On Halloween night, 1997, I went to the movies. A large group of us left a party to go see Scream 2. We all knew it would be terrible but in South Dakota there’s not much to do other than drinking, sex, and going to the movies. We were good kids so we chose the last option.
I intentionally sat between two boys who had I knew were interested in me. I wanted to see who would reach for my hand first. As the movie progressed both boys began to move their hands closer and closer to mine, one on each arm rest. I kept mine in my lap.
Both boys, each named Andy, would kill themselves within the next year. One a couple months later and the other about eight months after that. I was intimately involved in the first Andy’s death (something I will discuss at some point.) The other Andy drank and doused himself in gasoline, then set himself on fire. He did this during the night and wasn’t found until the next morning, charred and cold, by his father who had come out to retrieve the paper.
