The Universe is Dancing

"Come on it will be a fun girls night", said Janni after she put on her dancing clothes. I call them her dancing clothes because she always wears them to go dancing in. Janni and I became friends after the Dorm counselors threw us together when we didn't get along with our other dorm mates. I am glad I threw that tantrum though because I feel I won the jackpot with Janni.

We were so much alike. Our schedules at school were even similar. We had two classes together so I would study for one then do a rundown of the work with her, and Janni would do the other and do the same. It worked really well. Once the teacher though we were cheating though because we got all the same answers wrong. We told the teacher that we studied together and that sufficed.

Janni was majoring in Dance and Theater. A double major that went well together. Myself, I was undecided at the time. I had taken dance for years and was on the dance team in high school, but grew tired of all the long hours. I really love to dance though so we attend all the school dances we can. We sometimes go to off-campus dances as well, but would never tell our parents this.

Our family lives were different. My parents were divorced. My mom remarried when I was little, but I saw my dad every so often until he was murdered. Janni's parents were Christian and very religious. They have been married "since the world began" Janni would always exaggerate. I would laugh. She was a drama queen.

Janni and I both stood 5'7". We both had blonde hair, but mine was a shade darker. Both of us had blue eyes. We both are thin, though I have a bigger chest. I love this because we can borrow each other's clothes. It was like we were twins. People say that there is someone in the world that looks like you, and in this case, I found her and she is my best friend.

"Ok, I'm ready", I tell Janni.

"Almost done", Janni said as she finished her make up. "Let's go dancing".

We went out and got in my car. It was my turn to drive. I had a cute Beetle convertible. It was powder blue. I loved my car. It was my graduation gift from my mom and stepdad. Janni had a Jeep. It was silver and matched her perfectly. The sparkle in the silver shined like it had diamonds in the paint.

We got to the dance after it started. Some faculty member didn't get a babysitter for date night, because they brought their kids. Janni said she heard that it was some seniors kids and she was dating a Junior who wanted to come to this dance so they brought them. We just laughed and hoped it never happened to us. Little did we know we would never attend another dance, well at least together.

The dance was at some religious institute on campus so they started closing up the dance at about 1am. I guess they thought that the evil came out then. They might be right, for what happened later that night was just pure evil.

We headed to my car as we were leaving two guys we didn't know came up to us and asked if they could catch a ride to the Denny's with us. I did not like having strangers in the car, but Janni said she had seen them in her classes so I went along with it. Janni asked about one of their friends. They said he was going to meet them there so we left the dance and went to the Denny's.

There is nothing like a great meal after dancing so hard. Someone snuck in the alcohol and we had a few drinks, enough to get in trouble if we get pulled over, but I was the least drunk and it was my car.

We pulled into the Denny's. When we went in some of the guys were already their. They had a booth for everyone. We skootched in then the guys surrounded us. Looking around I did not see any other female. I leaned to Janni "We are the only girls, this is a little freaky". She just shrugged it off, "More men for us". Then she smiled her smile that drew everyone to her.

The waitress came and took our order. She was flirting with one of the guys. He gave her his number and said he would meet up with her after her shift. We sat and talked with the guys most of the night, but looking back we mostly talked about us. They didn't give us any information about them. I knew that Janni had a class with the boys, but I did not know which one.

I wish I would have asked more questions now. I finished my salad and my stomach became really upset. I told Janni I didn't feel well and we needed to go. One of the guys that she was into spoke up, " I'll give her a ride home". Janni was giving me the signal to go and she would call me if she was in trouble. I didn't feel good about it at all, but I started to leave. One of the guys asked if he could bum a ride. I told him that I was really sick and was just going to go to my parents house which was a few blocks away. I said sorry and left.

All night long I felt off like something wasn't right. I couldn't figure it out. My parents kept my room just as I had it when I left. I was grateful for that so I could come over on nights like this. Janni some times liked to stay at the guys house and so I was alone and I did not like that. I fell asleep with crazy dreams of Janni crawling screaming for help. The waitress at the restraint was with her. Both of then had so much blood on them. I guess my fears turn to nightmares.

In the morning I woke to banging on my parents door. My parents answered and came to get me in the room. I thought I was Janni coming over to tell me about her night and get me to go back to our apartment.

When I came into the front room there were two officers there. In my mind I was hoping they did not catch me drunk driving. They motioned me to sit down. That was odd because this was my parents house. My mom and dad sat with tears running down their face. Some thing happened.

The younger officer spoke firsts, "Aly we have some questions for you about your roommate".

"Ok", I said slowly. "Is she in trouble?".

"Mam", the officer said looking down "Janni and another woman Shelly turned up near the water. There were multiple cuts and it looks like they both were rapped many times".

"What hospital is she at", I cried, screamed, hysterically.

"They didn't make it thought the night", said the older officer. I think he said he name was Officer James.

I fell back and hit my head on the wall as I went down. When I woke up my mom was holding the top part of my body.

The police men had gone. I looked around. "They said you needed to go down to the precinct to answer questions", my mom said as she noticed me looking around. She still had tears in her eyes. She was very close to Janni.

"Sweetie, after we go to the police station I am going to go with you to pack your stuff and move you back home for a while. I think it is best", mom said as she was moving the washcloth from my head.

"So everything really happened?", I asked rhetorically.

"Aly, I am so sorry", said my step dad as he came into the room. "I know she was like a sister to you".

Tears started to flow out of my eyes like a river down onto the floor. "Do you want to wait until tomorrow or should we go today?", my mom asked my step dad.

"I think we need to ask her if it is ok I go too", said my step dad. He looked at me hopeful.

"Of course you can come", I told him. I was still in the awkward stage of not knowing what to call him. He said I could call him dad and until my dad was murdered I did, and they it just felt wrong. My mom told me my Dad would be fine with it. I just couldn't yet, and Nathan was ok with it. He finally said call me Nat. I agreed with that.

Nat went and got the car warmed up. My mom and I started to head out to the car after I washed my face again from crying. "Let's stop at the apartment first", I said "I want to get some fresh clothes".

We drove in silence to the other side of town. When we got to the door it was open a little. "The police must have been here", I said as I went in". I looked around. The place looked like a heard of elephants trampled through.

At first Aly thought it was the police who made a mess of things, but that changed after she got a call from Detective Jones. He asked if he could go by her apartment, and if she was going to be at the apartment any time during the day to meet her there. She told him she was currently at the apartment and how she found it.

"Mam, you need to get out of there now", Detective Jones said heavily in the phone.

Her mom was waiting in the car for her. She didn't like Aly going into the apartment alone, but she also knew that if there were clues in the apartment more prints could muddy the waters. She watched the mystery movies enough to know a few things. Right then she saw a group of guys going into the apartments. They looked like they were on the football team. One of them looked like the coach. He must be some student who helps the coach out with the team. She turned up her book on tape and rested her head.

Aly heard saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Then darkness.