The Art of Dying

She looked at me with an expression of awe that soon turned into a smirk. “I knew you would look gorgeous in that!” She said as she motioned for me to step closer to her.

“Thanks.” I said, with a big smile on my face. I did as she wordlessly asked and stepped out of the bathroom. She then gestured for me to turn and I obliged.

“A perfect fit. I’m so good.” She said, proud of herself, making me chuckle slightly. “There’s just… that.” She said pointing at my locket that I never take off with a little grimace on her face. “It doesn’t fit with the outfit.” I hesitated to take it off but then I remembered that the man in that locket might have been the one to raise me, ─if he were alive at the time─ but he’s not my real father and so, I took it off with less reluctance and put it in the drawer of my bedside table. “Perfect! Now, my turn.” She took her dust cover clothing bag and disappeared in the bathroom.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror above the black dresser and had to admit that I did look good. The black dress went a little under my knees in the front and flowed behind me to the floor in the back. The skirt was made of a soft, airy material that ascended to a delicate lace at the top. The rhinestones chains were connected to bigger rhinestones scattered throughout the dress creating a beautiful, vintage-kind of pattern.

As I admired the fit of the dress, C.C. finished getting changed and cleared her throat making me turn to look at her. She was dressed in a similar version of the dress that I was wearing, but hers did not have lace sleeves or lace at all for that matter and it was white.

Now I understand her clue, we had similar dresses so I looked like her ─well, not really but whatever. She looked beautiful in it ─but then again she always looks good.

“What do you think?” She asked as she stepped out of the bathroom and did a little twirl.

“Beautiful.” I answered honestly. She looked splendid. Those dresses were truly magnificent.

“I know.” She said as she happily sauntered over to her bed and grabbed the brown paper bag from her nightstand. She then dug in and took out two cardboard boxes and handed one to me. “Pad Thai.” She said as she also handed me some chopsticks and a bottle of water. I went to sit on my bed to eat.

“Thanks.” I said as I opened my box. She went to open hers then she suddenly gasped, put it down on her nightstand and stood up abruptly. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I’m wearing white!” She exclaimed like it was obvious, as she went to the closet and threw its door open. She rummaged around for a while and then emerged, holding a piece of clothing stained with paint. “Ah, ha.” She said with a victorious smile before putting on her smock and going to sit back down on her bed. She then picked up her box once more and began to eat. “I talked with some ‘Morpheleons’…” She said conversationally. “And they agreed to help see if you are one of them… You know, like help you try to shift and stuff.”

“Thanks, but what if it doesn’t work? What if I’m not a ‘Morpheleon’?” I asked.

“That’s doubtful, but in that case we’ll keep looking. And I promise you this: one way or another, we will find out what you are.” She said, looking seriously at me before taking a bite out of her ‘Pad Thai’.

“Thanks, C.C. that really means a lot.” I said, sincerely touched. Maybe I’ll finally find what I am and then maybe find my birth parents… Even if I find them, my mom will still be my mom though. Even if we share no blood, she’s still the woman that raised me, loved me and was always there for me so she’ll always be my mom… but finding my birth parents would be nice…

“Awww, that’s what besties are for.” She said.

We finished our meal with C.C. distracting me from the stress of the party. The unknown is always a little scary, no matter what. And since she told me it was a party unlike any other I’ve ever been to, and considering everyone will be in their real form, like Oliver with his creepy eyes and stripes, it’s a little unnerving.

We dumped our empty boxes of food in the trash and now it was time for C.C. to work her magic. “Ok, sit there, and do nothing.” C.C. said pointing towards the end of my bed.

I went to start my MP3 first, and selected some ‘Fall Out Boy’ before I sat down as she instructed, while she disappeared into the bathroom only to emerge a second later with her arms full of hair products, brushes, pins, hair ties, etc., that she dumped unceremoniously on my bed beside me. She then plugged in the curling iron, setting it on the black dresser, and as it heated up, she went back to the bathroom. She came back almost immediately but this time, she was carrying a giant makeup case in one hand and a big plastic bag in the other.

She put them both down on the bed, more delicately than she did for the hair stuff and grabbed one of the hair brushes. She started to brush my hair before she grabbed the curling iron and set to work on creating soft ringlets in my hair. She then started to pin my hair up but I couldn’t see what she was doing. I hope it’s not going to be too eccentric, though judging by her choice of dresses it should be pretty.

Once she was done, she grabbed her makeup case from beside me and set to work. “Close your eyes.” She said and I obliged. She then gave a small chuckle as she worked on my eyelids. “You know, you’re like, a perfect canvas. You don’t talk, you don’t move, you do as you’re told… Like my own personal, giant, living doll.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” I laughed sarcastically and had to resist the urge to open my eyes to roll them, lest C.C. botch my makeup.

