Guest UnfortuNATE

Chapter 9: The Other Friend

"I thought I was doing the right thing by not telling you this but Heart is right, we're all in this together so you have all the right to know."
The four of them are now currently sitting in a circle, facing each other.
Her friends waited as Ace struggled to find the right words to start the conversation with them, the atmosphere feeling heavy with how serious they all are.
"Something had been bothering me since that night Nate failed to show up for dinner which is so unlike him, then came Dia's nightmare which my guts had been telling me that there's more to it than it seems."
She paused, looking at them one by one, landing on Spade last.
"Honey, why don't you tell them about the apparition?"
Diamond and Heart both shifted their gaze to Spade who is now fidgeting with her shirt. It took her a while before she started telling them of her encounters with the lady in a faded white dress, waist-length hair tied with a red ribbon.
"She's real, right Ace? She had never been a trick of my eye?"
"No." Ace then turned to the other two. "Because Dia and Heart saw her, too. In the spare room this morning, right?"

"Good morning, Heart."
"Morning, Dia!"
"Your face radiates so much happiness, I am guessing all went well last night."
"Yeah, I was able to talk to her about it."
Diamond smiled. "Finally."
"She might be thinking she had been doing a great job in hiding it but she should know by now that we can sense if something is troubling her."
"We know she means well but this ain't healthy for her anymore..."
"Yeah, she has to stop keeping it all to herself, whatever is bothering her. We both knew how bad this does to her."
"Yeah, I don't want a repeat of that night. We nearly lost her."
"I was angry, to be honest. That ever since SHE died, Ace seemed to have forgotten she still have us. I hated the way she was unwilling to go on living anymore. She could have killed herself back then if I was even a second late. I'm still mad, though."
Diamond smiled sadly. She was about to say something when a loud crashing noise startled them both.
"What was that?"
"Something fell, I guess."
"It came from the spare room."
"Come on, let's go check."
They dashed towards the room to check on it but nothing seemed to be out of place.
"You found anything?"
"Nothing."
"Could it be Cheska?"
A bark. They both looked at the window where they can see Spade playing catch with the dog by the flower garden.
"Maybe it's not from here, then. Could be Ace upstairs."
"Ace!" Heart called out for their friend whom they suppose was cleaning at her room but nobody answered.
They looked at each other and shrugged. They then turned to walk out the room when another loud thud made them jump. They quickly turn to look around the room and saw a small box fall off the high cabinet.
Diamond slowly walked towards it.
"Whose is this?" She asked Heart who came up behind her.
"I don't know. But I don't remember seeing this before, though." She bent down to inspect the box that was taped very carefully.
"Spade's?"
"We have our names written on each of our boxes. I see no name in here." She flipped the box over.
"What could be inside that?" Diamond was also hunching over, curios.
"We ain't allowed to touch stuffs that aren't ours. Let's just ask the others later."
"Fine. Let's put it back."
"It ain't heavy."
"Let's make a bet on what could be inside this," Diamond suggested with a grin.
"Sure. What's your bet?" Heart readily agreed.
"I'd say, notebooks or art materials."
"I can feel some woods in here, could be pictures in a frame."
"What's for the bet though?"
"I hate doing the dishes so, whoever loses shall fill in the other's schedule. For a week."
Diamond laughs, "What makes you so certain you'd win this one? But, okay, I'm fine with that," she nodded in agreement.
They put the box back where it has fallen from and started towards the door when the box fell again.
Eerie silence fills the air as the two stopped frozen on their tracks, turning very slowly and then screaming their lungs out afterwards.

Diamond and Heart shuddered in fright as they were reminded of the faint figure that was standing by the fallen box, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
"We thought we were just seeing things," Diamond softly murmured. "Ace, what's going on?"
Instead of an answer, Ace stood up and left, returning with the box a little while later.
She put it in the center and opened it for all to see. She heard her friends gasped in shock.
Spade moved towards Ace and carefully took out the paintings that were put in a picture frame. She gazed upon it as tears started to fill her eyes.
The painting was of a young girl laughing; teeth in full display, dimples showing, eyes squinting and head thrown back. But what's striking was the contrast of her faded white dress and her long black hair playing in the wind held by a little red ribbon.
"Clubs..."

It was their last year in senior high school. That's when she came into their lives.
As that they were part of the supreme student government of their school, one of their responsibility is taking care of every transferee, making sure that they don't feel left out.
Heart was the one who first approached the new girl when she saw her fidgeting in a corner. As she had always been the social butterfly, she managed to gain the trust of the new girl they came to call as Clubs. She was strikingly beautiful with her long hair and innocent-looking face. They later found out that she was home-schooled until then because of her illness so the girls readily offered to look after her, serving as her guide as she navigates into a completely new environment and a late start.
For two semesters, they got to know her better. Clubs was quite the prankster, the moodmaker and the one who always makes sure that everybody has smiles on their faces. Everyday, she always finds a way to make them laugh.
Things had been going well with the group. Clubs became the face of the school with her striking beauty. Heart was named as the model student who was almost every teacher's example as the epitome of a good student. Spade was dubbed as the "Next Asia's Songbird", bringing recognitions to their school as she wins singing competitions one after another. Diamond was hailed as the school's fashion icon and trend-setter. Meanwhile, Ace consistently tops as the best among all the students but was even more famous as the alpha leader of the group with her intimidating and mysterious aura. Life was perfect for them and they were happily living their best lives.
But, they'll come to learn later on that everything is short-lived in this cruel world, their happiness is no exception. They learned it the hard way.
Just a month before their anticipated graduation, Clubs plummeted 20 ft from their school building's rooftop, dying a little later on their way to the hospital in Ace's arms.

"Clubs..."
The three girls are now crying bitterly as they remembered that night. That should have been one of their happiest moment as they were about to celebrate her very first birthday with them. Who could have ever imagined that it would be the night that would mar them for the rest of their lives.
Heart was holding a picture frame. It was the five of them laughing at the camera, showing off a miniature of their dream house.
"She would have enjoyed doing the landscaping." Clubs told them before that she would taking charge of the landscaping for their new house. She had planned on the pavements, the garden, the gate and everything.
"The guest room could have been hers," Diamond said before looking at the spare room, just across them. "And that's where she could've been doing her photoshoot sessions." Even before then, they knew she had always wanted to become a model.
Diamond picked up their school magazine that had Clubs' face gracing its cover. Her first and only. "Who knows how many brands she could have modelled for. She could've been the face of some famous brands now."
Spade's hands started shaking when she brought out a white dress and a red ribbon from the bottom of the box. "And she would have been celebrating her 25th birthday 2 weeks from now." That dress was supposed to be worn by Clubs that night for her birthday party. It was such a pity she never got the chance to.

Ace was just sitting there, watching them in silence.
She lets them mourn. Her face was void of any emotion but her eyes were holding so much anger that her friends failed to notice. No, anger is an understatement, it's filled with venom they wouldn't even recognize it as Ace's.