April

17

The peaceful sound of birds chirping and kids laughing flew into my ears as I lay on the fairly wet grass.

My eyes fluttered open but we're immediately clamped shut at the sudden harshness of the sunlight. I slowly reopened them, squinting and groaning.

I slowly got up from the ground, trying to recollect the events from the past hour.

Anna. Mae. Jade. The mall. This park. The ringing.

The ringing

But where had it come from? No one seemed to experience it and no one seemed to care about my screams either, or maybe they hadn't heard?
Surely if the did, at least my sisters would have rushed over to help but they still looked happy and played about.

I brushed off my clothes and grabbed my purse and phone from the ground.

I unlocked the phone to see 11 missed calls from Oliver, a text and a voicemail. I played it.

" April? April! What the heck is going on?! Please pick up the phone. Call me when you get this" and then he hung up.

I felt so bad for bothering him so I called.

"Oh my God, I've been calling you, what happened?"

"Nothing, nothing, I think I just butt dialed you" I lied. "My phone was on silent so I didn't hear it. I'm so sorry for worrying you"

"It's okay. I hope y'all are good?"

"Yeah we're great, were at the park"

"Okay then,have fun"

Then he hung up.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and got up from the bench. I brushed off my clothes and grabbed my purse and shopping bags from the bench and walked towards the slide.

I saw Jade and Anna playing while Mae was talking to someone. He had dark brown curly hair, brown skin and caramel coloured eyes. He looked a bit older than her but not as old as me. He was telling her a joke or something and she laughed loudly. He whispered something in her ear which made her blush profusely and handed her a piece of paper to which she stared at and pocketed when she locked eyes with me. She blushed some more and walked over to me, grabbing some bags in the process.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Oh, just some.....guy I met" she smiled at the thought of him.

I smirked at her. "What's his name?"

"Xavier"

"Ooooh, Xavier, sounds dreamy" I nudged her shoulder and she blushed again to which I laughed.

"Hey Anna! Jade! It's time to go now" I yelled

Anna's head stuck out of the gigantic slide and she pouted.

"Do we really have to" she whined.

"Yeah, I was really starting to have some fun!" Jane squeaked.

"We'll come some other time, but now we have to head home"

They pouted before silently agreeing and sliding down the slide.

We all walked back home, my hands linked with both Jane and Anna's while Mae had the bags.

~~

We walked in a comfortable silence till we got to our neighborhood.

Anna rang the doorbell and the door was opened by Matthew who threw a scowl my way when he saw my face. I rolled my eyes and pushed my was past him, bumping his shoulder purposely on the way. He let out a low growl and I won't lie when I say it freaked me out a little but I just decided to ignore him and his dumb........self.

Oliver immediately ran from the kitchen and engulfed me in a strong hug. I hugged him back and pulled away.

"I'm so glad you're okay" he smiled at me.

"Thanks"

"I set up the stuff, it's in the shed" he whispered.

I gave him a toothy grin and hugged him again.
"Thank you Oliver"

"Anytime princess" he patted my hair.

I let go of him and he walked away and that was when I noticed Jared was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey where's Jared" I asked Ollie before he was out of sight.

"He left a couple hours ago, why?"

"No reason"

He stared at me for a little while before he shrugged and walked away.

I felt bad for not apologizing to Jared for my rash behavior. It had been bugging me since I left the house. Y'know what? I'm not gonna deny my feelings toward him. I lo-.....liked him, alot. I mean who wouldn't? He's the sweetest thing. He cared for me during the worst part of my life and still cared to come check up on me after everything. The slaps, the arguments, the breakdowns and even the punches, he took it all without holding a grudge towards me. He really did love me

And i guess I did like him after all.

I was gonna invite him over tomorrow, so we can have a......chat.

~~
About two hours later, the sun began to set and I watched in awe as the blue sky mixes in with the purple and orange hue.

Magnifique

I got up from the rocking chair on the porch and pushed the front door open.

"Mae! Anna! Jade! Come out!" I yelled.

They all came outside. Mae was in a purple shirt and black shorts, Jade had on pajama pants and a shirt on while Anna had on a pink nightdress.

"I have a surprise for y'all" I smiled.

"Okayy....." Mae drawled.

"Follow me"

They followed without question and we walked towards the shed.

"Your surprise is the in creepy looking shed?" Mae asked, confusion plastered on her face.

I didn't want to do it in the shed, I detested the place but Oliver insisted it would be more private so I had to agree with him.

I opened the door of the shed and they gawked. The boxes that previously occupied majority of the space was pushed back and pillows took over the space. Fairy lights hung round the walls and a tv was mounted on a stand with a CD player and movies ready to be watched with snacks displayed on a small table.

It was beautiful but the only problem was the hatch that was barely covered by a rug. I wondered how Oliver didn't see it, or maybe he did?

I pulled a box over the hatch so the girls wouldn't see it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

They walked in, taking a seat on the pillows, with Anna sitting dangerously close to the hatch door but I highly doubt anything bad was going to happen.

Some time later, we were having the time of our lives, watching inside out, spilling secrets, dancing and what not.

Anna then began to yawn, along with the others and we fell asleep.

~~
I awoke with a yawn to find my sisters still asleep and the tv still on. I turned it off and shook them awake. They woke up and stretched and yawned.

"Good morning" I greeted

"Mornin'" they replied in unison.

"We fell asleep in the shed" Mae said. "Never thought that would happen"

We laughed and started packing up when we heard a creak.

The room fell deathly silent for what felt like eternity before Anna spoke up.

"What was that?"

I instinctively looked behind the little child to see that the hatch door was no longer shut but wide open.

Before I could blink, a patchy skinned hand wrapped itself around Anna's leg and before I could react, she was gone, the last thing I heard being her screams for help.