I spent some time in the basement waiting for people to show up to Kassandra's party. 30 minutes passed. 40. An hour. Not a soul showed up. Although I was preoccupied how cool it was to play my guitar in the basement-I felt really bad for Kass. Once an hour and 30 minutes pass, she gave up and sat in the living room with dad. I heard her crying to him about how no one showed up so I stayed out of it. I didn't know how to comfort her unfortunately.

I was getting in the zone of playing guitar, hopping around and head banging when all of a sudden my foot got caught in one of the floorboards that was open up a little. It pinched my ankle and I tried not to scream from agony. Last thing I wanted to tell dad is I broke the floor. I slowly pulled my foot out of it then pressed the board down with my foot. Suddenly my guitar let out a weird loud screeching noise. One it never made before.

I heard mom and dad yell for me to turn it off. I went over to the amp and pressed the off button. You'd think the guitar would stop but it didn't. I looked at the guitar and amp. That weird screech wasn't coming from the guitar...

Dad ran inside. That's when it stopped. I was on my knees with my arm stretched on on the amp.

"What in the world," dad placed his hands on his hips and stared down at me. "this is why I didn't want your guitars down here."

"Dad," I got up. "I swear it wasn't my guitar!" The moment I said that, I realized how I crazy I sounded. I don't even know what it was. I just know that anytime I turned off my amp, it went off right away.

I heard a ring at the door. I heard Kassandra hop up and run to the door.

"Surprise!"

Dad and I walked out of the basement and peaked in the living room. A crowd of people began entering the door. They were hugging Kassandra and apologizing for being late. I was so happy to see Kass excited. She ran up to me and dad. "I need to fix my makeup!" She pushed pass us upstairs.

***

Dad mentioned to me that I shouldn't play downstairs but I was allowed to practice upstairs in my room without my headphones since him and mom would be helping Kass out if needed.

I spent most my time jamming in my room but also felt a little jealous when I heard all the fun everyone was having downstairs. Sounded like a great time. My friends tell me they can't wait to grow up. I beg to differ. It looks stressful. Sure you have less rules but keeping up with everything a life without rules had to offer sounded like a lot of responsibility.

I looked at the time.

8:25pm.

I was so tired already for no reason. I laid down and was about to take a nap until mom walked in. She didn't look so happy. She closed the door and walked up to my bed. "Oh Esther," she started crying. "Grandpa Ray just passed. I don't want to tell Kass and ruin this for her."

I hugged my mother. Grandpa Rae was her father. They weren't actually the closest but Kass was closer to him then the two of us.

"I'm sorry, mom," I said. As weird as it sounds, I tried to force myself to cry but it didn't work. Sometimes I just didn't have feelings or emotions until I felt it. Grief was something I dealt with in a more complicated way. At funerals I didn't cry. I would weeks later. I processed them more differently than others. 

Mother kissed me on the cheek and asked me if I needed anything before leaving. I gave her a hug before she left my room. I laid in bed thinking about Kass. The news she'd receive after her party was going to suck. I didn't want to think to much about it though. I was already starting to feel tired. I drifted off into sleep quicker than usual.

***

I awoke later that night. Well at least I thought I was awake. I tried my best to sit up but somehow my body was...paralyzed. I couldn't move a muscle and it felt like something heavy was on my body. The more I attempted to move, the harder it was to breathe. I could see that I was inside my room but it was a bit dark and everything was black except the light that came in from my window. I couldn't hear anything. I tried to call out for my mom and dad and ever Kass but each time I did, I felt the paralysis get worst.

The more I struggle, the worst it felt until finally...it stopped.

 I jolted up and began looking around, feeling my body while trying to calm my breathing down. 

"What was that?" I asked myself.