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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/NotJustSomeNumbers on 2024-10-06 19:40:09+00:00.

(TW for a threat of SA)

“Come on! He’ll never find out!” I pestered my best friend for the millionth time.

Looking back, I regret pressuring her the way I did.

Maggie hugged one of her many large plush sheep closer to her chest hinting she was about to give in to my suggestion.

“He always finds out. I swear he knows everything.” She reminded me.

We’ve only known each other for five years and yet it felt like we had been friends for our entire lives. Maggie was raised by her single father. From what I’ve seen he wasn’t interested in dating and did everything in his power to take care of his daughter. But to be honest, he creeped me out. He was the very silent type only speaking when it was important. I couldn’t put it in words, but the vibe I got from him whenever we were alone was just off. I didn’t suspect he would ever hurt me or Maggie. At times it felt like his eyes saw things normal people shouldn’t.

“Ok, so even if he does find out? What is he going to do? Take away your phone, ground you? I think that’s worth it.” I shrugged.

Maggie looked younger than she was. Most people thought she was just starting high school and not about to graduate. She was book-smart but a bit childish with other things. She was never interested in going to parties, dating, or doing the normal high school events. Now she found herself in the final days of school not experiencing any of it regretting her choices. She wanted to go to a big year-end party before prom the students held every year on an abandoned farm nearby. The local police turned a blind eye to the party as long as no one got hurt and the bonfire stayed under control.

“I suppose. Let me think about it for one more day.” She said but I was done listening to excuses.

“I’ll pick you up at eight. We’ll tell your dad you’re staying at my place and my parents work nights so they won’t notice I’m missing.”

Finally, she relented. To celebrate I asked for the last can of cream soda in the fridge. I would need to go down the stairs to get it. Sounds of a table saw came faintly from the garage so I knew I would be in the clear. I was halfway back up the stairs with the cold can in my hand when the sounds stopped.

Maggie’s father appeared behind to be at the foot of the steps covered in sawdust from working. I froze in my tracks wondering how he moved so fast. He builds custom furniture that I heard sell pretty well within a certain circle of people. The pieces all looked pretty basic to me so I didn’t understand it myself.

“Anne, what were you two discussing?” He asked in an even monotone voice.

He was tall, stern with thick black hair that matched Maggie’s. His eyes were cold as ice and I still wasn’t used to him staring in my direction. I also didn’t like how he used my full name instead of the same nickname everyone else said. It was always Anne, not Annie.

“Oh, you know… girl stuff.” I am feeling stressed.

There was no way he knew of our plans to sneak out to the party that weekend.

“I do know.” He said and I felt my heart stop. “Prom is coming up. Tell me your plans when you finalize the arrangements.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to leave but then added one more thing to the conversation.

“Please ask for my help if you are ever in trouble.”

“Okay…” I nodded slowly unsure of what that was all about.

I watched him leave a bit confused over the interaction. The rest of the night was fairly normal. We talked about how the party might go, then the last few assignments of the year, and finally a small mention of prom. I’ve had a few people ask me out but I refused them. A few guys in the small anime club asked Maggie but she saw them all as friends. After rejecting half the members, the club had slowly been pressuring her to leave the group. I could tell it bothered her. I told her to hell with prom and that we could just hang out together that night. She agreed not doing a good job at hiding her feelings. She wanted to wear the nice dress, have a cute flower arrangement on her wrist, and show off her date to the rest of the school. Right now, she didn’t have any options. To be honest, I wanted to ask her out but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. She knew I liked girls and guys. She hadn’t given me any vibes of a romantic interest so I’ll stay in the friend zone thank you very much. I like it here.

Our plan to get her out of the house went without any issues. We were going to a party but she wore a heavy grey knitted sweater and boring jeans. I dressed up a little in a bright hot pink top, a thrifted leather jacket, and some torn jeans that made them look expensive. Maggie was always smarter than me. I never considered my outfit may cause some suspicion. We were on the front porch heading down the stairs when her father stepped out the front door, his arms crossed.

