The Choice (a Painful Past)

87

They fit really well, and the peach color looked good against my fair skin. I had cut jagged rips in various places, then covered the outline of them with the red tinged green zombie blood. After adding some splatters of the fake blood to the clothes, I painted my face to look like I was dead, with a few latex wounds of my own. 

I looked disgustingly dead. Perfect.

"Oh, my goodness, you all look so gross and scary." My mom laughed, when she walked into the living room.

Ben laughed his evil clown laugh, while the others did a moaning shuffle.

I laughed and shook my head.

"Tonight is gonna be awesome!" Ben exclaimed, punching his gloved hand into the air.

"Yeeahh!" The others cheered right after.

I had a feeling that I was going to be very tired by the time this night was over. I had to pick up Will from his parents place first, then head to the local CVS to meet Denise, Mikie, and Xander. I was hoping that Will would kind of just hang out with Mikie and leave me alone, but that hope wasn't very strong.

"Do we have to pick him up?" Destiny muttered, when I pulled into Will's driveway.

"Yes." I replied. "Be nice, or just don't say anything at all."

"He's my dad." Ben replied, glaring at her.

They had all taken their masks off, until we got to CVS.

"No, he's not!" Des exclaimed, glaring right back at him.

"YES, HE IS!" Ben yelled. "AT LEAST I KNOW WHO MY DAD IS!"

"OK, ENOUGH!" I yelled, as I put the car in park.

Will was already coming out the door, so I had to end this argument quick.

"It doesn't matter who's father is who. It doesn't matter who is blood related or not. Shut up, or we will forget Halloween and go home."

They both fell silent, with dirty little looks on their faces, just before Will opened the front passenger door.

"Hey." He replied, sullenly, meeting my gaze.

"Hey." I said, then looked in the rearview, just so I could look away from him.

He climbed inside the car and shut the door, without saying a word. That pissed me off.

"Don't the kids look great in their costumes?" I asked, smiling at Ben in the back.

"Yeah, you look good, buddy." Will said, as he looked back and smiled at Ben.

It wasn't a real smile though. He still had that sad, puppy dog look on his face. I groaned inwardly and had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"I look scary, don't I, Dad?!" Ben replied, happily.

"You sure do." Will said, then looked over at me again.

I could feel his eyes on me, but I pretended not to notice as I backed out of his yard and started down the road. This was definitely going to be a long night, and not the fun kind.

"We're meeting Denise and Mikie there. She has Xander tonight, so Ben wanted to Trick or Treat with him." I said, just trying to cover up the awkwardness in the car.

I felt so uncomfortable. I didn't know how to act around him now.

On one hand, I wanted to forgive him and just fall back into the same old routine, just so I didn't have to feel this way. On the other hand, I wanted him out of my car all together, but I couldn't do that either.

"Okay." Will replied, morosely.

He was annoying the shit out of me. This was supposed to be a fun night for the kids and he couldn't even let me have that. I sighed heavily and didn't say anything else.

The kids kept up a constant chatter in the backseat, until we got to CVS. I found Denise's car and parked next to her. Our little town didn't feel so little on nights like this.

The streets were packed, bumper to bumper, and hundreds of people were already out walking around with their kids. I got out of the car, grabbed my stuff, waited for everyone to get out, then locked it up.

"Yo, what's up Xan?!" Ben called out, as he walked up to his best friend.

I smiled, as I watched them grasp hands.

Just then, an image of two different boys popped into my mind. It was crazy how I hadn't noticed this before. Ben had blonde hair and Xan had dark brown hair. They reminded me of Sam and Colby in that instant.

I guess Colby was still fresh on my mind.

"Hey, you guys ready?" Denise asked, smiling at me.

"Yup, ready to go. I like the glowing snakes in your hair." I replied, grinning, as I reached out and flicked one of the fake tendrils over her shoulder.

"I have another one, if you want to wear it." She said.

"Oh, hell yes!" I exclaimed, laughing.

She pulled another headband out of her trunk and passed it to me. I slid it onto my head and posed, as I poked out my lips.

"How do I look?" I asked.

"Fabulous, daaahling, just fabulous." She replied, with a phony French accent.

We both broke down into a fit of giggles, like a couple of teenage girls.

"I'm glad someone is happy." I heard Will say.

I glanced over to him, before I could stop myself. He was leaning up against my car, just watching me and Denise.

"Yeah, well, we're all supposed to be putting everything aside tonight. It's for the kids, not us." I replied.

"Well, sorry that I can't fake being happy. Not when I feel like this." He responded, throwing his hands up in the air.

I closed my eyes for a second, then looked back at Denise. I chose to ignore him. That was the only way that I was going to be able to deal with this night and still have a semi decent time.

"Yeah, I probably should've stayed home." He said, a little louder than last time.

Again, I ignored him, rolled my eyes at Denise, then started talking about how she could help me add a few finishing touches to Destiny's makeup. She had an entire Halloween makeup kit in the trunk of her car. We really were twin flames, because she loved anything spooky just as much as I did.

I lit a cigarette and kept my back to Will, while Denise touched up Destiny's makeup.

"Will you guys COME ON?!" Ben yelled from his spot, halfway down to the first house on the street.

"Don't go any further!" I yelled back. "The houses aren't going anywhere! Calm down!"

"But, MOOOOMM, CANDYYYY!" He wailed.

I laughed, watching this scary ass, rather short clown, wail and throw his arms out in protest.