Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 1

P A R T - T W E N T Y - O N E

Chapter Twenty One: The Gathering - Part One.

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"Alice," Candice called as Alice walked off into a separate room to calm down, wanting to control her rage so that she didn't act out. "Alice wait, what was all that about?" Candice asked as Alice exhaled heavily and ran her hands through her hair to push it out of her face.

They'd walked into a bathroom on the ground floor, that was unnecessarily big for a room that had no bath or shower inside. "Ugh, she just hates me." Alice replied, not wanting to spill the beans but Candice already looked suspicious. "Of course she knows how to piss me off, mentioning my dog and Veronica before." Alice said as Fei hurried into the bathroom looking worried.

"Are you okay?" Fei asked quickly as Alice folded her arms and tried to ignore the burning of anger in her chest.

"Yeah I'm fine," Alice replied, "I'm just cooling off for a sec," she added, reaching up to rub her temple.

"She's such a bitch," Candice mumbled, "Maybe she's just jealous of you guys."

"I don't know about that... she's just super protective over keeping Veronica's legacy alive," Alice scoffed, her tone causing Candice to worry slightly.

"... so it's true, Veronica is dead?" Fei said, causing both Alice and Candice to freeze suddenly, realising what they had done. Fei hadn't known before a few minutes ago that Veronica was dead until Juniper got angry and spilt the secret by accident. Alice's heart began to thump heavily, but her mouth began moving before her mind could catch up.

"I mean... isn't it obvious?" She asked, "like the others that went missing, what is the possibility that she'll turn up alive? Kinda small."

"Exactly. We might as well start accepting she's dead." Candice continued, looking over at Fei and then shrugging sadly as Fei looked between them.

"I guess you're right." Fei said, "God, if I went missing I hope no one would just give up on me. I hope they'd keep looking." She continued, causing Alice and Candice to shift slightly awkwardly on their feet. "I don't mean that badly I just meant like... I just hope no one would assume I was... like dead, um,"

"It's okay, we understand what you meant." Alice mumbled, "I mean we never know, she could turn up in a few days and just say she's been in Europe shopping or something."

"She is just that extra," Candice agreed and they both began to quietly chuckle. Fei smiled, and laughed with them as she stepped further into the room.

"So, are you sure you're okay?" Fei asked, changing the subject which caused Alice to calm down from the near miss. She nodded and smiled warmly, glancing at Candice discreetly who looked still fairly worried...

* * *
8:09pm

"I like your lipstick," Candice said airily as she watched Alice smear a nice warm red onto her lips and then rub them together. They were all gathered together, getting ready for the up and coming party that was happening in less than an hour...

"This is the same one I wear all the time," Alice laughed lightly, looking at Candice in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. The room Candice and Fei shared was spacious and yet cosy at the same time, with warm colours and fluffy fur rugs surrounding the large bed... she liked it a little more than the room her and Magnus were sharing, but kept that to herself.