Vixen

A Night Out

Scarlett closed her eyes, pushed the door to her room open, and counted to ten. She could do this. She opened her eyes and took in everything before her. On her lavender walls were still pictures of everything she’d ever found interesting. Her bed still unmade pillows scattered around the floor as sheets hung onto the edges of her mattress. The shaggy carpets still a deep purple. Her bookshelf’s contents still overflowed onto her desk.  Her closet still open showing the world just how messy she could be. Everything was still the same.

Then why did she feel like a stranger in her own home? She stepped forward allowing her bare feet to caress the cozy carpet. One step in and nothing changed. Another step brought her closer to her dresser or at least close enough to see Patrick. The silver picture frame sat in the right corner of her dresser, the only spot where sunlight shone in. His smile was at its brightest but only showing through his blue gray eyes. His dark brown hair was tousled and the obsidian pendant at his neck was sparkling.

Scarlett gasped and reached for her neck. There under her shirt laid her own pendant. It was cool against her flesh. One. Two. Three.  She let go and proceeded toward her dresser picking up the silver frame and plopping down on her bed.

Before she got the opportunity to dwell on her missing half, her phone rang. Turning toward her nightstand, Scarlett opened the drawer and pulled out her phone, purple just like everything else she owned. 62 New Messages and 107 Missed Calls. She supposed there was no time like the present. After passing all the Are you ok and if you ever need a shoulder messages, she called Stacy.

No, Stacy wasn’t her best friend; she didn’t have one of those anymore. She wasn’t sure Stacy could even be considered a friend at all, but what she did know is she wanted to get out and she didn’t want to talk about it, which made Stacy perfect, with her party girl attitude she never wanted to talk about anything other than herself.

“Scarlett, wow. I never thought I’d hear from you again,” Stacy answered with a lack of compassion.

“Hey Stace. I was just thinking me and you like never hang out anymore. We should go out tonight,” Scarlett knew Stacy would know something was up but she wasn’t sure if she’d react now or later.

“I don’t know, Darling. It is after all Saturday. And Todd’s throwing a party. We’ll I heard that his parents are making him, but you know who cares any excuse to get out,” Stacy continued talking about how she ever so desperately need escape from her life, her perfectly normal life.

Scarlett thought maybe she should have called him first. Todd was after all Patrick’s best friend. He must have been going through the same thing she was and with his parents being his parents there was no way he could cope single handedly. But at the same time she was scared to talk about it. It happened and she knew that, but if no one said it out loud she could just pretend they just broke up. When you break up in high school that person might as well be dead, especially if you weren’t one of those people who manage to fall in love in twenty seconds flat.

“Scarlett, are you even listening to me,” Stacy shrieked ripping Scarlett out of her own head.

“I’m sorry. My mom was talking,” she said knowing Stacy wouldn’t take enough time away from herself to notice there was no noise in Scarlett’s background.

“Gosh. Why do I even bother keeping you around,” She laughed as if it was a joke, even though they both knew she was serious. “But anyways the party’s at 11. Don’t expect me to play wall flower with you; I have a feeling this is gonna be the best thing this season. Well I gotta go. See you there,” and with that she hung up. Yup she was definitely not a friend.

***

Scarlett, knowing better than to be early to Todd’s party, stepped through the grand hall and almost ran to the kitchen seconds before midnight. She knew she could do this without tears, but it’d be so much easier drunk. So, she chugged, shot after shot, and when she felt a little more than numb she walked to the dance floor and lost herself. She danced with stranger after stranger and wanted to stay lost, but her bladder caught up with her and she was forced back into reality.

She knew from her previous visits that there was a bathroom upstairs. She climbed the cherry wood stairs wishing for once that she was a lightweight. For whatever reason twelve shots weren’t enough to keep her sober for more than the hour she spent on the dance floor.

She stood before Todd’s parent’s bedroom, and as she was going to enter she heard a noise. Scarlett typically didn’t ease drop seeing as there was nothing she needed to know that bad, but she wasn’t ready to comfort anyone, and she could identify one of the voices muffled by the door as Todd. She pushed the door open a slight crack, knowing that nothing in the mansion, Todd called home, creaked.

“She did it. I just know Scarlett had something to do with Patrick,” Todd said pacing back and forth.

His on again off again girlfriend, Sasha, replied, “There’s no way you seriously believe that. I mean yea the girl’s weird, and the fact that anyone even bothers to look her way is kinda shocking but you don’t seriously think she could kill someone. Kill Patrick, she was like so in love with him.”

He grunted in denial. “Love, my ass. She could care less about him. She didn’t even show up to the wake. She sat in the back at the funeral, and if she really loved him don’t you think she would’ve said something at the ceremony?” He plopped down on the bed beside Sasha as she sat silently contemplating his words. No way, Scarlett thought. Sasha was one of the most rational people she had ever met. There was no way Sasha could seriously be contemplating her part in Patrick’s murder. And Todd, she loved Todd like a brother. How could he think things like that about her? They’d grown up together.

“I don’t know, Todd. I mean what could she possibly do that wouldn’t show up in the forensic report. It doesn’t make sense,” Sasha whispered, her voice filled with doubt.

Todd pulled her into his arms and said, “I’m not sure, but I think we should get rid of her before she hurts someone else. Berrydam, New Hampshire won’t continue to lose people at the hands of Scarlett Darling.”