Mess of a Party

Saturday, 10:54 PM

Skylar was frustrated, to say the least. Her best friends were drunk beyond drunk, and one of them was bleeding. They couldn't leave, they couldn't walk away. They couldn't just stay in the car all night, that was just a bad idea. Whoever that guy was, he wasn't innocent. He stole their gas and stranded them there. Sky knew that if he found them asleep in a vehicle together, then they'd all be sitting ducks for him.

How did this night go so wrong so fast? She asked herself.

"This was such a bad idea." Claire muttered, rubbing her head with her hands. "I should've just stayed at home tonight."

"Yeah. Stephanie got way too drunk and we should've paid more attention to that." Ty said, sounding regretfully.

"No, I mean come to this party. It was a bad idea. I should've listened to my dad." She said.

"Wait...guys, shut up." Skylar stopped and listened. A minute ago she could've sworn she heard movement, like footsteps maybe? It was even darker than before, if that was possible, and they gave Stephanie her phone back. Now they were using Ty's for light, but it still wasn't much. It was creepy, to see the outline of trees everywhere.

"What? What did you hear?" Claire asked.

"Nothing, anymore." Skylar sighed. "We should check out the hall first, then go to that house. Then the other building. The gas has to be in the buildings." Ty and Claire nodded and followed Skylar. She had the light and the clearest head right now.

Once they got to the hall, there was no sign that they were ever there. The chairs had been moved back, though they hadn't moved them. The guy must've been there.

"Creepy..."Sky heard Claire mutter. Claire was definitely speaking more and louder now. Maybe she was just freaked out or maybe she was getting more comfortable around them. Either way, Skylar wondered if Claire would ever speak to them again after this night. This definitely wasn't the best way to show a new person how you and your friends party.

They checked the big room, but found nothing. Just when they were about to leave and go into the hallway, Ty called them over.

"Payton and I noticed this just before you guys saw the guy by the Jeep." He gestured to some weird, dark substance smeared on the wall and floor. It looked like paint or something. "We took some pictures on Steph's phone. We thought it'd be a good idea." Without anything else to be said, they continued into the hall.

The other rooms were basically the same. Just empty except for an abundance of chairs. With a disappointed sigh, they started going back outside.

Suddenly, Sky heard some strange, almost creaking sound coming from somewhere. She stopped and everyone else did too. They heard it too. They all turned back towards the hall and was about to rush back inside to see what the sound was, when Skylar's phone started to ring. Everyone jumped and she rushed to answer it. It was from Payton.

"Payton?" She asked.

"Oh my god, Sky!" Payton sounded incredibly panicked and freaked out. "You gotta get back here right now! That guy showed up again, like a good twenty minutes ago and I just woke up now!" He said all of that in less than 5 seconds and Skylar could barely process what he said.

"He-he, oh my god! He is so-I just, I don't even know!" Payton was clearly losing it and Skylar knew that he couldn't be there alone. "He is not normal! Not normal!! He's, like, seriously messed up!"

"Okay, okay Payton calm down!" She practically had to yell to be heard over Payton's rambling. "I'll be there as soon as I can! Okay? Just sit still."

"Okay, but hang on! You need to listen!" Payton took a short breath. "The guy's got Stephanie! He broke in here and just picked her up! She's gone, Sky!"

Oh my god.

"W...what? She's gone?" Skylar received very concerned looks from Ty and Claire. They knew something was wrong, but they didn't know the whole story.

"I have no idea where they went." Payton finally calmed down and could speak normally. "I am so sorry, but I was knocked out. He like, hit me on the head with something and I just woke up like two minutes ago."

"Hey, it's alright. It's not your fault. I'll be there soon, just...sit tight." As soon as she hung up, she was bombarded with questions from Claire and Ty.

"Quiet!" She practically screamed at them. "Payton and Stephanie were attacked, by the guy. Payton's fine, but Steph...is missing. We need to find her! Forget about the gas, we need to figure out where this guy has her, okay?"

"Holy hell, first we're on a search-for-the-gas can mission, now it's a search-and-rescue." Ty ran a hand over his face.

"She was kidnapped! This is kidnapping!" Claire sounded close to freaking out. Skylar swallowed hard.

"Yeah, but we need to find her. Okay? Calm down and look for something, anything that could help us find her. Okay?" They both nodded.

"I know how crazy this is, but we need to keep looking. As soon as we find her, we'll just chance it in the woods. This got too crazy." They were all in agreement and Skylar pulled out her phone to use as a light.

"Can you get back to the Jeep okay? Maybe call Payton and keep him on the phone until you get there, okay?" Ty asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. And I'll call him, that's a good idea." Skylar started dialing his number and he answered.

"Hey, talk to me." She said to him and then she walked off into the darkness.

"This is madness." She could hear Ty say from behind her.