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I was honestly kinda excited when Taylor suggested that we do matching Halloween costumes. I’ve never been too much of a Halloween fan, mostly because it was boring when you had nobody to hang out with.
She originally said that we should all do a big, six person matching outfit, but nobody could agree on whether we do Mario characters, cops and robbers or Spider men. It got into this huge thing and eventually we just decided to do pairs. Ben and Taylor wanted to be Mario characters while Tyler and Logan wanted to be cops and robbers. Aiden and I decided to do spider man costumes.
I’ve always liked Spider Man. And ever since Aiden caught me sleeping with a spider man plushie, he’s convinced that I’m obsessed. While the rest of the group were arguing about the costume and who would do what, Aiden was basically begging me to tell the rest of the group to wear Spider-Man costumes with him. They ended up discussing it for an hour while I was at ballet and decided to just do separate costumes.
5:43 PM
Aiden: ASHHHHHHHGHHHJJHHHH :D
Aiden: Do u wanna do spider man costumes with meeeeeeeeeee
You: i already said im not interfering
Aiden: Aw come on ashhhhh
Aiden: Why notttttt
You: you go convince them good luck. I got dance
Aiden: But you like spider man righhhtttttt
Aiden: Pleaseeeee 🥹🙏
Aiden: Ashy u know I can see that u are readign my messagessssss
Aiden: And your dance class doesn’t even start until 6
Aiden: Ash
Aiden: Ash
Aiden: Ashyyyyyy
Missed call from Aiden
7:58 PM
Aiden: ASH ASHY WE FIGURED IT OUT
Aiden: WERE GONNA DO PAIRS INSTEAD
Aiden: PLEASE DO SPIDER MAN WITH ME
Aiden: UR FONNA LOVE IT PLSASEEEEE
You: alright sure
Aiden: YAYYYYYYY LETS GOOO :D
About an hour later, we decided on the suit, ordered it and they arrived the next day.
I decided on a green one with black stripes and orange highlights. Aiden immediately sent the orange and green one to me telling me that I’d look good in it because it’d match my hair. The other choices were good, but I liked the green one a little more after Aiden suggested it. I also already had an orange cropped hoodie that I could wear with it.
He got a black and neon yellow one. Aiden never actually showed me his outfit, but I trust that he won’t make his suit absolutely horrid or something. Probably.
As I started to put on the costume, I got a text from Aiden.
3:23 PM
Aiden: Ashhhhhhhhhhhhh
Aiden: I have a surprise lol
You: we literally just got home from school
Aiden: I know :p
Aiden: Can you come soonnnnnnnnnnnnnn
I thought about it for a little while. Maybe I should make him wait for the fun of it. He’s got Ben to keep him company too. Eventually I caved in and headed a block down the street to Aiden and Ben's house.
3:35 PM
You: im here
Aiden: Come in the doors are open
I shoved my weight into the giant double doors. Sometimes I forget that Aiden is rich. Like rich enough to have a professional security system throughout the entire house and giant double doors with four locks. His parents have probably never even used the cameras to do anything. And Aiden has only used them to find Tyler the one time we played hide and seek with Lily.
When I got in, I should have expected that Aiden would be doing something slightly hazardous and probably a little reckless. But I didn’t expect him to be hanging upside-down from a string that looked oddly like a spider web.
I stood there confused for a minute. He was spinning a little bit and eventually turned to see my expression.
“Hey Ash!” Aided said with a wild smile.
“Hi.” I replied.
“Wanna join?” Aiden asked.
I looked at him warily. Whatever Aiden was doing was probably relatively safe. Ben normally made sure to keep an eye on whatever Aiden was doing, just to make sure he would be fine afterward. So I figured it would be fine.
I walked closer to him and he flipped himself upright. He took that as a yes. A mischievous look creeped up on his face.
“Great. I made one for you too!” He beamed at me and started to climb the rope. It was tied to the railing of the second floor with a thick knot.
~~~~
He dropped a rope that was already tied to the railing next to it and started to descend his own rope.
He was upright and hovering just above the floor when I grabbed the rope.
