“We need to be very quiet.” My friend Brody and I were in my bedroom, getting ready for the night’s events. My other friends would be showing up soon. “My roommate can’t know what we’re doing.” Brody nodded in understanding. Certainly, the cops would be called if Clarice found out.

My friend, Lorna, had been depressed for years to the point of trying to commit suicide more than once. We all tried to be there for her, but at some point, our help wasn’t enough to save her from her demons. It might be morbid, but we were going to kill her so she wouldn’t have to keep living like this. And while she had her demons, we wanted to summon a few of our own. Or like, make sacrifices in hopes of whatever our hearts desires.

To kill two birds with one stone (and Lorna), we decided to hold it in my room. I claimed to be an expert at the occult. This is between us, but I wasn’t. I never have been. I just wanted to take a human life.

Once Brody and I were finished with lighting the candles and drawing the pentagram (just to make the ritual believable), our other friends arrived. Lorna showed up last, with a solemn look of determination on her face. She knew this was her last night alive and she accepted it. She gave us all hugs, thanked us, and sat down in the middle of the room. The four of us surrounded her, with me sitting behind her back.

Being her best friend, I weilded the knife that I had earlier inscribed with “ad inferius corpus istud”, which means “to you below, we give this body.” Nobody knew how much I’d wanted to kill an actual living being. I couldn’t do animals due to how much of an animal lover I was, and they never gave me a reason to. Lorna had a reason, and who am I to deny her a release from sadness? She wanted me to stab her through the heart, but I convinced her that we wouldn’t get the amount of blood we’d need. I needed to slit her throat. My body tingled. While everyone else was crying and saying their goodbyes, I was trying to keep a smile off my face.

It came my turn to say goodbye. “Lorna,” I started. “I am so honored that you chose me to take your life. I love you.” I could finally smile. I hugged her from behind and kissed the side of her head. She had always been my sister. I breathed in the scent of her hair, and put the knife up to her neck. The smooth metal brushed against her skin. “We shall begin.”

She hesitated, and I knew she wasn’t going to go through with it unless I acted now. The others sensed her hesitation too but it was too late. As she tried to protest her imminent death, I pushed the knife into her delicate skin, tearing through the veins and gouging the main artery. Blood spurted from the opening, draining down her favorite t-shirt she decided to wear for her goodbye. I was giggling. “Christine, what the fuck?” Brody and the others looked at me in shock, too stunned to try and stop the bleeding. At this point, it was too late anyway.

I was drenched in the warm, red liquid that her body continued pushing out of her. Within a few moments, she was gone. I looked down in amazement at her lifeless body in my arms. “Did you guys still want to sacrifice her?”

They looked terrified and couldn’t make any noises. I nodded. “Good,” I said, breathlessly. “I don’t know how the fuck to sacrifice someone anyway.”