Diary of Ivory Black

Chapter 6: The McKenzie's

    It was morning again and Mei White hasn’t had an ounce of sleep last night. So as of now, she is left tired, sad, and hungry. It felt worse than yesterday’s “hangover”. Because at least she actually had some sleep before. A thin layer of sweat covered the nape of her neck. The unusual July heat was uncanny.

    She pulled away from the smooth white bed sheets, stepping out of her bed. She kicked the covers off and stopped. If it was August, She wouldn't have thought twice about it, but it wasn't. It was July and the heat this early was very uncanny. But she shook it off.

    She sighed and slowly (and painfully) got up from her bed. She massaged her scalp and rubbed her tired eyes. She grabbed her glasses and slowly drags herself to exit her room. She slowly made her way to the kitchen, as usual, passing through the living room and the closed bathroom door—indicating that her father is inside the bathroom.

    Once she reached the kitchen, she slowly bent down to look at her reflection on the toaster. Red eyes, pale face—there was no other emotion in the thesaurus to describe it better than “tired” and “fatigued”. Sleepy would also be a good word to describe it, she wasn’t as much sleep as she was just tired and worn out.

    She rubbed her eyes once more as she reached the fridge to get some bread, and as she done so, she heard her father step out of the shower. She hurried herself to put the bread in the toaster and get some strawberry jam from the cupboard.

    “Mei, are you already in the kitchen?”

    “Yeah, Dad.”

    “No waffles this time, okay?”  

    “I’m making toast Dad.”

    “Make sure you put strawberry jam in it!”

    “Okay, Dad.”

    And as soon as the conversation ended, the two pieces of bread she had put in the toaster had finished toasting. She pulled the toasted bread out of the toaster with her bare hands, not even waiting for it to cool off. (mostly because she’s lazy)

    She smeared some strawberry jam onto one of the toast and glanced at the kitchen window. Fluffy clouds glide across the pale blue sky—the fading, subdued moon sits redundantly behind them. The sun has awakened and was promptly emerging through the hazy sky. The cloudy layer creates a pleasant blanket from the sun.

    It was a sunny day, with birds chirping and flowers blooming. Her mother would have given anything to see this day. Then again, she left the family right after Mei was born, so she wouldn’t truly know. She sighed at the thought and proceeded to smear jam on the second toast.

    God does she miss her mother, and Ivory’s death only reminded Mei more of her. And now she’s left with the memory of two people she cared about, who had left her world without her. But, is it possible to yearn the presence of someone you’ve never met?

    Her mother had left almost instantly after she was born, and the divorce has hit hard for her father. But Mei has never met her properly, she couldn’t even remember her own mother’s face even if she was held at gunpoint. But a mother is a mother, so of course, Mei misses her. Even if she was the reason her mother had left.

    But Ivory—Ivory was different. They were close, she was there for most of Mei’s life. They know each other inside out to the point where they can’t even lie to each other if they tried. At least, that’s what she thought. The diary adds a whole new factor to the existing equation.

    “Was she keeping something? Or am I just paranoid?” Mei thought to herself. She has a habit of over analyzing situations at times, but her suspicion is almost always right about her friends. So, which is the case this time?

    It’s a horrible feeling to not know where you stand with someone. And Ivory’s existence or more accurately, non-existence, had managed to bend Mei’s mind into a giant question mark. Was she even real to begin with? How would one love a person too much, that every sunset ends with a smile and every sunrise starts with a goodbye? But the pillow was always there to hold them when they somehow did each other wrong, which was very unlikely.

    A memory was just another breath one would take to see a loved one's smile, it was another light one would see. She wished that she could turn back time, just to have more of her and less rain. But the sky is crying so loudly, blinding her ears, and clouding her mind, it was an absolute storm, a hurricane.

    The difference between her and dreams is a thin line Mei could never begin to define. She could still see Ivory between red and blue. She could still see Ivory between shadows and lights. She could still see Ivory between music and silence. She could still see Ivory between books and reality. She could still see Ivory, but were you even real to begin with?

    “Mei? Kitty?” Her father suddenly spoke up behind her, startling her and prompted her to accidentally dropped her dagger.

    She sighed heavily. “Yeah, dad? Sorry I was just-” Her sentence was interrupted.

    “No, it’s okay. I was just wondering why you were staring at the window for so long.” Her dad admitted with a soft chuckle.

    “Well, I’ve just been thinking,” Mei replied.

    “What about?”

    “Ivory,” Mei answered hesitantly.

    “Ah, of course.” Her father retorted as he wrapped his arms around Mei in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s normal, don’t worry about it, cat.” He spoke in a soft tone.

    “Okay.” Mei sighed, trying to calm herself.

    “So how are the toasted bread coming up?” Her father asked as he glanced over Mei’s creation.

    “It's...Sloppy.” Mei answered softly as she slowly glanced down at the two slice of bread, completely covered in strawberry jam.

    “Glad we’re both addicted to strawberries then.” Her father commented in a cheery tone, as he grabbed his toast and shoved it into his mouth.

    “Sorry for overfilling it,” Mei apologized, as she slowly ate her toasted bread.

    “It’s fine. Now, what are we going to do today?” Her father asked. He then grabbed a towel and wiped off the excess strawberry jam from the counter.

    “Not sure yet, I haven’t checked on my phone,” Mei replied, as she walked off from the counter and washed the dagger she had just used.

    And sure enough, right after she rinsed her dagger, she could hear her phone ringing from her bedroom. Which was awfully unusual for her to hear her phone from such a distance, she had guessed that it was one of the bi-product of staying late.

    Nevertheless, she excused herself from the kitchen and promptly went to her bedroom. She then discovered that her phone was laying idly on the floor like the piece of trash that it is, she sighed and picked up her phone. She wasn’t usually this careless before Ivory had—Anyway...

    As of now, her phone had already stopped ringing. She promptly looked at who it was, and to be frank she couldn’t be surprised at the result. The call was from Olive. It was to be expected, judging by what had happened yesterday.

    Mei intended to call back Olive—but before she could do so, Olive had called again. Typical Olive.

    “Hello?” Mei answered the phone calmly.

    “Mei, Violet told me everything.”

    “And?”

    “You need to come to my house ASAP! I can’t believe you’d do such a thing!” Olive shouting felt like thunder in Mei’s ears, and with that, Mei became slightly nervous.

    “Are you mad at me?” Mei asked hesitantly.

    “Mad? Of course not!” Olive answered. “But we still need to discuss this, in person.” Olive promptly added.

    “Ah, ok,” Mei agreed, slightly relieved that her friend isn’t entirely mad at her.

    “Meet me at my house at 10 am, okay?” Olive requested.

    “Yeah sure, be right there,” Mei replied. But as she does so, she remembered about Olive’s parents.

    As everyone might’ve known, the older member of the Mckenzie family does not fancy having “peasants” in their mansion. So with that in mind, Mei had to clarify some things, just to know what to expect when she’ll arrive there.

    “But what about your parents?” Mei asked wearily.

    “I haven’t told them about anything, so you might have to climb through my window again,” Olive stated calmly, though the plan she suggests was quite the contrary.

    “Futatabi?” Mei complained about a grunt.

    “What?” Olive asked, unsure of what Mei had just said to her.

    “Again?” Mei repeated what she had just said, this time with the English language.

    “Oh,” Olive noted. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she added.

    “You know how my parents are. But it's fine, they’ll be in their office most of the day.” Olive dismissed with a somewhat reassuring tone.

    “Yeah, it's fine. So, no fancy snacks for today huh?” Mei remarked in jest. Reminding Olive of the time she managed to convince one of the three maids to sneak out some cake slices from the pantry, that turned out to be her parent's wedding anniversary cake. Well, the maids were more of housekeepers than actual maids. Though, Olive’s parents prefer to call them as maids, as it’s sounded more sophisticated to them.

    “Yeah no. Never do that again.” Olive ordered with a grin spread across her face, once again forgetting that she was talking in a voice call.

    “Aww, but it was fun.” Mei teased.

    “No, just no.”

    “Well anyway, I’ll be there in ten, okay?”

    “Très bien alors.”

    “I have no idea what you just said, but I’m assuming it a good thing.”

    Mei hung up on the call before Olive did, looks like she has got herself something to do for the day. But on the other hand, she needed to go to Anna’s house to collect the rest of Ivory’s writing. And she also had to go to Violet’s house to teach her how to play bass.

    Three choices, all very important. “Oh, how am I going to deal with this?” She thought to herself, as she sat on the side of her bed. Mei isn’t usually so clustered in managing her schedule. In fact, she’s quite good at managing her time and activities. But she hasn’t been herself for the past few weeks, not much to anyone’s surprise. And as she started thinking of her solution to this predicament, she could already tell that her father has already left the kitchen to watch some TV.

    She sighed and forced her brain to focus more on the matter at hand. And finally, after further consideration, she decided that she could choose two out of the three activities on her to do list. Which is, as Ivory would have phrased it, “A very bad trade-off.”

    And after even more further consideration, she decided that the visit to Anna’s house would have to wait for another day. She decided that her friends’ needs are more important than hers at the moment.

    So first destination of the day, the McKenzie’s.

    And before she even realized it, both Mei and her father were already on their way. About ten minutes from Olive’s house. The situation felt like a glitch to her, it felt as if she had just suddenly traveled through time. It felt very uncanny, but she knew it was real. So she decided to look around and observe her surrounding. Just to ground her consciousness back to earth.

    Her bag was sitting comfortably in the backseat, she didn’t even remember what she had placed in it. As time progressed, she slowly realized that she had already showered and changed into a much more presentable clothing. White shirt with a peter pan collar, layered with a blue cardigan—not a bad choice for “autopilot Mei”. And from the waist down, she was wearing a pair of dark leggings and a pair of white canvas shoes. She didn’t even remember that she had those shoes until she saw them at this moment.

