“That’s the drugs, Emi,” Rem reminded her.
“Slash.”
“Pass.”
The glitter suddenly was smothering me, and I used all the strength I had to roll off the couch to hide.
“Eisley, are you okay? You’re really fucking tripping.” Rem’s voice seemed so far away.
“It’s probably just been a while since she’s had anything more than tea.” Therese laughed.
“Should we help her?”
“Where’s Soleil and Constantine?”
“I’m here.” Large hands reached under my arms and lifted me up. “You all right, princess?”
“She’s just having a really good trip. She’s fine,” Micah said. “I did buy some really good shit.”
“She needs some water or something.” The blur of Constantine left the room.
I stumbled to my feet and reached for the red blur I recognized as Emi’s dyed hair. I pulled her up and we began to dance as Freddy Krueger gave terrible one-liners to teens before slashing him with his knife gloves.Emi and I giggled and danced, running into furniture. I pushed over a lamp, and in an instant, we were shrouded in complete blackness.
“What the—Is the power out?” Rem asked.
“Must be, fuck,” Therese groaned. “I’m too fucked up to go down the stairs.”
“Where’s your phones? We should call for help.” Emi giggled.
“My phone isn’t working,” Micah said. “Is yours?”
Everyone began pulling out their phones and uttering words of dismay as they tried to call out.
“Who are you?” Therese’s voice was sharp and caused everyone in the room to stop and look.
Emi, still standing with me, dropped my hands, and I collapsed onto the floor. I struggled to lift my head, but when I did, I saw someone crouching near me. A figure dressed in black, wearing something blurry over his face. It was too dark for me to see much of anything.
“Get away from her!” Emi screamed. “We’re all seeing this, right?”Was I imagining them? I’d been hallucinating wildly for hours. I reached for the figure, and they grabbed my chin.
“Eisley! Stop!”
The figure let go of me and my head became deadweight, falling straight to the hardwood floor.
“He’s got a knife!” Therese shouted.
“Hold up, dude, calm down,” Micah yelled.
“What the fuck is going on?”I heard a single boot step and the world around me turned into chaos.
“No!” Therese screamed as something crashed to the floor, shattering loudly. Everyone began to scramble, shoes flew past me, pillows and popcorn spilled everywhere, and I was still deadweight.Despite the screaming and running, someone helped me get up.
“Get up, Eisley, I think the guy who killed Spencer and those kids is here,”Emi rushed out in a panic.
“Whaa…” My muscles weren’t working.
“He tried to stab Therese. Come on, we gotta go now!”
“Const…” My feet began to move, but I couldn’t get my tongue to work. The gold glitter was continuing to fall from the ceiling, making me feel so, so heavy. Like the snow in the poppy fields inThe Wizard of Oz.
