Visions of Fate

16. CONFRONTING THE TRUTH

"Emily! Emily!!" I heard from behind me, literally two seconds after Mom dropped me off at school and I spun in my heels to meet Abi waving at me from the pavement of the opposite road.

She easily crossed the empty road and ran past groups of other students, before catching up with me. "Hi," I said, noticing how her strawberry blonde hair had been let down in smooth, seductive waves with two twin buns that neatly sat on top her head.

Taking me by surprise, she wrapped her hands around me and squeezed me into a bear hug, making me squat a little due to height difference. "It's so good to see you again," she said, letting go and leaving me in relief.

"I mean it's only been about…seventeen hours, but I appreciate the loving thoughts."

"Seventeen bitter hours," she added. "You look amazing, by the way. Ooh, I love your hair. What products do you use?"

I shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable as she brushed her hand through the length of my hair. Real friends were really weird. "I don't know, Lush, I think," Was that Lush or Lust? I really couldn't remember.

"Well either ways it really suits you," she began to walk inside the school building and I mirrored her movements. "So what did you think about my friends yesterday? Did you like them?"

I nodded, recalling yesterday's events. It never really occured to me that after meeting her friends, Abi and I hadn't had sometime to ourselves to really get to know each other on a personal level. Her friends were always in the picture after that. I guessed I never really paid mind to it. "They were okay."

"Okay as in bad okay, or okay as in good okay?"

"Okay as in good okay." I chuckled at her enthusiasm. "You guys really made me feel loved and accepted after so long. I really appreciate that," I shifted a little as we passed two students that threw me side eyes as we walked deeper down the hall. I guess until I got my uniform, I wasn't officially a Ravenswood student.

"Aww, you're so welcome. It's so exciting seeing a new face in town. It's been so long since we've had a foreigner in this town."

I turned briefly to gaze at her. "What do you mean?"

She looked at me like I was expected to know exactly what was in her mind. "Since the period of 1955 till 197-something there'd been a massive amount of murders in this town. Granny told me that the cops did their best to investigate and find out the reason behind the rapidly increasing crimes but when they ended up with nothing, they locked up the town's borders and denied access for any visitation from other border towns," she cocked her head with a furrowed brow. "Aren't you expected to know all this? I heard Larksville got affected by that a lot."

I opened my mouth to give out a lie but a question itched the back of my throat. "What do you mean?"

"Well Ravenswood was practically a home to many of Larksville tourists and business enthusiasts," she replied. "So after the border was closed down, Larksville suffered more than you could think," she paused to think for a moment. "Well I guess you wouldn't know that since you weren't born during that period. Don't you watch the news or read history books?"

"No I don't," well at least that wasn't necessarily a lie. "What happened after that period? When was the town's border eventually opened?" I asked as we made a turn.

"I'm not really sure about that," Abi tapped her chin in recollection. "I guess the town became kinda strange. Granny told me that all happened right before the murders died down. You know, strange symbols etched to buildings, glowing lights in ominous buildings and everything."

I felt dread feel my body and the color draining from my face as I asked, "Strange symbols like moons and stars?"

"So you do read your history books!" Abi beamed at me. "Aw, you're just a shy secret nerd, aren't you? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." I opened my mouth to disagree when Abi's bright smile widened in delight as she spotted something in front of us. "Zara, Benny!" She shouted, and I should have expected her to drag my hand all the way to the pair, where they stood in front of an opened locker.