Prom Day
The TV was blaring in the background, and I had just woken up. The alarm clock said 3:38 on it, and the room was dark. I turned to open the blinds, and as the curtains drew, light flooded the room, like a dam just broke and let all the water drown out the valleys below. The sign on the building across the street read "E.J. King Prom Night" and my suit lay ready for me, all perfectly pressed, lying almost carelessly at the bottom of my bed. I ran to the shower, and let the water run hot. I grabbed some candy, and popped it in my mouth, then jumped into the shower. It was pleasant, almost as if it was meant to be. Even through all this, I thought about how I had to leave the next day, and I might never see two of the closest people to me ever again. Nate and Marty, I had known those guys since I first arrived there. All those thoughts ran through my mind, how much Yokosuka was going to suck, how much I was going to miss them. They kept going all day long, but for now, I had to worry about tying my tie properly. Was it a double, or was it a half, oh well, it's tied, it looks alright. I needed to get some stuff for prom night, so I headed out to the store on the other side of base. I got there 20 minutes later, an old brick warehouse, worn with time, telling stories of many ages in the cement. Inside, I bought a disposable camera, one of those damned plastic things. Outside, I saw Nate and Marty, hanging out with Nando, Marty's older brother. The beat boomed from the bass amp as Nando's car sat running in the parking lot. We all sat up against the warehouse doors, with an all too uncomfortable silence and tension sitting between us. It was my last day, what were we to do. Then there came the question of how to get Nate to come to prom. Well, we couldn't get him to go there, although we tried, his parents were really strict and always out to teach him a lesson. Since he didn't ask ahead of time, he couldn't go, simple as that. No argument was worth arguing with Nate's dad, a hard skinned retired navy man. After we had tried everything, we decided to just spend the time as best as we could, and we talked about things that meant no sense at all, but filled the eerie silence that lurked beyond our mutterings. Now that Nando's car had dried off, it was time for Nate and Marty to depart from me, Nate for the last time, Marty for a few hours till prom. I shook Nate's hand, although I wanted to hug him, and I told Marty that I would see him later on. After they drove off, a sharp pain hit me, and spread through me, like a poison dagger, straight through my heart, I was going to miss Nate, my brother, Nate, a brother I always needed, and had. I wandered around, almost aimlessly, and I saw a few of my friends from school. Melissa had been standing there on the street corner, waiting impatiently for her mom to come pick her up. I decided to stay and chat for a while, and got a ride back to the Prom room. We had set out to finish decorating the large room, which made you feel infinitely small. I had to hang streamers. Melissa's mom helped me with that, cut, twirl, tape, cut, twirl, tape, that's how it went, so methodical, so complicated, and so easy in itself. I did it, almost with a mechanical aura about me, lifeless, drawn out from the pain that grew within me, the pain that held me high and slowly picked me apart. I was going to miss them, all of them, my friends, my best friends, the locals, the town, everything. I was thinking about how I'll never again get to ride the trains which I depended on so heavily there, or visit my favorite stores, or ever again eat at the "Ramen Shop", a classic haunt for me and my friends. Then a roll of streamer hit me in the head, and behind it trailed the words from the Prom kids, "hurry up with those streamers", oh how I just wanted to burn it down. I hung my last of that roll, then left. I went back to my room, where I contemplated the beginning of the end of things.
The TV was blaring in the background, and I had just woken up. The alarm clock said 3:38 on it, and the room was dark. I turned to open the blinds, and as the curtains drew, light flooded the room, like a dam just broke and let all the water drown out the valleys below. The sign on the building across the street read "E.J. King Prom Night" and my suit lay ready for me, all perfectly pressed, lying almost carelessly at the bottom of my bed. I ran to the shower, and let the water run hot. I grabbed some candy, and popped it in my mouth, then jumped into the shower. It was pleasant, almost as if it was meant to be. Even through all this, I thought about how I had to leave the next day, and I might never see two of the closest people to me ever again. Nate and Marty, I had known those guys since I first arrived there. All those thoughts ran through my mind, how much Yokosuka was going to suck, how much I was going to miss them. They kept going all day long, but for now, I had to worry about tying my tie properly. Was it a double, or was it a half, oh well, it's tied, it looks alright. I needed to get some stuff for prom night, so I headed out to the store on the other side of base. I got there 20 minutes later, an old brick warehouse, worn with time, telling stories of many ages in the cement. Inside, I bought a disposable camera, one of those damned plastic things. Outside, I saw Nate and Marty, hanging out with Nando, Marty's older brother. The beat boomed from the bass amp as Nando's car sat running in the parking lot. We all sat up against the warehouse doors, with an all too uncomfortable silence and tension sitting between us. It was my last day, what were we to do. Then there came the question of how to get Nate to come to prom. Well, we couldn't get him to go there, although we tried, his parents were really strict and always out to teach him a lesson. Since he didn't ask ahead of time, he couldn't go, simple as that. No argument was worth arguing with Nate's dad, a hard skinned retired navy man. After we had tried everything, we decided to just spend the time as best as we could, and we talked about things that meant no sense at all, but filled the eerie silence that lurked beyond our mutterings. Now that Nando's car had dried off, it was time for Nate and Marty to depart from me, Nate for the last time, Marty for a few hours till prom. I shook Nate's hand, although I wanted to hug him, and I told Marty that I would see him later on. After they drove off, a sharp pain hit me, and spread through me, like a poison dagger, straight through my heart, I was going to miss Nate, my brother, Nate, a brother I always needed, and had. I wandered around, almost aimlessly, and I saw a few of my friends from school. Melissa had been standing there on the street corner, waiting impatiently for her mom to come pick her up. I decided to stay and chat for a while, and got a ride back to the Prom room. We had set out to finish decorating the large room, which made you feel infinitely small. I had to hang streamers. Melissa's mom helped me with that, cut, twirl, tape, cut, twirl, tape, that's how it went, so methodical, so complicated, and so easy in itself. I did it, almost with a mechanical aura about me, lifeless, drawn out from the pain that grew within me, the pain that held me high and slowly picked me apart. I was going to miss them, all of them, my friends, my best friends, the locals, the town, everything. I was thinking about how I'll never again get to ride the trains which I depended on so heavily there, or visit my favorite stores, or ever again eat at the "Ramen Shop", a classic haunt for me and my friends. Then a roll of streamer hit me in the head, and behind it trailed the words from the Prom kids, "hurry up with those streamers", oh how I just wanted to burn it down. I hung my last of that roll, then left. I went back to my room, where I contemplated the beginning of the end of things.