1. The Early Side of Midnight

The Early Side of Midnight

It was the early side of midnight and the darkness had an unnatural stillness. The sky was clear and the stars seemed to be a weight pressing down like a pillow smothering a small child. Even the possums, rats and other creatures of the night were quite. It was as if the moment had the reverence of the universe.

“Fuck!”

“Sssh!”

“You ‘sssh’.”

Callie giggled as she listened to Will and Greg try to slip quietly through the night. It was more of a stumble than a slip given how much the three of them had drunk.

Greg picked up the bottle he’d dropped before it had completely emptied. He wiped the top with his hand and took a swig before handing it to Will. Will held the bottle up to the sky and used the light of the stars to see how much was left.

“Nice one, Greg,” he said when he saw that it was almost empty.

“’Snot my fault they put the frigging letterbox in the middle of the fucking road.”

Callie giggled again, “Give me some,” she took the bottle from Will and finished it.

“Hey!” Will grabbed at the bottle and stumbled into Greg.

Greg pushed Will off him. Will pushed Greg back and the two of them started to get into what could’ve turned into a very interesting drunken scuffle.

Callie looked at them for a moment then got back to staggering up the driveway. She was glad that the driveway was paved, lots of the houses in the area had gravel driveways and she wasn’t sure she could’ve managed to walk on one of those. It would’ve been easier, she reflected, if the ground wasn’t moving so much.

A small branch had fallen off one of the trees lining the driveway and Callie tripped over it. She fell with a grunt that was cut short as she hit her head on the driveway. Will and Greg heard her fall and stopped their scuffle to see what had happened.

When the boys reached her Callie was lying face down, moaning into the ground. The boys hurled her to her feet and the three of them staggered up to the house, arm in arm.

Once they were on the front veranda of the house the boys let Callie go so she could get the key. Callie took a step towards the pot plant where she’d hidden the key and would’ve fallen if Will hadn’t grabbed her.

“Woops,” she said and giggled.

She managed to get the key in the keyhole on her third attempt. As she unlocked the door she was glad that her housemates were off visiting their parents for the weekend. She didn’t want them to see her like this.

Greg came in last and locked the door behind him. Even in his drunken state he still knew that it was dangerous to leave the door unlocked at night. No one dared leave their doors unlocked anywhere near town. Too many people had died already.

Will and Callie collapsed on the living room couch. Greg stumbled over and fell between them. Callie giggled.

“Thank god tomorrow’s Saturday,” Will said as he yanked his arm out from under Greg.

“Mmm, Saturday,” Greg said.

“And then Sunday,” Callie said, “And then Monday.”

“Long weekends are the best,” Will curled up at his end of the couch.

“Totally.”

“Isn’t the queen’s birthday in April?” Callie asked.

“I dunno, maybe.”

“Then how come the Queen’s Birthday long weekend’s now?”

“If I was queen I’d make my birthday weekend on my actual birthday so I could get a day off,” Will said.

“If you were queen,” Greg mumbled.

Callie giggled and lay down with her legs across the boys’ laps. A short time later they were all dead to the world.