“No, for real.” She said, sounding serious. “Anyway, look up.” She instructed and I did as I was told. She worked on my lower lash line for a while before closing her makeup case. I went to stand up to go look at the final product but she stopped me, as she pushed me back down with a hand on my shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” She asked.

“I’m going to look in the mirror?” I asked more than stated.

“Nah, uh.” She said shaking her head a little. “You can look once I’m done and not a second before then.”

“But you closed your makeup case.” I stated, not understanding what was left for her to do. “Aren’t you done?”

“Nope. There’s still much to do.” She said as she emptied the contents of the plastic bag ─she put on the bed earlier─ among the hair things. There were several tubes of paint or at least they looked like tubes of paint, some aerosol cans, several makeup brushes and a couple of glitter bottles on the bed. She grabbed a brush and a tube of paint. “Now the real art begin.” She said with a grin.

She applied some to my face with her tongue peeking on the side of her mouth in a look of utter concentration, then she worked on the parts of my legs that were showing which was weird but I just kept reminding myself that it’s sort of a Halloween costume, so… She then changed paint and again worked on my face and legs but this time she also applied some of the stuff on my hands.

She changed paint a couple of times more and she sometimes even applied some to my hair. I hope it’ll go away in the shower, I thought absentmindedly. “Close your eyes.” She instructed. I did as was told and felt a spray go all over my face. What is that? I coughed a little as I inhaled some of the stuff C.C. was spraying all over me. She changed aerosols a few times and sprayed me all over ─dress included─, practically with each. “You can open your eyes now.” She grabbed a glitter bottle and applied some at several places but she focused mostly on my hair.

Once she was done, she closed her glitter bottle and dumped it with everything else on the bed. She stepped away from me and looked at me closely with narrowed eyes and her head cocked to the side. She seemed to mull over something for a moment but then a smile formed on her lips. I wonder what she’s thinking about.

“Alright.” She said. “You can go look now.” Finally, I feel like I’ve been sitting here for hours. I stood up and passed beside an excited C.C. to go look in the mirror above our black dresser. As soon as I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror, I was shocked.

Usually, I’m pretty ─I’m not going to deny it─ but now I looked gorgeous, and a little creepy. She did on me an over-exaggerated 60’s ‘Twiggy’ makeup, over purple eye shadow that created a sort of black eye and all around that were lace patterns in almost imperceptible white paint. My golden hair was perfectly curled and half of it was pinned up in a sort of ‘Greek goddess’ hairdo, there was glitter in it too, but I couldn’t seem to find any of the paint I saw her put in earlier ─strange.

“So…? What do you think?” C.C. asked as she went to stand beside me and looked in the mirror.

“I love it.” I said astounded. I then turned to her. “Is there anything you can’t do?” I mean seriously, the girl seemed to be able to do anything perfectly. She laughed.

“If you only knew…” And she left it at that. “Now, my turn.” She curled and pinned her hair up in a similar hairstyle to my own and added glitter. She also put on some paint but only silver and white, practically on every inch of her skin in either lace or swirl patterns. She then put on purple and burgundy eye shadow around her eyes and some white eyeliner on her water line. She added some light bronzer to contour her cheeks and a white-ish lipstick to her lips. She then took off her smock and finished off her look by adding a ton of white mascara to her top and lower lashes.

Then she sprayed herself all over with different aerosols. I wonder what’s in those, they don’t seem to change anything ─oh well. She looked beautiful nevertheless; even if it’s not the kind of beauty you would see everyday… Once she was done, she took the chain from her neck and grabbed the diamond ring that was hanging from it to put on her left ring finger.

“What’s that?” I asked as I stepped closer to get a better look ─I’ve never seen it before. She got a fond smile on her face as she observed her ring.

“My engagement ring.” She said, dreamily.

“You’re already engaged!” I exclaimed, shocked. I mean we’re just sixteen after all. I know that she loves Oliver but…

She looked up from her sort of trance at my outburst. “We’re waiting until we’re in our twenties before we actually get married, so relax.” She said as if it was no big deal. She then muttered something about her parents under her breath that I didn’t quite heard. “Anyway, Olly is like, my soul mate and he saw us in several visions of the future together so…” She then dropped the subject as she went to clean up her things from my bed.

The clock read: 7:49 PM when there was a knock on it. I went to answer it as C.C. finished cleaning up my bed of all her stuff. I opened the door and an extremely ‘Steamed Punk’ Oliver stood on the other side. I recently learned that his weird style is called ‘Steam Punk’ and apparently it’s a very big fashion trend in ‘Derondon’.

