He’d decided it was just the echo of his own footsteps when he heard it again.
He wasn’t sure why he darted into a large clot of kudzu on an old power line. It was broad daylight, and kids hung out in these woods all the time. He still wasn’t completely convinced that Krish wasn’t just fucking with him. But he had goosebumps, and he didn’t move from his hiding spot. Maybe the pot was making him paranoid. He’d only ever smoked one other time, and he’d had to fight the urge to excuse himself and hide under Tara Postaki’s bed. He’d wished he’d followed the instinct when Tara tried to make out with him midway through Big Fish.
Peering through a gap in the leaves, he didn’t see anything for a good minute or so. He suddenly felt silly and was about to get out when he saw it. The figure was wearing black heels and a black cocktail dress with a Tarheels jersey draped over it. She wouldn’t be out of place at a tailgate if it weren’t for the mask: some kind of animal skull – a moose, maybe? But without the antlers. Or like a walrus without the tusks. It was the sloppiest, most nonsensical halloween costume Marshall had ever seen.
The figure strode slowly – almost marching – past his hiding spot. It was bizarre to watch someone advance through the woods in heels. The soft ground didn’t seem to be giving her any trouble, but still. She was clearly too old to be trick-or-treating, and it was way too early for any parties. Marshall concluded that she’d pregamed a little too hard.
He waited until she was completely out of sight before exiting the kudzu. (He didn’t like talking to people at baseline – a drunken UNC alum would be torture). He dusted off the dirt and dead leaves as he made his way out of the woods.
Marshall almost punted the jack-o-lantern into the front door on his way into the house. He imagined the carved grin turning into a wounded pout. He really needed to pay more attention to his surroundings.
The family’d gotten it from a pumpkin patch over the weekend. His mom had insisted they all go. When he’d asked why, she’d just said “It’s tradition”, even though they’d never been to one before. And so all four of them – his dad actually joined them – had gone on a hay ride and drank watery apple cider in tasteful fall cardigans in 88-degree heat. His parents not fighting the entire time somehow made it more tense. His mom worried over the giant pumpkin selection for 45 minutes while his dad stared at his blackberry and nodded every few minutes. Daniel and Marshall kept looking at each other like they wanted to make sure somebody else was trapped in the same nightmare. It was the closest Marshall had felt to his brother in a long time.
The weather was a little cooler today – low 80s; it would be nice out by the time trick-or-treating started. Marshall hadn’t gone trick-or-treating since he was seven, but he liked to walk around the neighborhood and see everybody out in their costumes. It was one of the rare occasions when the outer world was novel enough to pay attention.
The news was on silent in the empty living room. He watched it for a moment and discerned they were talking about a bomb scare at a high school in Holly Springs. They showed a picture of a kid in a long-ish peacoat being released from jail. Marshall’s best guess was that some idiot had decided it looked too much like a trench coat. Poor guy.
“Who’s home?” his mom called from the master bedroom.
“It’s me,” Marshall yelled back.
“Hey, honey! Daniel went over to do homework at Krish’s,” Uh-huh. “And I’ve got a work party tonight. I picked up a rotisserie chicken for you.” She’d emerged from her bedroom with a towel wrapped around her head. “Your dad’s staying at the condo for the rest of the week,” she added as an afterthought.
His dad had bought a condo in Durham two years ago because he “couldn’t keep doing that commute day after day.” The office was barely half an hour away in the worst traffic, but this did make it easier for him to collaborate on urgent projects with his coworker Gina Loretto after hours. His dad occasionally came home on weekends but never stayed the night. Marshall doubted Gina Loretto would like that.
Marshall had a feeling his mom was looking for a Gino at the office party tonight. He went to hug her before heading up to his room, and she kissed his forehead.
It was almost dusk when he opened his eyes. He had that gross headachey post-nap feeling. After stretching and wrenching himself up off the bed, he opened his top drawer and pulled out a bottle of No-Doz from the very back. He was going to be up most of the night anyway because of the nap.
