Man
Barney is an average high schooler. But yesterday he had sex. The unexpected part of his confession is that Ellen would say yes, and honestly, everything past that went over his head. Many shots were fired, actually.
Going back home at 1 am, in the dark, following only barely hanging streetlights, Barney expected his door to be locked, but it was unlocked. He stepped foot inside his 2 story house. The lights were on.
He goes further inside, right to the kitchen, with a big smile on his face, but also his face expresses confusion, since the door was supposed to be locked.
“Mom, hello? Why the door unlocked?” - asked Barney.
His mother was sitting in the kitchen with an unexpected guest, who was Ellen.
“Oh hi, Barney, your friend came to visit, isn’t she a sweetie?” - said Barney’s mom.
“Oh wow, I didn’t expect to see you here! I didn’t expect my Mom to meet you so soon, also.” - said Barney.
Ellen is Barney’s crush. She’s a pale and tall girl with straight white hair, blue eyes and white eyelashes. She is also mute.
“We were talking about you… I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, such a Lovelace!” - said Barney’s mom.
“When did you learn sign language, Mom?” - asked Barney.
“I didn’t, honey, we were talking through paper. Anyway, do you want to eat something?” - said Barney’s mom. Barney walked with a smile to the counter and grabbed the pack of ready-to-go instant noodles and sat down at the table.
Barney met Ellen in the class, people thought he was crazy for reaching that high, but apparently he had a ladder worth a mountain.
He had looked every day at her, thinking about how pretty she was, and every time he did, the whole world stopped spinning. Little did he know, she always looked back.
He confessed on the rooftop and was surprised she accepted. The next moment he remembered was her bedroom and her; naked. With a big smile on his face, Barney was returning home, the road lying through the park.
Under the night’s gown, the only sound was that of a buzzing bleak streetlight.
And the bones rattle.
Barney stopped walking. Four streetlights ahead down the road stood a hooded figure. It had a farming scythe in the head, and it floated. Barney tried to back up and turn away.
But it was already in front of him. He could barely see a skull behind the darkness and a pair of balls on the crotch, seemingly made of bones. A boney balls.
“Does this make you proud?” - asked the Boney Balls, with his balls hanging low and his voice rattling.
“Yes!” - said all-smiling Barney.
The rattling of the bones stopped and Barney continued his walk.
He arrived home and saw the door being unlocked, he entered the kitchen and saw an unexpected guest, ‘chatting’ with his mom. That guest was Ellen. Barney grabbed a pack of instant noodles and sat down.
“So, Barney, how did you two meet?” - asked his mom.
Barney remembered that they met in the classroom. Ellen looked all pretty, and Barney couldn’t stop glaring at her, and when he finally confessed, she returned the same.
The next moment he knew, she was in a white dress and they were kissing on her bed and after the act, Barney headed home. The road was going through the park and amidst the dark night and dim streetlights, the only noise was wind.
Then a rattle.
Three streetlights ahead were him; Boney Balls. Barney wanted to turn away but witnessed Boney Balls right before his face.
“Did you enjoy her company?” - asked Boney Balls.
“Yep.” - said Barney.
The rattling of the bones stopped and Barney returned home. His mom was waiting there, she prepared him a cup of instant noodles and Ellen was also there. Barney sat down and started eating the noodles while his mom continuously embarrassed him, telling Ellen about his childhood.
“You know, when he was little, he had confidence problems, so I told him to reassure himself before and after everything he does, to just man up, y’know? And it worked!” - said Barney’s mom.
Barney remembered the moment he confessed and how he didn’t reassure himself beforehand, that’s why he was able to do it in the first place.
He stood on the rooftop.
And he wavered.
Behind him was Boney Balls, whispering a question, rattling.
“Is this what love is to you? I thought you didn’t know how to feel.”
“It… Is.” - said Barney. The rattling stopped.
Next thing he remembered was him holding hands with Ellen in her school uniform and going to her house through the park. It was almost night.
The room is small and dark. He is now lying on the bed in just his shirt, motionless. Boney Balls is looking through the walls.
“You’re ready?” - said Boney Balls.
“I… I am.” - replied Barney.
But he’s still here. Barney was confused for a second, how and why is that. Scared even.
“You have the balls to do it, right?” - asked Boney Balls.
“Y-Yeah. Of course.” - said Barney. But the skeleton is still here. Barney started panicking and shaking, why doesn’t he go away?
“Of course you do. What kinda balls you’d have if you didn’t.” =said Boney Balls and finally vanished.
Barney is entering the kitchen.
“Mom? Why didn’t cook anything again? I’m tired of noodles.” - said disappointed Barney.
“Oh, honey, don’t worry, you can live one more day on them, that’s not a big deal.” - said Barney’s mom. The rattling wanted to appear.
“But… That’s my money… Oh well, sure, noodles it is.” - Barney said, whispering the rattling away.
Sitting in the kitchen alone, with only his mom reading the newspaper with nothing new, he could only recall the only thing that happened to him.
He confessed to his crush; Ellen. He was surprised himself that she accepted. But he was way more surprised when she dragged him into bed.
However, she was the one who laid the eyes upon him, it was the man in cloak, with boney balls and scythe; he seemed a hoax, a mind’s trick but he was there, before the creep. The creep who finally confessed and was brought to bed, by the one who he thought was best.
“Too far gone to stop, don’t we? We need the birth of a new being. It’s up to you whose creation it will be.” - said Boney Balls.
“N-No… I don’t want to, I don’t like this… Please, we ARE too far!” - but the response did not satisfy Boney Balls.
The scythe had risen.
And took a swing. It pierced Barney. Barney as a whole, a soul.
The darkest park, illuminated just by the dim glow of streetlights. Barney, with the tired eyes and soulless expression, walked home, he now knows the rattling of the bones.
But that just meant he’s sure it’s here. That also meant, now he won’t be reassured.
He looked forward. But there were no Boney Balls. In just one streetlight, Ellen stood there. In the white dress, a slender woman, who now had a bracelet. A bracelet of infinite small marbles. There were now ones familiar to Barney.
He broke into tears. But there was no one to reply to and no one to assure him anymore. Even though he never was assured in the first place. Even though he thought there was.
