Vicky was the first of them to go. They would all soon follow in her fate. Whether or not Vicky knew about the other three girls, the other girls knew about Vicky. She was perfect, witty, beautiful, smart, and popular. Boys wanted to kiss Vicky and girls wanted to be her. Older or younger, they all found her mesmerizing. Vicky was extremely calculated. Everything she did was to give her an advantage. To what? The girls were never quite sure, but they were surely scared to ask.

“Did you see the news last night?” Karina asked as she opened her locker to put her biology books away. With her ballerina framed body, straight black hair, and pouty lips, Karina knew she was pretty. People always told her so, but she remained slightly freaky. As a kid, Karina would rather make up silly dances alone than go play soccer with the rest of the kids. She was always being told she had to fit in and how to do it, mostly by Vicky. At parties when her friends were getting wasted on cheap beer in someone's backyard, she could be seen taking photos with her vintage camera. She would then submit the photos to some competition and would always win. Her mind was always racing with thoughts, always trying to figure out how to please those around her.

“How could I not?” Aria replied in a sullen tone.
Aria was the girl who sat in the front of the class and raised her hand at every question. As uptight as she was, she was loved and admired. As perfect as she was, it was never good enough. Her sister went to Yale and she was expected to follow in her footsteps. She and her sister, Angelina, never got along. Aria was always in competition with Angelina to battle for who could hold the spotlight for the longest in mommy and daddy's eyes. By 22, Angelina was engaged to a somewhat strange man, and starting what would be an extremely successful life. At 16, Aria was in and out of rehab twice. Both times had the same ending that just led to the same beginning. Her parents were lawyers, fixated on having a squeaky clean plate to serve to society. In their eyes, Aria was a problem. Everyday there was a war brewing in her mind, one that could be settled by overworking her body. To others it would feel like pain and exhaustion, but to her it felt uplifting, empowering, and energizing. She would get up at 4:00 every morning, stretch, do her hair, makeup, and she always had an outfit to make others stop and stare at her in the hallways. She would then go to school and work herself to her limit. She's always had A’s in all of her classes and nothing less would suffice in her parents’ eyes. When she was at her limit for the day, she would have an energy drink and take one of her old ADHD pills and then go to lacrosse practice. After practice, she would go to the gym and continue to exert herself. Right before she would crash out of exhaustion, she would take another pill. It would be just enough to keep her going. She would end her night with homework and studying from her four AP classes she was taking. Her unhealthy habits gave her mind a break and was able to give herself the liberation she craved deep down. 

“She's gone, but yet she's everywhere.” Paris said with a disgusted look on her face as she looked down at the shrine that was made for Vicky at the bottom of her locker. 

Paris, a notorious shoplifter and the drunk girl that Aria was capturing photos of at those parties. Paris is the kind of girl who always needed one more drink before leaving the party. Her long blonde hair, perfect smile, and mesmerizing personality made her another “it” girl, which meant she was also Vicky's competition. She was known for being arrested twice. Once for underage drinking and the other for stealing and crashing her ex-boyfriend’s car after he flirted with another girl at a party. She was jealous, but yet loyal and protective over those she loved. That's why Vicky found her to be the perfect fit for her group. But deep down Paris was insecure and feared the future. She feared that her insecurities and instanites would take over her mind. She was fun, crazy, and the happiness other people lacked in their lives.

“Vicky would love this. All the attention. Everyone saying her name, no one else in this whole town mattering right now, but her.” Aria said.

“You're so right Aria!” Paris replied with a little hope in her voice.
“She probably just got into a fight with her mom and then ran away with that guy she was obsessed with over the summer.” Karina said with an eyeroll to follow.

“Would she really leave without saying goodbye to us though?” Aria said, falling into the sadness that she had been dreading and trying to run away from. 

“She'll be back, she always comes back.” Paris said trying to comfort Aria but in her head she really didn't know if she would ever come back. RING, RING. The school bell rang and released the girls from their once palace, now prison and they went their separate ways.
Vicky was the leader of the group, she was able to shape and mold each girl to be her own personal soldier. And with them all together, she created the perfect army. She became untouchable. Her group was victorious in every battle within the hallways of the school. She was controlling over the girls, but they felt like they were nothing without her. 

