The Good, The Bad, & The Dirty

Chapter 4: The Party

Aw man, this party is going to be sweet! We managed to get everything successfully prepared. The music, the food, & pretty much everything else. We managed to get some sleep and decide who would be on guard duty throughout the party. In the end, we settled on Pete and Andy, since they were the more strong-looking ones. Pete turned on the music. The music was mostly what you'd find in a rave. With music like that in a fancy and formal setting, that would have made this party to be a rave-masquerade hybrid. We always did go the informal route. I was in the restroom getting ready. I finished combing my brown hair and put on my black fedora. It had a red rose placed on the side of it for just such an occasion. I adjusted it slightly until it was perfect after I put on my mask, which was a platinum-gold, pale yellow Colombia mask. It certainly did complement my outfit. I wore a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, black vest, black pants with a chain hanging on the side, black socks, & black shoes. Satisfied, I exited the restroom. I gazed around the room which was now filled with multi-colored lights flying around frantically like ghosts. Gavrilo and Tom were both casually leaning up against the wall, observing everything in front of them. They both had their arms crossed. The both wore suits just without the ties & black cloaks. In both of their hands, they both held a mask. Tom held a golden Volto mask & Gavrilo held the same type of mask, the only difference was that it was silver.

"Hey! There he is! There's our classy little boy!" Tom said cheerily, noticing my appearance as he & Gavrilo walked over to me.

I just simply chuckled.

"You guys look really good." I said to them.

"Thanks, so do you." They answered in unison.

"Oh man! This party is going to be so huge!" I said, filled with excitement.

"Yeah!" Gavrilo cheered at the same time Tom said, "You bet it is!"

Gavrilo's look of joy contorted to a look that was serious and he put his hand on both of our shoulders.

"But we've got to remember, Brendon and Dallon broke out, safety first, they're on the loose, take no chances, safety first." Gavrilo urged us both.

"You're right." Tom said while checking his watch. I gave him that platinum gold watch he wore when it was his birthday a few years ago.

I hugged Tom and I felt Gavrilo join in the hug.

Our moment was interrupted as we heard the sound of knocking. We broke away and Tom went for the entrance, leaving Gavrilo and I to dust ourselves off. I looked at the mask Gavrilo held in his hand.

"So," I began. "Matching masks, huh?" I asked.

"Of course, we are a married couple after all. We took the concept of 'matching couples' and we basically re-invented it." Gavrilo explained.

"Oh." I responded. "Cool."

Tom interrupted us.

"Guess who's here?!" He asked cheerily.

We turned away from each other & we saw several of our old allies. They were all dressed in formal attire. We all squealed like fangirls rushing to meet their favorite celebrity. We just mostly exchanged 'Hey, how have you been's' & 'It's been awhile's'. I just hugged David. And David gestured for Ezra, who was standing there in the corner, to join in. He didn't join in at first but eventually gave in. He brought both David & I into a squeezing embrace. To describe Ezra, I would say he would be the more skinnier, more slimmed down version of Keanu - minus the patchy beard. Also, he was almost 6 foot, which made him 5'11 in terms of height. Yep taller than me. David was 5'8, so not too far from me per say.

Now, this bit takes a bit of explaining. Well, you know how Ryan & Brendon used to be in a relationship? Well, apparently prior to them dating, Brendon apparently had been that bad of a bastard as to blackmail Ryan into dating him. And one of the ways he did this, was holding the life of Ryan's then-boyfriend Ezra above Ryan's head. Ryan confided in me and several others as to what he should do about it. He tried everything to get Brendon to leave them both be. I remember how the 2 of them were so happy together. They were practically inseparable. Eventually, Ryan was forced to break up with him all together. This shattered Ezra & Ryan covered it all up by saying that he did not really feel a connection to Ezra anymore. But nonetheless, Ezra & I knew the truth, thanks to one of the officers sending me a recording of Brendon's conversation with a psychiatrist via email, where he confessed to everything. So apparently Ryan didn't cheat on him, he began to see the real Brendon all along & he tried to break things off with him. He got back together with Ezra & he believed, in his mind, that it was all over. Until Brendon killed him. I and so many other people had been blissfully unaware of what was actually happening. Suddenly, I feel like the whole thing with 'Brendon stalking me' had taken a more sinister turn after I had received this info. Brendon must have been really desperate for a significant other enough to hold someone hostage in their relationship and stalk me. Honestly, I don't know what his relationship with his family is. It could have been bad considering that a lot of killers claim that they came from abusive homes. Karma's a cruel bitch. And to think I would've have been his next victim if things were different.

