Burn the Truth

Trigger Warning: Fire, under-aged alcohol use, car accident

“Well, that was dramatic,” Charlotte said to herself, staring at the burning cabin in front of her. The cabin was engorged by flames, the heat radiating off of it. You could only see the structure of what used to be the biggest cabin in Devinsville. 

2 day earlier 

Charlotte, Chloe, and Avery are all waiting for Paisley to get out of volleyball. There in the school parking lot in Avery’s brand new cherry red 2010 BMW. Charlotte brought up that she had a party tonight that they could get in. 

“I don’t know if I can go to a party tonight. My mom's friend is throwing a party on her 100th house sale and I have to go,” said Chloe  

“Oh come on Chloe stop being such a downer it’s going to be fun and there won’t be a bunch of old people there unlike if you go to that stupid hundredth party or whatever,” Charlotte said while rolling her eyes at Chloe. 

“Come on Chloe I want to go to a college party tonight and I want all my friends to be there,” said Avery. Avery and Chloe got into an argument over if she can go or not and while they were halfway through their argument Paisley opened the car door and hopped in the back right next to Chloe. 

“What's up with you two,” said Paisley 

“They’re fighting over whether Chloe is going to the frat party I got us in tonight. I frankly don’t know why because Chloe is going no matter what,” said Charlotte. 

“I can’t go,” said Chloe 

“I got us all into this party and you're not going to let us down now are you?” Charlotte said to Chloe with attitude 

“Fine I'll go but if I get into trouble it’s all on you guys,” Avery started to drive to the party. It's on the east coast of North Carolina. On the way there they picked up Jeremy and he had a case of beer. 

“Hey pass me one of those Jeremy,” said Avery 

“Dude you’re driving, don’t give him one Jeremy I don’t feel like dying in a car crash today,” said Paisley.

“One drink isn't going to make me go all crazy driver,” 

“It takes about 10-15 minutes for you to feel the full effect of alcohol.” Said, Jeremy 

“God you're such a know it all,” said Charlotte 

“Well I think Avery should know that so thanks Jeremy,” said Paisley 

“Yup,” Jeremy said quietly because he was upset that Charlotte yelled at him.

“Oh come on you're not going to cry now are you, Jeremy,” Charlotte said.

“Oh loosen up Charlotte you’ve been giving us all attitude since we were in the parking lot,” said Chloe

“Whatever,” said Charlotte as they rode the rest of the car ride in silence. Around 10 they arrived at the party. You could hear the loud music pounding in your ears from the outside of the house. It almost sounded as if the whole world could hear it. That the whole world was hearing the same song as you and feeling the same vibrations coming off of the music as you. 

“Let’s go in!” yelled Charlotte, making her voice overcome the music. They all walked to the front doors. Jeremy opened the door and everyone walked in.

“Thanks, Jeremy,” said Chloe. She was the only one who said thanks.

“You're welcome,” said Jeremy 

Once they were all inside they split up. Charlotte went over to a group of college guys and Avery followed her. Paisley had gone on to get a drink, Chloe went to go sit down and Jeremy followed her. Jeremy and Chloe had talked for about an hour before Chloe had to go use the restroom. She walked upstairs past so many people. The hallway upstairs was flooded with people you couldn't move without touching someone. The walls were a pale-yellow color as if people have been smoking there for years, and there were dark brown wooden floors that a long red carpet followed. Chloe started randomly opening doors trying to find one that leads to the bathroom. As she was opening doors she opened one that was second to last at the end of the hallway and when she opened it she saw Charlotte and Avery hooking up. Chloe closed the door slowly so that they wouldn't hear her. Chloe had a confused look on her face but it went away quickly. She walked to the last door at the end of the hallway and opened it. It was the bathroom. Chloe was looking at herself in the bathroom mirror wondering what she had just seen. 

“I could use this over Charlotte and get her backstabbing ass to do whatever I want,” she said to herself

“Or I could tell paisley what I just saw,” she said. By the time Chloe got downstairs, Jeremy had already finished his third drink. He kept trying to talk to different groups of girls but every time they laughed and walked away. Chloe watched as it happened to him for the 5th time then she saw him flop back into a chair. She walked over to him.

“So how many girls rejected you tonight,” Chloe said jokingly 

“About 5,” Jeremy said gloomily

“Omg 5 Jeremy what did you say,” 

“I just went up to them and tried using some pick-up lines Avery suggested,”

“Well that was your first mistake, Jeremy, don’t listen to what Avery says about girls.” At that moment Charlotte came walking down the steps fixing her gold sequin button-up blouse. She walked over to Chloe and Jeremy.

“Hey germy,” Charlotte said 

“That’s not my name,” Jeremy said

“You know what your name is,” Charlotte said

“You’re one to talk about being germy, Charlotte,” said Chloe

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean Chloe?”

