--And that was Green Day’s new single “Forward in the Past.”  Be sure to check out their new album Revolution Reverse coming out in March, I’ve heard some of the songs and they’re pretty phenomenal!  For those of you just tuning in, you’re listening to 96.3 Vamp F.M. just in time for one of my favorite segments. I’m your host, Nova Lawson-Hernandez, and welcome to “Strange Stories by Starlight.”

If any of you have been paying attention to our website, you know that tonight’s theme is “Weird things that happened in high school.”  The story we chose was written by username “p8nting-with-the-rain.” That’s painting with the number 8, with dashes between each word, so if that’s you, congratulations!  I really enjoyed reading this for the first time and I’m sure all of you out there will love this too, it got me hooked. It’s strange and almost scary in a way, but a good way, and I certainly wasn’t expecting--oh never mind, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tonight’s story is titled “Grey, Gold, & Scarlett.”

“This happened back when I was a junior in high school, probably around the early to mid Nineties.  Back then, I was painfully average. I had a few friends, got fairly good grades, maybe joined a club or two, the works.

“The cafeteria was always too loud and crowded for me, so I would eat lunch in the back seat of my car.  It was a hand-me-down from my mom: an old, run-down, pale blue Volkswagen bug with the paint peeling off.  The inside was tan leather (also peeling) over lumpy spring seats and it all smelled like old cigarettes from whoever had owned it before my mom.  Whoever they were, they must have been some sort of politician to convince any dealership that sad piece of junk was worth selling again; every time I started the engine it sounded like it might spontaneously combust.  It didn’t, but the anxiety was always there. I’d keep the engine off when I sat in there, and I put a cassette player between the two front seats to replace the radio.”

For those of you kids out there who doesn’t know what a cassette is, it’s those little plastic rectangles that look like they have eyes.  Boy, now I feel old. I’m not that old, I promise, I just graduated college a few years ago I swear.

“Every day was the same routine: quick gossip, sit through class, eat lunch, more class, say goodbye, go home.  Same people, same place, every day. Except for one black, stormy day.

“If I didn’t have the proof, I never would have believed it had happened.  It didn’t quite seem possible, but every morning, I open my eyes to a reminder that yes, it had happened.

“The parking lot outside my car window sat still, dark grey and suffocating under the heavy clouds blanketing the town.  I could hear heavy raindrops pelting the roof and drowning out the music from my cassette of Nirvana’s first album. I had finished eating already, so I decided to kill some time by playing Pokemon on my little red Game Boy.”

I used to have a Game Boy when I was in middle school!  I loved that thing more than my parents for a while. And if my parents are listening, hi Mom, hi Dad!  I’m sorry, just being honest, but what can I say? I was a dumb kid.

“Out of the corner of my eye, a flash of gold distracted me from my game.  I glanced up, more out of instinct than curiosity because I assumed it was just another car driving by with its headlights on, and there was nothing there.  Not a car, no sign of a car, no sign anything had ever even been there except the rain and the other banged-up cars of clumsy teenagers. The sky wept undisturbed onto the asphalt, untouched by tire tracks.  The only light I could see was the dull yellow glow of the streetlights and a few warm classroom windows. Obviously, this was strange, but a knock on the other side of the car startled me before I could really investigate.

“A girl I had never seen before, around my age as far as I could tell, stood out in the rain beyond my window, her floral dress clinging to her skin and her thick curly hair clumped and tangled in itself on her shoulders.  She bent down so she could see through the car window, and I might have gasped when her eyes, burning scarlet like a lunar eclipse, met mine.

“Her eyes are what I remember the most about her, not just for their color, but their intensity.  The deep, velvety hue belonged on the dress of some queen, long forgotten, standing motionless in a glass case for all the world to see.  Yet, it wasn’t elegant. It was as if the dress had been set ablaze with stardust, having the potential to both destroy and sustain life all at once.  A powerful celestial energy hid behind those eyes, none other than the strange girl herself. Because of that, I began referring to her as Scarlett.

