Tonight the Prank Queen Is the Joke
494 Views · Ongoing · Piper Hayes
"Thanksgiving's at Garrett's new place this year!"
My sister Paisley dropped a location pin in the family group chat, followed by a string of party emojis. My fiancé, Garrett, ran a real estate company, and the pin pointed to a model home they'd just finished building.
That evening, I grabbed a pumpkin pie fresh out of the oven and caught a rideshare to the address. When we got there, the driver let me out and drove off.
But there was no house in front of me. Just a ring of chain-link fence around an abandoned foundation overgrown with weeds.
On my phone, Paisley had her livestream camera shoved right in her grinning face. She'd built a following of a few hundred thousand off prank videos.
"Look, you guys, my sister fell for it again!"
The camera swung around. My parents were cracking up and pounding the table. Mom wiped tears from her eyes. "How is she this gullible? Where does she even get it from?"
I called Garrett. He was my last hope.
"Elise, your parents say you're on your own getting home." He sounded bored. "We've done this a million times. Don't be such a sore loser."
I'd lost count of how many times Paisley had pranked me growing up. And every single time, the whole family had been right there clapping.
The old me would've called back in tears, begging them to come get me.
This time, I set the pumpkin pie down on the concrete, turned around, and started walking away from home.
What they didn't know was that tonight, I wasn't going to be the one who lost.
My sister Paisley dropped a location pin in the family group chat, followed by a string of party emojis. My fiancé, Garrett, ran a real estate company, and the pin pointed to a model home they'd just finished building.
That evening, I grabbed a pumpkin pie fresh out of the oven and caught a rideshare to the address. When we got there, the driver let me out and drove off.
But there was no house in front of me. Just a ring of chain-link fence around an abandoned foundation overgrown with weeds.
On my phone, Paisley had her livestream camera shoved right in her grinning face. She'd built a following of a few hundred thousand off prank videos.
"Look, you guys, my sister fell for it again!"
The camera swung around. My parents were cracking up and pounding the table. Mom wiped tears from her eyes. "How is she this gullible? Where does she even get it from?"
I called Garrett. He was my last hope.
"Elise, your parents say you're on your own getting home." He sounded bored. "We've done this a million times. Don't be such a sore loser."
I'd lost count of how many times Paisley had pranked me growing up. And every single time, the whole family had been right there clapping.
The old me would've called back in tears, begging them to come get me.
This time, I set the pumpkin pie down on the concrete, turned around, and started walking away from home.
What they didn't know was that tonight, I wasn't going to be the one who lost.

















































