Immortals

Prologue

             In seventh grade, I was the kid between social groups. To be perfectly honest, they hadn't even been formally formed but if you looked hard enough, they were there. The kids who played basketball or sports during lunch, the kids who'd got to the library to study or do homework, the girls who gossiped, the ones who still thought they were in the fourth grade. It was pretty clear who everyone would grow up to be. But that was what I loved about school at the time. You got to choose who you got to be by sitting with different people. There wasn't room for worry or doubt because you were who your friends were. But for me, I wasn't in one of those groups. I was in all of them, drifting between them, drifting, always drifting. And I never understood how people could just settle down. More of an observer than a participant. What else was there to do in Clearhall Falls than watch everyone decide who to be? But then Allison moved to town, and no one knew what to do with her. She wasn't a nerd or a jock and wasn't one for drama. She didn't fit, so I tried and tried to build up the courage to talk to her and tell her the wonders of moving unnoticed. But I never did, because I knew no one as beautiful as her would ever slip by unnoticed. 

So, in turn, I kept my distance, only speaking sparse words to her in class for projects or when she asked me what the assignment was. I was deathly careful not to let my friends see what she was to me. My interest, my hobby, my crush. She never fit the mold. Never took the shape of the container. 

But as time wore on, she carved out her own spot, taking people from each group with her, making the ultimate concoction of beauty and brawn, the ruling clique so to speak. 

In the eighth grade, Allison and her group threw a party mid march or so. I went, hoping to actually talk to her tonight. My friends had caught on even with me trying to hide it, my eyes often strayed right to her long blonde locks, and small structured face. 

At the party, I downed a drink that'd been brought by one of the boys' older brother. I wasn't the type to drink, especially at fourteen, but it was in desperate times. Suddenly, someone started screaming and running. Then everyone confused joined in, everyone panicking and rushing out the door, towards the forest beyond the house. I followed, picking my way through the brush, trying to find my friends. There were whispers saying that something was wrong and that a girl was in danger or something. I felt my heart pounding and made rounds, looking for her.  An hour later, the police arrived, and everyone ran home trying not to get caught with the alcohol inside the house or whatever was running through the woods. When I got home, my mother cried, saying there had been a criminal, out with a gun looking for someone. She forbade me from going to any parties and I solemnly agreed. But the next day there was one girl missing from school. And the next, and the next. Allison's house was found empty of people but their stuff still intact, just like they'd left it. But none of them were ever seen again. Until now.