THE WINDOW.


Part 1.


held her breath when she felt that the van that they were in, started to slip. She looked out of the window and saw that they were slipping in the direction of the deep ravine where she was now able to look into and saw nothing else but loads of snow and trees. In her mind she already saw the van tumble down the moutain. At that moment she felt to her relieve that the wheels of the van got grip on the road again. While let her holden breath out the van turned left into a sideway. looked around, but the others didn't seem to have noticed anything. Next to her was with a magazine on her lap. saw that she was looking at who was sitting in front of her. understood why, was a good looking guy. Also looked in his direction every now and then. Behind her she heard , turn his page of the book he was reading. He hadn't noticed that they just escaped from a horrible car acident because if he did, he'd probably have said someting about it. said something to her brother , who was sitting next to her. Suddenly had to think about what her friend had told her, when and moved into the house next to her not that long ago. couldn't stop talking about her new neighbours, especially .

didn't knew any of the people she was travelling with well enough to judge over them. That's also why she hated it so much that didn't came along with her. She was the one who invited her for god's sake. The parents of and rented an appartment for their children in Austria nearby one of the best ski slash snowboard places. had asked to come along with her, and she had the chance to invite . But, suddenly got sick and now was stuck with a bunch of people she didn't know.

Well, they weren't all real strangers to her. She only never met before. She looked like a friendly, sweet girl. knew and vague from school. was nice aswell, but wasn't the type of girl liked to be with in one apartment for the whole vacation. When she had told this to , her friend had protested loud and clear. This wasn't just a vacation. They were going to Brevard Pass, th? best place ever for wintersports! h?d to go, even if it was only because was going aswell. had never heard of before, but told her that was a bitch and had an eye on aswell. When she became sick, she had asked to keep an eye on them two.

chuckled to herself. had told her a thousand times about how in love she was with . And, if she had to judge him on his looks, she understood fully why. But, she wasn't planning on spying on and full time. This was a holiday. Not a detective task.

About an hour later saw a sign next to the road, saying that it would only take 15 more kilometres till Brevard Pass. "Brevard Pass" she heard say. He must have seen the sign too. "It used to be a place where only old man came to transport loads of stuff like wood and frozen food" he said. "Thanks for the history lesson" mumbled bored. saw and look at each other for a second. It seemed like they were talking most of the time without words. took it that it was a normal thing for twins. It looked like felt that was looking at him and he turned to her. "I heard from that you're pretty good at skiing, so prepair for the brokenbone." "The wh?t?" "That's one of the mountain slopes" explained. "the toughest descent." "Are we almost there?" interupted him all of the sudden. "Hmm... about five minutes to go" said. He pointed out of the window at a row of identical houses, covered in snow. "We're in one of those houses. Which one , the third?" "yea, the third" his sister confirmed. "I'm wondering if the others are already there" she carried on talking while looking at . "Don't think so" sighed. "You did take care of it already, didn't you?" "I told you I would" his sister smiled. "Took care of what?" asked curious. "My sweet sister here has been busy calling everybody who was also coming to this place, to invite them for tonight" explained laughing. "I think I'm gonna take care of some food the minute we get there" made her plans. "That will turn out to be a party" mumbled . grinned and turned to the others. "Maybe you didn't know yet, but my sister likes to be in charge. When we were kids she was always telling me what to do, even though we're the same age." "Sometimes I might go to far" his sister confessed.

A few minutes later the van made its turn into the parking space. It was almost 11:30, still in the morning. Nobody felt like unpacking and wasting time with carrying bags from the van into the house. Everybody just wanted to go skiing! But, on the other hand, it wasn't such a smart idea to keep all the stuff in the van. "I'll take everything inside" offered when everybody was out of the van. "I'd like to go take a look at the house" "it's the third house, number 8" said. She gave the key. "Oh, and if you're in the house, would you turn the heat up and check if there are any snackbars around for some food for tonight?" asked. "I'll help you" quickly said. She looked at . "I have to go to a sportstore anyways before I can go skiing. Our dog got hold of my gloves the other night, so I have to get some new ones" and she showed her hands. saw that she was wearing a ring on each finger, except for the pinks. nodded. He walked back to the van and started taking all the skis of the roof. "Who's skis are this?" he asked while he put some skis against the car. "Mine" said and walked over to get them. "Thanks." gave her a wink. When turned around she saw looking at her. felt a cold shiver going down her spine. The look in 's eyes didn't expect alot of happiness.


Part 2.

While was going up with the ski lift, she took a deep breath. She was trying to tell herself that she just imagined the mean look in 's eyes. had been looking into the sun, you always had to squeeze your eyes bit. Still couldn't get the thought of her mind, that was trying to get for herself and now was in the way. She sighed and looked at the people skiing down the moutain. She couldn't wait till she got out of the lift and could join them. A few minutes later the lift stopped and they all got out. She went down to a place where most of the people were standing to put their skis on. She checked if everything was still fine and wanted to ski away when she saw coming out of the ski lift. Behind her were and . was wearing a red coat. Her brother had a black bodywarmer on, and underneath a black hoodie. put her sunglasses back on, pushes herself away with her ski sticks and flew away.

About an hour later stopped at the bottom of the mountain slope. She put her sunglasses on her head and smiled. This was her best descent so far. Her cheeks were glowing, she looked up. She saw coming down on his skis. His legs were stood straight in his skis and he was having a hard time to come down safely. felt the urge to yell that he had to bend his knees, but was too far away. Suddenly she saw that was sliding towards a small ravine! His skisticks were dragging behind him through the snow. saw immediatly the danger of the situation and covered her face with her hands. Seconds later she took a look through her fingers. Relieved she saw stuck in his own skis and skisticks. Just before he was about to go down into the ravine, he fell. When he was back on his feet, he dragged himself down. Right in front of he stopped without that much elegance. "This must be the brokenbone" said and looked up. couldn't help, but started laughing. "I don't like to say it but..." "I know, I know. I should be in skiingschool" nodded. He ran with his hands through his hair to get all the snow out. "But that's just too embarresing. Some 5 year olds are better at skiing than I am." "You know, you will look so much better when you just bend your knees and actually use those sticks that you're holding" told him. Suddenly she saw that 's nose and forhead where brightred. "And, use sunblock" she said and pointed at his face.

sighed when was getting ready to go further. "Wait" he stopped her. "I'll go with you to the lift" he said. "Are you going up there again?" she asked him confused. "Surprises you?" bend over to check his skis, his sunglasses were hanging on one ear. "Little bit ye" admitted. "But at least you don't give up." "That's not it. I have a reputation that I have to keep up." 's sunglasses fell in the snow. When he wanted to bend over to get it, his skis crossed and he almost fell over again. "I'll help you" grinned. She bend over and gave him his glasses. "What kind of reputation do you mean?" she asked. "I'm always the joker in the bunch" explained while they were getting in the line for the ski lift. "They're laughing w?th me or..." 's grin disappeard and for a second thought he was looking pissed of. "Or?" "Or they're laughing ?t me" he said. "Haven't you noticed yet?" he continued. shook her head. "I barely know the others" she remebered him. "Do you all know each other for a long time?" "No" looked at her. "Why are you asking? Oh wait, I know. You mean that when I didn't know them I could protend to be different, become a new for the time we're here." "No, that's not what I meant" laughed. "But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea."

It was almost their turn. Suddenly took a step to the right. "I changed my mind, I think I'm gonna sit down for a while" he said. "See you later ." nodded. Just before she was getting into the lift she turned her head and looked at . He was still standing at the same place, looking at the people coming down. She saw somebody who looked farmiliar. She saw it was . stood with his skies crossed over each other and his mouth open. hoped he would put his skis straight next to each other and close his mouth before reached him.

When the evening was arriving the sky turned dark and it started snowing. was done drinking a cup of hot chocolate in the restaurant and was thinking about going up again. A warm room, a hot shower and some clean, fresh clothes were also very tempting. She decided to go up for one last time and after that to go back home. She hadn't seen and since they all left but when she stepped out of the lift she saw them standing at the top of the mountain slope. In fact, the whole group was standing there! "Hey !" yelled when he saw her. "Come on, you're just in time!" he said and waved her over. "Just in time for what?" she asked when she joined the others. " just had a wonderfull idea" told her. "At least, she thinks that it's oh so wonderfull. Personally, I think it's pretty stupid." "Come on!" said and punched her brother. "You'll like it. But, you'll probably think you're not able to do it" said and grinned, getting curious and exited about what was going to happen. "What is it?" asked. tapped her on the arm. "Look" she said and pointed with one of her skisticks. "See those group of trees? There's something lying next to it in the snow... see that?" was still pointing with her stick. knew which group of trees she meant. At first, she thought she only saw some snow, but then she suddenly saw a pink spot. "Ye, i see something... but what is it?" "It's a hat" answered . nodded. "And, what's the wonderfull idea?" "We're gonna do a contest" explained. "You have to ski down, around those trees and get the hat with one of your sticks. Right behind the trees is a flat piece of snow where you can stop so you don't have to go all the way down. Who ever is the fastest wins." "Who survives you mean" sighed. "Come on!" tried to get her borhter a little more enthusiastic. "It sounds fun, doesn't it?" "very" said sarcastic.

"When you've stopped you call out 'done' okay?" walked over to and put her arm around him. ", would you like to be in charge of the time?" she took her watch of and gave it to him. "There's a stopwatch on it" she said and pointed at a button on the side. took the watch. His face was bright red. That was because had been standing so close to him, knew. "Of course I'll do it" she heard say. "Smart guy" grinned. "Now you don't have to enter yourself." "Somebody has to push the button" defended himself. "Come on guys!" got back in her skis. "Are you joining us too ?" didn't know for sure if had heard . While the others where getting ready, he was staring into nothing. She looked down. It was actually quite a dangerous idea from . You could fall pretty hard here! "?" asked again. She sounded a bit impatient. "Why don't you go first?" asked in a bitchy way. didn't seem to notice the look on 's face. "Sure, I'll go first" she said and put her sunglasses on. snapped out of his thoughts. "Are you sure that this is such a good idea?" he asked concerned. "It doesn't seem like a lot of fun to break a leg on the first day here." cleard her throat. "You don't h?ve to enter! If you don't want you, you can just stay here" and before anybody could say anything about it, she was gone. saw her go down on high speed. She missed the hat and stopped. "Done!" she yelled. "Okay, there we go" said and pushed himself away with his sticks. He was a little slower than his sister, but he didn't manage to get the hat either. It was snowing pretty hard at this point. There weren't much people left. Most of them were in the restaurants or went home. pushed the stopwatch. "Who's next?" took a deep breath. "Me. Lets get this done and over with" she made her way to the front. "You don't have to take my time . I'm not even planning on getting that stupid hat" she said. On the last moment she must have changed her mind because they all saw her reach for the hat with her stick. "Hey! I think she got it!" yelled. At that moment almost lost balance but knew how to save herself from falling. This made her only touch the hat, which made it slide down a bit. laughed and looked at . " gave us the best excuse to leave the hat." "That's what I thought" nodded relieved. She got hot when winked at her again before he went down. She realized that he was seriously really good looking!

Suddenly she rememberd that was also interested in him. From the corner of her eyes she looked at . Would she be as pissed of as was this afternoon? But wasn't giving her a cold look. In fact, she was more looking sad than angry. "Are you going, or should I go?" asked friendly. "I'll go" pushed her sticks into the snow and pushed herself away. hadn't seen her skiing yet. She was surprised that a girl like , so shy and sweet could go down a moutain so confided and fast. "I'm next, are you sure that you're gonna make it all the way down?" she asked . "of course! If it goes wrong I'll just walk down" he said and smiled. went down and didn't even look at the hat when she passed the trees. She heard the others laugh when she came to stop. Even was looking friendly. "I don't know what happened! I was about to ignore the hat, but when I passed the trees I just had to try and get it" she told them. "How far is it now?" asked . "Out of reach" she answered. "We could put it back" offered. Her brother shook his head. "It's snowing too hard right now" he noticed. "Let's wait for to get here and then go back." "I'm freezing" sighed. "I would love to drink something hot right now, why is taking so long?" was just about to say that it could take a while for to get down when she saw somebody skiing. First she thought it was , but her thoughts changed when she saw how fast he was going. Besides that, it was a girl. Her long hair was waving in the wind when she came skiing towards them. "Look!" yelled. "She's got the hat!" the others saw it too. "H?... is that who I think it is?" asked nobody in particulair. didn't look too happy. "yea, who else could it be?" he said abruptly. "Who is that?" asked curious. "" answered softly. "Yes, " said. was happy that wasn't there. When she saw 's look in his eyes when he saw , she could see he was so in love with her.


Part 3.


came out of the bathroom and walked upstairs. It was dark outside. She was kind of surprised when she found out that the whole house has pretty big windows, but no curtains. That's also why she had closed her rope, and was holding it, just to make sure it wouldn't come of until she wanted it to come of. When she got upstairs she looked down the balustrade while walking to her room. Right underneath her was the livingroom. saw that they had put fire on the hearth. heard from that the owner of the house they were staying in was a friend of the father of and . That's why they all got huge discounts on the rent. She was about to go into her room when she saw a movement in the corner of her eye. walked back to the balustrade. walked into the room with two plates with crisps and peanuts and she put them down on the table. was behind his sister with his hands full with wood for in the fire. collapsed on the couch and put her feet on the table. "Listen to me for once" she said a bit impatient. "I already did and I do not want to hear one more word about it!" threw the pieces of wood on the floor next to the fire and left the room again. looked at him until his disappeard into the kitchen, then she looked at again. She was sitting up straight, staring into the fire. couldn't see her face, but she could tell that 's mood was below zero right now. The twins are in a fight, she thought. It was almost a miracle to see that they also had arguments like any other brother and sister. Because she didn't wanna get caught on spying she turned around and walked back to her room. She raised her eyebrows when she thought about 's face when he saw . It seemed like he didn't like her that much. But, had seen that he wasn't able to stop looking at her.

