*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
*Disclaimers: This story has been edited by myself, utilizing Microsoft Spell-Check. You have been forewarned; expect to find mistakes.
**..**..**
"Aw come on Melly. Huh? It's the Alpha Zeta Rho party! You know how many people are just dying to go to their Halloween party?" Melanie Daniels' roommate begged.
Melanie looked at Courtney Brown and shrugged her shoulders. So what if it was the Alpha Zeta Rho party, or a state dinner at the White House? Or a weenie roast in Connor Park? She and the morbidly obese girl would be ignored, shunned, shoved into a corner and, after enough alcohol had flowed, would be paraded around and mocked and ridiculed for everyone's amusement.
"Court, you want to go, then go," Melanie said, wincing as her voice came out in its usual annoying squeak.
"Oh come on! I, I don't want to go by myself," Courtney begged.
Eventually, as she'd known she would, Melanie gave in to Courtney's whining, wheedling, bargaining and pleading. Flopping off of the small cot, Melanie pulled her Myndee University sweatshirt on over her long sleeve Blue Jays tee shirt. She then pulled on her MU baseball cap, covering her few bald spots from view.
"Where you going?" Courtney asked.
"Phone says there's a costume store couple blocks away off Burke Street," Melanie said. "Guess I'll go see if they have an elf costume or something."
Melanie Tamara Daniels was the product of a fairly petite crack whore and an unknown customer. While pregnant, Melanie's mother had continued to drink excessively and smoke crack cocaine. Upon birth, Melanie's mother occasionally remembered to breast feed her baby, remembered to change the infant's diapers, but most of the time, Melanie's mother left the infant unattended in an alley behind the bar while she turned tricks or used drugs.
By the time CPS of St. Ann Parish discovered Melanie, the damage had been done. The child was severely malnourished, deformed and much smaller than the average seven month old infant. One doctor was shocked to discover that the infant was not a premature newborn.
Growing up, Melanie was always the small, ugly child. Her scraggly brown hair did not cover all of her head. Her eyes were two small slits above pronounced cheekbones. Her nose was a large lump in the center of her face and had a tip that curled under. Her lips were thin and on the few occasions that she smiled, her teeth were mangled and discolored.
Looking at her, most people assumed that the eighteen year old woman was a nine year old boy. She had no breasts or buttocks and her limbs were spindly. Her height of four feet, three inches helped to solidify her appearance of an ugly little boy and her manner of dress did not help change anyone's impression of her.
Courtney Brown was the first person the unfortunate girl had ever believed was her friend. Courtney too was quite short, only four feet ten inches. And Courtney was overweight; morbidly obese. The girl pushed the scales at two hundred and sixty seven pounds and, in just the few months into the school semester, had been dubbed 'Oompa Loompa' by most residents of Stuebbens Dormitory.
But Courtney's genuine smile when Melanie introduced herself had made Melanie feel a curious warmth in her heart. And, Courtney declaring Melanie's name was now Melly had caused one of Melanie's very rare smiles to crease her face.
"Turn left onto Tagma... Then right on Burke..." Melanie read the walking directions to the costume shop from her cell phone.
The strip mall had not fared well in the thirty odd years since its construction. A nail salon, a tax preparation office, a seedy Adult Bookstore, and a costume shop were the only businesses Melanie could see. There were at least four empty shops and if the grimy doors and windows were any indication, these shops had been empty for a long while.
Twilight was approaching fast; Melanie hoped to be out of this neighborhood before nightfall. The two streetlamps she could see looked broken and the security lights she saw at either end of the mall looked to be in ill-repair. One was dangling from its wires; it was doubtful if it would work.
"Hi! You are just in time," an old man that looked like he could play Santa Claus at Vokine's Department store greeted Melanie when she entered the shop.
"Just in time?" Melanie asked, looking at his long, lustrous white hair and thick white beard.
"Yes! Just in time to spend a bunch of money here," the man chuckled. "And hmm, let's see. For a young lady of your size... Hmm, what, what do I have?"
