Young Writers Society

The Sisters

Helena stared into the crystal clear, aqua colored blanket below her and stiffened. There were girls behind her,s creaming at her.

"I'm not doing it," she claimed and turned towards her fellow sisters.

"Oh yes you are," one of the girls, Marina, said. And, ultimately, Helena did feel really as though she were obligated to jump. But, Helena immediately toughened up. She felt defiant.

"No, I'm not," Helena finally managed. "Really, is this what you do to all of your pledgers?" Helena crossed her arms and looked at the ocean gaain, this time trying to be the optimist she knew she could be.

"No questions. We shall put you through other, more vigorous means of training for you," Marina said, and crossed her arms. This meant she was staking her territory around Helena.

Helena's eyes grew wider, and her feet gradually were becoming more attractive. "I don't trust you. There's something down there." Helena's feet were the only thing she saw ans the wors spilled out of her mouth.

"Why, we haven't a clue as to what you're talking about," another sister, Julia, countered with a sneer.

"If you don't want to do this, just put up with the other training, and then maybe we'll think about letting you in," Marina's eyes mingled with Helena's, seeming to begin a battle that would last a century.

"So, next Thursday, at our dorm, in the lounge. Midnight. Be there," Julia's defiant, skinny finger poked its shiny green end at Helena. Helena nodded shakily and walked away with the sisters.

Before she knew it (or would like to have believed), Thursday came, and yet, Helena debated attending the sorority meetin that loomed over her for the past week.

"I'm not going," Helena nodded and paced in front of her roommates, Quinn and Tracey. She knew that they wanted no part of her sorority talk, but she continued. "Or should I go?" she contradicted herself.

"Listen, if you don't believe in what they're doing, don't go, girl!" Quinn exclaimed. She looked up from her magzine with glaring eyes.

"Seriously. Don't go! You know what I heard? That the girls who did go into the water to find those token things were pushed in, and then the sisters leave them."

Helena knew very well that after about ten minutes of waiting (this sorority waited up for no one), they would just move on to the traditional ocean ceremony.

"Hmm. I think I'll go to the ceremony that they're going to have tonight when I don't show up," Helena said.

"How/ They're going to notice you," Tracey questioned.

"Hide. I'll hide," Helena felt brave all of a sudden.

So, at midnight, or 12:10, rather, Helena crept down to the forest beyond the beach, close enough so she could see, far enough away so that the sisters would not notice.

And there was one of her closest friends, Tina, standing on the water's edge, blindfolded with a cloth. 'New edition,' Helena thought about the blindfold.

As was expected, Marina pushed Tina into the unwelcoming water below her. After watchign Tina struggle for a few minutes, the girls stalked off.

Helena, almost scared by her own bravery, went into the abandoned ocean, and could not see or hear Tina.

She delved deep into the dark waters, and then Helena felt around. She heard a smal cracking sound, a holow cracking. Almost like two bones crashing together.

Helena tried to scream, but she couldn't. The water masked the noise of desperate help. She wandered back to her dormitory, and founda yearbook. She flipped open to the "Sororities" page.

Each haunting face stared back at her. Tehre were sixteen girls on that page, all of their smiles enraging Helena.

And below their pictures was a caption. 'We will forever hold these sixteen girls in our hearts, for they did not complete the journey.'

And Tina! Where was Tina? Helena's thoughts overcrowded her mind, but she figured that Tina was gone, and began to weep indfeinitely.

Her sisters tricked her. She hadn't fell for it, but Tina did. And she, reader, was gone. And forever, those sister's traditions would carry on.