When she entered the room she almost tripped over who was lying on the floor with some magazines. made carefully her way through all the bags and suitcases and walked to the window where she threw her towel on the bed. "Is in the shower now?" asked . "yea, but she said that she won't be long." lay down on her bed and sqeezed herself into some jeans and a red hoodie. It was a difficult job to get dressed and not be seen with that big window. When she was done she sat up and looked outside. Her eyes fell on the other house's livingroom where the lights were on. There was somebody walking through the room and quickly stepped back. Suddenly she started laughing. "What?" asked. pointed at the binocular that was hanging next to the door. "I just saw somebody in the house next to us, and I had to stop myself from wanting to use that to spy on them." "Hmm" looked up. "What do you think of " she asked out of the blue. thought for a second. She didn't know what to say. "Well, uhhh..." quickly she thought about a good and smart answer. "She is very good at skiing" she said. nodded. "She sure is. And, she's pretty and super spoiled." "Do you know her well?" "I met her a few times, yes. goes to the same school as , and " pushed the magazine she was reading away from her and streched. "It's obvious is crazy about her, but i hoped that would've been smarter." got infront of the mirror and started brushing her hair. "What you mean?" "Well, has been dating for a while" explained. "He was crazy about her and they were so close" she sniffed. "Of course it didn't last long. Nothing lasts long with ." "Did they break up?" "Yea" sighed. " let fall. She made him so crazy that all he could think about was her and then she told him to fuck of." "Why?" "That's why" answered impatient. " likes things like that. I heard from that it has been a huge fight. yelled at and he told her to go there where the sun don't shine." Suddenly understood the reaction that gave when he saw . "However" continued. "I was hoping that would have been smarter like I said. But I dare to bet that he's downstairs right now, trying to call her to invite her for the party tonight." nodded. "I saw and talking, but I was too far away to hear what it was about." "Well, I did hear them." threw her head in her neck and put a funny voice on. "A party? that sounds nice . But I don't know... maybe I'll fly to Paris tomorrow and if I do, I have to get up really early" she was being over the top, talking like she was Paris Hilton. "Paris! come on!" continued with her normal voice. "I wish she went there today." "Ah well, maybe she goes tomorrow" said. "Then you can..." she stopped talking. finished her sentence. "Then I can go after again?" said and gave her a look. "Yes, of course I will. The question is, am I the only one?" she looked at , waiting for an answer. didn't give her one. She got up and started going through her backpack. "No, I'm probably not the only one" answered her own question. "I think is also falling for , but I think I won't get any trouble from her. I have to watch though" laughed before she carried on. "And what about you ?" took her mascara and sighed. "No, I'm not worried about " she answered cautious. "That's a job that I leave for you, but I think you can handle her." "I sure can." said in a bitchy tone. A few minutes later entered the room. ", there's somebody on the phone for you. " she said and gave her the phone. grabbed her shampoo and left. Before spoke to she made herself comfortable on the bed.

"Hey , how's it going?" "urgh, still ill" her friend whispered. "I hate being ill so fucking much! Try and make me happy and tell me what you have done today." "Well, skiing today was awesome! At the moment its snowing," told her. "And tonight there's gonna be a party. has invited some people over," she kept on talking, hoping that wouldn't bring up. "And this afternoon we had a skiing contest which was actually kind of dangerous but fun," she carried on while she was looking at who was drying her hair in front of the mirror. "Nobody fell though, we had to-" "How are things?" interrupted her. "I mean, with all the others, are you getting along?" "Oh yea, its fine." "And how's ? He's hot right? Besides, is also a piece of eyecandy!" "Yea." " is crazy about him." "Hmm." "Oh," understood. "Is there somebody with you in the room?" "Yea, right." was getting some clothes out of her suitcase and was protending not to be listening. But knew that she was doing her very best to hear what the conversation was about. "Like I said, things are great so far!" "Okay, i get it" sighed. " did already pop up, didn't she?" "Uhh, yea." took a deepbreath. "And? Oh right, you can't say anything. But, did something happen already? Did she flirt with ?" "As far as I know she didn't." "Oh she will" predicted sadly. " waits until all the guys are crazy about her and then she strikes." There was a short silence. "And ? Did he like it when she came along?" "Uhh, no. well, I don't know." "So that's a yes" sighed. "I knew it! Is coming to the party you're having tonight?" "No idea" answered. "Listen, the doorbell is ringing so I have to go and get that." "Okay, can I speak for a second?" asked. "I'll speak to you tomorrow." "Sure, I hope you get better soon!" rose from her bed and walked out of the room. She looked over the balustrade and saw talking to some guys she didn't know. "?" yelled. "'s on the phone and she wants to talk to you." she said. made her hands ready to catch the phonen threw it down and went back into her room. She walked straight to the mirror. She noticed that her hair was almost dry. She bend a little bit closer to the mirror and put her mascara on. was behind her, in the middle of the room. Their eyes met in the mirror. took a deepbreath. "Can I ask you something, ?" "Yea sure." looked down and bit her lip. "Do you think I have a chance with ?" "With ?!" couldn't believe her eyes. "But I thought that you liked ..." shook her head. " is just a friend of me, I've known him for a long time. I don't feel comfortable with alot of people, but i do when I'm with him" she took a hair of her shoulder. "But I'm in love with " she confessed. cleared her throat. She felt rather uncomfortable. "I barely know ." she said. "Does he have a girlfriend?" shook her head. "No, but he likes this girl." "Yea, she's also a pretty good looking girl." said carefully. "She sure is, just as pretty as snowwhite's stephmother." sighed. "and her caracture sucks! I don't know how doesn't see that." " told me about dumping " said. "That was indeed a rude thing to do." nodded. "'s always doing stuff like that. And not only with guys. I honestly thought I was best friends with her for a while, at least, she pretended like she was. We went shopping together, went out together, stuff like that." She was staring into space. " knew that I was entering this contest and you had to write a story. She offered to read it and maybe correct a few things, just you know?" nodded. "So I gave her the story I wrote, and she sent it in under her name." "You mean she copied it?!" said unbelieveble. "What did you say to her?" "Nothing." "Nothing?!" looked at in shock. "Why did you just let go?" "Because I was afraid to say something about it." looked angry out of her eyes. "But I'll let her know that she's done wrong! Sure sure will! I just hope that I get the chance before she basically owns . Maybe I can stop her from hurtly him aswell. just takes everything and never gives something back, she is pure evil!" was talking softly, like usual, but her voice as cold as ice. shivered. "Sorry" suddenly said. "I don't really understand why I just told you all this." "It's alright. I just can't give you a good answer about , because I barely know him." mumbled. "Can't you talk about it with ?" she asked. burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you," she said quickly when she saw 's confused face. "Never mind, I think I'm going downstairs to get something to eat. Thanks for listening to me." looked at her as left the room. She couldn't understand it. First , then and now . One friend and two girls she barely knew, and they all couldn't stop talking about . sighed. She tied her hair in a bun and went downstairs. Who knew what else she was gonna find out about tonight!


Part 4.


The party could have been fun. It started just the way thought it would start. But after a while she wished she never went to the party in the first place. At the beginning it was loads of fun. There we like, twenty people and everybody was relaxed and laid back. was having a pretty good time. She walked around a bit, listened to some people, but didn't talk that much. It wasn't easy to talk, as the music was real loud. It was like the party was all about and it didn't surprise at all. She was laughing and talking to everybody. Her blue eyes were looking around the room constantly, making sure everybody was having a good time. In the beginning, that was the case. The only one who wasn't so happy was , because wasn't giving her any attention. was laid back in a chair next to the frontdoor. noticed that was also staring at the frontdoor. She thought that it was because the two lads were waiting for to arrive. But to her surpise, wasn't looking hopefull... more a bit frustrated. "Hey !" yelled out when she passed the kitchen. "You're gonna have to hurry if you still want some food!" walked to the table, grabbed a plate and took some salad. "There's enough to drink," said who came to stand next to her. "What do you want?" "I'll have some later." answered with her mouth full. "This stuff is delicious!" she said. "Yea, asked me if I wanted to keep an eye on the food and stuff" nodded proudly. "I'm not quite there, but 's taking me pretty serious now. Oh, by the way, did you see this afternoon how I came down that mountain without falling once?" "Oh, you were great. Almost like a true proffessional!" complimented him. "I was just making myself ready to go down when stopped right next to me." told. "We heard you laugh, so I told her what was going on. When heard that hit the hat away she laughed and went to get it." shook his head. "I didn't know she would actually also get it!" "Neither did we." said. "Do you know well?" "Not really, I just met her a few times." nodded. "I already heard some stories about her from and ." "Not so weird, the two can't stand her! Neither does ." added. "I heard her tell that she wouldn't mind at all if won't show up tonight." "hey, you don't have to be standing next to the food all night, do you?" suddenly asked. "Why don't you go ask if she wants to dance?" "I dance almost as good as i ski" grinned. He looked at hopefully. "But, I can go over to have a talk." walked into the kitchen to make herself a drink. She was about to go back into the livingroom when and entered the kitchen. "Hey , having a good time?" asked. Without waiting for an answer he just walked to the phone and dailed a number. looked at , but he was to busy looking at . shrugged and went back into the livingroom. Her gaze fell on . He was standing next to and talking to her while making big movements with her arms. held her breath when she saw throwing his arms back, hitting 's glass that she was holding. The glass flew through the air and landed next to on the carpet and broke in a thousand pieces. bend to and whispered something in his ear. turned around and rushed into the kitchen. He almost bumped into on his way. "Did you see that?" mumbled. "I got loads more stupid surprizes like that" he said dissapointed and embarresed. "Ah, that could've happened to anybody!" comforted him. "Yea maybe, but this is like, the most expensive carpet ever! said there's some stuff I can clean it with in the cupboard." swallowed. He turned around and almost bumped into who just came out of the kitchen. Moments later noticed an empty chair next to the fire. She rushed over to it and sat down. "You should take a look at yourself !" she suddenly heard say. "You're staring at that door like the queen is about to enter!" sat up and listened. "I'm not the only one!" answered. " was here too, but he went to her place to see if she's still coming." "Good. One person less to ruin this party." "Maybe they will come back together." Saskia sighed. "Why don't you put that evil out of your head?" her brother kept quiet. "Even if I wanted it, I can't." his voice sounded sad. At the same moment eyes fell on who was standin close to her. It was obvious that had also heard their conversation. She was staring into space. "We will see." said.

"Pay attention everybody! Hello?! Everybody!" she yelled over the music. "Time for a game!" she said. saw walking to the sterio and turn the music off. Then, she turned around and looked around the room. "We're done with all the boredness. We're gonna do something fun!" "I'm having a good time." a guy protested. "You maybe, but look at ." pointed at who was cleaning the carpet, sitting on his knees. "He's not having a good time. , you can stop now before you go right through the carpet." she laughed and pointed at a chair in the middle of the room. "Go sit right there so we can play the game." walked to the chair with the sponge in his hands. was going through a drawer and got some paper and some pens. "What are we going to do?" asked. "True, or not true," answered. started to sigh, but didn't pay any attention to it. "Somebody sits on that chair and the others write something down about him or her. Then, every note is gonna be read out loud and the person sitting on the chair has to say if its true or not true." Now sighed too. She had played this game before and didn't like it. It always made the person on the chair turn red and drown in embarresment. She looked around the room and saw that some people had already left. herself didn't feel like staying either but she couldn't leave now. People would think she was too scared of the game if she left now. was making sure everybody got a note and a pen. When she was done she stood next to . "This is ." started. "If you don't know him, just make something up about him." looked like he was about to go to prison and was the judge who was sending him there. "You could write down something easy like, you want to be rich. But this game is about being honest, even if its not that friendly." thought for a second. Then she wrote 'sometimes you wish you'd be someone else'. started to get all the notes from everybody. "Are you ready?" he asked when he got them all. "Yea, bring it on!" joked. "Okay, the first note says: 'You never lie'." "It's obvious somebody is making something up." grinned. "Because that's not true. I do lie once in a while, so not true!" read the next note. It was 's note. had to smile and shook his head. "Not true" he grinned. "I always wanna be somebody else!" "Go on ," said. "You have to laugh at yourself, otherwise you're the only one who's not laughing" read out loud. looked at and wondered if she wrote that down. was playing with her nails and looked pretty bored. "I knew something like that was gonna come up" sighed. He sqeezed the sponge he was holding and some water dripped on his jeans. "Yea, what can I say to that? I cannot answer this!" "You have to!" said. She was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees. "Okay, true" said quickly. He looked like he was getting more and more uncomfortable. He was looking around the room as if he was trying to escape. "Next question." looked at the next note. "Hmmm, this one says, you hate ." looked surprised, but she seemed curious about what was going to say. bend over, so far so that his head touched his knees. His shoulders were shaking a bit, which made think that he was laughing at first. thought that the note was just rediculous. Everybody who had eyes in their head could see that had a huge crush on . "?" asked, waiting for an answer. slowly lifted his head. His eyes were shining, but not from laughing. He looked around the room until he saw . He looked at her, without blinking his eyes once. "I thought we were friends!" he said, blaming her. had the feeling as if somebody just punched her in the stomach. The others didn't seem to notice that was talking to her. "Does that mean that it isn't true?" asked. "What?" blinked a few times. "Oh no... that's not true." "That's a relieve!" sighed and smiled. "Of course we're friends ." "Good." rose from the chair with the sponge still in his hand. "H?, where you going? I still have some notes for you." was trying to push him back down. was about to say something, but suddenly the frontdoor swung open and entered. "!" yelled. She jumped up. "You're just in time to join our game! True or Not true." At first didn't answer. He was looking at his feet, stamping all the snow of his shoes. When he looked up, he looked at . 's face was red out of anger. dropped his shoulders and the hope dissapeared out of his eyes. "How's the weather outside?" somebody asked . "Is it still snowing?" "Didn't pay much attention to it" said. While he was putting his coat away some guys walked to the window to look outside. They started talking about the skiing they were gonna do tomorrow. saw that took his chance and left the room, into the kitchen. She desided to go after him. stood up and walked across the room until she was stopped by who stood right in front of her. He was talking to . "Is she leaving tomorrow?" she heard him ask quietly. "You think she'd tell me?" shrugged. "She just laughed and told me she didn't know for sure yet. As if you don't have to plan anything if you want to go to Paris from here." pushed slowly so that he would step out of her way, but he didn't seem to notice. "Maybe I'll go over to talk to her" he said to . "I mean, you don't mind do you with the..." "H?, if you ask me, things are over between us. You can have her buddie." said bitterly. "Come on, " said. She made her way and passed . She put her arm around him. "I saved a seat for you. Why don't you come sit with me, eh?" gave her a look and got back to . "Go if you want to. But I'm warning you, you're wasting your time." "Come on!" pulled his arm. Finally could pass them and walk into the kitchen. "H? !" yelled after her. "If you see , could you take him back? We're gonna start again." "I'll tell him, but I have the feeling he won't be sitting on that chair again." "Not?" looked surprised. "Why not?" sighed softly. Didn't she see how unhappy had looked seconds ago? "I didn't think he liked it that much." "Of course he did! Everybody knows its just a game. Nobody takes it seriously!" shrugged and walked back to the others. entered the kitchen. was facing his back to , with a glass of water in his hand. "?" said softly. He put his hand up, making a sign for her to wait. Next he took a tisue that was laying next to him and dried his face. He finally turned around and faced her. "How did you know?" he whispered. "Till tonight I had no idea that I hate . So, how did you find out?"


