Chapter 7 (Raven)

Beth was unusually quiet on our the way home. It was the first time my older sister let me drive her car. The teenager was so shaken that she was unable to drive or focus on the road. I drove slowly, occasionally glancing at my sister with concerned look. The girl silently sat and looked at the view outside the window. However, it was obvious that she still hadn't calmed down after meeting Roy and Lucy, because the hands resting on her thighs were still trembling.

"I can't believe what happened. He could have killed me." Whispered the girl. There was a note of fear, disbelief and anger in her voice.

"I know. Fortunately, nothing happened, but this Roy is dangerous. We have to watch out for him. We can't trust Lucy neither. I think she is the leader of her group. Roy probably just does we she tells him to do." There was silence after my words. A few minutes later we arrived at the house. Without a word, Beth got out and went to the front door. I quickly got out of the vehicle, grabbed our groceries from the trunk, and followed her lead. However, when I entered the hall, I heard a huge bang upstairs indicating that the girl had closed the door to her room. I unpacked our groceries, sweets and chips and placed them in the kitchen cupboard. I decided to leave the bunny outfit in the living room. It was obvious that the teenager wanted to be alone, and I didn't want to annoy her even more with my presence. I was about to go to my room when the doorbell rang. Resigned, I went to the hall and opened the door. Ashley was standing in the doorway with a large pink bag beside her. I swore in my mind remembering that the teenager was supposed to come over tonight.

"Hey!" exclaimed the girl and without waiting for the invitation, she went inside. Her suitcase was that big she could barely carry it over the threshold.

"I bought popcorn, coke and schoko-bons on the way. So... where is Beth? Shall we start the fun?"

"Yeah, about that... let's go to my room. I have a lot to tell you." *******************************************

I kept fidgeting, Ashley's gaze making me feel uncomfortable. Ever since I finished telling the teenager the events of last night and today, the teenager looked at me as if I had told her that a UFO had come to earth. Her lilac nails tapped on her knees.

"So you attacked a stranger even though you had no weapon or a person that could help you?"

"I had a big stick."

"Yeah. A big stick. It's a truly deadly weapon. I honestly don't know how is the burglar still alive."

"I had scissors before but I dropped them when I tripped."

"God. You are so clumsy. Why did you run after him? He could have attacked you! He turned out to be nice, but what if he decided to hurt you! What you did was just dumb. You were supposed to call me if something happened, not risk your life."

"And what would you do? Sorry Ashley, but you're not the warrior type." I replied with anger with my voice.

"At least I would call the police! And even if not, two girls have a better chance against a guy than one."

"If I had called the police, I wouldn't have found out the things I know now. It was the best way out of the situation. And we have Adrian and the witch on our side now! This is crucial when Beth's life is at stake."

After my response blonde girl signed giving up.

"Okay. I admit that the alliance is a good result. But changing of the topic, do you think Beth will really kill herself?" Asked girl with disbelief in her voice.

"I do not know. I never felt like she wanted to do that. But you have to be cautious and watch her. Especially now cause she's scared after what Roy and Lucy did.

"Alright. So that's why now we're going to her room and we are having the best girls' night she has ever had." Without waiting for my response, the teenager got up and went to Beth's room. ********************************************

After a lot of persuasion, the girl agreed to leave the room. We were just sitting in the living room watching a movie while eating popcorn. Beth and Ashley kept commenting on the movie making me laugh with their jokes. The doorbell knocked us out of our good mood. Our heads turned towards the door.

"Yay! The pizza has arrived!" Ashley exclaimed excitedly and paused the movie. Beth got up from the couch, grabbed her wallet, and left the living room, disappearing behind the wall. The blonde and I cleared the table, making room for the pizza box. However, when my sister returned to the living room after a while, she had a box in her hand, but it wasn't a pizza box. It was a small black box tied with a black ribbon. The teenager placed the item on the table and opened the lid.

"Who is it from?" Ashley asked, stepping closer, wanting to see what was inside.

"I don't know. Nobody was there. And on the box was just a note that said 'for Beth'. Well, maybe I have a secret admirer." The three of us bent over the black box looking at the contents. Inside was a silver bracelet with red diamonds. The silver was also engraved with the inscription 'mors veniet hodie'. Beth happily took the jewelry out of the box and put it on her wrist. However, Ashley and I exchanged suspicious glances. I walked over to the table and picked up a piece of paper that said 'for Beth'. Unfortunately, the inscription was printed, so I could not identify anyone by looking at the handwriting. Secretly, so Beth wouldn't see, I took a picture of the bracelet and box and sent it to Adrian with the text 'Is this your doing?' under the photo. I don't know why I believed that the boy wouldn't lie to me. I just felt I had to trust him. After a few minutes, his answer appeared on the screen. 'No, but I'll try to find out what it means and what it's about.'

"Beth. Take it off. I googled the inscription and it means death will come today." Ashley said, showing the translator on her phone as proof.

"Ashley. You are exaggerating like always. This is a nice bracelet and I like. And you're jealous that it wasn't for you." Beth replied with contempt in her voice.

"That's not the point. You get some suspicious gift from someone you don't know with a creepy message engraved on it. I'm not jealous. I'm just worried about you."

However, Beth ignored the blonde as she sat down on the couch and turned the movie back on. With reluctance, we joined her, looking anxiously from time to time at the bracelet adorning the girl's hand. I don't remember the rest of the movie because I was texting Ashley and Adrian the whole time trying to find a suspect. I tried to convince myself that it was just a bracelet with a strange engraving, but my mind was telling me that something wasn't right. ********************************************

It was one in the morning when we went to bed. Apart from the mysterious bracelet, the evening was really good. After we finished watching the movie, we decided to do karaoke and sang a lot of pop songs. Once we got tired of this activity, we started gossiping until the clock struck one, and we decided that it was time to go to sleep. Beth went to the bathroom to have a bath and I walked Ashley to the guest room. Together with the teenager, we dressed the bedding with new pillowcases and made the girl's bed. We said goodnight and each of us went to the bathroom, Ashley to the one upstairs that Beth had just come out of, and I come to the one downstairs. ********************************************

I stepped out of the bathroom and immediately felt the cold floor under my bare feet. The room temperature was really low which was a little weird. I came to the radiator and turned it on. Then I quickly climbed the stairs but when I got to the first floor it was even colder. I kept coming from room to room and turning on radiators. I didn't know why it was so cold because the night was quite warm. After doing that, I got to my room and went under the cold sheets. I wrapped the duvet around my neck. I covered myself with a duvet up to my neck. I was exhausted from the day and I quickly closed my eyes ignoring the beep of an incoming text. After a few minutes, I drifted into the arms of Morpheus.