Life of Maggie Marshall

Hallowe'en *edited*

HALLOWE'EN

8:00PM

This is Nancie’s last night in Westminster. Tomorrow she leaves for Texas. In the past couple of months, Leon has started joining Nancie and I for lunch break and free time. Nancie seems to not mind his company and that seems to make me comfortable with having him around.

Leon, Nancie, I and some others are having a mini Hallowe'en party. Basically, a group of us are dressing up and going out in the big park. It is a farewell party for Nancie, but Halloween style. We have permission for the party because it is noisy and in public, but we have a card to say that it is an organized party and allowed by the government. It really is just so we don’t have any nosy policemen who are determined to ruin the party.

Nancie has come as a cute zombie girl. She has a short, lacy green skirt on and a purple corset. She’s sprayed her hair green and has incredibly high purple platforms. I helped her with her make-up.

I have come as a devil girl. I have a glittery red strapless dress on and red heels. I also have glittery devil horns. Leon has come as a vampire in a black suit, red bowtie and has fake teeth with spiky fangs. He’s gelled his hair and I must say he does look quite nice – in a scary vampire kind of way.

Earlier in the afternoon, Leon and I had put up a huge banner saying, ‘GOOD LUCK NANCIE’ and laid out food on big tables. We also built a huge, white marquee and installed big speakers.

The three of us are walking down the street, Leon’s arm wrapped around my waist and my arm around Nancie. I breathe in the cool air and smile because I feel at peace. I feel happy, safe, relaxed and content.

We have come early, to turn on the lights and get the music going. Leon walks ahead and switches on the speakers and lights. I put one of my hands over Nancie’s eyes and the other hand I use to guide her in the right direction. The lights flicker and dart and the music beats out of the black, heavy speakers.

I remove my hands from Nancie’s eyes and smile at her short gasp. I know the party will only last for another three hours because Nancie leaves at one in the morning and needs to get to the airport, but I feel that the party is necessary.

Leon is leaning against the speaker and smiles at Nancie and I.

‘I’m sorry Maggie,’ says Leon.

‘What for?’ I ask.

‘For what I said in prison and in the letter. I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it,’ he says and gives me a little kiss on the cheek.

Nancie squeezes my hand and goes over to the trees dotted around the marquee. I have strung pink fairy lights through them. The others have come now, with their boyfriends, Hannah Lasnier and Benjamin Castle, Elaine Hotlinn and Daniel Harris, Ruby Garnier and Louis Way, Imogen McDonald and Lewis Clara. They are all friends that we used to see in our classes, before we just had coursework.

Then, Nancie’s boyfriend Will Simpson came around the corner with a huge bouquet of flowers. He put his arms around Nancie and kissed her. I turned my back though, to give them some boyfriend/girlfriend time.

I went over to Hannah and Ben, who were chatting to Leon.

‘Hey Maggie, so this is Leon then?’ says Hannah, gesturing to him.

I smile and say yes. Hannah laughs and comes with me to get a drink. I am going to describe everybody, so you get an idea of them:

Hannah Lasnier – Long, light brown hair, green eyes.

 Benjamin Castle – Short, blonde hair, blue eyes.

 Elaine Hotlinn – Long, dark brown hair, amber/brown eyes.

 Daniel Harris – Medium, brown hair, blue eyes.

 Ruby Garnier – Medium, fair-blonde hair, silvery blue eyes.

 Louis Way – Short, brown hair, brown eyes.

 Imogen McDonald – Long, light-blonde hair, blue eyes.

 Lewis Clara – Short, brown hair, blue eyes.

 Will Simpson – Short, blonde hair, brown eyes.

There we go, that’s the party crowd. Leon and I managed to get the Top 40 for free, by hacking into the record companies. It feels great to be surrounded by my friends. I wish I was a camera and could take a picture of this scene, but live in it forever. I take turns dancing with each of my friends and then we all joined in together, dancing to great music.

As the night draws to a close, the final slow dance song. I find it funny because everybody has a partner to dance with. Leon comes up behind me and takes my hand.

‘I’ve never slow danced with anybody before,’ I say, looking down nervously.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not exactly an expert myself,’ he says, grinning.

‘He takes one of my hands and places it on his shoulder; he takes my other hand and holds it.

With my heels on, my eyes are level with Leon’s mouth. He laughs as I stand there awkwardly. He adjusts my devil horns and then pulls me closer. I lay my head on his shoulder. I jump as I feel his hand on my back, he laughs at me.

‘Sensitive, much?’ he says, tucking some hair behind my ear. The titanic song comes on and I look at Leon questioningly.

‘What? I thought it suited the mood,’ he laughs.

‘We are not about to die, we are not on a boat,’ I say, but return the laugh.

I glance over his shoulder and see all of the other dancing couples.

‘I love you Leon,’ I say.

‘I love you too Maggie,’ he whispers in my ear. I close my eyes and let him kiss me.

All those magazines that Nancie and I used to read, they used to say that when you kiss the person you love, it feels like there are fireworks exploding in your heart. If that is so, I have about my lifetime’s supply of bonfire night displays going off in my heart.