Finally, it was here. The moment I had been waiting for all this time was right in front of me. As we pulled up to the beach, my body was filled with this weird mix of excitement and nervousness. I practiced most of the car ride there, figuring out what I'd say, "Hey, so remember how I broke your heart a few years back? Well, now I kinda feel the same way." It didn't sound right. "Hey, I'm kind of in love with you?" Didn't sound right either. I settled on just winging it; I think that's all you really can do when it comes to stuff like that.
The party was even bigger than I thought it'd be; there had to have been at least 300 people. You had kids playing beach volleyball, kids taking pictures near the ocean, and pretty much any kind of legalized substance you could think of filling the air. I waited like an hour or so to split off from my group. They did help me get there, so I figured the least I could do was spend a bit of time with them before I professed my love to someone.
Just when I was starting to go look for him, I heard his voice. "Yo, Shine!" He called me. I wish I could have savored the moment right before I turned around a little longer because sadly, this is where all of this goes south. I turned around to see him and some other girl; literally, it felt like my stomach was about to drop to my shoes. "I'd like you to meet Megan. We've been going out for a little while now," he said with a smile.
It was this moment where I started saying things I didn't really mean while thinking other things. Here's an example: "Hey, nice to meet you!" I said. ("Why do you exist?") She came forward to shake my hand, and with a smile, she told me how pretty I was and how much she heard about me, to which I pleasantly said, "You too! I love your shirt!" ("What are you wearing and why are you here?")
After I basically had my whole night plans thrown out the window, I really didn't feel like being around anyone. Dylan invited me to hang with them, but I'd rather die, so I just told them that I should be getting back to my group and that it was nice meeting her. ("I hate you, I'd rather die than be around you.") My social battery had kinda run out for the night, so I did what any teen at a high school party would do: drink. I drank a lot, maybe a bit too much, definitely a bit too much.
I didn't know it then, but apparently, I made some pretty rash decisions that night including: throwing up on Dylan, punching Megan in the face, pissing in the ocean, and almost drowning. I'm extremely thankful that I don't remember any of this and that everything up until throwing up in the porta-potty was and is a blur. So there I was, throwing up in the porta-potty, my night was a wreck, I was completely and utterly screwed when I got back home, and I was hearing weird whispers in some foreign language. On the bright side, I was starting to sober up so there was that, I guess.
Oh yeah, about those weird whispers. No matter how hard I tried, they wouldn't go away. I tried talking over them, covering my ears, and even ignoring them; nothing worked. I still couldn't tell you what they were saying to this day, but for some reason at that moment, I understood every word. The voice was telling me to leave the porta-potty and walk to this nearby cave. I figured why not since it was either to listen to the possibly hallucinated voice in my head or face everyone after I most likely made a fool of myself.
I began to leave that porta-potty and as I did, the whispers were giving me coordinates almost like they were guiding me. I walked far from everyone, it was just me, the night sky that shone onto the river and the sand and I guess the weird voice in my head. Soon enough, I was there; it was a creepy-looking cave so creepy that if I were a little more sober, I probably wouldn't have gone in at all.
The voice guided me inside of the cave, every step I took into the cave, the cave would illuminate using ancient looking text on the wall, almost like it was reacting to me, almost like I was supposed to be there. At some point, I had walked so deep that the entire cave was illuminated with ancient text; it was at this moment when the voice went quiet. It was at this moment that I had seen it, the most disgusting, putrid, weird sight I'd ever laid eyes on: A gold necklace with a live blinking eyeball on it. If I was any more sober, I probably would have run away in terror, but instead, I think I just stared at it while I held down some excess vomit.
Something about that necklace drew me to it, almost like I had to have it. After what felt like an eternity of staring at the necklace, I heard my friend Ally's voice behind me. "Shine! What are you doing! We've been looking all over for you!" I guess I was a bit overstimulated between her and the necklace, so I didn't really have much to respond; I think I said something dumb like uh or um.
She told me that the party was over and that she had to get me home. I still don't know what made me do it, but before I left with her, I took that necklace and stuffed it in my pocket. The car ride home was a long one mostly filled with overthinking. I thought about Dylan and Megan, I thought about how much trouble I was in with my dad when I got back, but most of all, I thought about that cave, that weird voice I heard that I could somehow understand and that weird, gross-looking necklace I took for whatever reason.