Monsters of Manhattan

Chapter Eleven: The Truth About Chelsea

“I still remember you, “ Bentley said as he and I stood alone on the rooftop.

New York City’s summer breeze quietly accompanied us, while the soft hum of the city’s traffic hissed from a distance. The small air intake I sucked in as he waited for my response caused his eyebrows to curve in confusion. 

“Chelsea, right?” he asked, a concerned expression plastered on his face.

I nodded, cautious of making any more movements or muttering any words.

“Ethan’s mother introduced us at the Mayor’s dinner, right?” he asked.

A heavy sigh escaped my lungs and my stomach terminated any remaining nerves.

“Yeah, she did,” I replied, casually.

Bentley was about to say something, when Ethan walked onto the rooftop once again.

Like every time he was worried, he ran a hand through his curly hair.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My mom thinks I’m doing drugs again,” he replied with a sad tone. His green eyes stared intensely at Bentley as if they were having a private conversation.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Bentley said: “I’ll go check and see if your mom has calmed down by now.”

“Are you okay?” I asked. Without thinking about it, my index finger smoothed out the wrinkle formed between Ethan’s clenched eyebrows.

“Frowning with give you wrinkles and make you ugly,” I joked, giving him the best smile I could possibly manage at the time.

He smiled slightly, and I knew he faked it because he’s dimples would have shown and his eyes would have shined divinely.

He pulled me towards me and didn’t mutter a word, until his butler informed us my driver was downstairs.

There was neither goodnight kiss nor a never-ending tight hug. Ethan muttered a quick goodnight, before asking his butler to escort me down to the lobby. He stayed on the rooftop, letting the summer breeze roughly kiss his chocolate curls.

Something was wrong, and it was all Bentley’s fault.

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They were in the deepest part of the woods. The same place the camping consolers warned us not to venture into at night. They claimed some woman, who was decapitated during the Salem witch trails, haunted it. 

Everyone knew it was just to keep us away from the high school students staying on the other side the woods. Apparently, it would be awful if we junior high kids were to encounter any sexual activity certain high school students engaged in the woods. 

Naturally, everyone snuck into the woods at night. Some did it to drink or smoke, others did it to engage in the type of activity our consolers wanted us to avoid, and some, like Lauren and I, did it to see if the woods really were haunted, of course, it was stupid, but when you’re fourteen, everything you do is supposed to be stupid. 

So Lauren and I snuck out of our cabin at midnight and walked into the infamous part of the woods. Evidence sided with the irrational behavior of sexual frustrated teenagers, but traveling into the deepest part of the woods we heard the screams. 

Lauren and I were ready to bolt back to our cabin, but curiosity caused us to pursue. 

Walking further ahead, we encountered the scene that gave us both nightmares for months and constant years of therapy. There was a group of teens tied together sitting on the dirt cover ground. No shrubbery surrounded them, just dead leaves from the branches of the high trees above. Their youthful faces showed the age difference between them and the group of teens surrounding them. They were freshman that had been easily overpowered by the seniors surrounding them. 

“Let’s just end it before anyone finds us!” someone hollered as Lauren and I got closer. 

“I agree. We should just cut them loose already. We’ve had our fun,” Amy said. Her silhouette becoming clearly visible to us when we stood behind the closest bush. 

Justin circled the group. His light brown hair shined gray against the sliver rays casted by the moon.

“Alright, alright!” Justin agreed a few minutes later.

Logan’s older brother and an unfamiliar guy untied the group. The kids sighed out of relief from being freed. The mocking seniors, about twenty or so, began to retreat back to their cabins somewhere in the near distance.

The only people that stayed behind were Amy and Danielle, a freshmanwannabe. Danielle was everything Amy hated. Pretty, smart, slight sense of style, and a scholarship kid.

The scholarship kids weren’t bullied for less wealthy than us, we understood the need for a formal education. However, Amy did give them special treatment if they were to step out of line. When Amy would insult or terrorize someone, Danielle would always retaliate by insulting Amy.

It made everyone question Amy’s authorization over us. In the end though, Danielle lost her fight. Amy finished her off for good.

“You think this was funny, don’t you?” Danielle glared.

“Duh. Maybe if you just kept your mouth shut. You and the others wouldn’t have to be out here,” Amy confessed.

Danielle scoffed before picking up her sweatshirt sitting on the ground, “I feel sorry for you. Your parents avoid you, so you take it out on the rest of us. The admiration some people have for you fills the void of not having your parents around. But the truth is your parents aren’t around because they regret having you.”

Amy stood shocked as Danielle walked away, but before she could travel far Amy rushed behind her, pushed her, and muttered the most common insult she knew. A sickening snap echoed through the night mist, then the sound of shoes crushing leaves followed by Justin walking into our view.

“Amy, what are you…” he began before looking down at Amy’s feet. 

“Is she?” he said, a horrified expression on his face.

 “Yeah, she fell,” Amy said without a hint of remorse present upon her youthful face.

 “We should go tell someone,” he muttered, his blue eyes glued intensely at Danielle’s corpse.

 Amy nodded in agree, stepped over Danielle, and followed Justin back into the wilderness. She turned back one last time to view her accomplishment and held an image of relief when Danielle still remained motionless. For a moment, my green eyes met her ocean blue eyes, and without any lip movement, she warned me to keep my mouth shut.

 She and Justin then disappeared in the immense darkness. Lauren wiped away salty water from her cheeks and agreed with me about keeping our mouths shut. We owed Amy for entertaining us when we were young. She was our idol, our inspiration to be who we are today. She was the perfect monster of Manhattan, and on that night, she made monsters out of Lauren and I.

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“We have a problem!” Lauren announced as she rushed into my bedroom. My white Pomeranian barked angrily at her for waking him up from his afternoon nap.

I shushed him and picked up my glass of water from the dresser, before asking: “What’s wrong now?”

“Bentley’s Danielle’s brother,” she replied, roughly massaging her temples.

Water splashed against my white marble floor, glass shattered in unison, while my Pomeranian shivered under my bed, afraid of what I would do next.

Bentley had more secrets than I knew, and I felt like I it was time to find out what his secret conversation with Ethan was about. 

There are worse things I did that night and one of them involved Logan. 

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Check out the cool trailer I made--------> 

Sorry I took so long guys! But now you guys know what Amy, Lauren, and Chelsea have been hiding! Do you think Bentley will find out? Do you think Ethan know what Chelsea did? What do you think Chelsea did with Logan? Also, who's team Ethan or team Logan? Tell me in a comment! I'm more of a Ethan fan, but Logan is slowly pulling me towards his side. I'll be updating next Thursday!