    “God, why is this happening to me?” She thought to herself. She had realized that as time progressed, she was not herself anymore. She felt incomplete. Her attention span and her ability to even manage daily activities had been decreasing at an alarming rate since a few weeks ago. She’s breaking even more as time goes on.

    Missing someone gets more difficult and easier each day. How? Because even though you are one day further from the last time you spoke to them, you are one day closer to the next time you will. For each second gone means that Mei was each second closer to Ivory.

    And the major problem with heartbreak is that it’s not solely one’s heart that breaks. When one has got a shattered heart, it divides both one’s body and soul. Emotions are not perceptible—They are the person that they latch on to, and they consume and destroy what’s left of that person. And then one would start to doubt—one would most likely begin doubting themselves or those around them. And one would either become self-loathing or cynical.

    And once that starts, there’s nothing left to do then, except to try to get back up again. Because when one has come to a point so low as to hate oneself, one would not become worst than that, and the only other way to go is up.

    So Mei attempts to do exactly just that, she tries to pick herself up—slowly but surely. And she succeeded, for now.

    “Mei? Are you okay?” Her father’s words interrupted her miserable attempt at calming herself. She took a deep sigh and responded.

    “Yeah dad, I’m fine. I just need a moment.” She insisted, her voice coarse and weak, as she tucked the loose strands of her raven hair behind her ear.

    “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Her father reminded as he kept his eyes on the road. “You can just say you’re not up for it and that you’ll go tomorrow.” He added.

    “No I can go today, it’s fine.” She quickly insisted, almost too quickly for her current taste. “We’re almost at her house anyway, just a few more meters to go.” She added, trying to think of a valid excuse for her father.

    “Just don’t push yourself too far okay?” Her father begged in a soft voice.

    “Okay.”

    And after a few minutes of silence between them, they had finally arrived at Olive’s mansion. Olive has always been more than modest about her residence, but even Mei can’t help but awe every time she gaze upon the building that is Olive’s house. She gripped the strap of her bag and started walking.

    Mei slowly stepped out from the dusky car, staring at the mansion that set beyond the sidewalk, towering over her as if attempting to intimidate her. The cream coating of the paint shined as the sun beat down on it, causing Mei to have to squint for a bit. Uniquely twisted fencing kept the house enclosed, neatly trimmed hedges surrounded the house. The roof was peaked, slanting down at an angle. Though this particular mansion does not have much front yard, or even a backyard as far as Mei’s memory serves her.

    As she stepped onto the sidewalk, she noticed a marble fountain sitting towards the right side of the lawn—now this was new to her. It was an angel holding a flower was perched on top, looking up towards the sky. Water spurted from its other hand, which lay gently out in front of it as if waiting for someone to take it in return. The water fell gently towards the crystal blue pool beneath it, causing ripples to form and wave out until they were no more.

    It has a conservatory or greenhouse, and an infinity pool in the back. And of course, no true mansion would have been built without a room to house a private library or study, while at the beginning of the 21st century the presence of a room designed for a home theater or cinema is normal. And most recently, a bowling alley or a server room.

    It was truly a mansion. But whether a house could be called a mansion is contextual—In Manhattan or many other cities a 560 m2 house would certainly be described as such, but a similar sized house in the Atlanta suburbs probably would not be.

    Calling something a mansion indicates a level of grandeur/consumption considerably greater than the norm in that location, with the additional connotation of quality and correlates highly with the housing patterns of the upper class. So by that qualification alone, this was certainly a mansion. But this time, Mei doesn’t have the time to awe on the mansion for long. It’s time to climb.

    Mei sneaked her way into the backyard, knowing that the one security guard who watches over the mansion never dared to go there due to his fear of dogs. But then again he never walks around the front yard either, so one might think that this action was just a waste of time. But it was a very strategic tactic, constructed by Ivory herself to help those in need to sneak into Olive’s bedroom for a nice talk.

    So, as soon as Mei reaches the backyard, she would always catch a glimpse of the security guard roaming around the inside of the mansion, watching over the pugs. His occurrence has always been part of the plan. And after that, she would always throw small pebbles at Olive’s pugs to make them “bark” and hence scaring the guard away. And after that, she has roughly 15 minutes to climb up the side of a water pipe which conveniently leads right next to Olive’s room—just try not to climb the wrong window. Which back in the day, Violet always did.

    So promptly, Mei goes into action. Step one, distract the guard. It took a while to get the pugs to felt bothered enough from Mei’s pebbles to “bark”, but it always works eventually. Step two, climb. Easy, except for the fact that the water pipe has gone a bit worn out due to multiple (and constant) use. So this is the hard part.

    “Olive’s room is on the top floor, to the right. Olive’s room is on the third floor to the right.” Mei kept repeating those sentences in her mind, just in case she suddenly forgot where Olive’s room is. So now, left foot up, right foot up, then hold your position with your two hands like a marine would while climbing ropes.

    The basic idea was that Mei was going to ‘inchworm’ her way up the pipe using the “brake and squat” technique, as she calls it. She would climb up the old pipe by bending her legs, loosening the “break” between her feet. Then once she manages to straighten her legs and hold her position, she would pull herself up the pipe about a foot or two and repeat until she could reach the third floor.

    Of course occasionally stopping to fix her glasses before it falls off from her face. One would wonder how would a person manage to climb an old water pipe with a bag on their back and a pair of glasses on their face, and the answer to that question would be years of training—much like a soldier if one would even dare to compare.

    And now that she’s on the third floor, where was Olive’s room again? Right, third floor to the right. Mei carefully slipped her right arm to the window next to her and knocked four times, as the usual signal that she’s here. Ten seconds later, the white framed window was finally opened by none other than Olive McKenzie.

    She was dressed like she usually was, as Mei has noticed. Mustard yellow sweater, despite the undying heat on the recent times. And From what Mei was able to see, a light washed skinny jeans to compliment it. Olive’s hair, was also put together as usual—tucked up nicely to a simple messy bun.

    Mei chuckled as she realized the two bobby pins sprouting out of Olive’s hair, as usual. That made Mei pause, why was Olive handling this so well? Why wasn’t she as shaken as Mei and Violet? Her thoughts were momentarily paused by Olive’s usual cheery voice.

    “Oh thank the stars, you’re here, come inside before the guard comes back.” Olive promptly sighed as she stepped back from the window to make way for Mei’s secretive entrance.

    “Yeah hold on a second,” Mei replied as her right arm grabbed the thin window sill, followed by a small jump. And sure enough, both of her hands were now holding on to the window sill.

    Mei used to be quite frightened about this situation, her biggest fear is that one day the wood would eventually give up on her weight and she would finally fall to her death. But Olive always assured her that her family always renewed every part of the building every few years, so Mei doesn’t think much of it these days.

    After a few seconds of adjusting her weight and grip on the new surface, Mei finally managed to climb up the window and into Olive’s room. As her foot stepped onto the marble flooring, Mei had started to reacquaint herself with the familiar surrounding. And unlike Violet’s room and her own, her room wasn’t cluttered with junk and paper.

    It was very well kept, which is a very clear indication that the three maids that had used to clean and tidy up the house still works for the residence—as they tend to have most care for Olive’s room. They’ve always had a knack for cleaning and sorting things out, thus their obsession with Olive’s room—because they all know how messy Olive’s room would be if they hadn’t clean it every five minutes. Olive is (contradictory to popular beliefs), quite the messy person.

    If one would enter the extravagant room, one would be able to smell the refreshing and constantly perfumed air. On the high ceiling, there was an incredible chandelier, the major source of light in Olive’s room. In the right corner, there was always a gorgeous oval olive colored couch (typical Olive, as usual), accompanied by a small white cushion. In front of it, there was an exquisite white painted rectangle table. On the table, there is a vase full of autumn themed flowers. In the middle of the room, there was, of course, an amazing bed. It has a magical white canopy, bed drapes. Also, on the bed, there is a velvety autumnn red coverlet. It was always full with many comfortable and stunning pillows, which was quite odd considering Olive has never been a pillow holder.

    And in the left corner, there was a simple white desk with a white chair. She always kept her study book and equipment for studying in drawers. There was also, a laptop beside it, which was a new sight to Mei. Near the desk, Olive hung a small board with positive posts. Again, typical Olive. As one would walk around, one would catch a glimpse of the beside wide window covered with long curtains.

    One would also see a section for clothes and shoes. There was a large wooden closet it has two section one of them for dresses and expensive clothes, the other for usual clothes and pajamas. Next to there is a small closet for shoes. The walls of her room were always either white or cream colored, but this time it was the first of the two. On one of the walls, Olive always had some pictures from when she was a child. And of course, a white wooden door, leading outside of Olive’s room and into the hallway in front of it.

    “I forgot how spacey your room is,” Mei stated as she glanced around the room, slowly remembering every bit and pieces of it, and all the memory that comes with it.

    All the secret sleepovers and midnight talks, those were good times. And she’s Mei’s that the room stayed the same till’ this day, as she needed the comfort of seeing familiar things. But then, she started having thoughts about her lost friend once more. Ivory. God does she wish for her presence. It’s been far too long to gloat on these feelings that she has for Ivory, but she may not help it due to how close they were before. And she believes that they’re still close, somehow.

    “Anyway.” Olive broke her train of thoughts. “Get on my bed, we need to talk.”

    “Sounds like you’re about to break up with me.” Mei joked, knowing full well that their friendship only stands as just that, friendship. But Olive only managed to laugh dryly as she sat on one side of her bed.

    “Just come here for a second.” Olive requested calmly.

    “Hey, what’s wrong?” Mei asked. “Not feeling well?” She asked once more.

    “I’m fine,” Olive assured as she whipped out the best fake smile she could manage at the time. It wasn’t a very good fake smile, but it’ll have to do. But then again, Olive could already tell that Mei isn’t going to buy it.

    “Yes, yes you are.” Mei reaffirmed as she calmly sat next to Olive. “Except you always laugh at my jokes, no matter how bad they are.” She added

    “But I did.” Olive insisted.

