Mystic Woods

Invite

Tonight is one of those nights where I won't be sleeping. Tossing and turning in bed, I finally decide to just stay on my back and stare at the ceiling. I have to be up early to hang with Terra and that stresses me out because she's going to want to know about tonight and how it was a total shit show.

My thoughts pass and I finally start to doze off until I hear a soft breathing noise next to my vanity in my bedroom. I sit up slowly to see what it is and, in a glimpse, I thought I saw a person standing there.

Nothing.

I lay back down freaked out and roll over to my side. I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing myself to fall asleep.

Waking up to Terra's text makes my mood change. I can't wait to see her. I jump out of bed and do my normal bathroom routine. I throw on a pair of yoga pants with a red fuzzy sweater and head out the door.

I arrive at Southgate mall and enter the building going to our usual meeting place, Dairy Queen. I feel butterflies in my stomach as I get closer.

Terra sees me and runs up hugging me. Gosh, I really missed her, it's been two weeks since we hung out.

"How are you? Omg look at you!" she spins me around playfully "I see that booty got bigger" she laughs.

"Shush" I roll my eyes and laugh at her goofiness. "You look so good T, you been working out?"

She throws her head back with a laugh. "Heck no. Just been eating healthier. Me and the man have been on this diet for the past week or so."

I point to the Dairy Queen entrance. "So, I'm assuming no ice cream for lunch later?"

She pretends to faint "No! No! I can't do it. Just take me now, take me now!" she spins dramatically almost hitting another lady. She laughs and apologizes to her.

"Okay, Miss actor. You need jeans, yes?" I look at the stores.

"Yes, but don't try and hide things. Give me all the details of last night and don't forget anything."

I sigh and glance at her. "It's the same old thing. Dylan...Dylan just needs some help. I don't think he knows who he is yet. He just wants people to think he's the smartest person in the world. He's also still very...handsy."

This time I look at her, making sure she knows exactly what I mean.

"I hate him so much I could literally punch him in his face" she says.

I shrug.

"I do have to tell you something though..." she slows down walking.

"Yeah?"

"I heard Dylan has been messaging and hanging out with Rebecca"

I don't respond. I just stare at my best friend with a blank face. I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or punch someone. Rebecca use to be one of my closest friend's sophomore year...how could she do this, especially behind my back.

"Hello? Earth to Rose?" she waves her hand in front of my face making me snap back into reality.

"Well good for them. I hope they live happily ever after" I storm into the jean store.

"Okay, but she use to be a part of our girl group, she shouldn't have done that. She should have talked to you and been open about the situation." she tries to get me to look at her but instead I look for my size in jeans.

"Look, my mom always told me you can count your true friends on one hand. Apparently, she's not a true friend" I pick up a pair of jeans. "I'm going to try these on" I fake a smile and walk to the changing room.

I walk out and Terra's face lights up.

"That's a keeper! You have to get it!" she claps her hands.

I look in the mirror at my body. The jeans hug perfectly around my waist and butt.

"I like them. I'm just happy I actually found something my size." I take one last look in the mirror. "Okay, go try yours on now" I smile and she heads to the changing room and comes out fussing with her jeans.

"I'm too tall for half of the jeans that exist, it's so annoying"

"I'm sorry...they look good though but I can totally see what you're saying. They need to be a little longer at the bottom" we both head back into the dressing rooms to change into our original clothes. We spend the rest of our day gossiping and eating mall food.

7PM rolls around and we walk out to our cars to say our goodbye's.
"I missed you so much. We need to start hanging more like we use too" she hugs me.

"I know, life's just been so busy. We will hangout more though, I promise." I smile at her.
"I'll text you when I'm home and you do the same, love you"

"We better" She starts to walk away. "Love you too!"

I drive home in silence. Getting out of my car I have an eerie feeling someone or something was behind me. I start to slow down and carefully look behind me. I see something dart behind the bush and I bolt to my front door fumbling with my keys. Once I'm safely in my building I'm out of breath and I make my way to my bedroom. Dropping my bags on my bed I try to catch my breathe.

"You okay?" Shay knocks on my door.

"Uh, yeah I am. Sorry just thought I saw a rat outside when coming in" I laugh and tuck my hair behind my ear. She walks in my room and stands at the doorway.

"Ew, gross. How's your new job going?" she asks.

"It's fun. It's a really edgy place and it gets a lot of attraction. The people are nice too"

"Good. I'm glad."

I smile at her.

"Well I'm going to go make dinner. Get some sleep" She smiles and closes my door softly. I get up to lock it behind her. Unpacking all of my stuff from the mall I see that I bought more than what I needed. A dress, Lush products and two new pair of jeans. I put everything away and decide to text Terra I'm home and call my mom.

"Hey Bayla, how you doing? How's the new job going?"

I feel like I haven't heard my nickname in years.

"Hi mom, I'm okay. And the job is good, even though it's not something I went to school for and want to do the rest of my life, it's still really fun. I mean, the people sometimes suck" I laugh and she laughs with me.

"Everyone mostly sucks in this world. Not everyone has the same heart as you do"

"Yup, true. How's the pup?" I play with my sweater.

"A needy brat. All she does is stare at me. She thinks she's going to get food every time I enter the kitchen" I hear our dog bark in the background.

"She deserves all the snacks in the world!" I tease.

"No no, she's chunky enough" she laughs. "So, when do I get to see my beautiful daughter?"

"Mmm, I was thinking about visiting on my next day off"

"Sounds wonderful. Just let me know. Even though your only an hour away you still have to come visit me. I love you"

"I love you to mom, I'll text you my schedule"

"Sounds good dear. I love you more" We hang up the phone and I get into an oversized shirt and crawl under my covers. I scroll through my phone on Instagram landing on Dylan's page. My stomach starts to get upset because I imagine him with Rebecca. I decide to unfollow them on Instagram. One step closer to getting negativity out of my life.

