just one night

IT

We could hear its long uncut toenails tap against the wooden planks walking down the front hall carefully which had previously been carpeted but they found the house too hot and the carpet was a dull pink and they didn't like color so after months of back and forth arguments they decided to change to dark brown floor planks. Which made the house look let alone feel a lot eerier.

We could tell they didn't want to be discovered, the way it was walking. The way its cold sticky feet were peeling off the floorboards with each step it took, walking steadily but quickly trying to make itself sound invisible. What was it hiding form us? Did they know we have been home all weekend doing our own things? Scarlett's face was shocked when she heard the screechy doorknob turn when it entered the house. She wasn't expecting anyone to be back until Tuesday at the earliest. And here we are, Sunday evening in our rooms just about to put a show on Netflix on to distract us from out thoughts, after all scars thoughts were a danger to us all.

Dimming the lights right downto a soft glow we could see the light peer in front under the door. Just as ashadow passes through from under the door an ad comes up on netflix and fillsthe whole room with unwanted noise, surely it would

have been loud enough to be heard from outside because just as the noise started the foot steps stopped. Shit we really did it this time, we knew we were screwed for sure. Scarlett rolled down both her purple silk pajama sleeves and shut the computer down and chucked it under her bed. Turning the lights off completely she then lightly sprayed water on the parts of the bed we were sitting on and forced me under her bed with her following right behind.

Seconds after we'd stopped shuffling to adjust ourselves into a more comfortable position, the door bursts open and we see a single drop of blood fall right beside us, right next to the two feet with high gum boots on. Was it a girl? A guy? W still weren't too sure. Scarlett shoved her one eyed 3 limed linted teddy into my mouth to stop me from screaming. It did the job but it was mostly the smell that shut me up, it was like getting into a car that hadn't been used for yeas mixed with a combination of bowel gasses and rust, similar smelling to blood. A few grunts were heard mixed with what we thought was weeping, followed by the slamming of every door in the house and the front door shutting and getting locked.

I asked "why spray the beds?"Scar looks at me as if I was one of the first cavewomen ever to exist, not eventhe ones that discovered fire, the ones that hit their heads with rocks to getrid of headaches. Of course. That question was probably the dumbest thingthat's come out of my mouth to her. She was like a genuis when it came to thesethings. "I sprayed the bed for a few reasons, to make it feel damp and musty soit looks like no ones been in here and I did it to cool off the places we weresitting so if it felt the bed they wouldn't have felt warmth. We get up fromunder the bed being cautious about not touching any of the blood on the floor,

who knows whos it is or where its been. Scarlett goes to turn the light back on and she froze in front of the bed and held back a scream, silent tears streaming down her face. I run to her and hug her, she was shaking so much the poor girl. Looking pale as ever I sat her down on the floor with my back still facing the bed and asked her if she was okay but she couldn't speak, eyes flooded with tears still fixed onto the bed. I turn around and screamed so loud I could feel the nerves in my neck and head vibrate. The words messily written over the scrunched up pink and white butterfly comforter read "stop hiding " in blood. It smelt like fresh blood, the smell rust was strong.

What a sick stupid joke to play on such aninnocent girl. Who in the world wanted to scare her this much? I thought it washer family coming back early from their trip to Florida. The beaches there atabout this time of year are breathtaking. The weather isnt so hot that you'dhave sweat marks on your underarms and beads of sweat dripping down the centreof your back and it wasn't so cold that you'd be in long sleeves and jeans. Itwas warm, the thick clouds covered the rays and the sun kisses your skin softerthan the feeling you get when you hop into a warm bath. The winds were warm,and the water was just heavenly. The first dip you get feels like you'regetting into the shower at night after a long tiring day out. It was as if itcleansed you from the inside out. Florida was one of my favourite places tovisit, that and singapore, the food there is mouthwatering just thinking aboutit. I could never imagine anyone wanting to come back EARLY from Florida! Evenif it was a bad holiday or you got food poisioning. But then again, it

was the Goodwin family, they hate the outside all together, its weird. I wonder why they decided to book the holiday in the first place.