    “No you didn’t, that was a fake laugh.” Mei retorted. “What’s wrong?” Mei asked for the third time, and hopefully the last time.

    And both Olive and Mei knew, there was never saying “No.” to Mei. So Olive gave in and took a deep sigh before talking.

    “I couldn’t sleep well.” She finally spoke up.

    “Why?” Mei asked in a soft tone.

    “Nightmares,” Olive replied, head looking down.

    “Since when?” Mei asked once more.

    “Don’t pretend that you don’t know the answer to that question,” Olive remarked with a dry laugh, Mei frowned.

    “Stop pretending to laugh,” Mei said sternly. “You’ve never faked laugh in your whole life unless you’re with your parents,” Mei stated as a matter-of-factly.

    “Sorry.” Olive apologized, head still bowing down.

    “Don’t be,” Mei chirped calmly as she traced small little circles of her friends back in an attempt to comfort her.

    “Also, f**k Anna’s fake smile theory. Don’t follow it.” Mei spurted out with a little louder tone than before.

    “Ugh, so glad somebody finally said it,” Olive stated as she flailed her arms up, pretending to rage at the comment. Her smile was back, her real one.

    Mei chuckled at her friend’s sudden change of mood. Now that she’s thought about it, Olive’s always been the easier one to cheer up out of the four of them. But Mei and Ivory are always the best at cheering either of their friends, which is quite ironic since they’re usually the most difficult to cheer up from a bad mood—they could stay mad at someone for years if they wanted to. Violet was the most violent one in a distressful situation, but her mood is like a match—it burns, but it burns out quickly. But Mei saved the thought for later, as there was a more important matter at hand.

    “Now that you’re feeling better, what did you want to talk about?” Mei asked.

    “The diary, duh” Olive stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world—to which it was at the time, but as one would guess, not for Mei.

    “Oh yeah.” She retorted. “Yeah, that happened.” She acknowledged calmly.

    “Did you bring it?” Olive questioned, curious what the mysterious book would look like, as Violet was not too intent on describing its appearance.

    Olive imagined that the book would be Ivory’s favorite color, blood-red. It would be slick and thin, simple yet very attractive to look at. She would imagine the cover would have Ivory’s name embedded on it in either white, gold or a deep black since Ivory always loves to put her name on things. And she would imagine that the pages would be completely filled with ink, so full that one would be able to smell it from quite a distance. Not tidy, but creative. Though, what she could never imagine was the content of the mysterious book.

    What unimaginable secrets would Ivory hold back from them? Love? Crime? Terrible past? Olive couldn’t put her finger on it. It was never quite like Ivory to even keep a diary in the first place. And yet, as Violet had managed to tell her, this was most likely Ivory’s third diary. Why? What? How? Why three diaries? What does it matter, it's too late to ask anyway? But how did Ivory manage to keep this a secret from them?

    Well, as of now, the answers to all those questions were not as important than what’s currently happening. Seeing the diary for herself was much more important now, why? Because she was curious, they were all curious. She, they needed to know. They needed to see for themselves that this was truly a thing Ivory had done.

    Not that they were ever against Ivory keeping a diary, it was just that it was very unlikely for Ivory to have a diary that it felt almost like it was a lie. And on top of that, it may have resulted in a little bit of distrust from the three girls. What was so important to keep a secret of? Or maybe they were just paranoid, and all the diary has is just Ivory’s typical rants.

    “Yeah, its in my bag, hold on,” Mei replied as she pulled down her bag from her back and on to her lap, pulling the blood-red book from it.

    “Oh, it's much thicker than I suspected,” Olive commented as Mei handed the book to her.

    “Yeah, my first thought exactly,” Mei commented back.

    Olive carefully opened the book to its first entry, and sure enough, it was just like how Violet had described it. Rants. Endless rants in a messy hand writing, as far as the first entry goes. It was mostly clean written, however. None of Ivory’s usual lazy doodles, in the corner of the page.

    Olive then flipped the book to the last entry, same thing there. Rants in a messy handwriting. Mostly clean—no drawings, no stains, just a bit of warping and possible water damage on the papers. Another thing she noticed though is how Ivory’s writing style had developed. But most importantly, the one French written line is written near the end of the entry.

    “Tu verras!”

    “You’ll see!”. That’s what Ivory wrote. She was almost sure that was meant especially for her. No one else in her circle of friends could speak French, and the same goes for her circle of family. Either Ivory was extremely tired at the time and needed to resort to her second known language, or she was trying to send a message to someone. Both are very likely to be true, knowing how Ivory usually acts.

    On one hand, Ivory most likely wrote this right after she got home from the hill—so she must be very tired. So, she could have used her second language because she was too lazy/tired. It was very known of Ivory to switch in between language when she’s tired, or when she’s drunk. The later was by far just speculation, as no one but her mother has ever seen Ivory drunk. And Anna has never really been open about her mother-daughter habit with Ivory.

    But on the other hand, by Olive’s knowledge, Ivory had meant for someone to find her diary and give it to them. So she could have intentionally planned the message. And it doesn’t help that those two words Ivory had written in French had meant a lot to Olive. Olive would always say those two words to her parents, and Ivory had always said those two words to her—in a different tone and connotation of course.

    To Olive, those words mean rebellion, as she had always shouted those words to her parents every time she wanted to prove something. Usually, that “something” was her ability and her potential, which was quite odd considering most parents overestimate their children’s talents. But Olive’s parents had always been neglectful or even downright refusing to acknowledge Olive’s capabilities, which was what mostly prompted Olive’s constant use of those two words. So in conclusion, “Tu verras!” means, “I’ll be able to do it in due time!” for Olive.

    But to Ivory, “Tu verras!” means something on a whole new spectrum. To her, those words meant dreams and the future, and her ambitions in general. She would always say it to Olive when discussing what will become of her in the future. “Just you wait! I’m going to achieve my dreams before you know it!” Ivory used to say. That’s what it usually was. But one day it was different, one day when Ivory was teaching Olive how to write in French. Olive was having trouble in understanding the principles, she was about to give up before Ivory stated those two words to her. Usually, it meant, “You’ll see.” But in that case, it meant more as, “You’ll understand.”

    But what does it matter? Are they just words? For all she knew, it would just be Ivory’s laziness taking in as she wrote this. But then Olive noticed the format of the entry. It was almost like it was a letter, obviously for them. Did she mean to do this? Knowing that they’ll graduate and separate themselves from each other soon, she’d most likely meant to do this. And everyone knows, when Ivory puts her mind on something she’d intended to finish, she’ll put the most effort and care to it. So which one was it? Accidental? Or intended? Olive may never know.

    But again, it doesn’t really matter at this point. What matters now is what should they do with the diary. Keep reading? Or keep it as it is?

    Olive glanced back at Mei, who was sitting next to her and reading alongside her. “What would she do?” Olive thought to herself. Knowing Mei, she will most likely decide to keep it as it is. So, if Mei doesn’t change her mind today, all three of them would have to comply. But if she does change her mind, Olive would make sure that Mei would be the first one to finish the book. Because the whole universe knows that she deserves it. All three of them might have been friends with Ivory, but no one had what Mei and Ivory had. One would even think that they’ve fallen in love with each other, but that would merely be a false accusation.

    “So?” Mei spoke up, prompting Olive to pause her thoughts to answer.

    “So,” Olive started, “What should we do now?”

    “I don’t know,” Mei answered weakly.

    “We could leave it as it is,” Olive offered. “Or we could continue,” She added.

    “I don’t think we should,” Mei retorted.

    “Why?”

    “Because it’s Ivory’s privacy we’re talking about here,” Mei replied, still insisting on her stance. “Should we really be doing this, to begin with?” She asked Olive.

    “Well as far as I’m aware of,” Olive started, “Violet told me that you told her that Ivory had meant for the diary to be found.”

    “Ivory may have meant for the last entry to be read, but not the whole thing,” Mei thought loudly as she tries to think of another reason they shouldn’t be doing this.

    “But we wouldn’t have known about the last entry unless we found out about the whole thing,” Olive insisted. “We were just lucky that we decided that we should read the last entry.”

    “Maybe there was another person she was addressing to found out about her diary,” Mei said spontaneously.

    “Like who?” Olive questioned, quirking her brow at Mei.

    “I...” Mei’s words trailed off her mouth. She couldn’t think of anyone else close enough to Ivory as she was to her.

    Olive chuckled at Mei’s lost for words. Satisfied with her almost successful attempt at persuading Mei, she spoke once more. “If you ever decide that we should continue reading it, I’ll make sure you read it first.” She promised. “Just to make sure that we wouldn’t see something that we would regret.” She added.

    Mei took a deep sigh, then replied. “Ok, I’ll think about it.”

    “Anyway,” Olive started, “How about we get some snacks, you must be very hungry by now,” she offered.

    “Cake?” Mei facetiously questioned.

    “Non,” Olive forbade with a stern look on her face. Though they both know that situation wasn’t as serious as it seemed, in fact, it was quite a humorous atmosphere.

    “So what?” Mei questioned once more.

    “Now, we go to the pantry!” Olive finally declared.

    “What are we, twelve?” Mei joked.

    “No, but we’re teenagers and we need ice cream.” Olive jokingly replied, prompting the both of them to chuckle in unison.

    “Ah, wakatta,” Mei replied calmly as they both headed out for the door.

    The pantry was located on the second floor, it was made to be quite hidden from guests visiting the residence. Only the three maids ever go to the pantry, and only on specific times. Namely for preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner—which was every day at 05.00 AM, 10.00 AM, and 04.00 pm. And if they aren’t making any food in the pantry, they were always roaming around the second floor cleaning each unattended room meticulously. Olive had managed to memorize their schedule and routes over the years, making it easier for them to sneak in at the right time as to not get caught by accident.

    They slowly opened the white wooden door that leads out of Olive’s room, making a low creaking noise echo through the hall in front of them. They slowly snuck out of the room, Olive going first with Mei following behind her. Their footsteps seemed to echo through the long ominous hallway, though that seemed to have proven impossible considering the floor was made of marble. Still, after all those years doing this, they still felt some sort of paranoia as they do this.

