The Night Of August 15th

10

Iris froze with the sweater in her hands, and then she immediately shoved it back into the bag, and then looked up to find the eyes of all her friends on her, with Rowan looking a bit confused as she was the only one that did not see the person who handed them the flyer. Iris got up from the chair she was on and the other girls wasted no time in standing up too. They walked as casually and unsuspiciously as they possibly could. They walked past the long array of relaxing girls, and threw smiles at them once in a while. As they were approaching the door to the cabin, Alicia showed up. She cocked her head to the side with a coy smile on her face. She had her hands down in front of her, with her fingers lightly linked together.

She eyed the bag in Iris's hands and then all four girls. She crossed one leg in front of her and changed the position of her hands to a crossed position over her chest. "I can see you've gotten your present," she smiled "I can give you guys a hint if you want," she offered, and shrugged her shoulders. No one said anything, and so Alicia leaned forward a bit, she used her index finger to call them forward, but they remained unmoved, still standing confused. "This isn't the first time you've seen this hoodie, and the first time wasn't when you received the flyers either," she winked and blew them a kiss before making way for them to walk inside.

They all walked inside slowly, as they tried to understand the queer message or hint, that Alicia gave them. Bekah turned around as she looked at Alicia with frightened eyes.

Soon, they were gathered at their usual spot; Ambers room. They were shocked that Alicia did not force them to separate from themselves and sleep in the other rooms with the other girls. But they were not complaining, they had time and privacy to try to figure out what was going on, but they also figured that that was what whoever was messing with them wanted. They would torture them and have delight as they saw them trying to figure everything out, knowing that they would not get anywhere.

Rowan stood by the door, as if to prevent anyone from interrupting them, Iris paced about leaving both Amber and Bekah on the bed. "What on earth did she mean by we've seen this stupid hoodie before?" Iris groaned and threw the bag on the bed, and then dug her face into her palms frustrated. "The more I'm here, the crazier I feel."

"I hate being in the dark," Rowan said, indignantly.

"Whoever you are just come out straight and tell us what you want," Amber yelled, as she traveled her eyes to every corner of the room "Stop being a wimp and show us your damned face."

"It'll take the fun out of everything," Iris said, finally taking a seat "This person...these people even, are trying to mess with us. They want to torture us as they sit back and laugh."

"But why?" Bekah sank her shoulders, her voice weak and cracked "why would someone want to torture us so much, five years later?"

"Maybe they didn't want to do it sooner because then, we would have had clearer suspect list." Iris said "Right now, I can't think of anyone," she ran her hands through her head frustrated "No one," She yelled.

"Let's try to remember where we've apparently seen that stupid hoodie before," Rowan said, and then moved closer to them. "I was the only person who didn't get the flyer directly, which means I've only seen it once before, but where and when?"

"If we knew, we would have said it already," Amber groaned.

"Woah, calm down Miss high fashion model, we're all conflicted here," Rowan hissed.

"I'm sorry," Amber apologized, "let's not fight, not now, maybe that's what they want, what'll make them happy."

"You're right," Bekah said "I might not know you girls well, but I do know we need to stick together and figure all this out," she said, softly.