The Initiation

Chapter Two

     I was never so happy to see an empty dorm room as I was when I opened the door to the room I shared with Veronica and saw she wasn’t there. I’d avoided everyone along the way by sneaking in the back way since I didn’t want to deal with their questions about my appearance.  

    Catching sight of myself in the mirror, I knew I’d made the right choice. My hair, which I’d put back into a cute ponytail prior to heading out, was hanging down in tangles. My face was pale, and my eyes were wide with shock. I had blood stains down my left arm and the front of my shirt was red with dark red blood. My shirt was indeed ruined as it hung in shreds in the front. I was thankful again for my leather jacket, as it looked like that was still in good condition, despite the attack. I could see where the dog had bitten my arm, but it surprised me those teeth marks didn’t look as bad as my arm felt. 

    I gingerly took off the jacket and threw it on my bed. I rolled up my sleeve to look at my left arm to better see the damage from the bite. I could see dark bruises where the dog’s teeth had been, but the skin itself was intact. I was glad to see that, though it confused me. I was so sure I had felt the teeth penetrate my skin, yet there were only bruises. I pulled my shirt away from my stomach and tried to get a good look at the scratches, but they were so caked with blood, I couldn’t make out anything. I knew once I cleaned them up, I’d be able to see them better.

    Gathering my shower supplies, I also added in healing ointment and bandages for the scratches, then took off my now ruined shirt. I shook my head sorrowfully at its condition, then shoved it deep down in my dirty laundry bag so that Veronica couldn’t stumble on it. Undressing the rest of the way and putting on my robe, I grabbed my towels and headed for the showers.

    Thankfully, no one was there. I half expected it. A bit of sadness rose in me at the thought that everyone else in the dorm had better things to do on a Saturday night than I did. Shaking off those thoughts, I put my things down and turned on the water as hot as it would go.

 I stepped into the shower and winced as the water flowed over my wounds. It stung like crazy, but I knew I needed to clean them out to prevent infection from setting in. Who knew what sort of germs were in a dog’s claws, after all? I soaped up and cleaned the wound. I stayed in the shower, washing the dirt and blood off of me for about half an hour. I was totally pruney by the time I got out, but I felt better for it. I dried off, then wiped off the steam from the mirror to examine the wounds closer. 

  There were four of them going down my stomach, and they were fairly deep. They looked red around the edges, as if an infection was already seeping into my system. I didn’t like the looks of them and hoped the ointment would help prevent the infection like it promised it would.  

    I slathered a large amount of the ointment on the wounds and hoped I wouldn’t have large scars. I’d hate not being able to wear crop tops ever again. I wrapped the bandage around my waist to cover the scratches and taped it on securely. Maybe it was the ointment working, but they already felt better.  

    I headed back into my room, and as soon as I walked in, Veronica pounced me on.

    “Suzie! How’d it go?!” she asked excitedly, snatching my things out of my hands and setting them down on the table by the door, then grabbing my hand to pull me over to her bed. “Did you get in? Did they tell you right away, or do they have a ceremony or something?”

    Veronica and I go way back. All the way to second grade back. We were so excited to get into the same college and were even more excited to get into the same dorm room to be roommates. She knew about my desire to get into the Delta Phi sorority but didn’t have the same desire to get in. She was pledging just to support me, for which I was thankful. She hadn’t gone through her initiation challenge yet, so she wasn’t sure what her task would be and was a little nervous about it.

    I shook my head at her questions and said, “I don’t know. I didn’t make it to the end of the challenge.”

    Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and she dropped my hands. “What?!” she exclaimed. “You didn’t make it to the end? What happened?”   

    I didn’t want to worry her about the attack, so I told her, “It was something stupid, and I didn’t want to do it.”

    She looked confused, as I figured she would be, after all the fuss I made about joining the sorority, and asked, “What was it?”

    I waved it away like it was nothing important and told her, “They wanted me to go into the old cemetery outside of town and sit on Allison Moody’s grave for an hour.”

    Veronica gasped and asked, “They wanted you to do that?!”

    I nodded and said, “So you can see why I didn’t do it.”

    Veronica nodded and said, “I don’t blame you. That place is so creepy, and to be in there by yourself for an hour?” She shuddered and added, ”Who knows what could happen to you?”

    I nodded, thinking about what had happened, then asked her, “So have you heard about what your challenge is going to be?”

    She shook her head and looked troubled. “I don’t think I want to be in any groups that would put someone in danger. Plus, if you didn’t do your challenge, then doesn’t that automatically disqualify you from joining?”

    I shrugged, my arm twinging in pain at the movement, and said, “I’m not sure, and even so, you’re right. I wouldn’t want to be in any group that would put either one of us in danger.”

    “I’m sorry, Suzie,” she said, “I know how much you wanted to join the sorority.”

