"the night's all down here from hill."

gari-jean's slip of the tongue sent mia into a giggle-fit on the kitchen floor. "down HERE from HILL?"

ava grinned and shook her head. as the only sober girl, it was her job to mix the vodka with the tea and to pour it into six solo cups on the counter.

gari-jean draped herself on mia's arm. "girl, i love that you're a total slut."

"women don't call each other sluts," mia whined.

"don't give me that trigger-warning bullshit. if your vagina had a password, it'd be one-two-three-four."

"yeah, well at least i don't buy plan b at costco!"

gari lost it. she reached for the first full cup, missed, and laughed harder.

"hey!" dean shouted from the couch. "can we connect to these speakers?"

"you can try," ava replied, "but they're a little spotty."

mia added, "they hate country, psychedelic rock, and rap."

dean looked at himself then the guys at his side. "i guess that leaves the boys out!" he laughed at his own joke then went back to rolling a joint on the coffee table.

gari-jean regained enough composure to balance the drinks on a platter.

mia grabbed the first cup, shoved it in ava's hands, and whispered, "it's lite on the booze."

"i'll drink it later."

"now. you're NOT gonna be a buzzkill."

ava rubbed her thumbnail against her rippled pelvis, then snatched the cup and swallowed hard.

gari-jean moved in. "you gonna make a move, girl?"

ava glanced at nolan sitting between his friends. his eyes were fixed firmly on mia. "he's not interested."

gari shrugged. "i'll give ya thirty minutes to decide, then i'm going in." she grabbed the platter, sauntered as soberly as possible to the living room, and served the men like an obedient housewife.

"this is delicious," nolan said.

"family recipe." mia crossed her legs on the love seat beside gari-jean.

ava sat in the chair.

dean folded his baggie of weed, slipped it in his preppy shirt pocket, and downed the first half of tea. "these guys are the reason i'm becoming an alcoholic. gary taught me to like beer. nolan taught me to like wine... and i already liked hard liquor!"

mia cackled, drunk and desperate.

"this would be a great place for a party," gary said. "our frat house is epic, but—"

"—but the boys would love this vibe," dean added.

"my new besties are already throwing a party," gari-jean said, "but it'll be for the tri-delts." she turned to mia. "winning them over is gonna be cake!"

"greeks..." nolan muttered.

gari-jean fluttered her lashes. "you're not in a frat?"

"FRATERNITY," dean interrupted. "you don't call your country a cunt, so don't call my fraternity a frat."

she kept her gaze on nolan. "you're not in a fraternity?"

"no, ma'am," he said. "never saw the need."

"mmm... i won't hold it against ya." she winked.

dean traded his tea for the joint and muttered, "mia, mia, mia... missing in action." the snap of a lighter; the stench of skunk and freshly-mowed lawn.

as the atmosphere thickened and the mood shifted from PLAYFUL to CARNAL, ava felt the fear creeping from her stomach to chest. when gary left the couch and sat on the arm of her chair, she jumped, headed for the back door, and said, "hey, ya'll need to see this!"

* * *

"why the hell are we outside?" mia hugged her jacket to her torso while her naked knees trembled in the cold. "the dirt's gonna ruin my shoes."

"it's not far," ava replied, spearheading the party with the flashlight on her cell.

"can you see better at night with perpetually-dilated eyes?" gary asked dean.

"see for yourself." dean offered him the joint.

gary tried to accept, but couldn't grab it with his spit cup in one hand and tea in the other. "watch out for bears," he said through a gob of mashed tobacco.

"bears?" mia asked.

"coyots too, but they're mostly harmless unless you're hurtin'. even then, you gotta be close to dead before they'd bite."

"but not at night," gari-jean said. "right?"

ava was hyper-focused on the narrowing path when a stranger's kiss found her cheek. she reeled. "w-what the—"

"uhhh," dean said, so close that ava could feel smoke on her neck. "i thought you were... uh..."

"wrong girl, bro," nolan said.

"shit. y'all really do look alike."

ava wiped her cheek and the boy fell back in line.

"sorry about dean," nolan said. "his brain's an etch-a-sketch."

"it's fine."

"where are we headed?"