The last week of summer Vicky went missing, taken right out of her own backyard. What she didn't know was she was leaving behind her devastated friends and family. Time stopped for them, there was no movement, the seasons stayed the same as they waited and hoped for their Vicky to one day just randomly walk through the door of her home. Not a scratch on her, untouched, and in perfect condition. The reality of that being true was slim. Once the school year started and Vicky had still not been found yet, the possibility of her even still being alive became more and more slim. After she went missing, the girls began to realize how much Vicky controlled them and how poorly she treated them. Some part of them hoped Vicky wouldn't come home so they could stay free for her, but they would never say that out loud to each other. 

As Aria was walking home from school, she stopped on the sidewalk facing a utility pole. She was stunted by all the missing signs posted around the town for Vicky. She pulled the missing sign off the pole and admired the beautiful photo of Vicky on it. 

“Vicky, where are you?” She said to herself. A couple fall leaves fluttered from the trees down to her black boots. It was a quiet day in town and there was no one or any cars around to interrupt her peaceful walk. She pulled out her makeup pallet from her bag and used the mirror to touch up her makeup. As she applied her lipstick, in the mirror she could see someone wearing black gloves grab her from behind, placing their hand over her mouth. Even though she tried, she was unable to scream or makeout their face. She dropped the mirror and lipstick on the sidewalk to make an attempt to fight back. She tried her best to kick and pull away from them, but they were just too strong for Aria to escape. In those moments, she wondered if Vicky might have also been this terrified when she was kidnapped.

Two weeks later, there were now missing signs for both Aria and Vicky posted everywhere possible. Paris’s mom put her on lock down, scared that she might be taken next. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere, not to school, not with friends, no where. But Paris being Paris took that as a challenge to see how hard it would be to sneak out. A couple hours after her mom left for work, there was a honk outside her house. Paris hopped off her bed and moved her curtain away from her window to see a car waiting for her with her friend Becca in it. Paris threw her shoes on and climbed out the window and down to the car. 

“I bet it can be so hard juggling all that and working. You poor thing, you must be so exhausted.” Paris said to the sales associate that just happened to be male. She sat at a glass counter with a new scarf around her neck that she asked to try on. 

“Yeah, it really can b-” Their conversation was interrupted by a voice over the loudspeaker.

“The mall is now closed. Please begin walking to the main exit,” It said.

“Looks like I have to go,” Paris said walking away with the scarf still around her neck.

“It was nice talking to y-” His voice slowly started to fade when he realized Paris wasn't going to look back.

Becca walked out of the other exit of the store with a new pair of sunglasses on her head. Becca's boyfriend stood outside waiting for the two girls giving Becca a hug and kiss from her side when they approached him.

“I'll take you home, Bec,” he said.

“You can drive my car home,” she said as she tossed Paris the keys.

“Thanks girl, have fun you two!” Paris said back with a smile on her face and a wink. As she walked to her car in the parking lot, the sound of click, click, click, followed her after every step from her boots hitting the cement. It was cold and dark out and Becca's car was the only one left in the lot. A soft breeze hit Paris' face, making her shiver and smile. She quickly trotted around to the driver's side of the car and went to unlock it, but the keys accidentally slipped through her fingers and dropped to the ground.

“Shit” she said, bending down to pick them up. As she picked the keys up and stood up someone slammed her head into the glass window of the car. Paris was able to remain slightly conscious. Her head stung and felt foggy, she placed her hand on the side of her head that hit into the car and tried to ease the pain. When she was able to get her balance and began opening her eyes, she was shoved into the car again. This time, she dropped to the ground unconscious. The next day the police found the car with the glass on the driver side cracked and blood smeared on it, but Paris’s body was not found. 

The next week Karina was invited to a party for Halloween. Her parents kept her cooped up since Aria went missing, but they gave her the exception to go to this party after hours of begging. Karina dressed up as a fairy, it was supposed to be a group costume with all the girls, and they had this planned long before Vicky went missing. When she got to the party, drinks were already flowing. She felt uncomfortable to be there without Aria, Paris, and Vicky. She stood in the corner of the room staring into her camera lens, when someone in a clown mask came up to her with a beer and handed it to her. 

