Paper Dolls

Chapter 16

Dalia's apartment didn't feel so sprawling when we were in the living room. But as I follow these girls down the lone corridor, I realise just how deep the place goes. This apartment might just take up the entire floor.

The walls here are a similar dark grey and there are numerous doors that line them, all shut and unwelcoming. I feel a cool swish of air brush past the back of my exposed neck and shiver. Being outside made me feel sad but the eeriness here makes me feel like there's something watching me. 

A door creaks behind me and I whip around, torn between hoping it's a human being following me and not something supernatural. I hate being here alone but I had to wait for Summer and Maria to round the corner before following them. 

The girls had been lost in a heated conversation, they never noticed someone behind them and I used that to my advantage. 

Thankfully, there is a room at the end of this interminable walkway and they go inside. Which leaves me alone in the dimly lit hall. I wait a couple of heart beats and a swish of cool air pools around my feet. 

Someone died here. Dalia threw herself off this very floor. It's not hard to believe she left something behind. Or maybe she never left to begin with. 

A spark of fear causes my heart to catapult into my throat and I force myself forward towards the open door. I hide behind it and listen to the girls frantic voices. It's a relief that I'm not alone anymore. 

"It has to be somewhere here. She must have hidden it." I recognise the high pitched girly voice that belongs to Maria. 

"We looked a hundred times already. Don't you think the police would have found it when they did their search of the place?" Summer's voice is filled with panic. She sounds much more frantic than she was in the lift with us. "She must have hidden it."

"The bitch hid everything. She even dissed us in her lyrics while she smiled at our faces before the fucking release," Maria berates in anger. 

I hear the sound of drawers being pulled open and then Summer's heels clicking on the floors like she is pacing back and forth. 

"Yeah, she really screwed us over." Summer mutters. 

"Screwed would be putting it mildly. And we'd better find it before anyone else does or we'll be in deep shit. Can you imagine the headlines?" Maria replies, her voice dripping with venom. 

Maybe they're talking about someone else entirely because I don't remember Dalia dissing her group mates in her songs. She has released some solo hits in the past and yes the lyrics in some of them were an obvious diss, but no one guessed those to be aimed at her very own members. 

The girls always portrayed such a united front. Everyone -including myself- saw them as the bestest of friends, even sisters. I remember their interviews, vlogs and the reality shows where they acted out challenges together. 

Dalia always looked happy, the other girls as well. It feels like I had been looking into a snow globe with the prettiest view but now there are cracks in the glass marring the image. It doesn't look so pretty anymore. 

So maybe the girls didn't actually get along. Maybe it had all been an act.

But why would Dalia screw them over? Nothing makes sense and yet here we are standing in Dalia's apartment, me hiding behind a large wooden oak door listening in as her group mates  rummage through her stuff. The question is what did she hide? 

And why are these two so worried about it? 

"Did you hear something?" Summer suddenly asks making my breath still. "No one followed us, right?"