“Ugh, tell me you didn’t do the nasty on my bed,” Faye responds and a part of me wants to fuck with her for giving me a hard time.
“Yeah, Faye. I rolled around naked with a guy all over your sheets and then let you sleep on it.”
A pillow hits me on the side of the head, and I toss it back at Stephanie. “You guys are being so loud,” she says looking absolutely wrecked. She’s still wearing last night’s makeup, and her hair is skewed in a messy bun that’s more mess than bun. She takes the pillow I thew back at her and shoves it under her head, yanking the blanket over her eyes dramatically. Stephanie always thinks she can drink more than she can and then pays for it later.
“Sorry, Steph,” we say in unison. To which she shows us her perfectly manicured middle finger.
“Hey, whatever happened to that Australian couple? I don’t think I’ve seen them since we got here,” Iris says.
“You’re right,” I say, with a frown. “Maybe they went home.”
“Or got eaten by a bear,” Faye says with a laugh.
“What about you guys? What happened last night?” I ask my friends since we were all too tired to really get into it when they stumbled in this morning.
“I can’t remember anything but alcohol,” McKenzie says, popping an aspirin and slugging it back with some water. “God, my head is pounding. I think Faye’s right. We need a chill day by the lake. Minimal movement and lots of water.”
The lake is exactlywhat we all needed. The water is cool but not freezing and the sun is for once giving us a comfortable eighty degrees. Even the wildfire smoke seems to have dissipated for once.
After splashing around in the lake for a bit, we sit on some lounge chairs we found stuffed off to the side of the cabin. Dragging them the small distance to the beach was worth the backache, and now I can’t imagine moving ever again. My muscles are mush from being bent into a pretzel and thoroughly fucked last night. But what I would give to do it all over again. I’m so consumed on the flashbacks from yesterday that I can’t even focus on my book.
“What’s with that smile?” Iris asks, looking at me over her large sunglasses.
“What smile?” I ask, putting on another layer of sunscreen. I have a tendency to burn if I don’t apply it at regular intervals.
“The one that’s on your face like you have a dirty little secret.” She says, eyebrows raised.
Iris is always one to cut right through the bullshit.
“Fine. I was just thinking about last night.”
“Tell me more,” she insists, sipping on her water bottle.
I close my book and sit up. “It was probably the hottest night of my life. I fucked one of the scare actors. And let me tell you, he knows what the hell he’s doing.”
“So, do you think you’ll see him again?”
“I mean, I hope so. But he’ll probably be busy working.”
“Speaking of, is it weird we haven’t seen any scare actors yet today?” Faye asks from her chair.
“Ugh, why did you have to say that?” Stephanie groans. She finally came out with us after copious amounts of begging.
“Say what?”
“It’s like saying, ‘it’s a quiet night’, at a hospital. It practically brings the chaos right out,” she says.
“Well, isn’t that why we’re here? To get scared?”
“I thought we came here to spend time with each other,” Stephanie says back.
Sure enough, something atrocious pops out of the water in front of us, splashing us with the chilled water.
It’s a tentacle and it slithers straight out onto the beach, knocking over several chairs and sending us scrambling.
“Holy animatronic, Batman!” McKenzie squeals, clearly enjoying the spectacle. Never mind we’re being chased by this thing. And that’s when the rest of it emerges from the water.
All teeth, and eyes, and more tentacles.