Grabbing my computer, I put on Netflix and start "Gilmore Girls". My all-time favorite show.

Hours pass and I look over at the clock, it reads 11:55 PM. I decide to turn my computer off and take my contacts out to get ready for bed.



I roll over to see the sun lingering in my room. Checking my clock, it says 7:45 AM and I have to be at work at 8 AM. I jump out of bed and rush frantically around my room. I'm never late to anything but here I am running around like a crazy person because I forgot to set my alarm. I run out the door and sprint to my car starting the engine as fast as possible speeding my way to work. My mom would have been so pissed at me if she saw me driving like this.

I enter the coffee shop with the longest line of customers. I see Coy at the register along with Martha, the girl I saw when I was here with Dylan.

"Good morning everyone" I cheerfully say while taking off my jacket and putting on my apron. I walk over to the coffee counter to help my first customer.

"How can I help you? I say with a big smile.

He looks at the coffee menu above me. "I will take a medium Ice coffee with almond milk, please"

"Sounds good." I start his drink and make it perfectly. Mostly, because it was simple.
I hand him the drink with a smile and help many customers throughout the day.

I often find myself thinking about Dylan and Rebecca and I try to distract myself by cleaning every crumb and spill I see.

"You know your energy in here is making the room very foggy" Martha says while passing me with empty mugs.

"What do you mean?" I turn around to her. She goes to respond but Coy interrupts her before she could start.

"Alright ladies, the bathroom needs cleaned" He hands me cleaning supply and I head to the bathroom to clean. While I clean, I can't help wonder what Martha meant. Did she know about Dylan?

Once I'm done with the bathroom I wash my hands and head back out to the customers. I see Adeline standing with Coy, laughing. I don't make eye contact with either of them but I can hear everything she's saying because she's obnoxious.

"Yeah, Brad invited me to the party tonight--"

"What? I told you I wanted you to stay away from him. He's bad news. You don't listen to anything I say" he exhales.

I look up from the counter.

"Just because you guys don't get along doesn't mean him and I can't be friends. Plus, you're coming to the party...you know you can't leave me alone" She kisses his lips and he kisses her back and whispers something to her that I can't hear. She catches me looking at her and I focus my eyes to the front door. I can feel her gaze on me as she leaves.

Coy walks to the back and approaches Martha. "Party tonight Martha, you in?"

She rolls her eyes. "Fine, but no stupid shit" She smirks and looks at me. "Wanna join?"

I turn around to see if she meant someone else. Nope, she was talking to me. "Uh, I don't really party that much anymore...but thanks"

She rolls her eyes playfully "Lame. But next time you better come!"

"I'll think about it" I laugh and help a customer to her seat.

The rest of the day was nonstop busy and time went by fast. Before I knew it, it was time to clock out and call it a day.

"Alright I'm out of here! See you guys tomorrow night!" I said while grabbing my stuff and heading outside. I hear Coy and Martha say bye to me while walking out the building. I work night shift tomorrow so that means I get to sleep in.

I get home and jump in the shower immediately. I smell like coffee beans and powdered sugar.

Stepping in the shower, I let the hot water run down my body relieving all the stress. I decide to give myself a little spa night and exfoliate along with deep conditioning.

After my shower I light my favorite candle and crawl into bed. While Browsing through Netflix I get a notification on Facebook for a new friend request from Coy. I accept it and stalk his page seeing a bunch of him and his dogs along with friends and a couple of Adeline that she posted. The thing with Adeline is, she's really beautiful but her attitude makes her ugly. I exit Facebook and continue looking at shows, landing on American Horror story.

*Ding ding ding*

I look over to see an unknown number text me.

I see that you accepted my boyfriend's request on Facebook. Here's the deal, stay on your side and we will be ok.
xoxo
Adeline

I wasn't going to respond but I'm really tired of her giving me dirty looks at work and being a complete bitch.

First of all, I don't want him, we just work together. Second of all, how the hell did you get my number?

Facebook, Rosie. And let's just say this was a lil warning.
Bye.


I slam my phone on my bed and walk to my window and open it to let fresh air in. It wasn't calming me down enough so I head outside to take a walk. Throwing on a big jacket and boots I make my way to the front door and beam straight for the side walk. It was dark and maybe not the smartest decision to walk alone when it's late, but I needed to clear my head space. She must have Coy's Facebook information and saw that he added me. I get that they are dating but he's allowed to have Facebook friends. Right?

I don't notice how far I walked until I hit the gas station that marks the next neighborhood over. Deciding to turn around, a bunch of guys approach me.

"Hey lil lady, you lost?" a guy with facial hair says.

"Nope. I know exactly where I am." I turn around and walk back to my house keeping my distance.

"We can give you a ride if you want" he ran after me and grabbed my arm while spinning me towards him. His breathe reeked of snuff and booze. I try to push him off of me, digging my nails into his skin but he doesn't move. I then take my knee and jam it right for his private parts.

"You bitch!" he yelled while his other friend chased me down the street. I run as fast as I can to get away from them until I hear them screaming from behind me. I turn around to see a dark shadow figure with red eyes tearing off their heads, leaving their bloody bodies and guts all over the ground. I stand there frozen not knowing what to do. I slowly start to back up, I was terrified. The dark shadow notices me moving and stares me down, not knowing what to do I freeze again lettings its red eyes stare into mine. The shadow then evaporates in the air, leaving me surrounded by the dead bodies of the two men. I look around, mortified and confused. I run as fast as I could back home, slamming my front door and locking everything I can. I'm out of breath but I don't care. I take out my phone and call 911.

"Hello? Yes so, I was just taking a walk and this tall dark shadow came out of nowhere and---"