    They slowly made their way through the hallway and are currently approaching the stairs. The stairs were made of wood. So of course, unlike the marble flooring, the stairs were very easy to emit sounds from footsteps. It was a quarter landing stair, however, so the landing had made it possible for them to stop and take a few seconds of rest from the tense atmosphere. However, they aren’t able to rest for long, as they need to keep going downwards and into the second floor.

    The second floor belongs to “the grown-ups” as Olive’s parents had always commanded. As the floor accommodates her parent's bedroom, study room, and every other room two rich parents would ever need. It also housed the maids’ room and the guard’s room, as they tend to stay overnight at times. So to recap, the third floor was mainly for Olive, the second floor’s for “the grown-ups”, and the first floor was for potential guests. But once more, the most important thing to note is the second floor and the pantry.

    As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they could hardly wait to indulge themselves in the wonderful dessert they usually expect from the pantry. But they still have to sneak past the adults. Because as one might have guessed, this particular floor was almost always filled with adults that could potentially catch them in their actions. Typically, it won’t be as bad for Olive as it would be for Mei, as she was undoubtedly counted as an uninvited guest.

    So they continued on their quest for ice creams, making as little noise as possible. Granted, it wasn’t quite as hard considering that they’ve stepped out of the wooden stairs and back into the comfortable marble flooring. What’s less easy, however, was staying out of sight from the maids. As one might have known already, there were three maids. But these maids roam around the second floor like a hoard of dogs searching for food. Getting through the second floor while everyone was currently in the house was the worst possible situation at this point. It was like playing minesweeper in real life, they’ll never know where the trouble was hiding.

    They slowly distanced themselves from the stairs and into the hallway. It was very ominous, and with no doubt very dangerous for them to venture through, which is most likely on the account of the fact that they’re quite literally standing right in the middle of it. As they realized the fatal mistake that they had made, there was already someone on the other end of the hallway approaching their direction. Miss Gertrude, the eldest of the three maids. But thankfully she was unaware of who Olive and Mei was, as she had not worn her glasses then.

    Olive and Mei quickly bolted for the nearest room, which was Mr. Mckenzie’s study room. Once again, thankfully empty. They decided that it was for the best that they should hide inside the study desk—which was a good call, as Miss Gertrude soon entered the room. And as soon as she did, Mei yanked on Olive’s shoulders out of reflex, making Olive hiss at her.

    Their fingers started to clench to their palms making a fist as they held their breaths for a few agonizing seconds leaving their chest really tight, their eyes become as wide as they possibly could, their heartbeats began to increase, as they impatiently waited for the dreadful moment to end.

    “She went in!” Olive violently whispered.

    “Hush!” Mei whispered back, “You’re going to get us caught.”

    “You know, we’re too old to be doing this right?” Olive pointed out.

    “Desperate times.” Mei retorted.

    But the tension didn’t last long. And both Olive and Mei sighed in relief, as Miss Gertrude slowly exited the study room. This, however, was a rare occurrence, as Miss Gertrude usually (i.e. always) intent to clean the room whenever she enters it.

    “Can we get out of the desk now?” Olive asked nervously after a few seconds of silence.

    “Yeah, this is getting awkward,” Mei quickly replied as they both crawled out of the tight wooden space.

    “Well, at least the pantry’s only down the hall,” Olive commented in relief, attempting to light up the situation.

    “Yeah, but how are we going to get there?” Mei asked, frustrated at the situation.

    “Oh come on, don’t be such a grump,” Olive remarked as she nudged Mei’s shoulder. “Well just do it like we always do.” She added.

    Mei chuckled at her friend's attempt of cheer her up. “Yeah, like old times.”

    They quickly sneaked out of the study room, making sure nobody (especially Miss Gertrude) saw them. They went right and down the hall, and into another unoccupied room—Mrs. McKenzie’s private bathroom.

    “Why did you bring us here of all places? This is the worst place to hide in.” Mei grunted.

    “Yeah I know, just hold on a minute,” Olive answered back as she peeked through the toilet door. Which was a very bad timing on their side, as a person just walked right passed them. Olive had no idea how Miss Gretel didn’t saw her peeping through the bathroom door, considering how diligent she usually was. But nevertheless, Olive thanked the odds.

    Mei, on the other hand, didn’t quite had the vision Olive had. As she was standing right behind Olive when the occurrence had happened, unable to see a thing.

    “Hey!” Mei whispered as she yanked the back of Olive’s expensive wool sweater. “Is anyone out there?”

    “No.” Olive snickered, amused by Mei’s unawareness of the occurrence that had just happened.

    “Then let’s get out of here!” Mei promptly said, still keeping her voice low.

    “Okay, okay.” Olive whispered back, “Just let me open the door real quick.” She responded as she opened the door as slowly as she could. And by doing so, she hoped that the door won’t be making an as much squeaking sound as it usually does. And to which, to her surprise, her action had resulted in the exact opposite result. One would have never heard of such loud squeak in one’s life unless it was a squeak of a dying rat.

    “Really?” Mei sarcastically retorted to Olive.

    “Sorry.” Olive squeaked apologetically.

    Mei placed her face to her palm, then sighed heavily. “Let’s just go.”

    And with that, the conversation had ended and they soon managed to sneak into the pantry. Or more accurately, to the front of the door to the pantry. The reason being that they could not get any farther than that, as the door was locked.

    “Great,” Mei remarked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

    “Okay, we’re in a desperate situation here Mei,” Olive reminded in a panicked tone.

    “Yeah, no s**t you nerd ball.” Mei retorted.

    “Look, we are outside of where we’re supposed to be right now!” Olive whispered to Mei as she desperately tries to yank the door open.

    “And by that do you mean the pantry, your room, or your house?” Mei asked sarcastically.

    Olive proceeded to look back at her, then went back to attempt to pry the door open. Mei looked as she was eyeing Olive, not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. Which was awfully weird to Olive, but she didn’t think much of it. As the emergency situation has not come to its end just yet.

    “Yes,” Olive replied in a straight and unimpressed tone. “And, we’re currently right down the hallway.” She silently pointed out.

    “And everyone is free to come down here, and bust our butts,” Mei added in a somewhat calm and collected tone as if she’d already know the answer to the situation.

    “Exactly!” Olive almost shouted that response, but thankfully she caught herself. “Now if you would please save the attitude and help me ou-” Her words were cut off, as Mei had placed her palm on Olive’s mouth.

    “Shhh.” Olive hushed in a low tone. She then grabbed a pair of Olive bobby pins out of her hair, then proceeded to pick the door’s lock.

    “Ooh,” Olive enunciated, as the large wooden door opened with ease.

    Mei promptly walked in, Olive following behind her making sure to close the door before doing anything else. And as the heat of the situation starts to dissipate, the two girls sighed with relief.

    “I forgot you could do that.” Olive suddenly pointed out.

    “Yeah, me too,” Mei answered nonchalantly.

    They paused for a moment, then looked around their surroundings, then looked back at each other.

    “Ice cream?” Olive asked.

    “Ice cream,” Mei confirmed.

    Meanwhile, both Miss Gertrude and Miss Gretel were eavesdropping on the two girls’ conversation from outside of the pantry. Miss Abigail soon joined them—wondering what were the two other maids doing, sitting on their heels and leaning their heads on to the pantry door.

    “What’s happening in there?” Miss Abigail whispered in a furious tone, as she crossed her arms and looked down upon the two sitting maids.

    “Shhh.” One of the two sitting maids promptly whispered. “It’s them again.”

    “Who are you referring to?” Miss Abigail asked once more.

    “It’s Olive.” Miss Gertrude responded.

    “And Mei!” Miss Gretel half shouted.

    “Shhh!” Both Miss Gertrude and Abigail silenced.

    Miss Abigail chuckled, then proceeded to sit next to them. “If you’d told me sooner, I wouldn’t have been so mad.”

    The three maids chuckled softly, then proceeded to listen to the two girls’ conversation. Holding back their soft giggles as they remembered the old times.

    “You’d think after all these years they would’ve noticed us.” Miss Gertrude pointed out with a smile. The two other maids nodded in approval, as they continue to eavesdrop on the two girls behind the old wooden door.

    “I know right.” Both Miss Abigail and Gretel responded, their ears still attached to the wooden door.

    “They’re just so cute and adorable when they sneak and prowl around like that.” Miss Gretel added.

    “I know right, and I hope they like the strawberry ice cream I just put in the freezer.” Miss Abigail retorted.

    “It’s strawberry Abigail, they’ll love it.” Miss Gretel promptly responded.

    “Oh jeez, they’re just so adorable.” Both Miss Abigail and Gretel commented.

    “Yeah, and to think they didn’t notice me giggling at them when they were hiding behind the old man’s study desk.” Miss Gertrude added.

    “Oh jeepers, they did that again?” Miss Gretel promptly responded.

    “Impossible.” Miss Abigail refuted, “They’d never fit in there in this age.”

    “Oh trust me, they did.” Miss Gertrude voiced. “They looked damn cute doing it.”

    “Oh, I wish I could see them.” Miss Gretel replied.

    “I agree. By the way, does anyone remember when we started doing this?” Miss Abigail interjected.

    “Why, ever since Olive met Ivory of course,” Gretel replied cheerfully, then realizing the reality that had dawned upon them.

    “Ah, Ivory.” Miss Abigail whispered.

    “Poor little girl, may her soul rest in peace.” Miss Gertrude pronounced softly.

    “Agreed.” The two other maids responded.

    As they conversed, they had noticed that the two voices behind the door had sounded fainter and less frequent. Indicating that they’ve found the ice cream, and the three maids couldn’t help but giggle.

    “Looks like they’ll be in there for a while.” Miss Gertrude retorted.

    “Of course! I bought the biggest bucket of ice cream I could find.” Miss Abigail proudly proclaimed.

    “Nice thinking Gail.” Miss Gretel commented.

