As Easy As Murder

25. minerals and mental stability

I wake up with a string of drool hanging out of my mouth and Loretta shaking me vigorously, panicked expression on her face.

I jolt upright, chest heaving, "WHAT? WHAT?" I yell, picking up whatever Item is Infront of me to use as a weapon, assuming someone somehow broke into the dorm and is trying to steal all of our non-valuables, since nothing we own is worth over 25 bucks. 

Besides my poloroid photos of Gerold I brought with me from home, those are pricless artifacts. 

"Janey," She sits down beside me, holding up her crackes phone 1 inch from my face, the brightness already turned up and blinding my groggy eyes, "She wants us to go to meet sketchy people." 

"Huh?" I rub my eyes, holding my blanket tight to my freezing body. It's a freezing winter morning. I hear Christmas Carol's playing from outside, and I can smell gingerbread, which I attribute to Loretta's gingerbread tea she makes each morning. It feels like the start of a festive holiday movie, besides Loretta's face 9 inches from mine, complete with morning breath. 

"She's getting to some weird stuff." Loretta shakes her head, sighing. 

"Like what?" I slowly emerge from my blanket cucoon, but without the colorful wings, just monsterous bed head and a zit smack-dab in the middle of my forehead. I catch a glimpse of it In the mirror and sigh at the size of it. Just my luck. 

"Crystals, spells, broom-making," Loretta lists off. 

"So?" I say, only registering the word crystals. I gesture to mine, which are organized in pretty little color-coordinated sueviner plates from my trip to Atlantic City when I was a kid. Then the other two words make into my slow brain, "Wait, did you say spells?" 

She nods, pushing the phone even father, practically entering it into my face. I grasp it and bring it down, reading the messages. 

'Hey Etti, was wondering if you and Avs would wanna come meet these really cool people I met, they're super chill just wear something casual, it'll be fun, you up for it?' 

'Maybe, what kind of people are they?'

'It's this total spiritual group, spells, crystals, the whole shaban, we're even gonna decorate brooms and spellbool covers, so, you two coming or not?'

I raise an eyebrow, rubbing my temples, "So, are we going? To support her recovery?" 

"Averen, I love crystals just as much as the next person, and so do you, but this, I don't kn-" 

I put my hand over her mouth, "She's our best friend, if this is what she wants to do, I guess we're coming along for the journey. You make her attend your weird gaming conventions all the time." I point out, standing up and stretching. 

"That's different!" She follows behind as I walk to the entryway and throw on my coat, opening the door. It's only 5 in the morning on a sunday, so no one is awake. That means I'm free to walk to the coffee shop in my caveman-like state. 

We get into the elevator, and I lean against the wall, taking a deep breath. To my absolute horror, the elevator stops before the ground floor to let someone on, and I use Loretta as human shield. And who steps in? The two most unepected people. Anthony and Felicity. 

Anthony squeals when he sees me, "Averen! You didn't say hi to me yesterday." 

I stand there like a disturbed grizzly bear, refusing to even look at Felicity, and only responding to Anthony with a polite wave, his positive energy too pure and wholesome to ignore. Felicity gives me a dirty look, which Loretta notices. 

"Who's this?" She nudges me. 

"The human embodiment of a stubbed toe," I grumble, trying to flatten my lion's Maine of hair. 

Felicity pretends not to hear my comment, but her eyes say it all, fury bubbling under the surface of her sweet little baby face. 

We all get out at the lobby and me and Loretta walk up to the counter of the coffee shop, where Cheryl is sitting down and enjoying some hot chocolate. It makes me crave that classic winter goodness myself and I order a mug. Loretta on the other hand, ordered a refresher. 

We sit down with Cheryl and as usual, I open up like a book and start ranting about miss priss. 

"So, yeah, she's just the scum of the earth, and then-" 

Loretta interrupts my Cherapy session with her own problems, "I keep getting this itch.." 

I kick her under the table and look back to Cheryl, who's armed with georgia woman advice like always, sweet smile concealing her true tough guy self, "Honey, you don't let a little phony like that get you down, you're a beam of light, don't let her blow you out. She came to my desk the other day with her little attitude demanding a pen, and you bet I gave her one that was out of ink, haha, ol' cher cher can be pretty petty. Don't take a page out of my book, though, be the bigger person. You kinda have to be, honestly. The girl's the size of my pinky nail." 

I chuckle and smile, taking her advice to heart. Loretta has started drumming the table with plastic silverware. "Etti, come on, we gotta go or we'll be late to Janey's...whatever we're in for."

