The Curse

Emmy

                        Chapter Two
                             Emmy

    I was putting my hair up into a ponytail as I heard a ping come from my phone. A text from Joss. I opened my phone and looked at the text. My lips curled up into a half-smile as I responded:
  ‘Of course I will. Wouldn't miss it for the world.’
  It was nice to have the feeling of someone needing and or relying on you. I felt important. Purposeful. I shook the feeling of being needed off my mind and kept fixing my hair and putting on my clothes. I decided on my white shirt with a human heart printed on it, black jeans, and some black tennis shoes to go with it. I started to walk out the door.
  My parents were at work, as usual, so I just left a note. I walked down the street to Luke and Will’s house. I was so excited to see my friends! Ugh, it had been 2 months since I had seen my friends. It doesn’t seem like long to some but when there is only 12 people in your class and you see them constantly, you get really close to one and other.
  I lived decently close so I had decided to walk instead of ride my motorbike. Yeah yeah, I’m only 15, I don’t have my license. I still drive my motorbike. And I really don’t care. Joss tries to stop me but I really don’t listen to her when she talks about my safety. She is the only one that knows I’m sensitive so I’m going home with her more than usual lately. I just need someone to talk to. A lot has been going on but we’ll get into that later.
As I looked down the road I saw Luke and Will’s house blasting music and flashing with bright LED’s. Boy was I excited. That was sarcasm. Sarcasm doesn’t translate well through writing.
  I kept walking down the road. ‘Crap.’ I thought to myself. I had forgotten my art bag. I never leave the house without my art bag.
  I turned around and rushed back to my house. I was sprinting as fast as my un-trained, un-stretched legs would let me.
  Once I had gotten to my house I was panting like a dog on a hot summer’s day. I hadn’t run that fast since our P.E teacher, Mrs. Phillips, made us sprint a mile. It was awful. Once I had grabbed my bag I headed back out the door at a walking pace.
  A few minutes later I looked up the block, I could faintly see the flashing lights through the dim night. It was almost 7:00 pm. I heard a little ping come from my phone. It was to the group chat that my whole class was in, but I didn’t recognize the number.
  “Tonight will be an adventure worth dying for, that is, if you’re alive for the adventure and more. If you don’t stick together you might all regret, I am your nightmare, the scariest yet.”
That was the weirdest text I’ve gotten in a while. Who the hell was texting in tongues? I was praying no one would respond. It was probably a hacker.
  I sighed and put my phone in my pocket. I was praying that none of my friends were stupid enough to actually respond to that silly text.
  I kept walking before hearing another ping. I checked my phone. Gosh dangit Geoffrey! He responded!
  “What? Don’t text in riddles! Who are you?” he texted back to the potential scammer.
  Why does he have to be so naive. I powered off my phone, hoping the hacker couldn’t hack it if it was powered off.     
  The booming sound shook the ground and the flashing lights illuminated the air. I stood down the street and sighed, I was scared. I couldn’t admit it but I was. I saw Essie’s sisters car pull into the driveway and I sighed with relief. I ran towards the car as Joss jumped out. I gave her the biggest hug.
  “Emmy! I’m so glad you’re here!” Joss said as she hugged me
  “I have so much to tell you!” I said with a small chuckle.
“I can’t wait to hear it!”  Joss said with her signature warm, bright smile.
  We walked into the party, or rather a mess of booming music and flashing lights.
  "This hurts my eyes.. and my ears.. and my.... everything" Joss said as she gripped my arm. It sent a smile to my face as I realized she trusted me with her life.
  As we walked in we soon realized that there wasn’t any adults. I could feel Joss squeeze my arm in fear. It was pathetic and innocent but another small gesture of trust.
  One jolt was all it took for Joss to be pulled away from my arm and dragged off into the crowd. I was alone. I hear a sharp scream from Joss and an evil laugh from the crowd. I couldn’t pin where the sound was coming from.
  I ran into the unknown of the booming party and saw Joss being showed some very. . . grotesque things on someone’s phone. Her arms were pinned down and she had her eyes shut tightly, Nikita being the one pinning her arms and Jacob being the one showing her the erotically awkward pictures.
“ENOUGH!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, silencing everything besides the still booming music. Everyone parted and made me a path straight to Joss.  I went up to her and put my hand on her forearm. “Come on Joss, it’s gonna be ok.” I said as I pulled her arms away from Nikita. She threw her arms around me and sighed.
  “Thank you.” She whispered weakly. Her voice was shaking almost as much as she was.
  Everyone soon started dancing to the music and Joss stood up “I love this song!” She yelled as she pulled me to the dance floor. She was laughing and dancing her heart out as the song suddenly stopped and the volume of the party started to die down.
  “Scavenger hunt time!” Luke yelled.   Everyone groaned, except for Joss who cheered in pure childish glee. I stayed silent and just listened to what he had to say. We were all given lists and groups. The groups were:
Nikita and Essie,
Gracie and Geoff,
Will and Charlotte,
Jacob and Grace,
Joss and Levi,
And Luke and I.
The groups were okay with me, Luke was one of the more tolerable people in our friend group.
  We started off on the journey of looking for the things on this list. Random things around their house.
I found their dog, peanut, and put him in Luke and I’s corner of objects. We went on looking before we heard Jacob yell
    “Hey guys! Come here! I found something!”
    We all took off running towards his voice. Once we got to him we saw that he had a scroll in his hands. A very very ancient looking one with a red, satin bow tying it together. Jacob slowly opened it and we all gathered around to see what it said.