Part 5.


was having a hard time to breath. From 's mouth the word 'hate' sounded weird. It did fit him, he was too soft for it. But now his look was cold as ice. "You look surprised," said. grabbed a chair from the kitchen table, turned it to and sat down. "I just came here to tell you that I didn't wrote that note, the one that says that you hate I mean." sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Me and my stupid ideas," he mumbled. "I should have let you talk before I blamed you! Then everything would've been fine." ", ! Are you coming?" yelled from the livingroom. "Everybody is ready to continue the game." turned around. "I dropped at bit of salad!" she yelled back. "and now we're cleaning it, you can start without us!" when she turned back to she saw that he was smiling. "You lie too." he said. "Sometimes. But I don't lie about things that I write down. I was the one who wrote that sometimes you'd like to be someone else." "And I thought that you figured out that I hate . I don't know why. Maybe because you listen alot and look around you." he added. From the livingroom they heard laughter and heard say "Oh no, do I really have to answer that one?" "Why don't you go back in?" asked and threw some tisues into the bin. "You probably feel kinda awkward knowing my secret now." "I don't feel awkward at all," said quickly. "I'm just surprised, I thought you had crush on ." "Me too, weird eh?" mumbled. "I think it was because of the carpet." "the carpet?" "Yea, when I was cleaning it, i found out that its not an expensive, important carpet. I found a tag on it, and it said Ikea. But, made me nervous saying it was really expensive!" shrugged. "I suddenly I hated her, for making a fool of me infront of everybody." he looked out of the window. "" he suddenly said. "What?" "That's the house of , the one next to us. I saw her through the window when you came in. Now she's gone." he turned around. "She's like . Like she acted this afternoon, like I was invisable. Them two are exactly the same." "..." "H?, don't look at me like that! it's true what I'm saying innit?" he said. Again there was laughter in the livingroom. "Go already." turned away again. was scared of the sudden anger in his voice. She stood up and left the kitchen.

When she entered the room, asked immediatly where was staying. "Eh... I think he's tired." made up. "No, I've been thinking about what you said," frowned. " was really upset, wasn't he? it was stupid of me to put him on the chair first." "yea, little bit." said carefully. It surprised her that was all of the sudden real caring about him. That wasn't really a reaction for somebody who threats others like garbage. Maybe was wrong. was confused. "Maybe it's better if we just leave him alone," said. "Come on, we're gonna look how is doing." really wasn't in the mood for the game, but she followed anyways. The group got smaller. Only four others and their own group. was sitting in the chair and looked around hopelessly. "Am I almost done?" she asked . "Only three more to go, then you're done." chuckled. He looked at his watch and read the next note. "You're in love with ." he read out loud. "H?, hold on a second. The next one says that you're in love with me!" started laughing. "Maybe she loves the both of you." "Leave her alone" mumbled. gave him a look, but her voice was friendly. "No, she has to answer." turned bright red and she covered her face with her hands. "Not true." she said. "Which one?" teased. "Do you mean both of them?" asked. "Never mind, lets go to the next note," said. He grabbed the last note, read it, but then suddenly stopped. "This is not fun," he said. "None of them are fun." commented. "Come one, ." pushed him. "Read it out loud." made a little ball of the note and dropped it. But reached out of it and took it. "I'll read it." she said. "Okay, are you guys ready? It says: You would like to be dead." 's eyes grew and she stood up. Her face had turned pale. "But that is..." she shook her head out of confussion. thought would run up the stairs, but instead she took her coat and ran out the door. was shocked and thought about who wrote that note. The people who didn't stay at the house, also stood up. "We better be going." one of them said. "We might see you all tomorrow." When the door closed behind them, it was quiet for a second. "What a sucky evening!" sighed. "And it was supposed to turn out to a great party." "You can't have everything." said. He walked to the door and took his bodywarmer. "You're not leaving are you?!" yelled. ", I..." Her brother grinned at her. "Maybe I'll be back later" he said and left. hoped he would go after , but she knew that he was gonna visit . stared at the closed door for a second. "Time to clean up, I'm sorry that the things went a little different than we hoped it would go" she said to no one in particulair. She collected the empty glasses and walked to the kitchen. decided not to go to the kitchen and help. She was tired and had enough of it.

In her bedroom it was dark and didn't turn the light on. She took her clothes of and put an XXL T-shirt on. Then, she turned on the light, took her toothbrush and toothpaste, and walked to the bathroom. wondered if was asleep when she passed the guys room. The lights were off, so she thought that he was. She brushed her teeth and went back to her room. She turned the lights off and climbed into bed. She turned over onto her stomach and was sure that she would fall asleep in a few seconds. But when she closed her eyes, she started thinking about loads of things. About , talking to . , giving her a cold bitchy look because of . The pale face of when she ran out of the room. who rushed into the room grumpy after talking to . And who confessed that he hates . Dowstairs slammed a door. opened her eyes and listened. She expected footsteps on the stairs, but all she heard was silence. She turned over onto her back and closed her eyes again. But the sleep still didn't hit in. Suddenly the door from her room swung open. sat straight up. "Who's there?" she asked. "It's me, ." From the lights in the hallway she saw walking to her bed. "Are you going to sleep?" asked. "No, it's not even 12 yet!" said and searched for something while she was making unpatient noises with her tongue. "Where are they?" "What?" "My gloves! o, there they are!" blinked her eyes. "Are you leaving?" "Why not? It's not snowing anymore and everybody left." 's voice sounded like she was in a hurry. She walked to the door. "It's so boring here! I'm off to the hotel, maybe there's something fun to do over there." she left the room and closed the door behind her. lyed back down and concidered going to the hotel aswell. But, under the covers it was nice and warm and she was too lazy to get dressed again. Besides, she didn't even know where the hotel was. She turned over onto her side and looked out of the window. was right, it stopped snowing. 's eyes fell on the livingroom of 's house. She saw , walking around. It looked like she was planning to go out. sqeeuzed her eyes so she could see better what was going on. She sat up a little and pushed her nose against the cold window. She saw that turned around and left the room. 's eyes looked at the other houses and the road which was covered with snow. She saw some people walking who looked dark in the white snow. She even saw them breathing. Seconds later she catched movement in the corner of her eye. She looked at 's house again. was back in the room but now with somebody else. pushed her nose even more against the glass of the window. 's visitor didn't come into the room enough, so couldn't see who it was. But, she knew that this wasn't a friendly visit. shaked her head and her visitor raised a hand. saw something shiny, a watch or a bracelet. took a few steps back and shook her head. For a second couldn't see a thing because the window turned white because of her breath. She quicly whiped it away. She saw pointing at the door, maybe she wanted her visitor to leave. After that, she walked towards the stranger. She made a wild movement with her hands. At the same moment the visitor pushed her strongly. walked backwards, tripped and fell onto the floor. The stranger stood still for a second, then quickly turned around and left. waited for something to happen. She felt her heart in her throat. She saw getting up again. The girl stroked her arm, put her hair back and shrugged. After that she walked to the window, and looked outside, right into 's face. Immediatly ducked. Then she realized that she was in the dark, so couldn't have seen her. When she looked again, was gone. felt a bit dissapointed. She had no idea who the visitor was or what they had a fight about. Suddenly she freezed. Was there somebody coming up the stairs? She listenend, but again, all she heard was silence. breath on the window and wrote her name on it. She was actually a bit ashamed that she was so nosey. She wouldn't like it if somebody's spying on her. She sighed and lay down again. She tried to tell herself what she just had seen. Two people in an argument... what was the big deal? Then she remembered how hard the stranger had pushed , so she would fall. shivered. had to be carefull, she had alot of enemies.


Part 6.


woke up by the bright sunlight shining in her face. She rolled over onto her side and looked outside. The first thing she saw was a big spot on the window where she had been rubbing the glass earlier. She remembered last night. She got a little closer to the window and tried to look into s house. But, because of the sun shining in her eyes, she couldn't see anything. sat up and looked around. At the other side of the room was , sleeping almost with her whole body under the covers. In the bed next to was , sleeping on her side holding her pillow tight. 's bed was empty. didn't want to wake the others so she got out of the bed quietly. It was freezing in the room and she quickly put a jumper on. She grabbed her toothbrush and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After that she went downstairs. How closer got to the kitchen, how stronger the smell of coffee got. "Hi " was sitting at the kitchen table with her hands around a cup of coffee. She looked tired. "I'm happy somebody else also woke up, i don't like sitting all by myself." There was a bag of sandwiches on the sideboard. grabbed some and made herself some coffee. "It really surprises me that you're up already" she smiled and sat down. "When I went to sleep last night, I was the only one here." she took a bite from her sandwich. " said she went to the hotel. Did you go there aswell? Did I miss anything?" "I've got no idea, I didn't go there," answered. "But there's always something to do in the hotel, so if you've missed anything last night, you can catch up this evening." She got up from her seat and threw the last bit of her coffee away. "It's too early to think about tonight," said. "All I can think of right now is skiing. It's gonna be an awesome day." "I hope so." got a towel from a chair and walked to the door. "I'm gonna take a shower, be right back." A few minutes after had left, and came downstairs. After that, walked into the kitchen aswell, followed by and . Suddenly the kitchen was full and there were no chairs left to sit on. Nobody said much. looked terrible, but that wasn't too surprising. was yawning all the time and was trying his very best to not look at . didn't say anything. thought to herself, if had been to . Maybe it had been him that she had seen through the window! The vibe in the kitchen was unfriendly. Yesterday had thought that maybe after she had met everybody she might become friends with some of them. Now she had the feeling that she was in a room with complete strangers.

The snow on the ground got thicker again. And it had been freezing all night which made the snow real hard, like ice. had already fallen three times on her way down because the ice that she was skiing on made her go real fast and sometimes loose control. When she crawled back up after the last fall she decided to go for a lunch. Because she didn't felt like walking back to the house, she walked with the ski's on her shoulder to the hotel. The outside of the hotel was made of wood and it had big windows. walked in. The big fireplace in the huge restaurant was on and the fire was dancing happily. There were people everywhere, almost no place left for . All the tables next to the windows were taken, and mostly ever other table aswell. was just looking for a table, when she heard somebody yell her name. "Here, !" waved her over. He was with , sitting at a table next to the window. waved and made her way to their table. didn't look too happy when joined them, but didn't care. "Thank god," she smiled. "I was afraid that I had to eat my lunch while standing." pointed at a chair where could sit down. sat down and looked around. "What a big restaurant!" she said amazed. "You could give here like, a popconcert or whatever easily." She looked at . "Was there music last night?" "Have you been here last night?" asked surprised. "I was here too, but I haven't seen you..." shrugged. "Maybe we were here at different times." she frowned and looked at the menu. got a menu aswell. "What tastes good?" she asked . "Stick to the hamburgers," he adviced her. "All the other stuff is expensive and gross." decided to take a cheeseburger and some soup. When she tasted the soup, she regretted getting it. It was really salty, and for that really disgusting. She took her glass of water and saw that was looking at her. He had one raised eyebrow. "Yea, yea," grinned. "I know, you warned me." "I'm not saying anything!" protested smiling. "You don't have to, I knew what you were about to say." looked at her. "Do you always no so well what other people want to say?" "This wasn't too hard to guess," gave a quick look. It wasn't too hard to guess what she was thinking either. The girl was looking grumpy at . How good and how bad it went, tried to keep the conversation going. Luckily was also doing his best. He was teasing her, and daring her to go down the brokenbone. , who was eating a sandwich suddenly had to laugh. It was a short, barking laugh. "What?" asked. "Nothing, I just saw something funny," was playing with her food and grinned. "What did you see?" asked impatient. "Look," pointed out of the window, where somebody on skis was just getting up after falling. It didn't surprise that had to laugh about something like that. She was mean enough for it. Suddenly she saw who the person was. It was . recognized the long hair, that today were in a ponytail. " was almost down when she fell," smirked. "She must regret not going to Paris. Look at that, prince is helping her up." saw helping up. With his skis crossed, he stuck out his hand to help her. didn't understand why he wasn doing that, after telling her that he hated last night. waved him away and got up by herself. was still grinning and took another bite from her sandwich. She suddenly looked alot happier. "I want some hotchocolate," she suddenly said. "What about you, ?" shook his head. "If we still wanna go skiing today, we can better go right now," he said. He got up and put some money down on the table. He turned around and walked away. got up in a hurry and ran after him. She didn't say goodbye to . She also didn't pay for her own stuff by the way.

Sighing took another bite from her cheeseburger. She looked outside again. disapeard, but was still there. was with her now, and they were talking. Again, wondered if was the visitor that she'd seen last night in 's house. The put her hamburger down and squized her eyes so that she could see better. She wanted to find out if their conversation was friendly or not. At the same moment realized that she was spying on people again. She should really learn to just mind her own business. turned her back to the window and forced herself to think about something else. Minutes later she payed and left the restaurant. When she was outside and got into the lift again, the people from their group had already left. When she were almost up, the man next to her in the lift asked: "Is it just me, or is it really getting colder?" "Well, it's getting more cloudy by the second, so you'll probably be right." answered. "Maybe it's gonna snow." looked down and asked herself if she wasn't making a mistake by going up the mountain again. Ah well, she didn't have any other choice. She could go down again with the lift, but nobody did that. When she got out of the lift she asked a couple of people about the ice. People said that some parts were just too icy to even ski on, but it didn't got any worse, she just had to pay good attention to where she was going. That information wasn't right. When went down on her ski's, she knew that it wasn't gonna be easy. Two times she almost lost the control over her ski's. When she got to a flat part, she stopped and rested for a bit. Minutes later she took a deep breath and went off again. The ice came out of nowhere and knew that this was gonna go wrong. Her left ski crossed the other and she left he body going up. She lost her sticks and told herself to stay calm and just go with the fall. But suddenly her right ski hit something, which made her right leg go the wrong way. felt a sharp pain in her ankle. The pain shot through her leg and she was screaming.

The fall took her breath and she got dizzy. She was lying in the snow. Before her closed eyes there were colored spots dancing. couldn't remember hitting her head, but she must have because it hurt real bad. Because she was scared to faint she quickly opened her eyes. All she could see were the tops from trees and she suddenly felt really nauseous. She closed her eyes again. She was shaking from fear and pain. Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm. "Don't move" she heard a voice. "It's okay, I've only hurt my ankle... and maybe my head, I'll be fine in a second." mumbled. She hadn't heard anyone coming upto her, but she grabbed the hand that pulled her up until she was sitting. Carefully opened her eyes. The first thing she saw were two legs in blue skitrousers. Then she saw long hair that was held together by a ponytail. It was . The girl helped up carefully and put her down against a tree. "I'm gonna get some help," her voice sounded academic like this was her daily-job. looked how was getting her sticks and put them down next to her in the snow. Later, another person came down skiing. "!" yelled. "What happened? Did you hurt yourself?" "Not too bad," answered, trying to be cool. "My right ankle hurts, but I believe the rest is still working." realized that she didn't even thank for helping her. was gone already. Her long hair waving behind her and seconds later she disapeard.


Part 7.


's ankle was dislocated, not broken. A doctor in the hotel had put a bandage around it. He said that he wanted her to stay at the hotel for the night, so he could check up on her every now and then. "Sorry, but that's bull" had told him. She leaned on when she got of the table. "Even if it was broken..." "Not for your ankle," the doctor interrupted her. "Your head. I don't think its a concussion, but I can't be sure about that. You should be checked up on for 24 hours, just in case." "Check up on what?" wanted to know. "Dizzyness, headache, if you're feeling nauseous," the doctor named all the symptoms. "We are here with a pretty big group," told the doctor. "Can we check up on ? If we don't trust it, we'd bring her over immediatly!" The doctor thought for a second. In the end, he said yes. "I feel so stupid," sighed when she got out of the room. "I knew that there was ice everywhere. I shouldn't have gone up again." "Don't be talking like that," said. "It wasn't stupid. You just had some bad luck." "I think that I better can go home," said sadly. "I mean, I can't ski no more, so why would I stay? The only problem is that my parents aren't at home..." When had told her parents that she was gonna go skiing this week, they decided to go visit some family in the same week. "Well, you can't go tonight," said. "Just, get in your bed and we'll see how you're feeling tomorrow." knew that was right. She had to stay for the night.

