Writer’s note
A mixtape with love songs that you give to somebody is kind of like a love letter. That's the message I placed at the center of this story. Some mixtapes change hands, some high school drama plays out. Let's mix love and fear; let's scare ourselves and make it fun. You make your own amusement park and you dub in the soundtrack that makes a complete movie experience out of it. It's Friday night, it's high school. Who is going to end up with who?
Sophomore Mixtape
A curious boy gets swept up in the parking lot - by a cool wheelman talking rumors of the land of strange things. That's where love is just about the most unexplained hobgoblin of them all - and the one that will beat you up out back the old gas station. It will leave you wondering why you ever wanted to come here in the first place and how do you get back to the start for a do-over?
Wayne is 15, a high school sophomore glued to the stories smuggled in from Oklahoma: mysteries, abandoned roads, the bus-stop hustle of evil clowns.
Who wants to be afraid... because it's so much fun to scare yourself as long as it doesn't get serious.
The beginning of the story…
There is talk in the parking lot about something going on. I don't know what it is.
Kids pile into half a dozen cars and I am kind of left standing there.
Bradley goes, "Come on."
I don't even know Bradley except I know who he is. He's pretty cool.
I climb in the passenger side. "What's going on?"
"It's out there."
I guess it's kind of obvious to everybody but me.
"Wow."
There's nobody else in the car. Just me and Bradley.
He goes, "I know you, right?"
"Yeah. Wayne."
We're moving east, probably for this one county road.
"Have you ever seen it?" Bradley says.
"No."
"Yup."
I don't see any cars in front of us or behind. You can usually see for miles but November can be foggy.
I still don't know what's out there.
"Who saw it?"
Bradley looks straight ahead. "Somebody told Mike."
There are like two Mikes and I know them like I know Bradley, which is that I don't know them at all.
It sounds like a huge animal. Or something scary. I kind of like this.
Bradley's got this navy blue hoodie on. Mine is white. I wanna get a black one. You should make yourself part of the surroundings.
"Mike who?"
"This guy."
Bradley fishes around the dashboard and comes up with a mixtape.
He goes, "You like music?"
"Yeah."
I like the first song he's got on there. I wonder if the rest of them are like that. I hope so.
"Are you scared?" he says.
"Kind of."
"Good."
I have no idea what's going on. But I am scared. You always figure you're safe in the car, then the monster rolls it and starts peeling back metal like he's opening a can of beans.
"Bradley?"
"What?"
I don't answer and he doesn't say anything more. I like the song. I'm tapping my toe. That gives me an excuse for not answering.
The next song is good, too.
"Are those guys gonna be there?" I say.
"I think so."
But there's no sign of them anywhere. I'm looking for taillights or headlights. Nothing.
When we scream, who is going to come to our rescue?
We're there now. The road straightens out. It's flat. There are fields left and right, the fog comes in off of them.