Shockwave

Scene 5

Present day

"Here alone?" he asked Ariel, who smiled in response. He was decently attractive.

"Yeah," she replied. When one of her friends invited her to a party, she knew this was the chance to finally meet someone else and get over Demetria. She wanted to get rid of all those feelings.

That's why she let herself dance with the guy. She didn't even know his name, but it didn't matter.

She was drunk and upset over a break up that wasn't exactly a break up. She was prone to making bad decisions, and that's exactly what she was doing.

————

Demetria entered the large house with loud music, and she felt nauseous already. She hated parties, but she needed to see Ariel. She looked around desperately in an attempt to find her, but she couldn't find her anywhere.

Ariel was nowhere to be found here on the "dance floor" though Demetria waded through the sea of people. It was a poor excuse for a dance floor, but the people seemed to be doing some form of dancing. Or they were having seizures.

Demetria went back the way she came before starting up the stairs and heading toward the second floor. She dreaded what might be happening in one of the bedrooms. She had a horrible feeling about this. She wanted to go back home and pretend nothing ever happened.

Only she couldn't do that; she had to find Ariel.

She reached the second floor and went over to the door closest to her. There were people around her—they were all so drunk. She touched the doorknob. She could hear people talking inside, but that's when she heard the familiar laugh of Ariel.

She looked to the side, and she caught sight of the blonde girl.

"Ariel?" she called, and the blonde looked her way. Her green eyes locked with Demetria's brown ones, and Ariel smiled slightly. She looked insanely drunk. A guy was with her, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Ariel looked away from Demetria before kissing the guy. Demetria's heart plummeted. She could taste something acidic in her mouth. She felt nauseous.

"I'm sorry," she said, barely audibly. It all felt like a dream. It couldn't be real. She pushed past the people and ran down the stairs and out of the house. She felt as though she couldn't breathe. Her fears had been confirmed, and her heart was shattered into a million pieces.

The cold air cut into her skin as she ran. Her breaths came up in choked sobs, her lungs contracting and collapsing on themselves. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, unable to go any further. The weight of everything came crashing down on her in one moment. She couldn't breathe. She was drowning.

Demetria doubled over, her hands on her knees as she tried to breathe properly. Tears clouded her vision as reality hit her in the face.

She didn't want to believe what was happening. But she couldn't live in denial forever.