Writing Prompt # 72
Chapter 5
Glenda listens to the laughter and excitement as her best friend turns down the music so that everyone can hear her announcement. Glenda gets back to work on the food, Jazz having picked a make-your-own taco line for dinner. She shreds the cheese while her magic cuts up the cooked meat.
“Our amazing Glenda is getting the food ready and soon we will all be munching on made by you tacos and special non-alcoholic sangrias,” Jazz tells everyone. “So it is time to find a place to change out of your swimsuits and into your evening party clothes.”
The senior class of 150 teens lets out a loud whoop since Jazz doesn’t have neighbors too close to her house who would complain about the noise and scatter to dry off from swimming and go change their clothes. Jazz smirks as she heads inside watching her friends scamper to find a place to change in her four-bedroom two-story home.
“Don’t forget the basement,” she calls out to everyone. “And a few of you can use my parents’ bedroom, walk-in closet, and bathroom, too. Just be careful and not break anything, please.”
She sticks her head into the kitchen to see that Glenda is winding down with the food, ready for the next phase. Glenda moves to the punch bowl and stops the never-ending spell, pours out the juice, and washes it out really well for the special non-alcoholic sangria drink. Jazz watches from around the corner as Glenda pulls the old piece of paper over to her, unfolding it, and reading the spell before she casts it on the drink. Glenda pours in the sangria into the bowl over an ice ring infused with fruit, tossing in a few edible flowers on top for show.
“Okay so first I will do the never-ending spell on the bowl so they won’t run out of the drink. And then I will try my hand at this new spell Jazz gave me,” Glenda tells herself out loud. “Okay!” She shakes her hands out to loosen them up, takes in a deep breath and blows it out slowly, and closing her eyes, closing out the surrounding sound. She mutters her never-ending spell first, after opening her eyes and concentrating on the bowl, knowing the spell by heart. She says it over the food first and then over the sangria, the sangria bubbling slightly as the spell takes hold.
She then looks down at the new spell, reading it over one last time before she clears her throat, holding one hand over the bowl. She chants over the sangria and watches as the drink itself changes to a darker red than normal as it takes hold. Once she finishes the chanting, the non-alcoholic sangria returns to its normal color showing that she has done the spell right.
Jazz walks into the kitchen after the spell is finished and helps Glenda get the tables outside set up for the taco dinner as the sun dips towards the horizon. In no time, the tables and food are set up outside in the backyard thanks to some of their friends helping them set up. Glenda and Jazz excuse themselves once everything is set up to get dressed. Jazz tells everyone to dig in while they are getting dressed, dragging Glenda after her.
They get to Jazz’s bedroom, pull out their dresses, and get dressed, chatting excitedly about the next part of the party. Jazz stands in front of her mirror, trying to figure out how do her makeup while Glenda does her hair, braiding it and making a crown on her head with hair like she had shown her mom the day before.
“Should I do a smokey look or go with a more dreamy look tonight?” Jazz asks Glenda, watching her do her hair.
Glenda looks in the mirror after she finishes her hair and steps up behind her, sliding her hand over one side of Jazz’s right side, making it look smokey, and then goes over the left side, making it look more dreamy. “The best way to figure that out is to do half one way and the other half the other way.”
“Hm… they both look good with this dress. What do you think?”
Downstairs, something shatters as it hits the ground, startling the girls from what they are doing. They look at each other, Jazz shaking her head and looking quite annoyed that something in her house has been broken.
“Let’s finish up here and then go see the damage. Turn up the music so we don’t hear anything else break. Sounds like the dancing is getting a bit too wild down there. Are you sure you didn’t add any alcohol in that sangria?” Jazz waves her hand towards the door, staring back into the mirror and chuckling at her own joke.
Glenda laughs, “I am sure that I didn’t accidentally put in alcohol unless that spell you gave me added it in there.”
Jazz looks at her for a minute, then looks back at the mirror, “Oops if it did. I have no idea what that spell does except it was supposed to enhance the flavor.”
The girls laugh even harder at the thought of the spell causing the non-alcoholic sangria to become an alcoholic beverage. Glenda picks up the remote that she had brought upstairs with her, pushing the volume button up, the music gradually growing louder downstairs to cover up any other sounds that may happen while their friends dance the night away.
“Done and I hope that wasn’t your mom’s favorite vase.” She stands behind Jazz again, fixing it with a few curls and ribbons. “And if you want to keep with your theme, I would go with the dreamy look.”
Jazz nods, “I think you’re right. Let’s go with that look tonight then.” She claps her hands together excitedly.
Glenda finishes Jazz’s makeup and then looks into the mirror to do her own, having decided that since Jazz is going dark with her makeup, she will go airy and light with her own. She then waves her hands over their hair, making them bouncy and shine in the bathroom light, nodding her head at how they look.
“You look breathtaking, Jazz.”
“And you, Glenda, look amazing. We are going to rock this party and rock it hard.”
They hug each other before Glenda turns away and walks out of the room, Jazz walking out behind her with an evil grin spreading across her face. Glenda stops at the top of the stairs, gasping in horror when she sees a few of her classmates laying on the floor in a puddle of their own vomit, blood, and what looks like the sangria.
She rushes down the stairs and kneels down next to the first girl she comes to, gently touching her forefinger and middle finger to where she should feel the thumping of the girl’s pulse on her neck. She sits on her heels for a few moments but a pulse doesn’t push against her fingers. She goes to a couple other classmates but again nothing.
Jazz slowly walks down the stairs, her hand sliding along the railing as she does, staring down at the mess made by her classmates. She wrinkles her nose at the sight, almost gagging her self.
“Call 9-1-1, Jazz,” Glenda frantically tells her as she looks for survivors.
