Mystery Girl

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As I unlocked the door of the two-story apartment, I heard Susan's footsteps thundering down the stairs. I opened the door slowly, in case she hit it, but when it was open enough too see inside, I saw her standing right in front of it wearing sweats and a singlet. I opened the door more quickly and greeted her with a cheery smile. 

"Hey Sis. So what do you have planned for tonight?" 

A cheeky grin spread across her face. "Well..." dragging the word into three syllables, "You know how my friend posts challenge videos on her blog?" 

Suddenly, realization hit me and I was scared. "Uhhhh, yeah?"  

"Well, I invited her over, and we're going to do some challenges together. And she's bringing her boyfriend along so we're doing team challenges." Her face was filled with excitement, while mine was covered in horror. Why was this happening too me? When Susan saw my reaction she started laughing, "Ohh calm down River. It'll be fun. Now go change while I order some pizza." Still bewildered I trudged up the stairs to get change.  

I threw on a pair of sweats and an old sweatshirt. On my way down the stairs I took them two at a time. Practically jogging into the kitchen, I caught Susan ordering pizza, "Yes. One pepperoni, Two vegetarian and one Meatlovers....Ok. Thank you." 

She put down the phone and turned to face me. "So, they'll be here in about," checking her watch, "20 minutes. So prepare yourself," voice growing dramatic, "for the fright of your life. MWAHAHAHAH!!!" At her fake evil villain laugh, I couldn't help but crack up laughing. Clutching my stomach I walked to the living room, dropped to the couch and grabbed the remote. 

I clicked the tv's on button and channel surfed. For about 2 minutes, I found nothing interesting. Just some cooking shows, kids shows, info-mmercials. I finally stopped when I reached the second Harry Potter movie. 

"Bloody Hell." The Ron on the tv gasped. Ahh the iconic "Bloody Hell" Anyone could recognize that anywhere.  

I leaned back and started remembering my younger years. I wasn't that old but still. I felt very nostalgic watching Harry Potter again. Just as Ron and Harry drank their polyjuice potion the doorbell rang. "I'll get it Susan" I called toward the kitchen. I opened the door and there they were, Susan seemed to materialize, behind me, from no where. "HEY LILLAY!!!" I think my eardrums burst at the sound of her shreik. Eric and I exchanged careful looks, obviously we knew what was coming next. We both plugged our ears.

"SUSSIE!!!" then in unison they squealled. They both hugged, squealing in each other's ears. I really did not uderstand girls. How did their eardrums survive all that squealing? When they saw mine and Eric's reactions the doubled over laughing. Eric squeaked, "Is it over?" I chuckled and gave him a slight nod.

We all stood at the front door laughing for awhile. That's how the pizza man found us. In a crowd at the front door laughing and introducing eachother. He eyed us, with confusion written all over his face. "Uhh… Two vegetarian, one pepporoni, and one meatlovers." Still laughing, Susan stepped forward and nodded, she took the pizzas and gave him some money.

She walked back to us, stiffling her laughs. She ushered us inside and we sat down to ate. It was not until now that I noticed the huge bag that Lilley was lugging. I pointed at it and whispered to Eric, "Uhh what's that?" He whispered back, "It's full of challenge stuff. Make-up, marhsmallows, camera, laptop, its crazy how many challenges shes made me do?"

We both laughed, a laugh full of horror. We followed the girls into the kitchen and we all sat down and ate the pizzas. Dinner didn't last long, before we knew it Lilley was announcing our first challenge. "The blind folded make-up challenge." Oh. No. Not the blind folded make-up challenge. Lilley and Susan had decided that there would be a twist. Instead of them doing eachothers make up, myself and Eric had to put on blinfolds and do their make up. Ohh this was going to be fun. So first Eric did Lilley's makeup. It was hilarious. I noticed she was very used to talking to a camera. Ohh I don't know how they do it. Then it was my turn to mess up Susan's face. I must say, the end result was hilarious. There was eyeliner on her eyelids, all the way up to her eybrows. There was lipstick covering her cheeks. I took off my blindfold all doubled over laughing. Lilley handed her the mirror and a look of horror covered her face.

She punched me in the arm and we all started laughing. Lilley spoke up in between gasps, "This…will..take…a…lot…of…editting…" After Lilley and Susan washed off their faces, we started doing the chubby bunny challenge. The rest of the night continued like that. Challenges, laughing, filming and more laughing.

At around 2 am we all got prety tired so we called it a night. Since it was already pretty early in the morning, tomorrow was Saturday and everyone was dead on their feet, Eric and Lilley just stayed in he guest room for the night. Once Lilley and Eric had disappeared into the room I started stirring myself a cup of coffee. I had to leave at 5 anyway so I didn't bother sleeping. As I sat at the counter on a bench stool, Susan came over to tell me she was turning in.

"Ok, River. I'm going to sleep. Are you on shift tomorrow?" I nodded and sipped at my coffee, "Tonight was really fun, but it wasn'y brother-sister bonding time." A smile spread across her face at that last part. "You're right. So on Sunday, we are going out for lunch. The two of us only." I gave out a snort/chuckle combo. 

I heard Susan's tired footsteps going up the stairs, then the sound of a door opening and closing, then I was alone. I went over to the living room and sat on the couch. Leaning my elbows against my knees and resting my chin on my fists. I stared at the black tv screen. I didn't want to turn it on, in case it woke them, but I didn't want to sleep, because I may not wake up. SOI just stared at the screen. I picked up a book. The cover read, Indescrbable, by Liam Wells. I opened it up to a random page, somewhere in the middle

I love you, are  three very powerful words. They can either make or break someone.

I closed it and flipped to another page, I wasn't in th emood for something deep and sappy.I found another passage

Sometimes people were made to change lives, made to bring joy and meaning to other people. They were meant to make dreams reality and nightmares history.

That's when I remember the last paragraph in Alana's book. 

"Fear. It's a funny thing really. Everyone has fears and we all have dreams. So are our fears more powerful, or our dreams? I have fears. I have dreams. But lately my life hasn't been either. It's been both. A nightmare. There's no one who can save me now. No one would be stupid enough to actually try. And I really don't blame them. I blame myself."

What if I was meant to change Alana's life completely? I remembered the dreams where she had featured. She was always just out of reach. Maybe I wasn't helping her? What if I was constantly in reach of success but never really able to grasp it. It was here, in the darkness, the emptiness of my own mind, that I started doubting.

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Well hello again, if you are reading this, thank you so much for being patient. I honestly have been trying to write this chaper. Unfortunately I was pretty clumsy the first time and accidently deleted it. Whoops. Anyway, here it is. Well since this book is nearly up to 100 reads, maybe I should update once it gets there. Huh? Ok here's the deal, i'll either update in 1 week or when it reaches 100 reads, whichever comes first. So remember to Vote, Comment, and Fan. Until next update, ta ta.

~mickeyxx