Material World

The Plan

I pull the brush to my hair, tearing it through my thick brown hair. I flip it over my head and pull it into a tight high ponytail with my scrunchie. I hear the door in my living room bust open. I peek my head out from the bathroom door and see my best friend, Martha Lawrence, tripping in through the living room with her pajamas on.

"Martha, what'd I tell you about sleeping over at Justin's?" I roll my eyes, pulling my head back in and starting to brush my teeth.

"Since when do you call the shots in this house?" Martha sneers, adding a chuckle at the end.
I don't respond. Since we were kids and since we moved out she's called the shots. Besides, there's no point in arguing with Marsha Lawrence. "Anyways... Justin told me something. He told me that he saw a couple of kids heading toward The Forbidden. You know where the lake currents pick up."

"You know," I say spitting out a glob of toothpaste, "I never understood why that place is forbidden." I chuckle.

"Because everyone who's been there never came back. They've all been swept away by the currents."

"Great so nobody in this town knows how to swim."

She laughs and I hear the tv flicker on. We only have the same two channels, 'Linesville Prime Entertainment' or 'Linesville News'. Sometimes I wish there was something else out there to watch. I can hear our newscaster, Nancy Kelly, blabbering about three kids who went to The Forbidden. She talks about how their parents haven't heard from them since they were seen heading there two days ago. She mentions that police suspect that they were swept away.

"Jesus," I hear Martha sigh.

I place the toothbrush down and walk into the living room. Martha's hair was pulled into a tight red bun. I take a seat next to her.

"So, why'd you tell me about those kids?" I ask.

"Because; I thought we could follow in their footsteps."

"And get killed?" I laugh. "I think not. We shouldn't anyway. It's called The Forbidden for a reason Martha."

She rolls her eyes. I turn the channel to Linesville Prime Entertainment and it's talking about how our school's football team lost to the teachers. Every year there's playoffs against the high school teachers. Pretty boring if you ask me.

"Marcee?" Martha asks turning toward me. "If we moved out, why aren't you taking risks?"

"Moving away from our parents and living on our own is a big risk."

"Not if you live in the same neighborhood."

"What do you want from me, Martha? I'm not a risk-taker."

"I bought this," she says reaching behind the couch. It's a big box. "It's a raft. Justin gave it to me. He wants us three to go to The Forbidden."

"Didn't I already say no?" I growl, standing up.

"We'll be safe with the raft. And if it starts going haywire we can jump to the other ledge. It'll be fine. I have the entire thing planned out."

"So that's the plan?" I ask. "When exactly is this 'plan' going to take place."

"Well, I sorta maybe told him last night that... you already agreed..." she mumbles.

"Why would you tell him that?!"

"Cause I thought you would. And he sorta told me that we're going tonight..."

Sorry I've been inactive lately. This is the story I will be writing all of my other stories weren't that good I've realized as I've grown as a writer. So I will be writing this story now! And sorry if it looks a little different, I'll be writing this on mobile now. So goodnight and happy reading!