I went to this Halloween party last week and it was a very strange time, strange would be a modest way to put it. The party was a costume party, but not just any costume party, it was a full body costume, head and everything else that could identify a person had to be covered so that no one could tell who was in what costume. To make it a bit more bizarre for myself, I only knew one person that was going to be at the party and that was an idiot who came in to my bar named Chris. He sent me the evite, I don't know why I decided to go, possibly because he is a good customer at the bar, and I figured this would be a decent way to get out and network. I haven't been going out much lately, pretty much just work and home, and I have seen a direct correlation between how much I go out and meet people and how much business I have at the bar.
I decided to go as an ape, I rented an ape costume from the costume store for 80 dollars, which I wasn't happy about spending. The party was in an old mansion in the gold coast, it was a beautiful house, I took a taxi there and showed up at 9 p.m. it was a balmy night for late October with a slight breeze. This was a bit of a warm front which is very pleasant in Chicago in late October, in a way it almost feels like cheating because it should be colder and this is just a few more days biting into inevitable long and freezing winter.
The house was one of those gothic grey stones, perfect setting for the party, Chris told me that it was a co-workers of his, which for me was a bit suprising, he sold insurance so this means that the co-worker either was a great sales person or had money from somewhere else, as this was at least a four million dollar home by my estimation, even in the down economy.
As I paid the driver $11.83 for the cab, I slid out of the car in my ape suit. I told myself I wouldn't become one of those idiots on Halloween who acted like a fool because I was in a costume. I knocked on the giant door, which had an old iron knocker and a person in an Eyes wide shut mask and cape opened the door, and said
"Welcome" I bowed and entered, the house was fantastic, very luxurious, a great crystal chandelier hung over head, actual Picasso sketches on the wall, and a large wooden staircase winding to the second level, and perhaps the most remarkable thing of all was the stained glass ceiling directly overhead. The person in the "Eyes Wide Shut" costume led me into a large ball room where people were hanging out and talking, everyone dressed in full costume from head to toe, this was pretty intriguing and interesting, as I did not know anyone there, and obviously no one knew who I was, if I was one of their friends or an acquaintance, I found this prospect quite thrilling.
I walked around the party taking it all in, all kinds of costumes, at my best guess about 100 people there, a few of the eyes wide shut costumes, some Kang and Kudos, the aliens from the simpsons, some scream masks, and oddly enough another Ape, this person was wearing the same exact costume that I was, on top of this, when I looked at the ape I felt something like an electrical charge. I walked over to the Ape, who was staring at me.
"Hello" the ape said to me
"How are you?"
"I am great" the ape replied
"That is good to hear"
"How can I help you?"
"Well" I said "We are wearing the same costume"
"Yes" replied the Ape, almost mechanicly
something was very strange about the person in this ape suit, when talking to him I was feeling a very real energy, also, In that brief interaction, I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed it was now 11:15 pm, I had arrived at around 8:15 pm, so what felt like ten minutes tops had been three hours? I couldn't really comprehend this, I was dead sober, I had been sober for months now, I was thinking about the time lapse when the ape said to me "Interesting isn't it?"
"What is?" I responded non chalantly.
"The way time is an illusion"
"What do you mean?
"You know what I mean"
"Perhaps I do, I am feeling very strange"
"Yes, it's the energy, the higher connection"
"because we are both apes?"
"No, because we are both real, and no one else here is"
at that point, i stopped cold, I couldnt speak
"Wha....what do you mean by that? that we are real and no one else is?" I was sweating as I said those words
"Look around, everyone here is just a costume, you think they are real, they think they are real, but nothing is under the costumes, only they don't know it, part of this illusion is they have to think they are real"
I was floored and couldn't speak, was this guy putting me on? what a strange thing to say.
"I have to go for now" I walked away, and felt dizzy, who was that guy? something felt very strange about this entire experience. I had to find out, what did he mean that the people were not real? they were just costumes?
I had to find out what he meant, I franticly ran into the bathroom, something I had eaten earlier wasn't sitting right, I vomited in my costume, I pulled myself together while looking in the mirror, I had temporarily forgot that I was in the ape suit, so when I saw my reflection I stopped cold. Behind me was a costume of a shadow person, it was just a black cape and a mask with no face. I grabbed him and said "You are real arent you?" he pulled away and said "Of course I am, wow, are you on acid or something?" he then laughed and walked away.
I looked back at the mirror in the bathroom and saw my reflection. I laughed a bit to myself, then walked back outside. I looked over and saw the Ape sitting on a chair, not moving, staring at me, I ignored him and walked back into the party. A stunning blonde dressed as Britney spears was by the bar. I walked up to her and stood next to her.
"Hello" I offered, "Can I pour you a drink"
"sure"
"Thanks"
"These parties are so boring, Jim has one every year, always the same people just in slightly different costumes, some of them even wear the same ones"
"Really? this is my first year here"
"Oh, wow, you are new here?" she turned to face me, and smiled slightly.
"Well, yes, I suppose so"
"Well, umm....."
I noticed then that her face was made out of plastic, she was also in a costume...I got a bit nervous and walked away.
I stepped backwards and walked into the ape, as I was reversing.
"pretty girl"
"Ummm....yeah"
"Is she?"
"Yes, I think so"
"What is pretty about her?"
"She is a hot blonde, what else can I say"
"If you like that fake, plastic type. You will find that you are no longer interested in that type soon, what is on the outside is incidental, if its just a shell, what do you think she looks like under that costume?"
"Listen man, I don't know who you are, or why you are talking to me, but you are a freak"
"Whatever you say Horace"
"How do you....how did you know my name?"
"I know everything"
I started feeling very dizzy and kind of freaking out, I had to know who was in these costumes, so I ran up to person wearing a George Bush mask, i ripped off the mask, and that is when I saw nothing under the mask, the ape was right, these were nothing more than costumes, no one here was real.
<!--Session data-->
