Back To Black

On Your Toes

"Jessie, I don't think this is a good idea." I watched my brother as he worked the nails off of the boarded up door to the old recreation center. Jessie and Kennedy had been drinking the night away, while our parents were gone. Kennedy had asked to spend the night and with the two of them drunk, they were just dying to do something stupid.

"Oh, lighten up, Jess. Nobody even comes around here anymore, it'll be fine."

"Yeah, Jess, It'll be fine." I winced at the smell of Kennedy's breath and clothes as she giggled, and threw an arm over my shoulder. "What? Are you scared that someone's gonna catch us?"

"Enough, Kennedy." I cut my eyes at her. Tipsy was one thing, but drunk wasn't cute.

"Don't be such a buzz kill. You already didn't drink." As Jessie removed the last of the nails, he pulled the board from the door, stumbling back a little.

"I'm not being a buzz kill, Jessie. I just don't want to do anything stupid." Irritation began to rise in him as he bit his bottom lip and muttered curses under his breath.

I watched him, my adrenaline pumping, as he entered inside the old dance studio building first, leaving us behind. I looked to Kennedy, but she twirled to the invisible music that played only in her brain, she even hummed a few words out loud.

"Kennedy, are you guys really serious right now?"

"Ohh come onnnn, Jess. Nothing bad is gonna happen. You're just being paranoid." She twirled and her words slurred, she stumbled over her own foot, but somehow managed to catch her balance.

"Kennedy, you're being ridiculous."

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're just being a buzz kill." My face twisted at the sight of her stupidness.

"You're drunk." Immediately, the smile wipped off her face and she stood there staring at me. The glazed look in her eyes were overlapped with anger and she went from happy to irritatedly pissed.

"All you are is a buzz kill. That's why nobody likes you or talks to you." She stepped closer to me, but I stood firm, my face solid. "Why do you think nobody likes to talk to you at school or hangs around you? You're too scary and you're not that cute either. Look at the way you dress, look at your hair!" She laughed and turned around.

Rage filled my body, but I refused to act on her words. "You're pathetic." The words were said through my teeth as I studied her stagger into the old building behind my brother. Her words had hurt me deeply, but I knew I couldn't react.

Digging my heel into the soil, I walked over to a tree, leaning my hand against its bark. I had no choice, but to take a deep breath and hope that the tension rolled out of me. I couldn't hold Kennedy to her words because in the morning, she probably wouldn't remember them.

As I stared out into the night, escaping my reality, I was brought back to my senses, quickly as the sound of a loud crash startled me.

"Jessie? Kennedy?" I turned around heading toward the entrance, caution surrounding my body like a cobweb that you run into. Peering into the pitch black room, my heart began to pound. "Kennedy? Jessie? Hello...." My calls went unanswered as I stood in the pitch darkness trying to convince myself to go further.

Why was I so afraid? I knew the only people that were inside this building was just us, but still I had the fear of being caught, the fear that something bad would happen, but I was still too frozen in my spot to turn back.

A sudden shuffle caused my senses to tingle and I looked out into the darkness trying to make light of the unknown. "Jess.........Kennedy" I managed to take one step as the shuffling got louder and more frequent. I couldn't see where I was going and the deeper into the darkness I walked, the more I began to feel tension.