My Eternal Damnation

I made my way out onto the back patio. The sun was lowering slowly towards the horizon and orange and yellow swirled through the darkening sky.

“Happy Birthday!!!” a huge group of people screamed in unison.

I plastered on a smile and observed the multitude standing before me. I spotted a few friends speckled throughout the crowd but the majority was made up of my mother’s work companions.

I gasped in surprise as my best friend Sammy pounced her skinny tan arms around my neck from behind me. “Happy Birthday, Elena! Congratulations! You’ve finally caught up to me!” She grinned as she ran her fist roughly through my hair.

I growled, pulling her off of me, “You messed up my freaking hair, you idiot…”

This just caused her to laugh harder as she grabbed a hold on my wrist and dragged me to a table piled with numerous types of presents in all sorts of different shapes. She forced me into a redwood chair and began ruffling through the mountain of gifts.

“Sammy…What are you doing?”

She scoffed at me. “What does it look like I’m doing, Stupid?” She gleamed at her success as she held up a neon-green wrapped box that looked to be a little bigger then a jewelry box.

The fake smile on my face was becoming more and more real by the second. I tore the box open and was struck speechless at what I saw. Inside was a thick plastic black band with elegant white script trailing around it: Believe In Yourself.

“Sammy…This…This is amazing.”

She sparkled all her teeth at me. “I know, right?”

I slipped the wrist band on and went to give her a hug when suddenly my mother was next to me with a lighter in her hand. She pushed aside some of my presents onto the floor. This caused me to finally notice the huge cake set in the middle of the table. “Time for the cake!” she announced as she lit the candles. Everyone swarmed in around the table, pushing me away in the process. A chorus of Happy Birthday rang through the backyard and into the night sky. I was already making my way back inside and upstairs to my room. Nobody noticed I was gone. Even when they sang my name, nobody noticed.

I walked into my now dark room. Even though the walls were white, for some reason my room was the darkest at night. A voice from behind stopped me when I went to turn on the light. “We meet again, Elena.”

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Nobody noticed I was gone from my own party. Even when they sang my name, nobody noticed. A terrible thought echoed itself inside my head as I turned to the woman who had come for me: Even now, when I’m taken away by this thing,…would anyone even notice.