It had been a week since Lisa received the call from Anne. She cleaned her room and fixed the bedsheets. Her mom had gone to her aunt's house to visit and later called to tell Lisa she would stay until the next day, as she planned to go to church with her aunt. Lisa was fine with this since it meant she could have all the time for her best friend.
It was a lovely Saturday night. Snow was falling as it was already the beginning of winter.
It was past 7 in the evening when Lisa received another call from Anne.
"𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘦! 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 20 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘴," Anne's voice came through the line.
"𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵! 𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘺𝘦," Lisa said with a smile, then hung up the phone.
𝘉𝘶𝘻𝘻! The doorbell rang. Lisa rushed to open the door, and there was Anne standing outside. They hugged each other as tightly as they had on the day they parted ways.
"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶?" Lisa asked.
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶?" Anne replied.
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶," Lisa said as they walked up the stairs to her room.
They talked about Anne's breakup with her boyfriend, and Anne cried while telling the story. They played music, sang together, and laughed like crazy, not caring how noisy they were—until suddenly, the lights went out.
They both peered out the window, and the whole village was dark. They lit a candle and continued telling stories while lying on the bed, getting ready to sleep. Lisa checked the clock—it was almost midnight when the phone rang.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵," Anne said.
"𝘕𝘰! 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺. 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴," Lisa said. She turned around and took a candle from her drawer.
Lisa looked at Anne and said, '𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬,' then winked.
'𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺,' Anne replied.
Lisa walked to the door and went downstairs. She picked up the phone, and a woman's voice came through—it was Anne's mom.
"𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸," Aunt Laura said before hanging up.
Lisa stood frozen, her mouth half-open as if she wanted to say something—anything—but no words came out. She hung up the phone, her heart pounding in her chest. Slowly, she turned her head towards the stairs, her gaze settling on her bedroom door.
It was half-open.
Anne was waiting.
Would you go back?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