    I got up and hugged my best friend. “Never you mind that, Veronica Steele,” I told her, pulling back to look her in the face. “We have each other like we always have, and that will never change.”

    She hugged me back, causing me to wince at the pain of my stomach, but I didn’t let go. She was the best friend I ever had, and I welcomed the chance to get a hug from her, no matter what.

    The next day, I woke early, which was unusual for me as normally Veronica has to wake me since I tend to sleep through the alarm. Opening my eyes, I grabbed my phone and saw it was barely six in the morning. I rolled over onto my back and stretched my arms over my head. Lordy, it felt good to get the kinks out of my back. I froze as I remembered the attack from the night before and the fact that my wounded stomach should have been screaming in pain at my stretching, but I barely felt a thing. I felt only a slight bit of tension.

    I quickly sat up in bed and, with a glance over at Veronica’s bed to be sure she was still fast asleep, I slipped out of bed and walked over to the mirror. I pulled up my pajama top and pulled at the tape holding the bandage. Unwinding it, I almost gasped aloud at the scratches or lack thereof. They seemed to have healed overnight! I knew that ointment made some serious promises, but I doubted overnight healing was one of them. Had I somehow dreamed up the attack? I didn’t think so, but I didn’t know what to make of my lack of injuries.  

    Leaning closer to the mirror to see if I could see any sign of the scratches, I realized I could see four very faint lines running down the front of my stomach from my ribs to my belly button. I was very puzzled by this as I remember those scratches being very deep and figured they would have left horrid scars for the rest of my life, yet I could barely see them now.

    I heard Veronica shift in her sleep and quickly pulled my top back down. I crept back into the room and went over to my bed. I got back into bed and turned to face away from her, puzzling over what happened until she got up.

    “Hey, sleepyhead,” she called out to me. “Time to get up.”

    I groaned and turned over, just as I normally do.

    She came over and sat down hard on the bed, bouncing up and down to wake me, as she usually did.  

    “Stop,” I begged her. “You’re giving me motion sickness!”

    She giggled and bounced once more for good measure, then got up, saying, “Well, then, you’d just better get up!”

    I threw my pillow at her, which missed. She picked it up and tossed it back. I caught it in midair, which surprised both of us. Normally, my reflexes aren’t that great.

    “Wow,” she said, “someone’s more awake than usual.”

    I shrugged, staring at the pillow, and said, “Just lucky, I guess.”

    She sat down on her bed and asked, “What are you going to do about the Delta Phis? I’m sure Becky is going to ask you what happened last night.”

      “I’ll just tell them I changed my mind about pledging,” I said, sitting up and plucking at a stray thread on my comforter.

    Veronica was silent for a moment, then said, “I’ll back up whatever you decide. You know that, don’t you?”

    I looked up at my friend and said, “Of course I do! But if you still want to pledge, please don’t let me stop you.”

    She shook her head and said, “You know I only did it to be with you.”

    I smiled and launched myself off of the bed to tackle her in an enormous hug.  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re the best friend anyone ever had?”

    She giggled and hugged me back. “Not today at least!” she said.

    After we’d gotten dressed, we made our way down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I groaned to see Becky and Debbie from the sorority making our way over to our table. I just knew they were going to confront me about not showing up last night.

    Before I could say anything, Becky dropped into the chair next to me and put her hand on my arm. 

    “I am so glad to see you, Suzie!” she exclaimed. “We were all so worried when you didn’t show up last night, especially considering what happened to that poor man!”

    I glanced at Veronica to see if she knew what Becky was talking about, but she looked as clueless as I was.

    Debbie, who had sat down on the other side of me, put her hand to her mouth and said, “I don’t even want to think about it! It’s so … so horrible and … and gruesome!”

    “And to think,” Becky rushed on, not giving me a chance to ask what she was talking about, “that could have been you!”

    I opened my mouth to ask what they were talking about when Debbie broke in. “It’s just too awful to think about! I’m just thankful it wasn’t you!”

    I opened my mouth to break in again when Becky added, “Oh my goodness, yes! That would have been too horrible for words!”

    Suddenly Veronica spoke up loudly, asking, “What in the world are you two going on about?”

    Becky and Debbie’s mouths hung open in shock. I’m not sure anyone had ever interrupted them like this before and using that tone of voice, either. It was almost comical, if not for the seriousness of what they were trying to tell us. 

    “You mean you don’t know?” Becky asked, looking incredulously back and forth between Veronica and me.

    We both shook our heads, and I said, “Maybe you could enlighten us.”

    Becky and Debbie shared a look. Then Becky turned back to me and leaned forward as if to impart a very important piece of information, grasping my hand as she did so. 

    “You know how your challenge was to visit the witch’s grave?” she asked, as if I didn’t know what the challenge assigned to me was to have been. 

      I waited, then realized she was waiting for me to acknowledge her question. I nodded so she would continue.

    “Well, they found the caretaker of the graveyard dead near there this morning!”