Chapter Four
Dark Room
"Okay, now where the hell are we?" Spencer grouses as she waves her hand in front of her face to test if she can even see it. She can't.
"Three weeks later. Now be quiet and listen," Megan snaps at the teen, causing Spencer to roll her eyes, but stop talking nonetheless.
They listen for a moment before Spencer is able to make out a sound. Someone is sobbing quietly close to where they are at. Before the blonde can question any further, there is a light knocking on the door.
"Madison?" A masculine voice on the other side asks.
"Ew. We're in Madison's room?" Spencer makes a disturbed expression as the door opens and closes and the light is switched on.
Aiden stays by the door and watches helplessly as his girlfriend lies crying on the bed. Slowly, he goes over and sits down next to her and tentatively runs his fingers through her curly locks. "We have to talk about this Madison. We have a lot to deal with now and I think-"
"We don't have to deal with jack shit. You're not the one who's pregnant are you Aiden!" She snaps at the boy.
Frustrated, Aiden stands up and glares at the brunette. "You're right, I don't have to deal with this. You want to be alone so bad? Then wish granted," he growls at his girlfriend before leaving the room.
Madison rises into a sitting position and hugs a pillow tightly to her chest. She leans her head down into its downy softness and screams before being overtaken by a new wave of sobs.
Spencer turns quickly to her guide. "Doesn't she have a miscarriage like Ashley did?" She asks, actually concerned for the bitchy cheerleader.
Megan shakes her head regretfully. "Afraid not. Nine months later she gives birth to a baby girl. Both of her parents have practically disowned her by that point. Aiden steps up as the father and drops out of high school to get a job working at his cousin Murphy's paint store. They both eventually become raging alcoholics and fight constantly. This..." she motions around the room vaguely, "...is the moment their lives practically end," she finishes.
"Aiden needs to, like, never have sex," Spencer snorts with disgust.
"That's the first smart thing you've said all day," Megan notes, earning a glare from the blonde.
Spencer softens slightly. "All of this happens because I was never around?" She questions somewhat skeptically.
"Yep. Madison got pregnant on the night that she and Glen would have had their first date. However, since your brother wasn't a basketball player, that never happened," she informs the girl.
"Where's Ashley while all of this is happening?" Spencer questions, wondering how things with her and Krystina ended up progressing.
Megan looks down at her watch and blanches. "I don't think you want to know," she shakes her head vehemently.
"Yes, I do," Spencer states forcefully. "I want to see my best friend," she elaborates desperately.
"Newsflash: She's not your best friend now that you don't exist!" Megan yells, Spencer stares her down with unwavering determination. The guide lets out a deep sigh. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she mumbles before snapping her fingers.
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Rave
Spencer finds herself disoriented once more as she is suddenly surrounded by at least a hundred people. Music is pumping hard and the bass is kicking as lights flash and people binge on innumerable different drug cocktails. The blonde remains paralyzed, unable to believe that her Ashley would ever consider going to one of these.
"Come on," Megan cuts into Spencer's musings as she tugs at her hand, dragging her through the crowd. "You asked for it," she grumbles as they stop in front of a nondescript door down a relatively hidden hallway in the abandoned warehouse rave. "She's just through that door," she informs the other girl. Before the blonde opens it and goes through, Megan reaches out and grabs her by the arm. "You really don't have to do this Spence," she says compassionately, concern written in her eyes.
"Yes. I do," she responds before opening the door and walking in. Megan is right behind her as Spencer notices the three people in the room: two boys and a girl.
Ashley is passed out on the floor, presumably by one of the many combinations of substances available no more than fifty feet from where they stand. An empty plastic cup is nearby as it probably rolled out of her hand once she hit the floor.
The two boys hover over the unconscious form of the brunette. One with his hair bleached blonde and the other with his dyed blue. Both are very unkempt and wasted looking.
Blondie nudges his friend in the side. "See man, I told you. A total hottie," he smirks, nodding his head at the girl laying in a heap on the floor.
"Yeah, she is dude. So, what do you want to do?" Blue Boy asks suggestively.
"Whatever we do, I get to do it first seeing as how I found her here," the bleached teen grins as he licks his lips.
"I don't care, but I want to watch," the boy with the Smurf colored hair chuckles as he shakes his head.
Wordlessly, the blonde kid walks over to Ashley and turns her on her back. He unzips his jeans and kneels down in front of her, lifting her skirt up and moving down until he is completely inside her.
At this point, Megan moves to stand in front of Spencer to block her view. She puts her hands on the stunned girl's shoulders gently. "I think you get the picture," she whispers sympathetically as she turns her around and leads her out of the room.
"Both of them...?" She trails off her question as she feels the tears beginning to fall from her eyes.
"Yes," Megan replies quietly, knowing what she was about to ask.
