Chapter 8 - Yukanie

When they opened the door to Maven's room, they found their friend Scarlet sitting up on the bed with her knees pulled up against her chest and her head buried in between. She can see Scarlet's shoulder shaking as if she was trembling in fear. Thankfully what crashed onto the floor was nothing of Mavens. Even if Scarlet gets mad she was sure that she wouldn't destroy any of her friend's things. Both she and Maven shared a look of concern, she decided to take the first approach to Scarlet. Picking up the cracked phone that has been tossed on the ground she brought it over to the bed, sitting down.

"Scarlet, it's ok we're here for you." She said in a quiet whisper hoping that Scarlet could hear her. Being friends with Scarlet for over 5 years she knew what Scarlet was like when she did get mad. She waited for a response from her friend or a reaction, but Scarlet only sat there. There was a quiet sob from her friend, it really upset both Maven and her not knowing what to do or how to help.

"Can you tell us what happened?" She asked quietly, she wanted to comfort her friend but not knowing what's going on or what happened she had no idea where to begin. She shared the same worried look on Maven's face, they both stood where they were listening to Scarlet's sob as it got louder by the minute.

"Is it your stepmother? I swear to god I will-" Maven began angrily, but her anger faded away when Scarlet shook her head.

"No...she's gone..." Scarlet said quietly with her head still buried in-between her arms.

They both paused in confusion, what did Scarlet mean by she's gone? Who was gone? Her stepmother? If so, why is she sad? After all her stepmother never really was on good ends with her.

"What?... She's gone? What in the world do you mean?" Maven asked, thinking back to the bloodstain on Scarlet's hoodie.

"My aunt...she's dead...I killed her"

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"Scarlet, please eat something at least." She said holding out a small bowl of hot porridge in her hand. She was rather worried about her friend who sat on the stone steps of the porch. Scarlet hadn't moved from the porch for 6 hours already. After she had woken up and told what happened to them she couldn't help but feel bad for Scarlet. It made her feel almost ashamed of herself that she was about to call Scarlet because of some simple emails when she had no idea that Scarlet was out there crying.

The round food was already up in the sky, the wind was getting chilly. Although Maven agreed for them to stay at her house as long as they like since her parents were away again, she kind of wish her parents would at least give her a call and ask if she was ok, her parents hadn't reached out to her at all the whole day. Her eyes dart back to Scarlet who glances up at the moon, her eyes were unfocused like she was deep in thoughts.

She thought back to earlier this evening when Scarlet had told them the story of her family dinner, followed by her aunt dying. Scarlet had refused to eat anything for the whole day, ever since the story, she had sat out here glancing up at the sky like a lost soul. She hated how lifeless her friend had ended up, in her mind she could still clearly see the Scarlet from a week ago who was laughing and joking, but now before her was a lifeless Scarlet who had a dark and lost expression on her face. She glances back inside the house, from the front door she could hear Maven explaining to her older sister in the kitchen what's going on in a quiet tone. She could tell from the way Maven's sister was sending a glance of pity towards Scarlet. Although Scarlet didn't seem to notice, she herself hated it. She didn't hate Maven's sister, it was the look of pity. If she knew one thing Scarlet hated, it was the look of pity other people gave her, Scarlet was a strong person so she never needed pity.

She glances back down at the porridge she held, it was getting colder by the minute and they probably had heated this for the 11th time today.

"Scarlet you're harming your body by doing this. Your aunt wouldn't want to see you like this." She tried again. This time Scarlet's eyes came back to focus when she heard the word aunt being said, but only to be buried in grief realizing that her aunt was gone.

Hearing the light footsteps of Maven coming up from behind her, she turned to her and shook her head. Maven glanced back towards Scarlet and sighed before taking a seat beside her.

"I bet she's going to stay like that for a long while..." Maven said with a light sighed.

Having only heard about Scarlet's aunt through phone calls and from Scarlet, she had no real close connections with Scarlet's aunt but from the way, Scarlet had talked about her aunt she could tell that they were pretty close.

"I wish there's something we can do for her." She replied, setting the bowl down beside her on the steps. No matter how loud they talk right now, Scarlet would not be able to hear them no matter what, like Maven's sister said, so maybe it was best to give her some space. "At this rate, her fever is going to go back up from stressing on an empty stomach." She added

"To think that Scarlet's father wouldn't care that much at all as well, what a disappointment." Maven said, her voice filled with venom.

She glanced back down to the hoodie Scarlet was wearing, it was still the same bloody one she wore earlier this evening. Maven had laid out a clean set of clothes for Scarlet, but she assumes that the blood was the last of something that belonged to her aunt.

"I'm kind of scared to see what she's going to pull off tomorrow.." She said a bit hesitantly.

"Mmm at this point you can't honestly tell..." Maven said leaning back against her hands. "This is one heck of a holiday huh?"

"Yeah..." she replied, they all fell silent. Although the three of them were sitting side by side, it felt like they were miles apart, separated by huge walls. Each of them lost in their own chain of thoughts, yet feeling bonded by the trouble.

"Oh yeah, earlier what did you want to talk about?" Maven suddenly asked. Drawing her attention back to her emails.

"Well...I don't know if it's a scam or something but yesterday night I received a couple of emails..." She said, unsure if she wanted to say it. She knew that if she did say it, it'll sound crazy and silly. "The emails were strange, I couldn't reply to the sender but the sender could still send it to me."

"Oh? What does the email say?" Maven said, directing all her attention towards her.

"strange words but scary.." She said in a small voice, as if afraid that lurking in the shadows were ears listening in on them. "It told me to be careful, and something about fate is turning..."

Maven was quiet for a moment, and it made her flush with embarrassment. She knew how silly she sounded, it made her want to find a hole and buried herself under.

"Speaking of something strange, the other night I received a letter. With tickets inside to some kind of expensive vacation on a huge cruise, and a note that told me I'll need it." Maven added with a frown. "I didn't have the name of the sender either."

"Do you think...they're connected?" She questioned. The thoughts of it send shivers down her back.

"Hmm...I can't tell for sure but don't you think that it's strange that so many things happened this holiday?" Maven pointed out. "You get the weird emails, me getting the unknown letter, and..." Maven glanced over to Scarlet who was still lost in her own thoughts.

"Her aunt is dying..." Maven finished, meeting her eyes once more.

"Now that you said it, the timing of everything does seem strange..." She replied.

From the soft breeze of the night, and the rustling of the branches and leaves they heard a branch cracked as if under pressure. It made them both jump, there was no one out of the streets and it made them even more uneasy. Every shadow seems to jump out at them.

"Come on I think it's better to head inside..." Maven muttered.

The two agreed and escorted Scarlet back inside.

Yukanie couldn't help but have the feeling like they were playing right into a trap.