Down End Road

I started this book on July 24th 2021

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“Hello Myra... girl you in there.” Said Kaylee, teasingly tapping my head. “Gosh, you really are blanking today.” She said mystified by my silence on the subject. She had been spreading the word for weeks about the party she had been planning. It was going to be in the woods, and I had lost all interest.

“Dude, come on pay attention you know how Kaylee is about her precious parties. So, snap out of it. Don’t leave me to fend for myself over here.” Said Marianne, not a hint of comedy in her voice.

I snapped out of my trance, unfortunately, losing my train of thought. “Yeah, sorry bout’ that, what were you saying about our outfits for graduation?" Kaylee and Marianne had been looking forward to our graduation ever since we got through the first week of freshman year.

To them high school was the epicentre of all teenage drama, entertainment, rudeness and problems. I on the other hand, shared a different point of view. But I never really voiced it.

“Okay, what I was saying is that I think we should all wear blue, different shades of course, but little miss denim princess over here thinks that it would be tacky and geeky.” Kaylee droned on for, what seemed like, the best part of five minutes explaining all the reasons in immense detail why she thought it would be a good and fun idea.

I fingered my necklace, gently stroking the amber jewels embedded in the old bronze medallion. However, Marianne was right, all of us wearing blue did not seem like the most appealing idea.

This was the first good piece of fashion advice Marianne had given since the third grade. She told me that my striped tights and polka dot dress did not go together and gave me her sparkly denim jacket to, and I quote ’cover up the monstrous outfit’.We had been friends ever since.

And ever since then Marianne had always worn at least one piece of denim apparel. I had met the bubbly Kaylee in fourth grade a year later. Marianne had just gotten a pudding cup thrown at her head and her hair had been thoroughly coated in a thick layer of sweet, brown, gelatinous mush.

We rushed to the bathroom only to find Kaylee who for some unknown reason had shampoo and conditioner {travel sized} bottles in her backpack. The three of us had stuck together ever since that day.

“Well, no offence Kaylee but Marianne is right. Wearing different shades of the same colour does not sound like a good idea. I mean people already know we’re friends no reason to let them think that we have triplet telepathy or something.” Kaylee made a dramatic puppy face that made her brown eyes widen and seem like they might consume her entire eyeball. In response I just did what I always did and raised one eyebrow mockingly and she eventually conceded.

“Fine if we are just going to be boring then.” She said emphasising the word boring and adding a big huff at the end. Marianne just rolled her blue eyes and moved yet another rebellious strand of blonde hair out of her eyes.

It was odd to see Mariannes hair in any form other than a low-down ponytail. But today was the day of the party so she had decided to wear it down.

I had had a bad feeling about the party ever since Kaylee announced it would be in the woods. I had always gotten an eerie feeling about being in those woods. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was because of how close it was to End Road manor.

When I was around five my parents bought me a pink barbie girl bike. I cycled around the block a couple times. However, I quickly grew tired of going in a circle, so I cycled down the street.

I passed Leigh Road and made a sharp right. For a five-year-old I was fast. My parents had caught up with me by the time I reached Downey avenue. I was on my merry way to End Road manner, but my parents told me to never go past Downey avenue.

It was strange when I saw the panic on their faces. My mother’s blue eyes were almost wild with fear. My father had looked like he might grow another grey hair to add to his gingery-grey mane. Ever since then I had always stayed away from End Road.

I was sure that I was allowed to go there now, I just never had. Something about the look on their faces from that day had, for some reason, stuck with me. So, I just never went there. Kaylee and Marianne had never teased me about not wanting to have anything to do with that area of our sleepy town.

Instead, they had encouragingly reassured me, that it was just a run-down road, that led to a run-down house, that was in the middle of a run-down patch of land. However, I knew that they would not take no for an answer if I opted out of the party just because it was near End Road manor. I had no intention of letting a bike ride from when I was five, thirteen years ago, control my life now.

I had blanked again, and Marianne energetically snapped her fingers two millimetres away from my face. I smiled apologetically.

I could tell they both wanted an explanation to my strange behaviour, but I didn’t even know the answer. They would just have to settle for my apology.

“Alright since spacey over here is getting a little too spacey, I think that we need to go to the mall, then to the woods. You know, like, right now.” Said Kaylee, desperate for a way out of her third period calculous lesson.

Marriane and I gave a knowing giggle, and in response Kaylee gave a small sigh. “Tell you what Kaylee, how bout’ we just steal the principals car and head to Texas while we’re at it. There is no way I am missing the graduation, end of lesson, throw of paper.” Said Marriane, giddy and excited by the thought of the mischief and mayhem.

She was referring to how at the end of your final lesson at McBurr high, every graduating student throws their loose-leaf papers in the air and it’s kind of like a paper rain.

Of course, all the older teachers get riled up and start comically yelling, but the younger teachers just laugh and say their congratulations on our graduating.

“Same here Kaylee. But we can go into town the second that bell rings for the end of the day. Hey who knows we could steal the dean’s car and drive to town.” I said my voice dripping in mischief and my eyes elated at the thought of the annual paper rain.

Kaylee and Marriane crinkled their noses at the thought of having to drive Principal Lennons dirtied and rather odorous Saab into town.

We all dispersed to different corners of the school. Kaylee to calculous, Marianne to French and I to Literature. I had always loved English lit because of the way every writer told a story or hid a message in the most elegant words.

Studying them was a great passion of mine. Me and my fellow classmates filed into the small classroom and took our seats. Miss Fenton took her place behind her desk.

She moved her honey-colored hair to the left side of her neck. I self-consciously tucked my rebellious strawberry blonde curl behind my ear.

Miss Fenton was one of my favourite teachers because of the way she taught us literature. She didn’t make us analyse every single shred of text Shakespeare ever wrote but instead taught us ways to analyse and held discussions about what we thought about texts.

It ended up being a rather pleasant and engaging lesson, compared to Mr. Schoemer who did the opposite. The bell rang to mark the end of the school day, and sure enough the paper rain came pouring down.

I threw a pink reading list into the air and watched it flutter down. I saw a couple of embarrassingly frank love letters accompany my sheet of paper on its descent.

I looked outside the window mystified by the beauty of a couple sheets of paper in the air. As I stared into the distance, I thought I saw a figure standing high in a pine tree.

His platinum blonde head contrasting vibrantly with the deep forest green of the pine needles. The figures emerald eyes leered through the tree and seemed to stare back at me. I blinked and the figure was gone.

It was almost disorienting how clear and blurred it was. I arose slowly from my seat, catching a glimpse at my brilliant blue eyes. My curls were fastened behind my head with a fake blue diamond clip.

The strawberry tint in my hair was more prominent when it was put next to the colour blue for some reason. I met Kaylee at the front of the tired looking school building. She looked ecstatic.

The biggest grin spread across her face. She was elated to finally be rid of the dreadful life of a high school senior. “So, bad day”? I said teasingly. It made her smile widen and she lightly punched my arm. Marriane pulled up in front of us, her cherry red mustang gleaming in the warm summer sun. “Get in girls, we are going shopping.” She flashed a silver card. Me and Kaylee laughed and giggled.

Thrilled by how our last day as senior students had turned out. Kaylee went in front and I hopped on top of the back seat. It had been the best day for all of us and it felt like nothing could stop us.