Awake-overs

The best part of having a little sister is messing with her. Every older sister knows the pure joy of lurking in the creaky, dark basement awaiting her to come around the corner and jumping out for that second of thrill as she screams and runs to tell on you. Or the way you can get her to believe in hole-y eyeballs, pet monkeys and the fact that we have an older brother that she has never met.

It was one of those nights that my parents left me alone to watch Nikki and her two friends, Kayla and Nicole, as they had their first sleepover. They went all out with their junk food, scary movies and flickering lights as they cuddled up ready to scream.

These opportunities as a big sister don't come around too often, so I jumped at it before my parents left. I informed them of my plan in part. They agreed they wouldn't interrupt it.

"But don't go too far." My mother said as they left. Who, me?The girls finished making their popcorn as I called my friends for the prank I had in mind.

"Hey Mike, It's Ash. Nikki is having her first sleepover and they are watching their first scary movie ever. I think its The Grudge."

"I know! That one isn't even scary." I said, perfectly timed as the girls scream bloody murder. They must have turned it on and started. "In about 30 minutes, grab everyone and come over. Let's scare these girls into believing in horror films." The menacing smile crept onto my face and I tried to hide the joy as I came downstairs to oversee the girls and the show that was about to start.

All of a sudden, right on cue, the phone rang. The girls jumped and I answered "Hello? Hello? Say something. I can hear you breathing." I said out loud, trying not to watch the girl's faces, afraid I would break out of character already. "I am hanging up now." As I had Mike on the phone, Tony had snuck into the house through the front door I had opened and at that moment, the lights went off.

The girls screamed, trying to turn on the lights, but they had to do with flashlights. They huddled together to consider and investigate.

"How did you do that Ashley?" they asked, blaming innocent me.

"How could I be at the bottom of this? I was on the phone a second ago. You SAW me!" Then the knocking came on the windows around the living room as the girls jumped at each one and stomping upstairs insured them they weren't alone this evening.

The phone rang again.

"I am answering this time." Nikki said a little too high pitch to be considered brave. She picked up the phone. "Hello? Stop this, okay? We get it, its not even scary. Oh yeah... your deep breathing is really cool. I can do that too." She said as she started mimicking the voice on the other line. And the shrill scream of her voice hit next as another hand banged on the window next to her with a handprint covered in blood.

Nikki who was a little too onto me, since it wouldn't be the first time I scared her, decided that all three of the girls would go outside to investigate the handprint on the window. As their shoes went on, they heard a roaring outside.

A chainsaw, perfect. I loved my friends at that moment. Next we heard the stomping again. The girls quickly changed their plan and decided to investigate upstairs instead. There was an easy explanation to this. "Ashley we know you are doing this" they said between shallow breathing and whispering voices. They tried the lights, and they turned on with ease. But the two light switches made it easy for me to mess with them as they searched each of the rooms helping Tony leave the upstairs and hide in the basement until the coast was clear.

The girls decided to call my mom to tell her what was happening. Mom did her best to stay out of it though she must have said something that pointed in my direction.

I got a text a few minutes later to unlock one of the windows upstairs and as the girls decided to head downstairs deciding I must have done something they heard a scream from the upstairs. They immediately ran to see what, or who, it was. Then the heard a door slam on the main floor. Looking out the windows were fruitless because it was so dark.

As they heard a scream come from the main floor, they ran down to see where it came from. The phone rang again. Nikki answered it in the kitchen, Kayla and Nicole not far behind her.

"Hello? Stop this! You are scaring us!" Nikki said choking back tears. She was good at playing the victim, something I learned quickly being the oldest. You could poke her and she could find a way to cry over it. "We just want to watch our movie. Leave us alone!"

At that point, I opened the sliding door, claiming I would go investigate outside. Tony took the opportunity and turned all the lights off again. Then ran through the kitchen we were all in, with a mask on, screaming like a girl. I almost lost it except that I could cover my smiling, laughing mouth, pretending I was as upset as they were.

This left the girls devastated to see someone, not knowing who it was. I closed the sliding door and found all three of the girls sitting on the floor of the kitchen, crying and calling all their moms.

So I finally felt bad (and totally accomplished) and fessed up. I called my friends in and Tony came in first, making the girls scream, until he took off his mask. Mike and Mandi were next as we all laughed. The girls continued to cry.

So I did what any sane older sister does to make her little sister stop crying. I bribed them. I got in my car, with all my friends and bought them each a giant Hershey's bar, Nikki's favorite.

All I know is, one day the grudge, I am sure she has for me is going to come back full swing.