“Thanks,” Karina said before her lips touched the rim of the cup. The rest of the night was a blur. Karina woke up the next morning in her bed, with a sharp pain in her head and still in her costume from the night before. She squinted her eyes towards her window to see that the sun was out and an envelope was sitting next to her. She opened it, and inside was a note and photos from her camera dated from the night before. The photos were of Aria, Vicky, and Paris and were covered in a red substance, blood. The note read “Tell anyone and they die.” Karina let out a muffled scream into her hand and threw the photos back onto the bed. She then ran to her door and tried to pull it open but it was jammed. She yanked and yanked on it, but it would not budge. Her tongue then touched the roof of her mouth and she tasted a residual dusty and metallic substance. She thought back to the beer she was given the night prior, the man who gave it to her must have put roofies in it. She screamed and pounded on the door with her fist. Yelling as loud as she could for someone to let her out, for someone, anyone to help her. 

After Karina laid on the floor trying to stay as calm as she could, she stared at the ceiling with questions running through her head. Then she heard the door handle rattle and begin to open. She scurried to hide behind the bed. Vicky, Aria, and Paris entered the room. Karina popped her head up from behind the bed and once she saw the faces she recognized most, she ran over, and embarrassed the girls by wrapping her arms around them. 

The girls were back to their regular routine of gossiping, it's like things never changed for them. “Wow you guys were together all summer?” Karina asked, trying to get a clue about what was going on.

“Yeah,” Vicky replied in an almost shameful tone.

“I can't believe you were hooking up with my sister's fiance while they were still together all summer.” Aria said in a very angry tone.

“Okay this is the exact reason I didn't tell you guys who I was seeing over the summer” Vicky said in a defensive manner raising her hands and leaning forward as she talked back to Aria to seem more threatening and powerful.

“Okay well you're kinda the reason Paris has a massive bruise on her head, we’re all stuck in this place in the middle of nowhere, and we have no way to get out.”

Vicky responded with an eye roll.

“So Logans the one who kidnapped you guys? And he was the one in the clown mask who drugged me at the halloween party?” Karina questioned.

“Yep.” Paris replied clearly mad.

“But why?!” Karina said with concern in her voice.

“When I cut things off with him he got obsessed and I don't know-” Vicky replied making it clear she did not want to be asked any more questions.

 “I'm sorry guys I didn't think a silly little summer hook up would turn into this!” 

“Hey, nice costume.” Paris whispered to Karina. Nothing else was said between the girls. Two more days passed with no contact from the outside world. They entertained themselves by bickering with each other and living off of the bare minimum they were given. But once again the door knob started to rattle and the door swung open. Logan stepped into the room, the girls jumped off the bed not exactly sure of what to do, what move to make, or how to react. 

“Hello girls, been a while hasn't it?” He said as he pulled out a gun from his back pocket.

 “Sorry I didn't have much time to visit with you girls.” He continued to talk and taunt as he loaded the bullets into the gun barrel. “I had to keep up with things going on at home, ya know Angelia and all that.” He said sarcastically as he looked Aria right in the eye. Aria's breath began to quicken with fear. While he wasn't looking Karina ramped into Logan as hard as she could causing him to lose his balance and pull the trigger on the gun and send the bullet to enter Vicky's abdomen. Aria, Karina, and Paris ran out the door and headed down the hallway, Logan followed closely behind them, leaving Vicky to continue to bleed out on the floor. They managed to find a window, each girl swung her legs over and jumped out praying for a soft landing. They dropped down 2 floors and pain ran through their bodies. They stopped to stand up and catch their breath. Paris put her hands on her hips and leaned back.

“Why didn't I do a sport?” She said in a whiny tone. They began running for the woods and stuck together through the bushes and trees. Running and running until they couldn't run anymore.

Blue and red sirens surrounded the three girls sitting on the tail of the ambulance with metallic foil blankets wrapped around them. Their eyes were staring off into the abyss with the thick black circles under them creasing around them. Cuts on their arms and knees covered them. The girls knew that sometimes secrets make it out of the grave before the bodies do.