Lilly, and Alice in particular, looked horrified by the state of Cleo's room as Gemma led them into it.
"Oh...I need to clean it." Said Alice through gritted teeth, looking as if she would like nothing better than to ransack the place before reorganising every last thing in there.
"Well, you can wait. Look at this." Demanded Gemma, shoving a small wooden box into her hands.
"What?" Alice said. "It's just a jewellery box, isn't it?"
"Open it." Gemma replied, Alice's brow furrowing as she undid the clasp and opened the lid. It was a music box, of sorts. Inside it were four small, china dolls on sticks: one pale one with long brown hair, one olive skinned one with black hair, another pale one with bleach blonde curls, and the other doll the palest of them all with flaming red, shoulder length hair.
"Look familiar?" Asked Gemma, her tone aggressive.
"That's...us. Right? Like us 3, and Clara." Said Lilly faintly, flicking the blonde china doll so that it wobbled on its stick. Gemma nodded, her chin and eyebrows raised. "Like, what the actual fuck?"
"She had a bloody music box with us in. Now, tell me that's not the weirdest shit you've ever seen." Alice raised it in the air to examine in, squinting as the sun flooded onto it through the slits in the blinds.
"Where on earth would you get this from? To my knowledge, there's no customise-your-own-creepy-bloody-music-box shop anywhere round here. There's a reason you don't see these things in shops anymore. They belong in gothic horror films. Who would even want this apart from the set designer on the Woman in Black? Or, I don't know, Tim Burton!" She said incredulously. "What am I saying? Of course Cleo would buy it."
"She had more money than sense. She probably just bought it intending for it to creep us out only she never got to show it to us before she snuffed it." Said Gemma. "I bet she's rolling in her grave right now. It's probably from like, Etsy, or something. They do a tonne of strange crap on there."
"Speak for yourself." Said Lilly, indignant. "I've got a bracelet from Etsy. And it's really cute, actually." The other two ignored her outcry, continuing to scrutinise the music box.
"Does it have a handle?" Said Alice, running her fingers along the bottom.
"Yeah, it's here." Said Gemma, taking it from her and pointing it out. "I haven't turned it yet though."
"Well, do you want to do the honours?" Alice asked.
"Go on then." Gemma replied, pinching her fingers together around the handle and grimacing as she twisted it. "It's quite stiff."
"It's probably never been used. Cleo wouldn't spend her free time playing with music boxes." Lilly said pointedly. "I don't know why we're spending our free time playing with music boxes." Gemma glowered at her in response.
"We're not playing with it, we're-" Gemma started but Alice shushed her.
"Listen." She commanded, as a tinkly rendition of Greensleeves crept out of the box. As it did so, the four dolls began to hover up and down in time to the music, as if hypnotised.
"Well..that just makes it even fucking weirder. What is this? I mean, what century is this shit from? I wasn't expecting a banger but..." Gemma said, spluttering.
"It's Greensleeves." Said Alice, as if it were the answer to a question as obvious as the colour of the sky.
"What?" Asked Lilly, looking baffled.
"It's an English folk tune. People say Henry the 8th wrote it for Anne Boleyn. It's quite commonly used in music boxes. Like Fur Elise by Beethoven."
YOU ARE READING
Trust No Bitch: Part 1
Mystery / ThrillerYou think you know the story: 4 women, a dead friend, and an anonymous texter. But think again. It's about to get a whole lot messier, as 4 British university students are about to find out. Full of sex, drugs, and deceit, you've come to the wrong...
