Months passed and it was now May 1, 2013. Prom was only two weeks away. Graduation was only three. Alexa now had a boyfriend whom she had met in her Psychology class. His name was Charlie and he was perfect.

Finally the big night had arrived. Prom. Alexa and Christy were so excited. They both had the perfect dresses, the perfect shoes, and the perfect dates. Nothing could possibly make this night an better than it already was.

“Are you ready to go?”, yelled Charlie from the front door of Lexi’s apartment.

“Almost. I just need to put on shoes?”, Lexi yelled back.

It was almost 5:30. Prom started at 7:00 and they still needed to pick up Christy and her new boyfriend, Steven. Lexi was in such a rush that she had almost forgotten her phone on the table as she rushed out the door. Luckily, her mom reminded her to get it before she left.

“What time do we need to be at Christy’s house?”, Charlie asked Alexa as he opened her car door for her.

“I told Christy we would be at her house for 6:00, but with our luck hopefully we can be there by 6:30.”, she responded, and off they went.

They left Alexa’s house around quarter of 6:00 so as long as they made it to Christy’s house for 6:30, they could get to prom right when it starts.

Charlie pulled the car over to the side of the road in front of Christy’s house. Alexa got out of the car and ran up the front steps. She rang the doorbell and Mrs. McDonald, Christy’s mom, opened the door.

“Christy! Steven! Alexa and Charlie are here!” Mrs. McDonald yelled.

Alexa soon saw Christy and Steven coming downstairs from the second floor. She could see it in Christy’s eyes that she was excited. Once outside, they proceeded to get in the car. Alexa and Charlie sat in the front while Christy and Steven sat in the back. Charlie started the car and they drove off.

Upon arrival at prom, the four friends went to take pictures. First was Lexi and Charlie.Then Christy and Steven took their’s. All of the girls at the prom were dressed in luxurious ball gowns of all different styles,shades and colors. Alexa was wearing pink and Christy, blue. All of the guys were dressed in suits with ties to match the color of their date’s dress. Alexa and Christy believed that this would be the best night of their lives. They were wrong.

It was a little chilly in the building but that didn’t stop anyone from having a good time. Although, as the hours passed, the building only seemed to get colder. Luckily, Alexa had remembered to bring her sweater inside. Christy, on the other hand, forgot.

“I will be right back. I have to get my sweater out of the car.”, Christy told Alexa.

“Okay. Meet me at the punch bowl near the DJ table when you come back inside.”, Alexa responded.

Almost a half hour passed and Alexa was still waiting by the punchbowl for Christy to return. She was getting really worried, so she went to find Steven and Charlie.
She finally found the guys after about fifteen minutes of searching.

“Steven! Charlie!”, she yelled, “I haven’t seen Christy in almost an hour! She went to the car to get her sweater and hasn’t come back!”

“Okay. We should go outside and look for her.” Steven said.

Once outside they began to look everywhere for Christy. They looked behind the old dumpster on the side of the building, in the bushed near the fountain, and even in the dark alley down by the local convenience store. Christy was no where to be found. Alexa took out her cell phone while Charlie and Steven continued searching. She called 9-1-1.

“Hello. What is your emergency?” the 9-1-1 operator asked.

“My best friend disappeared.” Alexa responded. “ Last time I saw Christy was when she said she was going to get her jacket from the car. I told her I would wait for her by the punch bowl. Almost an hour had passed and she hadn’t returned. She should’ve been back by then. I got really worried that something bad had happened so Charlie, Steven and I went to search for her. We looked everywhere and still haven’t found her.” she told Officer Mackaby.

“Don’t worry.” he reassured Alexa. “We will find her.”

As she looked through her binoculars from the roof down at Alexa, Christy was silently plotting her evil plan in her head. She knew she had to use cunning techniques so they wouldn’t find her. She knew that at any moment the police could find her. She had to work quickly. Christy did not care how upset of distraught or worried Alexa was about her disappearance. She wanted her gone.

Christy had finally come up with a plan. It was one of those Sherlock-Holmes-couldn’t-even-figure-out-the-culprit-because-it-was-so-precisely-thought-out type of plan. Instead of trying to get Alexa alone like any other person would, she would let Alexa find her. She took Charlie’s phone out of her bag. She had taken it when he wasn’t looking. She sent a text to Alexa. It read:

“ Hey. Meet me in the back of the school at the dumpster near the east wing in ten minutes. Hurry! It’s important.”

