The Star Squealed Night

Saturday, August 26th, 2017

Slumber. Tis a marvelous thing. But then, there was a hand on my shoulder. Was this a part of my dream? I wasn't quite sure. People don't usually wake me up by putting their hand on my shoulder, so it probably was my dream. But no, it persisted. Eyes opened. It was John. Wait, what!? Where am I, what's happening, why am I in this strange room with people talking and... oh. Right, gotcha. I was still at Caleb's surprise birthday party, on his couch. I looked over at John and blinked. "Hey, when are you leaving?" he asked. I blinked again, and then once more. "I don't know. We'll see." And then I was awake. Most everybody had left by this point, and there were only about nine of us still there, and it was shutting down pretty quickly. John got on his bike and rode off, Danny left soon after, and then besides Caleb and his roommates, there was just Anna, Brooke, Lucy, myself, and a question: should we have an after party and hit up the town, or should we simply shut it down and go to sleep.

And so we set off walking down the street over to my truck; the decision had been made. Since it was a little chilly out, the girls wanted to stop by their house to get some warmer clothes, so that's where we went first. Caleb and I waited in truck while they all ran inside. A minute passed. "Do you think I'll have enough time to run back to my house and get something before they get back?" "Oh yeah, go for it." With that, Caleb took off running, leaving the passenger side door open. Now I was alone. Heh heh. Thoughts of trickery and sabotage rushed into my mind, and nothing prevented me from following their lead. I dropped to the ground and slid under my truck, lying in wait to grab the first unfortunate person's ankles. Even though it was dark out, I took care to be on the far side from where they were approaching, for if they brought a light they'd be much more likely to see me if I was on the near side. Then I silenced my phone in case they tried to call me so that the ringer wouldn't give me away. And then, I waited.

If you've never sat in wait for your prey, like a hunter with infinite patience at his disposal, then you will not know the pleasure I am going to tell you. Time stops. It stands still and doesn't move. There is no second, no minute, no hour, nothing besides the expectation of that moment when you strike. You must wait for the perfect moment. Don't be hasty, don't be rash, don't reveal your hand. Silence is a virtue, something to be kept with utmost severity. Forget about your eyes. Concentrate all your power on both your ears, and listen for movement. I lay there, crouched and ready. It was only what felt like a few seconds later, though in reality who knows how much time elapsed (but it wasn't very much), that I heard voices. They were loud and cheery, not expecting a thing, chatting happily along. They rounded the bend, and stopped in their tracks. "Where'd the guys go?" "They're probably waiting to scare us." "They're going to jump out of a tree and get us!" "Let's wait for Brooke!" With that they hastened back inside. A moment later the three of them came back outside with a light, knowing something was up and trying not to spring the trap. They slowly approached the truck, and I shut my eyes so as to avoid them glinting in the light and betraying me. Cautiously, ever so cautiously, they came closer. Nobody was around, so they opened the side door. Lucy cried out a little as they did so, anticipating something to jump out at them. Nothing did. They threw a shoe in, but nothing happened. "Quick, get in, we'll lock them out!" They hurriedly piled in, but I was on the wrong side of the truck and none of them came to my side, and I couldn't get over there fast enough to catch an ankle. Phooey. Somebody closed the passenger door from the inside, and then they settled down to wait, with much giggling, excited whispers, and hushed shouts. I waited more, Caleb was now the wild card. What would happen?

By and by he came back. All the girls quickly got quiet, not knowing if this was a scheme to get them or if Caleb wasn't in on the trick. He walked around a bit, puzzled that it would take the girls that long to get there stuff, since at first glance there wasn't anybody in the pitch black truck or out in the road. He retraced his steps, and leaned against the hood of the truck and then saw them in there. By this time the girls decided he was innocent so they opened a door and shout-whispered, "Get in Caleb, quick, we gotta lock Leaf out!" He jumped in and they shut the door immediately, locking it securely. I waited longer, letting them percolate a bit. They were still discussing what might happen and wondering where I was and what I was doing, and waiting for something to happen. Finally, they quieted down a bit. This was the perfect moment I'd been waiting for. I sent a text to each of their phone's that read, "I see you." The little check mark went off on my phone telling me the message was sent, and then a second later they all received the same message at the same time. Screams erupted, shattering the stillness of the night. "Agghhh, he sees us!" It took several seconds before they settled back down again. And then I sent a second text: "Screaming won't help." After this one went through Brooke said, "Yes it will!", while the rest of them laughed a little and kept on talking about what would happen. I waited longer still, finally texting Anna, "Get out", to which she replied in typical Spartan style, "No", and I retorted with, "Yes". Anna told the others what I wanted them to do, but they had no desire to exit the vehicle. So I waited some more. I had already slid over to the door they'd been using just in case they actually did get out, and now I slid out from under the truck and crouched underneath the window. I waited until there was a moment of complete silence and they weren't talking, and then I jumped up, shouted, and banged on the window all at once. Perfection. Utter perfection. Screams erupted from all of them, loud and long. Through the confusion someome shouted, "We're not letting you in Leaf!" and Anna said with conviction, "LEAF HARRIS!!" I was busting up laughing by this time, and unlocked to driver door and sat down. It was fantastic, and we were laughing for a little while after that and discussing how it went down.

From there we drove out into the countryside where the wide rolling wheat fields are and pulled into Brooke and Anna's favorite star gazing spot. We parked the truck, walked up to the top of the hill, and laid down on a blanket and watched the stars. Lucy and I had never seen a shooting star, and the other three already saw one on the way up but the two of us had missed it. As we sat there watching and talking about all sorts of hilarious things that I'd probably never bring up with someone I'd just met, a nice shooting star shot across the sky, right in front off us all. Lucy squealed with delight and clapped her hands, while the rest of us laughed joyously. We stayed there for a while, and then once we'd had our fill, descended the hill back to the truck. It was a fun night and one of the best birthday parties I've been to in a while. It's great to have friends.