12 Sides of a Dangerous Dice

Saria Oakes and Annika Lacoste

Saria Oakes brushed back her short brown hair into a messy, high ponytail as she stood beside her best friend, Annika Lacoste as they applied their excessive make-up. What little clothing they wore clung tightly around their slim bodies. Saria stepped back and examined herself in the mirror. She wore a snug mini skirt- about the size of a regular belt- and a pink lacy bandeau. Her heavy make-up highlighted her pale contours, brightening her hollow cheeks and deepening her stony eyes.

Annika battered her long, black eyelashes, revealing shimmering royal blue eye shadow. Heavy foundation clouded her plain face, so disproportionately that not a single pore was visible. Her emerald green cut-out mini-slip hung tightly, showing ample amounts of bright orange fake-tanned skin. Her long red hair slicked back roughly into a high bun. There was so much product sprayed within that it was dangerous around an open flame.

Saria and Annika slicked on bright red lipstick and draped their arms around each other’s waist. Annika pulled out her brand-new iPhone from her bag and posed against her best friend, pursing her cherry lips. She tapped gently on the button and took several ‘selfies’ and posted them on Facebook.

“What should be the caption this time, beautiful?”

Saria snapped some gum into her mouth and chewed. “Preparing for the BESTEST night ever with my babe!”

“Totes Hilar! Good one!”

Annika looked up and down at the photos. They looked fake- and she knew it. They had to be.

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~2 years earlier~ 

Saria and Annika lay, relaxed in the soft, velvety surface of Saria’s beanbags. They laughed like mad-men. Annika threw back her head and took a long, deep swig from the bong. Slowly, she exhaled the toxic smoke in short clouds into the air of her friend’s basement.   Ever since the two girls had started high school, they had become addicted to marijuana.

The first day of year seven, Saria and Annika walked into the school grounds, they wore a look of determination. They swore they would become popular- after years of being on the edge. Annika spotted her older sister and went to say hi.

“Hey, Kiara!” she squeaked excitedly. She had always looked up to her sister- wanting to be just like her.

“Sup loser? What you want?” Kiara spat hastily.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like, dimwit?” she snarled as she blew out puffs of grey smoke.

“Can I join?”

“Ha, sure, like you could handle it,” Kiara smirked as she handed them both some weed.

Saria and Annika took the drugs tentatively and slowly raised it to their lips. The lighter set the end alight and the bitter smoke was drawn into their lungs, poisoning and blackening their bodies. Their eyes lit up with excitement, their hands twitched. The sensation was incredible. From that day on, they had both smoked every weekend in Saria’s basement when her parents were out.

“We sh-sh-should go trash th-the sc-school,” Annika giggled disjointedly.

In two hazy minutes, they were seated in Annika’s fiesta and were on the way to the school. Their gravelly voices filled the air, lyrics of public domain songs floating out of their cracked lips. They sprawled out of the car and stumbled towards the school.

As they walked down the deserted hallway, Saria’s smoke fell out of her grip and dropped onto the recycling bin. The reaction was so fast, it was like a dream. Suddenly, the bin combusted into small flickers that soon turned to violent flames that licked teasingly up the frames of the doorways. The sudden ignition snapped the girls to reality. They stumbled exhaustedly down the long hallway- the floor seemed to continue forever.

As they crossed the threshold, they weren’t a moment too early, the school burst into fierce, cadaverous flames that illuminated the hazy night. Lurid, piercing sirens filled the night air and fire trucks and police cars sped hastily into the crime scene. Annika’s eyes widened. ‘No’ she breathed.

Soon a large, heavily-armed police force arrived on the scene, surrounding the two bewildered teens.

“Freeze!” A hard-looking male cop said with an air of authority. The next 24 hours were pure torture. From interrogations to visits from attorneys, they were berated with a large amount of questions to which the answers were ineffable. From that day on, the girls swore they would never smoke again. But to what avail?

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Annika slipped her petit feet into a pair of highly lethal red stilettos and trotted out the door. When they arrived at Piper’s house, they sauntered in, creating a grand entrance. They were the life of the party- or so they hoped. They squealed loudly and hugged Piper excitedly. A slight rap on the glass door was heard- so soft that it was almost drowned out in the sea of screams and squeals.

When the door swung open, Kaylee Randall stood there, her face apathetic. Neither girl had ever seen her before. But they immediately took a disliking to her.

“Why are you here?” Saria interrogated harshly.

“I invited her, because as you can tell- it’s my party- my house, my… teddy bear,” Piper scolded softly.

They sighed and walked to gorge on the layout of party food.