“Cassie! CASSIE!' I screamed in relief as the crowd suddenly parted to clear a path to a back wall the same color as the floor. There I saw my beautiful sister clad in the classic tiny black number, tossing her shining blood-red hair over her scantily-clad shoulder and laughing too loudly at a inaudible joke some dark-haired pale guy I've never seen before had told. Ugh. I could smell the booze she had been drinking from here. As I watched she proceeded to inch her hand up his thin shoulder at the same time pulling him into a rough embrace...which quickly escalated into a full-scale make-out.

Shaking my head and feeling slightly sick at this all-too-public display of affection, I yelled her name again. This time more urgently.

Cassie hurriedly broke off her-ahem- “kiss” with her dark-haired stranger and spun around, looking for the source of the noise.

As soon as she realized that the source of the noise was me, her storm-cloud gray eyes blazed and narrowed to slits, and she put her hand on her black-silk covered hip. If looks could kill, this one would have put me in the hospital. She made a slashing motion with her other hand at her throat and went back to romancing her Prince Charming.

Clearly that motion indicated that I should buzz off, but I've never been one for nonverbal communication. And the feeling of danger was still there. I don't know why, I just had to get her out of there! I knew the feeling wouldn't go away until I did. Only then would I be at peace.

So even though I knew she'd hate me for it, I charged over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, once again interrupting her potential for mating someone that night...

“Go the Hell away Errin!!” she screamed as she turned around.

“Cassie! What are you doing?! Its 3:45 AM!!! Why IN GOD'S HOLY NAME are you sneaking out on a weeknight Mrs. I-only-party-on-the-weekend?? You're being so-”

“Who is this Cassandra?” the dark haired guy interrupted. His voice was deeper than I expected. I probably would have thought he was- well I already thought he was-...trying too hard, if you know what I mean, what with his black vest and red V-neck combo and too tight black pants. I mean, who did this guy think he was? Don Juan?!

“James, Errin. Errin, James. Errin's my sister, but she might as well be my mother if she keeps trying to run my life for me.” She laughed loudly at her own joke.

He chuckled appreciatively as he sized me up. Heat filled my face as I realized how I looked. “Like a lost little orphan child!' my mother might have said: layered grey and red tank-tops that I had slept in, my favorite pair of acid-washed destructed jeans all wrinkled from being on my floor all day, my mud-covered black Converse's, and my nut brown hair a sticking up like a haystack because I didn't brush it before running out the door. But I looked Mr. “Oh-so-sexy” square in the eye, daring him to comment...His eyes looked coal black in this dim lighting.

Whatever. I hadn't come this far to fail now. I turned my attention back to my cow of a sister. “Look. If you don't come home now you'll be too hung-over to pass your Algebra test in a few hours! Remember? The one you need to pass to get the grade you need?! I can't believe your being so stupid! Since when does partying come before school w-”

“I'm staying right here Mother!” she stamped her foot with the loud “CLACK!” that comes with wearing tiny black toothpick shoes. She was screaming at me too, partly because she was absolutely furious with me, partly because we couldn't hear each other over the screaming music, the shrieks of laughter, and the sounds of mindless chatter the buzzed preps were emitting. “I don't need you to preach to me about how to live my life! If I wanted a sermon from Mom I would dig her up and ask for her opinion!” Yet again she laughed at her own joke.

“DON'T TALK ABOUT MOM LIKE THAT!” I shrieked, completely outraged.

“I didn't ask you to follow me here and tell me what to do!” she yelled ignoring my comment. “You're such a tight-ass worry-wart Errin! Why did you THINK I didn't tell you about tonight?! I knew that you would give yourself ulcers and gray hair trying to track me down and bring me home! And what if I WANT to party till I drop? What if I CHOOSE to hook-up with whoever I please? What will you do then? HMM? Tie me up in chains and lock me in my room?? You have no right to choose what I do for me! You have no idea when to cut your losses and let things go! So I'm doing it for you Errin! Stop following me! Stop cramping my style! LET ME LIVE MY OWN LIFE AND GO THE HELL AWAY!!!”


“...What? What do you mean “I didn't ask you to follow me?”?!?!” I forgot for an instant the feeling of danger. Instead there were tears: tears, and a burning uncontrollable fury. “YOU asked me to follow you when you started throwing your life down the drain! How are you bettering yourself staying out till dawn drinking?! What will you do when I won't be there to help you sober up when you're too drunk to take off your own shoes?! What will you do when you're knocked up and alone with no money and no degree because you dropped-out to party and hook-up?! HM?? I CAN'T let you become that! I WON'T let you become that! Because I LOVE YOU! I CARE about you! I want what's best for you and for you to have the best life you can have! I'M FOLLOWING YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE WASTING YOUR LIFE DOWN HERE! AND IF YOU REALLY THINK I'M GOING TO SIT HERE QUIETLY AND LET YOU DESTROY YOURSELF, THEN YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!!!”

My fury had run its course,...and my fear had returned twice as strong. The danger was around the bend, I could feel it, and I had to get her out of harm’s way. The tears were pouring down my face like twin waterfalls as I grabbed her arm and looked into her beautiful stormy eyes, “I love you Cassie! I love you and I don't want to see you hurt. In any way. Please, come home! I beg you! Please come home before something terrible happens!”

“...You're wasting your time begging.” Cassie's simpering voice was soft and calm as she pulled her arm out of my grip. “You can't live my life for me, even if you want to. Only I choose the way I live. My life is my own, and I choose this.”She spread her arm out to include everyone at that party. With that same motion, she put her arm around her man-candy. “So I'll ask you one last time. Go away Errin...you freak. Just go.” She shooed me away with her hand, and with that final gesture, she turned her back on me, forever, to talk to her lover.


...It was done. It was over. She chose her crazy dangerous life with someone she barely knew than a hard but successful life with someone she loved backing her up. She turned her back on me and dismissed me from her life forever...and I knew she would be too stubborn to take it back if she realized she was wrong. Too stubborn to accept my help if she needed it......

I released a sob, and sped away in the opposite direction, knocking preps out of the way. I cried for her, if that was possible. There was nothing I could do. Like she said, it's her life. She could live it anyway she wanted...though it broke my heart into pieces to admit it...She was right. I had to let her go...if only to hope that maybe someday she would come to her senses...

After I re-gained control over myself, I made my alone towards the door, wanting nothing more than to go home and go to bed: To bury this in my mind and wait till tomorrow to dig it up again......

I was only halfway across the room when I heard the blood-curdling scream.