CHAPTER 4

  40 MINUTES EARLIER

"Don't worry, we're here for you" Emily said. Almost immediately her phone rang, she checked the number and found out it was her mom calling. She picked, there was a static noise in the background as she said hello to her mother. "Mom are you there?".The line went dead.

A ping was heard next, she read the text, "come home, Emily". Emily scrunched her brows, finding it strange that her mom called her Emily over texts as she was accustomed to 'Em'.

"Guys", they all turned towards her, "I hate to be rude but my mom is acting strange, so I need to check up on her, I'm sorry for your loss, Max". Emily moved forward and kissed Max on his forehead, ruffled his hair and left the room.

As she left the room, she still pondered on the strange background noises she heard over the phone and the strange text. Engulfed in thoughts while going down the stairs, she bumped into Max's dad.

"Oh I'm sorry sir, I didn't see you there". At that moment, he paused, looked at her face and smiled. A kind of weird and creepy smile.

He opened his mouth and whispered "you're next" "what do you mean sir?" Fear cripped into her voice, "just like he took Reina, he'll take you too" Max's dad said with a sinister smile plastered on his face.

This sent fear down Emily's spine, she quickly manouevred, slightly pushing him away from her and dashed for the door. His words kept running through her mind.

As she burst through the door she sprinted towards her home always looking back like she being pursued. His words kept resonating in her ears.

She shook off the feeling when she finally arrived at her home. She was safe. As she reached for the door, she noticed it was open. She pushed the door slowly with caution to avoid making noise.

The drapes in the living room were down, blocking any source of cloud covered light from entering, giving the parlour a dark feel.

She reached for the light switch adjacent the door and flipped it, no power due to the impending storm. She switched on her torch an noticed an orange umbrella left on the floor, unopened.

"Eww such a disgusting colour" she muttered to herself, she side stepped the umbrella and walked up the stairs. "Mom? Dad? Are you home?" Emily walked up the creaking steps.

She felt a presense behind her, making her hairs stand erect, she quickly turned and flashed her light. She saw no one. She made a dial for the police, no service.

A figure sped past her, she felt the breeze, she turned and saw no one. The fear that gripped her heart was unbearable, she made a leap for the open door.

It slammed in her face, she pulled and pushed and twisted the knob but it didn't budge. She resorted to screaming and banging on the door for help.

"No one will hear you" a distorted voice spoke, Emily hit the door in fear, her phone slipped out of her grip and fell to the floor. She reached for it and flashed the light at the direction of the voice.

"Who's there? I'll c...c.. call the police". Emily spoke in fear. "What do you w..w..want. I'll give you m...m..money. Just n..name i...it".

She took a bold step forward. Her flashlight couldn't reach the end of the parlour. As if the heavens sensed her inability to see, a flash of lightning came. Emily's voiced got caught in her throat as she saw a figure behind the curtains. She jumped back and hit a body.

"Emily" the distorted voice came from behind her, a tear slipped from Emily's eyes, "Run" as if to mark a start of her race, the thunder clapped.

Emily dashed for the stairs and locked herself in the first available room, the closet. A pool of red substance was on the floor but Emily had bigger worries than the pool, she stepped in it, turned off her torch and tried to cover her mouth to stifle the sounds.

Something hit her forehead, she froze. Her heartbeat could be heard from miles away. It hit her again and rolled down her face to her lips. She wiped it, switched on her torch again.

With her shaky hands she lifted the ray of light towards the ceiling. Her heart stopped, her parents were suspending from the ceiling with their throats slashed, dripping blood.

She screamed, opened the door and made a run for her bedroom. She closed the door and locked it. Her heart raced like she had ran a marathon, she checked her phone again, still no service.

She looked up, her window. She made a run for it. She pulled down the drapes and managed to lift it to push her hands through.

She sighted her friends running towards her house, she screamed and waved. She noticed they stopped and stared at her.

"I told you to run", the voice came from behind her, she turned and the sight of the creature before her made her blood freeze. "Please don't do this" she was full on crying. "It's done", he rushed towards her and pushed her through the window.

10 MINUTES EARLIER

   "Wait, what was inscribed on your sister's forehead?" Vivian asked with the look of dread on her face.

"R" Max said still not getting the connection. "And her name was Reina. Her name begins with an R" Vivian continued trying to rope the boys into her illumination. Like clockwork, it hit Max.

"Oh My God, E is next", he turned towards the other two who looked puzzled as ever. As if light had been shone on them, it all hit them; Emily was next.

They dashed in the opposite direction towards Emily's house. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them towards Emily's house.

Whoever had killed Reina was planning to do same Emily. It was planned, it was precise, it was no accident. As they reached her house, they saw her frantically waving and screaming for help from her bedroom window.

They stopped as they noticed a figure behind her. Max made a dash door the entrance but was halted by the sound of shattering glass and a screaming Emily.

They took cover to protect themselves from the falling glass fragments. They never heard a thud sound like bodies do when they make impact with the ground.

They looked up, they saw the window panes and the shattered glasses but no Emily, no body, like she had... varnished. At that moment, the heaven's wept.