“You know what, never mind,” Chloe said back to Charlotte as she walked away in disgust wondering how Charlotte could do that to her own best friend. 

Avery started glancing around to find Paisley. He spotted her playing beer pong with completely random strangers, as he looked at her he flashed back to their first date. They were at the elegant restaurant C’est La Vie where Paisley was wearing this beautiful lace red dress Avery had just bought her before they went out. He noticed her long, flowing curls and remembered how excited he was to ask her to be his girlfriend that night. Avery stopped reminiscing when Paisley came up to him and asked.

“Hey, where have you been all night,” she said 

“Oh I-I-I was with Jeremy,” he said

“Are you drunk?” she said angrily and confused.  

“No, I've only had a couple of beers from Jeremy,”

Buzz(text from Chloe: “Come here, I need to tell you something important and you might not like it”)

“Whatever I don’t really care I have to go and find Chloe anyway,” as Paisley walked away Avery watched her and he looked genuinely upset. Paisley eventually found Chloe and they walked into a room with no one so they could talk. 

“Hey what’s up why do you seem so distraught?” Paisley said

Charlotte interrupts them talking and Chloe panics knowing she can no longer tell Paisley what she saw.

“Hey what’re you two doing at this party talking in a corner being lame for? Let’s go take shots!” Charlotte said

“Give us a second to talk Charlotte,” said Chloe

“Why? What’s the secret, we are all best friends, aren’t we? So spill it,” Charlotte demanded

Chloe starts thinking of a lie she can quickly come up with. “Fine. I accidentally spilled beer on Paisley’s shirt. Are you happy now?”

“Beer where? I don’t see any? Is this what was so important Chloe? I’m not even upset if you did, let’s go back to the party, I definitely need a buzz,” said Paisley

“Okay,” Chloe mumbled and irritated at the fact she couldn’t tell Paisley what she really wanted to say. Avery walks up to Jeremy and asked if he wanted some shot’s

“Hell ya man,” Jeremy said Avery could tell Jeremy was blacked out drunk and wouldn’t remember tonight at all. Avery had two shot glasses in his hand and an almost full bottle of vodka. The two started to take shots and Avery was getting more and more drunk after every shot.

“Hey Dude I have to um have to get something off my chest,” Avery said 

“Ya sure dude you can tell me anything,” Jeremy said while slurring his words

“Well earlier me and Charlotte um we did something we shouldn't have,” Avery stopped talking for a minute and took another shot.

“We hooked up,” he said so quickly that you could barely understand him.

“Well good for you dude, Charlotte’s hot but she’s also a bitch so there’s that,” Jeremy said half out of it. A couple more hours passed and the party started to die and everyone was leaving so Avery, Charlotte, Paisley, Chloe, and Jeremy left too. They all filled into Avery’s car. Chloe sat in the passenger seat and put her feet up on the dash. None of them realized that Avery was drunk because they were all too focused on Jeremy. Avery started to drive off and barely 15 minutes into the car ride Paisley asked Avery and Jeremy what they were doing at the beginning of the party. Chloe’s face changes and she turns to look out the window. 

“We weren’t together, what do you mean?” Jeremy said 

“What do you mean you weren’t together?” Paisley said 

“I was with C-Chloe,” Jeremy said messing up Chloe’s name,”

“Then you were lying to me Avery why'd you lie,” Paisley said as she started to raise her voice.

“Jeremy’s out of it of it he doesn’t even know what he’s s-saying,” Avery said 

“Chloe was Jeremy with you,”

“Um ya he was,” Chloe mumbled 

“So you are lying, you're a piece of shit you know that right,” Paisley yelled.

“So What were you actually doing Avery,” Paisley yelled

“I-I-I was, you know what, why does it matter what I was doing? how about we talk about you cause you're always talking to other guys and not your damn BOYFRIEND,” Avery said 

“I do not- wait are you drunk,” 

“Maybe I am, maybe I'm not so what,” Avery said, turning around to look at Paisley, losing his attention from the road.

“AVERY!” Chloe yelled right before the car crashed into a tree and Chloe's legs went flying right through the window.

When they crashed a car was driving by. This person pulled over and called 911. Charlotte’s dad's a cop and he was on duty that night and when the call came in he was the one to respond. When he got to the crash he saw the car and recognized it. He then ran to go see if Charlotte was inside. Right, when he opened the front door to the car he saw Chloe and how badly she was hurt. He went to look at everyone else and saw they weren't hurt. He pulled everyone out and the medics started to do their job. They enevntly arrived at the hospital. Chloe was rushed to the emergency room and the others were just taken to a room to rest. Chloe had to get an X-ray because she has a broken leg but the rest of them were fine. Chloe wouldn't wake up for a few hours but the others did after an hour. After they woke up Charlotte’s dad started asking questions. They all were taken into a different room after seeing each other and then were investigated. Avery was the first to be investigated.

