That Night

The Party 7

  A few days have passed since Halloween. Its still midterm season so the campus is crowded, with some students running to class to avoid being late. Jeremy happens to be one of those students. He's fairly tall and gawky with blonde hair and blue eyes so he looked like the average LAU student. Jordan and Kate are walking in the direction that Jeremy is running and narrowly miss being trampled.

"I guess he's in rush." Jordan quips."He's a freshman, they're always in a rush" Kate shrugs. "Truuuu." Jordan agrees.

Jordan and Kate arrive in Writing class, a class that they share with Ernest and the other 5 that were at the party. Jordan and Kate became the closest after that night but Jordan never mentions what he knows about that night. Everyone else continued their lives as normal as if nothing ever happened. Jared stopped smoking and focuses on school more. Unique joined the black student union and other on campus orgs. Jeremiah and Nigel are now dating openly and Josh is still running the frat house. No one speaks of that night. Students think that Amanda transferred while her parents think she ran away again. Its almost as if she never existed. The students are all chatting with one another until the professor silences them by passing out the exams.

"No one open their booklets until I say so." The professor declares. "I want you all to write about a night that you'll never forget. I'm grading on descriptiveness and how well you can take me into your world."

The Party 7 all become pail in the face. All but Jordan and Jared look around at one another, each sweating or fidgeting. They all remember moments from the party but know they can't write about it.

"Open your booklets and begin" the professor announces.

As soon as Jordan opens his booklet, he's stunned to see a giant letter "U" printed on white paper on the first page. He looks around in confusion to see if anyone else is as lost as he is. He notices that only the other 6 from the party are looking around. At one point they all make eye contact and they know something is off. They all each have a giant letter in their test booklet. Assuming it relates to the party, they all quietly fold them and put them away. Finishing their tests first Kate and Unique stand outside the class holding their letters to themselves.

"You got one too?" Unique asks."Yeah a 'V' but why us?" Kate inquires nervously. "You don't think it has something to do with Amanda do you?""No. Well, I'm not sure. I saw a giant 'C' and assumed it was my grade until I saw I wasn't the only one.""Maybe the letters spell something, lets wait for the other guys."Moments later, Josh, Jeremiah and Nigel walk outside to join Kate and Unique. "What the hell is going on?" Josh asks the group. "Who just leaves a giant 'O' in someone's test?"Yeah I just saw an "E" in my booklet and you all looked spooked." Jeremiah frets."I thought my 'R' had something to do with the test." Nigel quips."R-E-C-O-V-" Kate is puzzled as she spells aloud."Its recover, if the other two have an 'R' or an 'E' on them" Josh finishes."Recover? Recover what?" Unique snaps. The 5 of them are tense waiting on Jordan and Jared to come out of class. They all jump each time the doors open. Students keep leaving and finally a familiar face comes out."Hey guys.""Go home Ernest." Josh hisses."I actually have another class but if you say so." Ernest shrugs and walks away.

After waiting another 5 minutes, Jordan and Jared exit at the same time to an upset crowd of 5.

"What took you guys so long?" Josh yells."Some of us actually come to school to...pass" Jared retaliates. "Just give us the 'R' and the 'E' so we can figure this out." Kate huffs."I actually have a 'U' but what's going on?" Jordan utters."A 'U' means it can't be recover." Unique opines."I have a 'P' what the heck is going on?" Jared worries. Josh's face goes completely blank as he unscrambles the letters in his head."It spells cover up" he mutters in fear. The other 6 gasp as Ernest lurks in the bushes watching the fear come over all of their faces. Accidentally stepping on a branch, Ernest takes off before anyone can notice its him watching."Who was that?" Jordan wonders."Probably the creep who sent this." Kate groans."It was probably that weird kid Ernest who was looming around earlier. I'm going to find him." Josh rushes off."He's an idiot. It can't be Ernest, he wasn't even a student here yet." Jordan affirms."Let him be. He's an idiot" Unique counters. "The real question is why did we get these letters.""Come on. I think we all know Unique. Its because of-" "Shhh." Unique puts her hand over Jeremiah's mouth."Don't shh him. That's the only logical explanation." Nigel counters."What is?" Jordan acts confused."Amanda!" Jeremiah blurts, moving Unique's hand from his mouth."What about her? She transferred somewhere." Jared says."No she didn't and if you received a letter, you know more about Amanda than you claim." Jeremiah accuses.

Meanwhile, Josh is on his way to the fourth floor of Jordan's dorm to find Ernest. The building isn't too well taken care of so Josh takes the stairs since the elevator isn't working. He finally gets to the fourth floor and is knocking furiously on Ernest and Jeremy's door. Its like a ghost town and the lights keep flickering. Josh pulls an old gift card out of his pocket and tries to break into Ernest's room.

"I know you're in there." he yells.After successfully breaking in, he see looks around and sees nothing. He starts throwing covers and pillows around and checking under the bed until he finally gives up. He crawls from under the bed and bumps into someone. He turns around and jumps back when he sees someone in a bear mask.Laughing, he quips "You thought you were gonna scare me? Who are you suppoed to by Kanye West?"The person says nothing."You know I should really kick your ass for having me chase you Ernest" He pushes his finger into the person's chest.Almost as if it were a reflex, the person in the bear mask, stabs Josh in the stomach and twists the dagger inside of him."What are you doing?" Josh complains in agony as he coughs up blood.Bearmask continues to stab Josh until he lowers onto the ground lifeless. He then uses Josh's shirt to wipe his dagger clean.

After getting nowhere with their group conversation, Jordan decides he's going to skip his last class and just go back to his dorm room. On the way he spots Ernest and they begin to walk together.

"Josh is gonna kill you when he sees you.""For what? What the fuck did I do?" Ernest fumes."He thinks you were. Nvm" Jordan says as they get to the building."I swear that guy is a bully." "Yeah he is." Jordan responds as they walk up the stairs."Talking about killing me, he'd be lucky if I don't kill him first." Ernest roars.

Jordan gasps as he walks around the corner and sees a trail of blood leading to his doorway. He steps over the trail and nervously tries to open his door. Ernest is behind him, equally as scared. He tries to open his door but there's something blocking it from being opened. He tries to push again to no avail. Ernest helps him this time as he digs his shoulder into the door for one last push. They open the door to see Josh's body sprawled across the dorm room floor. Dead. Both Jordan and Ernest scream in horror.