The Choice is Yours...

I had never been a party girl. It wasn't really my scene. I liked to stay home and read books. My best friend was always one to go out. She was always in the know about who was having a party and whose party was really worth going to. Whose party was "lit" I think she would call it. This particular event happened on New Year's Eve. It was the night that everyone wanted to party. Including this guy....the pile of garbage that stood before me. At the time, he was dating my best friend and had convinced her to come out to the party. Of course, she extended the invite to myself who'd politely declined as per usual. However, this particular night she insisted that I come. Usually I would continue to turn her down but there was something in her voice..... there was a look in her eye that was desperate. I had never seen this look on her face before. That look was what made me agree.

Boy, how I wish I hadn't.

The party was small, and it was held in the woods around a fire. That should have been the first sign that something was off. Why didn't I listen to myself? Someone, somewhere had managed to bring a wireless bluetooth speaker and was blasting some song I had never heard of before. It seemed innocent enough. They had a few drinks at a table to the side so I took one thinking it would help me to relax.

I arrived and found a seat on a blanket laid out on the ground since all the chairs were taken. It gave me a chance to be away from other people I neither knew nor cared to get to know. My best friend had run off into the darkness with the guy and they seemed to have forgotten that I was only here because she asked me to be. I sat there for a while, not knowing how much time had gone by before some guy slid beside me.

For a while, I just ignored him. I suppose he needed a moment to work himself up because he suddenly started talking to me.

"I was just invited here by my friend. I don't usually come to things like this.... what about you?" he asked me. I looked at him, brows knit. Why in the world should I care?

"Same" I said, sipping from my cup. No need to be rude, right?

"Yeah? What would you usually be doing?" he asked. I looked at him again. This time, I noticed her seemed extremely nervous. His hands were shaking so much so that I thought he would spill the drink in his hand. I felt sorry for him so I gave him the time of day.

"Reading a book. What about you?" I asked and drank a little more. He let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head underneath his hat.

"Would you believe me if I said the same thing?" he asked and took a drink. I noticed his eyes weren't exactly stayed on me. As a matter of fact, he seemed like he was frantically looking around.

From the other side of the fire pit I heard a girl calling out for someone. I turned to see what the commotion was about. The guy beside me seemed to be breathing hard and staring at her as well. I turned to him again.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him, but he just stared ahead breathing harder and harder.

Another voice across the fire pit, a guy this time, asking around for some girl named Samantha. Come to think of it, I had no idea where my friend and her boyfriend was. I looked over at the guy beside me, hyperventilating. He seemed to be shaking his head, tears pooling in his eyes. He turned to me slowly and smiled a frightened smile.

"Something told me this was going to be a bad idea" he said. He seemed to be morphing before my eyes. Not just him, but the entire world was swirling around. And suddenly, everything went black.

When I came to I couldn't move my body. I pulled at my arms and legs to find that they had been tied with ropes to separate trees. I looked around me and noticed white markings on the ground around me. The only light was coming from lanterns that had been hung around the area. I heard someone off in the distance, crying out for someone to help. I opened my mouth to cry out as well.

What came to answer my cries were people wearing black hooded cloaks. The came out of the surrounding woods one by one until they completed the circle around me. The first hooded person removed his hood.

It was him.

The next, my best friend, who stood proudly beside him. I called out to her, but all she did I grin at me. It was as if she were under a spell. I began to pull at the ropes that held me in place as the people surrounding me began to chant in a language that was unfamiliar to me. A brisk wind began to blow the lanterns out one by one until it got to the last one, hovering over his head.

"Yay or nay?" he bellowed at me. I had no idea what he could be referring to so I shouted "yay" hoping that a miracle would be performed. They all lifted their arms and began to chant "all hail" again and again. He began to walk towards me, pulling out what looked like a blood soaked chef's knife. He approached me and grabbed my face, forcing my mouth open and wiped the knife across my tongue.

Right after he cut me loose but I was instantly detained by someone who had approached me from behind without my noticing and I was dragged into the darkness of the woods in an unknown direction. The entire time I tried to fight and cry out for help, but no one came.

Eventually, we approached another lit area where another individual in a predicament likened to my own prior one. Others began to immediately chant but my friend turned to me, still smiling. Her eyes, though, seemed to be fearful and pleading. It was as if she was trapped in her own body. He stood before the both of us as she exchanged words with me.

"You know exactly what you are to do" she said. Her voice did not match the look in her eyes. I turned to see the boy who had spoken to me earlier. He recognized me immediately, since I did not have on a cloak.

"Don't..." he said quietly, though he seemed like he had already given up. I stared at him, knife in hand, shaking in fear. Everyone around me continued to chant. I looked at my friend but she could no longer see me. She could only see the sacrifice that was stretched out before her within the circle that I had only seen on television. My breathing had quickened. Was I supposed to kill this guy?

"Choose!!" the boyfriend bellowed.

I didn't want to do this. I never even wanted to be here. I don't want to kill anyone.

But I don't want to die, either.

I took another step towards him, raised the knife and plunged it right into the back of my best friend's boyfriend. He was the root of all of this. How else could I stop this? What if we weren't the only ones?

He fell forward, into the circle. The cloaked individuals fell silent before falling to their knees around me. And for a moment no one said a word. But then...

"All hail..." one said.

"All hail..." another began. Until they were all chanting again. I turned to my best friend, frantically. But she began to laugh. She laughed louder and louder, raising her arms and eyes to the sky.

"And so it continues!" she cried out with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. I fell to my knees.

I had chosen wrong.