Scarlett would have gone on the holiday with them. She loved the outdoors, shopping, beaches. She loved the feeling of the warm sand between her toes, she loved the adrenaline she got when she was surfing or riding her bike at the speed of light with her hair out of her face flowing behind her. Also because everywhere we went people would turn when they smelt her perfume. Madonna, sweet scent. It gave off the impression of fair y floss, lavenders, the conditioner you get in the box after you color your hair. Very addicting scent, you could make it out anywhere.

She always had very good taste, ever since she was young she was always with the coolest brand of chap stick at school, every strand of hair on her head was always perfect at school. The color got more and more divine the longer you looked at it.

She even packed a suitcase, now that I think about it I feel bad for making her stay back. I was having a party. Well, I was thinking about the idea, but the only problem was I didn't have a place to host it. Hours later I get a call from scar, sounding more excited than a dog seeing its owners after a long holiday, she began to tell me about her future trip to Florida. My instincts kicked in and the next thing I know im telling her about this over planned party in my head. I told her how people were bringing drinks and so many people found out about it and I guess my voice got a little sad because she interrupted with "so many people found out about it that's why you cant cancel it even though you don't have a venue?"

I swear that girl knew mebetter than I knew myself. Now

that I think about it she was like that with everyone. Didn't matter if she knew them for five minutes or fine years. She could always just understand them. She would always know what they were thinking or how they were feeling and she would give the very best advice whether it was with guy or girl problems, or with something that's happened at home. Almost as if she could... read them I guess. Well she had a gift and she knew how to use it to make everyone lifes better while she was stuck in her awful one.

Ashamed I agreed with her and she happily said "don't worry about it sweetheart! My familys going for a whole week tomorrow and they'll only be back on Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn't HAVE to go, it wouldn't have been fun with them anyway. I would probably have a lot more fun with my bestest friend in the universe! They'd just sit in the hotel room, watch the windows and order room service and I'd be alone outside without you to walk around and pick up guys with! I'll help you decorate and get my house ready for the party. Does 10:00am sounds good for tomorrow for you? You can spend the weekend here, we have school on Monday and I don't think your parents would let you stay over any more than 2 days so its perfect if we have it on Saturday! We'd have a whole day to go shopping to get over our hangovers hehe."

Shes a life saver. One reasonwas because she let me use her house for the party, but the main reason wasbecause that girl was the queen ofparties. Now pretty much every single hottie I could think of at the top of myhead would come to this party. I mean, im not popular popular but I wasn't a reject either. Well, standing nextto her I was but she made me feel so much more confident in

myself standing next to her. She could sense when im unconformable and give me the compliments I needed to hear to bring my confidence back up again.

She would always be hanging around her mansion-like house. She knew her family couldn't stand the energy she brought to the house so they'd try and spend as many hours as possible away from her and the house. Some days she'd be home alone until midnight when they think she's asleep so she wouldn't cause any more disturbances but most days I saved her from her boredom by sleeping over on weekends or following her home after school.

Her house was like the definition of huge. When her dad left her mum 4 years ago, she found out he had been running a multimillion dollar business for years and he recently sold it for another few million dollars because he was leaving her, what he was too dumb to figure out was that she was entitles to at least three quarters of his money. She took custody of scarlett and her much older sister joan who was turning 22 I think this year who really didn't need or didn't want to be taken care of anymore. She was very unstable. Before all this happened something clicked inside of her and since then shes gone onto heavy drug use and she can be scarier than you could ever imagine when shes under the influence.

Her husband got custody over their son Lewis who was about to have his 11th birthday party at Mcdonalds. The poor kid, they treated him as if he was a few years younger than his actual age, no wonder he acts the way he acts today.