#FlashFictionMagic: Monster Mash

 

The sea of grotesque masks and thump of pop music at the Monster Mash were like a drug to Soren. With everyone in costume, the usual boundaries between different groups of kids were blurred or dropped altogether, and it was easy to just dance and have fun. As the last slow ballad of the night began to play, he kept his hands around Miranda’s waist, careful not to poke her with a talon, and took in every detail of her one last time: the long blonde hair and warm brown eyes, the false witch’s nose, purple pointed hat, and flowing cape. He wanted to remember her voice, too, the way she’d said, “Wow, your face looks amazing. That shade of green is perfect.” The compliment made him grin with all of his fangs.

The clock showed two minutes until the lights would come up and the spell of the evening would be broken. Should he kiss her? He kept imagining it, but he wondered if it would be too much. He didn’t want to give himself more to miss. Just as he decided not to push his luck, Miranda turned suddenly, pushed her witch’s nose out of the way with her finger and 

 pecked the edge of his jaw. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment, then smiled shyly down at her. He was still searching for the right thing to say when the first bank of lights on the far side of the gym began to flicker to life. 

Wanting to linger but hyper-aware of what would happen if he did, Soren pulled his jacket tight around his shoulders and took off running through the crowd. He brushed past bewildered chaperones at the door, dodged the headlights of the cars where parents waited, then sprinted across the darkened ball fields toward the wood behind the school. 

In the moonlight, at the edge of the treeline stood his mother. "How was it?" she asked. 

"Amazing," he breathed. "There was this girl." 

Her sympathetic smile told him she knew how hard it was to walk away, how much it hurt to have to sneak and hide just to have normal teen experiences.  As they walked home together down the trail, Soren told the whole story, and his mother's green hand and yellow talons on his shoulder were a small but welcome comfort.