The Party

Ilona wakes up really early today as she has to throw an insta-posts and social media gossip worthy party. She spends almost two hours to choose which outfit to wear as she made sure, NEVAN will be there. She needs to turn that grumpy face to smiley, sparkly, and flirtatious expressions whenever he sees her. She calls the bakery, restaurant and her makeup artist to make sure everything will happen as she plans. She quickly checks her guest list to see if anyone was missing and if anyone else should be there to be jealous of her party.

"Ilona! You up already?" her sister, Solar calls out from the corridor. "Duh! of course I'm up. It's my birthday today, Yay!" she squeaks.

"Yeah, well no, your birthday is the day after tomorrow but you're having the party today so that Nevan can attend."

"Yeah, whatever."

Solar chortles in reply, "Anyway, did you invite all of your colleagues?" "Yeah, well I didn't wanna invite that weirdo, Fabian and that goodie-

two-shoes, Oriana. But, Leilani insisted and also I thought nobody would

care about those two outcasts anyway." She flicks her bleached blonde hair to the other side of her shoulder.

"Let's not be too mean, come on!"

"Yeah, sure." She does a classic eye-roll at her sister. "I think Axel might not make it today."

"No, he will."

"What? How do you know?" Solar quirks her brow.

"Um...I mean, come on! Make him cancel other plans, it's MY party after all." Ilona clears her throat.

"Well, I can tell him but if he really has works to do, then you can ask for the gift on your real birthday, maybe?" Solar shrugs before leaving.

"Well, that was close." Ilona mutters to herself.

Oriana feels a bit uneasy as she steps in the house filled with laughter,

glass clinking, twinkling lights and music. Her eyes search for a known face like Leilani or Fabian, or maybe Alvis amidst the human ocean of a crowd in the living room.

"Hey, Oriana!" a voice calls out from behind.

She turns around to find an awfully handsome face smiling at her, Nevan.

"Oh hey, Nevan. How're you?"

"I'm alright, you good?" he needs to raise his voice a tad bit to convey his question over the loud music.

"Yeah, I guess." she shrugs. "Want a drink?"

"No, I don't drink, thanks." she gives him a tight-lipped smile, "Do you know if Leilani is here? And where is Ilona?"

"Um...they might be upstairs. I'm not sure about Leila..ni. Haven't seen her yet."

"O yeah? You haven't seen the birthday girl yet?"

"Nope! Will try not to as long as I can." He purses his lips. "Okay?" Oriana makes a confused face.

"It's nothing, just she seems a bit much sometimes, that's all." a smile crawls on his lips.

"Okay, sure. Do whatever feels right." she nervously grins, "Anyway, I'm going to meet the girls...upstairs you said?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, thanks. See you around later." She makes her way through the crowd to the staircase.

Nevan lets out a sigh before joining the others in the living room.

"Hey Ilona, happy birthday to you." Oriana smiles at the glittering beauty before her who's wearing a turquoise sweetheart neck, backless dress with her blonde ringlets flowing like a Disney princess.

Ilona's blood-red tinted lips quirks upwards to give a smile as she takes the carefully and neatly wrapped box from Oriana,

"Thanks! I'm glad you made it."

"My pleasure! Did you happen to see Leilani by any chance?"

"Leila? Not really, I haven't. I remember seeing someone looking eerily like her though. But I'm pretty sure that's not Leila. You know, this one looked more gothic and kinda gave off the Wednesday Addams vibe."

"Wednesday...wait, so she has a twin? Or maybe a sister at least?" "Not that I know of...maybe some random doppelgänger. I can't wait to

show Leila her own doppelganger! Woah, that's gonna be sick." Ilona

smirks.

"So, you have a guest in YOUR party that you don't know?" Oriana cannot piece the puzzle together.

"Ah, girl! You kidding me? Of course, I don't know all of them. Look.." she waves at the living room, "You think I know literally ALL of them?"

She chuckles.

"So you don't..."

"No, and that's what parties are about...knowing new people." A similarly dressed-up Barbie comes along and tugs at Ilona's arm, "Girl,

they're literally waiting for, like, thousand years for you to do the shots."

"Uh, right! So, Oriana, enjoy yourself, yeah?" Ilona steps out of the view.

"Yeah, sure." Oriana nods knowing full-well how much she hates

parties like this. She wanders about a bit trying to take in the vibe, colors, and loud music constantly throbbing against her head. A series of

flashbacks hits her at once as she tries to blink off the neon lights dancing around her. Her breathing becomes rapid and labored, "You will love this, sweetheart. Just relax"... a monstrous voice keeps echoing in her ears making her head swim with all the unwanted memories. Her palm start to sweat as her eyes feel droopy. She swallows hard trying not to faint...not in a party like this...not again.

"Oriana...Oriana?" A distant voice catches her auditory sense, jerking her back to reality...still her head keeps throbbing with each passing feeling that has been paralyzing her since...

"Hey, Oriana?" Leilani shakes her by her shoulder. "Huh! Hey, I- Leilani? So you came after all?"

"Yeah, sorry I had to help my sister with her house chores a bit. What happened? You alright?" Leilani looks concerned.

"Yeah, well. Nothing. Maybe I need some fresh air." "Aha! Not a party-animal, I see?"

"Not at all." Oriana nervously chuckles.

"Yeah, sure! Come on, I can use some fresh air myself." Oriana looks at Leilani's face, it looks...scared? anxious? guilty? she cannot quite read it.

"Yeah, let's go. But you sure YOU'RE okay?" Oriana quirks her brow. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be ok? I might not a big anti party-animal like

you, but I get by." she winks playfully.

"If you say so."

"Hey, Leilani! Wanna grab a drink?" Alvis grins showing off a deep dimple on his cheek.

Oriana smiles at Leilani, "No worries, go grab a drink. I'll be fine breathing fresh air by myself."

"Sure?"

"One hundred percent."

Leilani follows Alvis as her heart does that usual, stupid, slow backflip.