    “Please stop calling me that.” Miss Abigail promptly demanded, irritated by her own nickname.

    “Alright, let’s just leave the two girls alone.” Miss Gertrude ordered as she stood up.

    “Agreed. Let’s go Gail” Miss Gretel responded, completely ignoring Miss Abigail’s previous demand.

    And as the afternoon continues, the three maids had left the three girls alone in the pantry with their well-deserved ice creams. And as the two girls talked about their lives and what’s currently happening in it, the three maids had made sure to keep a close eye on the pantry, making sure no one would be able to disturb the two girls.

    Which had proven to be quite easy, considering Mr and Mrs had been very busy lately. What with the amplified amount of work caused to set up their daughter Olive for college. Though it was quite odd that they haven’t got out of their bedroom since they’ve had breakfast, not that it concerns anyone else in the house.

    Meanwhile, Olive and Mei had been catching up with each other. Sitting on the kitchen counter with their respective buckets of ice cream as they talked. Olive has vanilla, and Mei has strawberry as usual.

    And they just talked, like they’d always do. For a moment it felt like they were back in junior high, the time where they did this most. They’d sneak out on heavy rained nights, crawl down the stairs and grab their favorite ice cream and just eat and talk all night. It was like no one else had existed in the world, except them in their own little world. Those times were infinite memories, every time they’d thought of it would always be a different moment in those times. And it’s good, great even.

    Every few days at a comfy night, where the rain was trickling down the home that they share. Sneak around the second floor, grab a scoop of an ice cream cone and then there they were. A cold yet comfy spot, they sit down and bundle on their socks like they’d always do. Quoting lyrics from an unknown band and telling jokes that only they’d understand like best friends do.

    They’d just talk, and take in the moment that they share. They just talked, in whatever mood they may have. Because this is a comfort to them, Mei, Olive, Violet, and of course...To Ivory.

    Back when they were still young and naive, all they ever saw was each other like nothing would ever go wrong. But now, they knew. Now, all they see is each other and how everything else would go wrong. But still, they talk and take in what they have. They let the world pass by, it felt like they could go on like this forever this way. Two friends, having the perfect day.

    But they can’t, it’s far too late for “normal” now. And they both know that they’re going to miss “normal”. They’ll miss the time where talk with no burden in their hearts, they’ll miss the time they would talk about the future and the things they’d do when they get out of school. But none of that matters now, they’ve barely cared about those things now that this nightmare came true.

    But still, this is somewhat comforting. As there’s nothing that they can’t discuss, even Ivory and her diary (surprisingly). And they’d also discussed Violet and her circumstances, like, about the guitar and her swing of moods (those things too).

    Then suddenly, Olive turns around, looks Mei straight in the eye and spoke.

    “I know this isn’t the best we could be.” She started, “But right now, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

    Mei blinked twice, then replied, “Me too.”

    And once more, they talk (ramble) and savor their last few moments of “normal” before going back from the pantry and into Olive’s cozy room. She reopened the window Mei had used previously to let some fresh air inside the room. It was an odd feeling because both Olive and Mei swore that it was raining quite heavily back at the pantry. Though now that they’ve thought about it, they might just be hearing things out of nostalgia. Memory is a powerful thing.

    The sky was clear like it was waiting to show its beauty to them. Bright yet calm blue, with thin white clouds scattered like stars. The wind was very relaxing, it was a nice change of temperature from the cold pantry table and ice cream.

    Mei makes herself comfy on Olive’s bed as Olive closes her bedroom door and joins her. Olive had turned the chandelier light off so the light from outside could do its work. And Mei thanks her in advance, as the light has started blinding her. Olive would usually make fun of her sensitive eyes, but today was a different day. Today was somewhat special. So they decided that it was best to just settle down in Olive’s bed, making themselves as comfy as possible with Olive’s infinite amount of pillows.

    And once again, they just talked. It was quite necessary, as there were many feelings bottled up inside them lately, so none of them minds the activity. And the world seemed to pass by without them, leaving the two girls alone in the white painted room.

    Then after a while, they just stopped talking altogether. Taking in the moment once more, as if they still couldn’t believe that this reality that they live in isn’t real. It’s like they had to make sure every now and again that they’re still there. It feels like this could go on for forever this way, and the atmosphere is sure encouraging it.

    The warmth of the summer sky and the breeze from the window to the outside has nothing to compare it too. The comfort of Olive’s bed and the dim chandelier light from the sun’s rays shining inside is just perfect. The crystals of the chandelier jiggle slightly from the outside breeze and the sun ray reflects beautifully on the melodic crystals. This atmosphere, long missed, was perfect. They knew that this won’t last for very long, although they’d subconsciously hoped that it will.

    It has been quite some time since they’ve done this, especially with just the two of them doing it. It was always with Ivory and Violet, the whole gang. But they rarely ever do this in pairs. Ivory has the exception, considering that she had met Olive first. And Violet was undoubtedly Olive’s favorite out of the rest of them, so she has a little privilege.

    But Mei? Mei is just Mei, one of Olive’s best friends, nothing more. And they both realized this fact long before this instance, but they’re quite okay with it. Because as of right now, this was one of the only things they could count on to stay the same. The stability of their friendship (they hope) would remain unchanged. Though the current circumstances suggested otherwise.

    It was always perfect, or to put it more accurately, normal. And it was one of the only things they know true at this point. But they do not wish to be reminded of what has conspired, what will become of them. So they went back to talking, as always. Both were lying in Olive’s bed, with Mie laying by Olive’s side. Mei laid on her side facing her friend, who was laying on her stomach next to her.

    And the topics rolled over like seasons, they talked about anything and everything. And they soon started recalling their happy memories back, and what painful became what it should and always have been. The memories were so vivid that it felt like they weren’t even in the room anymore. Suddenly they’re back at the hill, the wonderful and yet very dreadful hill.

    And there she was. Ivory, standing calmly on the hill with the three of them, smiling. And then suddenly they were racing toward the top of the hill like there was no tomorrow, Ivory leading them towards the highest part of the hill. And they were right behind her, following with enthusiasm and as they laugh and utter jokes at each other. Then, from the green grassy field, they would hear her calling "follow me".

    And there they went, running as they wonder how the world might look from up so high. Even though that they knew what it would look like, they’ve been there a thousand times already. But the curiosity never changes, as they started noticing that things slowly changed over the years. Fewer animals, more bushes, and trees growing taller as the seasons went by. There is an indescribable feeling of need to check on what they’re sure of.

    So they kept running. One foot after the other, and one branch then to another. They kept running faster and higher, they climbed until the entire sun shines ever so brightly on their face. And it was good, great even! Even though all they saw was the summer sky, and the warm yet blinding light from the burning sun. They felt the soothing summer wind brush past them, and the tall weeds brushing their ankles. And they all looked up to the sky, Ivory still right beside them. And they just stood there and let time pass by, with no worries whatsoever.

    But, both Mei and Olive slowly pull (pry) themselves away out of their thoughts. Because they knew that it wasn’t real, it was all in their naive little minds. And they both knew that if they linger in those type of thoughts any longer, they’ll want to stay there forever.

    They turned their heads away from each other, then back at each other. They knew what the other had imagined, somehow. They knew that that thought would just make things harder for moving forward, but they couldn’t help but imagine what would their circumstance be if Ivy hadn’t gone away so soon. They smiled bitterly at each other because they understand.

    Because they understand the situation, or more accurately the feeling they both have. The feeling of loss, and the desire to be in another person’s company. Namely their friend.

    “Do you remember that time when we raced to the top of the hill?” Olive suddenly asked, trying to lighten up the situation.

    “Which one?” Mei asked as they’ve done that activity numerous times.

    “The one where your glasses fell off,” Olive answered.

    “Oh, that one.” Mei chuckled as she slowly reminded that memory.

    “Yeah, Ivory was almost at the top,” Olive added.

    “But she ran back down to help me search for it,” Mei recalled.

    “Yeah, even though she knew she’d lost her bet with Violet.” Olive laughed.

    “Yeah, I remembered that,” Mei confirmed as a smile started creeping its way on to her face. Ivory seemed to haunt her mind, undying.

    “Yeah, I imagined that you imagined that,” Olive admitted.

    “You could’ve worded that better,” Mei interjected as she takes off her glasses and clears it of its usual white smudges.

    “True,” Olive replied briefly.

    “Well anyway, that’s Ivory for you.” Mei chuckled.

    “Yeah.” Olive agreed as she twirled her hair.

    “She’s always there for you.” Both Mei and Olive reported simultaneously as if they’d known what the other would say. And right after they’ve said it, they realized the fatal mistake they’ve made.

    They suddenly felt reality push its way back into their minds. And a new memory pops up, or was it fantasy? They couldn’t tell anymore. Their breaths hitched as the toxic thoughts flooded their minds one’s more, and of course, all of them focuses on Ivory. Every single detail about her becomes a caricature of itself, exaggerating all the painful detail of her life and death.

    She’s on the ground, as her mind goes numb. And they were in the car, Violet’s car. As they race to the nearest hospital. Mei saw herself, running. Desperately trying to see Ivory before the universe decided to pull Ivory’s plug.

    And Olive saw herself, looking at Mei from behind, desperately trying to catch up to Mei. But when she did catch up with her, it wasn’t good news. Ivory is dying, and they’re not even allowed to go near her. Every one of them was breaking down, and she wanted to say something about it.

    She wanted to say something to help them, something, anything. But nothing came up. Her lips felt like it had been sewn shut, and her throat felt numb. So no words ever came out of her in that moment. And the worst part about it is the fact that Olive had to watch her friends breakdown right in front of her, without having the ability to do anything about it.

    And nothing’s okay. Nothing was ever quite okay after Ivory had left, but that was to be expected. What they didn’t expect, however, is the fact that it takes so long for them to recover from their loss. It’s been almost a month and they still haven’t done anything else but give into their sorrow.

