Left to the Wolves

 

Tablo reader up chevron

Epilogue

The girl ducked into the alley way her hands shaking and her heart beating fast. A casual observer might think she was running from something, but actually she was running towards it. She pushed open the solitary door and stumbled into the black room. She dug through her backpack for her lighter and a candle. After a few tries the small flame lit the area and she used it to light the candle. She dumped her backpack out and began arranging the tools she’s brought.

            “There you are,” her friend said relieved. She looked at the things the girl had laid out. “Did you really make voodoo dolls?”

            The girl rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to bring that negative energy in here, you should leave now.”

            “I’m the one with the negative energy? You’re trying to ruin people’s lives!”

            “I’m not trying to ruin their lives, I’m trying to kill them,” the girl said. She began burying the dolls in a box of dirt. She was careful to put them in the order she wanted.

            “This is stupid.”

            “It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.” The girl placed the final doll with a vintage locket wrapped around it.

            “You don’t really think this is going to really work do you?” She kicked the box, earning a glare from the girl.

            “We’ll see.”

            “You’re insane, you know that right?”

            “Whatever.” The girl said standing up.

“Come on, its getting cold and we’re going to be late to the party.”

“We need to hide this first.” The girl said tapping the top of the box.

“Fine, but hurry up!” He friend said impatiently. “I’m trying to get on Tyson’s radar.”

The girl pried up a loose floorboard and stuck the box under the floor. “You aren’t even his type.”

“Who is then?”

“Me, obviously. I’m everyone’s type.” The girl stomped on the board fixing it back into place. “Let’s go.”

 

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Epilogue

The girl ducked into the alley way her hands shaking and her heart beating fast. A casual observer might think she was running from something, but actually she was running towards it. She pushed open the solitary door and stumbled into the black room. She dug through her backpack for her lighter and a candle. After a few tries the small flame lit the area and she used it to light the candle. She dumped her backpack out and began arranging the tools she’s brought.

            “There you are,” her friend said relieved. She looked at the things the girl had laid out. “Did you really make voodoo dolls?”

            The girl rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to bring that negative energy in here, you should leave now.”

            “I’m the one with the negative energy? You’re trying to ruin people’s lives!”

            “I’m not trying to ruin their lives, I’m trying to kill them,” the girl said. She began burying the dolls in a box of dirt. She was careful to put them in the order she wanted.

            “This is stupid.”

            “It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.” The girl placed the final doll with a vintage locket wrapped around it.

            “You don’t really think this is going to really work do you?” She kicked the box, earning a glare from the girl.

            “We’ll see.”

            “You’re insane, you know that right?”

            “Whatever.” The girl said standing up.

“Come on, its getting cold and we’re going to be late to the party.”

“We need to hide this first.” The girl said tapping the top of the box.

“Fine, but hurry up!” He friend said impatiently. “I’m trying to get on Tyson’s radar.”

The girl pried up a loose floorboard and stuck the box under the floor. “You aren’t even his type.”

“Who is then?”

“Me, obviously. I’m everyone’s type.” The girl stomped on the board fixing it back into place. “Let’s go.”

 

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 1: Aisling

            I had avoided two best friends all morning. I had conveniently gotten stuck in traffic on the way to school and missed Spanish, which I had with Liana, and I was alone in my other morning classes. My eyes darted around the lunchroom looking for Liana or Tyson. My eyes landed on our empty table and I decided to make a go for it. I would much rather be the first person to sit down than to come up while they were talking about how I was a horrible friend.

 

            Just as I reached the table Tyson popped up from the table next to ours, causing me to jump. “Oh, hey, Ty. What’s up?” I asked casually.

            “Where were you last night? This damn party was Liana’s idea, and she didn’t even both showing up. Then there’s you, thanks for making sure the food got delivered, that was nice. It would have been nicer if you brought it yourself!” As usual Tyson was being incredibly dramatic and drawing the attention of everyone at the tables around us. Though I had to admit this was a bigger than skipping out on a study date. Then it dawned on me that he said Liana hadn’t shown up either.

            “Liana wasn’t there?” I asked. Of course I knew what I had been doing but I couldn’t imagine Liana not attending her brain-baby. On the phone she had been telling me what to wear and who to mingle with, in her normal condescending tone, like I couldn’t do anything for myself. At the time I had rolled my eyes knowing she would repeat all of the information at the party, but in hindsight she was preparing me to be there in her absence. Unfortunately for Tyson, I had been absent as well.

            “Aisling! Have you heard a single word I said?” Tyson snapped. He looked like he might explode at any moment. Tyson’s usually sepia colored cheeks were turning red.

            “Yes, of course,” I said. He waited impatiently for me to answer and I sighed. “No, not really. Sorry.”

            Tyson began to reply but my attention was drawn to the double doors of the cafeteria as Hutton Whittaker walked in. Hutton was my definition of perfect, and at least two thirds of the student body shared my opinion. Even under the unflattering florescent light bulbs his brown hair had a glimmering copper tone. He brushed his hair out of his eyes with a small frown, I knew he preferred his hair to stay relatively short but he always got it cut too long. He was too far away for me to see his eyes but I knew they were amber, milk chocolate with mixed with honey. I glanced down at the Cliff bar I was holding; clearly I was hungry if I was comparing colors to food.

