Shawn & I were invited to a goth/emo themed party over the weekend by our friend who lives out in the country nearby us. I went through some of my collection of accessories when my fashion aligned more with the punk and goth scene (it still kind of does tbh).
I wore some spikey dog collar, some hematite bracelets on one arm, a safety-pinned arm warmer on the other, and - of course - all black. High school Megan was reborn and ready to go. Shawn tried to straighten his hair across one eye to pay homage to his younger scene-kid self.
When we showed up to our friends house we kind of paced around inside and honestly I thought this was it. Just a group of mid-to-late thirties weirdos wearing clothes that make more sense in a thrift store than at a party in the year 2025.
Once everyone arrived our friend looked around at the group of us, “well, let’s go.”
Shawn & I didn’t get the memo, apparently. We looked at each other confused but followed.
We walked across the street to a line of trees and as we grew closer to the edge of the road I saw a few thin lines of purple fairy lights drawing a winding path through the trees.
We followed the path and from the occasional tree hung a taffeta ghost that almost glowed from the soft purple light. I looked at Shawn and mouthed, “wait, this is cool.”
I looked again at the trees and nestled between a couple was a TV playing a music video from the early 2000s. Some pop punk band. As we walked out of the trees I saw several awnings underneath was a plethora of junk food, drinks, and Halloween decor. A few awnings offered seating of miss-matched dining room chairs, 80s basement era sofas, and wingback chairs that looked like they would be more at home in an antique store. As my eyes moved across the field I saw more dining room chairs of random shapes and sizes and more couches all facing several more tvs playing the music video I saw on the tv coming up through the woods. The music was playing around us seeming like it was coming from all around us in the trees and the circular field was lined with more purple and orange fairy lights.
People were laughing and talking all around me, a few young girls were using a nail painting station to use crackle polish next to me, a couple was making s’mores with those fire canisters at the end of the buffet. I was scanning the area just fascinated with it.
My eyes caught some ghosts with those white theatre masks affixed to them. They were being held up by sticks. Next to the ghosts was what looked to be a huge wooden box that was covered in Halloween decor and more theatre masks.
Every few minutes someone would blast fire from some pyrotechnical contraption and make these smoke rings above us in the sky. These giant lights that looked like they would be used on a football field would flash on before the fire to get your attention and they would illuminate the party and make it feel like daytime.
As the party went on it started to drizzle. Myself and another woman hid under an awning next to the control center. We stood there for a while waiting for the rain to subside and then some men walked under the awning with us to mess with the laptop.
“Well, we were going to do this later but with the rain we’re gonna have to do it now,” one said to the other from beside me.
They were staring at the box covered in Halloween decor.
“Did you bring the accelerant?”
I looked at the woman next to me, “Oh is this like a bonfire thing?”
She smirked and pulled out her phone and pointed it at the box. A few guys walked over and poured gasoline on the box.
Then another who was sat in front of the laptop turned off the music videos and pressed a program on his computer I couldn’t make out. Suddenly, a giant wooden figure, a couple stories high, rose from behind the box and in the darkness I could make out that this was a figure of a man with one of those masks for a face,
“Does anyone have a lighter?” Someone screamed.
I walked over to Shawn, both of us soaking wet at this point, “I didn’t realize this was a Wickerman party,”
We watched as this figure lit up slowly and burned to pieces, 2000s era music playing as we listened to the soft crackle and pop from the flames. It was like a soundtrack of a summer night by a fire pit in high school, my siblings and our friends gathered around the metal pit in lawn chairs. My brother squeezing lighter fluid into the fire with reckless abandon and poking the fire with a stick. My sister singing along with Sum41 and telling us, with all sincerity, she will marry the lead singer someday. Myself and my best friend, Nicole, moving from chair to chair to avoid the smoke.
As I am snapped out of my memory I realize the party goers begin throwing in the chairs, the sofas, and the TVs into the flames. Everyone is cheering and screaming. Multicolor flares start flying into the air from somewhere inside what is left in the giant wooden figure as he burns down to nothing.
I look at Shawn, “is the theme of this party the temporary nature of things?”
