Page 17 of Into The Darkness

“People who liked to be watched, I guess?” Beatrice commented but grabbed my hand and walked me to the back where the makeshift bar was.

A guy in a red jacket and a terrifying Halloween mask with his eyes crossed out in X’s handed me a drink while Beatrice poured one for herself.

“I got this for us.” He was suddenly in my personal space, and regardless of how drunk I was, it was crossing a line. What I did outside felt okay, but this guy was way too close for my liking.

“Oh, thanks, I am with my friend.” I grabbed the drink from his hand, then pulled Beatrice with me back into the other room.

“I need to stop.” I lifted the drink up before Maddy gave me a pointed look.

“After this one, we will stop.” Beatrice agreed, and we cheers’d before downing our drinks. The alcohol didn’t burn anymore, so I threw it back.

“Let’s go dance?” Maddy suggested, and I shrugged. I was not much of a dancer, but I looked around and realized the mask concept made everyone less worried about what they looked like. It was brilliant, honestly.

“Who are the guys in this frat?” I asked Maddy as she pulled me to the edge of the dance floor.

“No idea. They don’t usually show their faces, but I assume the guy at the front was.” I nodded, then Maddy rolled her hips, letting her red hair flow with the heat of the dance floor. I moved back and forth while Beatrice got swept up by some guy who started to dance with her.

I couldn’t help but glance over to the corners of the room where people were still going at it. A few more couples had joined them, and it looked like a giant orgy. There were so many hands, body parts, and movements I didn’t even know existed. It was . . . erotic. Nothing like the sex I had back home. This was . . . fun? That had to be the alcohol talking. I could never imagine doing this in front of a large crowd and drawing so many people who wanted to watch.

I stared at a group where a girl was being penetrated by two men, one from the front and one from behind. She bucked wildly against them as they pushed deep inside of her. That had to hurt. The man behind her looked in my direction as if some cosmic energy pulled us together. He stared at me while thrusting inside the girl, wrapping her hair around his hand and pulling hard as he did.

Wearing a gold mask similar to mine, I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. His movements were graceful yet primal. He held onto her hips, but his eyes were fixated on mine.

Something about his stare comforted me. It was so odd and intriguing, the way his eyes gleamed in the night. I stepped closer, pushing away a few people, but then the floor trembled and I felt like I would be sucked right into it.

“Maddy?” I yelled out but the music was too loud.

A guy wearing a familiar smirk walked over toward me, but I couldn’t picture where I recognized him from. Warmth surrounded me, then the floor disappeared.

“What is happening?” was the last thing I thought I said before my entire world went dark.

Chapter six

My head was pounding as I stretched while gripping the sheets of my bed.

“My bed?” I said with a scratchy voice. After the dance floor, I had no recollection of what happened. It was morning and, ironically, a rare sunny day in Isles, as the warmth from the window filtered in.

I sat up and scanned my surroundings. Nothing appeared to be out of place. Everything was the same except for the strewn clothing from last night around my bed and some water and medicine sitting at the nightstand. My notebook was opened to Friday’s schedule where I’d outlined the homework for Dr. Connolly’s class, but nothing had changed.

I grabbed the acetaminophen off the side table and popped one, hoping to get rid of this headache. Maybe this was why Walsh and Dad were insistent I not go to the Den, because drinking definitely wasn’t my friend. I liked the way I felt in the moment, but this sucked. My bones felt heavy, and it was as if I had the flu.

Groaning, I attempted to get out of bed when it dawned on me that if my clothes were on the ground, I must have been in . . .?

“My underwear.” I gasped, looking down at the nude thong and bra I had worn to fit under the dress. Who undressed me? It had to have been Maddy or Beatrice.

I pulled my hair into a bun and smelled my armpits, which stunk like the Den. It had to be from the stale beer.

After getting to my feet, I grabbed my towel, then walked over to our shared bathroom. Maddy wasn’t in the living room or kitchen, so she was likely still sleeping.

Shimmying out of my underwear, I started the shower, then jumped in to let the water flow over me. It felt so good, but I couldn’t shake this weird headache and how I ended up back in my room after last night. I had so many questions about what had happened that, by the end of the shower, I’d convinced myself I needed to wake Maddy up to ask her.

While throwing my hair into a messy bun, I noticed a little bump behind my ear.

“What the heck?” It felt as if there was a piece of plastic there.

Turning toward the mirror, I pulled back my ear so I could get a closer look.

A small piece of plastic wrap covered the smallest O, no bigger than the tip of my pinky, in black ink.

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