            As Hutton got closer to me he caught my eye and smiled. He had dimples that made him look younger than he was. I smiled back and he walked up to our table. “Hey, Ash.”

            “Hey, Hutton.”

            “Liana isn’t here,” Tyson said, frowning.

            Hutton shrugged. “I wasn’t looking for her.”

            “Aisling and I are in the middle of a very important conversation, if you don’t mind.”

            “Yeah, sure. I’ll go find my girlfriend then,” Hutton said. Besides being more or less perfect in everyone’s mind, he was also dating my best friend, Liana. Tyson looked visibly annoyed, he and Hutton had never gotten along. “See you around, Ash.”

            “Yeah, see you later,” I told him, smiling. He winked and then walked off.

            “What was that about?” Tyson asked. I shrugged. “Don’t think you’re off the hook about last night. Aisling Dempsey, why do you never listen to anything I say?”

 

            After the bell rang I went to my next class, which I had with Liana and Tyson. To my right, Tyson was talking to girl that sat in front of him and was very pointedly ignoring me. To my left, Liana’s seat was empty. I hadn’t received a text from her all day. I figured I would have to go by after school and drop off her homework anyway, so I could ask her about Tyson’s party then.

            “Icing Dempsey?” My English sub called, as she went through the roll.

            I groaned. “It’s Ash-lynn, but you can call me Summer if that’s easier.” She nodded and went on with the roll. Hardly anyone calls me Aisling, besides my close friends and parents. A lot of people call me by my middle name, though I don’t particularly like it. I’ve got everything from people trying to sound out my first name, to Azlan like the lion in Narnia.

            I twisted my hair around my finger as I listened to the sub talk about some war or another. I was more or less useless when it came to history, I could never remember names and dates, but I was pretty great at writing essays and that was the only reason I was actually passing this class. Oh, senior privilege. Even though my entire grade had had a severe case of senioritis since freshman year, we were certainly embracing it this year. The teachers didn’t even appear to care, semester grades came out in a week and since my teachers hadn’t called any parent teacher conferences I assumed I was doing just fine.

            I loved going to Grainger Academy. It wasn’t a perfect school, but considering I was far from a perfect student, I didn’t think I’d fit in at a perfect school. In the spring and fall, my two favorite seasons despite my middle name saying otherwise, we could eat lunch anywhere within walking distance. Eating in the cafeteria might be the sole reason I can’t stand winter; I would almost always prefer to be outside. Maybe it was because I was a photographer, but I loved to look at all the colors outside. Whether I was in the park a few blocks over or the marina behind the football field, I was constantly snapping photographs to plaster my room with.

            The only thing I disliked about Grainger was how Liana had changed things. Liana had moved up to the City by the Bay from the eastside of Los Angeles in the middle of sophomore year. It hadn’t taken her long to transform the social structure of the entire school. Grainger had never really had an “in-crowd” everyone got along, some more than others. Liana was pretty and charming and people wanted to get on her good side. I still hadn’t quite figured out how she’d done what she’d done, or how why she had chosen Tyson and me for her best friends. But after two years, I’d learned to accept it as a fact of life.

            Of course, I love Liana. She’s my best friend despite all of our differences. We do have the occasional disagreement. Our disagreements were happening more and more frequently. Just this past summer we’d had one.

 

Liana and I were spending the second to last weekday of our summer at the beach. I was attempting to tan my perpetually pale skin, while the naturally brown Liana was painting her nails to my right. “I should patent this,” she said.

“What, a pedicure? I think someone beat you to that.”

She swiped on hot pink polish and stuck a small shell in the middle of her big toe, then finished the look off with a sprinkle of sand. “I could call it a sandicure.”

“Clever.” I nodded. I looked back towards the water where I noticed a guy strolling by. “Well, someone is looking good today.”

“I know I am,” Liana said without looking up.

I rolled my eyes. “Not you, him.” She glanced up at the reference to a guy and nodded approval. He turned and we got a better look at his face, I definitely approved of that.

“I’m calling dibs on that,” Liana said quickly jumping to her feet.

“You can’t just-“ I started to protest and she shushed me. She offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Are you coming with, or what?”

I rolled my eyes again, something that had become a quite common occurrence in the last few months. I had gone almost two years without fighting with Liana, but she was beginning to get on my nerves more and more. She seemed perpetually stuck in high school while the rest of us were preparing for life in the real world post graduation.

She gave me a light shove towards him. “You’re my favorite wing woman, you know that right?”

“Liana.”

“Aisling.” She put her hands on her hips. I knew she wasn’t going to let me out of this. I groaned and turned towards the guy. I was crossing my fingers he wouldn’t look quite so good up close. Unfortunately, as we got closer I could tell he did, Liana wasn’t going to let this one go easily. Liana when she had a boyfriend was even more intolerable that single Liana.

She gave me a final shove, this time harder than the first. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Liana took off her black hair swinging behind her as she jogged away.

            “Are you alright?” Beach guy asked. He offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet.        

