STRANGE WAYS | Roman Godfrey

02| The Great Get Together

The guy felt a strange need to follow everything Juniper told him to do. It was as if he had been compelled. He went out the door and headed back to his house.

In the mean time, June felt her nose bleed as it usually did whenever she compelled someone. She thought of it as a gift from the unknown. It did come with a price, but it was a price Juniper was willing to pay to manipulate people.

The raven haired girl wiped the blood off of her nose, until she felt somebody's stare on her. She glanced at the door and saw the person she hated, the one she loathed all these years, the infamous Roman Godfrey.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" The girl hissed, making him roll his eyes as he went back to the crowd. Even though Juniper didn't invite the blond boy, he still showed up. He always showed up, no matter what. June occasionally thought about how loyal and generous of a friend he would be, if he wasn't such a dick all the time. However, what's done is done, Juniper Young and Roman Godfrey were sworn enemies and nothing was going to change that.

The raven haired girl fixed her hair and decided to get back to the party, clueless of what would happen the morning after.

✵

It was exactly 5 AM when Juniper and Cece poured buckets of cold water on everyone, telling them to get out of the mansion. That was probably the worst part of June's parties - the morning after. Everybody swore on their lives they would never come to her parties again, but oh, well, it wasn't the raven haired girl's fault her house held everything needed for a great get-together.

"That was the last one." Cece pointed out as the two girls stared at a half naked girl, who was walking out of the Young mansion, showing her middle finger to June.

"Yep. Everyone's gone." Juniper pursed her lips as she flopped on the soft beige colored sofa,
"Have you seen Beth, by the way?"

"Haven't seen her since last night. She said she went to call her mom, remember?" The Moore girl shrugged as she took a sip from a cup of coffee she had made for herself as soon as she woke up. Juniper, on the other hand, hated coffee. She didn't like the bitter taste and it didn't exactly help her feel energized. She was more of a hot chocolate and booze type of girl.

"That means she never came back in, her bag is still here." The raven haired girl said, pointing at the brunette's lilac bag.

"Is her phone there?" Cece questioned as she took Bethany's bag and went through it, finding nothing that resembled a telephone,
"Maybe we should call."

"Seems like that's what she was trying to do last night." Juni pointed out as she switched on her phone, revealing more than ten missed calls from her brown haired friend. The girl tried calling, but it went straight to voicemail,
"It goes straight to voicemail. Maybe she sent one herself."

Juniper clicked on one of the three voicemails Beth had sent her,
"June? Hey, um, sorry I'm late, my mom is being cranky again about my English Lit mark, heh. I know that she just wants me to succeed, but I can't do that with a subject I, uh, fu-- freaking, hate. Anyways, I'm near your backyard, by that creepy swing. I'll be at your house in five."

"Strange..." Cece mumbled after the brunette's voice was cut off,
"It says the voicemail was sent at 00:37. Maybe she changed her mind and went home? I mean, we both know how she acts around alcohol."

"There's two more." The raven haired girl frowned as she clicked on the next voicemail,
"Hey, um, June, I'd be really, really, really glad if you and Cece could come over here and lead to me your house. I'm pretty sure I heard something move behind the bushes and it sounds like an animal, or something... I don't know, just... Please pick me up."

"This is getting really creepy."

Cece bit her lip as she pressed on the last voicemail with her shaking hand,
"Oh, my god! Juni, there's a freaking wolf here, it is staring at me in a creepy way, oh my god! It looks like it's about t-- AH! Juni, help me! Please help me, oh my god! Agh!"

The two girls never thought that the last time they would hear their friend's voice would be Bethany screaming for help, since the last thing that could be heard on that voicemail was the sound of flesh being ripped out. The one that would usually be used in horror movies to make scenes seem more gruesome.

"Oh, my god..." Juniper whispered, covering her mouth with her palm as tears started to stream down her eyes.

"No, June, come on, it's a prank!" Cece whined, her eyes also staring to water,
"No, it's just a sick joke Bethany decided to pull on us for not picking her up! Come on, it's a joke, it's not real! It's not fucking real!"

"She said she was by the swing." The raven haired girl managed to croak out through the tears as she quickly stood up and put on a pair of sneakers,
"Come on! We have to find her!"

The two girls ran through the backyard, pushing away the vines of the trees, also getting closer and closer to where Bethany was. The raven haired girl felt truly concerned. She was scared of what might have happened to her best friend. Even Cece's reassuring words couldn't keep her from not letting out sobs as she ran.

"She's not here." Cece spoke as soon as they reached the old swing covered in rust. They looked around, finding nothing, but the familiar smell of blood was the only thing June focused on.

"L-l-look." Juniper's voice trembled as she pointed to the bushes beside the rusty swing. The grass was covered in dark red substance and as the girls walked further, the smell started to get stronger, finally revealing a ripped apart corpse of Bethany Fey...