Bestfriend

A dead silence was interrupted by birds chirping outside. Orei stopped shaking, she knew it wasn't real, that it was just a figment of her imagination. 

With some confidence that what she was seeing was a reality, she marched towards the plush on the ground. She tried avoiding tripping over the clutter in her room and finally reached the other side of the room. She flipped it over with her feet and as she had thought, it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

There was no blood in those eyes, Orei breathed a sigh of relief before hugging her plush. She gently caressed it before placing it in bed alone with all her other plushies.

~KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~ 

A loud knocking was heard from downstairs. Orei carefully manoeuvred around all the clothes on the ground and finally placed her hand on the door handle. 

The cold touch of the metal sent a chilling feeling through her spine as she stood there with her hand on the handle but not opening it. She turned around looking at her bed, Orei didn't want to leave her room to open the door, she wanted to go back to bed and cuddle up with her plushies.

~KNOCK KNOCK~

The knocking intensified as Orei stood there contemplating her decision. 

A deep sigh left her mouth as she finally steeled her resolve and opened her door. Her bedroom was on the second floor. The second floor had two bedrooms and one bathroom. Still in her pyjamas, she grabbed onto the railing. Her eyes slowly turned towards the drop below. 

With her hands guiding her towards the stairs she finally looked down. At the end of the stairs was a dismembered body. The neck was twisted and bruised, arms were mutilated and broken. The face of her brother burned into her mind, she frantically shook my head trying to shake it off as just a figment of her imagination again. 

But when Orei reopened her eyes the contorted body with a blurred face dragged themselves up towards her. From the empty sockets of their eyes, blood poured down. Their mouth was wide open and completely void of light. 

"Orei… SAVE ME…."

It felt as if her chest was about to explode out of her chest. Her lungs weren't keeping up with her rapid breathing.

"Deep breathes…" 

She closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

~KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~ 

The sound of knocking reawakened her, the images inside of her vanished as fast as they came. The stairs were just the normal set of stairs that she had been using for years.

Slowly and carefully she tiptoed down holding tightly onto the railing before finally making it down to the first floor. 

With tired and sluggish steps she moved through her living room. Pictures of her mom and brothers were mounted onto the wall. Her mom had placed picture frames of their family on the furniture.

She reached the door and saw the silhouette of a person standing behind that door through the glass next to the door.

"Orei? Are you there?"

…

"I know it has been a long time since we saw each other, but if you want we can catch up and have some fun together again!"

…

Orei hesitated, she had locked herself away in her house for 3 years, and none of her friends checked up on her until now.

She sat down against the wooden door and curled up into a ball. She didn't want to see anyone. 

~KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~ 

Vibrations from the knocks sent waves of memories through her. Each knock reminded her of the person who was standing behind that door.

"Orei, we don't need to go out, we can just stay inside your house."

Why did she have to come now? Why after 3 years? Orei thought. What could her friend actually want from her? Even though she dreaded opening the front door. Even though she hasn't opened it in over 3 years. For the first time in 3 years, she thought of opening it for her once-best friend.

The consequences started to flood her mind, the things that would occur if she decided to reopen that door.

"We are still friends Orei! I just wanna know if you are okay!"

Her hand stopped just before touching it. She calmed herself. Imagining how much her once best friend could change. Did she have long hair now? Has she dyed her hair? What things does she like now?

Would her best friend accept these living conditions she had been living on for years? She doubted that her best friend could forgive her for distancing from everyone. She just wanted to know… if she had forgiven her for it.

The lock twisted and the door slowly swung open. Light shone through the small crack as Orei continued to push it open.

A warm wind blew into her house and she heard the rustling of leaves on the streets.

In front of her, was her best friend, Jecca. Jecca's mouth was wide open and her eyes fluttered as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.