Anna's Angsty Attempt

The moon was already high in the night sky, an all-seeing eye that casually watched as everything I cared about spun out of control. My fingers tightened on the steering wheel as I drove down the old dirt road. I was so tired of everything slipping through my fingers—my friends, my life, everything. Tonight had to work. It was my last chance to hold us all together, to keep them from drifting away, leaving me behind.

I pulled up in front of Emily’s house first. She climbed into the backseat, clutching a small bag tightly, eyes darting nervously.

“Hey, Em,” I said, forcing a smile. “Ready for tonight?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” Her voice was so small, so uncertain. It grated on my nerves. We used to be best friends, but lately, she was always too busy, too hesitant.

Next was Lila. She bounded into the car with her usual exuberance. “This is going to be awesome!” she declared, filling the space with her energy. I envied her lightheartedness, her ability to just go with the flow. Why couldn't I have that?

Lastly, Sarah slid into the front seat beside me. She nodded at the others, her eyes sharp and observant. Always so calm, so composed. It made me feel like a mess in comparison.

As we drove towards the outskirts of town, the tension in the car was palpable. I glanced at Emily through the rearview mirror. “So, what are you going to ask Hecate for?”

Emily hesitated. “I… I don’t know. Maybe guidance. Clarity about the future.”

I wanted to scream. Guidance? Clarity? We needed something real, something tangible to keep us together.

Lila piped up from the backseat. “I want power. Real power to change things, to make a difference.”

And there it was. The kind of ambition I needed from them. Not this wishy-washy uncertainty.

Sarah spoke last, her voice steady. “I want knowledge. To understand the things we’re meddling with.”

I nodded, though inside, my frustration bubbled. They didn’t get it. They didn’t see how precarious everything was. I turned up the volume on the podcast I had queued up, letting the eerie music and chilling voice fill the car. I wanted them to feel the fear, to feel the urgency that I did.

Emily’s eyes darted nervously around, and even Lila seemed more subdued. Good. They needed to understand what was at stake.

We finally reached the lonely dirt road. I parked the car, turned off the podcast, and the silence descended like a heavy cloak.

“This is it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

We stepped out into the cool night air, gathering our supplies. The book, *Hekate: Keys to the Crossroads*, felt heavy in my hands. This had to work. It was my last shot at holding onto them.

I lit the candles and placed the offerings at the center of the crossroads, my hands steady despite the anger boiling inside me. I began to chant the words from the book, my voice strong and confident. The others joined in, their voices blending together, but my focus remained laser-sharp on my own intent.

As the last words of the invocation echoed into the night, a thick, unnatural fog began to roll in. My heart pounded with anticipation. This had to work.

From the fog, a figure emerged. Tall, cloaked in shadows, its eyes glowed with an unnatural light.

"I am Hecate," the figure intoned, its voice a deep, resonant whisper that seemed to come from all directions at once. "Why have you summoned me, daughters?"

I stepped forward, emboldened. “We seek your wisdom, Great Hecate. We wish to learn the ways of magic and the secrets of the crossroads.”

The figure regarded us with a piercing gaze. "The path of magic is not to be taken lightly. It demands sacrifice and brings knowledge that can be both a blessing and a curse."

Emily, trembling, confessed, "I want to be smarter than everyone else. I want to ace every test without studying." I almost rolled my eyes. She still didn’t get it.

"Wisdom gained through shortcuts leaves others in the dark. Would you watch your friends struggle and fail while you succeed effortlessly?"

Emily’s voice was shaky but resolute. "If I have to."

Sarah took a step forward. "I want to be the most popular girl in school. I want everyone to admire and envy me, instead of always looking up to Anna." Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. Was that what she really thought of me?

"Popularity comes at a price. Would you trample over others to rise to the top? Would you spread lies and deceit?"

Sarah’s eyes gleamed with a ruthless determination. "Yes."

Lila blurted out, "I want Jake Peterson to be my boyfriend! He’s perfect for me."

Emily's eyes widened in shock. "Jake? But he's—" My boyfriend, not yours, I thought, shocked and appalled by her brazen disrespect, her envy. What do they really think of me?

"He’s with someone who doesn’t deserve him," Lila interrupted, her voice hard. "I’ll do anything to have Jake. Anything."

"Would you betray a friend? Would you cast aside loyalty and love for your own gain?"

I couldn’t stay silent any longer. "I want to control people’s thoughts and actions. To make them do what I want."

"Control is a dangerous weapon. Would you manipulate those you love, bend their wills to your own?"

I felt a cold smile spread across my face. "Absolutely."

The figure's smile widened. "Such desires carry a heavy price. Are you quite certain you’re all prepared to pay it?"

Emily found her voice. "We should stop. This doesn't feel right."

"Nonsense," I shot back. "We've come this far. We need to see it through."

The figure seemed to smile. "Very well. But know this: the future is fraught with peril. Within the next year, each of you will face trials that will test your very souls."

Sarah frowned. "What kind of trials?"

"Betrayal, loss, pain. Each of you will suffer in ways you cannot yet comprehend. But if you remain true to your path, you may find the strength to overcome."

The air grew heavier, and the fog thickened, pressing in on us from all sides. Emily's heart pounded in her chest. "We need to stop this. We need to leave."

I hesitated, doubt flickering in my eyes. But before I could speak, the figure's form began to shift, its features contorting into something far less human.

Emily's voice broke through the tension. "This isn't right. Hecate wouldn’t encourage such selfishness. She’s a goddess of wisdom and balance."

The figure's smile twisted into a sneer. "You are perceptive, child..." The fog enveloped us, blotted out the stars, and soon we could barely see one another.

"You fools," it hissed, its voice now a guttural growl. The figure’s form became grotesque and monstrous. Horns sprouted from its head, and its eyes burned with a malevolent fire. "You did not summon Hecate, half-witted children. You have no idea what you have called forth, and now you are bound to me." The demon loosed a sound unlike any they’d ever heard, freezing us in place. 

The roar of a bear mingled with the growl of a wild boar, interspersed with a piercing, gut-wrenching, blood-curdling scream. That of a woman. No, women. So many, all rising and falling in intensity. The fear, anger, desperation, and bargaining in all those sounds, echoing against one another and emanating from the dark entity before us, now increasing in size, its shadows writhing and rising around us. 

Panic erupted among us. I desperately tried to remember the closing words from the book, but my mind was blank with fear. The demon cackled, an ugly, high-pitched grating sound like nails on a chalkboard, that chilled us to our bones.

In a frenzy, we began to destroy the ritual space, kicking over candles and scattering the offerings. The demon's laughter grew louder, echoing in our ears as we scrambled through the darkness back to the car.

We slammed the creaky old doors of that sedan and sped away, night swallowing the crossroads behind us. No one spoke. Nobody moved to turn on the radio. The reality of our encounter was slowly sinking in. The demon's ominous predictions lingered in our minds, a dark cloud over our future.

Emily broke the silence, her voice shaky. "What if it's not over? You know we didn't close the circle properly."

As the crossroads faded into the distance, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had followed us, lurking just out of sight, waiting for its moment to strike. My hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I don't know."