Just A Party

Content warning: violence

tink tink tink 

The sound of rain hitting the roof of the car brings me back to reality. The sun is rising in hues of orange, yellow, and a pinkish red. My right hand shakes uncontrollably. It was just a party, just a goddamn party. I start playing with my hoodie strings for a distraction. I hear a song quietly playing on the radio. I think it's by Polo G, maybe Juice Wrld, idk, all rap sounds the same to me. The lyrics sound muffled to me since I'm so lost in my mind but as I hear the hook it becomes clearer to me. I remember hearing it at the party, “I don’t' need no molly to be savage” and something about a bandit, I think.  

… 

It's almost midnight. I work my way through a crowd of drunk dancing idiots towards the food. The music is so loud that I don’t hear my friend calling my name. Eventually I see Alex waving his arms wildly for me to come to him. I follow him outside so that we can actually hear each other. I can tell by the way he slurs his words and struggles to keep his balance that he is already drunk. This party's only been going on for a half hour and everyone is drunk, except me. I like to keep my senses sharp. You never know what is going to happen. 

My friend starts mumbling something to me and the only words I can make out are party... fun... beer. I tell him to pronounce his words better and talk slower. On his second try I understand what he is saying, “Come on man just have a drink, we are at a party, and you are the only one not having fun, just try one beer.”  

I really don’t want to drink but hey what's one beer gonna do? Just to please my friend I open the cooler and grab a cold glass bottle. I try to chug it and I immediately spit it out. It tastes disgusting. I'm about to apologize to Alex and say that I'm not gonna drink anymore but then the rest of our friend group shows up.  

Nate, Zane, and Elise. Elise hates her name, so she goes by Lis or Lisa for short, but we started calling her Mona because the only time we have heard of someone named Lisa is the Mona Lisa. She hates us for it, but we find it funny. All of us guys in the friend group have had a crush on her at one point in time. But I realized I never stood a chance because everyone in the group is better than me in some way. Alex with his tall slim physique, brown hair, and brown eyes. Zane, the star player on his basketball and soccer team, is tall, good build, dark skin, brown eyes, and black hair tightly braided to his head. Then we have Nate. The Quarterback on the football team. Taller than me but not as tall as Alex, dark hair, blue eyes, and looks like a body builder. Every girl wishes they could be with him. Then you have me. Your average high school guy. I am actually pretty strong from working at my grandpa's farm, but I don’t have the looks of the other guys. Finally, there is Elise with her long blonde hair blue eyes, and average height. She is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and she has a great sense of humor. she is every guy's dream. We still have no idea why she wastes her time hanging out with us.  

“What's up bro?” greets Zane as he playfully punches me in the shoulder. Zane and Alex clap their hands together and pull each other in for a quick bro hug. 

 Nate gives me a greeting nod and chest bumps Alex. 

Elise says hello to me and Alex and gives us each a hug.  

Once we are done greeting each other Zane and Nate notice the half empty bottle in my hand. “No way bro!” Exclaims Zane. “I thought you didn’t drink! This nights gonna be crazy!” 

With fake enthusiasm I respond, “You got that right!” 

From then we start drinking like crazy. We stay in the backyard the whole night and have our own separate party from everyone inside. We are having a great time eating food, throwing a football back and forth, it feels like a perfect night. Zane throws the football in an exact spiral, and I actually catch it! Out of nowhere Nate rams into the side of me knocking me to the ground. I land on my right side, hitting my head on a rock that was near the fence. I pick myself up into a sitting position. I feel something warm dripping down my face. I can't see out of my right eye. I touch my fingers to my right eyebrow and feel a deep gash. I look at my fingers that are covered in blood.  

“What, are you trying to kill me?” I yell at Nate. He just looks at me with a cold glare. “You’re a freaking idiot, man. You’ve had too much to drink.” 

“Shut up dude. This has nothing to do with how much I’ve drank. I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time.” Nate responds.  

He is telling the truth. Even though we’re in the same friend group we are complete opposites. He only cares about sports, I try to do well in school, every girl wants him, none of them know I exist, and so on. Even though he could have anyone of course he wants Elise. Probably because he knows how much I like her. 

“You know this nerd has a crush on you Elise” reveals Nate. 

Angrily I work my way to my feet and rush at Nate as fast as I can. As I reach him, he quickly moves to the side and pushes hard on my back knocking me face first to the ground. I push myself up and put my hands into fists ready to fight back. Elise rushes in between us before we can continue this fight. 

“Guys please stop fighting.” Pleads Elise. “You’ve clearly both had too much to drink and you're acting childish.” 

Nate stumbles over to Elise and puts his arm around her shoulder. “It's okay Mona, just tell this freak that you like me, and we can straighten all this out.” He goes to kiss her. Elise pushes Nate off and slaps him in the face. “What was that for baby?” Questions Nate. “Let me rough this guy up a little bit and then we can be together.” 

