Two-Faced

Chapter 5

        After another nearly-sleepless night, Asriel woke up to a knock on the door. Looking at the clock on the nightstand, she was surprised to see that it was already 9:45. Her mom had left for work 2 and a half hours ago, and she was supposed to be expecting Iris. Jumping out of her bed, she scrambled to her closet to put a light grey pullover sweatshirt over her too-small nightshirt and worn-out shorts. She yelled down for them to hold on a sec before barrelling down the stairs to get to the door. With obvious bags under her eyes and breathing heavily, she opened the door to greet them.

        "Hey Iris, hi Mrs. White. I'm so sorry that you had to wait so long for me," Asriel welcomed them in sheepishly, ushering them into the living room. "My alarm must have been set wrong, so I just got up a minute ago," she admitted, trying to untangle her knotted hair with nothing but her fingers.

        "That's okay Azzy, we weren't waiting all that long. Besides, we're here a bit early," Mrs. White assured her, motioning towards her leather watch. "We told your mother we'd get here by ten."

        "Yeah, plus, it's summer! You should be sleeping in!" Iris laughed, patting her shoulder. "And, judging by the bags under your eyes, you need it."

        "Yeah, I guess so," she chuckled. Trying to change the subject, she asked Iris about what she wanted to do all day. "So, what's the plan? Movies and popcorn until we get bored?"

        "Hell yeah! I brought a few that we could watch," she shouted excitedly, pulling a stuffed brown knapsack from over her sun-kissed shoulders. Ignoring her mom's scolding over her language, she pulled out everything from The Ring to The Breakfast Club. "I wasn't sure what you'd be in the mood for, so I brought a little bit of everything."

        "Nice! We have popcorn in the cabinet that we can grab in a little bit," she answered, matching Iris's excitement. "And we have pizza in the fridge for lunch, too!"

        Chuckling at their delighted chatter, Mrs. White turned to speak to Asriel before she left. "Sounds like you two are all set for the day, huh? So, what time should I pick her up?"

        Thinking for a minute, Asriel shrugged. "My mom's getting home at about 4, so anytime after that's fine. If she gets sick of me before then, she'll just have to deal." She smiled, nudging her best friend with her elbow.

        "Sounds good. Stay out of trouble, you two!" She scolded jokingly. "I'll see you guys later. Have fun."

        "Bye Mom!"

        "Bye Mrs. White!"

        The door clicked shut seconds later, and the car started up. Rifling through the stack of cases, Iris chose a few she thought Asriel would like. Turning them towards her, Asriel realized that most of the ones she brought were horror; The Ring, The Shining, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Conjuring... all movies she would've loved to see under any other circumstance. Groaning internally, she nodded. It's not like she had much of a choice. She didn't own any movies, and the few Iris brought that weren't horror she'd watched so many times she could recite the script. At least it won't be as scary during the day...

        "So, which one first?" Iris called from the living room while Asriel rummaged around for the popcorn. "I'm thinking The Ring. How about you?"

        "Sure."

        Asriel was on edge during the whole movie. Every time Samara came on screen, her paranoia got worse. What if something like THAT is haunting us?! About halfway through, right after the infamous tape was played, Iris paused the movie.

        "Sorry Az, I'll be right back. I need to go to the bathroom quick," she explained, running up the stairs.

        A few minutes later, the landline started ringing. Assuming it was her mom checking in, she picked up the phone without thinking much of it. Holding it to her ear, she said "Hello?"

        A moment of silence followed, only broken by a whisper on the other end.

        "Seven days."

        Visibly shocked, Asriel almost dropped the phone. Then she heard it. Laughter. Glancing up the stairwell, she saw Iris peering around the corner, trying, and failing, to keep herself from being noticed.

        "Ha ha, very funny," Asriel replied sarcastically. "What's next? Gonna crawl out of the sink?"

        Ignoring her comment, Iris nearly fell over laughing. "Holy crap! The look on your face! That was priceless!" Stumbling down the stairs, she tried to keep a straight face. "It looked like you thought it was real!"

        "Don't you believe in ghosts?"

        "Well, I'd kinda like them to be real, but I don't have any proof that they are," she explained, shrugging. "What about you?"

        "Yeah, I believe in ghosts." Hard not to when you're living with one. "I want to try to find some way to convince my mom that they're real."

        After a second of thinking, Iris came up with a solution. "I think we've got an Ouija board in our basement. Never used it, so I don't know how it works. May not be definitive evidence, but it's better than nothing, right?"

        "Yeah, that'd be great!" Asriel beamed, relieved that she was finally getting somewhere."If you find it, can you bring it next time you come over?"

        "Yeah, sure. Then we can figure it out together."

        "Thanks, Iris, for everything," she replied, a sincere smile gracing her lips. Then she remembered the other thing she wanted to ask her. "Hey, could I ask you something in my room quick?"

        Cocking her head and giving her a questioning glance, she nodded and followed up the stairs and into her room. Asriel pushed the closet door open, revealing a stack of unmarked boxes overflowing with girl's clothes.

        "These aren't yours, are they?" she gestured to the stack and pulled a box out. "They were here when we moved in, and I don't know where they came from."

        Pulling a few more boxes out, they started looking through them. Some of them looked new, but the bottom boxes had a vintage look about them.

        "No, these aren't mine. I've never even stayed here before. At least, not for over an hour at a time." Iris shrugged. "No idea where these came from. They look like your size. You keep them. You need more clothes anyway," she motioned towards her tattered, mismatched outfit, proving her point.

        "Alright, I'll look through them later. We'll see what happens from there." Asriel agreed.

        Iris grabbed a box from the bed. Making her way to the closet, something caught her eye from right behind the boxes.

        "Uhh, Azzy? You might want to see this..."