Metanoia | The Mandela Catalogue

Prologue - Prom Night

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Trigger warnings: panic attacks, gore/blood, body horror mentions, religious themes.

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Mark Heathcliff parked the car, turning the key and taking it out of the ignition. Heather Jones looked out the backseat window at the building that laid before them. You could sort of see the flashing lights through the glass front doors of the school, Mandela City High.

"Are we late? Shit!" Rosemary Williams exclaimed, opening the backseat door. She swiftly got out and hurried to the other side, helping Molly Jones, her best friend, out of the backseat. "We should be right on time," Cesar said calmly, looking at his watch. It was around 3:30pm, a little late but still right on time. The group hurried inside, not wanting to waste another minute. They walked down the corridor towards the gymnasium, excitement bursting at the seams. They all could hear the loud music playing already, feeling like it was bouncing off the walls.

The doors to the gymnasium were open and had multi-colored streamers hanging in the doorway. The bright colored lights were nearly blinding, flashing all over the place. The loud music was very much louder, muffling the sounds of the students inside. As the group of friends walked inside, they all couldn't help but notice how many people were in there. Molly led them all over to a more secluded area of the gymnasium, which was a bit quieter and easier to hear what they were saying. There was a small fold-up table there where they all sat down.

"My lord my feet hurt from these damned heels," Rosemary complained. Molly laughed and shook her head. "They aren't that bad," she replied, a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"I don't think I would ever be able to wear heels," said Mark, "they seem too uncomfortable to be enjoyable." Cesar nodded. "Yeah, aren't they also bad for your feet to wear?" He asked. "Okay well, if you wear them every day they can be bad," Molly replied.

"I could never wear these every day," Rosemary stated. Cesar smiled and nodded in agreement. Molly looked at the two and casually got up, "Does anyone else want something to drink?" Rosemary's eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously. "Grab me anything, I don't mind," Mark said rather calmly compared to Rosemary.

"No thank you," Cesar replied, resting his elbows on the table. Rosemary walked over to the table were all the drinks were, her heels clicking on the floor. There was an entire arrangement of many different drinks, and she couldn't tell what was what at first until she realized the staff had placed cards down.

"There's a lot of people here, huh?" Rosemary said, looking around the table. Mark nodded in agreement, looking at the group of students dancing around. "You would've thought people wouldn't be here from the amount of alternate spottings," Cesar commented.

Rosemary shrugged and replied, "well, I mean we are here so what's the big difference?" She looked back at the two, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand. "Yeah yeah, true," Cesar copied her and rested his cheek on his palm. The two held a silent staring contest until Rosemary playfully rolled her eyes and laughed, sitting up straight. Mark chuckled at the two, smiling slightly.

"I'm back!" Molly said rather loudly, trying to speak over the loud music. She held the three glasses very carefully, two in one of her hands and the third in her other. She placed them all down with a clink before sitting back down next to Mark. Rosemary reached for one of the glasses, one that was filled with a weird green-looking liquid that was most likely lemonade. Mark took the glass that was filled with a dark liquid and Molly took the remaining glass, a glass filled with water. Basic bitch Rosemary thought teasingly.