𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ~ 𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 ~ 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

Eight months ago.....

It was dead. The party was deceased. The room was filled with over intoxicated and blacked out individuals. Most of them were strewn on couches and on the floor. An unknown liquid was spilled on the carpet, she guessed it was urine. She heard some drunk idiot whining earlier about needing to urinate. The bathroom was locked, a couple were probably engaging in some salacious activity.

She was lounging on a chair in a corner of the room while nursing a headache. Her left hand held onto a bottle of vodka. She was barely tipsy, the alcohol hit her bloodstream differently, she was more immune to it now. She took a sip from the bottle and almost gagged, it was extremely bitter. She forgot the taste of vodka but this would serve as a refresher course. She suppressed her reflexes and took another sip and a third. It still tasted the same, bitter. The pungent taste held something else as well, disappointment, anger, anguish, sadness, loneliness. She felt it all at once. None of her 'friends' were at this party, she actually caught wind of it from an acquaintance. She came alone and spent most of the night brooding on that same chair. She became something inconceivable, a buzzkill at a party. 

The group was scattered, disbanded, they barely talked to each other. Sam would occasionally text to see how everyone was doing. Ashley, Chris, Michael and Matt would sometimes respond but it wasn't the same. Nothing was the same after that night. Hannah and Beth had disappeared, vanished. They were gone. That horrible prank sent them to their untimely demise. There was no way in hell they were still alive, she knew that all too well, all of them did. 

It's been about four months since that fateful night. She does not completely remember what happened that night. She had arrived at the lodge. Everything was fine, everything was peachy. The group was in high spirits, chatting, laughing, poking fun. She quickly engaged in a drinking game with Josh and Chris. They drank, danced and sung their hearts out. They drank some more and eventually passed out. Josh and Chris had their heads down on the sleek and shiny kitchen counter, she was asleep on the couch in the living room. She was awakened when the raised voices commenced, when Beth realized what was done to Hannah. She was confused and had no idea what was going on, she stumbled around and struggled to stand up. She wanted them to shut up but they wouldn't, they kept arguing, then she realized that something had gone horribly wrong. She slapped herself in order to focus and stabilize. She finally stood up and walked outside into the cold air. They all stood out there, arguing about what do next. Beth ran out, searching for her sister among their group of friends. 

"What did you do?" Beth asked in annoyance. 
"We were just messing around, Beth. It wasn't serious". Michael said 
"YOU JERKS!" She yelled in anger and directed herself towards the dark woods. "HANNAH! HANNAH!" She continued to yell as she ran into the pitch black nothingness. 

"What the fuck is going on?" She asked in a confused tone. They all looked at each other. "What? What the hell is going on?" She turned to look at him next. "Michael?" He averted his gaze and eventually looked down. Emile chose to speak up, fancying herself the de facto leader of the group, a delusion in hear head. 

"It was just a prank, Hannah can't take a damn joke. She's being over dramatic", she said unapologetically, unfazed and almost proud of what she had accomplished. Helena wanted to slap the hell out of her, harm her in any way possible. Make her feel the hurt that Hannah was probably going through right now. Emily was a cruel being, Hannah did not deserve any of this. She was a gentle and kind soul, she never harmed anyone. The fact that anyone would harm her this way made Hel's blood boil. 

"What. The. Fuck is wrong with you?" She said through gritted teeth as she slowly stalked towards Emily like a rabid animal, ready to strike at any moment. The other girl took a step back, fear crossed her eyes but she quickly composed herself, feigning confidence and strength. 

"In what way has she hurt you exactly, you fucking bitch?"
Emily looked shocked at the girl's aggressiveness and explicit language.
"She... she... she was eyeing Mike". She stuttered but quickly found her words. "She deserved this. Mike is my man". 
"MICHAEL ISN'T FUCKING YOURS. HE DIDN'T EVEN WANT YOU. He wanted to kick you to the curb but I convinced him to wait".
She looked like she was run over by a truck, shocked and stunned. She looked at Michael for clarification, she wanted him to deny this, reaffirm his loyalty to her but he couldn't. He looked away. Her expression shifted from shock to anger.
"Nobody breaks up with me". She turned to Michael and poked his chest aggressively. "You don't break up with me, don't you ever think that you can break up with me. No, NO, NO, I'm breaking up with you". She stepped back and flipped her hair. "Take a good look at this". She gestured at herself. "Because you will never, ever, get it back. It's your loss Michael, not mine. I'm way better than you and you know it". 
He didn't say a word. He just stood there like a frozen statue and took it all in. She huffed, flipped her hair once again and stomped her way inside. Jessica soon followed like the sheep that she was. Matt and Ashley stood awkwardly to the side. The snow continued to fall, more heavy now. The wind was so strong, her hair was whipped to the other side. They could not see further than the trees that stood a couple of feet away.
Everyone returned back inside, into the once cozy lodge. The air inside was heavy and suffocating. Sam remained outside, looking towards the trees, waiting for a sign, a movement to signify that they had returned. She stood out there, awaiting their eventual return but they never came back. 

~

The bottle was half empty now but she was done with it. It tasted like crap. She screwed the lid back on, placed it on the ground and kicked it away from her. She stood up and walked towards the stereo in the middle of the room.  She hooked it up and increased the volume to the max. The music blasted through and the dead bodies on the couch and the floor groaned in annoyance. They slowly started to resurrect and rub their eyes in confusion. A couple of them began covering their ears to avoid the music. She promptly walked back to her spot and sunk herself back into the chair. She watched them stumble around like the undead. They continued to rub their eyes and block their ears. They searched for their belongings but eventually gave up and crashed back down. It was pathetic.

Michael continued to call and text after that night. She rarely responded and when she did, she usually wrote a word or a letter, that was all he got. Everything felt so unfamiliar, an uncharted territory. The only comfort she found was at her place, in the dark. Parties were once her thing, her crowd. The dancing, the drinking, the laughing, the chatting, it made her happy once but not anymore. She now wanted to rip her own skin off and scream into a mirror. 

The bottle that she had abandoned pissed her off. She snatched it and unscrewed the lid, it shouldn't be allowed to exist. She went to the sink in the kitchen and poured it all out. The stench molested her nostrils. She turned her head away to try to minimize the exposure, it did not work. She turned on the water and allowed it to go through. She stared at the water as it washed away the putrid liquid. When it was all gone, she switched it off. She stumbled in the darkness and entered the living room once again. She patted the couches in search of her jacket. Some of the partygoers groaned in annoyance, she paid them no mind. She finally found her black leather jacket strewn on the floor behind a long couch. She quickly snatched it, thrusted her arms in and adjusted it, grabbing the bottom and pulling it down. The place was riddled with abandoned, empty alcohol bottles. She walked through the graveyard and kicked some, they rolled around into oblivion with a clank. She reached the grand front door, twisted the handle and pulled the door open. She stepped out into the chilly night air and gazed up at the dark cloudy sky. There were no stars, the moon was obscured, covered. She looked forward and began to walk.