A Letter Before Death

1

I stared at the plain white envelope that sat in the palm of my best friend's hand. It had a small stain from a drop of coffee in the top right corner diagonally from her name that had been written in the dead center of the envelope. "Taren, what does it say?" I asked looking up at her, the gorgeous, tall toffee colored cheerleading captain.

She shrugged, not glancing away from the red hearts that had been drawn around her name. The hearts were colored with an odd red marker. It looked as if instead of coming from contact with a marker, it had been squeezed onto the paper. It was dark, and it had soaked into the paper, leaking through to the back of the envelope. It almost looked like dried blood, but that would be ridiculous. Who would leave a letter in her locker with blood coloring the hearts?

Taren turned the envelope over and pulled the flap up, revealing a piece of notebook paper. She pulled out the paper and unfolded it. The crisp paper crunching like leaves being stepped on in the fall. I looked over her shoulder at the words that had been lightly written with a lead pencil. 'Taren, Here in the forest, dark and deep. I offer you eternal sleep." She read out quietly.

"What kind of messed up love note is this?" I blurted out.

She rolled her eyes and threw the note in the large trash can that sat near the water fountain that was beside our lockers. "I don't know and honestly I don't care."

I quickly walked over and picked it out of the trash. "Hey, you should keep this. Maybe we can find out who put in your locker!"

"You can keep it. It's just a prank to get me scared." She laughed as she continued to get her books out of her locker. "You're coming to the bonfire tomorrow night right?"

"Maybe, I haven't quite asked my dad yet."

"Sara, you and I both know he won't care. Your dad is one of the most laid back type of guys. Now if your mom was home, she'd say no in a heart beat."

"Yeah, you're right there. Luckily she's in New York on a business trip. But I still need to ask."

Taren slammed her locker shut and turned to face me. Her dark chocolate eyes smiling with her mouth. "You better ask after school. You're going to that party. Hottie Jake King and his football buds are hosting it. So that means that his brother Nate will be there. You know the baseball star who you can't keep your eyes off of? Yeah, he will be there for your viewing."

My cheeks flared red. "Taren!" I hissed playfully. "Nate has been talking to Mia Lang. The smooth olive skin, long beautiful black hair, model body co cheer captain. You know, that one? Yeah, so I have no chance."

"Oh, you mean my wanna be?" She laughed. "Look, Sara, she may look like a freaking heavenly angel, but she has no real personality. She takes on the personality of those closest to her just to keep them around, so you still have a chance."

"Yeah right." I laughed nervously. "We both know that's not completely true." At school, I am the invisible one. Sure I'm friends with Taren, but my looks could never match up with hers. I'm not super gorgeous like her. I'm more neutral. I don't wear risqué clothing that accentuate my features. I usually just wear jeans and maybe a t-shirt. Sometimes I'll wear a nice blouse type shirt, but I usually stick to my quirky t-shirts. They're fun and they usually make the people who wear them laugh.

"Well tomorrow I am dressing you up so don't even think about refusing."

I nodded in agreement as the bell rang, signaling it was time for class. Taren and I turned and walked separate ways.