    And after a while of reuniting with these invasive thoughts, they started drifting, into somewhere dark. They could feel their pulse getting louder and faster. Louder, and faster by the second. As they went through their painful thoughts, they could somehow see some sparks.

    The lights come and go. They both know that there must be something left to do after “the end”. Something is trying to talk to them, to send them some sort of message. But they couldn’t understand a thing no matter how hard they’ve tried. Their thoughts went by so fast, too fast. They couldn’t keep up. Are they memories? Or a glimpse of future? Or something they wanted? What is this?

    “I have to go!” Mei snapped. Suddenly pulling herself from the invading thoughts, realizing that she has another place to go to for today. Violet.

    “What? Why?” Olive asked, worried.

    “I need to go to Violet, right now.” She answered as quickly as her mouth allows her.

    “Why? What for?” Olive asked once more, obviously not satisfied with Mei’s answer.

    “I have to teach her some stuff,” Mei answered. “And my dad’s probably waiting outside your house, so I really need to go.” She added, as she grabbed her bag and pry herself from Olive’s comfortable bed.

    “But I...” Olive’s words trailed off. She couldn’t think of any reason for Mei to stay, but she doesn’t want her company to leave just yet. She’s still confused, about all of this. About Mei, about Violet, about Ivory and her diary, and (surprisingly) about herself.

    “Yeah?” Mei snapped her from her thoughts.

    Olive looked up to Mei, she was already by the window sill. Her bag on her back and the diary safely tucked inside it. Olive sighed, then continued, “Nevermind, have fun with Violet.” And despite what one might think, it wasn’t sarcastic.

    “Would you like to come?” Mei suddenly asked, stumbling over her words for no reason.

    “What? Nah, you go ahead.” Olive persisted. “I need some time alone anyway.” She added.

    “Oh, okay then. Ima wa sayōnara.” She beamed, and with that, she’s gone.

    “Au revoir mon ami,” Olive replied as she walked up too close the window, knowing Mei couldn’t hear her little farewell.

    Mei could already tell that Violet was anxiously waiting for her to arrive at her house. Though, it was completely her fault for staying too long with Olive today. Then again, she hated the fact that she had to leave so abruptly, leaving bad atmosphere lingering behind. And she couldn’t help but think of what they both had said.

     “Well anyway, that’s Ivory for you.”

    “Yeah.”

    “She’s always there for you.”

    God, what were they thinking? What was she thinking? Bringing up that conversation so suddenly, even though Olive was the one who instigated it, she shouldn’t have played along.

    Well, there’s no use dwelling on her stupid past decisions, so she just kept walking to Violet’s front porch. Now that she’s thought about it, Mei had arrived at Violet’s house sooner than she’d expected, Which was a good thing given the circumstances.

    The house seemed rather odd, somewhat duller than before. To put it more precisely, it seemed quieter than before. But Mei ignored the thought and continued to knock on the front door. No answers.

    She looked around, wondering if anyone was even home at the moment. Soon she had found out that the garage door was open, and the usual car was nowhere to be found. Did they go somewhere without informing her?

    She glanced back to her father, who was still waiting nearby with the car, he could only shrug in response. Mei sighed, then knocked once more. And finally, someone from the inside had answered.

    “Hold on, I’m coming to the door now!” A female voice from inside of the house had answered.

    Mei heard loud footsteps approach the other side of the door, whoever was making it had heels on. Mei waited patiently, then, sure enough, a few seconds later, the door had been opened for her. However, she didn’t quite recognize whoever opened it. It was a woman, mid-thirties, olive skin adorned with scruffy black hair tied into a messy bun.

    “Ah, Mei wasn’t it? Mrs. Miller told me you were visiting.” The woman explained.

    “Yeah.” Was only that Mei managed to say, to be completely honest, she was too emotionally tired for today.

    “Ah yes, you must be wondering who I am.” The woman realized, “My name is Isabelle. I’m the new housekeeper, I’ll be here until Violet gets better.”

    “Oh, okay then,” Mei replied nonchalantly. “But where’s Mr. and Mrs. Miller?”

    “Oh they’re off somewhere, they won’t be back for quite a while.” The woman replied as she made way for Mei to come inside.

    Did Violet’s parents really do what she thought they did? Did they just decide that it would be best to leave their only daughter’s problems to someone else and just bail on her? What the hell kind of parents are they!?

    But then again she might be wrong, there’s no need to assume. Violet’s parents are quite the busy people, and they do have very important jobs and meetings to attend to. Dakara, osoraku sore wa warui koto desu ne.

    “Oh and Miss.” The new housekeeper suddenly parted, “Just...Be careful.” Those last words seemed to come with unease.

    “Violet’s not a threat to anyone, she just needs time,” Mei replied sternly as she approaches Violet’s door.

    She stopped right in front of it, then checks the door handle. Locked. She then knocked a few times. She could hear someone’s heavy breath from the other side of the door, no doubt that it’s Violet in there. She listened for a bit more, no sounds or indications of crying. Seemed like she’s getting better, but Mei wouldn’t know for sure unless Violet opens the door.

    She knocks a few more times, no sound from the other side indicating that Violet was going to open the door, or even moving for that matter. Mei placed on of her ear to the wooden door, she could hear a faint sound of talking. But there was no one else in the room, so what was Violet doing exactly? And the words, Mei couldn’t quite make them out, but she could tell that they repeat. Like some sort of pattern, were those even words that Violet was babbling about? Each “word” seemed to end so shortly. Upon further inspection, the “words” seemed too short of an amplitude to actually be an English word, but too long to be a singular letter.

    Mei knocked a few more times, hopefully, this would be the last set of knocks she had to do. But then as she does so, Mei realized something she couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized sooner. They were notes!

    G...something something...C, maybe...D...D

    She could hear some of the notes, and she soon started imagining the melody that it would create with Ivory’s old guitar. It seemed that Violet had a good taste after, not that it was ever doubted in the first place.

    But suddenly the voice stopped, and Mei could hear a few seconds of footsteps before Violet finally opened the door for her. And Violet was...Not in the best shape.

    She was wearing a dirty and ruffled white shirt, with gray sweatpants and one sock (yes, just one). Her face was tired, to say the least, and her thick brown curly hair was tied haphazardly into a bun with a very tight rubber band that’s most likely going to snap in a few seconds.

    “Hey, how are you?” Was Mei could muster to her friend.

    “I’ve been...Studying.” Violet replied as she scratched the back of her neck. Mei secretly wonders if Violet’s been showering, or sleeping.

    “I could tell,” Mei commented, trying not to sound malevolent.

    “You were eavesdropping on me weren’t you?” Violet guessed with a smug face. Mei could only nod as Violet giggled and made way for her to enter.

    “Sorry for eavesdropping, that was a bit uncalled for.” Mei apologized as she sat on the side of Violet’s bed.

    “Nah, it’s fine.” Violet dismissed. “But what’s important now is...Do you like it?” Violet abruptly asked.

    And of course, having no context for the question, all Mei could say was, “What?”   

    “The notes you dweeb!” Violet answered with a chuckle. Mei noticed that she’d seemed happier compared to the last time Mei had visited her, good for her.

    “Oh, um yeah they’re pretty good,” Mei responded, unsure of what else was there to say.

    “Good? They’re perfect!” Violet exclaimed. “I made it myself.” She added proudly.

    “Oh! Well, that’s awesome, now all we have to do is teach you how to play it.” Mei concluded cheerfully. Mostly because she doesn’t want to drag Violet’s mood down along with her own.

    “Well, easier said than done.” Violet imparted as she grabbed Ivory’s blood-red bass, now somewhat polished and cleaned as Mei had noticed.

    “We’ll try, with the basics first.” Mei declared as Violet hands her the bass.

    “Again, easier said than done.” Violet reiterated.

    “Shut up and learn.” Mei scoffed as they both sat comfortably on Violet’s bed.

    Mei felt...Odd, holding the guitar. The way the weight feels on her wrists and arm and the awkward length of the guitar itself was already making Mei nervous. But she quickly forced herself to adjust as Violet was starting to stare. She adjusted her glasses nervously as she tries to make herself comfortable holding the guitar, but to be honest, she’s already given up trying.

    “You know what? Why don’t you hold the guitar, while I manage the theories.” Mei suddenly offered. She handed the guitar out to Violet, expecting her friend to take it.

    “Uh no thanks, I can’t really hold the guitar anymore.” Violet rejected with a low tone, her eyes looking down to the palm of her hands.

    “Why?” Mei asked, but then she soon caught on with Violet. And they never talked about the subject ever again.

    She tried to think of any possible theory or instructions from past books she’s read to help her in her situation, but nothing came up. But soon enough, she imagined Ivory. She imagined how she used to hold the iconic bass, sitting and singing peacefully as if the whole world had stopped. The way her fingers moved on the fretboard and the way she always closed her eyes while playing, her steady breathing and calm posture...It’s all coming back to her.

    So Mei did just that, she copied all of the things she could remember about how Ivory plays. It’s not quite perfect, far from it actually, but it will suffice for basic learning. She tilted her head along with the red guitar towards her slightly, giving her a better view of the fretboard. She positioned her legs in such a way that the guitar’s body had managed to sit comfortably on her and made sure that the guitar’s body sits at the right height. But since she was unsure of how her back was supposed to be positioned, she arched it a bit.

    “Right. Now that that’s settled, what should we start with?” Violet suddenly asked.

    “I...Actually hadn’t thought about that.” Mei admitted.

    “Well, you suggest we should start from the basics,” Violet reminded. “So, why don’t we just start with major chords.” She suggested.

    “And what are major chords exactly?” Mei asked nervously, for she hadn’t really had the time to learn these things herself.

    She hadn’t had the time to learn the things she should be teaching to Violet, but Violet, on the other hand, had all the time in the world as of this point to learn about this. So, of course, Mei is embarrassed, but Violet seemed to be enjoying herself, so Mei wouldn’t exactly want to complain right now.

