One
Juliet
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I mumble to myself as I look around at the three other girls.
Join a sorority, they said. It will be fun, they said. So far, I haven’t found any part of this fun. In fact, I’m about to jump out of my skin.
“Come on, it’s not like the place is haunted. It doesn’t even look like anyone’s home.”
Kelly’s words don’t sound convincing. My eyes go to the iron gate we’re standing in front of. On the other side is a mansion that’s completely dark. I wrap my fingers around the black bars and wonder if the gate is to keep people out or to keep them in. Either way, none of this is a good idea.
“How do you know no one is home?” I whisper back.
It’s not like anyone can hear us, so I don’t know why I’m whispering. The giant stone compound is almost a half mile from the front gate up a long hill. I’ve seen the place in daylight and know it’s beautiful, but at night it’s eerie in the creepiest way. It catches my eye every time I pass it, and I find myself wanting to know about its history. It has to be hundreds of years old. Still, I’ve never seen anyone coming or going, but someone is maintaining it. The grass is cut and the outside is pristine. I’m guessing a place this old would take a lot of maintenance. I bet it has all kinds of secrets behind the front doors. As I stare up at it right now all I can think is that it looks like something out of a movie. A scary movie.
“There aren’t any lights on,” she responds, but no lights doesn’t mean it’s empty.
“Maybe they’re asleep,” I offer up, trying to stay positive. “All we have to do is knock on the door,” I remind them. All three of the girls look over at me with wide eyes. “And grab something that proves we did it.” Somehow their eyes get even bigger, as if they didn’t already know what our instructions were.
“Trespassing is against the law,” one of the girls chimes in. I can’t remember her name. Something with a C, I think. Cindy, Candy, Clare maybe?
“Who cares about trespassing? Worry about what might be on the other side of that gate,” Kelly squeaks.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I say and grip the bars.
I grab onto the gate and pull myself up. I wedge my feet into the bars and I start climbing. I grit my teeth as I feel something scratch my arm, but I ignore it and focus on getting my fat ass over this stupid thing. Jesus, I should have paid attention in gym. This fence would be beautiful if I wasn’t so scared at the moment. The only shape I’m in is round, but fear and determination are helping me get through this.
When I get to the top I look down, and my stomach drops. I close my eyes for a moment, willing myself to get it together. I hate heights almost as much as I hate spiders. I swallow the lump in my throat and try to summon all my courage. When I open my eyes I swing one leg over then the other. Slowly, I make my descent, being careful not to slip.
My feet hit the ground and I breathe a sigh of relief. Until I realize that now I’m on this side of the gate and all the girls are still standing there looking at me through the bars. Fuck.
“Come on.” I motion for them to come over, but as my gut told me, none of them move. I’m really regretting this whole sorority thing right now.
“Maybe you could just do it for us. Go grab something and we’ll wait here,” the girl whose name I can’t remember suggests.
Sisterhood my ass.
All I wanted to do was make friends and have fun. I wanted to feel like I was a part of something. Maybe even feel like I actually had a family. This was supposed to be a fun team-building exercise, but none of this is going how I hoped. Then again, has my life ever gone the way I thought it would? I should have known, but I didn’t come this far just to quit.
I feel a throb in my arm and look down to see a long gash there.
“Gross.” Kelly’s face scrunches.
“Aren’t you a nursing student?” I remind her as she looks at my arm with disgust. Yeah, that’s going to be a promising job for her.
“Come on, Julie, just do it for us.” She doesn’t have to push hard and I’m agreeing.
The last social worker I had when I was in the foster system told me this was both a good and bad quality. I’m always willing to help and do things for others, but sometimes that puts me at risk. It also ends up making my life a whole lot harder. She told me to focus more on myself, but that’s hard when you grow up like I did. There were so many other kids around me needing a hand even when I didn’t have one to give. I still had to try.