When she was in bed, felt a lot better. The others came back after them and everybody tried to cheer up in their own way. The guys offered to go and get some magazines and got her some hot chocolate. Even wasn't making bitchy comments which was unusual for her. was happy with all the attention she got. She didn't feel homesick anymore and felt less lonely. "There you go," said when he threw a bunch of magazines onto her bed. "so, you did try it?" "What?" He grinned. "Are you saying that you weren't going down the brokenbone?" "Funny, you know that I wasn't there!" grabbed a magazine and read what was on the cover. "A magazine about cars?" "Yea, it was on the table downstairs. I thought, you never know what she likes." smiled again and walked to the door. "But if you're not interrested, you don't have to read it. You need anything else?" "No, I'm fine. Thanks." looked through all the magazines. " has some good books," wanted to get in another posision but the word pain was written all over her face. noticed. "I'll get you an aspirine, you look like you need one." "No thanks, I already have some. The doctor gave me these." pointed at a brown jar next to her bed. "Painkillers. I'll take one when I'm gonna go to sleep." "Hmm, I can't do anything else for you I see." said. "I'll come back later ye?" and entered when left. "Her brain has some serious damage" said with a serious face. "I think it's just a matter of time" he shook his head sadly and walked away. "I think you look pretty normal" said. He looked at with a worried face. "Well, you look a little cross-eyed and that bump on your head is huge but you don't look ill" he teased. "What do I have to do to get a little sympathy?" sighed. had to laugh. gave her a worried look. "Do you need anything? Something to eat maybe?" "No," shook her head. "How did it happen?" asked curious and sat down on her bed. "Tell us all the horrible details! That's why we're actually here." "I lost control over my ski's when I was skiing on, well, ice," told. "My right leg was going into another direction than the rest of my body. I don't remember much of it. was there all of the sudden, she said that I had to lay still and not move but I was sure that I hadn't broke anything but maybe my ankle." It was quiet for a second. saw that 's face froze. looked a bit in shock at . When she said something, her voice sounded a bit shakey and soft. "? I thought had found you?" "No, it was ." didn't feel comfortable, but went on talking. "After that came and went down to get some help." she shrugged and laughed to break the silence. "Well, that was it. The horrible story." stood up. "I think I'm gonna go downstairs to see if there's any food left." he mumbled. "I'm glad you don't have something serious, ." stayed. "So came to save you" she repeated. moved a bit, trying to make herself more comfortable but she failed. "Maybe she's going to Paris tonight or tomorrow," "Maybe." Without thinking said "I didn't thank her..." "Who? ?" shook her head. "." stood up and looked out of the window. "You better do that fast before it's too late." Without saying anything else, she turned around and left the room. sighed deeply and rested against the pillows. What did mean with that last comment. It sounded like a treatment. "Hé, are you asleep?" 's head popped around the door. "Because if you are, just tell me and I will leave." "I'm alseep" laughed. "Too bad," said. "I've got some food with me, soup, bread, salad. Ah well, I guess I'll have to eat it all by myself then." "I'm suddenly awake! Bring the food in!" held her breath when entered. Luckily he knew how to bring the tray to safely. "Delicious," said thankful. wanted to sit down on her bed but changed his mind and didn't. "Go sit," patted on the side of her bed. "it's the other ankle, you can't hit it from here." "No, I'm gonna go back down to eat with the others," kept silent for a while. " asked me to bring this up." he didn't say more and didn't push him to say more. She took some soup and found out that she was starving. She ate all of the soup at once. "You look kind of pale," said. " told me that you have to check on you if you don't have a concussion." calmed him down immediatly. "That fall is about 4 hours ago and I'm stuffing myself now. If I can keep this in, I'll be fine." nodded. "Hé , about last night... I didn't mean what I said, that I hate and ." he laughed kinda nervous. "I'm off" he said quickly. "Now I see you eating my stomach starts rumbling aswell." raised her eyebrows and looked at leaving the room. What made change his mind all of the sudden?

Half an hour later , and entered the room. "We came here to ask if you can come downstairs," said. "I guess, why?" "There's a party tonight." took her shirt of and put on a black hoodie. "Everybody is going there, but we don't want to leave you alone." "Oh," nodded. "I can come downstairs, but I don't think I've got enough enery to go out and walk in the snow on one leg." started brushing her hair. "I'll stay at home," offered. "No, you don't have to stay for me!" said quickly. "I feel fine, I'm not dizzy anymore and it's only my ankle that hurts." came with an idea. "We will call you like, every hour." she put the phone on 's nightstand. "If you don't answer, we'll call you 15 minutes later again, in case you're at the bathroom." "But if she falls asleep, we'll be waking her up!" said concerned. "That's alright," said, calming down. "Besides, I'm not sleepy at all." "Good, that's set then." took her make-up and turned around, facing . She opened her mouth to say something but suddenly looked with big eyes out of the window. followed her eyes. and did the same. On the window they could see the big letters that wrote 's name, which wrote the other night. "My mum always used to get so mad at me if I wrote on her clean windows," she chuckled. nodded. She turned around and walked to the door. "Stay strong , We'll call you every hour!" followed and seconds later left aswell. Before the were about to leave popped his head around the door to say goodbye. and did the same. could hear their footsteps on the stairs. The door slammed. After that, it was silent in the house.

Not even 5 minutes later wished she would've gone with them to the hotel. It was a scary idea to be all alone in such a big house. What if something happened? Like, a fire or somebody would break into the house. She could feel her heartbeat in her ankle. To find some destraction, she grabbed a magazine. She thought about taking a pil to stop the pain, but changed her mind. She would take it when the pain would get worse. If that didn't happen, a normal asperine would be enough. A talk would get her mind of her ankle. She could call . She grabbed the phone and called her friend. waited impatient for to answer. She let the phone ring 10 times and then hung up, kind of dissapointed. She never thought about the fact that might not be at home. She had only been ill for two days and 's mother had been in bed for about a week when she was ill. Maybe got better in a miracle way and was on her way to Brevard Pass. She sighed and grabbed another magazine. After that she drunk some water and took a book. 15 minutes later she could stand the pain. She decided to take a pil anyways. The doctor told her that she might get sleepy after she took one. After she took a pil she turned of the light, got comfortable in bed and waited for the sleep to hit in.

woke up from some loud ringing. Everything felt heavy, her arms, her legs even her eyes. It took some time before she realized that the ringing came from the phone. It was dark and her hands had found the phone, she answered. "I was about to hang up," yelled. "Were you at the bathroom?" "No I, hold on" sat up, turned the light on and took a sip water. "I was asleep," she said. "Actually passed out. I took one of those pills, those things are pure toxic!" "What do you mean?" "First I was awake and then suddenly... wham!" "Are you, other than that, alright?" informed. "I think so, just a bit vague." mumbled. She heard in the background loud music and voices. "What time is it?" "Almost 10. Did anybody else call you?" "No, and if they did, I haven't heard the phone. Why?" asked. "Aren't you all there?" "Yea we are, but there are also many many others." 's voice sounded sad and thought she might has lost out of the eye. "When we got here, everybody went their own way and now I can't find them anymore." "I think you're the first one who calls, thanks" said. "And everything's fine." "Good. Well, I think I'll call you in an hour again." there was a silence where could hear some loud laughter in the background. "Sorry for waking you up! See ya later." put the phone down and turned the lights off again. She expected to fall asleep again in minutes. But she came to realize that the pill wasn't taking the pain away but just made the rest of her body feelless. Her ankle was hurting like hell, but she didn't dare to take another pill. She turned the lights on again and tried to read for a bit, but after 15 minutes she got sick of it. Restless she tried to get in a more comfortable possision. She was sick of lying on her back, but with her ankle that was all she could. Suddenly she had enough of turning and trying to sleep. sat up and threw her legs out of the bed. Slowly she got up. At the same time the room started to spin around her. quickly sat down again. While she did that, her arm hit the window. She leaned her head against the cold glass and looked outside. Suddenly her eyes were wide open. In 's house she saw two people. One of the two was . And she recognized the other aswell. Her heart started beating faster and her mouth got dry. 's visitor from yesterday had returned!


Part 8.


It was like was watching TV without any sound. She pressed her nose against the window and looked at the drama that was playing in front of her eyes. and her visitor were in a fight again, that was obvious. was talking. She was walking across the room nervously and making big armmovements. The visitor didn't move from its spot, closely to the door. couldn't see if it was a man or a woman she was looking at. Even 's face wasn't clear. Only because of the long blond hair, she could see that it was her. From this far away, their faces were just two blurry spots. blinked her eyes and felt like she had missed something. The fight went on. still seemed to be talking. She turned away from her visitor and walked to the window. Suddenly she bend over. She picked something from the groud and waved it in the air. A piece of paper, thought. A letter? With the piece of paper in her hand, walked up to the visitor. She showed him or her the paper, almost pushing it into the face. In a flash the arm of the visitor shot forward. It hit 's hand away. The paper fell on the floor again. looked down and threw her head in her neck. Was she laughing? The visitor ducked and got back up, holding the piece of paper. Again saw the same shiny thing again, the bracelet or watch or something, that she had seen the night before aswell. Without looking at the paper, the visitor slowly made a ball of it. After that he opened his fist and let it fall down on the floor. totally forgot about her ankle. She was moving her head a little because she was getting a stiff neck. Just when she wanted to push her face against the window again, she jumped. Did somebody come home? She heard something downstairs. Because didn't want to get caught at spying, she quickly got into bed again. A few minutes passed by. No one came upstairs. Maybe they went into the kitchen. sat up. She leaned on her elbows and listened. Nothing. "Hello!" she yelled. "Is somebody there?" Still nothing. took a deep breath and yelled again, louder than the first time. Again no answer. got back to the window to look at the house next to her. The situation had changed. The visitor was still there, but seemed to have left. The visitor also desided to take place on another spot in the room, now on the other side near the wall. His back was facing . He wasn't moving. She was waiting until the visitor would move, or until came back. None of them happened. To get her neckmussles a bit looser, she turned her head. At the same moment, her eyes fell on the binocular next to the door. She got out of bed carefully and stumbled to the door. She took the binocular from the hook and got back to her bed. This took her 30 seconds. It took a while before had found the right window. She was moving the binocular up and down. She a roof, a tree and snow. Finally she got to 's window. Too late. The room was empty. The visitor had left, and was nowhere to be found. didn't understand it. She looked around the room, she couldn't see the floor and no furnature either. Only the backs of some chairs, some books and a vase with flowers on a table. The binocular had a real bright view. She could even see what kind of flowers it were. It were roses. Red roses. Curious wondered who got them from. From ? From ? Suddenly her eyes fell on a red spot on the wall. She spot was shiny like nailpolish. took the binocular away from her eyes. With her bare eyes she could see it aswell. What was it? Nailpolish or paint? Or blood? chuckled. She had been watching too many thrillers. Of course that wasn't blood! Still, she felt a shiver running down her pine.

Suddenly the phone broke the silence. jumped. It took her some time to answer the phone because she wanted her breath to be calmer before she answered. "Thank god!" laughed. "You're still alive," felt her heart beating. "Ye, I'm still hopping around," she mumbled. "I'm the best at it." "Were you asleep?" "Eh, yea, but that's alright." There was a silence at the other end of the phone. "What's going on?" asked. "Did the party end already? I don't hear music or anything." "We all went to somebody else's house, and they haven't found the CD player yet I guess," told her. looked at the clock. Eleven. "Are the others there too?" "That's hard to say, There are so many people here. Why?" asked. "If you run into one of them, you can tell them that they don't have to ring me anymore tonight" explained. "I know that the doctor said 24 hours, but I feel fine! My ankle still hurts, but my head's totally okay now. Probably 'cause of the painkiller, I guess." "Oh, did you took one?" "Yea, I immediatly passed out. 's call woke me, and I took me a while to realize that it was the phone that I was hearing," laughed. "Okay, I'll tell the others" promised. "If I run into them at least" she added. "it's such a weird night, and I might miss some of them, so don't be scared when one of them actually calls okay?" she asked. told her that it was fine, and they both said goodbye. put the phone down, grabbed the binocular and got to the window again. There was still nobody in the room. looked for a few more minutes, waiting for to return, that didn't happen. The binocular got heavier in her hands and her arms were hurting from holding it. After that, her eyes got heavy aswell. put the binocular away and got into bed. She immediatly fell asleep.

Blood. Not óne red spot, but a river, drak and shiny blood. It was pooring down the walls and over the floor. Where was it coming from? If she didn't leave the room, she would drown in it. But couldn't move! She red sea was getting higher, rose up to the walls and it got to the one dry spot where was standing. She opened her mouth to scream.

With a heavily beating heart she lay still. She had been dreaming. It was still dark in the room and she didn't hear anybody else breath. Was she still alone? She turned her head and put one arm out, searching to turn on the lamp. Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat. There was somebody standing in the doorway, not moving at all, like a dark shadow. opened her mouth and started screaming. "? Shht, it's me, !" "Good god! You're creeping the hell out of me!" heart was going crazy. "Sorry," wasn't moving. "I came back, just to get some CD's and just wanted to check on you," grinned. "At least you're voice is okay, how's the ankle?" didn't answer. She rubbed her face and put her hair back. "What time is it actually?" she asked. "Midnight, ghosthour." "Nice of you to remember me of that," said shivering. "You haven't seen , have you?" "What do you mean?" "Your sister called an hour ago. I told her to tell the others that I'm okay and that you didn't have to call me anymore." didn't say anything. "Sorry," he mumbled. "But it's sush a strange evening. It's really crowded over there!" he said. "Yea, that's what said." Suddenly she felt the binocular next to her and was thankfull for the fact that it was dark in the room. "Thanks for stopping by, ," she quickly said. "Just go back to the party, and have fun." she said. "Okay," turned around and walked away. "Sweet dreams!" he yelled from the stairs. "Nightnight," mumbled. She closed her eyes. She heard the door slam downstairs, but she was half asleep already and the noise sounded far away.

