Ditching Greek | editing

02| On the Rooftop

"Don't ask too many questions," Hazel instructed. We were halfway up the stairs. I looked around at my surroundings, catching sight of fellow students down on one of the landings, and a good number of them going up the stairway, just like us.

"Where the hell are you taking us, Hazel?" My voice was low, wavering and short out of breath. Everything about this setting we'd driven to seemed sketchy. Out of all the places we could've gone, why was this the place Hazel wanted to drag us to?

"Do you really think it's a good idea to be out this late?" I asked, heaving a sigh. "You know...with what happened to all of those girls last term."

Monica's shoulders raised. "We'll be fine."

Around our Freshman year, a couple of girls appeared missing not too far from campus. Sooner than later, those missing cases turned to murder cases. It was all Portland Tribune could talk about. My mentors were busy trying to uncover the truth behind the girls.

Each girl was different than the next. There was no connect to them besides the fact that they were students at East Oregon University...and how they were found. There wasn't a single gunshot or a stab wound. Their cause of death was far more complex than the other murders that swept the nation.

One of the police reports stated that it was as if their bodies had entered a vacuum, sucking out the air in their lungs. Another reporter compared it to how they predicted a body would appear after being exposed in space without a suit. Most shrugged it off, thinking it was only a freak accident or that the information was false.

Before they could begin the autopsies, the families' connected to the victims asked for them to close the case. It was peculiar, but they wanted the investigation to stop.

"You can't believe all of that stuff, Nabela," Hazel puffed. "The news is just blowing it out of proportion."

"But—" I began to say.

"I know it's in your nature to overanalyze things," Monica said, "but relax for once."

I held my breath. Talking back to them wasn't an option right now. They had dragged me here for some unknown reason so at the moment they had the upper hand. I was completely out of my comfort zone. The more I snapped at them, the more I'd be disregarded when it came to asking the real big questions, like questions bigger than the ones racing in my head now. Such as:

Why didn't I bring a coat?

Have they done this before?

And, my personal favorite— Am I going to die right now?

I had roughly recalled the shadowy outline of Norman Flynn Hall, which once was the old deserted Art and Science dorms back in the eighties. It wasn't used anymore and had been left to dilapidated like the old Sorority and Frat houses Off the Hill.

No one talked about the Off the Hill houses. I knew that as an incoming freshman last year and I had managed to never break that rule, especially with two sorority girls as my housemates. If you wanted to survive on this campus, you didn't interact with the Off the Hill students.

As we neared the roof, shouting grew louder. My stomach went into knots as we eased higher up the squeaky metal stairs. A large glass door swung open.

"Get out of our way!" Hazel barked, weaving us through the pack of Alpha Pi Omega's, who were blocking the space in front of the door. I easily spotted them out because of their bright orange sweaters and sweat pants that could probably be seen all the way out in space.

The rooftop was immensely large and spaced out. On both ends, there were goalie nets and red tape marked out. The same outline you'd see at a hockey game. There were lawn chairs and stools all along the edges and down near the back. A lot of them were taken; and from the looks of it, the entire audience was divided by sororities and fraternities.