You cannot escape your fate

She stood there, frozen in shock. In front of her laid the corpses of her family, all bloody from multiple shot wounds.
"W-what... what h-happened..?" she managed to mutter after standing in dead silence for a few minutes.

Earlier that day

"Come on, Melody! It's the last dance of the senior year! You have avoided them throughout high school, can't you attend this one?"

Melody sighed. Her best friend, Lillianna, has been trying every year to convince her to go to one of the school dances, but she just wasn't interested; however, seeing her so determined over something for this long was making her have second thoughts.
"I'll think about it, Lil," Melody said, getting the rest of her stuff from her locker to put in her backpack. How had she let this much stuff stay throughout the year? She usually was so organised.

Lilliana's face lit up, "Really? You will?"

"Yes, Lillianna, you've finally won," She gave her a light-hearted smile.

As soon as Melody put the last things from her locker into her backpack, Lillianna gave her a tight hug. Seeing her this happy warmed her heart, a funny feeling she always got around Lillianna when she made her happy, or proud. She always pushed It off as just really caring for her, but facing the end of senior year, Melody felt it was something different. She pushed the thought aside, this was just her best friend.

"Are you still coming to my place after school?" Lillianna asked, letting go of Melody.

Melody shouldered her backpack, "yeah, of course. I wouldn't just decide not to last second."

Lillianna grabbed her hand, "Good!"

Before Melody could question what she meant by that, Lillianna started running down the hall to the school's front door, dragging Melody with her. After dragging her to the door, Lillianna let go of her hand, realising Melody could just easily walk herself. They then proceeded to walk out of the school and start taking a path to Lillianna's house.
Melody had been to Lillianna's house so many times she could have easily walked there all by herself, but she liked having Lillianna lead the way. It made her feel more comfortable, less like she'd take a wrong turn and end up somewhere she shouldn't be. They walked in silence, as neither had much to say, but at the same time a lot to say. It wasn't an awkward silence, they often walked in silence together, and Melody found it slightly peaceful. When they arrived at Lillianna's house, she skipped up the steps skipping 1 each jump and opened the door looking at Melody.

"After you, m'lady," Lillianna giggled then winked.

Melody couldn't help but laugh a bit and walk up to the doorway and curtsey, "Thank you very much, ma'am."

as soon as Melody walked through the doorway, Lillianna entered, closed the door behind her and took Melody's hand. It caught Melody off guard because she had not expected it.

"Come on!" Lillianna exclaimed, smiling at Melody, then she again ran dragging her to her room.

After 2 hours, Lillianna ended up dressing up Melody in the best-looking dress she could find in her closet. Melody wasn't used to dresses, she preferred skirts over dresses.

"What's this for?" Melody asked, looking at Lillianna still confused.

"Well, the dance is tonight and since I hoped you'd come-"

Lillianna shrugged. Melody sighed, completely understanding what she meant. Lillianna had bought her a ticket even before she had said she'd think about it. Lillianna left to go change herself, leaving Melody all alone in her bedroom. As Melody sat on the bed, she felt uncomfortable, as if someone were watching her. She looked out the window but didn't see anything. She decided to push it off, and while she was trying to settle her uneasy feeling, Lillianna returned. She spun in her dress and giggled.

"Isn't it pretty?" She asked, very well aware of how Melody would answer.

"Of course it is, Lil, you look good in almost everything," Melody said.

Satisfied with the answer, Lillianna flopped down next to her. Melody could smell a hint of lavender coming from her. Studying her closer, she also realized Lillianna was wearing lipgloss. She noticed she was staring at her and gave her a quizzical look.

"What? is there something on my face?" She asked, putting a hand on her cheek."

"Oh, Uhm, no, sorry," She felt her face go red from embarrassment.

The reaction made Lillianna laugh, which made Melody even more embarrassed. Then she felt it again. As if there were a presence, staring at her. She glanced around again, thinking, hoping she wouldn't find anyone. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a shadow go past the window. She shook her head. she had to be imagining it, right?
Lillianna seemed to have noticed something was off, because she was looking at her, concern filling her bright blue eyes, "are you alright?" She asked, studying her. Melody nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking." The response didn't fully convince Lillianna, but she didn't press further. After a few minutes of silence, Lillianna announced, "I think we should do your hair, you always talk about how you wish you had wavy hair like mine, and I have something for that now!" This startled Melody. She hadn't mentioned it that often, and she never expected that Lillianna was listening. Lillianna had gotten up and left the room again, probably in search of a curling iron. Melody stares out the window. If there was something, which she knew there couldn't be, she'd see it.

"There!" Lillianna said, with a smile. She grabbed the hand mirror she set down before starting and showed Melody her reflection. As she studied her reflection, she ran her fingers through her hair. Before she could say something, Lillianna half-shouted, "The dance! I lost track of time, come on we gotta go!" She dropped the mirror on the bed, grabbed melody's hand, pulled her up and ran out dragging her once again.
Once they were outside, they both ran together, Lillianna no longer dragging Melody. "You know, you've seen to have picked up a bad habit of dragging me around," Melody managed to say through gasps of breath and laughed a bit. "Sorry," Lillianna managed to respond. "It's fine, really." When they got to the school, everyone was already there, but they weren't too late. Melody, who wasn't much of a people person, shifted uncomfortably. It was way too many people in one place for her liking.

"Ms Hampton?"