Fear Games

1. Let The Games Begin

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES. Eventually, over time, they catch up to us, and the consequences can be unbearable. I never expected my mistake to catch up to me the way it did--I thought the guilt was a good enough consequence, but I was wrong.

It started Thursday, October 29th. I was sitting on government class, anxiously waiting for the period to be over, constantly staring at the clock. My best friend, Esme, sat behind me. She had long black hair, ocean blue eyes, and perfectly clear skin. She was a lot better looking than me, who had stringy blonde hair, brown eyes, and some acne here and there. It could have been worse. By no means was I ugly, but the last few years I'd let myself go.

"Ugh," Esme said, leaning back in her chair. "Can this class be over already?"

The teacher sat behind his desk, paying no attention to the fact that students were whispering instead of doing their assignment. If I was given one more worksheet...

"Tell me about it," I whispered. "I'm ready for this year to be over."

Esme laughed. "Want to drop out with me?"

"I wish," I muttered, and it was true. Being at this school was way worse than I'd anticipated. Junior year pretty much determined what my college experience would be, and I was ready for it to end.

"Don't worry, we only have a few more months." Esme reached into her bag, pulling out a water bottle, chugging it down as fast as she could. Before I could blink, the water was all gone. "I'm so dehydrated today."

I laughed at her. "I can tell. Now you're making me thirsty."

She handed me the empty water bottle, chuckling. "Here, have some."

Finally the bell rang, and the students poured out of the classroom into the hall. As Esme and I started to leave class, I stopped by Mr. Johnson's desk, dropping off my worksheet. He smiled at me.

"You finished again," he said, but it wasn't a question.

I shrugged. "I guess I'd rather get it done in here than for homework."

Mr.Johnson looked at Esme, and asked, "Did you happen to finish yours?"

Esme grinned. "Right. See you tomorrow." She grabbed my wrist and the two of us walked out of class together. Once outside his class, she said, "God, Rachel, you trying to get me into trouble?"

I smirked at her. "Not really. You could have just copied off mine."

The two of us proceeded to walk down the stairs, out the front door, and into the school parking lot. My car was on the other side, so we had to meander through the cars, hoping to not get hit in the process. That would have been unfortunate. Maybe.

Eventually we arrived at my car, and the two of us piled in. As I turned on the ignition, to my surprise, the car radio started blaring.

"Turn it down!" Esme screamed, covering her ears. The noise of the bass vibrated through the car, nearly exploding my eardrums, until I managed to lower the volume. Esme and I looked at each other in a bit of shock, but neither of us seemed to know what to say.

"What the heck was that?" Esme asked. "You trying to kill me?" Her tone was jokey, but for some reason it was hard to take it that way. "Why'd you have the volume up so high?"

"Maybe it's a morning thing?" I said. "Sometimes in the morning I need the music really loud, and then by afternoon..." But was that it? Must have been a mistake on my part, although I didn't quite remember.

I put the car in reverse, pulling out of the parking lot, and before I knew it, we were driving to Esme's house. I couldn't get what happened with the radio out of my head, and the both of us sat in silence. That wasn't the first time something weird had happened tome, but Esme and I chose not to talk about it.