CHAPTER 3

1 MONTH EARLIER

"Have you guys seen the news?", Vivian panted as she rushed out of the school gate to catch up with her friends. "What news?" Jack asked. "Reina is dead. They announced it on the news few minutes ago", Vivian said.

The cheerful aura that was emanating from the other three were dampened. Jack, Chris and Emily all paused like they had been frozen. Emily's face turned pale as her eyes watered.

"We should visit him", Emily broke the silence. "He needs our support guys", Vivian supported Emily. The boys shook their heads as if recovering from a temporary trance.

"Let's go", the boys chorused.

The quad arrived the home of Max and knocked on the door. There was no response. They knocked again, immediately the door was opened and a sorry sight of Max's father was before them. He reeked of alcohol and had bags under his eyes like he had been up for a long time.

"He's in his room" the father said as he burped in their faces, he left the door open and walked away. They walked in closing the door behind them. Chris led the way as he had been to the house enough times to manoeuvre through in order to get to Max's room.

Chris knocked on the wooden door that was Max's door "Max, it's us, may we come in?" There was no response but silence. He pushed the door slightly only to find it unlocked.

The stench of filth embraced their noses. "Oh God, it reeks in here", Jack voiced out as he covered his nose. They found Max on the floor, staring emptily into space. Vivian rushed to hug him despite the smell of his room.

"Don't worry, we're here for you" Emily said. Almost immediately her phone rang, she checked the number and found out it was her mom calling. She picked, there was a static noise in the background as she said hello to her mother.

"Mom are you there?". The line went dead. A ping was heard next, she read the text, "come home, Emily".

Emily scrunched her brows, finding it strange that her mom called her Emily over texts as she was accustomed to 'Em'. "Guys", they all turned towards her, "I hate to be rude but my mom is acting strange, so I need to check up on her, I'm sorry for your loss, Max".

Emily moved forward and kissed Max on his forehead, ruffled his hair and left the room. There was an awkward silence. "I don't think Reina's death was a coincidence" Max broke the silence. "Max come on I don't mean to sound insensitive but, she's gone" Chris sighed. "No let him, the first stage of grief is denial" Vivian said whilst holding his arm.

"I acknowledge the fact that she's dead, I'm just saying that it was predetermined" Max said as he rose to move towards his drawer. "What makes you think so?" Jack spoke for the first time after sitting on his bed.

"Check this out", Max showed them a graphic photo that was ravaging the internet, the picture of his dead sister. He zoomed in on her forehead. "What's that?" Vivian said with a look of disgust. "It looks like an R" Chris turned his head sideways to get a better view.

"It is, but look at how perfect it is, like a mold was made for it". Max zoomed in more, "and this proves?" Jack asked the question bothering everyone,

"Look this creature or whatever he is had been following us since we left the field, I thought nothing of it. But out of everyone in the vast field, he picked my sister". Max said panting "I'm determined to find out who this person is, for two weeks I was hoping against hope that my sister was still alive not until today.

She deserves justice. She'll get it whether you all will help me or not" Max finished his recitation like he was in a monologue. "She was our friend too but how do you find a man that varnished into thin air like you said?"Chris asked.

"I don't know but we have to start from where it happened, the street". "The police have searched countless times Max, there was no single trace of evidence" Vivian reminded Max.

"We don't know what we might find", Max brushed through them, got his discarded sweater and moved for the door. "Are you coming?" He asked them, "Wait, are we going now?" Jack stood up shocked at the abrupt decision, a sharp jab to his sides kept him quiet.

"Of course we are" Chris answered with a smile. Max didn't bother telling his parents about his outing because they didn't care.

The death of his sister had put a strain on their rocky relationship. The cloudy sky and the repetitive claps of thunder was enough to tell them to hurry, they speed walked towards the street. Max swallowed saliva audibly as he reached the spot marked with white chalk.

The police couldn't draw a definite shape for there was no murder and no body. The search for anything and everything began. Twenty minutes later, they were exhausted.

"I think we should head home" Chris said. "I don't mean to dampen your mood but there's nothing here. This place has been swept clean by the police".

Vivian told Max. Slumping his shoulders, Max turned with the rest of the group to head home. A ruffling sound was heard behind them, they all turned to see a crumpled paper being carried by the wind towards them.

The paper fell directly at Max's feet, he stooped and picked it. He straightened the texture of the paper and noticed that on the paper with badly scribbled handwriting was a note.

It read; "E is next". "E is next?" Max said, "what does E mean?" He turned towards Chris and Jack. "Wait, what was inscribed on your sister's forehead?" Vivian asked with the look of dread on her face.

"R" Max said still not getting the connection. "And her name was Reina. Her name begins with an R" Vivian continued trying to rope the boys into her illumination. Like clockwork, it hit Max.

"Oh My God, E is next", he turned towards the other two who looked puzzled as ever. As if light had been shone on them, it all hit them; Emily was next. They dashed in the opposite direction towards Emily's house.