Chapter 5

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒊𝒗𝒆

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

Jennifer and I didn’t turn the night into a sleepover, after all.

Turns out that her parents, who had been out on a date, had had a huge fight and her mother had decided to come home earlier.

When Jennifer heard the front door open, she immediately instructed me to climb out the window. Such a thing I had never done before and obviously I was a little freaked. However, the way her gentle hands guided me cautiously made me feel relaxed and confident in my abilities.

I made it home safely and spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in bed.

Did she mean what she’d said? Was it possible that she was in love with me, even though she barely knew me?

Memories of our makeout haunted me. I could feel her hands roaming my body, as if trying to commit every inch of me to memory and it made me shiver.

I could not deny how I felt. I, too, was smitten. Even more so, I had fallen. Hard.

I came to a decision. The next day at school, I was going to confront her and confess my feelings. I couldn’t just let things between us end like that.

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

Imagine my surprise -and my pain- when I went to school the next day and searched far and wide for her, only to come to the conclusion that she was absent.

English felt so hollow without her. Her chair was empty and, for some reason, it made the hairs on my arms stand.

I did not like this… this emptiness. She had looked fine the night before. Was it something I’d done? But, no, it couldn’t be. She was the one who had confessed first, anyway.

Perhaps she had regretted it. What was the word that she had used for the guys she’d been with? ‘Toyed.’ ‘Used.’ Is this what I was? A meaningless plaything that she had used and tossed aside?

However, a little voice inside me insisted that it was not like that. After all, the gleam of desperation in her eyes had been too clear, coupled with the reverence with which she’d touched me. It could not get any more sincere than that. It was crystal clear —Jennifer was truly in love with me.

Then, only one option remained.

She was in trouble.

And I had to do something about it.

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

I spent the rest of the day at school asking around for any sign of Jennifer, any clue as to what may have happened.

I was left empty-handed.

Turns out, Jennifer was not half as loved as she seemed.

Apparently, the popular girls that she hung out with all the time believed that she was odd and distant and that she kept a very big secret. It looked to me as if they did not hold her to a very high regard. When I mentioned how I thought she might be in danger, they just scrunched their noses in disdain, as though I had said something very inconvenient to them.

Some guys that I managed to find, who Jennifer had been close to a while back according to the popular girls, seemed to find me very amusing and completely ignored my anxiety for Jennifer’s well-being, instead focusing on how much prettier and ‘fresher’ I looked compared to Jennifer.

Ugh. Revolting. No wonder Jennifer did not hold guys to a high standard.

When I finally went home, I spent most of my day trapped inside, seeing as there was a big storm outside and no way was my dad going to let me go out in that weather.

All I could do was hope that Jennifer was alright and that she had not been caught up in the storm.

After what seemed like aeons, it was nighttime. I had not realised just how exhausted I was.

I slid under the comfort of my bed. I toyed with a strand of my hair, something that reminded me of Jennifer. I smiled fondly, knowing that I would stay up all night worrying about her.

To my surprise, I drifted off to sleep within a quarter of an hour.

In my dreams, though, I found no reprieve. I was plagued by thoughts of Jennifer. I had a nightmare where she was dipped in blood, her eyes empty and creepy. I could hear a loud noise, like something thudding against a surface.

I woke up with a start. I could still hear the creepy noise from my dream.

I turned my head. Someone was throwing rocks at my window.

I managed to bite back a shriek, getting out of bed and wrapping my nightgown tightly around my shuddering form. I approached my window hesitantly.

I peeked down. I could barely make out anything, due to the fogginess of the aftermath of the storm, but I could tell that there was a silhouette standing outside.

I opened my window, the cold air hitting me. I hugged myself, trying to shield my body from the cold. I heard another noise. Soft, panting breaths.

Before me, stood Jennifer.

And, just like in my dream, her gaze was void of any feeling. She looked like a ghost.

“Hello, Lilith,” she greeted hoarsely.