Rangeley: Day Ceithre

Dia duit! Tá sé Meán Fómhair! Sorry I haven't posted more about Rangeley in a while--I've been so busy with school shopping and last minute summer chores! School starts soon, and I'm really nervous! My dad says that, so far, Kaya, Josefina, and I are the only kids enrolled at the Southern MTTB School for Higher Learning, but that we may get new students throughout the year.

Anyway, Jess' and I's fourth day at Rangeley was extremely uneventful. I woke up expecting sunlight glaring at my from my bedside window, but instead heard the heavy pitter-patter of rain. I groaned and threw a pillow over my head, trying to drown out the noise and pretend I could see the vast blue sky.

Unfortunately, my fantasy didn't last long because Jess wailed, "Yay! Rain! Now we have an excuse to watch more Dawson's Creek!"

I, for one, didn't want to watch more Dawson's Creek! I had no idea what the characters were talking about half the time, and Jess refused to explain it to me. I would have much rather sunbathed by the water than sit in a dim room watching a TV show that I hadn't even seen the first two seasons of.

After we got dress, Jess and I peered out a window, hoping to see a light drizzle instead of the heavy downpour I was expecting.

Another groan escaped as I witnessed sheets of rain pelting the ground so quickly that it made my head spin.

Suddenly, Jess screamed.

"What?!" I shouted back. I had never heard Jess scream so terrifyingly before. I thought 14-year-olds never got scared?

She shook her head reluctantly. "It's...nothing. I don't want to scare you, too."

Now I was starting to get goosebumps. "Tell me! I'm 11! I'm too old to get scared!" I lied.

"Oh, alright..." Jess sat down on the couch, and motioned for me to sit across from her. "Last night I had this dream," Jess began. "It wasn't an ordinary dream. I think it was one of those future-telling dreams. I've had them before. Like, one time, I dreamt about my English teacher getting a heart attack, and the next day..." She paused, letting me fill in the blank.

"Anyways," she continued, "In my dream, it was raining really hard, just like it is now. Then, suddenly, the lights started flickering. On and off and on and off." I jumped because, just as she said that, the lights went out. Then back on. Then off. On and off. On and off. Just like she said.

Jess smirked menacingly and kept telling her story. "Then, the phone will ring, and no one will answer..." Again she paused, her hands behind her back, her eyes dark and threatening. I chewed on the inside of my lip, willing the phone NOT to ring.

Riiiiiiiiiiing

A glass-shattering scream echoed around the room. I plugged my ears and begged whoever was screeching to stop. It was only after my voice grew tired that I realized it was me.

When my ears stopped ringing with the high-pitched noise only a terrified little girl can make, I noticed that Jess was...choking? She was doubled over, shaking, her mouth wide open, tears coming out of her eyes. She wasn't gasping for air. She was LAUGHING!

"Jess! What's going on?" I demanded. Still laughing, she pointed to a light switch behind her that was just out of my sight from where I was sitting, and pulled a cellphone out from behind her back. I sat there, completely still, as my mind slowly connected the dots. Anger started bubbling into rage, which simmered into disgust. "JESS!!!" I shouted, running out of the room.

Just before I was out of earshot, I heard her call back, "What? You've never seen that episode of Spongebob before?"

Slán!

~Saoirse