“Maybe he’s got a point.” States Zane. “Let them fight it out and whoever wins gets to take Mona on a date.” 

“Alright, deal” I agree.  

Angrily Elise yells, “Do you guys really think that’s up to? I’ll choose who I’m gonna date.” 

“Quiet down Mona, this'll be quick.” assures Nate. 

Nate and I get ready to fight. I quickly drink a water bottle for extra hydration and Nate Guzzles down two more beers. I take my shirt off and Nate quickly follows. Of course, he does it to show off his muscles and because it's what people always do in the movies. But I do it so that he doesn’t have anything to grab onto and pull me around by. Nate leaps forward and grips tight onto my right arm. He wraps his arms around my neck and starts choking me. I try my best to pull his arms off me, but his grip is too tight, and I feel like I am going to pass out. In a moment of desperation, I push forward with all my weight pulling myself, along with Nate into the cold pool. Catching Nate off guard I can pull him off me while underwater. I push to the surface gasping for air and splashing around uncontrollably until I can keep myself afloat. Nate resurfaces quickly after I do, choking up water. Angrily he starts swimming towards me, but I grab onto the edge of the pool, pulling myself out. Just as my left foot leaves the water he grabs onto it, trying to pull me in. I kick violently until I strike him in the nose causing him to let go and sink back under. Nate slowly resurfaces in cloudy red water and climbs out of the pool. With his right hand he wipes away watered-down drippy blood from his upper lip. Blood continues to leak out of his nose, down his chin, and onto his bare chest. He is fuming with hatred and humility as he stands near the edge of the pool planning his next attack on me. He rushes towards me, and I start moving back words towards the house. He kicks me in my chest knocking me hard against the wall. He starts wildly swinging at me hitting me in my face and neck. I push forward slamming my hands into his chest and my head into his so that he no longer has me cornered. I walk parallel to the wall of the house and pass their large stainless-steel grill. I realize that I again have cornered myself, now where the fence meets the house. With a big grin on his face Nate rushes to me to make sure I cannot escape. At this point he is wildly drunk, and anger filled so he starts throwing punches as hard as he can that leave him open to attacks. I quickly duck down and jab Nate in the side. Then I sweep his legs out from under him, causing him to fall backwards. As he falls, I notice that stainless steel grill is right behind him. 

 The crack from his neck snapping as it slams down on the grill seems unbearably loud. I freeze staring at his blank eyes that seconds ago were so lifeful. Alex stumbles falling into a sitting position on the ground and Elise starts crying. Zane runs over to Nates corpse and screams, “Come on get up or you lose the chance to date Mona” He laughs, taking a sip of his beer and continues to mock Nate for a minute or so before he realizes Nate is dead. “Nate?” questions Zane with a shaky voice. Zane turns around to me and stares with anger and sadness. “What the hell did you do!” Screams Zane in frustration.  

He rushes towards me but before he hits me Alex yells, “Stop don’t hit him. He might kill you like he did Nate.” 

Zane immediately walks backwards frightened.  

Elise coming to my rescues says, “Guys take it easy on him, he didn’t mean to. They were both drunk and angry. It was an accident.”  

“Yeah, she's right” agrees Alex.  

Zane slowly sits down in a lawn chair and stairs blankly at the ground. Breaking the silence Zane states, “We have to hide the body.” 

Elise looks at him with disgust, but her face slowly returns normal because she realizes he’s right.  

“It was an accident, but no one will believe us.” continues Zane. “You’ll go to prison.” Zane points out while staring at me. “Your life will be ruined. This is what we have to do.” 

We all sit in silence for a moment until I'm brought to the realization that there are a bunch of people in the house that could come out at any moment. I break the silence saying, “We have to go now. Before anyone accidentally discovers what, I did.” 

“Ok but how are we gonna get a body through a house without people noticing?” Questions Zane. 

“We don’t” I reply. “We could throw it over the fence, put it in Alexs trunk because he has enough space, and then we can find a way to get rid of it.” 

“Why are you guys referring to Nate as “it”?”  Questions Elise “He’s our friend and you act like he is an object!” 

“Was our friend.” corrects Zane. “This is what we have to deal with. He’s dead and there is no bringing him back. It will be easier if we don’t refer to him as Nate and we just try not to think about it.” 

Elise starts crying and Alex runs over wrapping his arms around her in a comforting manner. He has always been that type of guy. Also, because he was pretty shaken up and didn’t want to have to move the body. Zane looks at me knowing what he must do. He walks over to me and looks down at Nate.  

“Ok” says Zane “Let's get this over with.” He takes a deep breath and grabs nates feet. I place my hands under his shoulders, and we lift him up. His head hangs loosely, flopping around as I look down at him. We get under his corpse and push up hard, practically tossing him onto the fence. He lays there folded over the fence. We lift his legs up and push forward causing him to land on the other side of the fence. I motion for Alex and Elise to come towards us. We quickly hop the fence and work our way to the car. We all stand as lookouts and Zane drags the body. We hastily shove the corpse into the car and cover it in a blanket. We get in the car and are ready to leave.  