"we're almost there. it's just past the tracks."

"i heard you're not in school... do you have a job?"

"you don't need to do this."

"do what?"

"i know my sister's trying to hook us up—"

"and i know it makes you uncomfortable. luckily, i'm not interested in you either."

ava grinned. "the honesty is sort of refreshing."

"now that we've destroyed any sexual tension, tell me about your job."

"i waited tables in little rock, but... i'm set on money for now."

"that must be nice."

"she writes poetry, too," mia blurted from behind.

"right," nolan said. "you're the poet."

"tryin'."

mia scoffed. "she won, like, a bagillion contests in high school."

"two," ava corrected.

"poets make terrible money," dean added.

"what about the poet laureate?" nolan asked.

"i have no clue what you just said."

nolan shook his head. "ignore them."

ava tried to relish the encompassing darkness without being rude. "what do you do?"

"i'm studying to be a vet."

"that's a lot of school."

"it'll be worth it... if i can make it to the end."

gari-jean pushed through pine branches to the left of the trail. "did you know if a dog has worms you can kill them by cutting up a cigarette and shoving it down the dog's throat?"

gary piped up from the back. "i tried to chase my dog with a four wheeler once, but he didn't run."

ava caught nolan looking at her sister. "go for it," she whispered.

"i-" nolan stammered. "i don't think i'm her type."

"her last two boyfriends were twice your size and never lifted a book in their lives."

"damn."

"BUT, if you curse every other word, yell at her when she smiles at another guy, and forget her birthday, she'll fall head over heels in no time."

gari-jean wedged herself between them, whispered, "my turn," to ava, then asked nolan about his major.

in accidental unison, ava hopped on the first rail as mia hopped on the second. the sisters balanced side by side for several steps—glancing at each other and grinning—until dean tugged mia's wrist, pulled her into his arms, pressed his lips to hers, and shotgunned smoke into her mouth.

"i need to get home soon," nolan said to gari-jean.

"we only brought one car, bro," said gary-with-a-y. "yer stuck with us."

the ground surrounding the shack looked as if it had been blessed by a demon. ava imagined springtime turning the other trees lush and green while leaving a circle of ashen stumps around the shed.

"this is disgusting," said mia.

"it's AWESOME," said gary.

"hey, check it out." dean tapped his foot against a wire cage big enough to hold a family of 'coons. "it's an critter trap," he said, "but no bait."

ava glanced around to see if anything had changed, then jumped when something clattered behind her.

"shit!" it was gari-jean.

"you okay?" mia asked and rushed to her side.

the girl pushed herself up and inspected the ground.

"what is it?" ava asked.

gari-jean kicked something. it clinked. "mason jars," she said. "a frickin' heap of 'em."

ava held one of the jars to the light. "looks like a cloud trapped inside."

"the glass is old," said gary-with-a-y. "they were used for moonshine."

"bad assss," dean hissed.

gary swaggered toward the shack, hiked up his pants, and kicked his boot against the aluminum vat. "this rig'll make about four gallons."

"what the hell is a riggle?"

"this one's full," nolan said from inside, then tossed a jar to gary through the empty window.

dean held his light to the clear liquid. "we could make a mazel tov cocktail!"

"molotov," gary said, then opened it and sniffed. "whew... it's definitely flammable!"

"do NOT drink that," mia said.

"it shouldn't be moldy if nothin' scabby got inside." he unscrewed the lid and took a swig.

the girls "ewww"ed.

"holy shit that's good." he reattached the lid and slipped the jar into the folds of his coat.

"you probably shouldn't—" ava started.

"how far away are the neighbors?" nolan asked.

she shrugged.

"my farm's a couple miles north," gary said.

dean patted him on the back then plucked the joint from mia's mouth, grabbed her hand, and led her back toward the house.

