Muddy Waters

Faith loathed going to the lake with her three sorority sisters. It had been nearly two years already. She didn't mind paying her respects to the dead; taking the time, to pay homage. But, her sorority sisters treated it all like it was a celebration; someone had died for pete's sake.

Lilith was the light of the group. Darlene, Chelsea, and Stacy; not so much. They were dubbed the "wicked stepsisters" and were known to wreak havoc on incoming freshman with their malicious hazing activities; dying to be a part of their secret "coven."

To this day, no one knows how Lilith drowned in the lake. Two years ago, their lives had changed. Right here at "Muddy Lake."

Every Halloween they had met at the lake as part of their sorority tradition. At some point, the tradition turned co-ed, so they began to invite the neighboring fraternities on campus. Beer Bongs included.

Muddy Lake, was about a thousand yards from the cabin. It was dark and murky and went downstream for miles and miles. Everyone was doing their own thing. No one was paying attention. Faith remembered that night so clearly that it still makes no sense. Faith was wrapped up with one of her many suitors and remembers making eye contact with Lilith.

She knew immediately that something was off, because of how Lilith was walking. She was staggering, and could hardly keep her head up; her hair, a blond mess. Her eyes were glazed over, and red. Lilith looked right at Faith. However, Faith, just like the others, ignored the signs.

Faith watched her closely; watched her walk right out the front door of the cabin alive. She also noticed that Lilith was holding a quart of Bacardi Rum. What's more strange, is that Lilith didn't drink.

Faith was also hammered so she didn't follow her intuition. She sat there. She had saw the look in her sorority sisters' eyes, and let her walk out of there, in that condition. The sheer carelessness of it all and the demeanor of how no one paid attention to, "the light" still disturbed her.

Hell, maybe they secretly wanted something to happen to her. The "wicked stepsisters" surely could not stand her. Lilith was the innocent one: "Ms. Kumbaya."

" The Virgin friggin' Mary."

In this country town, legend has it that sharecroppers who worked this land, saw a blues celebrity, a black man by the name of Muddy Waters, die and come back to life in this lake. Legend has it, that he walked into the lake playing a guitar. Legend also states that he went under for about 5 minutes, and then all of a sudden, after folks presumed, he was dead, he resurfaced; guitar still in hand. So the sharecroppers, dubbed this body of water, "Muddy Waters" lake.

Well, Lilith's fate did not match that of the soul man. Lilith did not resurface. All she did was become a mystery to Faith and a memory to the others.

The say sometimes they come back. But, not Lilith, we all found her that night floating face down in that lake. Happy Halloween to us. This whole thing could have been prevented if one of us were actually paying attention.

"But each day we call each other sisters." Faith thought. What type of sisters would watch their fellow sorer go outside in the cold, alone and wasted; staggering towards a place where they might not be able to potentially breathe, let alone, be found by anyone. We had never saw it coming. Atleast, that is what they told themselves.

After the "wicked stepsisters" demanded the Sorority throw another party at the cabin for second time, in honor of Lil, Faith had stormed off. "All they care about is partying. They don't give a damn about my feelings about this. And they damn sure didn't care about Lil." she thought.

"What we should be doing, is trying to figure out what happened." Faith reflected. She decided at that moment, that she would not drink. She, would be alert, this time. She could be Lilith if she let her inhibitions down.

There were points throughout this evening, when Faith thought about making them regret what they had done. She wanted answers.

There would always be plenty of drugs and alcohol at these parties. She decided that tonight, she would keep her eyes open and stay completely sober.

Darlene, Chelsea, and Stacy were dressed like three Ninja Assassins. Faith, uninspired, came dressed as a "Sexy Nun." This should keep them on track." Faith thought as she smiled at herself in the mirror. She added a fake gold cross to really push her point across.

Music started blaring about 8pm. The sounds of drunken college kids became distant, loud, echos of sound at about nine pm. Faith decided to come out of her room and proceeded to walk down the hallway when she saw the trio hovering over a girl who appeared to be sick in a neighboring soror's room.

Faith ran up nervously and noticed the looks of concern on their faces. They had done something.

"Who is this girl?" Faith questioned as she took the girl's pulse. Chelsea, who sat next to this mystery girl attempting to sober her up, was rubbing the girl's face with a cool towel. This stranger was out cold, and her face was red.

"Oh, she's a freshman who we thought we had some fun with. She's going to be pledging this year." Darlene squealed. Stacy had sat in the corner of the room, staring down at the floor.

It was the look of guilt that got to Faith.

Then she saw it.

A few feet away, sat a bottle of Bacardi Rum.