Again woke up from the phone that was ringing. opened her eyes slowly and looked at it. Who would it be this time? She picked it up and heard an impatient sigh. "Hi ," Pascale said. "Everything's okay here." "How did you know it was me?" "Just guessed," suddenly realized that it wasn't a sigh that she heard, was out of breath! "Have you been dancing?" "Hu? Oh... ye." 's breathing got slower. "But I just saw and she asked me if I wanted to call." "Well you did that, and I'm okay. See you later" "Yea, see you." thought that the party could be going on for the rest of the night, which meant that she probably would be waking up every hour by the phone. Sighing she sat up. She felt the binocular next to her. She picked it up. She wanted to go and put it away before anybody came home, but the minute she was holding the thing in her hands, she knew what she had to do; check 's room for one last time. She wanted to know if was back already. The lights in the room were off. couldn't see anything. probably had returned when she was asleep or when she was talking to , or when called. sat still and stared at 's house. Then her eyes wondered around the house a little bit. At that moment, she saw movement. Not in the room, it was still dark in there, but outside! saw a flash of something shining in the moonlight, in the corner of her eye. Quickly she put the binocular back to her eyes and searched. She could find 's room, but it was pretty hard to find what she had seen outside. Suddenly she saw somebody, walking away from the house. It couldn't be or the visitor, this person was way chubbier. Wait, no. It just looked that way because of the coat. He was bending over... or she. Maybe it was , it was her house. The person she was looking at was walking, still bending over. But, why was walking like an old woman with a bad back? When she asked herself that question, she already knew the answer; because , or who ever it was, was dragging something behind her. The stranger took a step, dragged something forward, took a step and dragged again. She tried to see what it was, but all she could see was darkness. A black thing that reminded her of a rubbishbag. The person got quicker and watched, until she was out of sight. Suddenly she knew what was going on. was of course putting the garbage outside because she was going to Paris really early in the morning! That must be it! felt ridiculous when she hanged the binocular back on its hook. When she got into bed she realized something. All the houses around here had garbage cans infront of the houses. So, why was bringing it so far away? And why couldn't she at least turn a light on to see where she was going? Maybe, it wasn't at all. But who was it then, and what had to be dragged away? And, if it wasn't walking away, what happened to her then?


Part 9.


The next morning, when woke up she immediatly thought of the bend over person that she had seen outside of 's house. It couldn't have been garbage that she had been dragging along. That wouldn't be logical. But, what it was, had no idea. The only thing that she knew, was that the person had a fight with and the person she had seen outside had something to do with each other. The first thing that had to do, was to find out if had been on the party last night. sat straight up and looked around. It was still silent in the house. , and were still asleep, and the guys probably were aswell. She scooped over a bit and looked out of the window. Right at that moment turned in her sleep and mumbled something. got up slowly and carefully. With a towel around her neck and her shampoo in her hand, she hopped down the stairs to the bathroom. There, she took the bandage of her ankle and took a long, hot shower. When she entered the kitchen with her towel around her hair, leaned on the kitchen table to see 's house at the other side of the window. Just like all other houses in the street, there was a garbage can in front of her house. It didn't surprise . But now she was totally sure that it couldn't have been a rubbishbag that the stranger had been dragging behind her or him. It was impossible to look into 's room at this hour of the day. turned around, sighed and went to make herself some breakfast. She put the kettle on and drunk a glass of orangejuice. When the tea was done, she made herself a cup and sat down at the table. She took some bread that they others had left there yesterday. swollowed her last bite when entered. "Up already?" said confused. "You probably weren't in bed before 3am, what are you doing here?" "I couldn't sleep no longer" smiled exhausted. She looked pale. "Was the party fun?" asked. shrugged. "Was nice, little too crowded." poored some orangejuice into a glass. "I actually do not know why I stayed." knew why, but she didn't say anything. stayed for , because she wanted to be where he was. If and had been real friends, she probably would have said something about it. But was even more quite than usually. It was clear that she didn't want to talk. Still, asking questions was the only way could find out what she wanted to know. "Say, have you seen last night?" she asked like it was a real normal thing to ask. , who just was about to grab the glass, jumped and she knocked the glass over. The juice was dripping down the cabinets. shivered. It made her remind of the red spot on 's wall and the bloody dream she had. got a kitchen towel and started cleaning. "Why do you want to know?" she mumbled, with her back facing . "I still haven't thanked her for her help." 's back was tensed. It was clear that she was uncomfortable, but continued on a normal tone. "I was thinking, if she was on the party, she probably wouldn't have left to Paris and I can give her a ring." "She could have left this morning," thought out loud. "Yea I understand that, I was just wondering if you'd seen her." turned around slowly and looked at . Her face was expressionless and her eyes were red. "Why are you asking this anyways?! What are you worried about?!" she bursted out. " didn't save your life or anything, she just went to get help! And after everything that I've told you, you should know that she's not worth it!" threw the kitchentowel away and walked to the door. Just before she left, she said; " is not worth it, she's not worth ánything, so why don't you just forget about her?" was left alone. She was confused by the anger she had heard in 's voice. Slowly she hopped out of the kitchen, into the livingroom and streched out on the couch. The next one who came down was . His reaction wasn't as strong as 's, but felt that he wasn't comfortable either. He turned red and stared at her for so long that she got nervous. Actually, he asked the same question as ; "Why do you want to know?" gave him the same explanation, that she wanted to thank . "Well, did you see her?" she asked again. "On the party?" asked. He went through his hair with his fingers. "Which one? There were two." "Oh, I thought the party went from one house to another." "Yea, that's what happened, that's true." looked frowing at the floor. couldn't understand a thing he was saying. What was going on? It wasn't such a hard question! "What I meant is, that... we didn't all go to the second place together," mumbled. "O," understood. "So, you didn't see her?" "Didn't see who?" a sudden voice asked. It was . She was upstairs, looking over the balustrade. "Hey ," "Goodmorning," repeated her question about . To her surprise, started to laugh. "I thought you knew that, 's not really my best friend." looked at , who was looking at . "Yea, I got that" she answered. "I just wanted to thank her, for yesterday in Brevard Pass..." "Did you see her at all last night?" asked. "No," his sister shook her head. "Don't you remember ? We'd been together for the entire evening, except for when you went to get the CD's." just looked at his sister. You couldn't read anything from his face. In the end, he just shrugged. turned to again. "No, we didn't see her." nodded. Until now, nobody had given a straight answer to her question, and wondered why.

When went backupstairs, she had already spoken to and aswell, and asked the same question. They both said that they haven't been paying much attention to , so both didn't know if she had been there. gave his answer and quickly dissapeared into the kitchen. almost snapped her answer at . was glad that there was only one person left to ask this. A bit curious she thought of where was. She wanted to see him, and not only to ask him about . When finally knocked on the door, and grinned to her from the dooropening, felt her heart beating faster. "Don't you think that you're a bit overdoing the whole ankle thing?" teased. "You could save us a lot of walking if you would just stay downstairs on the couch you know." "That's true, but then I wouldn't see you walking up the stairs anymore, especially for me!" laughed. "Wouldn't take much longer before you start using a little bell!" "That's a good idea!" nodded. She waqs lying on top of her blanket, and sat down on the side of her bed. He pointed at her ankle. "How's it doing?" "It's still on there," giggled. "And, it still hurts, but not that bad anymore." "Where's the bandage?" had put the bandage around her neck after showering. She grabbed it. "I tried to put it back on there, but I was making a big mess of it." "Let me try" took the bandage out of 's hand, and put it gentlty under her foot. looked at his hands. They were wide and looked strong. Like a doctor put the bandage around her ankle, without hurting her. "How does that feel?" he asked. "Like a real doctor did it! Thanks. What's wrong?" carried on talking when couldn't stop looking at her. She felt herself turning red. "You've got really pretty eyes," leaned a bit forward. Please, don't let walk in right now, please, thought. She would get an enemy for life. turned away, and leaned backwards again. "And with those beautiful eyes, you see alot, don't you?" he asked. had been thinking that he was about to kiss her. Now, she felt a bit dissapointed that he hadn't done it. "What do you mean?" "I mean that, not alot goes by you from what is happening here," said calm. suddenly thought about the binocular, that was haning on a hook next to the door. Did know what she had done last night? She smiled uncomfortable. "I still don't know what you mean," she said. "I don't see more than anybody else." stared at her a little longer and then shrugged. "Ok, I guess not then. How did last night go?" felt her heartbeat in her throat. "Last night? what do you mean?" "I mean, if your ankle has been hurting alot and all that?" 's voice sounded impatient. "Did you have a good night sleep? Were you bored, did you have enough to read?" "Oh," , who was scared for a second because she thought that knew what she did last night, nodded relieved. "No, everything went well last night. I took a painkiller, but those are too strong for me. And, I don't think I really need them anymore." "Good." stood up and looked out of the window. almost held her breath when he was looking at 's house. His jaws were tensed and his hands were down the pockets of his jeans. After a while he turned around. "I better get going, I guess I'll see you later." "Wait!" took a deep breath. "I have to ask you something..." "Ah, I could've seen this coming!" sighed deeply. "What do you want? Tea, Coffee, Lemonade, something to eat maybe?" "No, nothing," laughed nervously. "I ehh... I was just wondering if you maybe have seen on the party last night?" sighed again, but this time he wasn't joking. And, he didn't ask why she wanted to know. In stead of that, he walked back to her bed and bend over. His face came real close to hers. "Listen," he whispered. "Don't think about too much, she's out of my life forgood!" Before could answer, he leaned in. He gave her a kiss that didn't last for more than 5 seconds and he left the room, without looking back.

When everybody had left the house, could think straight again. What did mean with this comment about being out of his life forgood? He had sounded to tensed, almost angry. And his kiss had totally surprised her. She didn't know what to think of it. She thought of again. didn't know any more than she knew this morning. The first thing she did was grab the binocular and check the room. The sun was higher now, which made able to look into the room. The sight wasn't that good last night and there was nothing that could make it better. The room was empty. The roses were dead, one of the roses was hanging down the vase. And the red spot on the wall had... dissapeard!! Maybe she was looking at the wrong place. looked around the room. The roses, the backs of the chairs, the place where the spot was. Yes, the spot had dissapeard. took the binocular from her eyes and thought about it. She hadn't looked into the room all night, last night. She had also slept and she'd been on the phone. In one of those moments, somebody had cleaned the wall. The only person that knew of, was . So, ór had returned, ór she left and had somebody to clean the room for her. sighed annoyed. If her ankle had been fine, she would've just walked across the road and rang the doorbell. But, there was too much snow and ice. She could try, but the change was pretty big that she'd end up with two hurt ankles. The phone! Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? She could of course ring her. took the phone and called information. She gave the name 'Cadler', because that was all she knew about . When there were no numbers found, she tried to explain where the house was, but they couldn't help her. thought for a second. Maybe knew it. Not her number, but maybe she knew if 's parents were divorced or if the house was actually somebody else's. Maybe had a name that could help further. Besides, she hadn't talked to her friend since the first night and she started to ask herself why. Before had left, had promised her that she'd call everyday. The phone was answered after ringing four times. 's voice sounded insecure and confused. "Did I wake you up?" asked laughing. "?" 's voice was husky from sleeping. "You must feel better now" continued. "Why do you say that? I feel terrible." "Yea hello! Then you shouldn't have gone out last night! Where were you, on a party or something?" teased. was quiet for a second. "I didn't go nowhere, where are you talking about?" "You don't have to get mad... I called you last night about 7 o'clock but nobody answered," explained, wondering why her friend was so grumpy. "So? I guess I just didn't hear it." snapped. "I told you about my mum having the flu? She didn't do anything else than sleep... so that's what I did." wanted to ask why she did hear the phone this time, but changed her mind and desided not to. She didn't ring her friend to argue. " told me that there was a party last night. Why didn't you go, instead of calling me?" "You won't believe it," sighed. "But I fell yesterday while skiing and now my ankle is dislocated." She told her the whole story, gave all the details, but didn't say one word about . "So I have been home alone last night," she finished her story. There was a short silence. "I expected you to call actually," "Why?" "Because you told me you'd call me every day! Remember?" was quiet. "Yea, I know" she said. "Sorry, forgot about it." "You mean your love for has suddenly faded?" said whille grinning. "No, I didn't say that!" "Okay, calm down." The flu didn't do her friend any good, thought. It was like she was talking to a depressive stranger. She desided to get to business. "Say , I wanted to ask you something... about ," started. "What's with her?" asked sharp. "Nothing, I just need to know something," she said and explained what 's role had been in her fall and that she now wanted to thank her. "Well, I haven't seen her since, and that's why I thought that I sound give her a ring. But, I can't find her phonenumber anywhere. Do you maybe know who's house that is? I can look from our room into her room, and yesterday I've seen her, so she should be still in Brevard Pass." "O my god! You've got to be kidding me?" said loudly. "You actually spyed on her?" "Sort of..." admitted uncomfortable. "Hé, there's nothing much for me to do here, I can't go anywhere, remember?" "What did you see?" asked curious. sighed. "Well, she was fighting with somebody. I don't know who it was, and moments later they both left. But, that's not the point right now," she quickly desided. "Do you have any idea who's house that is?" "I don't know anything about 's house," said cold. "And if I were you, I'd stop spying on people, especially on . This could get you into trouble. I have to go now," she added. After they both said goodbye, put the phone down. She frowned at the phone. What was wrong with her? They needed to have a little talk when she got back home. The phone was next to , on her bed. She wanted to put it back on the table, when she saw a shadow sliding by on the floor. looked around, scared. There was nobody there. Did she dream it? Or had there been somebody at the door, who had heard every word?


Part 10.


could die. She thought everybody had left already. And now, somebody had maybe been listening to her phoneconversation. Suddenly she got scared. Scared to death. Why would somebody hide behind a door if he or she wanted to be seen. Or, wanted this person to know what she was doing? swallowed. "Is somebody there?" she asked with a shaky voice. No answer. She listened for a moment. She only heard the wind outside, nothing else. The person who the shadow belonged to, had left. Unless had dreamed it all, of course. Was she so busy with that she started seeing things? No. There had really been somebody outside of her door, she was sure about it. To be sure, hopped to the door and closed it. If somebody was planning on coming back, she would at least hear the door and she'd have enough time to hide the binocular under her pillow before anybody would see it. lay down on her bed. She took the binocular and pointed it at 's window. No changes. She looked around the house, stopping at the place where she had seen the person with the big black bag. wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a trace in the snow. The trace wasn't smooth or even and there were loads of footsteps from people walking there this morning. Suddenly got a better hold of the binocular and tried to hold it as still as she could. She saw something in the snow, something shiny. At the same moment, she rememered the shine that she'd seen last night with the bend over person. She'd also seen it with 's visitor. It was a flash of somethin metal. A watch, or a ring. Had it all been the same person? took the binocular away from her eyes. Her eyes started hurting from looking so intense. She blinked a few times and rubbed in her eyes before looking outside again through the binocular. Slowly she moved it from left to right. She tried to locate the place where she had seen the shine. Suddenly she saw thousands of glitters, caused by icecrystals. sighed and looked at 's window again. Still nothing to see. She streched and lay down on her bed. She was beginning to get tired, she didn't had much sleep last night. She desided to go take a nap. Maybe she'd see something later.