She groans, "What if they're like...nudists?" 

Cheryl laughs, and I smack her on the arm. "Oh shut up. You only have clothes on 9% of the time, you'd fit right in." 

She slaps my arm back and we both laugh. 

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So we got ready for whatever was about to be thrown at us. I slip on some jeans, a black tube to, and a boho chic necklace, hoping to maybe fit in amongst the crowd at wherever we were going. 

We get into my bug, starting off to the destination Janey linked for us. 

Before we know it, we've completely ditched city life and ended up in the middle of absolute nowhere where God lost his acrylic nail. We drive on a dirt road for what feels like hours, but was only 1.

We pull up to the venue, a large open field with tons of booths and vendors, fairy lights hung on every tree in sight, blues and purples and yellows all the eye can see, and In the middle of it all, Janey, who is excitedly waving to us, smile radiant on her pale face. 

He hair is tied into two high pigtails, beads are around her waiste, a long maxi skirt trails behind her, and she's glowing, "Hey girls! I've missed you!" She hugs up, and from behind her, we exchange a glance. Who is this and what did she do with Janey? 

"Wow, this place is amazing." I gush, observing all the pops of color, the field being one big canvas, smiling people, the artists, gathered everywhere. 

"Oh, no, that's a different festival. We're headed over there." 

She points us in a different direction. 

A small shack sits behind some trees, covered in moss. A wooden sign is faultily nailed on the front, 'Healing Club' sloppily written with white paint, the wood faded from constant sunlight. Our jaws drop in confusion. 

Loretta looks like she's just swallowed hot sauce, her eyes wide as planets. I stand there like a disappointed father. "Oh...and what is this?" I try to sound supportive. 

"I found it on this therapy sight. It's like this spiritual group. They really took me under their wing."

Loretta nods her head, "Yeah well I think that's the wrong wing to be under." 

I elbow her, and perfect the fake smile on my face, "So what's this event?" 

She smiles, "Just a chill party." 

We follow her into the demonic-looking shack, and I brace myself to walk in on a exercism, but instead it's 5 pretty laid-back looking people. 

Beanbags are placed around the room, a fuzzy purple rug In the middle. Crystals and minerals of all kind are all around the walls of the place. A guy with blonde curly hair is slumped over one of the minerals, and we made it in just in time to hear him attemp to meet the high note of 'Electric Love', which sounded like Ariana Grande at the dentist. 

A girl is sitting criss-cross In the corner, meditating. She has long hair, tied into braids by pink ribbons. Another girl sits beside her, blue hair meeting her shoulders, pink freckles drawn on her face like splatter art. The other two are smoking out the window, two guys with baggy jeans and surfer hair. 

We sit down on two beanbags, and Janey introduces us. Everyone responds with a synchronized 'euh'. 

Me and Loretta exchange glances. Janey points to everyone, naming them. "Ross, Jada, Annalee, Luke, Teddy'. 

We nod, and Loretta picks up some sage. "Is this place haunted or something? What's this for?" 

"Positive vibes and pure energy." Janey explains, taking it from her. 

Loretta nods slowly, taking in the room, "Soooooo....anyone like death metal?" 

They all look at her like she killed their mothers, and she mumbles under her breath. "Tough crowd." 

I can't help but feel uncomfortable as they each talk about themselves, some of their values questionable, they're motives ulterior, they're intentions questionable. They seem a bit shady, and I feel like  they have more two them then I see at face value. 

"Janey, get me a beer," Luke waves at her, not even meeting her eyes. 

I can see anger building in Loretta's soul, and I look at Janey. Her innocent smile, her caring nature, her pigtails. My stomach churns, my intuition screaming at me to get her out of here. I sigh and fidget with the studs on my belt. Teddy has focused his attention on me, or rather my chest, winking at me and even making grabbing gestures in the air. Shivers run down my spine.

"So, Janey," Loretta breaks the uncomfortable silence for me. "How did you get into this stuff?" 

She smiled, "Well, I met Ross one day while walking home from the library. He was spray-painting, I complimented his art, and we became friends, then he introduced me to everyone else." 

"Oh, that's nice.." I squeak out, everyone bone in my body hating how they've rubbed off on her, seeing her pull a lighter out of her skirt pocket and light another cigarette for Teddy. I feel disgusted, and overprotective. Janey is an adult, her descisions are hers to make, yet I feel such a need to keep her safe. She's always been so trusting, so naive. So sheltered. I mean, that's how she ended up with collin, and why she stayed with the guy. 

And deep down, I know she's not over him. 

