Innocent People

Chapter 1 - Surprise

"Katelyn! Surprise!"

Adrian and Mia stepped into the large house through the already unlocked door. They closed it behind them grinning to themselves unconsciously enjoying the unknown. An innocent surprise for their best friend. How much could go wrong?
"Mrs. Stone? Mr. Stone?" Adrian called trying to see if anyone was home and attempting to explain the unlocked door they had just closed but remained unlocked. Then he remembered something that made him frown in such disapproval. Katelyn's parents were staying in some luxury club-hotel on the other side of town for the week-end. The fact that they were not even coming home for their daughter's birthday was something Adrian had never come to turns with, but it wasn't like they hadn't done it before.
When they had been kids Katelyn had always stayed at Adrian’s with his parents on her birthday and they had always stayed up all night and waited eagerly until midnight so that Adrian could be the first one to congratulate her and give her his gift. Now that they were older they had changed things a bit but Adrian was still the very first person to give Katelyn her gift with no exceptions.
He smiled thinking about these memories and put his hand in his jeans pocket to check the beautifully wrapped small box was still there.
"Katie?"
Once they had checked in all the rooms on the ground floor and had seen that there was no one in sight Adrian and Mia decided to head upstairs to Katelyn's room, where in hind sight they probably should have looked first. After the many times they'd been in the Stones’ house before, Katelyn’s two friends found their way without any problems. Mia had noticed how quiet it was and how clearly she could hear their footsteps on the wide wooden staircase that led to the first floor but she had pushed this fact into the back of her mind labeling it as unimportant. 
Perhaps if she had taken a minute to even just tell Adrian about her realization or think about it a little more then maybe they would have taken a moment to suspect that something … anything could be wrong. Not that they could have changed anything that had already happened but they could change what was going to happen to them next.
But all this in due time.

Adrian and Mia smiled at each other as Adrian grasped the door knob of Katelyn's room and started pushing down until they heard the ever so quiet click of the latch that welcomed them through to the other side. Adrian turned to look at Mia and put his right index finger over his mouth indicating Mia should be silent as they entered. She nodded and giggled in agreement and waved her hands urging him to open the door excitedly.
Everything was going well up to now.

They had no idea what was waiting for them behind that wooden bedroom door on February 18th and now they were not prepared, they were not warned, they were not ready.
Not that anything could have altered what awaited them on the other side of that white wooden surface that was decorated with so many colourful notes but even the slightest preparation could have helped them digest the rest of this day and the next days to come.
But no. They were on their own.

Two of Katelyn's best friends chuckled and smiled one last time before Adrian opened the door forcefully and his girlfriend and himself called out in uni-sin,
"Happy Birthday!"

Mia's joyful call turned into a terrified scream as she looked into the room. Her eyes had delivered a message to her brain that she could not and didn't want to believe. She tried convincing herself it wasn't there. The scene she was seeing was an illusion, a cruel, mean trick, but the evidence was overwhelming and yet she knew it was there even though she didn’t. Mia knew that what she was seeing was formidable reality. 
Adrian had gone silent as his eyes widened to an unnatural size and his mouth went dry when the muscles gave up and his mouth opened slightly in shock.
Neither of them could believe the horror they were seeing before them.

Their best friend Katelyn's body was hanging lifelessly in the middle of the room by her neck that was tightly hugged by a thick rope that had been attached to a hook in the sealing. A fallen over desk chair was covered by Katelyn's shadow only inches away from where it had been standing mere moments ago.