woke up by noise in her room. She was lying on her stomach, her chin pressing against the binocular. She blinked with her eyes a few times and then turned around. "You snore, you know that?" said from the other side of her room. She was sitting on her bed, putting on a pair of socks. "Yea, I know." said laughing. sniffed and pulled her left sock up. At the same moment, 's eyes fell on 's hands. She tried to see if the girl had maybe lost a ring. But, was wearing so many, and she changed them from time to time, so it was impossible to tell. looked up. Her gaze crossed 's, after that, her eyes got big. immediatly understood what she was looking at... the binocular! She didn't say anything though. She only curled her lips into a small smile. didn't say anything either. She had fallen asleep without putting the binocular back and now she got caught. Did know that she had been looking at 's house? While continued putting on her socks, tried to hide the binocular under her pillow so that nobody else would see it. But, before she could do it, came running in. Followed, by . "We're all going iceskating!" yelled exited. dared to place a bet on that it was her making that decision. couldn't hide the binocular now, when everybody was in the room. When saw it, she looked shocked at . Then she turned around and took her skiing trousers off. "Poor ," said, not knowing that had the binocular in her bed. "I hope you don't feel left out..." "Nahh, it's alright," quickly said. "I mean, I do fell left out a bit, but that's not your problem. You can't be hanging around me all day. Besides, I'm not ill, I just can't move around that well." "I don't understand why you're staying here," said. She was looking at the binocular, in a really obvious way. "You must be so bored!" "At home she'd probably be just as bored as here," said. "Exactly," nodded. "My parents are gone anyways, so I can better just stay here. It's only a few days more," she added. It was true, but next to that, she was not gonna leave until she knew what happened with . "But, maybe that I'll call to check how late the trains are going," she said. "Then I'll deside wether to stay or not." "How's your ankle?" asked. For the last few hours hadn't been paying much attention to her ankle. "It's not hurting right now," she answered. "But when make a wrong movement, I'm dying!" "Well, I guess that it's best for you to stay then," thought out loud. "Those trains are gonna be packed with people." nodded and sat down on the bedside of to put her socks on. "Tonight we'll eat at the hotel and tomorrow there has to be a party somewhere. Maybe you can hop along?" she smiled at , then got up to leave. At the door she almost bumped into . "Sorry," mumbled. He quickly stepped aside. passed him without saying anything. watched her walking away with squeezed eyes and made fists. "Why do you always say sorry to everything?" said irritated. Without waiting for an answer she left the room, which made step aside again. took her chance and shoved the binocular underneath her pillow. When had left, entered the room. He walked straight to the window and looked at 's house. Then he turned around to . "Have you seen her today?" frowned. Why did he want to know that? Didn't he hate ? "I saw the binocular," explained. "And this morning you asked for her. Have you seen her already?" shook her head. 's voice was flat, and it made her nervous. "I think she left." nodded. A bit of a weird grin appeard on his face. "Let's hope she never comes back." Before could think of what to say, showed up at the doorstep. "Do me a favour yea? Tell that we don't have to wait for , he'll see us on the lake outside." nodded and left. turned around. Just like , he walked to the window and looked at 's house. There was a short silence. Then said "Bye , see you later ye?" knew that he had entered the room with a question or something to say. Something had changed his mind, but what? Minutes later she heard the door slam downstairs and it got quiet in the house. Suddenly she heard soft footsteps on the stairs. 's heart was beating in her throat. To her relief popped his head around the door. In his left hand he was holding a white vase, his right hand was hidden behind his back. "Ready for my present?" he asked. "I don't know..." said. "Depends on what it is." showed his right hand, and he was holding flowers. "O, how lovely!!" said exited. "I feel so bad for you," explained. "We're all having fun, and you can't go anywhere!" "That's not your fault now, is it? But I'm so happy with the flowers, I never get flowers!" laughed. She watched putting the flowers into the vase. She hoped that he'd stay , even if it just was for 5minutes or less. But could understand that he wanted to go outside on a beautiful day like this. "There." shoved some stuff away on the table next to her bed and put the vase on it. "When you look at this, you'll be thinking of me." he said grinning. While he walked backwards towards the door he continued. "You didn't think I was this old fashioned right?" A bit shy he hit the door with his hand and walked away. was dissapointed that left so soon, but when she looked at the flowers she smiled. They were beautiful. Loads of white flowers, some yellow and two red roses. Red roses. 's smile faded. The flowers didn't make her think of at all, but of . They reminded her of the red roses that she'd seen in her room. Were those 's flowers aswell? Was he the one that had been fighting with? The door slammed and sat up straight. She was waiting for footsteps on the stairs. When she didn't hear anything, she realized that it must have been who left. She was alone again. Carefully she took the binocular from under her pillow. 's roses were still there. Two had lost all their leaves and got real dark of colour. That meant that there wasn't anybody at home, otherwise somebody would have thrown those roses out.

spent the rest of the day reading, spying on 's room, more reading and spying again. About 4 o'clock she went downstairs to eat something, and made herself a sandwich. About an hour later it started getting dark and called. "What do you like?" he informed. "Baked chickenwings, spareribs, spaghetti or just chips?" "I like everything," answered. "Good, I'll bring you some of everything," promised. "I'm in this restaurant and there's this warm buffet here," he continued. "It looks delicious!" "Are the others there too?" asked. "I think so," said. "We came here together, but it's so packed in here, I don't see anyone farmiliar right now." heard lots of voices and laughter at the backgroud. "Listen, I've got to get in line," said. "This will take a while I guess... I don't think that you'll see your chickenwings until breakfast!" he joked. "Then leave those chickenwings," laughed. "Just bring some chips yea?" "Oké." She almost couldn't hear his voice because of the loud noise around him. "See you !" At 8.30 still wasn't home yet. Nobody wasn't home yet. 's stomach rumbled. She went downstairs again and took some cookies with her back upstairs. She ate five cookies, turned the lights off and grabbed the binocular. There were no lights on at 's place. She looked around, trying to find any light around the house. Maybe the hallway. No, it was dark everywhere. She moved the binocular to the place outside where she had seen the shining metal object the other night... and scared she held her breath. There was somebody there! took a better hold of the binocular. The stranger was stood bend over, just like the other night. But now he wasn't dragging something. What was he doing? Kicking... he was kicking around, kicking the snow away and looking at the ground. He was looking for something. The shiny metal object probably. He had lost it last night and now he had returned to look for it. Why at night? The moon was shining, but there were clouds too that covered the moon from time to time. It got harder for to see anything. Sometimes she thought that the person had disappeard, but then she saw a movement again and knew that he was still there. Suddenly the stranger in the dark turned around. He froze, not moving at all. He was looking at hér! ducked quickly. Her heart was racing like crazy. He saw her! The glass of the binocular must have shined in the light of the moon, and now she got caught. And now, that person outside, knew that she had seen everything. Still with that racing heart, she looked around the room, it was dark and she couldn't see a thing. The moon wasn't shining anymore, so how could the glass of her binocular shine in it? sighed relieved. She couldn't have been caught. Still she couldn't put the scary feeling a side, that the stranger had looked her right in the eye. got of her bed, hopped through the dark room and put the binocular back on the hook. When it was hanging next to the door, out of handreach, wouldn't be temped to look through it all the time. She lay down on her bed and desided to wait for a while to put the lights back on. She was lying in the dark when called. "You sound strange..." was 's comment after hearing her friend's voice. "You're mumbling, talk normal!" "I'm so nervous right now," sighed. She was glad to hear 's voice. "I messed up so bad this time!" "What do you mean?" The connection was bad, so talked a bit louder. "You were right about that spying I do," she explained. "I don't think that I'm in trouble yet, but it would be my punishment." "I really do not understand what you're talking about. Did you see something? Something that could get you into trouble?" asked. "I feel a little better, finally, so that's why I'm calling. I want to know what's up, I wanna hear some exiting things!" "Oh, exiting it is!" said. She told her friend into the detail what had happened. She started with the first night, when she had seen in a fight with somebody and ended with the dark stranger that she had just seen outside of 's house. But wasn't getting into the story like was into it. "I can't believe it!" she yelled. "I call you, and the only thing you can talk about is ! Why would I want to hear anything about her? She is..." stopped talking. "Ah, never mind. Why don't you just get out of bed, ? Don't waste your time staring out of that window and imagening things that aren't there?" "Maybe I will," said sighing. Suddenly the connection got worse. "What?!" yelled. "I said, maybe I will!" screamed. "But first I want to..." "Hello? Hello !" interrupted her. "Don't do..." and the rest of 's words were lost. wanted to ask what she had said, but realized that she wouldn't hear her anyways. She could just hang up, there was no use in staying on the phone. heard a click, and the grating stopped. had hung up. Just before was about to put the phone down, she heard another click. A soft one, but clearly another click. froze. Somebody had been listening to their conversation!


Part 11.


put the phone down, her hand was shaking. If her legs would go as fast as her heart was beating, she would be downstairs and outside in just a few seconds. But no, that wasn't possible. The person that had been listening on the other phone had to be downstairs aswell. This wasn't imagination, she was sure about that. had hung up, and just before was about to, somebody else had hung up. On the other phone, in the kitchen. felt the cold sweat on her forehead. There was somebody in this house. She didn't know what to do! Get under the bed? No, it was too low for that. She listened tensed if somebody was coming up the stairs. Suddenly she heard another click. The click of the outside door, that had slowly been shut. The listener was gone. turned the light on, got out of bed and hopped to the door. She sneaked into the hallway, felt for the lightbutton and turned the lights on. The walked to the stairs, and saw a light on in the living room. The room was empty. Now the scary part was coming. She went downstairs, and hopped to the door. She locked it. No one could get in with out a key right now. While holding her breath she opened the closet. "Coats and boots," whispered relieved. Next, she went to the kitchen. When she saw the backdoor she panicked. She forgot about that! To her relief, it was already locked. The listener must have gotten in through the front door. She turned a light on in the kitchen and to be totally sure, she opened the door from the cleanercloset. A broom, a mop and a few bottles of bleach. It would have been a tiny hidingplace anyways. was sure that she was alone now. The coast was clear. Still, she was scared. Because, if somebody broke into the house, why would he just listen to her phoneconversation and then leave again?

When the others came home, was downstairs lying on the couch. The moment that she heard voices and footsteps outside, she lifted her head. Somebody unlocked the door and together with everybody who entered, a cold wind flew into the living room. "Hey !" said. She kicked the snow of her feet. "I think there's a storm coming up. The wind is blowing real hard!" "I know," said. "Is it snowing aswell?" "Just beginning," answered her question. He took his gloves off. , and took their coats of with red cheeks from the cold. was still standing at the door. He was holding a big paper bag. "Here, your dinner," he said laughing to . "Sorry that it took us so long. We found a place to sit when it was already 9, so" It was already 11 now, and wasn't hungry anymore. "It's alright," she said. She sat up and put her feet on the floor. "Why are you downstairs?" asked confused. "I got sick of sitting upstairs." closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, that's not true. I was scared. When you were gone, somebody has been in here." That comment took everybody's attention. "Who could have been in here?" asked kranky. "You must have imagened it." "How could anybody get in?" wanted to know. "The front door was locked, wasn't it?" looked at . "I thought that I closed it," he said frowning. "Hold on," he thought for a second. "Yea, i did. I remember turning the key." Everybody looked back at . "I was on the phone," she told. "With , and just before I hung up I heard a click. I think that somebody has been listening to our conversation, on the phone in the kitchen. Shortly after that I heard another click, from the front door." "Are you completely sure that you locked it?" asked again. "Yes," said with raised eyebrows. "We shouldn't have let you alone," said worried. "Don't be silly," said, who passed and walked up the stairs. "She only heard two clicks! Nothing has happened to her!" "That's true..." agreed. "Nothing happened, but are you sure that it wasn't something else that you heard? The connection of our phone is really bad." "But what about the door ?" her brother asked. shrugged impatiently. "I don't know!" "Maybe it was the wind?" suggested. shook his head. "Are you trying to say that 's hearing things that aren't there?" "No," was thinking. "Maybe just thought that she heard something downstairs, but maybe it was something outside? I mean, more people live here." desided to stop the discussion. She was doubting herself about what she heard, but if the others had their own explanations that was fine with her. "I think that I'm going to bed and sleep," was all she said. "But, what about your chickenwings?" asked. " brought you loads!" "Thanks ," hopped to the stairs. "I'll eat them tomorrow. They're nice when they're cold aswell. Good night everybody." was already in bed when entered their room. The lights were off and got changed in the dark. When she got into bed she heard the others talking downstairs. Minutes later and entered. They didn't say anything but changed and went to bed. After a while all could hear was them breathing. She was awake for a pretty long time and listened to the wind outside. It wasn't a nice sound. shivered. Suddenly, she had enough of it. The fact that the others didn't believe her when she told them that somebody had been in the house, was the last push that she needed. First the whole thing with , then the weird talk with who didn't believe her, and now the rest of them that thought she was crazy. It was time to leave. The first thing that would do the next morning was call the trainstation. She would take the first train back, she'd be home in the evening. When made her decision, she thought she was able to sleep. But still, she couldn't shut her eyes. The wind was still making the scary sound and that wasn't the only thing that kept her awake. Every time when she closed her eyes, she saw the stranger standing outside in the snow. And, what she heard in her mind, louder than the wind outside, was the click of the phone. For a strange reason, thought that those two things had something to do with each other. She got caught while spying and somebody had been listening to her phonecall. Now she was the one in danger.

After a night without a lot of sleep, woke up by the wind that was blowing around the house. The storm was still going on. She turned over and saw a grey sky. She sat up and looked out of the window. It looked like it had stopped snowing, but it was hard to tell. With every windblow the snow would blow up, so the air was filled with flying snow flakes. The garbage can outside of 's house was covered with snow. And the place where the dark stranger had been was now covered with a new layer of snow. When came downstairs she turned the radio on, then she heard how bad it was. That night there had fallen almost one metre of snow, the newsreader said. There would be more snow coming down, but it would slow down at noon. Telephone lines were shut, the skilifts were out of service and the roads were closed. Brevard Pass was snowed in. took the phone to check on the connection. They were right, the line was shut. She put it down and sat down at the kitchen table. She was so nervous, her hands were shaking. Last night she had plans of leaving, but now she was trapped. The only thing she could do was wait, and that made her nervous. While and were making breakfast, was sitting in the livingroom. She looked out of the window and didn't pay much attention to the conversation in the kitchen. Still she heard , like always, taking the lead. She was encouraging everybody to eat quickly, so they could go outside. "We can have a snowball fight," said. "And I dare to place a bet on that the snow is high enough to make tunnels! Remember , how we used to do that when we were kids? , are you making another sandwich? That way we're never gonna leave!" carried on talking, but stopped listening. She tried to get rid of the thoughts about last night. Suddenly came into the living room with tray. "You're mad at me, right?" he asked guilty. "No, I'm mad because of the stupid snow," sighed while she took the tray from him. "I wanted to go home today. You're not stopping me, so why should I be mad at you?" "Because you think that I didn't lock the door properly, but you think that I don't want to admit it." said. "No, I think that you thínk that you locked the door properly," said. "I knów that somebody was in here, listening to my phonecoversation with , and then left the house. The only question is, how did he get in here?" "You're really sure that somebody broke into this house, aren't you?" asked surprised. "Yea... no," shook her head. "I don't know anymore. Nobody believes me and that makes me insecure. Just, forget about it." looked at her with squeezed eyes. He wanted to say something but seemed to have changed his mind and shrugged. "Maybe you can go home later today," he said. "The roades will probably be cleared out. But, can I have your phonenumber before you leave? I'd like to give you a call." A bit teasing he added: "Even if I have left the door open, you won't be mad at me forever right?" "No, 'course not." laughed. "You got a pen?" got a pen and some paper, and wrote down her phonenumber. He put the piece of paper in his pocket and walked upstairs wistling a tune. stayed on the couch. She heard the others talking softly in the kitchen. They were probably talking about her sick imagination. She couldn't wait to go home! About 11 o'clock everybody had left. checked if the front door was locked and brought her plate to the kitchen. Then she took a shower and headed upstairs. She took the radio with her. This wasn't the northpole so maybe the roads would be cleared in time, so she could leave this afternoon.

