Notorions

Nikki

"Nikki?". My name rang out throughout my bedroom. I got up groggily and stared around. It was pitch black and the only light was coming from my alarm clock. "Nikki, you've gotta get up." I looked around for my phone wanting to see where the light was. "Coming", was my response. I finally located my phone and turned it on. I had just awoken from a nightmare. A guy was chasing me with what looked like a knife but wasn't. As I saw the time on my alarm clock I swore and quickly scrambled out of bed. I threw on my tracks and headed towards the door.

I bolted down towards the sound of bacon sizzling and my mother chatting on the phone. I sat down on the small round table set for two. I looked at her quizzically and she mouthed " Stanley". I shuddered and gave her a disapproving look. While she chatted away I got my phone out and started texting to Natalie, my best friend. While I was waiting for my mum to sit down, Nat texted me saying she's leaving and she'll be round in a few minutes. "Mum, Nat's coming over, says she wants to talk about the first day." My mum nodded and eventually got off the phone and handed my breakfast to me.

"Hey Natalie, how have you been? How's your mum? I see you've certainly grown over summer!" That was what Natalie heard every time she came over after the holidays. Natalie was a tall, slender girl with high cheekbones and beautiful baby blue eyes. She had a nice twang of an American accent, considering she was from there, and I've known her since I was 12. "Everything's been fine thanks, mum's good just got a flu." I grabbed her arm and dragged her into my room, before she could answer any more of my mum's questions.

"What's up?" I asked as we flunked ourselves onto my black and violet sheets. "Nothing much, just wanted to talk." She sounded as if something was on her mind. "Are you sure? I mean you sound kinda off, are you sure everything's okay?" There was a tone of panic as I spoke, because the only time she sounded like that was when her dad had divorced her mother then days later died in a car crash. "Actually everything isn't fine. I've kept a secret from you Nikki, and this secret is going to be an enormous shock to you but please don't freak out." She sounded scared and as I looked up from my fingers, I saw that she was no longer the smiling girl I met 4 years ago.

"Hey, you know you can tell me anything, I mean we are best friends right?" I looked at the now sobbing Natalie and quickly moved her head onto my lap.  She let out a stifled laugh and looked at me with those blue eyes. "The problem is I can't tell you, if I do they'll kill me!" She then went back to sobbing and I tried to lighten the mood by saying, "Well, if they 'kill' you then I wouldn't have anyone to hold when crying" I tried to laugh but that just made her cry more. "It's not a joke, they'll kill me AND you!" She started to wail like a child in my lap as I stroked her hair.

An hour later she calmed down and decided if she dies she'll die in happiness. "Okay, here goes nothing. Remember when I told you I recently joined a club." "How could I forget?" That was the day we celebrated by going to her house and I met her older brother, Firenz. Firenz and I got really close and eventually started going out. Nat said we looked picturesque when he first asked me to go on a date with him. "Well, that 'club' turned out to be an emo club and I quit. After a while I was asked to join another group called the SPLV." "What does SPLV stand for?" I asked as if I couldn't believe my ears. How could she have kept this from me? This question kept on popping up in my mind until she said; "Well that doesn't matter. Anyways, it looked pretty ghetto, and you know how I love ghetto, so I joined and they performed rituals and stuff. When I asked what these rituals were for, they just stared at me and continued. After performing the rituals they took me to a room and drugged me. When I woke up I saw a scar on my left ankle and I just thought that I grazed myself, until they told me they made that scar by putting burning hot metal onto my skin."

She had started crying again. This time she paused before continuing because she wanted me to see it. I took one look at it and I was about to ask why she had lied and said her brother had burned her, until I remembered that she had lied about everything. "They told me never to speak of it to anybody. I tried to leave but they threatened to kill everyone I loved, including you." She looked at me at this point because she had been looking down at my sheets. "They don't even know me, you should've just left!", but she just shook her head silently and continued. "That's what I told them, that they didn't know anyone, but then they brought pictures and I had to believe them. I stayed and what they asked me to do was terrifying and horrid, but I had to do it. Nikki, I killed 10 people while I was with them. 10 innocent lives gone because I liked ghetto." She started howling, but this time I didn't hold her, I looked at her with a mix of utter disgust and pity.

She started apologizing and sure enough she continued with pauses to stifle sobs. In the end I thought my best friend was on drugs until she told me that the 'group' was coming back to our school and she told me they've come up with a different name. "I don't know what they're calling it but they said it was going to be catchy. I'm telling you this because they might draw you in and I don't you to go through what I went through. Please don't join ANY club this year." She then just got up, went to the bathroom and fixed herself up. After that, she went through my door and let herself out. I was taken aback as she drove out my driveway and sped down the avenue.