Hello

The unrealized truth

I step out into the dark night and take a deep breath. Suddenly, wonder fills my mind. Do ghosts really exist? Can houses be haunted? What about clowns, do they haunt you at night? I don't know if wondering these things cursed me or a coincidence decided to happen, but a cold wind rushes to my neck. Crackling sounds come from the woods behind me. I swivel around. A poof of orange hair is visible in the moonlight. 

Clowns. I think freakishly. Lovely. Just lovely. They stalk me too. They hunt me to. 

"Hey," the thing says. It steps out into the light. 

I squint. "Ellie?" I ask

"Yeah, who'd you think I was, Penny-Wise?" Ellie's my best friend, and we have been friends for as long as I can remember. 

" What'r you doing out here? It's too cold to walk all the way down here, especially alone." I ask. Ellie shrugs.

"I don't know. Mom and dad got into a drunken fight again." She sighs and looks up. "I guess I just wanted to get out."

"I'm so sorry. I wish you didn't have to go through this."

"You shouldn't be. Both your parents are in jail. That's terrible." I sigh, too. It was true. I thought myself an orphan because my parents were drug addicts, and were either gone or in prison. I'm old enough to handle myself, though.

"Hey, you wanna go down to the steak 'n' shake?" Ellie asks. "It's still open. I just passed it, and I'm starved." I shrug.

"Sure."

We walk back down and through the forest, hands in our pockets with our visible breath clouding around us like smoke. Ellie trips over a root and I catch her, only to fall over with her. As soon as we hit the ground I swear that I hear a coyote or something like that. 

"Oh, did you hear that, Kennedy?" Ellie asks in a hushed tone. "Maybe it was a Werewolf." When I finally stand up again, I offer my hand to Ellie, and then push her back down.

"No, way," I say. "Werewolves don't exist, and if they did, I am almost one-hundred percent certain that it would have sounded a lot bigger than that." Ellie shrugs. 

"Maybe." After a while of walking, my feet begin to get tired and I begin to fall behind Ellie, who continues to smile, as if she was plotting something. I don't like plotters. Jogging to catch up to her I ask, "okay, Ellie, so what is on your mind? You are going to spill it sometime, so it might as well be now." 

"Now, really, Sage. Do you honestly think that I am plotting something?" She asks with a little laugh that happens to make me more suspicious of her plans. "You know that I know that you hate plotters, Kennedy." She walks ahead of me again and shakes her head in the process. The rest of the walk to steak 'n' shake was a miserable experience for me. But hey, at least I wasn't being stalked by clowns. Or hunted by werewolves. 

"You know what I was thinking," Ellie says as she stuffs a french fry into her mouth.

"Oh, I can only imagine," I mumble, rolling my eyes.

"That you could make a lot of money being in some horror movie. You know, unlike regular movies." she went on, ignoring my comment.

"Is that supposed to be a suggestion for me?" I ask. A waitress comes over and hands me my shake. "Thanks."

"No problem," she says, turning around.

"Yes! You know it it is! Oh, come on, sage, please?" Ellie begs, with her hands folded in front of her as though she was praying that I would immediately give into something like this. Ha, she's so cute sometimes, just not cute enough to convince me. 

"No! No, no, and no! Not happening. I have to stay home." I say, while cutting my hands through the air.

"But Sage!" Ellie says bouncing in her seat. "This could me mean you moving out! Or me moving in! Roommates!" she points at me. "We could be roommates! I wouldn't have to live with my parents anymore. And then, when you get more famous you could be in more movies, and then I could watch all of your movies when you're gone so I won't have to miss you!"

"Ellie, no! I already said that!" I argue. "And what about Tom Hanks? You love him! and you would get so bored watching the same movies over and over, and over."

"Pfft. Forget him! You're going to be famous! People like you, Sage. People want you in their movies! Have you seen your acting? I looked through your Emails! There's an opening for the lead person in a horror movie. Just for you!" She was practically screaming now, to the point of people starting to stare. I slurp my shake and tilt my head to one side.

"No, and that was only 5 movies they asked me for, Ellie, 5 movies, out of what? One million? Plus, I have to stay home with Pepsi." At this point, I was struggling for excuses. "Not happening, Ellie, I'm sorry, but- Wait a minute, did you say you checked my Email?" I ask. She shrugs.

"Hacked. But that's not the point, I'll watch Pepsi for you," I cut her off.

"Pepsi hates you."

"Yeah, well, I hate cats, too, but that's also not the point. You could make millions. And what are you talking about, only 5 movies requested for you? That's more than me!" She stood up. I opened my mouth but Ellie spoke first.

"No, that's not the point either, don't comment, what I'm saying is they are desperate, Sage, desperate. They need you in at least one of there movies. Horror movie. Please, Sage, please." Ellie sits back down after seeing almost the whole restaurant staring at her.

"Please." She mumbles one last time, crossing her arms.

I drink the last of my shake and almost die choking on an M&M in the time span of two seconds. I flip the bill of my hat up in thought.

"Okay fine, I'll look into it," I say. Why does she have to be so convincing?

Ellie hops off the booth and starts to dance around.

"Oh yeah, baby! Yes!" She yells.

"Sit back down! That's not a definite yes, I said I'll look into it, not sign up and say 'Okay I'm in!' okay? And don't hack my Email anymore." I say. Ellie nods and smiles.

As we were walking home, I regret my choice more and more.

"Hey, you want to spend the night? I'm open." I suggest. She nods again walking around like a drunk person, putting on foot perfectly in front of the other, but wobbling like a toddler who just learned how to stand. She mumbles something unintelligible under her breath and let's out a little chuckle. 

"What?" I ask, getting that feeling that makes you uncomfortable because you can almost sense that they are talking about you.  

"I said, I still watch the movie Apollo 13, like everyday of my life and never get tired of it. It's an amazing story, you should watch it sometime.."

"Ellie, you have made me watch it with you multiple times. Wait.. you said all that in one second under your breath?" It sounds like a stupid question, but it was the only think I could think to say right then. 

"You are a great actress, you know that right? I think that you can do great things in life if you just give it a small little try. Just a little flame can start a blazing fire, in case you didn't know." She says, stumbling over her own feet. I put my arm around her to keep her from falling over. 

"You need to get some sleep, dear. I think you have hat a bit too much sugar today than you need."   

I guess I don't really realize how many people actually like my acting. I mean, I was the lead person in all of my high school plays. Every single one. Hmm, weird. I just want to go home, sit on my bed and sob while thinking about how much I will be letting Ellie down if I don't take this offer. 

Oh, Ellie, if this doesn't work out, please promise me that you will still be there at my birthday as the only one who will celebrate it with me, and at my wedding. Oh, also, will you be there at the hospital the day after I have my first child? 

Please, anyone who may be listening to me, please let this movie sound like one that I would want to be in and please let me not let Ellie down whether I do take the job or not. Please.