I turned to Ezra.

"Hey dude. How are you feeling?" I began. "Are you still mourning Ryan?" I asked gently, knowing of his pain on the situation.

"Yeah, I mean the grief is real enough to haunt me." He said with a solemn look in his brown eyes.

"Cameron and I brought him here, so he could try to take his mind off of grieving for awhile & maybe have a good time." David explained. David & Cameron were roommates, they were like that even in college. They were basically besties. Since Ezra didn't really feel the same living in his home after Ryan was killed, he moved in with them just to avoid that lingering feeling of loneliness, which had been amplified thanks to Brendon. He was a shy, awkward kind of guy, always trying to seek out companionship & build his confidence. I've just got to say, I feel bad for the guy. He lost his beloved to the Apollyon himself.

"Do you want to sit at the bar so you can have something to drink?" I asked while gesturing to the bar.

"Yeah, I think that would be best." Ezra said walking over to it & sitting in one of the seats.

"Don't drink yourself sick!" David called to him while putting on his mask which was a black Zanni mask.

"I won't! I'm just going to order a sprite. You have those, right?" Ezra called back.

"Yeah!" I called back to him.

He didn't answer. He just simply turned around and gave me a thumbs up in approval. Macaulay, another old colleague of ours, was behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of sprite, opened it and handed it to him

Someone knocked on the door again. I ran for the entrance and opened the door. It was Keanu, Jai, Emma, & Daisy. They were in a polyamorous relationship with each other & were bisexual. Keanu wore a golden Bauta mask & was wearing a tux. Jai wore a black Zanni mask & was also wearing a tux. Both Emma & Daisy were wearing silver Colombina masks. Daisy wore a purple sleeveless, strapless dress with black shoes. An amethyst necklace hung around her neck with matching earrings on each of her ears. Emma, on the other hand, wore a black dress with silver designs on it. A diamond necklace hung around her neck with a diamond earring on each ear.

"Hey guys!" I said greeting them.

Emma & Daisy both pulled me into a hug. Jai just simply ruffled my hair through my fedora. Keanu flashed an approving smile before asking me. "Did you guys manage to get everything together ok?"

"Yeah." I responded once Emma, Daisy, & I broke apart from the hug.

"Oh thank gods." He said before continuing, "Have you heard the news about Brendon?"

"Yeah & we definitely need to be careful." I responded.

"Good to know you are aware." Keanu said. "Now let's get inside. We don't want to catch a cold now do we?"

"After you." I said, gesturing for them to enter. And they walked right on inside past me. As I watched them walk inside, I instantly got a feeling of danger. It was that same sinking feeling of paranoia. I haven't felt this paranoid since college. Not since him. I turned around and saw 6 individuals with various masks on. Huh? That's odd. I don't think Gavrilo invited these guys. Yet somehow, as they passed me, 2 of them seemed familiar to me. I think one of them smirked at me and winked at me. I shivered. But nonetheless, I shrugged it off once I was back inside. That was creepy.

I thought for a moment. 'Maybe I just need a drink. Yeah that would be nice.'

I headed to the bar & ordered a beer where I saw Tom and Gavrilo take off their masks to get a better look at the interlopers. They talked amongst themselves. Oh boy was I in for a night of my life! Little did we know was that I had inadvertently let the escaped in.