Jazz laughs as she steps down around a few of the bodies. “I didn’t think it would make such a huge mess, but it did.” She shakes her head, “Ugh, cleaning this all up is going to be hell.”
“Jazz?” Glenda stands up and looks over at her friend, confused.
“I just wish that they could have seen my new dress before they all started to drop dead by choking on their own vomit and blood,” Jazz says, fake sadness in her voice as she makes her way through the house.
Glenda leaves the dead bodies behind, following Jazz through the kitchen and into the backyard where most of their friends had been. Jazz stands just outside the sliding glass door, hands on her hips, and looking around at the bigger mess that has been made. Glenda stands beside her, covering her mouth with a hand and her eyes wide as she watches a handful of her friends still gasping for air as their own blood and vomit unforgivingly chokes them.
“What have you done, Jazz?” Glenda lowers her hand and looks over at Jazz, tears in her eyes. “What is going on?”
“Oh, I knew what the spell did that I gave you, and well it did this. I bought a dark spell from an evil witch that lives in another town that sits just South East of us. You cursed the sangria with a spell that liquified their insides, causing them to choke to death on their vomit and blood. Nothing too big,” Jazz tells Glenda as she begins to walk around the dead or dying teenagers.
“And before you ask why, Glenda, I will happily tell you. This is all because of you. The good little witch whom everyone loves. Before you came, I was popular and ruled the school even before our dear Holly. I was the one everyone loved, the sweet 9th grader who everyone wanted to be friends with even the seniors.” She spins around, glaring at Glenda. “And then you showed up at the beginning of our 10th-grade year and took it all away from me with your damn smile, caring heart, and your damn magic.”
Glenda opens her mouth to say something but Jazz shakes her head, slapping her hand onto Glenda’s mouth to keep her quiet. She removes her hand and walks away from Glenda a bit, “Oh no, no you don’t get to talk right now. It is time for you to listen to me!” She faces Glenda, her hands on her hips again.
“After you took away everything, no one wanted to talk to me or wanted to hang out with me. I was completely forgotten even though I kept doing what I did best, being nice, and helping people. So I have been planning my revenge ever since and decided that senior year at my own birthday party would be a perfect time.” Jazz turns and walks over to one of the tables, shoving a dead body off the chair and sits down.
“But everyone was still your friend, Jazz,” Glenda tells her. “You were still invited to the parties and to go out with the other kids in our grade and from kids in the other grades too.”
“No! No, I wasn’t! You were invited everywhere, but I tagged along because you were the one who invited me.” Jazz moves the chair away from the disgusting mess on the table, not wanting it to get on her dress. “Once you showed up, everyone forgot I even existed and when I asked to join, they all thought that I was getting too clingy. I even heard a few talking about me and how they only put up with me now because of you.”
“That is not true, Jazz! They all love you still. A lot of the girls told me that they invited you but you always turned them down. You never wanted to go until I asked you.” Glenda says.
Jazz turns her head as if listening to someone or something before she shakes her head, “Lies… all lies.”
Glenda narrows her eyes, staring at the girl she had thought was her friend, wondering what is going on with her and why she is talking to herself. She whispers a few words until she sees a dark aura around her showing Glenda the truth. Jazz has had a spell put on her!
No wonder she is acting so strangely. It must have been the evil witch that Jazz had gotten the spell from in the other town. Glenda places her hands together and moves them like a butterfly, “Evil magic wrapped around Jazz take flight. Return from where you came, become bound, and do no harm ever again.”
The evil aura lifts up, crashes down onto Jazz as it struggles to cling to her, then takes flight as instructed by Glenda, leaving for good this time. The sky darkens for a moment before the sky returns to its lovely shade of night. Glenda sighs and looks for a clean spot to sit, the spell having been a harder spell to cast and leaving her feeling drained.
Jazz sits confused for several seconds as she gains her composure. She then slowly looks around to see her friends all dead around her except for Glenda. Her eyes seem to grow brighter and unclouded as the spell is gone, and tears fill them. She turns and bends over, throwing up at the sight of the horrific scene around her becomes too much for her to take.
She wipes her mouth, shaking, “What have I done?”
“You were under a spell, Jazz, so you didn’t know what you were doing. And neither did I when I used that spell you gave me. I should have known better than to cast a spell that I don’t know or didn’t know what would do. My parents told me to never cast new spells without them.” Glenda gets up and goes to her friend. “We need to call my parents and see if they can help us out with this.”
Jazz nods, keeping her eyes down on her hands as they play with her dress. “I am sorry I never told you how I felt, Glenda. I know that you never meant to take away my friends… but I guess you didn’t. I guess I just sabotaged myself and my way of thinking when I saw how easily a new student like you gained friends. And not by using your magic, just by being you; a nice, helpful, sweet person.”
“Oh Jazz, I never meant to make you feel this way. You are my best friend,” she hugs Jazz close to her. “You were literally the first person to even welcome me to the school. You didn’t have to, but you took me under your wing and showed me everything, including how to win friends.”
Jazz breaks down, sobbing and collapses into Glenda’s arms, “I was so stupid. She got into my head that day when I met her and she planted those horrible thoughts into my head. My own thoughts went crazy from there and I should have talked to you.”
Glenda holds her friend as she grabs the nearest cell phone, her own being in Jazz’s room. She gets it unlocked, dials in her mom’s cell phone number, and waits for her mom to pick up, knowing that if she doesn’t recognize the number she will ask who it is and Glenda’s name will pop up.
“Mom?” She listens for a moment, “Yes it’s me. I am borrowing a friend’s phone. Jazz and I need you, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt Maile, uncle Joseph, and all the cousin’s help. Something big has happened and we need all of your help to correct it.”