Nita in Ishness-land

Chapter 1

Feeling the warm sun on her face, Nita wakes up. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she can already feel her heart racing, dreading the day ahead. "I can't believe I let her talk me into this." Her friend Emma had convinced her to join her and her family at their vacation home for their big end of summer party. Hearing Emma's voice echoing in her head, "It will be fun, you need to get out more. Sitting in your house all day isn't healthy," "Maybe if you got out more you wouldn't feel so lonely," and "You need to open up more. No one likes a hard ass." Maybe she was right, Nita thought. Maybe if she opened up more she'd have more friends, maybe even find love or maybe she would just get hurt again, used and thrown away like the trash she thought she was. Anxiety swelled in her body, horrible memories flooded her mind, causing her chest to feel tight and her breath to quicken. "Calm down." she thought to herself. Shaking the thoughts from her head, Nita climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, she undressed and stepped under the water, hoping to wash the negative feelings away. After some time, she steps back out, wrapping a towel around her body. She walks over to the mirror, wiping the condensation from it. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a tall skeletal figure standing behind her. Bright white eyes staring at her with a devilish, sharp toothed grin on its face. Frightened, Nita spins around only to find the room empty. "Okay, no more 2am monster movie marathons." she says to herself. She suddenly jumps at the sound of her phone vibrating. Peeking at her phone screen to see a text from Emma, "Be there in an hour." Coming back to reality, Nita rolls her eyes. She quickly finishes getting ready and packs her bags. Coming downstairs she is greeted by her mom "Did you get any sleep last night?" her mom asks. "A little, I had a hard time falling asleep." Nita replies "Oh, you must be excited about your trip this weekend." she says, handing Nita a plate of breakfast. "I wouldn't say I'm excited, I'm more nervous." taking the plate from her mom's hand, she sits down at the table. "Emma's family is kinda rich, I'm not even sure how I should act around them and all their rich friends." taking a bite of toast, fidgeting with it in her hands. "Like, What am I even supposed to talk about?" "You could always talk about your hobbies." her mom suggests, "You always like talking about cosplay." "Ya, I don't think talking about how I dress up as fictional characters to escape the reality of how depressing my life is would be good dinner conversation." Nita says sarcastically. From outside, she hears a car horn beep. "That's Emma." Standing up from the table, grabbing her last piece of toast, she walks over and gives her mom a hug. Grabbing her bags, she heads for the door. "Please be a little more positive." her mom says, "You never know, you could make some new friends." "I highly doubt that." Nita says as she waves goodbye to her mom. She walks down the driveway to Emma's car, opening the trunk and placing her bags inside. She hops into the passenger seat to see Emma with a bright smile on her face. "Ready for the most magical weekend of your life?" Emma says overjoyed. "As ready as I'll ever be." Nita says, faking her excitement. Little did she know her weekend would indeed be magical.