I climbed about a foot above the ground and Aiden met me in the middle. He started to show me some tricks that he learned online, like how to wrap your foot in the rope so that you are hanging upside down without needing to use your hands.
At one point it got too chaotic and I grabbed his rope and jokingly hit him with it. I thought I would miss, but I actually hit him on the head by accident. He was okay though. Aiden’s durable. Normally.
About 20 minutes later, the twins got to the house. Taylor was dressed as Luigi, matching with Ben, who was dressed as Mario. Tyler and Logan were dressed as a robber and a police man. Once Logan arrived, we left the house to steal candy off of the neighbors’ porch.
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A couple of hours later, we headed back to Aiden’s house to hang out before we shift. It was getting dark and we were all getting tired. Except for Aiden. He would have jumped a fence to get a bowl of candy on someone’s porch if Ben hadn’t grabbed his arm. Logan was freaking out and Tyler was just yelling at him while Ben got Aiden off of the fence. Taylor and I got the entire thing on video.
When we got to his house, we grabbed some blankets and pillows and sat in front of the TV. Everyone wanted to watch a scary movie, including Logan, which was surprising. But he said he didn’t want to watch anything too scary, so Tyler suggested Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark, which Logan wasn’t too opposed to.
We brought down some blankets and pillows while Aiden and Ben brought two big bowls of popcorn into the living room. Aiden set them on the table as Ben and Taylor tried to set up the movie. Tyler was trying to comfort Logan, who was still visibly worried, but trying to hide it.
“It’s not as bad as the phantoms. You’ll be fine. And they literally can’t come out of the screen so why are you so scared?” Tyler teased. Logan wrapped the blanket around himself a little tighter and looked down.
Aiden set some pillows on the floor next to me and dumped what could be a full target bag of candy on the table. It was a suspicious amount considering the amount of houses we went to.
“How’d you get that much candy?” I asked
“This is only half.” He grinned.
“Only half? How? We only went to like, five blocks”
“Exactly. The neighbors just like me, that's all” He shrugged with a smirk and unwrapped a pack of skittles. He offered me some of them and I took the lemon ones. Not like they taste like lemons anyway.
Tyler had watched the movie before, so it made sense that he got bored quickly. I thought the plot was predictable, but that was probably because I’ve seen a thousand horror movies before. By the time the story with the spiders was introduced, Logan was terrified. Tyler was laughing under his breath, but it was kind of funny.
The phantom dimension has been getting less hectic, but somehow more tiring. With the whole psych-ward facility thing sorted out, we were just trying to find out how to get out. But ever since I found out I can pull people into the phantom dimension, I can’t shake the feeling that this entire thing is my fault. And I can’t stop thinking that I have to pull them out.
I keep trying to create rifts when I’m inside the phantom dimension. So far none of them have worked. No Doctor Strange portal sparkles or anything. Just nothing. I think the rest of them also know that I’m somehow linked to the place, but they’re just ignoring it for now.
Aiden tapped me on the shoulder.
“You good?” He signed, not wanting to disturb the others.
“Yes.” I signed back. Just tired.
He nodded and looked at me for a second. I tilted my head. He then reached behind him and grabbed a pillow.
“Want? To sleep?” He signed as he handed me the pillow.
“Thanks.” I signed back as I tucked the pillow under my chin. The pillow smelled faintly of oranges and hair dye.
Like him. I thought as I drifted to sleep.
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When I woke up again, the credits were playing and the windows were pitch black. Everyone else was sleeping in tangles of blankets, pillows and limbs. Logan was curled in a ball in the corner of the couch, Tyler’s foot dangerously close to his glasses. Taylor and Ben were sleeping peacefully next to each other. Aiden was lying next to me on the floor. His arm under his head. He looked oddly peaceful and calm, not two words I’d ever use to describe him.
I glanced at the clock. 11:47. Almost time.
I didn’t want to stay up any longer. I figured that since everyone else was also asleep, it would be nice to get some more rest before we shifted.
I laid down on the cold floor next to Aiden. Not exactly against him, but close enough to feel his warmth.
I took out my earplugs and put the pillow under my head. I heard his breathing hitch as I lay down. I was too tired to wonder if he heard me. I just drifted back to sleep hoping that tonight will be okay.