Outside In

part five

Josiah let Jackson smear war paint on his face before they left for the hill. "Jackson, I really, really, really don't think this is the best idea you've ever had." He ignored him, smearing a bit of black onto his cheek before sitting back and starting the car.

"If it makes you feel better," he said finally, pulling out of the driveway, "It's not just gonna be us. I invited your girlfriend and Hunter, too." Josiah froze. Jackson turned up the radio and began to sing, not noticing the fact that his best friend had been rendered into a complete potato.

Hunter has been Josiah's longest crush, ever since Jackson introduced them freshman year. Even young, he was all man. He was burly and tough and definitely badass, but he always had this softness around Josiah. Josiah had even thought that maybe Hunter was like him: hiding in the shadows and secretly pining for something he couldn't have. It made sense, at the time. Josiah had never seen Hunter with any girls, as he usually brushed them off. But then Hunter started dating the girl equivalent of himself, Sasha Reed. They dated for about two years, and it broke Josiah's heart every day. But he eventually moved past it, and started dating Mary, and he pretended everything was okay. Only now, apparently Hunter and Sasha had broken up, for good. This caused Josiah's heart to start pinning all over again.

It took about twenty minutes to half an hour to reach Kismet Hill. Half of that was spent on the main road, the other half spent on a sketchy backroad that wound its way up to the house. When it came into view, Jackson switched off his headlights and pulled over just outside of the giant, cast iron gate, in the brushes. Josiah let out a big sigh and got out, being careful not to slam the door.

"There they are," Jackson whispered loudly, pointing to a dead truck just ahead, closer to the gate. Hunter's truck. How he got that thing that close without being discovered was a mystery.

Mary and Hunter were sitting on the edge of the open bed. When they saw Jackson and Josiah, Mary hurled herself into Josiah's arms, kissing his cheek and wrapping her legs around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her, giving her a fake smile while holding her up, carefully glancing over at Hunter, who was watching them briefly but turned to greet Jackson. Josiah couldn't help the flip his stomach made. He put Mary down, but the took one of his hands between both of hers, so he used the other one and held it out to Hunter.

"Hey, man," he greeted. Hunter smirked casually and clasped their hands together, pulling him in and slapping his shoulder in a "bro hug."

He'll never get over how beautiful Hunter was. Dark, messy hair, tall, with ocean blue eyes and a perfect smile. Big and muscular, every shirt he owned showed it. Plus, he always had that leather jacket thing going on that Josiah could never pull off in a million years.

"Hey, Josey. Haven't seen you in a while. You been working out?" Hunter didn't know how giddy those words made Josiah.

"Uh, yeah, a bit," he stuttered a little. This made Hunter's smirk grow, no doubt making fun of him. Josiah was glad it was dark. His cheeks were burning.

"Let's do this!" Jackson exclaimed quietly, making Mary giggle and hop like and excited bunny. This made Josiah grin, because it was adorable, and made him forget for a millisecond that they were about to go terrorize a witch.

Mary pulled him toward the gate with Jackson leading and Hunter trailing behind. They slid through the little opening the chain allowed when they pulled the gate open as far as it would go, and then they rounded the house to the side. Josiah had never been here before, but she could see now why it was called a shadow house. All the windows were tinted so dark there was no way to see inside. The house itself was a grey that swallowed up the moonlight, leaving it shrouded in darkness.

Josiah suddenly felt very uneasy.

"Mary and Josey can share a pack, Hunter, you and I have our own," Jackson handed out small packs of eggs, then they each got their own can of spray paint, "Go to town." They all split, surprisingly even Mary, who seemed to already have a target in mind. She took all the eggs.

Josiah was left all alone.

He couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't. So he just sat there, on the grass, watching as they wreaked havoc on the poor house, occasionally spraying paint on the ground beside him so it wouldn't be so full when they asked him what he did.

"You're not into this either, huh?"

Josiah jumped a mile out of his skin and whirled around to come face to face with Hunter. His cheeks immediately burned with embarrassment. "I-I-I...uh...I don't--" he was hopeless.

"Relax," he smirked, sitting beside him, "I won't tell on you. I know you're soft." Josiah's shoulders slumped a bit at the word. He's been soft all his life. His dad used to berate him for it. "When am I gonna get a real son," he'd ask. "I think God mixed him up with you." He'd only really started liking Josiah when football became a thing in his life.

"Hey," Hunter said gently. Josiah looked up at him, trying to hide the hurt in his eyes. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I like that you're soft. It's a good break from all the so-called tough guys. Choking on all the fake testosterone." This made Josiah smile a bit, which had Hunter grinning, a hardy laugh coming out of his mouth. It was a beautiful sound that fit that beautiful second he wanted to wrap around him and live in forever. Hunter actually liked him as...him.

Suddenly, the house roared.

Mary shrieked and fell back, off the porch. She had just finished spraying the words "witch bitch" on the front door. The whole house seemed alive all of a sudden as each one of the windows began to glow. Objects started flying around, hurling themselves at Josiah and Hunter. Josiah's arms flew up to protect himself, but Hunter had already shielded him from the stuff with his back. He was much quicker than Josiah was. "We have to leave," he said.

Jackson was screaming, running towards them with a garden hose on his tail, spraying water and drenching the guy. Mary was yelling nonsense as a paint brush smeared dark green paint all over her nice clothes. They had angered the witch, and now they were paying the price.

Hunter pulled on Josiah's sleeve, but he was stuck. There, standing on the porch, hair dyed a flaming, angry red, was a girl not much older than him, with eyes glowing. "Josiah, we have to go!" Hunter yelled, but his words fell on deaf ears.

The girl's eyes connected with his. "You," she whispered, but it seemed like a shout in his mind. He cocked her head to the side, and Josiah felt something slither up his leg. The garden hose.

"No! Josiah!" Hunter cried, but it was too late. The witch had him.