Secrets in the Night

Prologue

Crystal Vandwood yelled for her best friend, Ashley, as she opened the unlocked door to her best friends house. Both Crystal and Ashley were, from today until next year, the age of eighteen, as they shared a birthday between them. Both girls decided to have a laid back birthday so they planned to have a joined sleepover today.

"In here Al!" Ashley yelled from the kitchen were she was preparing the snacks for the sleepover and making some soup for her little sister.

"Hey girl, whatcha doing?" Crystal said looking at Ashley.

Ashley had straight black hair that had always blended together naturally with her light brown eyes and mocha skin color. While Crystal was the exact opposite of her she had poofy dirty blond hair that contrasted against her green eyes and pale skin. Everybody wondered how the two became close friends. Where Ashley was always the calm and laid back of the two, Crystal was hyper want to do everything type. It"s just as the saying goes, opposites attract.

"Oh just making some snacks and Izzy some soup she"s not feeling well today." Izzy was Ashley"s younger sister by a two months but the two were closer then most sisters normally were. They confided with each other even though they didn"t run in the same circle. However, not many people knew about Izzy, and Izzy liked that.

"Oh dang, so she"s not gonna be at the sleepover? Are you sure you want to still do it, we could just reschedule so you can take care of her. I know how protective you are of her." Crystal said stealing one of the pretzels from the bowl they were in.

With fake hurt in her eyes Ashley fired back, "I am not over protective of h-"

"Yes you are. Just admit it." Crystal said cutting Ashley"s sentence off.

Ashley looked at her best friend; her best friend for 10 years. She was like another sister to her, it was so amazing how she still was here for her and soon they were going to be going to college with each other and everything just couldn"t be better. But that was not true, something Ashley thought something had been changing in her friend in the past few years which caused her to act differently sometimes maybe it had something to do with that night...

"Uh..I plead the fifth."

{Later that day}

"So who"s dating who now?" Nikki, another one of the two girl"s friends, asked. It was a total of seven girls at Ashley house, they were just hanging around the house eating, drinking, watching scary movies and talking. Ashley parents where out on a date to some fancy restaurant so they could give the girls some time to themselves. And they may or may not have left the liquor cabinet unlock on purpose.

"Umm well guys me and Zack are officially going out." Ashley said looking at her friends.

The girls all started talking at once. Some comments could be heard as they stared at Ashley with awe.

Zack was the most popular boy in the school his chestnut hair and fair skin with his bright blue eyes that caused every girl to gawk at him as he walked and all the other boys at school to have a strong feeling of envy against him. The girls were all voicing there opinion except for Crystal who was staring daggers at Ashley. Crystal had the biggest crush on Zack ever since the 6th grade, and now he was taken by her own best friend. Crystal"s heart felt cracked slightly.

"Yea that"s great Ash, you two look perfect together." Crystal said putting on a fake smile before texting something on her phone and excusing herself to the bathroom.

Ashley watched her best friend disappear into the bathroom. She knew her friend was upset about the news, but what could she do about it she too really liked Zack and was shocked that he even liked her back.

"Hey I"m going to go get some more snacks." Ashley told the remaining girls before making her way downstairs. Ashley was so engrossed in her thoughts thinking about that night, the night that she believed changed Crystal, that night that happened about two years ago. What happened that night was an accident, nobody knew that it was gonna go down like that. Shaking her head from those crazy thoughts she shivered as a hint of dread cast itself upon her out of the blue but she ignoring it she continued cutting up the snacks, failing to realize the true terror that awaits her. For Ashley did not hear the window behind her that opened into the kitchen creaked open and a figure dressed in all dark loomed behind her waiting to strike.

Up the stairs and down the hall Izzy opened her bedroom door and was making her way down stairs when she heard a hushed voice coming from the bathroom. Being a nosy worm she pressed her ear to the bathroom door.

"No do it now..." it sounded like Crystal frantic voice to Izzy "yea I know. She"s alone right now. Hurry before it to- wait I think I hear someone." Rushing to get away from the door Izzy bolted back to her room and waited for Crystal to leave the bathrooms before she left her room again. Sitting crossed legged on the floor Izzy recalled the conversation back up wondering who was Crystal referring to and also talking to.

Back down stairs in the kitchen Ashley had just finished fixing the food but after about ten minutes in she felt like she was being watched or something. She was about to call for one of the girls to come down to keep her company, but she was to late for the figured had her pinned to the ground on her back before she could even fully turn around let alone cry out for help. Fear swept through her, causing her whole by to shake viciously in an attempt to get the person off of her. It intensified even more as her eyes fell upon a shiny sharp knife in the persons hand. Her sobs could not be heard by the girls upstairs since the person hand covered her mouth after stuffing a cloth in it.

Why? Why? Why? What did I do to deserve this? Ashley thought as she scratched and grabbed at anything her hands could latch onto but was only able to rip the black face mask off. She came face to face with the electric blue eyed man that she knew from that night.

"How why is he here?" Ashley thought right before that knife he held was plunged right into her chest before being yanked back out causing her body to jerk upward and her eye to enlarge but what she didn"t do was lose eye contact with the man.

I love you Izzy, Mom, Dad. Ashley thought drawing her last breath before that same knife slit her throat.

The killer looked down at his victim, he too remembered what happened that night, two years ago. Making a clean get away the killer left the knife behind laying it right beside Ashley now dead body.

It has felt like a century had passed before Crystal came out the bathroom but in reality it had only been fifteen minutes. Izzy made her way down the hall passed the door to her sister room that held the chatty drama queens and made her way down stairs.

It was oddly quiet Izzy thought as she wrapped her arms around herself cause she felt a cold breeze past over her as she made her way to the kitchen to get the midnight snack her sister usually leave out for her.

What Izzy didn"t suspect to see when she turned the corner to go into the kitchen was a pool of blood leading right to her beloved sister.

"Ashley!" Izzy screamed, causing all the girls to come running.

"Oh God" Crystal gasped joining Izzy who was holding her sister weeping on the floor.

It wasn"t until the police came that they saw that the cold breeze that was passing people came from the open window in the kitchen.

After a months of investigation for the murder of Ashley Donovan the case went unsolved with only the knife that held no fingerprints on it, a window that was unlocked and opened by that same knife, and the black cloth material under Ashley fingertips where the only evidence they had. To them it looked like this was a well calculated played out plan. Even though Crystal was suspected of doing it, since she was other then Izzy the only one not able to verify where she was at in the house at the time of death of Ashley.

Soon the months started to pass summer had came to an end and school was back in gear.