    “The major chord is the most basic set of chords, that consists of three different notes. A major triad consists of the root, a major third, and a perfect fifth.” Violet explained, oblivious to the knowledge that Mei is still clueless about the whole endeavor.

    “Okay, so major chords. Yay.” Mei exclaimed as enthusiastic as possible, but she could already tell that her friend isn’t going to buy into it for too long.

    “Here, just follow my hand,” Violet instructed as she mimics the way Mei holds the guitar and accentuating on her fingers’ position on the imaginary fretboard, Mei watched closely as she tries her best to memorize each fingers’ movement.

    “C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C!” Violet sang in tune with the note as she moved her fingers accordingly.

    Mei could only stare in awe, “She managed to learn this much in a couple of days?” She thought to herself as she continues to memorize the last few bits of note, and it appears that her good memory has come to good use in this situation.

    “Okay so,” Mei started as she’s now beginning to copy Violet’s hand movements, “C-D-E-F?” She paused to check if she had made any mistakes. She looked up to Violet to ask if she’d made any mistakes, only to find smiling and giving her a thumbs up. A good sign!

    “G-A-B-C.” Violet continued the rest of the chords, attempting to help Mei memorize the rest of it, which helped a lot.

    “G-A-B-C,” Mei repeated Violet’s motion as she spoke the notes in order. She looked up once more from the guitar, once again only to see Violet smiling calmly at her.

    “You’re good.” Violet complimented, her smile still apparent.

    “Same with you. I couldn’t imagine learning how to play an instrument in a couple of nights.” Mei retorted back at her friend as she put the blood-red guitar down from her grip to stretch her arms.

    “Well, I have nothing better to do so...” Violet’s words vanished mid-sentence, and so did her smile.

    “No no no please don’t be sad I’m sorry I-” Mei quickly attempted to apologize, but her attempts were silenced by Violet’s eyes.

    “No It’s fine,” Violet quickly reassured, “Now, from the top!” She declared as cheerfully as she could manage.

    “C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C!” They both sang in unison, accompanied by the low sound of the bass being played by Mei.

    “Okay, so that’s the basics.” Mei disclosed.

    “Do you want to take a quick snack break? Or should we just continue?” Violet asked.

    “I could go for one more set of chords, I think,” Mei answered as she repositioned the guitar.

    “Okay then,” Violet says, “To the minor chords then!”

    “Ah, makes sense.” Mei points out as she gets ready to memorize Violet’s hand gesture once more, whilst making sure she didn’t already forget her previous lesson.

    “But before we start, we’ll actually need a music sheet to show you where and what the notes are called,” Violet explained as she grabbed a nearby paper that seemed to be an already filled music sheet.

    Mei could only stare in astonishment as she reads the notes written on it. “Cm-C#m-D♭m-Dm-D#m-E♭m-Em-Fm-G♭m-Gm-G#m-A♭m-Am-A#m-B♭m-Bm.” She says out loud as she tries to figure out where to place her fingers on each note.

    Mei looked up to Violet, expecting her friend to help her somehow. In which Violet soon catches on and quickly blurted, “Oh right, chord sheet! Not music sheet!” as she soon replaced the white paper in front of Mei with a different one.

    “How are you so amazing at this?” Mei asked in awe. “And here I thought that I’m the one who’s going to be teaching you today!” She remarked with a chuckle.

    “It’s nothing really.” Violet shrugged off.

    “Oh hey!” Mei suddenly realized, “The song you were singing before, didn’t those only have basic notes?” She pointed out.

    “First of all, I wasn’t singing the damned song. I was memorizing the notes for it” Violet refuted. “But yes, it only had basic notes. So far that is.” She then confirmed.

    Mei’s face lit up with joy, and Violet knew damn well what her plan was. And so they just skipped the formalities and got straight into studying Violet’s little melody. And so as day turned into the night (or to place it more accurately, evening.) the two girls began to learn and master the song.

    Although Mei was the only one holding the guitar, Violet was learning much faster than her. And as a matter of fact, Violet had managed to add some additions to her wonderful song as Mei attempts to learn the first part of it.

    “Hmmm, I think I’m done for today,” Violet dismissed as she put her little music draft down.

    “Yeah, same here,” Mei agreed. “I’m tired by the way.” She stated.

    “Yeah, same here,” Violet agreed, copying Mei’s previous response. To which was completely unintentional and not at all for comedic purposes.

    “You want some food?” Violet offered.

    “Nah, I ate back at Olive’s place.”

    “Oh,” Violet responded, “You still hang out with her?” She suddenly asked, her face full of emotion. Though, Mei couldn’t seem to tell what emotion it was.

    “Well yeah, why not?” Mei replied, confused by Violet’s sudden question.

    “Well, nothing really,” Violet insisted, dodging the question.

    “I mean, we’re all still friends right?” Mei questioned, still confused.

    “Yes of course!” Violet assured, “I just thought you were busy.”

    And at that moment, Mei had caught on. “You mean you thought I was busy for you?” She questioned, her face mixed between confused and stern.

    “Well not exactly,” Violet insisted once more, “Look, let’s just lay down and chill. Okay?”

    “Fine.” Mei gave in.

    And that’s exactly what they did, they just lay down on Violet’s cluttered bed and listened to some music. Though, the music was there for a reason. Mei had told Violet about what happened at Olive’s today, and that now she couldn’t be let alone in silence anymore in fear of the memories that’ll come up. So Violet just whipped up her phone and played their favorites song to listen to. This was fine, for the both of them.

    It was sort of funny. Because now that Mei had thought of it, her stance with Olive had almost been the exact opposite with Violet. While Mei and Olive had never hung out quite as much as with each other, they relate a lot to each other despite their differences.

    But then there’s Mei with Violet. They hung out a lot more compared to the times Olive’s hung out with Mei, but they couldn’t quite relate to each other. Their differences are sometimes almost too large for them to be considered as friends.

    Mei couldn’t quite read Violet’s actions at times, and Violet could never understand Mei’s stance on anything even if she tried. Violet’s spontaneous while Mei’s vague. You’d think those two trades would match up perfectly, but it’s been proven to cause much disputes between them in the past. Nothing they couldn’t handle with the reason of course.

    “By the way,” Mei suddenly voiced, “Would you like to read the diary again? Just the last entry.”

    Violet quirked her brow at Mei. “You’re offering me now?” She questioned.

    “I literally just told you what happened at Olive’s house.” Mei sighed, “We had an agreement.”

    “Well yes, I know that part,” Violet dismissed. “Just didn’t think that you’d be willing.” She elaborated.

    “Why so?” Mei asked.

    “Well, hard to explain,” Violet answered, once again, very vaguely. It seemed that Mei and Violet had suddenly decided to switch traits for once.

    “You can get a little too defensive about Ivy sometimes,” Violet explained, “Which I totally understand given your relationship with her.”

    “Please stop being vague with me.” Mei requested as she switched to a sitting position, her legs crossed. Violet soon joined her, mimicking how she sits.

    “Look, this topic is pretty touchy alright? For both of us.” Violet explained, “I don’t want to hurt you, I’ve done enough of that already.”

    “You’ve never hurt me, Violet,” Mei answered calmly, her face had no sign of any doubt written on it.

    “Not once?” Violet asked, full of doubt.

    “No, not once,” Mei replied firmly.

    Violet laughed dryly, then responded, “Well, that’s good to know.”

    But Mei isn't having any of that attitude of Violet’s today. She cupped Violet's cheeks with the palm of her hands, then said, “Violet, you are and never will be a burden.”

    Violet laughed once more, before finally letting out a sob and slowly breaks down into tears. Mei could only hug Violet and rub her back gently to calm her down, because what else is there to do?

    After a few moments, Violet had stopped crying. She looked up to Mei then said, “Thanks, I needed that.”

    “No problem,” Mei replied, smiling. “So, what do you want to do now?” She asked as she plays with the loose strands of Violet’s hair.

    “Sleep,” Violet replied almost immediately.

    “Alright,” Mei agreed as she parted her hug from her tear stained friend, and lay down, “Sleep it is.”

    “But first,” Violet suddenly interrupted, “The Diary.”

    “Do you really want to read it now?” Mei asked, unsure of if Violet’s current state of mind could take any more blows. Besides, she hates seeing her best friend cry.

    “Well, I wouldn’t exactly want to put this up for later.” Violet retorted as she shrugged.

    “True,” Mei confirmed. “But are you up for it though?” She asked, quirking her brow at Violet as she fixed her glasses back into the frame of her face.

    “I’m fine.” Violet lied.

    “You sure?” Mei asked once more.

    “Yes, Mei, I’m sure.” Violet groaned impatiently, which is quite an odd reaction for Mei.

    “Okay then,” Mei replied as she reached out for the diary in her bag. “Read it, then sleep.”

    “Okay, okay,” Violet replied as she snatched the red book from Mei’s hand. At this rate, maybe Mei could go to Ivory’s house today after all.

    “Adriane you piece of s**t!” Anna shouted from Ivory’s bedroom.

    “What!?” Her sister shouted back from the kitchen downstairs.

    “What the flippin’ hell did you do!?” Anna shouted once more.

    “I didn’t do anything!” Her sister shouted back, louder this time.

    “b***h, you spray painted Ivory’s room!” Anna roared as hate and anger begins to lace her eyes.

    “I made it better!” Adriane replied every word that came through her mouth stings Anna’s ears.

    If she hadn’t known better, she would stomp downstairs right then and there and knock little Adriane unconscious. Anna knew very well, that this was an invitation for a fight. Sure, Adriane has done way worst things to her, but this...This! This is miles too far across the line! And it’s Ivory she’s doing this too, out of all the people in the world!

    “You spray painted the pentagram on her wall!” Anna exploded, “Multiple times!”

    At this point, Anna was already on her last straw of patience, but she manages just enough until she heard Adriane stomping her way upstairs and into Ivory’s room. Her footsteps seemed much heavier than they should be as if she was carrying something.

