04

"Don't you intend to try it?" He asks, after passing down his throat the drink he drank.

"I don't know, I told you I don't like alcohol" I complain, frowning my mouth in a grin.

"Hey, I can hardly hear you" Speak a little louder than before, and that we were already talking almost screaming. "Do you want to go somewhere quieter?"

I swallow hard.

This reminds me of a movie I saw where a guy said the same thing, and then the girl ends up being almost raped by him, but someone else comes along and saves her. Why do I only remember things I don't want to remember?

"But don't you have to be with your friends?" I ask, but he refuses with his head in response, starting to walk toward who knows where and waving his hand to follow him.

I look back to see if I can spot Brent, but I can't find him. I don't know where he got himself, he went to get the soft drinks for me, but Jason told me there wasn't and he joked that they're illegal here. I promised him I'd stay here and wait for him, if I leave then he won't find me and he'll be looking for me.

"Marylise!" he calls me, almost in a shout, when he notices that I'm standing still in my seat looking towards the house. I look at him. "Come" Make that sign with his hand again to get me closer. I release a wheezing and look one last time toward the house to finally walk toward Jason. "What's going on?"

"My friend is in there and I promised him that I would stay here and wait for him" I explain, biting the inside of my cheek.

"If he wants to find you, he will look for you, calmly" he tries to calm me down, shrugging his shoulders, diminishing its importance and resuming his path to that quieter place. I'm following him.

"Don't you have to be with your friends?" I insist, I really don't want to go with him and leave Brent alone, I'm sure he'll.

"It's my party, I'm with whoever I want"

"Are you the one who has a birthday?" I ask him, confused and bewildered.

"Yes, twenty" Answer. "Wait a minute. . . " He stops suddenly and turns towards me, I startled and almost hit him. It would have been a disaster if that had happened. "You came to my party but you had no idea who I was?" He inquires, with suspicion in his voice.

"My friends brought me here on the basis of lies" I mean, because it's the truth.

"You mean you didn't want to come?" He said it more as a statement than as a question.

"No, well. . . " I sigh. "I thought we were going to another party, not this one" I finish explaining myself, faking a grin on my mouth.

"You are in the right place, sweetie" Give me a wink and I a smile.

We walked a couple more meters until we got close to the lake, we crossed several trees on the way and I felt lost, I felt like I was in the Aokigahara forest, I just needed to find a corpse there.

Oh, no. . . I have to stop thinking about these things, I don't want to get scared and end up running at full speed to get out of here.

We finally got to the "quiet place" Jason mentioned. I know because he stopped in front of a big rock and sat on it. He turns to me and gestures with his head to get me closer. I breathe a sigh and take a look around me. Here the music is not heard so loud, but you can hear some of it. We are surrounded by trees, but if you look back, you can perfectly see all the people at the party, having fun and getting drunk to the point of unconsciousness. The lake is a few meters away and I can reach to see how the moon and stars are reflected in the water. Now the moon is big and bright, I love these nights.

I walk up to Jason and sit next to him on the rock. It's completely flat and looks like a real seat, it's like a small armchair without a backrest.

"You haven't tasted even a little" Claim, seeing my glass full to the top, just as he handed it to me.

"I just don't like. . ."

"How do you know if you don't like it if you haven't even tried anything?" I try to argue but finally I agree. "Try it. . ."

"I don't. . ."

"Try it" he interrupts me. I open my mouth to refuse, but he insists. "Try it"

I release a tired wheezing and squeeze my lips. Why is he so stupid? Well, I guess nobody beats Harry by being one.

I take the drink with one hand and hold it close to my lips, sipping a little of the reddish liquid. The taste is sweet at first, but once you swallow it the mouth is slightly bitter. This tastes better than beer, it's not delicious, but it's definitely better than beer. It tastes like cranberry juice and grape juice, but much stronger. It's not as bad as I thought.

"What? Did you like it?" He asks, drinking a drink from his glass.

"I think..." I say, smiling and having another drink, but this time I leave it in my mouth longer to taste it.

"I knew you'd like it" He speaks sufficiently in his voice, making me deny with my head. "Wouldn't you like something else?"

I look at him, puzzled and curious about his question. He spoke in a different way, he didn't speak like before, which is strange.

"What?"

"I don't know," he shrubs his shoulders. "Tell me, what do you want to do, Marylise?"

I feel something rubbing against the skin of my thigh, and instinctively, I startle. I quickly look down just to see her hand, which traces imaginary drawings on my skin.

"What are you doing?" My voice trembles because of the impression the moment made on me.

"What you want, sweetie" he says, raising his hand a little further and bringing his face dangerously close to mine.

I get up from the rock we're sitting on as fast as I can and get as far away from it as I can. Immediately, the glass in my hands falls to the ground, spilling all the drink.

He imitates my action and tries to approach me, but I keep moving away.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asks, strangely, while I'm more terrified than ever. "Don't you want to do this?"

"Do what? I. . . I don't want to do anything with you" I speak in a trembling jibber.

"Oh, please," he mocks. "I saw the way you looked at me, don't beg"

He approaches me with rapid steps and manages to take me by the forearms to prevent me from escaping.

"Let me go" I ask him, in the same tone as before, fighting against your grip.

"Come with me and then I'll let you go. . . "

What?

"Let me go, please," I beg him, in the middle of a sob. "I don't want anything with you, please leave me"

He gives off a heavy wheezing and frowns and then asks, somewhat irritated—: "And if you didn't want anything, then why are you doing this?"

"Doing what? I didn't do anything" I'm talking, defensive, even my voice is heard trembling.

"You were flirting with me" Admonesta. My face right now is one of utter confusion and repulsion.

"I wasn't flirting with you" I raise my voice a little without realizing it. "I was just talking to you"

"Are you saying that I misinterpreted things?" I nod with my head and he releases a curse, followed by a puff.

I never thought this would happen just for talking. What the hell is wrong with him? I never gave him reason to think I wanted anything from him. All I want to do is get out of here.

"Let go of me, Jason" I ask him, but he denies it with his head.

"You're not going anywhere"

My heart leaps a beat when I hear it.

"I have to go with my friends, let me go" I insist, almost in a plea, trying to get out of their grip.

"I said no" He raises his voice, speaking with determination, but the only thing it causes is that my nerves and my anxiety increase considerably.

"And she told you to let her go" 

My heart paralyzes for a second and my pulse speeds up when I hear it.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, Jason, in confusion and indignation.

"Let her go, I told you" he repeats, with more determination and anger in his voice, and also raising his tone a little.

"And what if not?" He challenges him, raising both eyebrows and holding me tighter.

Suddenly, I'm pulled from Jason's arms and the person behind me rushes into him, knocking him to the ground with a single blow.