Like a Bat Out of Hell

Lennox’s Outfit

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Lennox had spent the evening at someone else’s apartment, participating in a night-long weed fest. He was completely high and full of fast food. He was walking back to his place but taking the long way, because it was cool out and the coolness felt good on his skin. Lennox was on the very outskirts of town, content in his little bubble. He passed a few people and knew he reeked of weed but no one said anything to him and he didn’t find he cared much about how much he smelt.

He saw something in the background and stared, the shakes of the trees bleeding together and moving in unison. What was that? Lennox saw a figure but it might have been an owl. He saw someone darting towards him then and blinked, startled, as he didn’t move and instead the figure came close to him, his shape small. He looked like he wandered out of a book’s cover, clothed in all black and a mask. Lennox could not smell the blood on the guy over the scent of weed.

”....hi,” Lennox said, time stopping for a second. He thought the guy was staring right through him... he supposed he should say hi. ”Nice mask. Are you going to a masquerade, man?”

Lennox watched as the figure stopped before him. He tilted his head to the side, the moonlight making the shadows on the guy’s face dance. Or maybe it was the wind – or, perhaps, they weren’t moving at all. Lennox listened to the guy speak, taking a few moments to process what he was saying. Then, he smiled.

”Oh, that’s fine if it does,” Lennox said. No one would miss him, hardly. Fletcher would be able to pay his own rent and have his second room back and he’d be tossed in some grave. Maybe his brother would pay for a casket, or maybe not. Maybe he’d be murdered and disposed of some other way. ”I’m not really lucky enough to run into any murderers, though. Or fast food joints... say, you got any fries on you?”

Lennox looked at Peter as he responded, unable to really see his face through the shadows, or the mask obscuring it. He looked like something out of a movie. Lennox blinked and shifted, feeling a sense of dizziness by just standing there still.

”Oh. Darn.” He said, wondering still if Peter was carrying fries on him. Though he figured he didn’t, unless he was like a drug dealer but for French fries. That must be a fulfilling career – and the police probably wouldn’t care as much about that one, right? ”Coulda fooled me with that getup, kid! Is it Halloween yet? You'd be guaranteed to win the costume contest.”

”You’re probably younger than me.” Lennox said, blinking when Peter said he was a justice worker. Like a social worker? Social workers never were very useful, in Lennox’s experience. ”I wouldn’t be too proud of that. Sounds boring. I’d rather find something fun to do. Like run a Halloween shop.”

Lennox shifted on his feet, ”Does the government pay you, then? Or do you pay yourself?”

Lennox shrugged. ”I guess. Don’t let them hear you saying that. They’ll have you assassinated or something,” Lennox wondered if they would be assassinated then for discussing such topics. This wasn’t the conversation he thought he would get into on his way home.

”You sound like you know them a lot. Are you an FBI agent on the run or something?” He asked. ”A masquerade outfit sorta stands out though I guess in the dark, its okay. Just a little weird; but Salem’s full of weird shits, yeah? So you’re okay, probably. I won’t tell anyone I saw you.”

Lennox tiled his head at being eliminated. From the team? From the competition? ”Eliminate? We’re not in a game show dude... unless you are...” he glanced behind Peter as though he could see a camera crew behind them – would he be punked? Fuck, what if they arrested him for being high? Nah, they wouldn’t. They might have wasted a take on him, though.

When he said he didn’t catch his name, Lennox blinked. ”Probably cause I never said it,” he said, with a smile. He didn’t usually smile unless under the influence of something. It was quite a nice feeling to let loose for a bit.