Afterglow

The twelve hours after our instantly infamous Lowell set only added to the Embers of Twilight legend.

Law enforcement questioned us about Kenny’s stunt and gave us a lecture about how reckless it was—especially the part where someone else could’ve gotten hurt. We gave them an empty apology. I appreciated Kenny—somehow, no one even brought up my blood-stained antics.

Twenty minutes after the set, Kenny stumbled back to us, pale and shaking from literally fighting for his life—he’d had to swim upstream through the river’s current. First responders had wrapped both arms in gauze and bandages.

“How was the crowd?” he croaked.

“It was strong, they definitely won’t forget that,” I said.

“Thank God... that river’s gnarly. Honestly, pavement might’ve been safer,” he laughed.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jim snapped.

I didn’t blame him.

For the first time, the consequences of Kenny’s death wish were tangible.

Kenny just stared at him, hollow.

The silence dragged until we finally turned and walked away.

“Let’s go find Julia and Courtney,” he muttered.

“Are you okay?” I asked. My voice cracked.

“Not really,” he said. “I just need people right now.”

We walked a couple of blocks away from the pavilion to meet up with our friends. Courtney was worried that Scott wasn’t with us—but not as worried as I was. I felt wrong leaving him behind after what I saw before the set, but Kenny’s current state took priority.

When we arrived at the destination, seeing Courtney, Maggie, Julia, and Skye all together drained the blood from my face. Kenny would be getting off on the punishment I was about to take.

“Kenny… that was some bullshit you pulled out there,” Courtney said.

“Yeah,” he said nervously. “But did it look sick from out in the audience?”

“Yeah,” Maggie replied in a shy tone, “You looked kind of hot.”

Every head turned toward her, visibly stunned. That… was not what any of us expected.

“Oh? Well, thanks,” Kenny replied, walking closer to her now.

He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into his sweat-drenched clothes. Their faces were inches apart.

“How about now?” he asked.

Maggie ran her fingers up his arms, exploring the bandages and cuts before she rested her hands on his face.

“You look like you just got back from an intimate date with death,” she said, her voice low and strange.

At this point, the rest of us were too troubled by what we were witnessing to say anything. This was… uncomfortable, yet we just stood there gawking.

Just two deranged high school kids. Making out in an alley in Lowell.

I’d known Maggie for years, but I never realized how enamored she was with dark things. Maybe her dying wallflower persona was a mask to hide how damaged she was.

The rest of the group finally read the situation and stepped out of the alley to leave them alone.

“Well—that wasn’t on my bingo card tonight,” Courtney said, cutting through the silence.

“Yeah… that’s for sure,” Julia added.

By this time Skye was draping herself all over me as we walked through downtown. Julia stayed locked in conversation with Courtney—but she kept drifting too close to me.

I didn’t really have much to add. I didn’t want to see any of these people yet. This was all for Kenny. At least he didn’t leave me with Maggie.

“Wes, what was with cutting yourself during Little Lies earlier?” Skye asked. “Isn’t that usually Kenny’s thing?”

“Yeah… I don’t know. I just wanted to do something shocking.”

Truth is, I wasn’t even sure why I did it. I don’t cut. Kenny’s been doing it since before I met him—said it was about his true-self on stage.

I guess I was just pretending. I didn’t have a reason. I just did it. Fucking poser.

Skye took my right hand close to her face and licked along the cut—maintaining eye contact the entire time.

I don’t know why this turned me on, but I pulled her closer to me for a kiss. I guess I’d made up my mind about whether we should date. Julia stopped walking.

Courtney was torn between staying or going—eventually opting to go along with Skye and I, leaving Julia behind.

“Do you guys want to grab food somewhere before we head back?” Courtney asked.

“Yeah, we should grab something quick. I’m a little light headed from the show.”

Skye pouted a bit, wishing that this was going to lead somewhere else.

We sat down and ate at a small sub shop. I texted Scott that we would meet up with him on the way back. Skye texted Julia, trying to figure out where she was because they were supposed to go home together.

“Julia’s parents are picking her up I guess,” Skye said.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Courtney added.

“Can I catch a ride with you two and Scott on the way back?” Skye asked.

“Yeah, we should have the room… Do you want us to drop you off at your place?”

“No, I’m less than fifteen minutes from you guys. If Wes walks me home I’ll be alright.”

Courtney looked at me like I was less than scum.

“I guess… even though Wes is the kind of guy you worry about seeing late at night.”

I looked down to avoid her gaze.

“Yeah, but he’s not that dangerous. The first time we got together he knew what consent was, which counts for something these days.”

Courtney winced. She definitely didn’t want to know that.

“Well, I guess he isn’t a rapist then,” she said, not sure whether it was a joke or a warning.

The conversation died completely at that point and we made our way back to the pavilion.

“Cool, cool, the gang’s almost all here,” Scott said. “Does anyone know where Kenny ended up?”

“He ran off with Maggie earlier. Haven’t heard from him since,” I said.

Scott reacted with pained confusion, “That’s… unexpected.”

Jim didn’t say anything, but he was clearly angry about this. He was overly nice to Maggie, but never admitted to having romantic feelings for her. Compound that with her being with Kenny…

“Well, they should be able to make it back home. Kenny’s responsible when it comes to other people,” Scott laughed.

The ride back was quiet. Everyone was tired from the craziness of the evening. This didn’t stop Skye from grabbing on me in the backseat, but I wasn’t going to let anything transpire with Scott and Courtney there.

When we got back to the Parris’ house, Scott asked Skye and Courtney to wait in the house for a bit—that he wanted to talk to me about something private.

“Wes—what you saw earlier, can you not tell anyone else about that?”

“Yeah man. I wasn’t even going to mention that I saw it.”

“Thanks…”

“But now that we’re talking about it, why?”

He hesitated for a moment, considering his response, “I just need that edge sometimes. I look at Kenny, then you and Caleb—you guys all just have that edge. I don’t have it. I need something to match what you have—I don’t want to get left behind again.”

“That makes sense, man. This will stay between us.”

“I’ll let Skye know you’re ready… text me if you aren’t coming back tonight.”

Scott was a better man than I was. He had everything you could ask for in life—good looks, a great voice, wealth, and a loving family, but was humble. It’s a shame he respected me.

When Skye emerged, she was bubbly.

“You guys are trending on social media… especially Kenny.”

“Oh? How bad is it?”

“Well, the video of his jump and the police statement about it are everywhere. Then Julia posted a pic of him and Maggie, so there’re all kinds of rumors floating around… some Sid and Nancy shit.”

“Is that all?”

“No, people are talking about how you need therapy… and there are all kinds of rumors about you being a slut,” she paused. “But it’s all going viral and people thought the show was great, so it’ll all work out.”

We made it back to her place. Her parents were asleep. We didn’t waste any time getting started.

At some point in our closeness the cut on my hand reopened, leading to some experimentation. I didn’t realize at the time that this would become the start of a new mental sickness.