Alexa heard a vibration coming from her purse. She fumbled around in the bag until she found her phone. She saw that there was a new text from Charlie. She knew Charlie and Steven were still out searching so they probably wanted to ask her about what the police had said. She waited until all the officers were distracted and then snuck away to the back of the school.

“ I need to find away to draw her attention towards the forest.” Christy mumbled to herself. “I know!” she said. “I will rustle the leaves. It will make her curious and draw her attention to me. She will want to know who is making that noise, so she will come and look around.” she mumbled again. She began to rustle the leaves on a low hanging tree branch.
Alexa heard the sound and turned around.

“ Hello? Is anybody out there? Charlie is that you?” she said. Then she saw a dark figure that looked like the Grim Reaper appear out of the bushes. The figure grabbed her and covered her mouth. Alexa was pulled into the bushes. There was a little light from the nearby Interstate. It was just enough light to see that the figure was a person wearing a ski mask. The figure slowly took its mask off.

“ Christy!” Alexa exclaimed with tears of joy streaming down her face. “I’m so happy you are alive. I thought that I would never see you again, that something horrible would happen.”
Christy began to bind Alexa’s hands and feet with rope like a hunter would do to his kill.

“What are you doing? We are friends, remember? I never did anything bad to you. There is no reason for you to do this to me. Why are you binding my hands and feet?” Alexa asked Christy nervously. Christy then stood Alexa up and began to tie her to a nearby tree.

“ This is revenge!” Christy yelled. Alexa looked frightened yet puzzled. She didn’t know why Christy would want revenge. I mean, she thought that they were best friends. They did everything together. They even wore matching dresses to prom.

“ What did I ever do to you to make you want revenge against me? We are best friends. I could never hurt my best friend in any way, shape or form.” Alexa said to Christy in fear. Christy could see the pain in Alexa’s eyes. Alexa’s eyes were blood shot and tears were streaming down the sides of her face like two rushing rivers on a rainy day.

“ Nothing! You never did anything!” Christy yelled.

“ If I didn’t do anything, then why are you doing this to me?” Alexa cried back.

“ That’s exactly it. You did nothing! All those years I was bullied and you never said a word. You never stood up for me. You were my only friend, and when I needed you the most, you didn’t come to help me. In fact, when the popular kids were around, you pretended that you didn’t even know me. Now you get to experience all of the pain and the suffering and the fear that I went through every single day. And you are the one to blame. If you had done something, this wouldn’t be happening.” Christy said harshly to Alexa.

“Please, Christy, don’t do this.” Alexa cried out one more time.

“Goodbye Alexa.” Christy said. She pulled out a knife and killed Alexa. She cleaned the knife off and threw it into her bag. Before she left, she said fire to the tree that Alexa’s dead body was tied to. Then she ran out of the woods.

She went around to the front of the building. Officer Mackaby sees her and runs over.

“ Where were you? Are you alright?” he asks Christy.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I came out to get my jacket. As I was walking back towards the building I got a really bad headache and went home to get some medicine so I could enjoy the dance. Since I live a little ways away, it took me a while to get home and back.” Christy told Officer Mackaby, showing him the pill bottle with her headache medicine.

Christy saw the town coroner wheeling away a covered body on a stretcher. She knew it was Alexa but pretended she didn’t. She could also smell a fire nearby.

“What happened?” Christy asked Officer Mackaby.

“They found a fire behind the school. There was also a dead body. It was Alexa. Sorry, Christy. Your best friend was murdered.” he replied.

Christy could see that everyone had gone home, including Charlie and Steven. She walked home. When she arrived, she went upstairs and sat on her bed. “I may have disappeared for a short time, but she is gone forever.” she said out loud to herself. “They will never know that it was me. Never!” she said as she began to lie down.

Alexa awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. “ It was all just a nightmare.” she said to herself. She picked up her phone off the nightstand. “I knew text from Charlie!” she mumbled. He had asked if she was excited for prom later that night. She texted him back saying that she would rather do something else instead. They decided to go to go out to dinner and go bowling. Alexa feared that if she went to prom her nightmare would come true. She was right. She got a new text from Christy. “I’ll get you next time!” the text read. Alexa threw her phone into her bag. She knew she would be safe with Charlie.