It's been a crazy time diary,

I’m not sure what to put for the date for this one. Technically since I went into the woods after midnight it was Sunday, but something about the almost full moon, freezing breeze, and the ghost-town like appearance of Fortuna, while I was biking there, made me still get those Saturday-night vibes. Like anything could happen, and as I biked in the direction of the moon I thought that even if it was a prank everything would be okay.

Once I got to the entrance of the woods I had to duck under the closed barrier to get in. I locked my bike up and headed out. There was no one at the little shack that serves as the border between the picnic area and the honest to goodness forest but I still crouched down as I sneaked by. Last summer at the height of hiking season they did talk about installing cameras, so I didn’t want to take any chances.

As I hiked I held the card in my hand like a talisman, though I wasn’t looking at the actual map. Even though we weren’t going there this year I had hiked to Juniper Place many times with the girl scouts, and had even led a hike there last year. So the map was a bit redundant to me, maybe it would have been more useful if I was hiking in the dark. But since my flashlight was pretty bright, I didn’t even need to get out the map until I actually got to Juniper Place.

The card instructed me to go off the beaten path, something that was very hard for me to do. And not because my boots used to be Nathan’s and are too big for me. Ever since I joined girl scouts when I was nine it had been drilled into my head never to go out off of the path, and to never eat something from the woods. I looked at the blood-stained card again and took my first step into the brush.

The card became my only guide as I walked deeper and deeper into brush, unable to get my bearings. Above me the leaves were so thick that I could barely see the moon and judging by the height of the plants no one had walked there in ages. I’ll admit to you diary that I was a little scared. Even the earthy smell of the plants that was usually comforting during a hike told me that I was far away from everything, that if I got lost I would be on my own.

But fortunately I didn’t get lost in the woods and the map on the back of the card was pretty accurate. I thought about how I would know when I got to the spot, but it turned out that I didn’t need to worry about that. It started with some little flashes of light between the trees, then everything got brighter and I came to the edge of a clearing. A man-made clearing I might add. Little plants were growing in the dirt and what looked like a pile of uprooted plants almost tripped me as I came to the clearing. And those little flashes of light I saw? Candles, actual lit candles sitting in piles of stones resting on the exposed roots of pine trees.

My mind was still on the many exposed, seemingly unattended small fires in the middle of a forest when I walked into a clearing, but my eyes widened when I saw what was inside. People, teenagers, a random assortment of people I see every day walking the halls of Fortuna High, assembled in the clearing. Everyone was sitting cross-legged in a rough circle, fingers resting on their knees as if meditating. It was so shocking that when I tried to take a step forward I tripped on my size-too-big boots, but someone reached out and steadied me before I completely fell. Though I was barely conscious of what was happening to me, what was in the center of the circle was something I would never even dream of.

Evelyn’s loose black hair flowed down her shoulders and her eyes flickered red in the candlelight. She was wearing red jeans and a white t-shirt painted with blood. In her hands was a vase, but not the flower kind, more something out of our annual biblical plays. And in hindsight, I actually think it was from one of the plays, a vessel for anointing. But instead of oil flowing from the fake gold jar, it was blood, deep red thick blood. In all of the clearing Evelyn was the only one standing, and everyone else was sitting down. Except one guy, who was kneeling like he was about to be knighted. His fist was grinding into the dirt as more and more blood poured into his hair and dripped onto what I assumed were white clothes. While she was pouring Evelyn was saying something, chanting something but I was too stunned to really listen.

All I could think to say was, “This is such a fire hazard.”

Someone laughed, “Not really, as far as I know, there’s never been a fire here. But Evelyn always insists on having an extinguisher ready, just in case.”

Since the voice was familiar I turned around and it was Julian! His cool brown skin looked almost ghostly in the moonlight, but his brown eyes were smiling in a way that made me relax for a second. He had been the one to stop me from falling but once I noticed him he pulled me down, and both of us adopted the cross-legged position that everyone else was in.

Evelyn kept chanting and pouring the blood on the guy kneeling beneath her and everyone was so enraptured by the ceremony that they didn’t notice, or didn’t care that I had crashed the party. It was almost like a church in a way. I remember my first time going with Derrick and Mom when I was eight. The bench was hard and everything the preacher was saying was going straight over my head. We were new so I wasn’t enrolled in Sunday school yet, and I was a kid bored out of my mind. Since I was confused I tried asking questions, but Mom was practically entranced and Derrick kept shushing me. Eventually, I learned to keep my mouth shut.

But tonight I wasn’t at church and I wasn’t bored. No, I was confused, enraptured, and at the same time very scared. There was this energy in the air though, that told me what was going on was sacred and special, and that I probably shouldn’t interrupt. But I’m not eight anymore and what was going on was too weird for me to not ask a question.

In the quietest whisper I had, I asked Julian, “What’s going on?”

I thought he would tell me to be quiet, with vague promises of explaining things later like Derrick always gave me but to my surprise he answered.

“Michal’s taking the vow of the Seven Deadly Sins, he’s been waffling on it all summer but he’s finally becoming one of us,” Julian whispered back to me.

‘One of us’, just that praise sent shivers down my spine. But even though Julian had explained things he had provided me with more questions than answers.

“What’s the vow of the Seven Deadly Sins?” I felt ridiculous asking that, it’s like I stepped out of reality and into an alternate dimension. I half expected everyone to jump up and yell, fooled you! Even though the atmosphere in the clearing was nothing but completely sincerely serious.

Julian didn’t answer me, instead, he just pointed one finger towards the center of the circle. But it seemed like the ritual was coming to an end.

“Michal Rodrick Hall, from now on why do you live?” Evelyn asked Michal, and I raised an eyebrow when I heard his last name. Michal H. is a sophomore representative for the school council and a star member of the debate team. He even volunteers for vote drives in local elections. Normally he would be bullied relentlessly, like many other members of the debate team, but since he’s “hot” Michal’s just considered to be the smart one in the popular crowd.

But he didn’t have his usual “wise” tone when he answered Evelyn, instead he sounded so zealously devoted I wondered if Evelyn had gotten his name wrong, “I pledge to live my life only for myself and Satan.”

He was covered in blood and his green eyes were burning in their tanned sockets, but something about it. The people sitting on the grass, Evelyn standing over him, and the fact that he had just pledged himself to Satan. I couldn’t help but giggle.

Continued in Part 2...