Don't Forget to Breathe

Social Outing

They were late. Same chuckled as Marie pulled in behind a pickup parked in front of the John’s cabin.

“Shut up…” Marie muttered under her breath.

“Well, if we hadn’t stopped so you could change your outfit a thousand times, we might have made it on time.” Sam mused.

“I changed my outfit twice thank you very much, and I need to look good for Johnny.” Marie whined. John Miser, son the real estate power couple Chad and Linda, was a self-proclaimed party champ and Marie’s small-town sweetheart. Sam rolled her eyes. She would never tell Marie her real thoughts on dating withing the gene pool of Jagged Peaks. Sam loved the mountains, they were her home, but she couldn’t care less for its inhabitants. Particularly the twenty something mooching kind that used his parent’s properties to party with the town wash-ups and naive teenagers who didn’t realize that they were heading in the same direction. When Sam and Marie had graduated, both had taken respective jobs in the family businesses. Sam helped her parents by doing some of the smaller group trips and helping in the office. Marie helped run her parents B&B and usually spent her time in the kitchen preparing breakfast and helping with the occasional catering event when needed.

 At least we aren’t this type of washed up… Same thought as she hopped out of the jeep and started to walk towards the clearing around the back of the cabin.

There was already a small crowd basking in the late evening sun, which ever so slowly crept down towards the Jagged Peaks, their town’s namesake. The bonfire had been started as just a regular pit fire, fit for roasting a variety of foods and it would grow as the night went on. John spotted Marie and Sam rounding the sided of the cabin and grinned. The best thing Sam could compare it to would be a golden retriever…minus the intelligence.

 “Babe,” John said, “thought you would never get here.” He grabbed Marie by the hips and pulled her in for a sloppy kiss. John’s six-and-a-half-foot frame towered over Marie’s five foot two inch one and it almost looked comical to watch. They broke the kiss and John smiled again.

“What took you so long babe? Did you have to save Ginger over there from drowning?” Sam bristled at the comment. Everyone who had grown up in Jagged Peaks new that Sam was a better swimmer then most and could even school most of the guys when it came to speed at any given sport.

Marie let out a feather light giggle “Oh stop baby, I needed to change, my swimsuit would have been too cold for tonight.” Sam wanted to leave already. She tolerated a lot of people for Marie’s sake, but John ranked low on the list.

“Well you look good babe. Now we can really get this fire going.” John pulled her into another sloppy kiss and then walked her over to the small crowd gather around the fire pit. Sam followed wondering how long before her roll has designated driver would be needed and she almost hoped it would be sooner rather then later. The sooner she got Marie home, the sooner she could curl up in her apartment over her parents shop and enjoy her peace and quiet.

The night wore one in a predictable way that most events on the mountain did. Sam sat on the edge of the tree line away from the group watching the different key elements occur: kid drank to much and puking guts out, kids making out and would probably live to regret it, and good ol’ John dancing drunk with Macie to the little satellite radio someone had thoughtfully brought to fill the silence when no one had anything to say.

Sam patiently waited for Macie to call it a night, twirling the jeeps keys in the dim glow of the fire. Sitting this far away from the fire allowed for a slight chill to crawl under Sam’s flannel shirt and capris making her skin breakout in goose flesh. She didn’t mind it compared to being in the middle of the group and being thrown side long glances from everyone present. Sam tried her best to blend into the wall, but the bright red hair she had inherited from some great-grandmother was a curse in that aspect. Not even her parents shared that unique trait and often people associated it with the same dark aura that seemed to loom over the mountain. Sam drifted off into thought, remembering when they were young kids and hearing the word whispered over and over.

“Witch”

That word had followed Sam every where and Macie was probably the only being besides her parents that didn’t give that word any thought. Sam had eventually learned to ignore the taunting of the children, but what had once been childhood jeering turned into leering and distant adults. Sam shook her head trying not to go further down the dark trail that was memory lane. She had not had it rough per say, but there were somethings she would rather not dredge up.

Without warning, a sudden bang shattered the calm mountain air; Sam snapped her head back towards fire and saw all the party goers were standing stock still. Everyone looked around trying to figure out who or what had made the sound. Another bang followed and Sam watched a boy with sandy blonde hair standing on the outer edge of the group crumple to the ground with a sizeable leg wound. There was a brief pause where the group of young people considered their options, a second of infinite possibilities flashed and then sheer mayhem broke out when a girl with chestnut hair let out a shrill scream and ran for the cabin.