Home!

"Sasha!" she hissed, shaking her friend's shoulder. Sasha's eyes fluttered open, bloodshot and unfocused. Desperation lending strength to her voice, Alanna yelled, "We have to go!"

Jolted awake, Sasha stumbled to her feet.

"What? What happened? What time is it?" 

Alanna pointed at the window as Sasha's eyes widened in panic.

"Let's go," Alanna said, grabbing her purse and Sasha's. Sasha followed her up the stairs and out of the house. The cool, moist air hit their skin like a slap, goosebumps prickling along their arms as they ran.

Morning dog walkers cast curious glances their way, no doubt taking in their disheveled appearance – smeared makeup and tangled hair.

Teenagers doing a run of shame. That's what they were. Even though she hadn't done anything. Sasha, on the other hand... She hoped that the telltale sign of her belt outside the loops only meant she had taken off her pants to pee. But she wouldn't need to remove all of her belt to do that.

She brushed off those thoughts and kept walking in a fast pace.

"Wait, we're walking all the way to your house?!" Sasha cried out, stopping to catch her breath.

"Yes. GO GO GO!"

Alanna didn't pause as her heart pounded in her chest, the shame of their situation weighing heavily upon her. She forced herself to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, ignoring the curious stares as they raced against time.

After what felt like an eternity, Alanna's house finally came into view, still cloaked in the silence of early morning. They hurried around to the back where Bonnie's room was, relief flooding through them as they found the side gate unlocked.

But Bonnie wasn't there. Of course.

It was Sunday. She'd gone home for the weekend.

As they crossed the lawn back toward the main house, Sasha's heel suddenly snapped, and she crumpled to the ground with a pained groan. "I can't," she gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't walk anymore."

"Come on, Sasha," Alanna urged, her voice gentle but insistent. "We're almost there. I'll help you." 

She picked up Sasha's broken shoe, took hers off, and tossed them into her mother's plants. They'd remain unseen until she could come retrieve them later.

With a strength born of desperation, Alanna half-carried, half-dragged her friend towards the house. Each step felt like a battle, their progress painfully slow. But together, they somehow persevered, fueled by fear.

The pink petals of dead flowers crushed under her feet, a fleeting reminder of Alanna's home in Paraguay. Her mother's precious Lapacho tree.

She barely even remembered the country she had been born in, but the pink flowers made her suddenly feel nostalgic, though she didn't even know for what. 

She gritted her teeth as she continued to drag Sasha towards the house, sweat trickling down her face.

"Almost there," Alanna whispered, more to herself than to Sasha.

"Alanna," Sasha mumbled, barely coherent. "I'm so sorry..."

"Shh, we'll talk later," she replied, pushing aside her own thoughts and fears. Right now, all that mattered was getting them both safely inside. 

Finally, after crouching and lightly stepping on the places they knew the creaking boards might give them away, they reached Alanna's bedroom, collapsing onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and exhaustion.

As they lay there, catching their breaths, Alanna couldn't shake the feeling that this night had irrevocably changed something.

Alanna stood and guided Sasha to the bathroom, hoping a shower would help her recover from the night's events.

"Take your time," she said softly, closing the door behind her. Alone, she sank onto the edge of her bed, her hands shaking as the weight of their situation finally hit her. What would happen if her parents somehow found out? She had never even been grounded before.

"Alanna?" Sasha called out hesitantly from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, her dark eyes filled with remorse.

"Hey," Alanna replied, forcing a smile. "Feeling better?"

"A little," Sasha admitted, sinking onto the bed next to her. "I... I don't remember much from last night." 

"Maybe that's for the best," Alanna murmured, wondering if she'd ever be able to forget the fear and shame that had gripped her throughout the night. 

"Alanna, I—" Sasha started, but Alanna cut her off gently.

 "Let's just get some sleep, okay?" she suggested, her voice laced with exhaustion. "We'll figure everything out later."

 "Okay," Sasha agreed, her voice barely a whisper.

 As they lay down, facing each other on the bed, Alanna couldn't help but feel dread. But for now, with their eyes locked, she found solace in Sasha's sleeping presence and drifted into a much-needed sleep.

---

The unwelcome sun shone across Alanna's face way too soon. Her eyelids fluttered open to a world out of focus, her head throbbing with each beat of her heart.

She lay still for a moment, trying to anchor herself in the room that seemed to sway gently like a boat on quiet water.

 "Last night..." she murmured, but the words trailed off, lost in the fog that clouded her memory.

 The sheets beside her were cool and undisturbed, as though they'd been untouched by dreams or restless sleep. Alanna turned her head, the action sending a spike of pain through her temples.

Sasha's side of the bed was empty, the extra blankets neatly folded, an eerie silence hanging where there should have been soft breathing. 

A stab of worry punctured the haze of Alanna's confusion. Where had Sasha gone? Her mind grappled with the fragments of the previous evening. 

"Did she make it home?" Alanna whispered to the emptiness. What did Sasha's mother know? What did her own parents think she did last night? The thought was a cold hand squeezing her chest.

She could imagine their questions, their accusations perhaps, and she knew nothing of what to tell them.

Alanna pushed herself upright, the room tilting alarmingly before settling. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet finding the floor with tentative steadiness.

 The shower's hiss was a white noise curtain, behind which Alanna sought sanctuary. She let the warmth cascade over her, the steam enveloping her like a protective shroud.

Each drop seemed to carry away flecks of the night's confusion, the water's embrace urging the fragmented memories closer to clarity. The party's cacophony replayed in muffled echoes against the pattering rhythm on the tile.

 "Alanna!" The sharpness of her mother's voice cut through the steam and the pondering, jolting her back to the present.

 Shit.