I walk into the clearing, pushing aside the wall of hanging green vines.  The fire was already started, burning bright with crowds of smiling people scattered around it.

"C'mon Jared!" I yell, taking his hand and dragging him toward the crowd, "Why are you so slooooow?"

"Calm down Blu, save your antics for later."

But at that point, I am no longer listening. Absorbing in the odd atmosphere, I leave Jared behind  - I don't have a doubt in my mind that he knows the drill.

✨

"It was hilarious!" I slur, chatting with a random group of people while leaning against a girl I don't know, as if she has been my best friends since the beginning of time.

"What was your name again?" the girl asks, handing me another cup.

"Blu" I smile, "Blu Destiny SPARKFIELD!"

I push away from the small group, clearing a place for me to spin around to the music pumping through my veins.  As I spin, I notice their odd eyes and hesitant smiles, almost as if they've never been to party before.

"What's the problem?" I ask, stumbling back toward the group, "Have you never been to a party before?"

They glance at each other, tight lipped.

I stop, using every once of energy to stand still and mostly upright, "That's okay. The more you go to the more you know. Anyways, help I can that with. I-I mean I can help with that."

I smile in spite of their unnerving stares.

Looking back now, I should've noticed something was up and that they were NOT rookies.

I take another girl's hand and drag her closer to the fire.  Laughing, I bounce on my toes, pulling and pushing her hands in an effort to get her to dance.

"C'mon! IT'S PARTY TIIIIIIME!" I shout for what seems like the 100th time.

I look into her eyes, hoping to gauge how she's feeling, and instantly let go of her hands.  Suddenly, she seems cold, staring daggers right through me as if I'm some disgusting scum bag unworthy of her time.  As soon as I take another step back, she turns at an angle toward the fire.

Then, she's gone.

Not literally, but kinda mentally. She seems like she's staring off into space - like daydreaming at night.

I move to grab another girl from the group I was talking to, only to realize that they were no longer standing as a large clump away from the fire.

As I turned back toward the fire, I notice the girl I was leaning against directly across from me.  Then I saw one of the guys in the group standing to my right.

I'm in the middle of triangle.

I take another step back and start to notice more triangular configurations, all coming together like some weird type of star.

My stomach flips as I realize something is really not right here.

"Jared!" I call out, pushing my way through the crowd.

I glance back at the cold girl and see her lips moving without a sound.

"Aw hell no" I whisper to myself as I note that she is definitely not speaking English.

Frantically, I shove my way through the mass of people until I locate Jared.

"Oh thank god" I whisper, gasping for air as I try to recover from my energy draining journey.

"Jared, we need to get out of here."

His glazed eyes stare vacantly at me before crinkling in recognition, "Oh hey Blu! When did you get here?"

"Jared you're drunker than I am, but we need to goooo." I implore, tugging at his arm trying to get him to move.

He attempts what should have been a step forward, but he really just ended with a mouth full of grass.

"Oh fuck" he groans, "Fucking shit.... Blu help me up - wait when did you get here?"

I role my eyes as I tug/lift/pull/push Jared to his feet. After successfully draping him over my shoulder for support, we begin to make out way away from the increasingly bright fire.

"Is it just me, or is the fire like - like glowing?" I ask out loud.

"Wait, I can't seee it" Jared responds, stopping me in my tracks and making me turn around.

A gasp as a small butterfly flutters in front of my face before BOOM!

I fall back into a pile of leaves from the explosion, tearing my costume and scraping my arms and legs in the process.

"Fuck" I groan as a roll onto my side.

The butterfly flutters in front of my face again.

When it lands on my nose, it all goes black.

 🦋 ✨🦋✨🦋✨

Suddenly, I gulp for air. My head aches like it was pounded with a brick and my vision is blurry as I struggle to sit up.

As the vivid surroundings come into focus, memories of last night wash over me.

"Where the fuck are we?" I ask as I look around.

I see an unmoving body about twenty feet away and crawl towards it. as I get closer, I realize that it's Jared.

"JARED!" I scream as I notice the pool of blood.

✨

Hello all! Thanks for reading my new story! I'm just as excited about this one as I am for Camp, so I'm hoping I don't disappoint.

Y'all know the usual- if you see any mistakes, please point them out.

And don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

Much love ❤️

ATCAgainstTheCurrent