Shadowbound

I didn't know what was more embarrassing. Being locked out of a high school party or the fact that I had snuck out of my mother's house to be in attendance, despite her endless warning, and still ended up denied entrance.

The tall iron gate of the estate had been closed shut against our faces and a cluster of four festive silver helium balloons floated over the gate, secured to them with long white ribbons. Cars filled the Cornell's estate and kids our age and older filed in between this cars with red cups in their hands and littering the floor. I could see smoke spiraling into the air at every one or two gatherings. From the distance, the sound of partying and festivity loomed overhead, everyone seeming to be having the time of their lives.

But then, there was I and Daphne, locked out because we had no invitations to proceed past the gate. While I stood there in defeat, Daphne took her anger out on the metal material restricting us. She clawed and screamed profanities, face beet red, chest puffing in and out, words in long chains of stutters caused by anger. "Olivia fucking told me we-" The heel on her shoe coming in contact with the metal bar gave continious clack clack clack, furthermore showcasing her anger. "She fucking told me you were going to let us in without an invite. The bitch!"

The big security at the other end looked unbothered by her tantrums. His arms were folded and beneath thick blonde brows, puckered above his eyes, he stared us down. "Quit the drama, kid. No invites. No entry. Miss Cornell gave that rule. Go home."

Daphne wasn't a quitter. She held onto the bars and morphed her look to plead once again. "But, we're kids. We live on the far end of town. It's quite late to catch a bus back now. We told our parents to pick us up in the morning..." Her bottom lips quivered. "Please. Please. Let us in."

The security man didn't give in.

Olivia Cornell's house was at the very outskirt of town. It was back then the only house that was at the very end of the bus route. It was set back from the street, always hidden completely by thick evergreens, with sharp points of it's Tudor roof poking out above the peeks of the green. However miles before and after the mansion's perimeter was nothing but trees and woods. As soon as I and Daphne stepped under the shades of the dark woods, it felt as if entering another world, and naturally, my defenses went up. I didn't like the woods, or the dark, or having to walk miles home when it's completely dark and past lines and lines of trees till we were in the clear and maybe found someone that could give us a free ride to Daphne's parents house at the town square.

"Shit, just crap," Daphne was muttering beneath her breath. Her eyes were locked onto the tarred road and her long curls of golden hair made a curtain against her profile and temples. Our heels made harmonious clicks with each steps we took and apart from the sound of partying high school kids looming overhead, getting more and more faded with each walking steps away, there was no other sounds within ear reach. "How could Olivia just play me like that?"

I said nothing. I couldn't sympathize with her. She was friends with Olivia Cornell, not me. I hadn't been friends with anyone at school for as long as I can remember. Infact, I've had no friends ever since I was twelve and the tragic death of pops had spread all through town like wild fire. That had being the beginning of my self isolation path and till that very moment, I still felt entangled in the forest I created around myself, and shielded in the bubble I put up. Daphne had somehow found a way to burst open my bubble, and cut down the overgrown forest I'd been entangled in.

And she was pretty.

She always looked amazing. Something I considered a complete contrast to me. Daphne looked sedate and serene in a black gown, with spaghetti straps, her blonde hair curled like a movie star's around her shoulders and she smelled sweet of jasmine fragrance that wafted through the air. Her ears were pierced by golden hoops that were concealed by her caramel colored blonde curls. She wasn't beautiful in the classical way. She was shorter than average and certainly larger than a catwalk model, but in her ordinariness she was stunning. Something radiated from within that rendered her irresistible to both genders. Perhaps, it was her extreme kindness, her sweetness, how she'd always see the good in people. The uniqueness in them, just like she did me, and sorted after them.

We continued down the street, saying nothing to one another, listening to nature's song of the night. The chirping of crickets, occasional silent crack of twigs of crawling creatures announcing their presence in the woods. The sounds accompanied that of our heels clicking in accordance. Daphne exhaled loudly. "I'm sorry," She said beneath her breath. "If not for me, you could have been in bed sleeping right now."

Gently, I shook my head the negative. "It's not your fault. Olivia probably doesn't want you in cause we're friends now. She probably thinks I being at the party would make it less cool. She's-"

"A bitch." Daphne concluded. Then she looked at me with a smile. "You're one of the coolest people I know. You have this energy and aura to you. Anyone that can't see or sense that is a bitch."

"What do you sense?"

She seemed almost reluctant to answer and when she did it was in a whisper. "It's a secret." She said, a smile formed atop her love shaped lips and stretched them apart. "But-" A sudden gasp escaped her lips.

"What?" I asked eagerly.