It was the day of Halloween. I had just gotten together my costume and now I’m sitting on my bed thinking of the past, future, and present. Melancholy took me as I thought. Nostalgia swept over me like the gusting winds of autumn. For the past four years, I have been going to Eldritch High school. During that time, I’ve made very little friends as I prefer it like that. Too many friends seemed useless when you can have one or two best friends who actually care for your wellbeing. I have only one friend who has been with me throughout these humble four years of my life.

Dakota Pierce. Dakota isn’t like many teenagers in high school. He has a medical condition where his body never went through puberty. The doctors kept giving dates on when he’ll hit puberty, but now that he’s eighteen, it seems like he’ll never physically be an adult. Not like this bothers Dakota. Dakota, despite his small stature, he is stronger than most his height being that the last time he’s bench pressed he could lift 250 pounds. I asked him how could he do that. He told me that he strengthened his ‘ki’ through training. I thought he was mad. I mean, ‘ki’ is something only in fiction but I can’t deny that for the pixie-like Dakota is stronger than me, and I’m six feet even. It is given that I don’t like sports or any athleticism.

Another odd thing about Dakota is that he likes to wear frilly girly clothes. He’s mostly into the Gothic Lolita style right now as before he looked more like a beautiful little girl. Even when I first met him I thought he was a little girl. I asked him why he wears those clothes, and he told me that his sister liked to dress him up. He also said that the clothes suited him most. I asked him if he felt like a girl. He interrupted me mid-sentence saying ‘no’.

Dakota is a baffling individual, but he’s a great friend. Always sticks up for me even though I’m a nerd and he’s the head cheerleader. I’m still trying to figure out how Dakota ended up being the head cheerleader. For the last four years, we have done so much together. The first year, we had mostly the same schedule. We tried our best to keep it that one, and every year we got two or more classes together. It’s a joy being around Dakota. We may not have much common interest, but one interest we do have: Anime and manga. He’s as heavily into as I am. That’s mostly what we talk about throughout the day. I love being with the pixie. Pixie is Dakota’s nickname. He really likes it as it became a school-wide thing just to call Dakota, Pixie.

Lately, I’ve been feeling weird when I’m near Dakota. My heart starts pounding hard and I start sweating bullets. I don’t know what it is. Just thinking about Dakota makes my stomach flutter like there are butterflies in it. It all started a month ago when I accidentally fell on top of Dakota kissing him straight on the mouth. It felt wonderful. Like I should’ve been doing it for the past four years. A couple weeks later, Dakota has been gushing over this new dress that came out. I decided that I would buy it for him. I have a part-time job and spending money on Dakota seemed worth it to me. I surprised him and he ended up kissing me on the mouth again. It felt even more wonderful than the last kiss! I know I’m not gay or anything, but I can’t help but feel butterflies for the pixie. I asked him why he kissed me on the lips. He told me because I deserved it then he blushed. What did that blush mean? Does he have a crush on me? I mean, I would completely be against it. Most people around school think we’re a couple anyway (even though I explained for the umpteenth that we are friends).

Interrupting my thinking, I hear a little girl’s voice say, “ROLAND! Your girlfriend is here.”

I come out of my room yelling back, “Dakota is not my girlfriend for the umpteenth hundredth time.” My sister, Jane, giggles along with her twin, Joan. I walk towards the living room. My house is big, despite my drunken father and useless mother, we have money. I see Dakota sitting on the couch making himself at home. “Hey,” I called out to the pixie.

“Hey!” a bubbly voice said jumping over, the couch running up to me, and giving me a hug.

‘He smells so nice, like cupcakes.’ I thought.

Dakota stepped back and did a little twirl as he bubbly exclaims, “Do you like my new dress?” Seeing Dakota like this made me grin like an idiot. He looked so beautiful and exotic in that Gothic Lolita style dress.

“Beautiful and exotic. I like it.” I replied mostly you in it.

“Thanks!” He appreciations my compliment giving me a wide grin. He’s so cute. I feel my stomach flutter and heart pound at a faster rate.

“Well uh, let’s put on our costumes. We only have a couple hours until the party.” I said sheepishly giving a nervous grin as my face started feeling warm. Every year there is a Halloween party at school. Surprisingly unlike most schools. This party is always fun. The school administration came up with an idea of letting the students do the work and come up with the ideas for the party. Every year it’s always a hit. This is will probably be no different.

This year, Dakota and I decided to go as Sora and Shiro from ‘No game No life’. Dakota is definitely small enough to be a Shiro and I’m definitely tall enough to be a Sora. Last year we went as Simon and Kamina from ‘Gurren Lagann’. That was the first time I’ve ever seen Dakota dress as a boy. He still looked completely adorable.

Dakota and I got dress and did our makeup. It took about an hour or so to finish, but when we did. We looked sharp and exactly like Shiro and Sora.

I call out, “Girls, are you ready?”

I hear a unison yell out, “Yes!” Then two little fairies almost identical to each other run to us. Unless most parties hosted by the school. How school’s parties make a profit on visitors going to their parties. I say party, but Eldritch’s Halloween party is more of a festival. With all the little shops and activities all manned by students. It reminds me of the cultural festivals you see in anime.

‘Dr. Agnus is at it again. Crazier this time than before.’ Dr. Jacob Ghrett mused while sipping on his coffee. Jacob was part of a team of scientist working to make a super soldier. The only problem is the head researcher, Dr. Randy Agnus, is insane. Like the mad scientist type of insanity. Jacob never really cared for the project. It seemed like a waste of time considering that there were no pending wars. Jacob rather just read some gender bender stories he found on the internet. Not like he was transgender or anything, but some of the stories he found to be fascinating.

A loud siren went off alerting something has happened. Jacob wasn’t stupid like the other researchers. He’s watched plenty of movies similar to this. He slowly gets up and runs the other direction. He hears screams and flesh being ripped off. He stops and looks back for a second. A demented looking creature was eating one of his colleagues. That was his cue to run. He ran as fast as physically possible towards the exit. When he gets there, he finds the door to be locked. He’s always been good at breaking through doors and understood how to break through these ones specifically. Jacob quickly slices through the servers and opens the door. He then feels something grab and bites into him, ripping into his flesh. He screams as he blacks out from the pain.

Twenty monstrosities wobble out of secret test facility and hobble towards the nearest school.