He was wearing his little round, red lenses glasses but he had added a magnifier to one of the two lenses. He wore his red hair back and had on a top hat that had gears, clock needles and some tiny bottles on the side of it. He also wore an ‘Edwardian’ suit in shades of grey and silver with his trademark pocket watch over his waistcoat. He accentuated his blue eyes by smudging them with black kohl and it really made them pop. He also had this big pair of mechanical wings, strapped to his back, made of leather and metal with all kinds of gears and stuff. “I come bearing gifts.” He said with a bright smile as he held a bottle of ‘Jack Daniels’ in his hands, in front of him.

I let him enter, he went straight to C.C. and hugged her. He went to kiss her but she pulled away. “Uh, uh. I just put on my lipstick.” She then looked up and smiled fondly at him.

“You know I can’t help myself with you.” He said and I felt like I was intruding on a private moment so I closed the door and busied myself with going to change the song playing on the MP3 speaker to some ‘Breathe Carolina’.

“Awww, and you dressed up as a mechanical Angel of Death for me. Alright,” She let out a playfully-exasperated sigh. “but just a tiny one.” I peeked behind me, and sure enough they were making out. I rolled my eyes and sat on my bed, trying to look anywhere but at them. C.C. laughed as they pulled away. “Look at what you’ve done.” She said in a fake-patronizing tone. “My lipstick is all over your mouth.” She said as she wiped some of it with her thumb. I cleared my throat, tired of being a third wheel and finding the moment very awkward ─for me at least. They both looked at me still holding one another. Oliver as if nothing happened and C.C. with a sheepish expression. “Sorry Del.” I gave her a tight lipped smile. “I’m going to go reapply some lipstick, I’ll be right back.” She said as she made to walk to the bathroom but was stopped by Oliver’s hand on her arm.

“Wait, I have this, first.” He said holding up the bottle of ‘Jack Daniels’ in his other hand. C.C. squealed as she snatched it from him.

“You’re the best!” She exclaimed then gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she jumped in the air with delight and went to sit beside me on my bed, leaving Oliver standing in the middle of the room. She opened the bottle of whiskey and took a big gulp out of it and made a face as the liquid burned down her throat. She then offered the bottle to me but I declined. I never really liked drinking cause if I get drunk or even just tipsy, well, let’s just say, I’m not a happy drunk, more of a sad one… “Oh, come on just one sip.” I reluctantly accepted.

“Peer pressure.” I muttered before taking a sip and making a face. It burned and tasted really gross.

“That’s the spirit!” C.C. said after I took my gulp. I then offered the bottle to Oliver and he took a drink from it.

We passed the bottle around for a while as we talked about some of our most embarrassing stories and soon the bottle was empty. We were all slightly drunk and laughing and basically just having a good time until I looked at the clock. It was almost 9PM and Zane told me he would come to pick me up at 8PM. I frowned. My fuzzy brain then thought of some scenarios as to why Zane wasn’t showing up; like, maybe he doesn’t like me anymore, maybe he got himself another girlfriend. “Del, what wrong?” C.C. slurred slightly as she looked at the sad expression on my face.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” I said as if there was nothing wrong. “Alcohol just makes me sad…”

“But you were laughing just minutes ago.” She rebutted.

“I…─” I didn’t know how to respond to that and I was almost in tears, until I heard a knock at the door ─saved by the bell or in this case: knock. Zane! Quickly, I jumped up from the bed to go answer it. I unsteadily walked to the door and opened it. I was disappointed to find Chris and Jade on the other side, instead of Zane. Oh, no, maybe Zane sent Chris over to break up with me without talking to me directly. I started to panic a little as I greeted the vampire couple that was dressed up as classic, Victorian vampires. “Hi, guys.” I said with a worried, quivering smile.

“Hi, Del.” Chris said with his ever present grin on his face. “We just came by to tell you that Zane told me to tell you that he’s sorry, he won’t be able to escort you to the party.” Oh, no that’s it; I don’t have a boyfriend anymore. I just want to curl up in a small ball on the floor and cry. Chris continued on with: “He said that he has to feed first so he’ll be a little late but he’ll meet you there.” Ah, so he’s not breaking up with me. I freaked out for nothing. Damn alcohol, making me paranoid and all. “Unless you volunteer to be his meal for the night?” He asked innocently.

“Ha, ha.” I said sarcastically. “Very funny.” Yeah, like I want to get bitten and have some blood drained from me ─not.

“Yeah, I thought so.” He said.

“Well, thanks Chris, Jade.” I said with a smile now, knowing that I freaked out over nothing. At least now I know why he didn’t show.