“So tell me what do you remember,” Charlotte’s dad Don said

“Remember of what,” Avery said

“Don’t give me that shit I know you don’t have memory loss because they checked you and I also know that you are drunk so tell me what do you remember of the crash,” Don said.

“Well um me and paisley were fighting and I got distracted for just a second from the road and the next thing I heard was Chloe scream,” 

“That's all,” 

“Yes sir,” Don walked away and Avery started to calm down but before Don left the room he turned around and said one more thing to Avery.

“Oh, and I hope you know you're getting a driving suspension.” Don then went on to investigate Paisley and Jeremy. Now he is going to investigate his daughter.

“Hey sweetheart,” he said

“Hey dad, how is Chloe doing is she ok,” Charlotte said condescendingly

“Ya she’s getting better, how do you feel, are you ok, what happened?”  

“I'm fine but um what happened was we were getting paisley from volleyball then once Paisley got in the car she said she got invited to a party And we could all come,” Charlotte stopped talking for a second to take a deep breath. Charlotte was a great liar every time she lied it almost seemed like she believed it herself. Lie’s would roll off her tongue like it was natural to her and the way she told them it seemed like the truth.

“I told them I shouldn’t go but they kept insisting and I felt like I had to or they would kick me out of the group,” Charlotte started to cry.

“I’m so sorry dad I-I-I never meant for this to happen,” 

“None of this is your fault darling. It's okay everything is going to be okay,” Don said he got up and hugged Charlotte then walked away. A smile came over Charlotte's face and you could tell she was pleased with herself. They all left but Chloe she had to stay cause she still wasn’t awake yet but the doctors said she would be awake by tomorrow. They came back the next morning to check on Chloe. She was awake and just getting her vitals checked. They all walked into her room.

“Hey Chloe how are you doing,” Avery said

“Well considering that my leg is broken in 2 different places because of you not so good,” Chloe said.

“Um ya sorry about that,” 

“It’s fine it’s whatever I don’t really care,”

“So what do you remember from last night,” paisley said 

“well I was the least drunk out of all of you I remember a lot of it,”

“I also only had one drink so you weren’t the least drunk,” Charlotte said 

“Charlotte I really don’t care I was just making a damn point,”

“Well, you were wrong so I thought I would just point it out to you sweetheart,” Charlotte said then she and Chloe went on to bicker for a while before someone came up with the idea to go to Charlotte’s cabin to hangout tonight. They all agreed and went home to get ready. As Chloe was getting ready she decided to call Charlotte to see what they were doing tonight once they got to the cabin.

“Hey what we doing tonight,”

“Well, you aren't doing anything cause you broke your leg,” 

“I didn’t break my leg. Avery broke it cause he was too busy fighting with paisley cause you and him cheated and well he can’t just come out and say that,”

“how do you know about that,”

“I don’t think you should worry about how I found out. I think you should worry about what I'm going to do with the information.”

“If you do anything Chloe I swear I will destroy you,”

“Charlotte don’t threaten me I’m the one who says what goes now,” Chloe said then hung up the phone. Chloe got her stuff then went into her car. She got to the cabin last because she was taking the back road to be careful that she doesn’t crash with her leg being broken. She walked in and Charlotte gave her a look so she gave one back. They all began to talk and play some card games they found.

“Hey I'll be back,” Charlotte said 

“Where are you going Charlotte,” Chloe said with a nasty tone making a face at Charlotte.

“To the bathroom do you want to come to Chloe,” Charlotte said in a sarcastic tone.

“What's up with you two,” said Jeremy

“Nothing,” both Chloe and Charlotte yelled. Charlotte walked away and the other kept playing the game. About thirty minutes passed and Charlotte still wasn’t back.

“Should someone go check on Charlotte,” Paisley said

“I’ll go,” Chloe said quickly. She got up and walked towards the bathroom. She opened the door and Charlotte wasn’t in there. 

“Hey, guys Charlotte’s not here!” Chloe yelled as she continued to walk and then she started to smell gasoline. She walked towards the smell and she saw it. She looked up and out the window when she saw Charlotte holding a match and a big red can of gasoline was next to her foot. Chloe started screaming as Charlotte dropped the match and the fire started to rush towards the cabin. Chloe ran and she got to everyone and told them to get out but it was too late. There was fire running up the walls covering every window they couldn’t see the outside anymore. The house was engorged with flames just in seconds. Charlotte was watching the house from the outside hearing them all scream. You could see the flames on the reflective part of her eye. She was smiling, smiling at the fact that she just lit the cabin on fire with her best friends inside. The cabin was almost gone and Charlotte said 

“Well, that was dramatic."