“I think I’d rather be asleep than be here. At this party. Why did I let you talk me into this?” Mary slumped down on the couch as if she was really going to go to sleep. At Jonathan’s house. At 9 PM. On a Saturday night.
I knew I had asked for it when I convinced her to be my wingman, but I honestly thought she would be more fun than this. I turned my attention away from my friend and tried to remind myself her happiness was her responsibility and I could only do so much for her if she wasn’t going to participate.
I just knew I couldn’t be at home any longer. I couldn’t stay at home with my parents fighting all the time. I had known for some time they weren’t happy and wondered if they ever had been happy together. Maybe they had only stayed together because of me.
Now I had to worry about Mary as well. I just wanted to come to the party to have a happy distraction, but I couldn’t get Mary out of my mind. As I turned back to Mary, I found she managed to quietly disappear. I could see her blonde hair flying behind her as she followed Jonathan out the front door. I knew nothing good would come out of her disappearing into the night with Jonathan. He had no rules, no responsibilities and did whatever he felt like at the moment. Sometimes he got away with it, sometimes he didn’t.
If Mary wanted to end up in jail, then so be it. I couldn’t take responsibility for her anymore. Couldn’t stop my life to look out for someone who didn’t want to be looked after. With her out of my hair for a while, I finally started to relax into the party. I knew I shouldn’t have invited her, but I knew she had been going through a rough spot as well. I sometimes hoped she would remember nights like this when I tried to help her out, but I honestly thought it wasn’t very possible. She wasn’t always the best about thinking about needs unless they were her own.
Eventually I relaxed enough to forget Mary had even come with me. I hadn’t had enough to drink to forget, but there was no drama to direct my attention back to her. I hadn’t noticed she and Jonathan hadn’t returned until I was finally ready to leave several hours later. At this point, it was just past midnight and her phone was going straight to voicemail. I started to stop people as they were leaving, asking if they had seen Mary. Or Jonathan even though I didn’t really care if he didn’t come back. But it did seem strange he had left his own party for several hours and hadn’t returned. He usually liked for all the attention to be focused on him.
No one knew where they were or how long they had been gone. As I was finally getting up the nerve to call the police, a car came creeping slowly up the long driveway. If it wasn’t Mary and Jonathan, I was going to lose it. How dare she disappear for hours and not answer her phone? As the car creeped closer, I saw that it was not Mary and Jonathan, but instead, Jonathan’s parents. Parents who were supposed to be out of town the entire weekend. Without a second thought, I took off running. I had met them once before when they were in a good mood (supposedly) and I had no interest in meeting them when discovering a bunch of teenagers in their house at 1 AM when their own son wasn’t present. Time for Mary to learn about consequences and how I wasn’t going to save her every time she went off the deep end.
As it turned out, I didn’t end up having to do any saving at all. No amount of saving could help me get her out of the felony charges she wasn’t currently facing and I knew she would be in a new jail as soon as her parents bailed her out of jail. I almost sighed with content knowing I wouldn’t have to do any babysitting for the foreseeable future. My contentment lasted for a total of thirty-six hours when the police showed up at my front door. Showed up at my door asking about stolen goods, parties and late nights. I knew then I would get my revenge. Revenge on the one person who I had thought and hoped still cared about me. I couldn’t believe my own sister had ratted me out.
Standing Room Only 