The Patron Saint of Monsters

Chapter Two Part 2

None of the girls knew what to do with themselves, they all felt awkward and frightened. Valerie partway blamed herself, the impromptu sleepover had after all been her idea, she looked over to Oleander and said

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Oleander shook her head no with her legs pretzel crossed as she sat on her bed. Trent noted to himself how innocent she looked with her hair whipping back and forth and her bottom lip quivering in a pout that screamed she was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Want us to leave?" Rebecca whispered.

Oleander shook her head again and Trina reached over to rub her back soothingly. Trina did not say anything because she felt like there was nothing to ask, nothing that was not entirely pointless and utterly ridiculous. Oleander swallowed hard, her throat was thick with unshed tears. She did not want to appear weak in front of her friends, vulnerability was a luxury should could not afford.

"I want," she started and then hesitated to think, "I want to get high."

Rebecca snorted a laugh, Trina meekly nodded and Valerie smiled. It was what they all wanted, a thoughtless escape. Oleander leaned over and grabbed her stash of weed and rolling papers from the night stand drawer, her hands were still too shaky to roll so she handed to supplies to Rebecca who rolled the joints with the practice eased of a girl who had spent the majority of her adolescence dating drug dealers. A few moments later a fresh match was struck and Oleander was greedily inhaling the tangy smoke. She held it in, before exhaling smoke rings

"Shit." she mumbled standing to go light some incense in the corner, the last thing Oleander needed was for her parents to suddenly begin to pay attention and catch her doing drugs. She passed it to Trina in a way that accidentally reminded all of the girls of the straight razor from earlier, Oleander suppressed a shudder and none of the others said anything. They went around smoking and giggling at Trina's coughing. They rolled and smoked another "weed cigarette" as Trina had taken to calling them,

"I don't feel anything." She mumbled.

The girls faced their friend and Oleander fell back on her bed laughing,

"Nigga, you high as a kite."

Oleander lifted her legs straight into the air and began to stare at her feet, her toes were painted a deep shade of purple, there was a ring on her right foot and a silver anklet dangling around her left, she spread her legs and then put them back together. She continued doing this while her friends looked around with bloodshot glazed over eyes that did not truly see their surroundings, until Oleander slammed her legs down and sat up with urgency,

"Trent is a monster." she said, frowning as soon as she realized what words had left her mouth.

"I meant to say let's dance." she clarified, but Valerie in her drugged induced bravery was not going to have that.

"No," she sternly said, "Tell us everything."

Oleander began to tell the girls the tale of Trent and they listened rapt; by the time she had finished there were tears in her eyes again. The girls all curled around their friend and snuggled under the blankets, careful not to let any stray limbs hang off the bed's edge. They all tried to stay awake for fear of sleeping but eventually they all dozed off, Rebecca woke and sat up and uttered the sentence that chilled all the other girls to their cores.

"We forgot to say Goodbye."