Paradise

1. Help Us Find Our Friend

"Should I do a smokey eye or a red eye?" Andi leaned over from her place in front of her bathroom mirror to see me through the doorway. Casey glanced Andi's way but didn't really look at her, instead racking for a mental image of how the makeup had looked on her. Eventually replying with,

"Smokey eye," Casey mumbled out. "But keep it neutral toned."

Casey knew that Andi already came off very intimidating because of her extreme eyeliner skills that if she wore her iconic dark smokey eye that people would be too afraid to talk to them at the party. Andi enjoyed that power, though.

Andi and Casey had been attached at the hip since they started talking in sixth grade. They understood each other in ways other people can't - a special lifelong bond was formed as they grew up throughout their teenage years together, one that no one could replace. They vowed to each other one drunken night after their new years eve dates had stood them up that they wouldn't spend another new years apart, thus they had to do something big to continue their pact three years later.

"Have you heard from Dannie yet? She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago." Andi asked. Casey shrugged off Andi's concern about time and looked in the mirror to see if she looked presentable enough (to her surprise, she looked pretty okay).

Nearly five minutes later, Dannie walked in the door of Andi's room, complimenting the girls on her way in. Her phone buzzed and she dropped her bag by Andi's bed and sat on the edge next to Casey. "Devin will drop us off there and then pick us up on the way back from his brother's house around two,"

Dannie looked to Casey first for a response, but Dannie only got a shrug in response. "Andi?"

"Sounds good."

"Then we can continue the party here if we want!" Dannie cheered at her own plan, sliding her phone out of her back pocket to confirm the plans with Devin.

"What's your family doing for new years?" Dannie made conversation as they waited for Andi to finish getting ready.

"They went to my Grandparents house, I think."

Dannie nodded. "My family never really celebrates the new year - I just use it as an excuse to get slam dunk drunk with my friends."

They continued to talk about nothing in general until Devin arrived. They all piled into his Subaru and headed to their destination. Somewhere in between Andi's driveway and the 'Stop' sign at the end of her block, Dannie already had a bottle out of her bag and passing it around, ready to get the night started. Devin, however, declined the offer when anyone asked him. Casey hoped Devin kept that promise all night long.

Upon rolling up, you could already hear music playing loudly from somewhere inside the house even though it was only barely eight at night. The girls thanked Devin and he drove away, not wanting to be any later than he already was.

The night quickly got rolling and more people showed up than anyone anticipated. Despite the loud music and tightly crammed bodies, the girls still made the most of the night. They stuck together throughout the night. Since one girl got dragged into beer pong, so did the other two.

Andi took the highly intoxicated man's offer and stood at the opposite end of the ping pong table. Even though she was somewhere between five or six shots in, her tolerance was astonishing. Casey had her third shot clutched in her hand, content on taking the night slow. Dannie had been picking up drinks handed to her as they walked, glad to lose count of how many drinks she threw back.

Casey almost cringed at how this guy was going to fell when he woke up in the morning. Andi hadn't missed any and well, the guy could barely keep the ball in his hand. By his fourth drink, a shouting erupted from the living room.

Everyone was crowded the two, cheering on what seemed to be a fight. Andi and Casey couldn't see what was going on, but all of the sudden people were running and screaming. Casey's initial reaction was to get Dannie and Andi and leave along with everyone else but when she turned around where Dannie was, the other was no where to be found. Casey called out, running farther into the house to find her friend, Andi hot on her trail.

They could hear noises from inside the bathroom, so Casey kicked open the door. Who knows what made everyone leave so fast but Casey really didn't want to stick around and find out. She didn't find Dannie, instead she found a guy nursing his vomiting twin brother over a toilet.

"Hey, that door was closed for a reason!" The one holding his brother up shouted.

Casey ignored his comment. "Have you seen a girl with shoulder length brown hair walk by here? She's wearing a red shirt."

"No, we've been in here the last ten minutes."

The music in the living shut off for a few seconds, unmasking a loud scream. When the music turned back on, a silence fell between the four. "What's going on out there?"

"We don't know. Everyone ran out screaming. We lost our friend during the whole thing."

The guy propped his brother's arm around his shoulder, lifting him to his feet. The four walked back toward the living room to investigate, a few people ran past them toward the back door. "What the fuck is happening?" Andi asked as she looked around the wrecked living room.

They hurried through the ajar front door, too spooked by the sudden evacuation to stick around any longer. As Casey ran across the front lawn, she saw what might've made everyone run.

There was a guy eating another guy's guts.