. including about the guys they were dating, or wanted to be dating. Since some of those guys were friends of mine, too, it felt awkward at times, but...I know how to keep a secret. I couldn’t feel jealous of people I liked, and I wouldn’t have given up their friendship for anything; but sometimes it was hard.A couple months after graduation, we all get together one last time. Some in the group have one more year, but most of us are going our separate ways to college. We talk about. The morning of January 6th, my — our — birthday, as I was putting my keys and coins in my pockets, I discovered a neatly sealed square envelope propped on top of my chest of drawers. On the front was An Invitation, lettered in my sisters precise script. Inside was a folded sheet of her monogrammed notepaper which read: The Joy of Your Presence Is Requested at a Grand Opening to Be Entered Into at Approximately 9:00 p.m. on the Evening of January 6th and Ending Whenever the Revelers Are. You keep your place tidy and have his meals ready. You’re living up to your commitment. His needs are met. Only yours go wanting.” “You’re trying to convince me to do something I know is wrong,” she said softly. “Whether or not it is wrong is only a judgment you make. And I’ve already told you that I’ll never ask you to do something you don’t want to do.” She put her forearms on my shoulders and looked into my eyes for a long moment, searching for an answer that I didn’t have. “I have thought. The god of my world had a chosen people and I wasn’t one of them. I don’t resent him for it. He didn’t throw me into some kind of hell. Apparently The Company was some kind of interdimensional entertainment corporation. I didn’t really love the idea of being someone’s sex doll or action figure, but they assured me that hardly anyone actually wanted someone who wasn’t happy to be there, and they typically used the souls of serial rapists for that kind of client when they did show up.For a long.