Guest UnfortuNATE

Chapter 1: Trick of the Eye?

"Hiya there, Dia. That smells good."
"Hi, darling. Slept well?" Diamond asked the other girl who just woke up. She can't help but laugh at her friend's sleepy state, her curly hair strewn all over her face.
"What's for lunch?"
"Ain't it obvious, Spade? The smell is screaming adobo," she teased the other girl.
"Just can't trust my nose," Spade retorted with a scrunch of her nose. "Anyway, where's Ace and Heart?"
"Heart is taking a shower and Ace is giving her dog a bath."
"Oh okay. I'll just wash up then I'll be back to help."
Diamond nodded, laughing. "You do really need to wash up, darling. You stink."
Spade stuck her tongue at her as she opened the cabinet where they stored their extra amenities and retrieve a new tube of toothpaste. She then rushed upstairs, taking two steps at a time.
She came back 10 minutes later.
"Well, what can I do to help?"
"Just help me set the table. This is almost cooked."
"Right away, great chef."
"Heart! Ace! Time to eat!" Diamond hollered out for their two best mates.
"Coming! Just a second!" Heart called back, coming down the stairs a minute later, her hair wrapped in a towel.
"Where's Ace?" she asked as she took her usual seat in their dining table.
"Not done with Cheska yet, I guess," Diamond replied as she serve the steaming rice. "Spade, can you please call for her? We don't want the adobo getting all soggy and cold."
The other girl nodded and made her way to their back door that reveals their backyard and a part of their flower garden where she is expecting to find Ace with her dog but neither of them can be seen. She turned to walk back in when she caught something in the corner of her eyes staring at her.
"Ace?"
She turned around and saw a figure disappear behind the tree not far from where she stood. She quickly ran to it but much to her disbelief, she found no one, not even a trace that could suggest that somebody could have been there. Not even up in the tree.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!"
Spade screamed and jumped in fear when a hand suddenly draped across her shoulders from behind.
"Relax, mate, it's just me."
Ace is suppressing a laugh at her terrified expression but her smile quickly faded and turned to worry when she saw Spade's eyes wide with terror.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"No-nothing...ummm...lunch is ready."
"I'm sorry. I must have scared you real bad."
Ace now felt bad for scaring her friend, though she had not intended to in the first place.
Spade noticed this and forced herself to smile. "Nothing to be sorry 'bout, darling. It's not your fault I'm that jumpy, scaredy-little chicken." Now visibly relaxed, she reassured her friend with a quick hug.
"Okay..." Ace hesitates, still obviously worried and feeling guilty.
"Come on now, I'm famished." Spade then grabbed her hand and ushered her inside.

"Hey, what happened? Who screamed out there?" Heart's concerned voice greeted them both as she was already halfway to see what's going on outside.
"I scared Spade when I suddenly touched her from behind. She might have found something interesting in that tree all of a sudden that she was too focused she haven't heard me call her name or even when I approached her," Ace explained, looking at Spade quizically. Maybe curious on what she had been looking for a while ago.
"Looks like you've seen a ghost out there though," Diamond laughed as she filled their plates with rice, noting her friend's paled face as they all sat down around the dining table.
Spade didn't bother answering them and just eat her lunch in silence. Her thoughts were preoccupied with what happened earlier. She is quite sure that she had seen someone out there but then it vanished into thin air. That creeped her out, but that someone out there looked vaguely familiar to her.

"Just leave the dishes in the sink, I'll do them." Heart's demanding voice snapped Spade off her thoughts. She just realized they have all finished eating. How long had she been lost in her thoughts?
"My turn," she was quick to retort. "Forgetful, huh, Heart. You just washed the dishes this morning. Old age coming fast on you or you just enjoy doing the dishes?"
"I'd prefer the latter, darling. I know that it's your schedule now, I even had a calendar for it," Heart chuckled, showing Spade her phone, displaying a calendar schedule for their turns in washing the dishes. "But, I'm afraid you might break my precious silverwares as you keep zoning out, I'm not even surprised if you had been traveling to outer space by now. Go with Ace and have a bit of wind by the patio, it might help you clear your mind. Or talk it out with her whatever is bothering you."
"I'm good. I'll do the dishes," she said stubbornly as she stood up and started collecting their dirty plates.
The other three raised their brows at her when not a second later and she nearly dropped one of the glasses.
"Spade..."
Ace looked at her straight in the eye and she knew better than to say another word and argue.
"I'll help with the dishes," Diamond offered with a smile.
"Thank you girls. That's so kind of you."
"Why are you suddenly acting as if this was the first time I am offering to do the dishes for you?" Diamond feigned hurt as she dramatically gripped her shirt and start to fake cry. Heart rolled her eyes at her and smiled at Spade.
"No problem at all. Even more that Diamond is all too willing to do it all herself," she now turned to the other girl with a mischievous smile.
"Hey! I never did say such thing. I just offered to help!" Diamond argued.
"Well, yeah. And doing it all yourself is called HELP."
"What dictionary are you using, you insufferable human being?"
"Why, you interested in improving your vocabulary?"
Ace sighed before motioning at Spade to follow her outside as the two continued their nonsense argument. Spade laughed and shake her head at them before following suit.

"You saw something out there, didn't you?"
Spade was taken aback. It's not a question, Ace just wanted confirmation.
"How did you know?" she asked her instead.
"As if we haven't been friends for years now, Spade. I know you, you're so easy to read, honey." Ace smiled as she looked back at her.
Spade gulped as she shy away from her friend's questioning gaze. She knew she could not lie to her so after a few moments of silence, she told Ace what happened and the latter was just silent the whole time, just listening to her intently.
"I swear she was someone I'm familiar with. Like, I've seen her before. I just can't place where or when or who." She said in frustration. "Ace, what do you think?"
"Describe her to me."
"Well, I just caught a glimpse of her back. She was wearing a faded white dress, but what's striking was her long black hair reaching down to her waist and tied with a little red ribbon."
"She can be as my height. Wait..."
Her eyes suddenly widen in shock when she started to remember more of what she saw earlier, finally realizing something. "What the fuck! Ace, shit! Her feet wasn't touching the fucking ground! She was fucking floating!"
Her hands started to shake as she reached out to her friend and grip at her shirt.
"Please tell me that I was just seeing things. That that was just a trick of my eye. That didn't really happen, right? Maybe I was just hallucinating because I haven't fully waken up by then. Yeah, maybe. That was it , right Ace?"
Ace didn't answer. She didn't even seem to have heard her friend as she was deep in her thoughts as well. Forehead creased and eyes serious.
No, she said to herself. It can't be.
"Ace..."
Spade held her face, forcing her friend to look at her. Ace's eyes softened when she saw her friend's terrified expression, wanting to be assured that that was just her eyes playing tricks on her. She wanted to believe it herself.
"Oh darling, your imagination is just starting to run wild. Like mine." She teased.
"Am I starting to go crazy, then?"
Ace feigned shock when her friend retorted with a  teasing remark, but she's glad she was able to lift Spade's mood.
"You could say that." She chuckled instead.
"But," yet Spade's mood turned somber just as quickly as it changed seconds before. "I really can't shake the feeling that she was someone I used to know."
Used. Ace's jaws tightened.
"No, it didn't happen." Spade was the one who dismissed it herself and before Ace could say something, their two friends came dashing through the front door, holding Ace's ringing phone.