    “There you are you piece of shi-” Anna’s words were cut off. All she saw was her sister, then suddenly came a flash of white. It was thick, suffocating, and it was dripping down from Anna’s face and onto the polished floor. It was painted. Thick white wall paint, the horrid stench stinging Anna’s nose. That was the last straw.

    “If you want the pentagram gone, clean it yourself,” Adriane scolded in a cold, monotone voice. She then threw a paint roller at her paint covered sister, and despite the white paint dripping on her face, Anna could still tell what the object Adriane threw at her. Needless to say, she was furious.

    Anna lunged at her sister, hard. She pushed Adriane to the nearest wall, pulling on the strands of her sister's hair, leaving traces of white paint from where she grabbed it. She punched Adriane several times in the guts before her sister has any chance of regaining her thoughts. However, Adriane was more than ready to fight back, and she managed to push Anna away from her almost immediately.

    The first punch glanced Anna’s chin. However, the victim had noticed it far too late. And thus, resulting in the second punch. It doubled her over and expelled the last bit of choked air from her already tightened lungs.

    It was a heck of a shot. Outside of having the wind knocked from her, which she was very accustomed to at this point, Anna had noticed a fair amount of pain with the gutshot she gave her sister, which was something she wasn’t very used to. A hit to the face, yes, or even the kidney...but the gut shouldn’t have been much more than discomfort if that.

    Fortunately, she was used to it all. A veteran of sibling fights in family gatherings and countless of other events, even being out of the air was something Anna knew how to deal with.

    Anna attempted to bring herself upright, eyes still filled with rage, as she stared at her opponent. Adriane, both fear, and anger intertwining right in her shifty little eyes. She tried to stand tall, but she knew that it was no use. She was already exhausted, and little Adriane was just getting started.

    “You…mother…” Anna took a lurching step forward with each word. On the third, he swung: “Fucker!”

    The blow felt too sluggish, even for the weaker of the two sisters. And they both knew the second she launched it. The spry, smirking Adriane ducked under it with little to no effort. And before Anna could even register the dodge, however, another body shot, the punch hitting to her ribs, sent fresh ripples of pain through her petite torso.

    She didn’t fall—she made absolutely sure she did not fall—but it was a lot closer than she’d have liked. No, her pride was already too fragile to take another hit. So she only bent on one of her knees, her face facing the ground as she whipped some more of the white paint off of her face. But unfortunately, she’d noticed a tint of red in the white puddle of paint. Of course, it was blood.

    But Anna was far too slow to react. Her sister had already gone in for another shot by the time she looked up. Anna tried to shove the other female off of her. But Adriane had already covered the distance between them. The brown haired woman managed to throw three more punches that did land. And Anna fell.

    Then, she stood again.

    It was unreal. Between the pain in her guts and ribs and the general confusion (some would call it being punch drunk), the sight of the unsatisfaction/disappointment on Adriane’s vengeful face gives Anna live.

    Adriane went for another shot, and Anna quickly dragged her feet after the patented Adriane. She threw a few punches at Adriane, and she ducked but didn’t parry, Anna swung her fist under once more—and Adriane responded in turn with an uppercut.

    Anna fell back and hit the wall, at this point she could feel her ears ringing. Then, “Click”. The sound of Anna’s upper and lower rows of teeth making unplanned contact sickened her. Still, she kept her stance. Shee had to. Falling down was not an option. It never was.

    Adriane charged, Anna had no strength to fight back. So she just stood there, and let her little sister punch her guts out. Anna faced Adriane the whole time, eyes filled with anger and determination to outlast her sister’s rage. But Adriane didn’t budge, she kept punching until Anna choked up blood.

    In the midst of this madness, Anna couldn’t help but wonder, “Why’d Adriane come here, if this was all she’s gonna do?”

    Sure, Adriane had stated that their mother forced her to come and help her, but it seemed too far fetched. There could be another motive—No, there has to be! Adriane never does anything for free, so there has to be something. Revenge? No, she already got that, maybe? But that couldn’t be the sole purpose, maybe?

    Maybe she’s just reading too much into this, or maybe she needs to think about it more thoroughly. Her guts (wrong choice of words) tells her the latter, as this condition of thinking was not quite effective. After all, she is coming up with this as Adriane’s punching her guts out.  

    However, Anna was used to this. Hell! Both of them were used to this. Punching each other's guts out, sabotaging each other with almost no plot behind it, it was all “normal”. So Anna just relaxed her muscles as Adriane kept punching, like the baboon that she is.

    Anna dropped to the floor as soon as Adriane was done with her, filled with a bad ache—both in her stomach and her ego. She lied on her back to ease the pain on her stomach, which really doesn’t do much for her.

    “Fucker,” she mumbled once more, her throat sore from the effort of speaking that single word.

    Adriane could only scoff at her insufferable sister as she heads for the door, only to hear Anna laughing behind her.

    “What?” Adriane asked furiously turning back at her sister, her eyes still filled to the brim with hate and rage.

    “Why are you even doing this?” Anna taunted, still laughing despite her pain. It appears that she still believes in her “fake happiness” theory.

    “Why come to my house, only to do the things we always do?” She continued, “What’s your motive this time?”

    “Why do you think I’m doing this?” Adriane replied bitterly.

    “Heh,” Anna chuckled, “Doesn’t matter anyway, I’m still gonna kill you.”

    Adriane stomped back at her sister, and pressed her foot on Anna’s abdomen, prompting Anna to grunt in pain.

    “You just don’t get it do you?” She started, “No matter how high up your ego is, I’m still better than you.”

    “In strength, wit, and any other aspect you could ever think of with that puny brain of yours.” Adriane continued, “So, I suggest you pipe down.”

    Anna could only stare back, not with fear, but with hatred and rage. If she had the strength to do it, she would kill Adriane. Right then and there, in the most horrid and twisted way possible. She wouldn’t even flinch, not even hesitate to put a gun on her little sister's forehead and pull the trigger. No, she would be looking forward to it, at least!

    She could not put into words, the rage, hatred, grudge she had for her own siste-

    “Ding-dong!” The doorbell just chimed, ignoring whatever was going on inside the house.

    “Oh hey, An-” Mei’s word’s were cut off as she stares at her best friend's mother at the door, bruised and covered with what seemed like white paint.

    Adriane was standing behind right behind Anna, smirking deviously as she whipped her face off of the same white substance. What was happening before she got here, she has no idea, but it was either brutal or kinky.

    “Oh hey, Mei!” Anna chirped happily as if nothing had happened.

    “Uhh, hi,” Mei greeted slowly, her eyes still fixated on Adriane. “What the hell did they do before I got here?” Mei asked herself.

    “Oh don’t mind the paint!” Adriane suddenly piped up, “We were just re-painting Ivory’s room when Anna suddenly fell off the ladder.” She explained.

    “Yeah!” Anna chimed, reaffirming Adriane’s explanation. “Clumsy ol’ me as always, right Ane?” She added, using what appears to be Adriane’s nickname.

    “Oh, uh, okay.” Mei agreed, because what else is there to do?

    “Anyways,” Adriane interjected, “What’s the occasion, Mei?”

    “Oh nothing,” Mei answered, “Just making sure I got all of Ivory’s writing, I was just thinking that she might’ve to save some on her computer.”

    “Right,” Anna responded as she made way for Mei to move inside.

    “Feel free to come inside,” Adriane chirped.

    Mei could only clutch her bag as she enters the familiar place. Everything looked exactly the same but felt too different to be Ivory’s home. Mei trailed her eyes through the room, her sight finding a stream of white paint, trailing from the front door through the corridor and up the stairs.

    She impulsively went up the stairs, following the trail of paint. Adriane and Anna knew that this was bound to happen, so they could only cautiously follow Mei from behind, hoping that the younger female wouldn’t break down too much.

    Mei found that the white trail leads to Ivory’s room, as expected. The ominous paint pooled around the half-opened door. Mei opened the door slowly and watch her step as to not stain her shoes, only to find that her shoes were one of the least of the things she could be worried about at the moment.

    The sight was...Revolting, to say the least.

    The room...Ivory’s room was in a complete disarray. There were multiple pentagrams and demonic symbols, spray painted on the wall. Her eyes were quickly fixated on the giant pentagram drawn above Ivory’s bed. It was bigger and had thicker than the other symbols, the thick black spray paint (as she observed) hasn’t fully dried yet, prompting some of it to drip down and stain Ivory’s bed frame. She was disgusted by its sight.

    White paint was splattered all over the wall, floor, and furniture. Mei’s eyes finally found their way to a bucket containing white paint, tipped over. At least now she knows that the source of the white stains was actually paint. Her eyes also managed to discover a paint roller in the scene, prompting Mei to have a bit of an argument with herself to what was actually going on before she’d arrived.

    “What...” Was all Mei could blurt out as she broke down into quiet tears on the floor. Her whole body was shaking, her legs soon gave up on her and she slumped down onto the floor, white paint staining her clothes. Her long black silky hair draped her face like curtains, hiding the sobbing mess of a human being underneath it. Mei could feel every single drop of her painful tears dripped down from her cheeks and into the white paint underneath it. She quickly covered her eyes, refusing to see the white paint underneath her.

    But then, a few seconds after her breakdown, Mei suddenly got back on her feet. Her stance was as firm as concrete, no ounce of fear any longer. She slowly walked up to the bucket of paint, and fixed it back up, making sure to save every bit of paint left in it. She then grabbed the abandoned paint roller, then slowly dipped it in the bucket. She stared at the pentagram, the one above Ivory’s bed. She stared at it as if it was the devil himself. But nevertheless, she walked towards it, the paint roller in her hand.

    In her heart, she was mortified. But in her eyes, determination. She slowly climbed onto Ivory’s bed, careful to not spill any paint onto her bed, then started painting on the pentagram. And slowly but surely, it was half covered. She went back to the paint bucket to get more paint, then went back to painting, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

    Anna and Adriane could only at her, unsure of what to do. Or more accurately, unsure if they should do anything at all. Anna was in absolute despair, but Adriane? If she could laugh right now, she would.