“Despite being mercilessly attacked by freezing bullets of rain, Scarlett gave me one of the warmest smiles I had ever seen or can ever remember.  It engulfed me in a nervous ecstacy of admiration that this girl, who I had never met and who had never met me, could show so much sincerity in a single beautiful smile.

“She motioned at the door in a silent question, and I opened it so she could slip in.  Sitting beside me, I’m not exaggerating when I say that she radiated kindness. Her flaws were fully exhibited, natural and gorgeous; I could tell she was doing amazing things for the world just by being alive.”

Sounds a lot like when I first met my wife, just a bit more mysterious.  I remember when we planned to meet for our first date, I was terrified! But that’s a story for another day.

“We didn’t speak, or at least Scarlett didn’t.  I offered her a bag of chips that I hadn’t planned on eating, which she declined, and we went back to sitting in silence.  The only movement either of us made was when I switched out my cassette for one of No Doubt’s tapes. Other than that, the two of us sat side by side, shoulders brushing, listening to the rain harmonize with Gwen Stefani’s melody.

“My anxiety told me that I should say something, anything, to make her feel more comfortable, but every time I glanced over to her, she was already happy.  Her soft, content expression would catch anything I was about to say in my throat and trap it there. She just seemed so pleased to be sitting next to me in my smelly old car.

“Finally, after what felt like the longest ten minutes of my life, I told her, ‘I have to get to class.’

“Scarlett gave me a puzzled look, but quickly nodded in understanding.  She twisted herself slightly towards the door, reached into the pocket of her dark denim jacket, and pulled out a small package.  Despite the rest of her body being soaking wet, the package was perfectly dry. Handing it to me, it was maybe about the size of my hand, square, wrapped in polka dot paper, topped with a silver bow.  I brought my eyes up from the package to see Scarlett wearing her award-winning, heart-stopping smile.

“‘Promise not to open it until we meet again,’ she said.  Her voice shook me to my core. It was what a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day felt like, what a fresh piece of apple pie topped with silky whipped cream tasted like, what the stars on a camping trip, unobstructed by city lights and pollution, looked like.  All I could do was nod. That was the only thing Scarlett ever said to me.

“As soon as she had her answer, she opened the car door and ran out into the pouring rain.  I scrambled over the back seats and tried to call out to her through the open door, but my voice died mid sentence.  Scarlett had stopped, her foggy silhouette glowing, literally glowing, burning molten gold against the dark charcoal background.  Two flaming scarlet rubies stared through me, then she was gone like she had never been there before.

“The package Scarlett gave me sits in the drawer of my bedside table--”

You know, and I hate to interrupt because you probably want to hear the end, but I, myself, would probably want to open the package from the mysterious glowing goddess lady.  Wait, no, if she said not to open it, then I probably wouldn’t, and she did say that. Yep, yeah, she said wait. I wouldn’t want to, I don’t know, offend the gods or send myself to hell or the underworld or have my soul eaten or anything like that just because I couldn’t keep myself from opening a stupid box.  That’s probably the most embarrassing way I can think of to be sentenced to eternal damnation.

“The package Scarlett gave me sits in the drawer of my bedside table to this day.  Through the years, I’ve lost it, dropped it, stepped on it once, had my dog chew on it, forgotten it in a move, had it stolen, you name it.  By the next morning, it’s sitting right next to my bed, unscathed. Whoever and whatever Scarlett was, she has something planned for me. I just haven’t figured it out yet.”

The end.  Sounds like a wild ride!  I’m trying to think how I might respond to being in a situation like that, but it’s hard because I’m sure we were all very different people in high school, both compared to each other and to ourselves now.  I don’t know, what do you guys out there think you would have done? Would you have opened the box? What do you think might be in the box? Comment below this story on our website and give us your insight.

Thanks to everyone for tuning in and a special thank you to everyone who submitted us their stories!  This is Nova for 96.3 Vamp F.M., sending you off with a little blast from the past, thanks to our wonderful story tonight.  Here’s No Doubt’s classic hit, “Don’t Speak.” Goodnight everyone!