It was noon and it had stopped snowing. didn't need the radio to tell her that, she could see it outside. But the roads were still closed and the phone dead. She checked on the phone from time to time to see if the line worked again. A real long time avoided looking at 's house. Eventually she grabbed the binocular and took a look. But, the window of her room was covered with snow so couldn't look inside. At 2 o'clock she wondered where the others were. According to the radio the skilifts were still out of order. Maybe they were iceskating or went to the restaurant to have something to eat. got hungry herself took and went downstairs. She took the radio with her to stay up to date about the traffic information. She knew that the front and back door were both locked and that she was alone, but still she felt uncomfortable. Every time she heard a noise, she'd jump. Every time she looked at the phone, she'd think about the click. She tried to eat some cold chickenwings, but she didn't like them. She put the chicken back into the fridge and made herself some tea to take back upstairs. She was just thinking about what to take upstairs first, the radio or the tea, when the others came back. "The skilifts are working again," told her when hopped into the room. "We came back to change and then we're off again. There are only a few hills open, but our holiday is almost over so we don't want to waste any time. " "Do you know if the roads are still closed?" asked. "I think they are," said. "Why?" "You're not leaving now!" yelled. "Even if the roads are cleared, it's still dangerous out there, . It's best for you to stay inside." "I wanted to leave today," mumbled. Dissapointed she sat down on the couch. "You must be going nuts from all the sitting inside," cared for her. He blew into his hands, which looked frozen. didn't understand why he was getting out to go skiing with the others. But didn't wait for an answer. He hurried upstairs. stayed on the couch while the others were running around. They were rushing upstairs, went into the kitchen to prepair some food and ran back upstairs again. The idea of being alone in minutes, gave her a trapped feeling more than ever. And the last thing she wanted was another night by herself. "We're probably eating at the restaurant tonight, there's nothing much left here so," said while putting her coat on. "There's stil some food lying around for you I guess," "There's still chicken for me," sighed. "Say, , do you wanna stay here and eat the chicken with me, we could play monopoly and stuff?" tried. shook her head. "i always loose with monopoly," "I'll let you win!" heard herself say it. She realized it sounded more desparate than she thought it would sound. She couldn't care less, she just wanted somebody to stay with her. looked surprised at her and opened her mouth to say something, but then entered. lost her hopes. would follow 's ass like a puppy. "Everybody's ready," announced, walking out of the kitchen. ", when the phone works again, one of us will call you." "Oh that's alright," answered. "I won't go anywhere anyways." nodded understanding. "Why don't you go to bed? Time goes faster when you sleep." shrugged. came running down the stairs. She didn't ask him to stay, she'd wait for . Maybe he wanted to stay with her. He had kissed him after all and asked for her phonenumber. That meant that he felt something special for her. left and came walking down the stairs. Before could say anything, he walked into the kitchen straight away. "?" she called out for him. There was a silence. "What's up?" he yelled back. cleared her throat. "Do you have to leave?" "What?" took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you'd like to stay here with me..." she said shyly. "I can't hear you, hold on," she heard some rumbling in the kitchen. Then walked into the room. "What did you ask?" "I..." stopped talking when stumbled down the stairs. "You coming, ?" Tyla asked in a rush. "This might be the last time we're able to ski this week," looked at her. "Yea, I'm coming. What did you ask, ?" waited till would leave, but she didn't. The girl was stood next to and looked at her, waiting for to speak up. was scared to held back now. "I was wondering if you," Suddenly the door opened. 's head popped around the corner. "You still coming?" he asked impatient. ", you have my liftpass right?" he asked. felt in his coats pockets. "Are you sure?" he asked and checked the pockets on the inside of his coat. While doing this he walked to the door, followed by . "I can't find it," "Well keep looking," said. "Otherwise I can't go up!" he said and left. "Oh, I remember, I've got it here," he grinned opening his chestpocket. "Here's your card. Why don't you keep it yourself?" The door closed before could hear 's answer. She leaned back and looked at the door, hoping would come back to ask what she wanted to say. But five minutes later she realized that he wouldn't come back. She was alone again. She sat on the couch for a little while and listened nervously to the noises from the house. Finally, she desided to to go upstairs. After checking if the frontdoor was really locked she went to the kitchen to check on the backdoor. She took the radio under her arm, grabbed her tea and went up to her room. In her room she turned the radio on and poored some tea in her cup. After a few sips she put the tea back on the bedsidetable, looking at it in disgust. It didn't have enough sugar in it to her opinion. At four o'clock she heard on the radio that the roads were open, but only for savingtraffic. It was almost getting dark, and knew that she had to stay there for another night. She found a magazine she didn't read yet and tried to focus on an article about bodylaguage. But, she couldn't. didn't understand. She hadn't been doing anything for the past few days, and still she couldn't keep her eyes open. It only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep.

woke up frmo lou dmusic coming from the radio. It was dark around her. She immediatly turned the light on, doing that she knocked over the bottle with painkillers. wanted to pick it up and bend over. Halfway she stopped, with her hand almost touching the bottle. The music had stopped and the newsreader read out a message.

This afternoon, a body of a young woman was found near Brevard Pass. They found it around half four and the police hasn't identified the body yet. The victom is discribed as white, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Everybody who can give information, is asked to contact the police. There are no depositions about the cause of death. There's no chance that it could've been a skiing accident.

The music started again, but barely heard it. She sat up straight and felt dizzy. The message was about ! knew it without them calling her name. She could fill in all the details; she had a fight, the dark person in the snow, the red spot on the wall, the dead roses. The stranger had been dragging 's body in a black rubbish bag, that must have been it! Somebody had killed and had seen the murderer. She had seen him coming back the night after. He had been searching for something in the snow that he'd lost, something that could connect him with the murder. And then he looked up, right in 's face. had seen the murderer, and the murderer knew it!


Part 12.


Dizzy and with a racing heart reached out for the phone. She had to call the police and tell them what she had seen. When she took the phone, there was no sound. The line was dead. desperatly threw the phone down and looked at her ankle. She wanted to move, walk circles in her room. Her head was spinning. On the radio there was still music playing. turned it off. She had to make a desicion. The newsreader had said that the body was found at half four. It was six o'clock now, so they maybe already identified the body. turned the light off and grabbed the binocular. It was dark in 's room. If the police knew who she was already, would the already be there for investigation? Or had they already been there and left again? The only thing knew about police work was what she had seen on TVshows. She had no idea how a police investigation would go in real life. What were they doing at the police? Wait calmly for somebody to call in about a missing person? But, who had to call in? In this house, had no friends. Except for maybe. But, thought that already went to Paris. What about 's parents? Wouldn't they get worried when they wouldn't hear anything from her daughter. Where were they by the way? In Paris too? She had no idea. Maybe their familyband wasn't that strong and didn't have to keep in contact with them. But, wasn't a stranger in Bervard Pass. Maybe somebody already made a drawing of her face, and were now asking people if they knew who she was. That would take a lot of time though. In time, somebody would know who she was. tried the phone again. It still wasn't working. She felt herself calming down a bit. At least, calm enough to think about the fact that it doesn't háve to be 's body that was found. sighed and turned the lights on again. She poored some tea into her cup and took a sip. She pulled a face of disgust when she tasted the tea and put the cup away again. Then she leaned back and thought about everything she had seen. had been in a fight twice. The red spot on the wall that had magically dissapeared, the bend over person that was dragging something in the snow, somebody looking for something at that same spot. It could've been that she got killed, and later on somebody came back to hide the body. And than, the night after that, he came back to look for something had he'd lost while dragging the body... she didn't know. On the other hand, it was also possible that had been so angry that she had thrown a bottle of nailpolish at her visitor's head, and then stormed out of the house. She could've left to Paris and forgot about the roses. really had no idea. She wanted to believe that last thing, but wasn't really convinced. She looked outside again, and there was still no light on in 's room. She tried the phone. Still dead. She turned the radio on, in the hope that they had identified the body and that it wasn't . waited for 15 minutes, but when the news came on again there were no changes. What now? The only thing she could do, was wait. Right when the others would come back, she could tell them and then they could go to the police. It was now half past six. They were probably having dinner right now. Maybe they wouldn't stay out this long tonight. The waiting made nervous. She suddenly felt that her whole body was tensed, she could feel it in her stomach. She tried to relax, but she couldn't do it. She desided to go downstairs. She stood up and almost fell over the bottle of painkillers that was still lying on the floor. sat back down on the bed and took the bottle from the floor. She wanted to put it back on the table, but stopped when she saw how many pills there were in it. She shook the bottle and looked at it with her eyebrows raised. Something wasn't right. She opened the bottle, and looked in it. The doctor had given her 12 pills. The first night, she had one. looked at the pills that were now in her hand. There were only four left. What happened to the other seven? She shook her head and put the pills back in the bottle. Then she grabbed the tea that she didn't drink to take downstairs with her. When he stood up, she knew. The thought was like a slap in the face. The tea was bitter. She thought it was because there wasn't enough sugar in it. But, maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe the tea was so bitter because there were seven pills in it... If would've drunk more of it, she would be still asleep right now. If she would've drank áll of it, she would've got seven pills!! Would she have died? Maybe not if the others found her in time. In her thoughts she saw the others walking around the house, while they were prepairing to go skiing. She had left the tea in the kitchen while they were doing it. There hadn't been any stranger in the house, only their group and herself. sighed. On the other hand, she wasn't entirely sure that the pills were in her tea. She just thought that it happened, just like she thought that was killed. All these thoughts were running through her mind. She couldn't stop them. She had written her name on the window and everybody had seen it. She had been asking questions about and nobody had given a straight answer. She had seen somebody searching in the snow and somebody had been listening to her conversation with and then sneaked out of the front door. Somebody knew. Somebody knew that she had seen everything from her room. She had told the whole story, so it wasn't that strange. was right. He never left the door open. The person who had sneaked in, had a key. shook her head of confusion. Suddenly she looked up and her heart started racing again. She had heard the door open downstairs!

Somebody came back! The door fell in its lock with a soft click and heard soft footsteps. They got faster as they got onto the stairs. sat up straight and looked at the door, scared. She wanted to leave, but couldn't go anywhere. She couldn't make any sound. All she could go, was wait. Seconds later, appeard in the doorway. Scared she tried to catch her breath when she saw . "Gosh, !!" swallowed. "What's wrong?" stared at her. "You scared the hell out of me," she mumbled. "I didn't think you were awake." didn't move. "Why not?" "Oh... nothing." walked through the room and started looking through her suitcase. "All you do is sleep these days." concentrated on . She saw her rings shine and asked herself again if she wasn't missing one. "Why did you come back?" No, that didn't sound right. "I mean, are the others coming aswell?" There was a dark spot on 's white sweater and she took it of. She took a black on and smiled at . It wasn't a friendly smile. "Why?" she held her head a bit to the left and looked at . "Did you hear by the way, that they found a dead body on one of the hills? Nobody knows who it is or what happened, but everybody talking about a killer, walking around Brevard Pass. Maybe he was here yesterday." felt a shiver going down her spine. She hoped wouldn't notice. "Why did you come back?" she repeated. "That's why," she shortly replied. " spilled some coke on my sweatshirt and now I came to change it. Happy?" "So you're going back to the restaurant?" said. "Are the others still there? When are they coming home?" "What is this? An interrogate?" walked to the door. "I don't know what the others are gonna do, I only know what I'm gonna do," her gaze fell on the binocular on 's bed. "And I also know what you've been doing. Watch out, . Who knows what else you get to see." She smiled unfriendly and left the room. waited for the frontdoor the close. Next she got up and walked through the room. She grabbed 's white sweater and smelled the stain. It smelled of coke, but that didn't mean that actually spilled some on her. could've done it herself, so she had an excuse to go home and check if had passed out cause of the tea. She wondered what was planning to do next, if she was the killer. On the other side it was also possible that she didn't had to do anything with it. dropped the sweater on the floor and hopped back to her bed. wasn't the only one who hated . didn't even try to hide her feelings. She told everybody that she didn't like in any way. And, what about ? She looked soft and shy, but knew that she had lots of willpower. Next to that, she didn't forgot how had told her about how had used her. And who knows, maybe she was jealous because was still crazy about . In her thoughts went down the list of people in the house. Who else hated ? . remembered his face when he was staring out of the kitchen window when he said that he hated her. The next day he had told her that he didn't mean it, but didn't believe it. ? almost knew for sure that he was crazy about her. Maybe he had looked her up and she had laughed at him. Two nights in a row, she had laughed at him and he had gone nuts and killed her. Or not... Then there was still . Even though wanted it so badly, she couldn't ignore the possibilety that he'd killed her. was the first one who went to 's house, and he came back furious. was confused, and shook her head. She remembered that had told her that was out of his mind. Maybe only protended to like her, so that he wouldn't be a suspect in her eyes. Was the killer? There were so many people who hated . Even didn't like her. Every time that she heard 's name, she got kranky. grabbed the phone again. Stíll, the line was dead. She waited for a while, hoping that the phone would start working again. Nothing. She took the binocular . 's room was still dark and there was no police to be seen. Only two people knew that was dead; and the murderer. Every member of their group could have done it! When was alone the second night, they had all had the oppotunity to leave the party and looked up. The party had been moving from house to house, so. What did say again? 'It was such a strange night.' And had said the exact same thing when he appeard in her doorway. The next night there was a party again. And, again, a lot of people showed up so the killer could have left and come back without being seen. And everybody could've dropped the pills in her tea. They had all been inside, upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen and in the living room. She closed her eyes and tried to think about a moment where somebody had been alone in the kitchen. She sighed. She really didn't know. thought about 's visitor. He had been wearing dark clothes and he was taller than . How tall was that? thought about the first day she'd seen , skiing down the hill with the pink hat pinned on her skistick. and had walked up to her. The two lads were way taller than she was. That also meant that was taller than her, just like and . was about as tall as . Just as tall as , or maybe a bit taller? remembered the hand of the killer. Hand or wrist. A shining of a watch, bracelet or a ring. Something that the murderer had to come back for. For the second time went down the list. had so many rings, she could start her own store. always had a silver bracelet around her wrist. a small gold one. Was it too small to catch any light from the sun? had a watch. The others too? closed her eyes strongly and tried to think harder. She hád to remember! Minutes later she opened her eyes and looked around the room. She was trapped, she realized. If the killer would come back now, she wasn't able to escape. She had to try to get outside, even if it was on hands and knees. Where were her coat and shoes? Downstairs. Did she need anything from upstairs? No, nothing. desided to try the phone óne more time. If the line was still dead, she would leave immediatly. If it did work, she would call the police and then leave. She grabbed the phone. Even before she held it against her ear, she heard the beep. had never heard anything more beautiful.


