Tinted

Chapter 1: Beginnings

July 23rd, 9:30 A.M., move-in day. At this point, I had packed everything I needed from my bedroom in my parents' house. We, meaning Imani, Sofia, and I, were excepted to pick up our brand new keys at 2 P.M. today. We had decided to rent a house together since we'd finally finished college. The house was in a new area for us, as we'd all been from a smaller town in Kansas and decided to move south to Oklahoma.

The moving truck and cars were rapidly being packed up, with all of us working together. Soon enough, it was time to take off. "Catherine, make sure you call us as soon as you get there!" I hugged my mom goodbye, "of course I will, mom." My dad was hiding his emotion, but I knew he secretly wanted to cry. "Take care of yourself, honey." I hugged him and then headed for my SUV. Sofia hopped in her jeep, and Imani agreed to drive the moving truck, since she'd had experience with larger vehicles like that.

The drive was almost 4 hours long, halfway through we stopped at a gas station connected to a McDonald's. "I'm absolutely starving!" "Imani, we left 2 hours ago, how could you be starving?" I laughed at her constant need for food, "don't judge me, I just enjoy eating." While Sofia's car finished filling with gas, I checked up on my social media's. "Hey, did y'all hear about this serial killer?" I looked up from the article I'd begun reading. "No, Cat, what serial killer?" Sofia looked at me, smiling as if I was joking. "They're saying some guy is going around killing people in the Southern states. He hasn't been in Oklahoma as far as I can read." Both of them shrugged it off. For some reason, though, I was a bit nervous.

All of us walked into the McDonald's. We ordered our food and then sat at a high-top table to wait. "Aren't you guys a bit worried about this serial killer?" I looked back and forth between the both of them, who sat across from me at the 4-seater. "Girl, these serial killers only kill a few people." Imani spoke directly to me. Sofia followed with, "yeah, plus, he's not even in Oklahoma and will probably get caught before he makes it there!" I sighed. "You're totally right.. I guess I'm ju-," I was cut off by a text from my mom. I looked down at my phone, reading it: "Hey, baby. Just read this article about some serial killer down South. He's not in Oklahoma yet, but you know me, I still worry. Be safe xx." Always worried and caring, my mother.

After finishing off our meals, we hopped back on the road. I was unable to shake the feeling that we'd be in danger. Like the girls said, it's unlikely he'll even make it to Oklahoma. Let alone target us. My thoughts went all over the place, distracting me. I nearly wrecked into a nearby car, but luckily snapped back into reality before I did so. The last bit of the drive was a blur.

We pulled up at our 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The neighborhood was older, mostly filled with retired elders, but a few families with children were also around. We had a Wal-Mart a block away, a gas station, and a small shopping center. "Wow! I didn't expect it to look nicer in person than it does in the photos!" Imani exclaimed, barely holding in her excitement. Sofia pointed, "I love the paint peeling off the wood trimming." All of us chuckled. Our realtor pulled up shortly after us in her grey Mercedes. "Key delivery!" She shouted, pulling herself out from her small car. Wearing a classy black pencil skirt with a matching blazer, her heels clicked along the pavement as she walked towards us. We all met on the two car driveway, the three of us shaking her hand in turns.

The realtor handed me a tiny orange envelope. "Your keys are in here, darling." I smiled. "Would you ladies like me to stick around or are you set to head in?" She asked us. We looked back and forth at each other before Imani spoke up, "I think we're alright here, Ms. Johnson," nodding her head. "Alright! Call me if you need anything." The realtor slid back into her car and drove off along the cracked paved road.

I opened up the envelope, revealing 3 copies of the house key. Imani and Sofia shrieked out of excitement, pushing their hands through mine to grab their own key. We each held ours up, clinking them together. "Cheers! In celebration of our new home together!" I cheered, followed by Imani and Sofia's similar, "cheers!" Sofia walked up to the front door, which was located on the far left side of the house. Imani and I followed her along our sidewalk, until catching up to her unlocking the door. She twisted the doorknob, pushing open the door to reveal our relatively large living room.

We all pushed our ways through the door frame, standing in the middle of the empty room with shiny wood floors. Straight ahead, the entrance to the kitchen with a door to the driveway. We didn't get a garage, but we instead got a covered parking area. Towards the back of the living room was the rest of the house. One bedroom and bathroom to the right, a middle common area, another bedroom connected to the common area, and the third bedroom being upstairs. The upstairs bedroom was accessible through a set of stairs in the common area, and had two doors at the bottom. One door lead outside towards the front door, the other connecting the stairway to the common room.

Before moving, we'd agreed on who'd get which bedroom. I took the secluded upstairs, Sofia took the larger bedroom in the back of the house, and Imani took the bedroom closest to the living room. We stood in the common area, taking everything in. Imani glanced towards the back room, "anyone want to make any room changes?" Sofia and I laughed, saying "nope!" together. By this point, it was reaching 3 P.M. "We'd better start unloading everything before it gets dark," I explained, making my way through the living room. Imani opened the back of the moving truck, revealing all of our larger furniture items. We'd decided to get some other things we couldn't fit later on.

Sofia and I carried in a queen mattress, carefully maneuvering it into Sofia's bedroom. It leaned against the wall with Imani towing in the headboard. Some bumps, laughs, and near drops were made, but after a couple hours we had successfully unloaded all of our belongings. I made my way up the stairs, putting my queen bed together properly. I threw myself onto it, ruffling up my bed spread. Still slightly uneasy, and no longer distracted, I started researching this serial killer in the South. Between the past few hours, another 2 bodies in Arkansas had been found. He's getting closer. I thought, silently freaking myself out. After a half hour of mindless reading, Sofia knocked on my bedroom wall, as I had no doors besides my bathroom. "You okay, Cathy?" She looked concerned. I figured she'd seen the body discovery and came to check on me. "Yeah, just panicked over nothing." "Oh, girl, everything's gonna be fine. You're always getting worked up about stuff that won't affect you." I shrugged, "I guess so... but what if he ends up here?" Sofia sighed, "he's not going to come to boring Oklahoma. If he does, the likelihood of him coming for us is like slim to none." Imani came upstairs, keeping herself as quiet as possible to not interrupt the conversation.

"Sofia, he kills in multiples it seems. We are multiple!" I threw my hands in the air for dramatics. Imani facepalmed, sitting on the edge of my bed. Sofia moved in, sitting opposite of Imani. "Catherine, I know you're still convinced someone's out to get you ever since your brother's murder, but nobody's going to come after you." Imani spoke softly for once, resting her hand on my shin. She'd always been loud, confident, and out-spoken, but seemed to be quiet and considerate now. "You're right, you're right. Nobody's coming after us. We'll all be fine."