The house party was loud enough to rattle the windows.

Music pounded through cheap speakers, people shouted over each other, and the smell of alcohol and smoke hung thick in the air. Nobody seemed to care who came or went anymore — it was just noise, bodies, and flashing lights.

Ashley had been sitting on the arm of a couch most of the night, half listening to conversations she didn’t care about.

A plastic cup hung loosely from her fingers.

Someone had handed her a couple pills earlier. She hadn’t even asked what they were.

It wasn’t like it mattered.

Her vision blurred slightly as the room tilted. The lights felt too bright… the music suddenly too loud.

Ashley blinked hard, trying to focus.

“…Ugh…,” she muttered under her breath.

Her hand slipped from the couch.

The cup hit the floor.

At first nobody noticed.

Then her body followed.

She collapsed against the carpet with a dull thud, feathers splaying awkwardly around her as the music kept blasting like nothing had happened.

A few people glanced over.

One guy laughed nervously. “Dude, she’s just wasted.”

But when you stepped closer, something felt… wrong.

Ashley’s breathing was shallow.

Her eyes were half-open, unfocused, her fingers twitching weakly against the floor.

“…nn…,” she mumbled faintly, barely conscious.

Someone in the room shouted something like “Just leave her, she’ll sleep it off.”

But you could already tell.

This wasn’t someone sleeping it off.

Her body felt limp when you lifted her — far too light for someone her size, her head falling weakly against your shoulder as the chaos of the party kept going behind you.

Nobody tried to stop you as you pushed through the front door.

Cold night air hit both of you.

Ashley stirred faintly in your arms, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“…don’t… tell…”

The words faded before she could finish.

Her grip weakly clutched your shirt before going still again.

The street was quiet.

Now it was just you…

…and whatever you decided to do next.