And Then The Ground Opened Up

It's funny how you don't have to like something to be good at it. My mom always said "Annabelle, too be good at something, you have to have heart and enjoy it." It seems that's not always the case. Take math for example. I like math, and I'm good at it. Now partying. I don't like partying. But man am I good at it. I've been invited to every party this year and this summer is no exception. I just don't see the point. You can barely hold a conversation at a party, the music is always too loud and the people are too drunk. I'm more of a sit down for coffee kind of girl. But once again, first day of summer and instead of having a few friends sleep over to tan and watch movies, I've been invited to a party.

Stacey is my best friend, I've known her since the first day of preschool and we've been inseparable since. I don't know why we're such good friends since we're so different, but I couldn't imagine a day without her. It's her seventeenth birthday and she's having a huge bash at her house while her parents and mine are on a cruise in the Caribbean. Whenever our parents go away, we always sleepover at her house and she always insists on throwing a party.

It was 7:30 and people were going to arrive at 8. Stacey and I were in her bedroom getting ready. I stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom inspecting my outfit. Stacey had picked it out and I was quite pleased with the results. Even though I didn't really like parties, I knew I had to be excited for Stacey and her party. My birthday had been a month ago, and Stacey had thrown me a surprise party at my favourite restaurant and even though I would have preferred a quiet dinner with just the two of us and our families, I did enjoy myself. Out of all the parties I had been too, Stacey's were always my favourite.

At 8:00 we went downstairs to set out the food and drinks as people started to flood in through her backyard. Our closest friends were the first to arrive but by 9:00 her yard and house were filled with faces, some familiar and some not, but Stacey didn't care who came, as long as everyone had a good time. Stacey was a carefree spirit and I was more of a cautious thinker. We were opposites but we still managed to be the best of friends.

I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the number of people around, most of them drunk and stumbling around, some puking into garbage cans, others into rose busses. Stacey was having the time of her life dancing to the music that was pumping out of speakers on the deck. I had said hello to everyone I knew and thanked them for coming to Stacey's party and I had chatted with my friends in the kitchen.

I was starting to get a headache so I decided to take a walk along the river in her backyard. There was a path that Stacey and I walked along when ever we need to talk. The path ran from Stacey's backyard all the way to mine, along the river bed. The path was calm and peaceful, the only sounds were the ones coming from the river. It was also a place I came to alone, when I wanted to get away from all the drama of parties and boys that seemed to follow Stacey around.

There was a bench on the path, exactly half way between our houses, where we often meet if we need to talk privately. It was a spot that marked many moments in our friendship. We had our first serious fight there when we were 10, and the made up in that same place the next day. It was the spot where Stacey told me all about her first kiss in grade 8, and then where I did the same in grade 9. It was the spot that Stacey and I cried in after my older sister had been killed in a drunk driver accident. It was the spot where Stacey and I both opened our acceptance letters to Harvard, I in Literature and Stacey in Fine Arts. It was the spot where Stacey and I panicked over her pregnancy scare, which was thankfully just a scare. And tonight it would be the spot where I went to get away from everything and everyone and just think.

I had been sitting there for a good ten minutes reminiscing over my friendship with Stacey, when the wind picked up and the leaves began to rustle. The was an eerie silence, as if the river had suddenly turned off and everything was still. I knew it was time for me to go back and thankfully my headache had gone away. I stood from my spot on the bench and took a step forward when I a sickening crack and the wind started to swirl all around me. The next thing I knew, the ground was opening beneath me and I was looking at the sky and falling down.

It was like one of those moments from a movie, where everything was passing in slow motion. I could barely think but all I knew was that I was falling fast. Suddenly I wasn't looking at the ground passing anymore, but I was seeing sky again. Then I could see trees and then I hit the ground. Hard. For just a moment I could hear the sound of people and horses, but then all I saw was blackness, and then I passed out.