The Secret Diary of Emily Carlton

PROLOGUE 

Lisa Benson and Piper Styles stood at the top of the stairs. The girls look at each other, both of their eyes filled with sadness and regret. Neither wanted to go through with this, but they had no choice. 

The girls sighed in tandem and walked into a room that was so familiar, so unchanged, that it was nearly impossible to believe that Emily was dead. Just the sight of Emily's old room was enough to get Lisa crying. She tried to stop by blinking rapidly, but ended up sobbing harder. Piper wasn't far behind, silently crying beside her only best friend. 

"I know this must be hard for you two, but I really appreciate it." Emily's mom said, walking into the room. Her eyes were filled with tears. She was carrying boxes of tissues, cardboard boxes and garbage bags. The girls nodded, taking some tissues to dry their tears. 

"Don't mention it. How are you doing?" Piper asked. 

"I don't know, honestly. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to see her walk through the door laughing at some text she got, or something. But then I realize that that'll never happen again...My therapist says that it might be best if I move, but I can't bear to leave this place. Perhaps after we clean out her room..." Mrs. Carlton started crying uncontrollably. Both girls tried to console her, but could only try to keep from crying again themselves. 

"It's okay. Why don't you go downstairs, we'll take care of this." Lisa said, handing Mrs. Carlton a box of tissues. She nodded, taking the box, and walked out of the room. The girls looked at each other, then around the room. Sighing, they each opened a drawer. 

Two hours later, the girls were finishing up. There were piles of clothes, jewerly, makeup, and almost everything else in the room, packed neatly into boxes. There was still one drawer in the dresser left to clean out. It was filled with belts, scarves, a few hats, and, hidden in the very back, a book. 

The girls stared at it. There was absolutely no reason for a book to be hidden in the back of her drawer. Especially one that looked so old and worn out. It seemed like it would turn to dust just by being touched. But it didn't. They opened the book and read the first page. 

Dear Diary, 

I don't know why I'm even bothering writing this down. But I just have this feeling that if I don't...I don't know, it's stupid. But I've already got this book, so I might as well use it. Not that it really matters, it's not like anyone besides me is going to read this. Anyway...

The girls started flipping through the pages, surprised to see that the book was nearly filled up. Each page starting the same way. 

"How's it going girls?" Mrs. Carlton yelled from the stairs. The girls quickly shut the book and put it in Lisa's bag, as though they'd been doing something terrible. 

"Good, we're almost finished." Lisa yelled, trying to sound calm. For some reason, both girls were very on edge after opening the diary. The girls finished boxing up the items in the drawer, and put the book on the bed. "What do you think we should do? Keep it or give it to Mrs. C?" Lisa asked. 

Piper shrugged, "I don't think It's such a good idea..." 

"But, this might be it. All that we could ever find to remind us of Emily." 

"But, it was hidden like that. If we were supposed to have it, then we would have known about it, don't you think?" 

"Yeah, but I still think we should keep it. Sort of a last goodbye from her. We could share it. If you want." Lisa said. Piper nodded. 

So without knowing what they were truely getting into, the girls took the book home with them. But little did they know, that there was a reason they felt like they were doing something wrong when they read the first page. That as soon as they opened the book, they were thrown into a world that they couldn't even imagine.