As Alex turns the key Zane questions, “What are we gonna do, burry him?” 

We all pause, we hadn't exactly thought about it. We just wanted to get out of that backyard. “Yeah, that’ll probably be best.” I reply.  

“We don’t have a shovel.” states Alex.  

I notice the garage door on the house isn’t completely closed. “I’ll be right back” I stammer. I get out the car and quickly move towards the garage door. I crouch down and crawl into the crowded garage. I work my way through the garage filled with boxes and various equipment. When I get reach the back corner of the garage, I notice gardening tools. Sure, enough I see a shovel, and I rush to it grabbing it with both hands. I’m about to leave when I notice a large gutting knife in its sheath on the shelves. I grab it and conceal it in my pants pockets. I work my way back to the car. I climb into the back seat and Alex starts driving.  

“Where are we going?” Asks Alex. 

“Somewhere in the woods, away from any rivers or paths that people might travel along. Somewhere along the bottom of a hill. You dig just deep enough to cover the body and then knock dirt from the top of the hill down to cover them. It takes about ten minutes.” Says Zane. 

Elise and Alex both look at Zane, creeped out about the fact he knew that. 

“He’s right.” I state. “That night we all hung out for Halloween and watched a serial killer documentary, everyone but Zane and I fell asleep. There was talk of a serial killer who did that, and it took police a long time to catch him.” 

Alex doesn’t say anything, but he takes a right and starts driving down a dark dirt road. We all know where he’s going.  

We enter the large woods at the edge of our town. We drive as far back as we can and then get out of the car. Zane and I grab the body while Alex grabs the shovel. We work our way back into the woods. We walk for a few minutes until we find an area towards the bottom of a hill. 

40 minutes later we’re starting to walk back to the car. I get in the driver's seat and drive out of the woods. Next thing I know we’re on the road far away from the neighborhood that we were just partying in a few hours ago.  

… 

Suddenly, as the music is playing, I hear sirens. I turn off the radio to make sure it's not in the background of the song. Sure enough, right behind me I see the black and white car with its flashing red and blue lights. 

Confused I pull off to the side. The longer I wait for the officer the more nervous I feel. He starts slowly working his way towards the vehicle. From the backseat I hear my friends whispering, “You know what you have to do. He can’t find out what we did to Nate. There is only one way out. You have to kill him.”  

A second later the officer is at my car. His head is covered in a thin layer of hair, he has a brown bushy mustache, he’s probably two times my weight, and a few inches shorter than me. “How are you doing today sir” He asks. He shines the blinding flashlight to the back seats and quickly points it back at my face.  

“I’m doing fine officer, how are you?” I reply. 

“I’m okay. Have you been doing any drinking today sir? Your skin looks unusually pale, you have large bags under your eyes, and you were swerving pretty bad.” States the officer. 

From the backseats my friends urge, “Kill him now! It’s the only option.” 

“Ok. I respond. “If that’s what I hav-”  

The officer cuts me off, “Excuse me sir, who are you talking too?” 

“My friends” I answer. 

“Well, you must be drunk or crazy because there isn’t anyone in the car with you.” He states skeptically. 

No, he’s lying. I really do have to kill him. He’s gonna try to say that I killed my friends. I didn’t, I swear.  

“It’s not my fault,” I plead. “We could have just easily buried him, but they had second thoughts, they wanted to turn ourselves in. But they would've been fine. Maybe a few weeks in county. But me? I would have gone to prison, and I can’t do that.” 

“Now what the heck are you talking about?” Questions the officer. 

“I didn’t kill my friends, please it’s not my fault.” I stammer. 

“Alright I’m gonna have to call this in.” states the cop. 

Before he can call the station, I slam my car door open hitting the officer in his gut, toppling him over. I start running as fast as I can when out of nowhere another officer tackles me. It turns out the old fat cop had a younger faster partner. My face scrapes hard against the asphalt road. I feel blood starting to escape my skin. Pulling me up off the ground, the officer handcuffs me. He pulls me over to the cop car and throws me up against it. The cuts on my face burn with intensity. The older officer starts working his way over to the car. He angrily glares at me.  

“This idiot needs to take a breathalyzer test. He has to be drunk.” States the old cop. 

The officer shoves the test in my face. I blow into the mouthpiece for a few seconds. Excitedly the officer stares at it waiting for results. His face slumps down in confusion and disappointment. I am not surprised when he reads the results. “Sober, he’s one hundred percent sober.”  

Like I said, I don’t drink. I need my senses to be sharp. Do you really think I could have killed Nate when he was sober? Not a chance. All I needed was for him to be drunk. Then it was easy. He was disoriented, could not keep his balance, didn’t think clearly. Everything I did was on purpose. Making him angry so he lost control, getting him in the pool so he could slip easier. It was the perfect plan. If only my friends wouldn’t have gotten in the way of it. I am smart, not crazy.