Killing Distance.....................Dear Mella 5

November 7, 20071

My dearest Mella,2

Sounds like you and your 'mates' are having fun over there. And I swear the whole me reading your mind thing works even when we're thousands of miles away. I had this sudden burst of inspiration about two days before Halloween and I decided to have a little Halloween fun myself. I jumped onto my new bike (new, of course, is figuratively speaking, as it's actually May's dad's old bike which was decomposing in a parking lot until I happened to save it. Back to the story!) and rode downtown to some party store where I got my hands on some nifty fireworks, though they didn't really have anything interesting. Mostly just sparklers and a couple of glowsticks, which I know aren't fireworks but hell, they glow, don't they? After that I had a little meeting in my apartment and told my friends the plan for Halloween. They set off, each making the proper arrangements.3

Planning for Halloween brought back good memories, like that time way back in 9th grade when James Harker came to school on Halloween wearing nothing but his birthday suit and a strap on smiley face. Claimed he was dressed as "dignity", though I thought "come on kids, point and laugh" would be a more fitting title. He got suspended for three days, poor kid. 4

Or that time Casey dressed as a cheeto and actually glued cheetos all over a ridiculous orange jumpsuit. Too bad it rained, or else the costume might have actually not been funny. Good times, man!5

Anyway, on Hallow's Eve, me and a couple of my friends, namely Cimon, Tessa, David, Zoe, Kimmi and Mark went down into the subway clad in more than flattering attire. I was dressed as David Bowie when he starred in Labyrinth, so my hair was all white and poofed up and all that good stuff; Cimon was a supposed trapeze artist, so he had hilarious looking blue clothes on with flailing ribbons blowing in every which way and enough sequins to drown a sixties drag queen; Tessa was the bride from kill bill 2 when she's wearing the cool yellow deal; David was a blank cd, which was pretty much all shiny clothing with a little black spot centered around his bellybutton; Zoe was a peacock... must I say more?; Kimmi was a clone of herself, so she was dressed normal except a little sign around her neck stating "Clone of Kimberly Rongien"; and Mark was a birthday present, with pieces of mismatched wrapping paper all over him and a large, pestilent bow on the top of his head. We looked wonderfully terrifying, which is, after all, the spirit of Halloween. So we went to the subway and, around eight or so pm, we lit a bunch of sparklers and glowsticks while we got Kimmi to temporarily shut off the lights in part of the subway (honestly, who keeps light switches in a subway this close to an infestation of college students unguarded?) and pranced around shrieking "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" and scaring the living daylights out of everyone around us. We got out of there pretty fast though, don't want a criminal record for having outstanding festivities. 6

After that we got a bunch of soda and crystal light mix poured into a big plastic cauldron Cimon had for who-knows-what reason, and we added a little dry ice we got at the store and presto! Real witch's brew. We partied and had our own version of karaoke and then we went outside and painted a sort of mural on a big piece of butcher paper from school. It was almost like Halloween back home, which made me miss you even more!7

After everyone left I took a shower to wash out the stick dye in my hair and Cimon spent the night at my house, and I won't gross you out/bore you with details, but let's just say I slept in until 12. 8

School's going pretty much the same. It's fun, despite that it's school. I like all of my professors except one, Mrs. Jennings, because she talks way too loudly and has an obnoxious sense of humor (she teaches my math class. yes, I have to take math.), but she's still an okay teacher. My bio teacher, Mr. Jessop, the one I told you about in my first letter, is really cool. He's got completely white hair but he talks like he was born yesterday and has a good opinion on everything. I often find myself talking to him after class, and almost never about class-related things. Is it weird to be friends with your professor? Oh well.9

I was thinking about Aspen, that boy you were telling me about. He sounds nice, even though you've only told me his name, but anyone named Aspen sounds pretty damn cool. Give him my condolences.10

May was playing the song you sent me on her trumpet, which I admit sounded a little odd, but it sounded really cool when Zoe joined in on her keyboard and her sister played her guitar. I even tried adding some crappy vocals and Mark filmed us. It actually sounded really cool! I sent you a copy, you can compare it with your version. 11

I feel like I miss you more and more every day, but at the same time it's getting closer to when we might finally see each other again! I can't wait.12

Cimon is still planning the whole astronomy outing thing, but it's steadily getting chillier so I hope he plans it soon. Forrest, which is his dad's friend with the telescope, says we can do it next weekend up in the backcountry. I'll keep you posted on it, it sounds like it'll be fun.13

Love ya tons,14

Clarisse Diego Winfrey15

...Clay.16

P.S. My cooking doesn't suck THAT much! =\17

P.P.S. Good luck with your social drama! I expect some juicy news in your next letter, so get writing!18