Twenty minutes later, he was euphorically caffeinated and roaming the sidewalks teaming with trick or treaters. He tried to keep his distance so they wouldn’t think he was being weird staring at them. There were a million superhero and princess costumes, like always. There was a kid in a rhinestoned Spongebob costume that was way too big for him. That was kind of funny. Also funny: a guy close to his age in a Tellytubby costume. The purple one. Was it supposed to be a gay joke? Marshall decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He turned off Rustling Oak Way onto Greenleaf Court and froze. There was an adult-sized person skulking through someone’s yard two houses down. It was still light enough to see the animal skull mask – similar to the lady from the woods, but Marshall couldn’t quite tell from this far. Instead of a cocktail dress, he was wearing khaki shorts, and Marshall could make out a pastel button-down under the Tarheel’s jersey. Loafers instead of heels. What a weird concept for a theme party.
Now the guy seemed to be peering into the windows. Suddenly, he turned and made eye contact with Marshall (or at least the eye sockets were pointed in his direction). Marshall briskly turned back the other way and headed further down Rustling Oak.
“I can’t believe you didn’t wear a costume!” Tara swatted Marshall’s bicep and left her hand there. She’d spotted him under a streetlight before he had the chance to get away. She was on her way to the main road to get picked up for a nerd party.
“Yeah, uh…I like yours.” He had no idea what she was supposed to be. Gothy Bride of Frankenstein, maybe? Was Frankenstein already goth? Modern gothy, then.
“Thanks! Most people don’t appreciate how deep The Nightmare Before Christmas is. Sally’s my hero.” She still hadn’t moved her hand.
“I haven’t really watched it in a long time.”
“What?!” She gripped his arm even tighter. “That’s unacceptable. You’re coming to my house Saturday to watch it.” She always did this.
“Um, yeah. Maybe. Well, I should….” he’d started to angle himself away when six fire trucks came tearing down the street. “Holy shit.”
They followed the firetrucks back down Rustling Oak. Marshall’s stomach tightened when they turned on Greenleaf. They jogged the rest of the way up to the intersection. A small crowd had gathered across the street from the house he’d seen the man at, completely engulfed in flames. He and Tara hung back at the intersection and watched the firefighters from there.
“Do you know who lives there?” Marshall asked.
“Yuppies with kids?” She shrugged.
“Mmm.” They watched in silence for a few minutes. It quickly became clear the firefighters were just trying to contain the fire; the house was a lost cause. If anybody was inside, they weren’t alive anymore. It’d happened so quickly. Marshall had seen the man in the yard less than twenty minutes ago. He was positive he hadn’t seen any smoke then. He hadn’t been that close, but still. Two more fire trucks screeched to a halt in front of the house.
“Marshmallow!” Krish and Daniel appeared under the closest streetlight. Marshall instinctively stepped further away from Tara. When they got close enough to clearly see their faces, Marshall could tell they’d been doing their new favorite activity all afternoon. Krish’s eyes registered Tara and went back and forth between the two of them before scanning up to the inferno down the street. Daniel gave his brother a perfunctory scowl before turning his attention to the fire.
“Shit,” said Daniel. The other three nodded.
After watching the fire for a minute, Krish swung his arm around Marshall’s shoulders and looked at Tara. Marshall halfheartedly tried to shrug him off.
“Did we interrupt your secret rendezvous? What are your intentions for our precious Marshmallow here? You gonna make an honest man out of him?” He could just make out Tara’s blush in the dusk. She flipped Krish off with an eyeroll. Daniel punched Krish’s arm, and it dropped from Marshall’s shoulder. Marshall remembered something.
“Hey, uh…Krish….” For some reason, this was the most mortifying question he’d ever asked anyone. “Uh….did you…like…see anybody out in the woods? Earlier?” He could feel the awkwardness radiating off the other three and their irritation at him for having caused it. There was no oxygen left, and he would feel this excruciating pain for the rest of his life.
