1 CHAPTER 1

The screeching sound of bicycle tires woke me up from my sleep. I can hear the neighborhood kids laughing and bantering with each other right outside my window. Their free-spirited laughter annoyed me somehow and reminded me that my youth and age of innocence was long forgotten and taken away from me. I sighed and closed my eyes trying to go back to sleep.

"Bella? Are you up? I made you some chicken soup to cure that hangover. You were really something last night, Bella. I bet you don't even remember it."

Right. Last night. I remembered going to a farewell party for one of our high school friends. Well, I remembered going and saying hi to everyone but after a few drinks, everything became a massive blur. I groaned and cringed trying to remember if I might have done something horrifyingly embarrassing. After a few seconds of racking my brain trying to recall anything, I gave up.

"Thanks for the soup, Anne. Just put it on the table or in the fridge, I really want to sleep in or something," I said to my housemate as I wrapped myself around my blanket. Summer has just ended and the cold, calm breeze of fall was making me lazy and lightheaded. Fall really is a good weather to just lie down on my bed and do nothing.

Anne knocked again on my bedroom door, noticeably louder this time. "Bella, you really need to get up. It's half-past ten and I'm worried that you might get sick later. Bella? Come on and open up the door or I might just kick it open and barge in."

Fuck. I forgot how much of a worrisome Anne is. And also the type of person to really act out on her words. During Halloween last year, instead of going to a trick-or-treat or a Halloween party, we decided to have a movie night with a few of our friends. We were watching The Silence of the Lambs together and I thought it would be funny if I suddenly came back from the bathroom and scared her from behind while wearing the face mask that Anthony Hopkins wears in the movie. She said, and I quote: "Bella, if you go to the bathroom and come back just to scare the shit out of me, I am literally going to kick your ass or pinch you so hard, you're gonna cry."

And she did kick my ass while pinching my arm. Well, in retrospect, I earned that kick because even though Anne seems and looks intimidating, she hates people scaring her. And I made her cry out of shock and horror with the face mask.

We always look back to that time and agree to never do that to each other ever again, either scaring or kicking each other, albeit we both knew I love to prank people and she just couldn't help being literal with her words. We both did stay true to our promise but I'm not going to risk Anne kicking down my door just because I wouldn't get out of my bed.

"Right, I'm up. Hold on, let me get my cardigan and I'll be with you in a minute," I said while struggling sheepishly to pull myself out of my bed. I grabbed one of the cardigans hanging behind my bedroom door and headed downstairs.

***

Anne had to go to work because her team suddenly called for an emergency meeting. She grunted and whined about how awful it was to work on a weekend but I just shrugged and wished her luck. All alone, I sat on the couch in front of the tv with the remote in my hand. I flickered through every channel trying to find a good show to watch while my stomach and intestines digest the amazing soup that Anne had made for me. It was Saturday and the neighborhood was buzzing with families and university students heading out for the weekend. The sound of cars and people outside enjoying their day didn't mind me but a silhouette outside caught my eyes. I looked outside the window and saw a mailman walking up towards our driveway. His hair surprisingly stayed still under that ugly brown cap despite the strong winds clearly rustling up the leaves of the 8 feet willow tree in the front yard.

I ignored him, expecting him to leave whatever parcel or mail he had for us in the mailbox. My attention shifted towards the tv screen as I finally found a good show to watch. Fuck yeah, it's Hannibal. Ironically not the best show to watch after having a meal but I do love how creative the writer is and how great both Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy are in the show. Unfortunately, the mailman didn't leave whatever he had for us at the front door and knocked on the door. I sighed as my enjoyment of the tv show had to come to a sudden halt.

"A delivery for Bella Jades," he said. I stayed still and lowered the volume of the tv hoping he would leave thinking nobody's home. I really don't want to deal with anyone right now. He knocked again and said, "Ms. Jades? You know that I saw you from your window while walking up to your driveway. Could you please get this parcel and sign off of it?"

I froze. He could see me through my window? I turned my head and looked at the window next to the front door. The curtains were clearly tied to the side and the windows were tinted. We had it tinted several months ago when the neighborhood suddenly had a couple of theft incidents. In a house of only two women, we had to take safety precautions.

My heart started to race. I remembered standing outside of the house with Anne inside and tried to look into our homes, checking if the black tinted window works. It worked and we were happy with it. But right now, I'm not so sure if I'm still happy with it.