The scent of smoke in the shack reminds me of Bishop, and I wish she were here. She's been friends with Janey the longest, and she values her opinion so much, maybe she'd be able to bring Janey back from this slump. But she's been caught up with assignments topped with more assignments. 

Loretta is being quiet, which is like a fish walking, so I know she's uncomfortable, I decide to try to change the scenery. "Heyy...why don't we check out that festival?" I gesture to the field 

"Uhh...okay.." Jada says, kind of confused, but they all agree and thankfully my lungs are re-introduced to smoke-free air. 

The sketchy atmosphere fizzles out as the group disperses, leaving me, Janey, and Loretta alone again. I jump at the chance to get Janey out of here and back with us, "Hey, uh, why you come back to the city with us?" Loretta nods encouragingly, "Yeah, we can invite Jesse and Vicky, maybe even Vera if she's available, and we can have a cozy movie night." 

"Yeah, what's that new one you wanted to watch?" 

Loretta smirks, "The one with that trailor where there's that masked man and he's like only in the mask and ripped pants and he's-" I stop her, "Nope, stop it. This conversation is rated PG." 

"Says wh-" 

"Says me."

"You don't like my friends?" Jaime interrupts. 

We both look at her, puzzled, but then realize she's right. She's not an idiot, and she must have senses the animosity in that bizzare cursed shed. We shake our heads, immediatly becoming comforting, "No, no, they're great, but, everyone has missed you and they're dying to see you." 

She sighs, "Okay. Let's go." 

So, by the grace of God, we poached Janey off the dark side and back onto our team. 

Woo, thank God, because If I had to spend one more minute with the boob bandit back there, someone was going to die. 

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We end up at Jesse's condiminium. His lover boy is there, spread out across the couch, head in Jesse's lap. They're in epitome of a honeymoon face, and the end doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon. Jesse runs his fingers through his hair, and Loretta makes faces at me, displaying her digust, which we all know is jealousy because she goes through guys like toilet paper.

Janey is staring down at her phone, and has been for the entirety of the movie. 

Vera is in her usual gloomy mood, and Vicky tries to cheer her up, by poucing on her and yelling in a demonic voice, "SMILE OR ELSE." 

Y'now what, maybe Janey's friends aren't that bad. 

I have a sleeping Loretta laying on my shoulder. The same Loretta who swore she'd make it through the whole film, and who also swore 10 minutes ago that she was just resting her eyes. It sure doesn't look like it. 

Janey still hasn't looked up from her phone once. 

Mine phone chimes, and I've received a text from Kori, another one he didn't mean to send, all in French. 

'Je ne sais pas quoi faire, Matt. Je l'aime mais pourtant je lui en veux. Je ne peux pas la supporter, mais je veux qu'elle me supporte. Elle est si Belle, j' aimerais juste qu'elle ferme la bouche.' 

'Wrong number again, nerd <3'

'Damn it, don't translate that.'

Oh, he just raised my curiousity. 

Before I translated it for the pure reason of 'he told me not to', I happen to glance over at Janey's screen. And what I see unfortunately doesn't surprise me at all. 

Collin's social media. 

I shake my head, and snatch it from her, showing it to everyone. Jesse rolls his eyes, "Oh for the love of God. I told you he looks ugly in plaid, green, blue, purple, red, WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?"

Vera just facepalms, and Vicky giggles at Jesse's anger. Loretta gets up, preparing for another aggressive  pep-talk, but we all stand quiet, stopping mid-lecture, when a notification pop's up on her phone, from Collin himself. 

'I love you so much baby girl, thanks for giving me a second chance.' 

We all turn to look at her, with the save dissaproving glance, and she just makes an 'oops' face. 

Loretta starts going. And when Loretta starts going, you just have to let her run her course until she's done. By the sound of it, this is going to be a very, VERY long course. 'WHAT DID I TELL YOU? HE'S UGLY ON BOTH THE OUTSIDE AND THE INSIDE. WHERE ELSE DO YOU NEED HIM TO BE UGLY? NAME IT, AND I'LL POINT IT OUT, JUST TELL ME."

I look down at Kori's text, and just before I can translate it, my phone dies. 

Wait. Aime means love. 

AIME MEANS LOVE. 

Before I can stop myself, I jump up and squeal. "AIME MEANS LOVEEEE!"

Everyone turns to look at me. 

I just squealed. 

Over a guy. 

"Uhhhh....." 

I pick up a bottle of Jack Daniel's. 

"How about we drink to point of forgetting I ever did that?"