The Evermore Forest

Chapter 2 - The Party:

We arrive at the college dorms, the sky still someone blue. The sunset is covered by clouds, showing no sign of its colorful arrangement of pinks and oranges. I don't mind while riding the elevator to the 3rd floor. There's no windows, creating looking at the sunset even more useless. The girls seem to be keeping quiet while they wait for the door to open. "561, 561" I constantly repeat in my head. The dorms aren't too hard to figure out; each floor in the building is either a Dorm A, B, or C., and each dorm has 200 dorm rooms. If you do the math correctly, you kn- "We're here!" Ebony exclaims, interrupting my thoughts. The elevator doors open finally and we make out way though. It takes about a minute and a half for us to find the room. I take a deep breath, and open the door.
It felt like an average highschool party, except most of what happens in room 561 is actually legal. The young adults are all compacted in every room in the small dorm. As I step into the crowd, I realize I haven't really been in a dorm before, so I didn't know the standards for dorms. There's about 3 rooms or so, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. But somehow, with a bunch of drunk, dancing, and/ or talking young adults in every possible corner, made it feel small. I felt like a speck.
I swirl around to see my friends immediately mingling with the host, what was his name again? I join their conversation, greeting whatsitname and the girls.
"I'm glad to be invited, err" I stammer. It's on the tip of my tongue. They don't seem to notice I forgot his name, "Haha! I'm glad you could make it, even what happened at the cafeteria earlier." He says with a broad voice. I get flustered, I wasn't expecting him to mention her mistakes from earlier that day. The girls laugh, "She's cool now, so no need to worry about her starting a scene." Janise defends me. "Well, I hope you guys enjoy the party, and Priscilla, try not to start anything." He winks at me. I don't know if I should respond or not to a statement like that, nor the eye gesture that followed it. I simply nodded, and looked at the girls. "He was totally hitting on you." Carla says. The girls nodded in a agreement "That wink is direct signals we wants to get with you." I'm a bit skeptical, I don't think he meant it that way, but the girls are pretty positive with their statement. "Well maybe I should stick around him, then I'll know for sure." They pushed me towards the table, where the drinks and he was at. They stayed across the room, sneakily watching me. Ah, I should've asked them what his name was. The table had all sorts of snacks and drinks, all ranging from a party sized bag of Fritotos to a bowl of fruit punch (that has gallons of liquor in it of course). I get a cup and pour a bit of the mixture. Once I took a sip, I immediately got lightheaded. Yup, there was definitely gallons of alcohol in that. I close my eyes for a bit, trying to dissolve the burning sensation in my throat. Opening my eyes, I see him looking at me with a concerned face. "Are you alright? Lemme help you to the couch" He holds my hand to the couch. Sitting down, I look back at him, sitting next to me. "Sorry. My friends kept adding more and more whiskey to the punch. I didn't know you were lightweighted." He apologizes. I shake my head into focus. "It's ok, I wasn't gonna drink anymore after taking that sip." I smiled at him, showing I was definitely fine. He smiled in response. "You should probably stay here with me, I'm worried these guys would try to get at the girls. Good thing I locked up the bedroom" He looked off to the crowd in every corner. I knew what he meant, parties are quite dangerous if you don't stick to someone you trust. But I don't even remember this guy's name? "Hey um, the alcohol hit kinda hard, I wanna know what's your name." I said, not completely lying. It did hit hard, but I didn't know his name to begin with. He laughs. "Oh god you're seriously a lightweight. It's Maū."
Maū. Weird name. Even then it doesn't ring a bell, but oh well, at least i know his name. "Thank Maū. I really appreciate that you're looking after me haha." I exclaim. "It's no big deal, I just felt like I needed to help you back." He says, still smiling. Help you back? What did I do to help him? Is this the effects of the alcohol hitting me? I put my hand to my head. "Gah, my head hurts." Thinking too much again, Priscilla.
His face falls back into a concerning expression. "It's like it's your first time drinking... Wait it isn't right?" He worries. I shake my head. "It's probably just the things that's been happening lately. It's kinda piling up and I'm getting a headache." Maū lifts me up by my arm. "Let's get some fresh air, I know a shortcut to the roof."
Without thinking about it, I let him lead me to the rooftop; there was a window in the kitchen, and outside it was an escape ladder all the way up to the roof. Passing by all the party members, I listen to their conversations. They talk a lot about how much money college is and how they wish they could drink to where their livers are withered away. They're just really drunk.
But, in every gathering, the Forest seems to pop up in one group's conversation. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, the Forest always has some new stories that give people plenty to talk about. I don't believe most of them, they're pretty crude and sometimes a bit obscure. Amber, on the other hand, is pretty interested in what lies in the forest. She talks about animals that have adapted new ways of life in either cold, dark, and/or hot temperatures in the forest, and if you go into the forest, the animals look nothing as you'd expect them to be. I never really stuck around for her to finish explaining why the animals adapted to those things, something about the forest stretching across different biomes I think.
Scratch that. I don't want to think about Amber. Especially now.
As I'm climbing, I glance down, but I kept staring at the ground. I was caught up with my own thoughts; It's a long fall if I let go from here. The ground seems so far away. The world shifts around me. I look back up, nauseous from the realization how high up I am. Maū reaches the top first and he lends a hand. I grad into it, not realizing I was trembling from thinking of the ground too much. I grabbed tightly so he can push me up. Finally on steady ground, I walk over to the edge and take a long, deep breath.
He was right, it felt way better being on top the dorms. The moon was out, and was casting a white glow on every building it struck. Maū walks to the edge too, and keeps his gaze on me. "Mind talking about what's been happening all day that made you get a headache?" He asks, kindheartedly. "Well, I'm just so used to things going the usual ways, ya know? A routine that kinda sticks to you. I was so stuck to it that when it got.. messed up, I don't know." I sighed. "I kinda got a lot of confused emotions. Like, what am I supposed to do? I'm not used to this. And it's just running around my head." I crossed my arms and lay my head on top of them on the ledge. I look back down. It's too dark to see the ground now. Weird. I saw it on the way up.
Maū does the same, but keeps his focus on me. "What changed?" He said with a hint of curiosity. I chuckle. "Well I didn't have a good breakfast, neither a lunch. I didn't focus at all in my classes too. And... I got into an argument with my sister. She can sometimes be a bitch, ya know?" I look over to await his response. Its a pause. "You know, you're the real bitch sometimes." Maū says fiercely.
"What?" I take a step back, sheer confusion runs through my face. He looks dead serious. "In the morning, your mom didn't want to be there with you. She's pretty tired with her own child bossing her around. She's real tired of your shit." He steps forward, looking a bit more angry. I stand there, shocked. This is almost like what happened between Amber earlier.
"And that kid, Carven? You never pay the respect he deserves when he does things for you. He cares about you, but you're never grateful. It's like you think he's invisible until you need him. In fact, I can say the same to you for almost everyone in your life!" The expression on his face is progressively getting aggressive. I keep staring at him, and keeping close to the ledge. Why can't I say anything? How... does he know all of this? He continues. "Amber tried putting some sense into that dim-witted mind of yours! She's right when you don't listen to the truth. You want to block out everything that goes against you. You just want things to be 'easy'. But the truth is going to hit you hard. And it's coming soon." He has a mischievous grin on his lips. Maū backs me the the ledge. I don't have any time to comprehend what's happening. I can feel myself trembling as he gets closer and closer.
"This... this can't be happening..!" I stumble for words.
"Oh it's happening, sweetheart." That grin grows all the way across his face.

He pushes me off the ledge.