The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa nodded with a determined look. She wanted to wrap the year up with a bang. She wanted to remember her last day as a student at Osland University, and she knew that the graduation ceremony and the graduation party afterwards would help her do just that.

"We can't hold back. Let's do balloons and a karaoke machine," she suggested. The key to a good party was entertainment. If people were entertained, they were having fun.

"Yes! Good idea!" Zoe gasped as she scribbled down Alyssa's idea on her notepad. "I want party games too. Drinking games."

Alyssa glanced around, hoping that this party didn't destroy their apartment.

"How many people are we inviting?" she asked Zoe.

"The entire graduating class," Zoe said with an excited smile. "I mean, not everyone will show up."

"That's still a lot of people. Are they even going to fit in here?" Alyssa asked.

The apartment was spacious, but people would mostly be in the kitchen and living room. That was only so much space for more than a hundred people.

"Oh! Maybe we could get a bouncer at the door, like it's a club," Zoe laughed as she scribbled away on her notepad.

Alyssa laughed and shook her head at Zoe. Honestly, maybe it wasn't that bad of an idea. Things could get out of hand, especially when alcohol was involved.

"This is crazy. We're crazy," she said as she looked back over at Zoe. The cops could be called on them if people got too loud and crazy. People could fight. All sorts of things could happen.

"What better way to end our undergraduate career?" Zoe pointed out.

Alyssa knew that she was right. This wasn't something to half-ass. They had to go all out for it to be worth it, and she wanted that night to be worth it because reality was going to hit her hard the next day.

The fun would be over, and she would have to prepare for the next big step in her life.

"We have to take a lot of pictures. I want to remember things, and I have a feeling I won't after the party," she said.

There would be a lot of alcohol, and she suspected that she would drink a decent bit to dull her worries for the next day.

Zoe laughed for a few moments before nodding.

"We will. We'll take so many pictures that you won't have any more room in your camera roll," she promised.

Alyssa smiled and nodded. That was exactly what she wanted. She wanted so many memories to look back on when she moved to New York because she didn't want to forget her time here.

This place and the people she met here meant too much for her to forget, and the photos and videos would help bring her back to those moments so that she could relive them all over again.

"Alright, let's get an inventory going," Alyssa said. They had a lot of planning to do, and there was no time left to waste.

A big party meant a lot of planning, and to make it a great party, it took a lot of spirit too.

They couldn't slack on either front, or it would all be a bust. It would suck to spend so much money and spend so much time preparing, and no one showed up.

"I think we need multiple bottles of tequila," Zoe said with a sly smile.

"Absolutely not."

**********

Alyssa was worried. As many times as she told herself to calm down and not stress too much, she couldn't help herself.

Ever since she called Elias to come over to Zoe's place yesterday, she hadn't heard from him. They always texted each other at night before they went to bed and in the morning when they woke up. She didn't get either of those texts.

She lingered outside of the hospital, wishing that she didn't have to go to work right now. She couldn't even begin to concentrate on anything medical-related right now.

She wanted to know why Elias hadn't responded to any of her texts or calls after so long. Was he okay? Was he hurt?

The worst possible scenarios kept forcing their way into her mind, and she couldn't shake them no matter how hard she tried to.

She dialed Elias' number again and lifted the phone to her ear. She listened to it ring over and over again, feeling her heart pound quickly.

She quietly pleaded for him to pick up the phone and to let her know that he was alright. She couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to him. She didn't know what she would do.

When the call went to voicemail, she sighed, feeling her eyes start to burn. She was really worried. This wasn't like him. He never forgot to text her.

Something had to be going on but what? She tried to think of a scenario that wasn't bad. Maybe his phone broke.

Maybe his phone died, and he couldn't find his charger. But those didn't seem likely either. He would've found a way to reach out to her because he would've known that she would worry.

She decided to send one more text before she went into work. She was already five minutes late, but she didn't even care right now. She wanted to know if Elias was okay or not.

Are you okay? I tried calling and texting, but I haven't heard from you. I'm starting to worry. Just please reach out to me when you can so that I know you're okay.

Alyssa sent the text before forcing herself to pocket her phone and then go inside the hospital. She headed to the stairwell, refusing to take the stairs right now.

Bad energy seemed to surround her and follow her, and she didn't want to deal with some weird incident right now. She was afraid that she would crumble if she did.

She walked out of the stairwell onto the second floor, immediately seeing Jackson lingering in the hallway. She kept her head down, not wanting to deal with him today. She had too much on her mind to coax herself to be nice to him right now.

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