"you leavin'?" ava called.

mia didn't turn, but let her jacket slip from her shoulders to the dirt, exposing her bare back and crimson dress to the waning spotlight of ava's phone. she giggled, then disappeared between black pillars with dean leading the way.

gari-jean abandoned ava for the shack. she leaned against the door like a motel mistress trapping nolan inside. ava couldn't hear their conversation, but it ended with gari-jean drawing nolan's brown arms from the shadows, placing them on her hips, and slinking with him into the dark.

too bad, ava thought. he might have been good for mia.

ava found herself standing beside the fire pit with gary-with-a-y. only seconds ago he appeared comfortable in the midnight woods, but now he seemed confused and anxious as if he'd just discovered a child lost in the supermarket.

ava's phone—her critter—KNEW she was standing on cursed ground. it KNEW this was the worst possible time to shiver and purr and announce another god-forsaken message from jeff... but it did anyway: "you're gonna fuck other guys tonight but u wont send me a fuckin text???"

"uh..." gary scratched behind his ear. "you okay?"

"i'm fine," she replied and deleted the text.

the poor boy did the only thing his booze-soaked brain could think of in the current situation: he opened his coat, flashed the mason jar to ava, and said, "want some?"

* * *

"i can feel myself changing." ava nestled her head into her pillow while maintaining the one-inch gap between gary's body and hers. "i'm not sure i'd recognize it so easily, but my sister is a constant reminder of who i used to be."

gary breathed through his nose. he had combed his hair on the way back from the shack. his teeth matched the color of his shirt, but he must've chewed gum because his breath smelled like mint instead of tar. ava appreciated the effort.

"i never believed in ghosts," ava continued, "but a week in this house and i'm convinced it's haunted. i imagine spirits emerging from the walls whenever i fall asleep, surrounding me, humming old hymns, drawing pictures on the brick..."

gary glanced around the room. "ghosts can draw?"

"they're not transparent. they're human... or they used to be. maybe they're demons..."

"that's some serious shit. i was raised a twice-a-week baptist and we don't mess with that stuff."

"if anything, i believe in god more, but at the same time, i feel like i'm moving away, drifting a little farther every day..."

"if it makes ya feel any better, i'm pretty sure your house isn't haunted."

she shrugged, her shoulders tugging the thin red straps. "part of me hopes you're wrong."

ava didn't accept gary's moonshine by the fire pit, but she did ignore her prescription warnings and downed a glass of tea when they reached the house. she was tipsy... but there was more than booze fogging her brain. she felt like she took a pill, but she was ninety-percent sure she forgot.

mia and dean were only a bathroom and bedroom away. their noises—the whispers and moans and awkward rustling of naked bodies—traveled easily through the vent beneath ava's bed.

gari-jean and nolan were in the living room. if they were making any noise, it was drown out by the soft mood music strumming through the speakers. (the boys tried to turn up the volume but were either too drunk, too stoned, or too stupid to make it work.)

"you said you've been feeling different for ten months," gary said. "why do you think things change?"

she shrugged. her shoulder brushed his chest. "same thing that made me not want to go to college."

he shook his head. "i couldn't do that. i had to go."

"parents made you?"

"i made me. i'm only the third in my family to graduate high school and first to go to college. my dad and brother run the farm and make chainsaw art on the side, but i'm three years into my agriculture degree... and i'm gonna turn things around. stand out. stand above."

ava wasn't sure what chainsaw art was, but it didn't feel like the best time to ask.

"there was this girl named scarlett in grade school. pretty red hair. freckles. i had a huge boner-crush on her."

"is that different than a regular crush?"

"it's just what we called it back then."

she nodded.

"i was pretty sure scarlett liked me too. she'd punch me in the lunch line, steal my shoes at recess... stuff like that."

"mmm..."

"we had this spelling bee in fifth grade. my brother didn't make it past the first word back when he was in fifth, but i swore to myself i'd rock it. i studied every day. i asked my old man to come... i couldn't believe it when he actually did."

ava inhaled the mint on gary's breath.

"my first word was 'scarlet.' i was SO excited, because i knew exactly how to spell it. just before i started, i looked down the row at scarlett and her pretty red hair. i even had the balls to wink. i stood at the mic. i spelled the word... but i put two 't's at the end because that was how scarlett spelled her name. i lost in the first round... just like my brother."

ava might have laughed under different circumstances. but tonight, she laid her palm against gary's cheek.

"i hated her after that."

"do you mind if i write that down?"

"about scarlett?"

