“You have a lot of dresses.”
Lena and Karen Anne and looked through my closet as I sat at my desk.
“I think they’ve been worn, maybe, once or twice.”
“This one looks so cute,” Karen Anne squealed.
Lena nodded.
“You need to try this one on again.”
They handed over a green dress that I recall I got for my Senior Prom, the one I never went to—and since I never went on any date whatsoever, it remained bagged and hung up.
I took the dress and they left the room.

I got undressed and looked at the person in the mirror. She looked unhappy and hurt, like fifteen years of her life had been Hell and here she was, alive but not living. Was I zombie, a ghoul, or a vampire?
I put the dress on and noticed it was fitting in the right places—but maybe those places stuck out too much from within it.
“Everyone’s going to be staring at me,” I whispered.
“And you want them to,” Lena answered from the hall.
“Kind of the point,” Karen Anne piped up as she walked back into the room. “That looks nice.”
“We can work on your hair, and this will work for the wedding too.”
“I thought it was going to be casual?” Karen Anne asked.
“Nikki, if you want to wear this again in two days, you go right ahead.”
“I really don’t think wearing this is a good idea,” I said as I reached behind my back to unzip it.
Lena moved my hands and secured the clasp. “Nonsense. You look wonderful.”
“Ready to conquer the world in heels or flats.”
“I do not have any shoes for this.”
“KA, do you think she needs fancy shoes?”
“Do you have any boots?”
“Seth’s biker boots.”
Karen Anne stepped back into the closet and pulled out a pair of leather boots that looked thin and shiny. I had never wore them more than once as they were a pain to get off and I had smashed a window trying to remove them one time.
“These are not riding boots,” Lena stated. “They are pretty kick-ass though.”
Karen Anne only nodded as she handed them over.
“Do you have a black shirt? We’ll try to do some layering.”
“When is Adam coming home?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about Adam, Nikki. I know about the wall.” Karen Anne stated and my eyes shot right to her face. “We’ve had a few talks about that. He’s felt bad about that but hasn’t found a way to say anything about it.” Karen Anne stepped back as I unlaced the boots. “He said Seth said something that hung with him. He won’t talk about it.”
Lena and I nodded in-between our attempts to put the boots on.
“Can I borrow these?” Lena asked.
“Assuming we can get them off my feet after tonight.”

Three hours later, Karen Anne and Lena had done their best to tease and adjust my hair—and they did a better job than I could have. They would leave one at a time and each time would come back wearing clothes as if they were going out for a night on the town…in Nashville or somewhere else.
I could hear Amelia and James complaining about wearing “fancy clothes”.
“Everybody ready?” Danny asked as he stepped into my room holding a small box.
“Just about,” Lena replied.
“Where is everyone else going?”
“With you. The whole family’s invited.”
“What?”
Danny walked over to me. “Mr. Thomas invited the whole family. But, I hear you’re the guest of honor.”
“For what?”
“Has Mr. Thomas ever revealed everything?”
“I..I don’t want to be be out in front of everyone.”
“You won’t. You’ll be out in front with everyone.”
“No,” I shook my head firmly. “I’m not going. I’m not, Danny.”
“Can you excuse us for a moment?”
Lena and Karen Anne left the room and Danny closed the door.
“What’s going on?”
“Mr. Thomas is dying. This is kind of like his wake. A party for him to enjoy…I’m not going to try say it like he did, but, he was adamant that you showed up—even if we had to drag you there kicking and screaming.”
“What’s he dying of?”
“He only said of boredom.”
“Even Adam?” I asked.
“Yeah, even Adam. I remember that night too.”
“He threw me out of the house, Danny.”
“I know.”
“And I’m just supposed to forgive and forget.”
“You know we can’t,” Danny replied.
“Is he going to rip this off of me, ignore me or invoke the angels to smite me?”
“I would’ve loved to be able to that when working at Starbucks. Smite me a few Karens.”
“Seriously, Danny,” I was three seconds shy of slamming my own arm through the wall.”
“Here, these belong to you.” Danny held the box out to me and then opened it.
I looked inside to see two battered pieces of metal held together by a chain: Seth’s dog tags.
“He always said that if had to wear ‘em while going through Hell..”

“Then I should too,” I took the tags and threw them over my neck. I already kind of looked like Helena Bonham Carter’s little sister and the splash of metal from the tags added to the ensemble.

Everyone in the house was overly dressed, even my parents, who I had never seen them as such except in their wedding album. We left the house and piled into two SUV’s.
“Adam’s meeting us there,” Karen Anne stated while tying to get the kids buckled in. I helped by holding Amelia’s hands in the air enough for the car seat’s top half to latch.
“Thank you.”

We pulled out the driveway and at that instant the feeling to get out of the car was upon me once again but, since it was for Mr. Thomas and Garrett was going to be there, I moved my hands away from the door, looked straight ahead, and tried to put any thoughts out of my mind.

Maybe the night would end in disappointment, but perhaps it would end on a fun note.
I felt a small smile on my face.