"What about Krystina? She's Ashley's girlfriend isn't she?" Spencer questions desperately and Megan nods solemnly. "Then why isn't she trying to stop this?" She nearly shouts her frustration.
Megan doesn't reply verbally, but she walks over to another door and pushes it open. Spencer peeks in and sees Krystina sitting up on a table of some kind with her back against the wall and some girl's head between her legs.
"As you can see, Krystina has other things on her mind other than her girlfriend's welfare," Megan points out obviously.
"But why would she cheat on Ashley to begin with?" The blonde wonders.
"Same reason why Ashley cheats on her...they don't care about each other. They just use one another for no real reason," the guide explains. "Ashley dropped out of school with Krys a week after they got back together. She got kicked out of her house and the two have been staying at Krys' house and getting loaded every night since then," she adds.
"Damn," Spencer mumbles as she shakes her head at the new information, trying to block out what she knows is going on behind door number one.
"Krystina was up at the bar no more than ten minutes ago saying that her girlfriend was passed out back here. Then, she proceeded to flirt with the girl who is currently between her legs. The blonde guy overheard her and went to investigate," Megan explains the other girl's unintentional involvement in Ashley's current predicament.
"That's really fucked up," Spencer notes unnecessarily as she shakes her head. "I think I've seen enough," she tells the other girl.
With a heavy sigh, Megan shakes her head. "No. You haven't. There is one more thing you need to see and it makes this pale in comparison," she responds.
"What?" Spencer asks warily.
"You need to see December 21...the day that you wished you had never been born," Megan says as she snaps her fingers again.
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Wooded Pathway
They are standing by a secluded pathway surrounded by trees. Spencer, by now, has learned to wait.
With a weak smile, Megan looks at the blonde. "Just another moment or so and they should start coming," she informs the girl.
Before Spencer could ask who would be coming, several people begin to appear in the distance. Spencer and Megan begin to start towards them. A few of them are crying. All of them appear somber and they are all wearing black.
The pieces fit together in Spencer's mind and she pauses, grabbing Megan by the arm to draw her attention. "Who died?" She asks desperately.
The corners of Megan's lips twist up slightly in a bitter smile. "It's just up a little further," she says as she continues walking.
Once they reach the top of a small hill, they see a singular figure standing over an open grave. They continue their way up until they can see the person's face as they take a swig out of a silver flask.
"Krystina?" Spencer questions as she recognizes the stranger who has recently become the bane of her non-existence.
The girl takes one last sip and drops the flask into the hole, letting it crush the roses it lands on. "This one's on me," she mumbles coldly before turning and walking off.
Spencer walks up quietly and looks down. "That was Ashley's flask," she states, her voice cracking as she figures it out. She looks over to the headstone reluctantly. "It just has her name," she whispers sadly.
"Yeah. Her parents barely ever acknowledged her, her girlfriend just used her and she had no friends," Megan explains. "When you existed, there was no girlfriend and her parents didn't matter because you were all she really needed," she states as she rests her hand on Spencer's shoulder.
"How did she...?" Spencer can't finish her question because she is too busy sinking to the ground in uncontrollable sobs.
Megan crouches down next to her. "Her rape was two weeks ago. She found out that Krys was having sex in the room next to where it happened and she just...fell apart," she sighs, shaking her head.
"What does that mean?" The blonde questions forcefully.
"It means that Ashley killed herself. She wrote out a crude letter, did a few lines of heroin and slit her wrists," Megan responds as she pities the state of the girl next to her.
"Oh my god," Spencer murmurs to herself, her eyes rimmed red with tears that have fallen and tears that have yet to fall.
"You a friend of hers?" A rough voice behind the two asks.
Spencer turns around and sees an old man standing behind her with a shovel. "Me?" She asks, surprised that anyone other than Megan can see her.
"I don't see anyone else here," he says gruffly.
The blonde chuckles slightly, wondering why he can't see the other girl. "Yeah...I knew her once," she sighs, looking down at the coffin of the near stranger six feet below.
"Sad story, that one," he nods sadly. "I heard that in her letter she wrote that all she ever wanted was 'someone that she could love and someone that would love her in return'. Poor thing," he shakes his head. "Well, take your time, I'll fill this in whenever you're ready," he smiles softly at the girl before turning around and walking away.
Spencer dissolves into another onslaught of tears and sobs as he leaves, knowing that he had quoted the one thing that Ashley said the night of the dance that really touched her. "This is all my fault. I should never have made that stupid wish," she cries out. "Let's just end this now, please," she pleads with the guide standing behind her, not looking up at all.
"I can't do that just yet," Megan responds quietly.
"Why not?" The teen asks angrily through her misery.
"Because you have a decision to make before I can make anything final," she informs her charge.
At this, Spencer look up at the other girl in surprise. "What?" She asks after a moment of trying to remove her jaw from the ground.