"I, you can tell I'm a girl?" Melanie asked, truly shocked.
"Of course," the man stated, urging his bulk from the stool he was perched upon. "Anyone looking at you would be able to tell that."
"You'd be surprised," Melanie mumbled, now looking around at the vast selection of costumes and theater props the store held.
"Sadly, no. No I really wouldn't be surprised," the man said, pulling a black witch's costume from a rack. "No. No. Most people? They're just too much in a hurry to see the people all around them."
He placed the costume into a bag, even though Melanie had not agreed on that particular costume. He found the matching hat among the hundreds of hats on pegs along the wall.
"Or, they're just too busy looking at themselves to notice anyone else. Course, those looking so hard at themselves? Don't even see themselves. Not the way they truly are," the man said. "You're just renting this for the Alpha Zeta Rho party? Or you think you might need it for a couple days more?"
The man rang up the costume, showed Melanie where to swipe her card, then suggested she might want to go to the nail salon and have them do her fingernails for the Halloween party. Just before Melanie left the store, he slapped his forehead.
"Well, no good witch would ever be without her wand, am I right?" he chuckled his odd laugh while rooting around in a drawer.
He produced a long black wand with a black star at the tip. Holding it up, he smiled his beatific smile.
"Ssap ot emoc llahs tsac uoy lleps yna," he recited, then handed the wand to Melanie.
"What? What was all that?" Melanie asked.
"The black star? It's the most powerful star in our universe," the man smiled, then disappeared into the rear of the store.
Stepping out of the shop, Melanie was relieved to see that the street lamps were brightly lighted. The security lamps also illuminated the walkway.
A plump, matronly looking woman greeted Melanie when she entered the nail salon. She clucked over the ragged shape of Melanie's well-chewed fingernails but did her best to shape them. Then she applied very shiny black polish to the nails. Her artistry was evident when she used white polish to create black cats, jack-o-lanterns and witches on broomsticks on Melanie's fingernails.
"And, make sure they don't chip before the Alpha Zeta Rho party..." the older woman mumbled, coating Melanie's fingernails with a clear coat of polish.
Melanie was nearly to Stuebbens Dormitory before she asked herself how the two proprietors had known what party she was going to be attending. As was her custom since early childhood, Melanie had spoken very little. And, since early childhood, Melanie had learned, the less you disclose about yourself, the less the other person knows, the less the other person can use to hurt you.
"And how'd that guy know I'd even take the witch's costume?" Melanie asked herself as she climbed to the fourth floor of the antiquated dormitory building.
"Oh, wow!" Courtney giggled, delighted at Melanie's fingernails. "If they have a contest for best hands you'll win, hands down."
"Best hands; hands down, haha!" Melanie chortled.
"Best...oh! Oh, I didn't mean, well, I guess I did mean it like that," Courtney laughed happily. "And wait 'til you see my costume. I'm not showing it to you until though. You'll just have to wait."
The evening of the party, Melanie and Courtney ate dinner in the cafeteria. They sat with some classmates; Melanie knew Brad Tanner from their English 114 class and Courtney knew Susan and Rodney from her Western Civilization 110 class. But, the three other students did not pay any attention to the two girls.
"So, um, Susan, you going to the Alpha Zeta Rho party tonight?" Courtney asked.
"Yeah. Of course," Susan said, voice thick with sarcasm.
"What?" Courtney asked, confused by Susan's acerbic response.
"Uh? Like only ten, fifteen people ever get invited?" Susan sneered.
"And you can't just show up. You have to be invited," Brad sneered.
"Court. Think about it," Melanie hissed as they made their way back to the dormitory. "Only ten or fifteen people ever get invited."
"Right?" Courtney asked, becoming short of breath as she tried to keep up with Melanie's frenzied pace.
"Only ten to fifteen people. So, why were you and me, why were we invited?" Melanie asked, becoming even more agitated.
