Murder In The House

Prologue

  Sheriek! Thirteen year old Carmen was awoken by the sound of screaming. She checked the time; the clock read one-o-clock am. Carmen Kilos was spending a Friday night at her great and artistic friend's house, Elizabeth Oakes, accompanied by her other three friends, Adrianna Borne, Melissa Mendele, and Nancy Louis. The room was dim but moonlight glimmered on behalf of Elizabeth's room through the closed window. Carmen rose to her feet. Worriedly, she examined the room quickly, making sure her friends were safe. Lizzy-check! Mel- check! But Nancy and Adrianna were no where to be found. Unlike before, the door was open and the blankets on Adrianna's and Nancy's bed were scattered across the floor. Carmen stepped outside the room, searching for any signs of life-none. Where could they be? Carmen thought to herself. She was determined to find out. With the help of her flashlight on her phone, she scattered downstairs and adventured through the first floor. The house was completely silent. Elizabeth's parents had to be sleeping at this time of night. Suddenly, Carmen heard light, quick footsteps rushing down the staircase. She turned her head to see who it was. 
        "Melissa!" Carmen whispered enthusiastically.
        "Hi, Carmen," she said with a smile. "I urgently had to use the bathroom, but when I came back, I finally realized you, Nancy, and Adrianna were gone...."
        "Well, I came looking for Nancy and Adrianna too...." Carmen said with a puzzled look on her face. Melissa stared, also confused.
"You don't think....." She hesitated, unsure of what was happening. "You don't think they left....do you?"
       "I honestly don't know. I woke up and I heard a scream. The door was open and Nancy's and Adrianna's place was a mess. Then I went downstairs and searched for them here, and thats when you come in." There was a long pause. The silence was interrupted by loud movement coming from the second floor, or the upstairs. Without thinking, both girls rushed to the upper floor. They enter the room, panting from exhaustion. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen. Wind flurried into the room, causing the curtains to shake and dance intensely with the wind's hard blows. Carmen's eyes widened from shock. She stood there, frozen from horror and was unable to speak for a moment or two.
   "Wasn't that....Wasn't that window closed?" Carmen asked, her voice shaking. Melissa nodded at her with a concerned look on her face. Carmen ran to the open window. Melissa followed along. Both stared at the view. Carmen examined the view frantically, searching for answers. Nothing seemed to make sense to her.
     "Lizzy, where are you?!" Carmen said, thinking out loud. To her surprise, Elizabeth answered.
    "Carmen, I'm right here!" The voice sounded from afar. Carmen searched for Elizabeth's pretty face for what seemed like forever.  At the corner of her eye, she finally saw Elizabeth. She crouched, hiding behind her garden's bushes.
"Get down here, now!" Elizabeth demanded. "It's not safe up there!" Yet Carmen remained intensely apprehensive.
       "Safe? What do you mean by safe?......And most importantly, what are you hiding from?"
"Just get down here!" Elizabeth pleaded. Carmen was terrified. What was she not telling her? And why was she avoiding the question? She then heard movement behind her.  Quickly, she turned her head to see the scene in detail. But it was too late. Melissa also disappeared for reasons unknown. She heard mysterious noises downstairs. Carmen ran downstairs as fast as her legs could take her. She was greeted by a horrific sight as she reached the first floor; Adrianna held a hand over Melissa's mouth, refraining her to speak. Adrianna grasped Melissa's body, preventing any sort of movement for escape. Melissa made as much as noise she could help as a desperate attempt to call for help.
"Adrianna?!" Carmen cried. "What are you doing?!" Adrianna stared at Carmen.
"Saving your life," Adrianna said.
     "From what?" Carmen questioned.
"Her of course!" Adrianna motioned her head towards Melissa. "She......She killed Nancy!.....And theres no way I'm going to let her kill you!" Carmen froze. She didn't know how to respond. Too much was going on that it was arduous to process. Melissa killed Nancy? When did that happen? With her time and being, it didn't seem to fit together. And why would she do that in the first place? Taking advantage of Adrianna's unfocused attention, Melissa gave Adrianna a hard blow on the chest, enabling her to escape from Adrianna's wrath. She zoomed past Adrianna and foolishly ran into the door, knocking herself unconscious. Both stared plainly at the sight, they knew the incident did not require any sort of attention.
"Nancy....Nancy is dead?" Carmen asked, bewildered.
"I saw it happen before my own eyes"
"But when?" Carmen asked.
"Right now." That made no sense to Carmen, it was as if she was speaking a whole different language.
"I woke up at one-o-clock in the morning," Carmen says with the upmost serious tone, "and you and Nancy were gone. So how could that be?"
          "What are you talking about?! It's daytime! Are you delusional?" Adrianna says with sarcasm. But to Carmen, the answer was not clear to her regardless of its intended nature. I don't know, she thought to herself. Was she?
Nancy then appeared, and for some reason, they were all back in the bedroom. Everyone was sleeping, except for Nancy, and Carmen of course.
"I saw you walking around the room, but the things you were doing were a bit freaky......And why did you open the window? It's freezing out there!" Carmen just stared at her, stone cold and with no reply. Worry filled Nancy's eyes. "Carmen, are you okay? I was sleeping but then I heard a voice, it was yours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me as if you were talking to yourself."