4 am short stories

The Files

A girl sits alone at a lunch table. Her head is covered by her arms to mend a raging headache, possibly a hang over from the party she attended last night. 

Along comes a new friend whom the girl had just met last night, and though she's only an acquaintance, she welcomes the company. 

"Hey, I meant to give this to you earlier, but I have something you'd might like to see."

The friend pulls out of her pocket and old CD disk encapsulated in a paper envelope. 

"What do you want me to do with this?" The girl asks. " I don't even know how I would watch this, I haven't owned a DVD player in years."

"No, but you have that old computer right? You mentioned it last night. Put it in there and watch what is on it. You'll be surprised what you find."

At first the girl thought it was a cheeky prank she was pulling to poke fun about some juvenile stunt from last night, but before the girl could ask her anymore questions, she vanishes from sight. 

The girl groans and coddles her aching head, but would be disrupted yet again by a group of classmates walking by. One of the members of the group tap her on the shoulder. 

"Hey you," the kids didn't know her name yet. She was still pretty new to the school, " Did you by chance see our friend Amanda last night? We saw you two talking earlier at the party and we haven't been able to get ahold of her since."

The girl shook her head, unable to speak from the raging pain.

"Well, if you see her let us know. She's not at school today or answering her phone and we are all getting worried. Her parents are freaked." 

The girl nodded her head, and the group of students walk away. She tucked her head between her arms and laid back down.

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The girl sits herself onto her swivel chair and scoots over to her computer. She pulls out the disc and plops it into the tray. After a few moments of the computer fan humming to life, the file emerged onto the desk screen. The girl remembers what her friend says, and opens the file. 

In the file is three documents, all untitled. She clicks onto the first document, and it opens into a poem:

"A night so clear, it could rival the lake...

 A young girls fate hinged on a fatal mistake."

"Music so loud it muffled the screams...

Of a murder so foul...

Or at least, that's what it seems."

"But don't you forget...

For the party's not over yet"

The girl is freaked out by the poem. What the hell did her friend give her? Did her friend do something to this poor girl? Is this some kind of sick joke?

This isn't funny. That girl mentioned earlier, Amanda? Isn't she still missing? This is not something to make fun about. 

Though something deep within the girl told her to keep looking through the files. Maybe she could find something that would make more sense, and then she will hand this DVD over to the authorities.

The girl opens the second file, which happens to be another poem. 

"Down by the lake, under the willow tree...

Sits a grave no one can see."

"But before the dearly had been departed,

An argument had started.