"mmm."

"i don't know why you'd wanna, but sure."

ava rolled herself over his body and opened her nightstand drawer. she felt around inside... no journal. "damnit, mi."

"what's wrong?"

"she could ask if she wanted to read my poems." ava leaned farther until her whole body was smushed against gary. she reached the bottom handle, pulled, and found the notebook stashed inside the wrong drawer. she pulled it out, untied the leather strap, and wrote, "spelling bee. boner crush. scarlett makes him misspell 'scarlet'. now he hates her."

she returned the journal to the top drawer and rolled off gary.

"am i gonna be in one of your poems?"

"i was in a car accident ten months ago."

the boy tried to reply, but his words turned to vapor before they reached ava's ear.

"i remember the other car," she said. "the horn, the glass... and then i was gone. i was on another plane... in another world..."

"heaven?"

"darker."

"hell?"

she closed her eyes. "i woke up in the hospital. my parents were there. my sister. but i didn't feel like i belonged. nine days in the hospital... ten months in the real world... and i still don't."

"that's sorta creepy."

"i have a scar. it's bad and nobody's ever seen it."

"i don't mind scars. hell, i've got dozens."

ava wiped a streak of sweat from her palm to her dress. her lungs tingled. her limbs tightened. she accepted and released every breath in controlled streams through her nose. she pulled up her dress. she pulled down her underwear. she showed him her scar.

gary winced in the dark. he stared at her crotch for hours, then finally shrugged and said, "doesn't look so bad."

ava left her dress at her waist and panties at her thighs. she touched gary's face, guided it toward hers, and kissed him. it was sweeter than she expected; kinder too.

he tugged her underwear the rest of the way but left the dress on. she unbuttoned the first half of his yellow shirt then pulled it over his head. a farm-boy's body rippled beneath a thin layer of college flab.

gary wanted this. ava wanted him to have it.

"condom?" she asked.

"i'll pull out."

"condom?" she asked again, sterner this time.

"i-i don't think i've got one with me. you?"

"i told you it's been awhile..."

"shit."

"what about dean?"

gary's eyes lit up. "i'll be back before you can say moonshine!"

she smiled and playfully kicked him away.

into the bathroom. door closed. a metallic knocking sound—soft at first—bounced through the vent by ava's ear. "dean." gary whispered. "it's me." another knock. louder. the rattle of a knob.

"the hell do you want?" dean asked.

"condom."

"you didn't bring a... hold on..."

a second later, the door to mia's room opened.

dean again. "you owe me."

"thank god."

"how's it goin' in there?"

"it's in the bag."

"easy peasy."

"does yours have a scar?"

"what? where?"

"she's got this gash on her pussy. looks like a botched c-section... or a monster that never learned to shave."

"jesus."

"still cute, but drops her from a nine to six."

"a six is better than you've had in months. plus, she's nice."

"you didn't hear her ghost stories."

"you're kidding."

"just sayin'... nolan might'a dodged a bullet."

"you didn't tell her about scarlett..."

"like you said, easy peasy."

"good. now get outta here and don't come back."

the knob rattled and gary spoke one last time. "hey dean."

"what?"

"...think it'll bite?"

stifled laughter.

ava put her lips against the vent and whispered frantically, "mi!"

no reply.

"mi," she said again. "are you there? i don't... i just want him to—"

mia's door opened.

mia's door closed.

ava's door opened. "hey there, gorgeous."

ava's door closed.

prick out. condom on. gary kissed her and laid flat on top, his farmer's body—muscular and angry—scraped against bits of torn skin.

the deep taste of wet tobacco. the distant, creaking wood. the boy came hard and fell away like the shell off a new cicada.

"'night, gorgeous," said the boy.

"'night, gorgeous," said the tea.

"sweet dreams, gary-with-a-y."

Note: If you're enjoying this story, please tell your friends to check it out! This is still a rough draft and I'm taking all input VERY seriously. I'm hoping to publish on paperback and ebook as soon as I'm finished posting on Wattpad, so I need all the help I can get! If you've been reading and commenting since the beginning, I'm already planning to include your name in the acknowledgements : ) Thanks for all the support!