            “I’m fine, I just tripped,” I lied.

            He smiled, amused by my “clumsiness,” “What’s your name?” He asked.

            “Aisling spelled A-I-S-L-I-N-G. Not the normal spelling,” I told him. “You can call my Ash, that’s what most of my friends call me.”

                        He smiled, which I took as a good sign that I hadn’t totally ruined my first impression. “I’m Hutton. Looks like it was meant to be, both of us have unusual names. Really, who names a kid after the sound you make when you get the Heimlich?” I laughed and he smiled again.

            Not far from where we were standing two girls were talking. They seemed to think they were being subtle but I could hear them clearly. “Don’t look now, but Aisling Dempsey is talking to my brother,” one girl said. Her friend looked up quickly and made eye contact with me. “I said don’t look, Linley!” I recognized Linley as a sophomore from Grainger. Her brother, Jacob, had been a friend of mine before Liana had moved here.

            “Is that your sister?” I asked pointing to the girl I didn’t recognize.

            “Yeah, how’d you know?” He looked over his shoulder and the girls instantly looked away and giggled.

            “She pointed and called you her brother, plus you look alike.”

            “Everyone says we look like twins.” He ran his fingers through his golden brown hair at the same time his sister flipped her own.

            “I could see that.”

            “The two of them have been coming to this beach everyday for the past week trying to find some people from Grainger Academy. I guess they’re a big deal or something.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “They’ve got some crazy plan to become best friends with them. Linley has told Sierra about all these crazy things they’ve done. I think they sound like trouble.”

            “You go to Grainger?” I asked.

            “We just moved here, but yeah I’ll start on Monday.”

            “That’s where I go, maybe we’ll see each other around.” I certainly hoped we would.

            “Yeah, for sure.”

            Linley walked over to us. “Hey Hutton, hey Ash.”

            “Hey Linley, what’s up?”

            “Is Liana around?” She asked.

            “Not right this second, why?” I asked. I didn’t want to bring up Liana around Hutton and I didn’t offer any more information to Linley.

            “I just wanted to introduce her to Sierra, she’s new. Maybe Liana will want to welcome her by inviting her to the party.”

            “Maybe,” I shrugged. I didn’t say that I was almost positive Liana wouldn’t care about meeting Sierra, I wasn’t even sure if she knew Linley’s name. And I was positive Liana would never invite them to her massive end of the summer party. Linley, realizing she wasn’t wanted, retreated back to her spot next to Sierra.

            “Who’s Liana?” Hutton asked.

            “Oh she’s just-“

            I was cut off by Liana linking her arm through mine. “Me!” She gave her ebony hair a flip and she smiled at him.

            Backed into a corner, I had no choice but to introduce them. “Hutton meet my friend Liana, Liana this is Hutton. He’s going to go to Grainger this year.”

            “Nice to meet you hottie, I mean Hutton.” She giggled as if embarrassed by her slip, though I knew she had said exactly what she meant to. I refrained from groaning or rolling my eyes, but I did disconcert her from my arm. “Did Aisling invite you to the party tomorrow?” She asked. She glanced at me to see if I had. I shook my head. I had purposefully been avoiding talk about the three of us, especially after he had made his disapproval of Liana’s clique apparent. “Well,” she said drawing out the word, “every year Aisling, Tyson, and I each throw a party. Ty is in charge of New Year’s, Ash takes care of the end of the year and I throw one right before school starts!” She smiled sweetly.

            “Unless my parents need help unpacking, I’m free.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Ash, I’ll text you to get the details.” I punched my number into his phone and handed it back. “Well, I should probably make sure those two don’t get into any trouble,” he said, glancing at his sister. He turned back and looked straight at me. “It was nice to meet you.”

           

            Liana didn’t speak to me until we were about five minutes away from my house. She was clearly pouting, and if I weren’t afraid she’d try to wreck the car on purpose I would have told her to get over it. I had forgotten the version of Liana that was the absolute worse, the Liana that didn’t get what she wanted.

            “I don’t understand. He asked for your number but not mine. It is my party! Was I not being clear? Was I not flirting enough?”

            “Oh, you had the charm turned up alright.” I glanced out the passenger side window so she wouldn’t see me make a face.

            “Then why didn’t he ask for my number? I called dibs, he can’t just like you.”

            “I’m almost certain that isn’t how dibs works. Maybe you should go talk to the guy first, instead of relying on a wing woman, next time.”

            “I just don’t understand. What does he even see in you?” I didn’t bother dignifying her question with a response. I had gotten used to this from Liana. She would yell at Tyson and me over the stupidest things but she would always be over them by the next day. It was annoying and I hated it, but I had my own flaws that she and Ty had to put up with.

            We pulled into my drive way and I grabbed my stuff out of the drunk. I turned to walk in without looking back. She must have rolled down the window because I heard her call after me. “See you tomorrow, honey. Don’t be late.” 

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 1: Aisling

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 2: Liana

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 3: Tyson

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 4: Aisling

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 5: Liana

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...

Chapter 6: Tyson

Comment Log in or Join Tablo to comment on this chapter...
~

You might like 's other books...