Jasmine: Club Faire

Die young and leave a good looking corpse.

It was just the kind of sign to catch your attention. To whip your head around and wonder what could that possibly mean? It was the kind of saying that made you stop at its booth instead of the one next to it. That one was handing out cookies, but they were sorority cookies, they came baked in shame. This booth had nothing but those words emblazoned in glittery letters on a black poster board and a row of clipboards. I and twenty other hands reached for one of these. There was something about those words that made us want to know more.

The piece of paper clipped to the board looked like an application. Clubs usually only had you write your name and e-mail and you were in. Maybe this club was more like the sorority than I had thought, maybe it was just elite. I pushed all thoughts of sorority out of my mind. They were upsetting enough without thinking about them. I thought about putting that clipboard down immediately, a club, a distraction, even an elite distraction wasn’t worth the hassle. But I was curious. I thought about asking the person behind the desk what this was about, but he was quiet, nodding and smiling serenely, accepting the filled out forms and placing a clean one on the table, never saying a word. Nobody asked him questions. What was this about, or who did they even represent? I had the distinct feeling that he would just smile at me instead of answer. The only way I was going to get answers was to fill out this form.

There was a pen tied to the clip board with a little piece of string. Kind of them. The application was like most job applications it asked for our name, previous employment, place of residence, blood type? That was odd, but everything about this was odd. I finished and handed my form to the smiling man, and walked away feeling vaguely unsettled about whether that had been the right thing to do. But even as I stepped away from the table another took my place and picked up a clean clip board.

I heard nothing for two weeks. I had forgotten all about dying young and good looking corpses. But when I got back from my evening class there was a thick envelope sitting on my desk. I turned it over in my hands, but the envelope was blank. I ripped it open to find a more extensive application and directions about where to deliver it. Again I thought this is too much work, nothing could be worth this. But my homework was done and it was a Wednesday night. Nothing in particular interesting to do. So I sat down and started to fill in the blanks. This time it asked for a complete medical history. Whatever this club was, it concentrated a lot on my health. Maybe it was a premed club. But it also had a personality quiz section. Questions like if you had to save either yourself or your mother would you eat the carrot on the left? I stuffed it all in an envelope that they had nicely provided. It was already addressed and stamped.

Another two weeks passed. I had mostly forgotten about the strange thick envelope and the long quiz. Every once in a while I wondered what had happened with it, who it had gone to, and why they had needed it in the first place. But I had a full course load, and very little time to worry about anything. I came home from my last class and once again there was an envelope waiting for me. Excited I rushed over and ripped it open. Inside there was a single sheet of paper.

414 Pine ST SE #3
9:00 Tonight

I pulled out my cell phone. It was seven thirty. There was plenty of time. I didn’t know exactly where that was, but google maps showed it to be barely a fifteen minute walk from campus. I tried to do some of the math homework that was due in a couple of days, but I couldn’t seem to sit still. I showered, and changed clothes. Then I changed them again. What were they looking for? Did everyone make it this far, or was I special? What if I wore the wrong shirt and I didn’t get in? And for the hundred thousandth time I wondered what I was trying to get into.

It was eight thirty when I started walking, following the directions I’d memorized. I was excited and made it there in ten minutes. Was early good or bad? Standing in the dark I stared at a large fat cat that had situated itself on top of a car. The cat stared back at me. My car, the stare said, daring me to object. But I had no beef with cats. 414 Pine was an apartment complex, a little dilapidated looking, but very much like the typical college student housing I would be looking for in the next couple of years. I wondered if I should go knock, but decided against it. The note said nine. I would knock at nine. It wasn’t cold at night yet, the cat could keep me company in the dark.

Apartment three was on the second story, it had its own staircase leading up to it. I had raised my hand to knock when I heard from within “Come inside it’s unlocked.”

I had to lean into it, it had rained last week and the door had swollen and now stuck when I tried to open it. I was shocked by what I saw. I don’t know what I had expected. But with the secrecy, the peculiar envelopes, I expected something more, exotic. Instead it opened on a typical college student apartment. The bedroom living room and study were all one room. I could see a kitchen and another door probably leading to the bathroom. There were five people standing and sitting about the room. They were five ordinary kids, but not. There were two boys, one short one tall, one dark, one light, one with tightly curled black hair, the other with military zeroed sides. There were three girls. Two blonde, one brunette, all different heights. They were dressed exactly like college students. Jeans, shorts, t-shirt. But there was something different about them. I stared at them going from hair to clothes to build to their eyes. Their eyes. They all had the same eyes. Not the same color. One girl had blue eyes, one boy had dark brown. But there was some essential quality to them that caught you up, you did want to look away, because you were safe in those eyes. You could live there forever.

“Welcome, thank you for accepting our invitation. Not many make it as far as you have.” It was the small blonde one who spoke. Her eyes changed in front of me, from an even grey to a brilliant emerald green. She blinked and I broke from my revere of staring.

“Thank you. But what exactly am I here for?”

“Why you’re here to finish the interview process?” the girl snorted.

“Will it be long?” I said thinking about the large packet of strange questions from before.

The girl smiled. “No, just one question really. Do you want to die young, and leave a good looking corpse?”

Now I was smiling. This I knew the answer to. “Yes.”










“Do you think he’ll make it?” The girl Sarah asked.

“No one really knows till it happens. He’s A positive. That will work in his favor.” Said the boy Abe.

The five friends worked to get the body quickly into its bag, and into the car. They drove it out to the mesa and buried it next to a juniper bush. In three nights they would return and see if the potential would rise to be one of them. Or stay a corpse.