I don't even know why Jade bothered to invite me to these things. I was her complete opposite, the wilting wallflower to her bewitching social butterfly.
"You'll have fun." She said, her voice coaxing, sugary sweet. "Now, you and I both know that's a lie." I said matter of factly, smiling a bit to soften my tone.
"Come on, Lyd. It's my first real dinner party, in my first real adult house. You can't miss this one." She whined. Letting out a sigh of resignation, and adding an eye roll for good measure, I agreed.
Now here I was, driving down twisting rural roads, led by a gps that was slowly driving me insane. If I heard the word "rerouting"again I was gonna rip my hair out by the fistfuls.
"Re-" I smacked the damn thing off, and pulled over, grabbing my cell to call Jade. Hearing a click, I'd assumed she'd answered.
"Jade. I need you to give me directions, this stupid gps isn't working." Nothing. Dead air. "Hello?" I half yelled, nervously scanning the sprawling woods outside my car.
It was starting to get dark. The golds and garnets were shifting into silvers and sapphires as the moon, bluer than usual, made its appearance.
Suddenly, a loud knock landed on my driver's door. I snapped my head over and was surprised to see no one there.
Glancing around, more nervously this time, I began dialing Jade's number again. It rang this time at least, but still no dice. Straight to voicemail I went.
"Jay, I know you're probably busy playing hostess, but can you answer the damn phone? There's some freaky ish going on right now. Ok thank you, bye." I said half paranoid, half pissed.
Another thud landed on my rear passenger door, causing me to flinch. As I made the move to drive away again, something ran past the front of my car.
"Nope." We are not about to play *these* games. I turned the ignition over and hit the gas, as I reluctantly turned the gps back on, hoping and praying it would cooperate. It booted back up and I retyped the address.
I saw an upcoming fork in the road, and waited for the robotic female voice to lead the way.
"In 0.2 miles, merge right onto Dunn Road."
As I pulled onto the road, dread crept into my bones like a virus, weakening my flesh and fogging my mind. Looking to either side of the road and seeing nothing, I pressed on the gas.
Trying to ignore the feeling of impending doom, I turned on my audiobook, listening to the narrator's soothing voice.
"The key to securing your peace is by moving and thinking and growing in safe spaces. You don't always have to struggle to grow. You don't have to struggle to feel alive. Are you alive...Lydia?"
My skin wanted to crawl off of my body and my blood froze as the voice continued to speak.
"You won't be for long."
My heart swam up to my throat.
Anxiety reared it's ugly head as I pulled of the road into the shoulder.
There was no way, absolutely no way that what just happened was real.
A sudden knock on the driver door window shook me from my confusion.
There stood a boy, maybe thirteen, with a younger boy about half his age.
Uncomfortable, but concerned, I cracked my window, and mumbled a strained-
"Hello?"
My palms were sweating, and bile threatened to rise in my throat.
The hoods of the jackets they wore obstructed a clear view of their faces.
"Ma'am, would you care to let us in? We need to get home to Papa."
The first thing that struck me was the voice. It had no ups or downs, no inflections of emotion or humanity.
I shuddered.
"No, I can call someone for you, though. I'll wait right here with you till they get here." I promised, stifling the lurching of my stomach.
"Please ma'am. We have to get home. It's just a bit down the road, and we'd be awfully grateful."
That same monotone, flickered with a touch of annoyance that I barely caught by a thread.
I didn't like this.
It was abnormal.
"Please miss, could you kindly-"
As soon as I heard the voice of the second child, I froze. It was several octaves too deep, and too many shades from normal.
"No." My lips spoke before my brain could stop them.
"LET US IN!" A deep male voice ripped from his throat
I sped away with the wheels screaming to grip the road.
My head was spinning and my palms were slick with sweat. The further away I got, the sensation of impending doom gave way to self doubt.
They were just kids. Creepy kids, but kids nonetheless.
I shakily breathed in a sigh of relief as what I assumed was Jade's new place crept into view.
A couple of cars were parked in the driveway and I could see lights and shapes through the windows, flickering like dancing flames.
Parking the car, and pushing my shoulders back, I walked up to the front door and knocked.
The evening did not go as terribly as I expected. Jade was a lovely host and she made sure to include me in the conversations she knew I'd be interested in.
I had fun.
When the last of the guests left, she and I hung out in the kitchen, cleaning and gossiping.
Suddenly, I felt a sense of foreboding, impending doom. It was so intense I had to excuse myself to splash water on my face.
Then I heard the knocking. Nervously, I walked back to the kitchen, where Jade stood with a puzzled look on her face.
"It's nearly two in the morning... who in the hell would that be?"
I shrugged. "Ignore it."
Another knock.
"Maybe somebody forgot something? I'll be right back."
I wanted so badly to stop her. But I couldn't. It was a waking paralysis. Lips nor limb would budge.
The door silently opened and then I heard voices. Flat, unemotional. Familiar.
"Ma'am, would you care to let us in? We need to get home to Papa."