Faith walked over to the gallon and held it up in the air.

"Was she drinking this?" Faith whispered.

Another look of remorse was exchanged between "the wicked."

"She may have had a few drinks. Why?" Chelsea said with attitude.

"What happened Chelsea?" Faith questioned.

Chelsea turned to look at her counterparts. "Well, as we said before, this girl, Amy I think her name is, you know she wanted to pledge. But about a week before, I saw her flirting with Darlene's boyfriend." Chelsea exclaimed.

Darlene then chimed in:

"A few days after, everyone was talking about how Andrew had "smashed" Amy. So, we decided to get her back. No one messes with my man." Darlene said.

Faith sat down on the floor. "We have to call 911." she said.

Stacy was out of the corner now, pacing.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! They are going to find drugs in her system." Stacy cried.

Faith got dizzy. She closed her eyes and all she could see was Lilith. When she had saw her that night, Darlene, Chelsea, and Stacy were not actually present. When she thought about it even more, she remembers Lilith had walked down the stairs from the exact same bedroom they had all stood in now.

Chelsea saw what was happening and decided to take control. "Stacy, go downstairs and make yourself a drink, and calm down. I need you to check on things at the party." Chelsea said.

"Darlene and Faith, I need you to help me move her." Chelsea said.

Faith got up in her face. "Move her where?" Faith whispered loudly.

"We can't call 911 Faith." Chelsea said.

"And why can't we call CHELSEA?" Faith questioned angrily.

"Because, if we call 911, it's over for a lot of people. See, we spiked the rum. Once um, Amy had a few drinks, she passed out and well, let's just say, a few guys we know, rode a train on her tonight."

Darlene had started straightening out a passed-out Amy's clothes, and preparing to lift her.

"What was in the alcohol!" Faith yelled. Darlene and Chelsea started moved in complete silence as they gathered up Amy's things.

"I'm talking to you bitches! What was in it?" Faith yelled again.

Chelsea stood up quickly and got in Faith's face.

" Nothing. just a little Rohypnol."

"Bitch! What!? You gave her the date rape drug!?" Faith screamed.

"Stop screaming! You'll tell the whole party!" Chelsea laughed.

Faith took a step back and realized they had been doing this for a while now.

But, this time, she was certain that this was the same thing that had happened to Lilith.

Faith slowly backed into the doorway.

"I don't want any parts of this. I'm leaving." Faith stated as she moved quickly towards the steps.

Chelsea ran up and pressed something hard into Faith's back. "No you are not."

"So, you pull a gun on me Chelsea?" Faith whispered.

"Here is how this is going to go. You are going to help me, and Darlene put her body in the lake. It will be like last year. No one will ever suspect."

Faith turned around and looked Chelsea in the eye. Stacy was finally coming back from downstairs. She had cleared the party and people were staring to leave.

"What did you do to Lilith?" Faith said.

" Lilith was a spoiled, little, cunt. I got tired of all the praying, so we gave her a little pick me up. It's not our fault, she couldn't handle it and drowned herself." Chelsea barked.

Chelsea continued to hold the gun "Faith, get your ass in that room and help us pick her up."

"Fuck you. " Faith said. She had no choice, but knew as soon as she could get away, she would call the police.

Faith checked Amy's pulse again. "You know she isn't dead right? So, technically this is a murder if we do this."

Darlene stood up and grabbed Faith shoulders. "If we tell this, our lives are over Faith."

"Darlene, you guys should have thought about that before you drugged and had this girl raped." Faith announced.

Suddenly, Faith felt a hard impact on the back of her head. Faith touched her head and at the sight of her own blood, she fainted. Chelsea had hit Faith in the head with the gun. Faith, lost consciousness.

Out of nowhere, Faith woke up, cold, shivering, and floating on her back. She had realized the inevitable. She had become Lilith, for she was now in the lake. Or maybe, she was Muddy. Had SHE died and come back to life? No, she didn't. Nonetheless, the wire she wore would tell another story. At this point, they were trying to kill her, so she didn't care about being a rat.

Faith decided the whole crew would go down. It was nothing she could do about Lilith. But, if she could float to the bank, she could at the least, help Amy.

Faith was able to get back on land near the lake. As she approached the cabin, she could not believe what she was seeing. Faith was looking at them through a window. Lilith was alive and laughing along with Amy, and "the wicked", like nothing had ever happened. It was then she had realized who they were teaching a lesson to.

The lesson had not been for Amy or Lilith. This lesson had been for Faith. The waters were muddy, but the intent was clear to see. Faith, had been the light, they were trying to dim, all along.