One Year Later

"Thank you for coming over to help me."

"No worries." you reply, while carefully cleaning up the last shards of glass of your friends kitchen floor.

—

It was a nice and sunny summer afternoon, nice enough to wear your favorite dress, which you now realize wasn't the most ideal outfit when your friend called and asked for your help earlier.

Even the birds seem to have a great and busy day, chirping loudly and hopping from branch to branch, you catch yourself staring out of the window while your mind drifts off.

It's been a year now and while the wound in your heart has nearly stitched itself up, you still occasionally think about her. Wondering what she's doing, while your hands unconsciously reach up to touch her rosary that's still hanging around your neck.

You snap out of your daydream when you hear your friends footsteps approach and let out a sigh.

"That must've been quite the party." you say while reaching for the dustpan and brush to get back to cleaning up the mess.

—

When your friend called you this morning, mumbling something about a party and almost begged for your help you did not expect her house to be in this state when you entered the front door. The place looked trashed, there was broken glass everywhere, furniture lay tilted and to be fair this didn't look like a wild party, but more like a robbery gone wrong.

—

She pauses for a moment and you see a worried look spreading across her face.

"What?"

"Well, uhm.. about that party, I.." she pauses and lets out a sigh "I lied."

She notices the puzzled look on your face and continues.

"There was no party, I just didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to sound all crazy."

You sit down on one of the kitchen chairs and listen to her.

"So, uhm, a few weeks back some weird things started happening and it started small, with things moving and noises and I felt really spooked."

You feel your eyes widen, her voice breaking slightly as she continues.

"and then I came home to this mess last night when I got back from work. I couldn't sleep and I've been so scared. I already made some calls a few days ago and someone will be here to help. I'm sorry, I'm just scared and I don't know what to do."

Her last word came out in sobs and you rush over and pull her into a hug.

As you hold her your mind starts racing. This isn't possible, it's not, this can't be. A panic starts to rise in your chest as you pull back and look at your friend.

"When were you going to tell me? Who is coming? When will they be here?" the questions flooding from your mouth.

"I, I don't remember a name I-"

She gets cut off by a knock on the door, making both of you jump.

Your heart is beating in your throat, your mind still races and you start to feel dizzy.

"You don't think I'm crazy, do you?" she asks wiping het tears away.

"What? No. Of course not." you manage to give her a reassuring smile before she turns around and makes her way to the front door.