Uncovering Dahlia's Truth

The Realisation

As soon as Angel's date with Matt ended, he took her back to her flat and they hugged goodbye. Angel had a really good time, which surprised her. She's been opening up way more these days and as she sat down on her couch, she realized that it was actually something immensely dangerous. Dahlia's killer could've been anyone and Angel let the reality soak in with a heavy heart.

She fell asleep on the couch a week later and woke up, not being able to move. She stared over at her curtains, swaying from the breeze coming through her window she left open. She tried moving again, but felt strapped to the couch. And slowly, a figure emerged from behind the curtain. It was dark. She felt a wave of horror hit her and tried to scream, but couldn't find her voice to do so. The figure had pearly white eyes staring at her and stuck out a hand, swaying closer.

Angel sat upright, staring at the corner. She blinked and the figure was gone. She heaved for breath and scanned the room, terrified. She looked over at the curtain, but there was no figure.

Sleep paralysis she thought.

She got up with her knees feeling like jelly and shuffled over to the window, closing it as fast as she could and ran to the kitchen, searching for the light switch. She found it right next to the toaster and clicked, the room lighting up.

She looked around, but everything was still the same as she left it when she dozed off on her living room couch. She let out a sigh of relief and sat down on a counter chair.

She was not sleeping again tonight.

She checked her phone, plugged in near the light switch and saw that it was half past nine. She dialed Brooklyn's number with out thinking.

"Is everything okay, Angel?" He answered.

Angel let out a sigh of relief once again. "Brooklyn?" She asked, her voice sounding foreign to herself. "A-are you busy? I'm sorry to bother you if you are." She felt ashamed for sounding so pathetic.

"I just got out of the shower," he answered. "Did something happen?" He asked again.

Angel shook her head, but then stupidly realized that she was on the phone. "I'm just paranoid," she said.

"Do you want me to come over?" He asked.

There was a silence.

"Would you mind?" She asked in a small voice.

"I'll be right there."

He hung up and she put her phone down. Later she opened the door after pacing around, jumping at every little sound.

"Can't sleep, huh?" He said, jumping onto the kitchen counter and swinging his legs, his hair still wet.

Angel leaned against the wall and sighed. "I don't even know if I'll ever sleep again."

He looked at her and then scanned the room. His eyes fell onto the coffee table in front of the TV and got up. It was the box that read "Dahlia memories" which Angel left there the previous night, looking at some of their old photo's. "May I?" He asked and Angel nodded. He opened the box and sat down on his knees. Angel followed and sat next to him. He pulled out a picture of the three of them looking at a sunset at the waterfront in Cape Town.

"Remember the struggle of getting my mom to take a good picture?" He chuckled, staring at it.

Angel smiled and tried reliving the memory.

"Mom!" Brooklyn growled out of frustration, making Angel and Dahlia giggle. "You push the button in the middle!" His mom, Mandy Sanders, waved him off and gave the girls  a smile. "I will take the picture once you just shut up!" She said. "I don't understand why you don't just use the new iPhone dad got you," he said, rolling his eyes. She sighed and looked at him with an upturned brow and her hand on her hip. "A camera is more practical and later on we'll be able to print the pictures out so that one day when you're all old and wrinkly like me, you'll look at these pictures and remember the good times." "Oo!" Dahlia squealed and pointed at the colourful sky. "Quickly, before the sun sets!" The three of them huddled and smiled big smiles for the camera and Aunty Mandy finally figured out how to take the picture and snapped the moment.

"We were so relieved once the photo was taken," Angel giggled, just like she and Dahlia did at Brooklyn's frustration with his mom.

Brooklyn laid back and shook his head, a grin on his face. "And we never asked her to take a photo for us again."

"Shame!" Angel said and put the photo back in. "How is your mom?" She asked.

"She's good, healthy," he answered, searching through more photo's.

Angel nodded and helped him look. She fell across another photo, one from her party. "I forgot I had photo's of that night," she whispered. Brooklyn stopped looking and looked up at her. "I don't know why I kept them."

Brooklyn was silent and sat back.

Angel stared down at the photo. It was of her and some old friends, but no Dahlia. She was dancing with them and smiling up at the camera, not knowing what would've happened later that night. Angel looked at this with a lump in her throat and did a double take when she saw a short girl in deep conversation with Dahlia in the background, close to the stairs.

"It's her!" Angel exclaimed and stared at the photo, wide eyed.

Brooklyn frowned over at her. "Who?" He asked, perplexed.

Angel flapped her hand manically in the air, searching for words. "It's the girl I saw at The Flower Garden that also talked to Dahlia at her party!"

Brooklyn was still frowning at her. "And this means...?"

"I never knew this girl," Angel said, her brain feeling fried. "And she just showed up and called Dahlia to one side, telling her she needed to speak to her. Dahlia looked slightly...scared almost and followed her, only telling me that she'll be back later."

Brooklyn's mouth was slightly open and he was staring at Angel. "That is strange," he said. "Can I see the picture?"

Angel nodded her head and handed it over. Brooklyn stared down at where Angel was pointing with her finger. He looked up at her. "I know this girl," he said. "She dated one of my friends for a while." Angel looked at him with a strange expression on her face. "And she was a total bitch, so Gareth broke up with her. I think her name was Britney, no wait, Brandy! Her name was Brandy."

Angel ran a hand through her tangled hair and stared back at him. "Do you know where she lives?" She asked, suddenly feeling a pinch of adrenaline.

He shook her head sadly. "Nah," he said. "I know nothing else about her, sorry."

Angel looked down. "It's not your fault."

Angel's phone rang and she ran for the counter. She answered it with out looking at who's calling. "Hello?"

"Hey!" A enthusiastic voice answered and Angel felt like laughing. "You up for some drinks tonight? Earnest, John, Chris and the whole lot are coming too!"

Angel bit her lip and looked over at Brooklyn. Would it be better to sit around here, paranoid, or get away from the house. And what about Brooklyn?

She smiled. "Hillary? Is it fine if I bring a friend?"

"Of course!" She answered, music still blaring in the background. "Meet us at Hawaiian Paradise!" She hung up and Angel looked over at Brooklyn.

"My friend just asked if we would like to go have a drink, would you want to come?"

Brooklyn licked his lips and looked down at his watch. He looked back up again, a small grin on his face. "Sure."

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

Hey readers! So I'm on holiday and really lazy, so I'm very slow on writing.

Comment, vote and red on! :)
Kisses
Cat😽