“Marshall, what are you talking about?” Daniel responded before Krish could. “What were you doing out in the woods?” He glared at his brother suspiciously and then at Krish, who just laughed to break the tension.
“Uh –”
“Don’t say weird shit. Krish, we gotta go.” He grabbed his friend by the sleeve and started dragging him away. “Go home soon,” he turned and called back to Marshall. “Don’t make mom worry. You’re not even doing anything out here anyway.” It was almost dark now, so Daniel couldn’t see the face his brother made.
The fire was still raging when Marshall said bye to Tara. (She’d insisted on a hug and didn’t release him for at least 15 seconds.) He decided to make one more trip up and down Rustling Oak before heading home. Most of the trick-or-treaters were done by now; just a couple stragglers on their way back home. As the world returned to normal, he began to retreat back into his head. He came back to the world for a brief moment when he reached the back of the neighborhood, though. He heard crunching from the woods again, and he thought he saw a shadow moving among the trees. It could’ve been a deer or his imagination.
Wayne and Chessica Duchamp had been inside their house when it burned down, he found out the next day. The investigators also found the remains of a third unidentified adult. The cops were trying to match the dental records. The young married couple hadn’t told anyone that they were having company over that night.
Dane and Klitney Hummel hadn’t told anyone they were having anyone over either, but investigators also found an unidentified adult along with their remains. Their house, in Krish’s neighborhood, had burned down the same night.
There was no reason to suspect the two fires were related; the two couples didn’t seem to know each other. They’d all gone to UNC at the same time, but it was a huge school. There wasn’t even any evidence pointing to arson. If it weren’t for the mystery third person in each fire, they barely would’ve made the news. The only other curious detail: animal bone fragments were found among the Hummels’ remains. Most people assumed it was a hunting trophy of Dane’s.
The cops set up an anonymous hotline just in case anybody had seen anything. Marshall didn’t call in. What would he even say? He’d seen some drunk assholes in bad Halloween costumes. He imagined the cops’ response to a false lead would be similar to Daniel’s reaction to almost anything Marshall said. Even if the hotline was “anonymous”, they could probably trace his number.
It’d been two weeks since Halloween, but the night still lingered with Marshall. He wasn't daydreaming when he walked around lately. He walked slower, too. Suddenly, the world around him required close scrutiny. The white hallway was mysterious, possibly dangerous. The adrenaline made him a little giddy.
People required closer scrutiny, too. At first, he couldn't stop wondering if any of them had animal skulls in their closets at home. That lead to noticing little things that were unusual or unique about them - tics and idiosyncrasies and things they communicated without realizing it.
The one thing that could still distract him was thinking about the fires. He tried not to, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself. That's why he'd stopped paying attention for a couple seconds and ran right into Krish on the sidewalk in front of his house this afternoon. He bounced off the older boy and almost fell back on his ass. Krish laughed harder than he did when he and Daniel watched Jackass after smoking in the basement.
He should’ve been humiliated, but in the last two weeks he’d realized that something about the way Krish mocked him felt good – like the way it should've felt when Tara complimented him. He blushed and started laughing too.
“Batboy! BATBOY! What’d I fucking tell ya?” He was wearing sweats and a tank top with standard arm holes.
“Sorry, I…uh, well, you know how I am.” Krish burst out laughing again. “Daniel’s got SAT prep. He won’t be home for another hour.”
“Oh – uh – right, right.”
“You can wait in his room if you want. I’m sure he’d be cool with it.”
“OK, sure. That’s cool. Yeah.”
Krish followed him into the house. Marshall knew he should feel weird and uncomfortable right now.
“How come I haven’t seen you in the woods lately? I thought that was your shortcut.”
“Were you waiting for me?” Marshall never would've said something like this before. The taller boy scoffed and sat down on the living room sofa instead of going to Daniel’s room. Marshall sat down on the love seat opposite. “I dunno. I guess I kinda feel weird going through there since…yeah, I dunno. It’s probably nothing.” Krish didn’t say anything for a couple seconds, and Marshall felt lame.