“So…, can we leave to go to the party with you guys?” Chris asked. “Cause Zane told us the location of the party but we couldn’t seem to find it.” He said, looking like a puppy dog ─a cute, vampire puppy dog. I looked over my shoulder at C.C. and Oliver but they were making out ─again.

I hastily turned back to face Jade and Chris and answered: “Sure, why not.”

“So, when are we going?” Jade asked timidly, halfway hidden behind Chris and holding his hand like her life depended on it. Which is ironic because she’s already dead, I thought, making me chuckle slightly until I remembered that she asked me a question.

“Uh…” I looked at the couple still on my bed for an answer but they were heavily making out. Ugh, at this rate we’ll still be here next year. I looked on the floor quickly and grabbed a pair of jeans that I bunched up in a ball and then I threw it at C.C.’s head. It had the desired effect and she pulled away from Oliver to look at me, annoyed.

“What?” She said with slight irritation.

“Are we going to, your, party now or next year?” I asked sarcastically, putting emphasis on the ‘your’ part in the sentence. She seemed to come out of her lust clouded mind and jumped up from the bed. She almost fell down since she stood up too quickly but Oliver caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Thanks, boo.” She said to him then addressed me. “Of course, we’re going now.” I turned to Jade to answer her earlier question.

“We’re going, now.”

“Right, I just need to put on some more lipstick.” C.C. said as she disappeared from the room. She emerged from the bathroom a minute later with a fresh coat of white-ish lipstick on her lips. “Oh, the shoes!” She exclaimed and went in the closet to retrieve two shoe boxes. “Here are yours.” She said as she handed me one of the boxes.

“Thanks.” I said as I took it from her and opened it. Inside where two black, lace, five inch heel, ankle bootie. They were beautiful. I hurriedly sat on my bed to put them on, then stood back up. “I’m ready.” I said and then went over the dresser to turn off my MP3.

“Me, too.” C.C. said. “Let’s go.”

We were at the elevator when I realized that since the party is outside it’s probably going to be cold ─we are in October after all. “Just a sec.” I told everyone as they were about to step in the elevator and I turned to go back to my dorm to grab a jacket.

“Wait, where are you going?” C.C. asked.

“To go grab my jacket since the party is outside.” I answered.

“No need, you’ll only be cold a minute to get to the party but it’s going to be warm over there.” I looked at her skeptically with my brain still a little fuzzy from alcohol. “I’m telling you!” She exclaimed as she grabbed my arm. “Now trust me and let’s go.” We then all stepped into the elevator.

We chatted amiably as we stepped out and walked across the glass bridge, then we went through the garden/terrace and passed under one of the arches leading to the forest behind the school. I walked on my tip toes, so that my heels wouldn’t dig in the ground and thought that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to be wearing heels in a forest. As if C.C. read my mind she said: “There’s a dance floor through the trees on the site so you’ll be able to put your heels down.” Well, that’s interesting.

As we walked, I noticed something move in the bushes, it looked like a person but I couldn’t be sure, since the only source of light in the forest came from the moon up in the sky and the fireflies flying around. Also, the bushes stopped moving almost as soon as I blinked, so I let it go, thinking that it’s probably the alcohol still in my system that’s playing tricks on me.

We walked for all of maybe five minutes ─in the cold that wasn’t so cold after drinking whiskey─ before C.C. made us stop in front of a tree that separated into two large individual trees at about five inches from the ground. At the bottom of the left tree was a plain pumpkin leaning against the bark of it. “Are you guys ready?” She asked with an excited smile. Ready for what? There’s nothing there except a pumpkin. Everyone looked between the trees in anticipation and excitement with the exception of Jade and me ─since we’re both new to this world and don’t know what to expect. We looked at each other with confused expression probably thinking the same thing: ‘What the hell?’ “Here we go.” C.C. said as she grabbed Oliver’s arm and together they stepped between the two trees and disappeared from sight ─they didn’t emerge on the other side of the trees… they just vanished, like poof.

What but how? “Don’t worry Jade, they’re just in a forest of ‘Ellithia’, they didn’t die.” Chris said, trying to reassure a scared looking Jade. “Do you trust me?” He asked, looking deeply in her eyes.

“Yes.” She replied sincerely and automatically.

“Then let’s go.” He told her with a bright smile, taking her hand. “See you on the other side, Del!” Chris called to me over his shoulder before him and Jade both vanished between the two trees. Well, if I die then…

I stepped closer to the trees and took a deep breath. Here we go. I closed my eyes and stepped through the two trees. Once my feet touched ground on the other side and I felt no pain, no change physically ─it was like I walked through a doorway, nothing particular about it─ I risked opening my eyes.