Young Writers Society

Evelyn’s mother fussed over her obsessively, trying every avenue to weasel a confession out of her melancholic daughter. But talking was the last thing that Evelyn wanted to do.

‘Please honey, will you tell me what happened? I haven’t seen you this down for a long time.’

‘Nothing’s wrong Mum, just had a rough day at school. Homework, Biology test, grumpy teachers, you know the drill,’ Evelyn lied as convincingly as she could.

‘Well I think there’s more to it than that-’

‘Please, Mum. I just want to be alone for a while,’ Evelyn begged. Her mother frowned anxiously, her mind concocting every possible explanation for the evident sorrow. Evelyn sighed.

‘If I promise to tell you later will you leave me alone?’

Her mother eyed her speculatively, before caving in.

‘Okay sweetie, we have a deal. I’m going out to meet your Father for dinner, and I expect you to give me a full explanation when I return,’ she said, before adding ‘everything will be okay. I hate seeing you down.’

Evelyn smiled weakly at her mother’s concern, before retreating to the safety of her room.

She lay on her bed, lost in memories. After a year of dating Adrian, a lot of them had accumulated. One stood out with painful clarity. It had been one of her favourites, and in light of the afternoons event, it had become one of the most painful.

The countryside flew past at an astonishing pace and Evelyn’s eyes flicked to the speedometer. The needle was slowly moving on past the 140 k mark and was on its merry way to 150.

‘Adrian slow down!’ She spoiled her attempted authority by laughing. She couldn’t help it. The speed sent her blood racing and the adrenaline rush was exhilarating. And the driver’s face held a look of such pure delight that she couldn’t help but smile. He shot an impish grin in her direction. The wind from his open window was pulling at his hair and his cheeks were flushed with the thrill of the speed. Evelyn attempted to insert some severity into her voice.

‘Adrian I mean it!’ she said. He made a show of screwing his face up in a pout as he eased off the accelerator. The needle slowly dropped back until it was sitting on precisely 100 ks. Evelyn sighed.

‘I don’t care if you’re suicidal in you car, just don’t become homicidal. I want to make it to graduation,’ she chided.

‘Aw Ev, you know I’d never hurt you. I’ll just shake you up a bit. And it looked like I succeeded,’ Adrian teased. ‘Did you enjoy the movie?’

‘I always enjoy being with you,’ Evelyn answered.

He was silent for a moment, thoughtful. When he spoke again, there was a softer, more serious note to his voice.

‘You know I love you Ev,’ he said. Evelyn’s heart leapt and she smiled involuntarily. She never got tired of hearing those words.

‘I love you, too,’ she replied. ‘Will you always love me?’

He glanced at her and seemed to consider his answer.

‘I will. I promise you. Forever,’ he pledged, sincerity ringing on every syllable. He shot another look in her direction and she could read the adoration in his face. ‘I’ll marry you one day’…

Evelyn let the memory fade. Hot tears soaked her cheeks and her heart felt like it was about to fall to pieces, but she pulled herself off of her bed and grabbed her keys. She wouldn’t let Blake Waterman take her Adrian. She wasn’t about to let him go.

~*~

A slight breeze was picking up as Evelyn killed the engine and got out of her car. It was a refreshing relief from the thick, motionless air. She cast her eyes around the driveway and spotted Adrian’s Mitsubishi Lancer. Hopefully that meant he was home, but she also noted his Dad’s Toyota was absent. Her footsteps on the gravel path seemed unbearably loud and the front door seemed to get further away with every step. After walking what seemed a mile she raised a fist to knock… Then she heard the drums. They started softly, but the volume slowly climbed.

Evelyn hesitated, fist still raised in the unfulfilled knock. The icy dread that had claimed her insides grew colder. Her instincts kicked in, stomping their feet and pushing her towards her car. But her curiosity stood its ground, stubbornly pointing is finger in the direction of the drumming. Much to the dismay of her better judgment, curiosity won. Evelyn lowered her fist and warily headed in the direction of the drumming. It was coming from a plot of bush land to the right of Adrian’s house.

The undergrowth grasped at her clothing, refusing to let her go, wanting her to turn back, but she pressed on and her track pants became riddled with tears. She drew closer and the drumming grew louder. She could see a glow up ahead, winding its way through the tree-trunks to flicker across the ground at her feet. Firelight. Finally the trees broke to reveal a clearing. Evelyn hid in the shadows as she gazed in shock at the spectacle before her.

The fire was in the centre of the clearing, sitting in the middle of a huge symbol that was drawn in the dirt. A triangle in a circle. The drummers were seated around the edges of the circle, their hands pounding their drums in quick, pulsing beats. Inside the ring of drummers there were dancers. They were all topless and barefooted, their eyes wide and feverishly bright. Their dancing was not the generic type that might be found on stage or in a club; it was an older, wilder type of dancing. Every move was completely random, yet all part of the whole and it all seemed touched with some type of brutish madness.

Chills flew down Evelyn’s spine as she realized that she could pick out some of the faces in the clearing. They were all male, from varying age groups, and they all lived locally. She scanned the frenetic faces, her eyes searching for one in particular as her fears grew. Finally they reached the centre of the clearing where two people were standing by the fire. The larger one was holding a black-handled knife and she recognized him instantly; Blake Waterman. The firelight danced on his pale face, highlighting the look of crazed menace that was etched into his every feature. And the other one… The ice inside her reached out ever further, sneaking deeper into her chest as her worst fears were realized. There in the middle of the bizarre ritual, next to the fire, stood Adrian.