“I saw that lady too.” He looked away for a second. The younger boy squeaked, and Krish chuckled. “That’s what you were asking me about, right?” Marshall nodded. "I didn’t wanna say in front of Daniel because he was being a little bitch. But yeah, I heard something again after you left. I thought it was probably just the nug, but I hid behind a tree. And then all of the sudden there was this freak in a dress and a deer skull walking by.”
“And a jersey.”
“Yeah – oh, yeah! She had on a jersey. It was like a tailgating outfit.”
“It was really creepy.”
“Yeah.”
“She was probably just drunk. I don’t know why I thought – I saw this other guy dressed like that around the house that burned down. Before it burned down. But it’s like, it was Halloween, you know? I don’t know why I got so – it was probably nothing.” It felt weird talking this earnestly to his brother’s friend, but he’d been dying to say all of this to somebody. Krish just scooted over to the end of the sofa that adjoined the love seat so he could put his hand on Marshall’s shoulder.
“Hey, it’s OK. You really saw another guy dressed like that? Maybe they did have something to do with it. It’s possible. That lady definitely freaked me out.” He rubbed his index finger in a circular pattern on Marshall’s shoulder. It made him feel a little better.
“Hey, do you want like an iced tea or something?” Krish smirked at him. He didn’t know why he’d offered. It just felt like something you were supposed to do when someone was at your house.
“Sure, that sounds good.”
When Marshall came back with the iced tea, he ended up sitting next to Krish on the sofa. The older boy took a sip and cleared his throat.
“Hey, uh...so you’re not really hooking up with Tara, right?” Marshall was kind of stunned by the question. Did he seem like the kind of person who could be hooking up? He thought about how to respond for a second.
“What if I was?” Krish’s face changed for just an instant, but it went back to his normal smirk so fast that Marshall couldn’t really tell what it meant.
“Yeah, right. Bet she loves marshmallows in her cocoa.”
“Fucking pervert. What does that even mean?” Marshall tried to hit him with a throw pillow, but Krish was too fast and grabbed both his wrists. They struggled for a bit until Krish was basically on top of him, wrists pinned against the sofa arm. They stayed like that for a minute, staring at each other and catching their breath, until they were startled by the landline ringing.
Krish quickly released him, and they both sat back up, waiting to see if the caller would leave a voicemail. It was Marshall’s mom: she was stuck late working on a project. There was pizza money under the ceramic rhino on the front hall table.
“Sweet.” Krish said and turned on the TV. They watched a news story on mute: there’d been another house fire in Chapel Hill. The house was only partially destroyed. They showed a picture of a room in the house with UNC memorabilia arranged in a circle around what looked like a church altar. Marshall wasn’t fully paying attention. He kept bobbing his knees up and down and not looking at Krish, who suddenly spoke.
“So your brother gave me a big lecture about not getting you high.” He said it softer than he usually talked.
“What?! Why would you?”
“I dunno. He got it in his head that we were hanging out in the woods.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told him. But he wouldn’t let it go until I promised him. I haven't seen him like that since he made me promise not to tell anybody about your dad moving out.” Marshall took a deep breath.
“So…now it’s like you kinda have to do it, right?” Krish blinked in surprise and then grinned.
“Ya think?”
“Yeah, totally. If he’s gonna be a psycho about it, that’s what he gets.”
“Damn, Marshmallow. Look at you. You sure you wanna?” He started to reach into his pants pocket just as Daniel swung open the front door. The two boys were on opposite ends of the couch so fast they could’ve teleported there.
Now, I know what you’re wondering, dear reader: DID Marshall and Daniel’s mother commit adultery at the office Halloween party? Well, she sure did. Even though it barely counts since she'd been de facto separated for years. It wasn’t even out of spite; she just felt like she needed to do it once before asking for a divorce. Marriage is weird. Happy Halloween!
THE END
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