We froze convinced we had been caught.

“Are you girls going somewhere tonight?” He pressed.

He never raised his voice but he could make a drill sergeant sweat.

“We’re going to the movies before studying I’m going to fatten her up with overpriced popcorn.” I commented trying to sound convincing.

“That is not what you told me.” He replied.

I half expected him to order Maggie back into the house. Instead, he pulled out his wallet and handed over a few bills.

“The movies are expensive. Any drinking tonight?” He asked point blank.

Maggie gasped pretending to be offended at the suggestion. I shook my head feeling a little guilty for taking the money and lying straight to his face.

“Call me if you need anything.”

I promised we would. Under his watchful gaze, we walked down the driveway to my beat-up truck. Only when we couldn’t see her house we relaxed.

“I think we’re in the clear.” I commented after a few minutes.

Her phone hadn’t started to ring from her father demanding we turn around. A worried expression came over her face causing me to slow down. I almost pulled over by how uncomfortable she looked.

“I feel a little guilty.” Maggie explained.

No matter how I felt about the man, he had busted his ass raising her on his own without a single complaint. However, I don’t think Maggie was a good person because she felt like she owed it to him. She was just born with a gentle soul.

“We can turn back.” I offered.

“No. We’ll go for an hour or so, get bored, and then actually go to the movies.” She decided for us.

I agreed. I bet we would get bored faster than that. I had no plans to drink because I was the driver and Maggie wasn’t the kind of person who wanted to get black out drunk. Aside from chatting with friends, there wouldn’t be much to do at this party.

We arrived after the sunset with the event already in full swing. Someone hooked up speaks blaring terrible-sounding dance music that was just constant beats and nothing else. A massive bonefire had been started with students dancing around it, drinks in hand. I saw a few people I assumed to be older siblings of the students here or people who had already graduated but refusing to let go of their youth.

A few of my other friends ambushed me when we arrived. I made sure to always have Maggie in my line of sight as I chatted with a rotating group of classmates. She had found someone from her club to talk with. A red plastic cup was handed to her which she politely accepted.

The crowd grew denser. Soon I stopped being able to watch Maggie to only get glimpses of her every few minutes. I hate myself for getting distracted and not keeping a better eye on her. While a friend was talking to me about his prom date I realized I hadn’t checked in on her for at least ten minutes. Normally I wasn’t so overprotective. A bad feeling in my gut made me take out my phone to text her.

No response. My friend noticed I was getting worried and asked what was wrong. I questioned him if he had seen Maggie and he shook his head. I tried calling her only to have it drop two rings in. That was odd. The next call didn’t even connect. Did she turn off her phone? No, she wouldn’t do that.

I excused myself to squeeze through the crowd looking for her. I would never forgive myself if something happened. Fear started to rise into my throat no matter how hard I pushed it down.

I raised my voice over the music asking any familiar face if they had seen my friend. Most shook their head but one pointed in the direction of where the cars were parked by the woods. I wasted no time racing over there calling out her name. I had no explanation for why I grew so frantic so quickly. I just knew something was wrong.

I ran between all the cars, stopping near my truck in case she had gone over there for a break from the crowds. By sheer chance, I spotted a few figures slip between the trees into the darkness. My heart sank when I realized they were dragging something. No, someone.

If it wasn’t my friend those bastards were going to hurt someone else. I took off after them not thinking clearly. I had my phone in my hand ready to call the police depending on what I saw. I should have called them first.

A burst of pain came to my face as something slammed hard against my nose. I cried out, falling to the ground and seeing stars. Some fucker just punched me in the face. He had been waiting behind a tree for me to run close enough. The person tried to grab my arm and I lashed out. A swift kick landed hard between his legs.

Blood dripped from my nose and my eyes adjusted to the…

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