We lay in my stark coffin, side by side, in pitch black. Why? ’Cause who wants to lie in their coffin alone the first time?

        “You okay?” Devon queried, cautiously, like Kar was a baby, who might explode into screeching hysterics any second. Leg touching hers, Devon’s warm grasp fumbled for my cold sweaty hand; she clutched, tightly.

        “Ouch! Cut your claws, Kar. Or wear olives on your fingertips.”

        “That was fun.”

        “Delectable.”

        “No food talk, Dev.”

        “You could lose some LBs, Kar. Ow! Claws. Make me bleed out and it’s gonna get way messy in three days of this.”

        “Alone. Together.”

        Devon gulped, then silence. Devon’s hand in mine was—warmness, and Dev’s leg along hers—delicious; she tilted her head until her forehead touched D’s. “Glad you’re helping me. Being alone in a casket, buried underground for Initiation freaks me awful. How d’you stay so calm?”

        “Been alone a lot.”

        “ ’Cause everyone avoids you.” D snickered.

        “And everyone loves you. Why didn’t you ask your real friends, Kar?”

        “Did. ‘Kar, you can’t be serious,’ ‘stop playing.’ Or ‘you’ll always be a sub-apprentice,’ if I don’t pass. Th-They....”

        “Don’t get that this terrifies you. But, then, you’ve never been truly alone; without friends, family.” Wait for it.... “Or, buried in a wood box, while healthy ... without one wrinkle.”

        “Unfunny, idiot.”

        “But I’m your ‘idiot’.” Wow. Dev sighed. “You’d never have asked, if your real—.”

        “STOP saying ‘real friends’. You’re my real, true friend.” Long silence.

        “We’ll see, Kar, after ingesting nothing but seeds and water, then pissing, possibly shitting in those baggy things; unless we seal ’em wrong, lying in a REAL stinky mess; a smell we can’t escape. Plus, no bathing and limited movement with us two squeezed in here, no sitting up or....”

        “Ran out of stupid stuff to say, didn’t yah?” Devon chuckled; a pleasant, rare sound. Beautiful.

        “So, gorgeous K, what’re you gonna tell them, your real…, your other friends?” I touched my ... our coffin.

        “What they’ll think doesn’t seem important.”

        “Now. But, then.... Nevermind. Initiation’s important, for our futures. Helping each other.”

        “How am I helping you, Dev?” There was throat clearing before D’s soft answer.

        “I-I like being with you.” Dev’s voice gained conviction. “Whether you consider me your friend, I’m yours, completely. And love that you asked me; so, I can give selfless.... Selfless service is required to graduate; but, I don’t really feel selfless. I adore you. I’d do just about anything for you.”

        “ ‘Just about’...?”

        “I’d say anything, but you’d have too much power over me. I can’t allow that.” Kar smiled in the pitch black, until it spilled out as giggles, then full laughter. “What’s so funny, Kar?”

        “You know me better than my ‘real...’. Thank you.”

        “Welcome.”

        “We are gonna be so foul Tuesday. But, foul together.”

        “Your smell on me, and mine on you; an all new scent.” Wow.

        “What’s wrong, Kar?”

        “Th-That was the sexiest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

                    —00—

[Patterson Contest, transexual, androgyny, androgynous, love, love :), initiation, graduation, school, school assignment, coffin, terrified, friends dislike]