“I need to work on the say for Mrs Erikson’s class!” said Gemma. Her friend Tamara had been trying to convince her to go out. She needed to blow off some steam and wanted her bestie to do it with her.
“It’s Friday night. It’s not due until Wednesday,” Tamara rolled her eyes. “You need to have a little fun.”
Gemma didn’t want to go, but she knew that Tamara wouldn’t stop. She had usually given up in the face of Tamara’s lengthy lectures about how she needed to have more fun, even though Gemma disagreed.
“How would we even get there?”
“Peter is driving us,” Tamara annnounced. “He has to get up early tomorrow so he won’t drink but doesn’t want to miss out on the party.”
As they entered the party, Gemma noticed how empty it felt. Three people stood near the make shift bar and noises were coming from other rooms, but otherwise no one was there yet. Gemma was annoyed. She couldn’t wait to get home. Tamara knew what was on her mind and gave her a shot. A melon smelling shot. It burned her throat but the sweetness reminded her of summer time in a time that was the opposite of that.
After a while, the party came to life. With people that she knew and a lot of people she didn’t. She had more melon shots, danced a little, walked around but then she began to feel super tired. She almost fell asleep on the sofa.
Eventually, they finally made their way to the car. As they were driving home, the fields alongside were shrouded in darkness. The moon was on the horizon. The moonlight barely reached the winding roads.
“Slow down,” Gemma said. The car was moving a little too fast. Or perhaps she was that drunk?
Then everything happened very quickly. The tires screeched almost at the same time as the windshield was violently protruted by the branches of a tree lining the road. As the driver and one of the passengers travelled in the opposite direction. Out of the car. There was screaming. It was brief. And after the aggressiveness and heaviness of the moment, there was silence and stillness. The night continued being quiet and calm. Going back to it’s serenity.