Part 13. - u p d a t e d -


The phone worked again, but the line was so bad that hardly could hear anything. "Could you speak a little louder please?" she was asked to do. raised her voice until she was almost screaming. "I need to call the police! Is this the alarm number?" Again lots of noises but no answer. Then the voice "Police?" she asked. "Yea!" yelled. "I need to talk to the police!!" more grating. got desperate. "Hello? Hello?!" On the other side the same thing was said. "Hello?" "I'm still here!!" screamed. "Can you hear me?!" she yelled now panicking. More cracking made the conversation impossible. She would never get through, she was wasting her time. Suddenly, the cracking and grating stopped like snow for the sun. The line was clear. "Hello?" it was like the woman on the phone was in the room with her. sighed relieved. "Is this the alarm numb-" "Yes it surely is, where are you calling from?" "I'm in Brevard..." stopped talking and stared at the phone in her hand. The line was dead. No cracking or grating, no woman talking, nothing. Sobbing from dissapointment she threw the phone against the wall, it landed on her bedstand. She left. Maybe she should've this from the start. hopped through the room, to the door. At the same moment she heard a noise in the kitchen. A soft click, as in metal on metal. 's heart was beating in her throat. Suddenly it got through her that the line didn't just die. The line in the kitchen was cut through! There was somebody downstairs. dropped herself softly on her knees. She held her breath and tried to be as quiet as possible. For a second she just sat still and tried to think. Should she go back or should she try to get to the boys room? When she heard a footstep on the stairs, slid back into the room. Where did she have to go? There was no closet to hide in. And the beds were too low to crawl under. stood up, turned the lights of in a rush and grabbed the binocular. She realized that she should've got behind the door, so when the person would enter, she could knock him out with the binocular. She was just about to move when she saw a shadow in the hall. hopped to her bed and pushed the binocular under her pillow. Maybe she got the chance to use it and she didn't want to be forced to give it away. A few seconds later the shadow appeard in the doorway. The person was tall, thin and had dark clothes on. Was it ? ears were softly beeping and she felt her heart beating. She forced herself to stay standing and keep herself big. "O , you're awake," noticed surprised. 's mouth was dry and she had to swallow a few times before she could answer. "Yea." "Poor thing, you must hate this room right now," followed caring. "Indeed I do," said. brought her hand to her hair and untied her ponytail. "You sound weird," she noticed. "Are you okay?" nodded insecure. "I... am just tired to sitting around the house all day long, like you said." "Yea, I understand," answered. "That's why I came to see how you're doing." calmed down a bit. 's voice sounded normal and friendly, just like always. "Actually, I wasn't only sick of sitting around the house all day," confessed. "I was also nervous." "Why? O, you mean after last night?" understood. "Yea, I'd be nervous too." "I think that everybody thinks that I just imagened it," said carefully. "Ah, you know, it's also hard to picture that something like that happens," said. "I mean, a burglar, okay. But, a burglar who listens to a phone conversation and then leaves? That's kind of weird." "True," agreed. She suddenly realized that she was still standing in the dark. She bend over to turn a light on. "Leave it off," said quickly. "I won't stay long and it's easier in the dark." "What is easier?" didn't understand. "What do you mean?" But didn't answer.

Suddenly got 's words. wouldn't stay long. Just long enough to kill . And, that would be easier in the dark. felt how her whole body started shaking. She saw 's lips move and realized she was saying something, but her ears were beeping louder and she couldn't hear a thing. For a second was scared that she was gonna faint. The room was spinning around her. She was shaking so badly that it was a miracle that she was still standing. But in a way, she was still standing still. Slowly the beeping in her ears got softer and she could hear what said. "Well, . It's a shame that you found out. Just like you found out all the other stuff while looking out of your window." let herself fall on the bed behind her. "Why?" she whispered. "Why did you do it?" "Kill you mean?" leaned against the doorway like she was having a nice talk. "Because of ." "? I don't understand," mumbled confused. "No, you probably wouldn't," she said and ran her hand through her hair. noticed the silver bracelet. saw it. "Yes, I found it . How lucky that the storm didn't set up earlier eh? What did you think when you saw me, searching in the snow?" shook her head. "I didn't know it was you." "No, but you use your brain, you would've found out in the end. When I found the bracelet, all I had to be worried about was you." turned her head to look down the hallway. slid her hand under the pillow when didn't look. Strongly her fingers wrapped around the binocular. stepped forward. "You know, I wanted it to be Tyla, and not you," she said sadly. "I kind of liked you." tried her best to win more time. "You'd tell me about ," she remembered . "O yea... ," came closer and 's body tensed. But, stood still and crossed her arms. She looked relaxed, but didn't dare to move. She sat still and held her eyes on . "I love ," told. "We're really close together, you probably would have guessed. Half of the time we don't need words, looks are enough. We argue all the time, but we always stand up for each other. Nobody can come in between us." stopped for a second. "I told that wasn't good enough for him," she continued. "And it was true, knew it. But he was stupid, he didn't want to listen to me." knew that she better couldn't argue with her right now, but she couldn't help it. "You mean, you killed so that she would dissapear out of 's life? But ... after , other girls will come and go." "That's true," 's voice still sounded pretty normal. "You don't get it, . I don't want to keep all the girls away from ." "You're right. I do not get it." "Stop interrupting me!" sounded sharp and cold, and felt like she shrank. She got better hold of the binocular. When she spoke again, 's voice was normal again. " didn't care about . But had a huge crush on her and he thought that he had a chance with her. I tried to show my brother that he was wrong. But, he wouldn't listen to me. I told him that was gonna let him down, but he didn't want to believe it. And he couldn't care less! But, I cared!" made a strange noise. Was she crying? hoped so. Let her go crazy and hysterical, what ever. Maybe then she could escape. knew how to keep herself straight. " sent her flowers and a note," she continued calmer. "And then he looked her up after the party. When he came back, he told me that he had asked to stay a few more days. Do you know that he even told her that he's in love with her? Poor ," Suddenly heard a sound. She jumped and listened. But, shook her head. "That was only the fridge, . I know you're hoping that somebody comes to save you, but that won't happen. Do you really think that I would explain the whole story to you if I didn't have enough time?" looked up, desperate. "How do you know that they're not coming back?" "I told and to keep everybody in the restaurant," was the simple answer. "I told them that I was gonna get you, so that we could surprise you with a goodbye-party. They all that it was a great plan." "Even ?" "No, not " shook her head. "She's not here, She met this dude and left with him. But all the others are waiting for us. I told them that it could take a while." she added. "They have loads of stuff to do anyways. They're trying to get the kitchenstaff to make you a cake and they wanted to decorade the place with balloons. I put in charge, makes him feel good about himself you know. It also cheered up a bit. He likes you." Yea, was good at organising stuff. A skitrip, a party... a murder. "What happens if I don't come back with you, what will you tell them?" she asked. wasn't listening. " told that he was in love with her," she got back to the story and ignored 's question. "And then, laughed at him!! Right in his face! You should have seen his expression when he told me!" stopped talking for a second. "Then I went to 's place," she continued. "I warned her that she shouldn't threat my brother like that. She told me to stay out of it and mind my own business. According to her, could stand up for himself." was talking faster. "I didn't to anything that night. I just waited to see what would happen. Maybe my brother would stand up for himself. But... he didn't." remembered how had acted after his visit with . He had been talking and made jokes, but it all was forced out of him, nothing went natural. She knew something had been bothering him, but he wasn't acting like his life was ruined. If would've stayed out of this, would've got over it, knew it. He could save himself, he was strong enough.

saw that 's muscles were tensing. "I used to be able to convince about everything. But not this time," she hissed angry. "And it was 's fault! She hurted him. Nobody can hurt my brother, you hear that? That's why I went back the night after. And, just like the night before, made a fool of him again. She said that was a fun guy who she could fool around with. She liked his little note aswell, she said. It reminded her of primairyschool. threated like a little toy which she was playing with. And I knew, that she was gonna hurt him more if I didn't stop her!" As if she could read 's mind, said: "I think I broke her neck when I slammed her against the wall. There was also a nail in the wall, but I don't think that killed her. That just caused her to bleed like a cow. Did you see that?" didn't answer. "Did you see how I killed her?" asked again. shook her head. "I just saw you standing there. I never knew it was you, I never saw your face." "But you did try to see my face," said. "You with your binocular. I bet that you wish that you never found it." Again, didn't answer. What was there to loose? "Of course, I understand why you were spying on ," she said. "You were unbelievably bored." "I've never realized," mumbled. "Until I heard it on the radio. I suspected it to be , but I wasn't sure. And I would've never thought it was somebody out of this house, until I drank from the tea." nodded. "You use your brain. I realized that you were ready to step to the police to tell them what you had seen. Then there would be questions." When heard the word police, she wished she could look out of the window to see if they arrived yet. But she didn't dare to take her eyes of . hadn't moved yet, but it would happen and she had to be prepared. "It took the police a lot of time to identify ," said. "I'm afraid that her face, when I dragged her up the hill... well, you can imagine. All the ice and stones. Did you see me dragging her away?" "yea. But, I didn't know what you were doing." "It was a diffecult job," she continued. "I never thought it would be so hard. I wanted to take her further, so that it would take ages for her to be found, but that was impossible." Without thinking, said: "You shouldn't have moved her." "O?" looked at her, full of interrest. "Why not?" she sounded curious. Good, thought. The longer they were talking, the more chance she had for somebody to come round. "I didn't see you kill ," she explained. "The only thing that I saw was a unknown person in a room. I saw something red on the wall and I have thought about blood, but I wasn't sure. I thought it could've been something bad, but I couldn't be sure about it." moved and froze. But, she only scratshed the back of her leg with her foot. "Go on," she said. "If you just left her where she was, it would've been days before anybody found her," said. "All this time, nobody has even been near that house. I don't know anything about her family, but they wouldn't have been worried because nobody has been asking about her. If you just left where she was in the first place, we would have been home already when she would've been found." "And you maybe never heard that she died," understood. "Who would have told you?" she grinned softly. "Very good, . Shame that I didn't think of that before." She sighed. "Well, I'm afraid that we've talked long enough now. I have to get back to the restaurant to spread the news." moved her arm and saw a shining. Not her bracelet, something metal. remembered the sound she had heard in the kitchen and suddenly she knew what it was. was holding a knife.


Part 14.


Right when saw the knife in 's hand, a wave of fear went through her. She started sweating, her hands got cold and she started shaking. She kept every muscle tensted, to try and stop shaking. Her eyes were fixed on the thin person on the other side of the room. hadn't moved yet. Her arms were hanging loose and the knife was pointed at the floor. 's mind started working again. She felt the binocular in her hand and carefully she tried if she could feel the strap. She took it stongly in her hand. If would walk up to her, she would first throw the pillow at her. That would bring her out of balance. Then she would get up, and use the binocular. What should she hit? 's head, or her hand that was holding the knife? Her hand would be the best thing. She could throw the binocular against her arm, and then leave. But, wait. No, she couldn't throw it, she might needed it later on. "I can imagine what's going through you head, ." stood up. "You were thinking so hard, I could almost hear your brain working," grinned. "You're trying to figure out, how to get away." wondered why started a conversation again. She realized that, was scared! Killing somebody in a raise of anger was different than look somebody in the eye and then stab. didn't doubt that would try to do it, but maybe she wanted to talk to get more confident about it or whatever. "Isn't it, ?" asked again. "Aren't you trying to find a way to get out of here?" "Yes, of course." her voice sounded as if she had lost hopes, and she took a deep breath. "Wouldn't you do the same thing?" nodded. "Probably yes." "I was wondering one thing though... You said, that you killed , because she hurted ." "That's right. Nobody can hurt my brother," said. "But how do you think he would feel when he finds out?" asked. "You're twins! What will happen to when you get caught?" " will never know, . I already told you," said patiently. "You're the only one who knows." shook her head. "I think you're wrong. When they identify and..." she took a deep breath. "and when they find me, there will be questions. They will ask everybody questions, you too." thought and looked at her. "I happen to be very good in answering questions." "Maybe, but how about 's quesions?" said softly. "Will you be able to answer those?" didn't say anything. "'s not dumb," continued. "I think that he wants to know everything about and me. What are you gonna tell him when he asks you what happened, ?" "I'll see when the time's there," 's voice was low, almost a whisper. "All that I did was for . He'll understand. Don't you see? We stand up for each other, we always do. You're right, 's not dumb. He might wonder about a few things, but he'd never do anything with it. He'll understand, , and support me!" felt that was about to attack. Her hand was strongly holding the knife. 's hand slide across her lap and she took an end of the pillow in her hand. took a step forward, and brought the knife up. At the same moment, saw something move in the hallway. stopped and quickly turned around. Standing in the doorway, it was .

"?" his voice was husky and he slowly took a few steps into the room. ", stop! You can't do this!" "Don't be silly ! Of course I can do this!" 's voice was high. "Don't worry little brother, I worked it all out. Everything will be fine." "Fine?" asked shocked. "You are the one who killed !! And now, you're planning on doing the same to ?" "Yea, and then everything will be alright," looked at , and then back at . "It will be just fine. You'll forget about , ." "!" It was like she couldn't hear him. "I already worked everything out," she continued. "I'll explain it to you later, so you know what to say." shook his head. "This is murder! Múrdér ! Put that knife down!" didn't listen. Instead, she raised her arm up high. With a scream, she ran to . screamed when made a stabbing movement in the direction of 's neck. stepped aside, but not quickly enough. The knife got stuck in his arm. He walked backwards and fell. screamed again, when turned around and looked at her. She raised the knife again, now looking angry at her. threw the pillow, but she missed. walked up to , with a threatning look in her face. jumped up. She tensed her arm and wanted to hit with the binocular. She felt the strap slip from her fingers and saw how the binocular hit in the head. fell on her knees and quickly, hopped through the room to get to . Her eyes grew when she saw that was trying to get up. She was having a hard time, but she was standing again... still with the knife in her hand. got to and tried to get him on his feet. She was out of breath while she was pulling 's arm. He screamed from the pain and fell against her. Suddenly a loud yell came from the door. appeard in the doorway, followed by . threw himself on . He pushed her against the floor and pulled her arm until she dropped the knife.

The police didn't leave until midnight. was so exhausted that she couldn't think clear anymore. The only thing she wanted, was to sleep. But not upstairs. She wouldn't be able to close her eyes up there. She stayed in the livingroom, lying on the couch. She heard the others talking in the kitchen. wasn't there. He went away with . shut her eyes and almost fell asleep. Minutes later she felt how somebody covered her with a blanket. She tried to open her eyes. "Shh, just something to keep you warm," whispered. "Go back to sleep." Vaguely she felt a pair of lips on her forhead. Seconds later she fell asleep.

woke up from a banging noise. She opened her eyes and looked around. was standing next to the closet near the frontdoor and dropped a pair of boots. yawned and mumbled: "It sounded like they dropped next to my head." turned around, looking a bit nervous. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." she bit a nail. "I'm leaving in a second, 's giving me a ride home. I'm not staying here for another minute!" she said. nodded. "I can't disagree," mumbled. slowly turned red. "I didn't mean it like that," she took the hair out of her face. Her rings caught the sunlight that was coming through the window. She looked around the room and stopped when she looked at . She wanted to say something but jumped when the doorbell rang. She went to open. When she opened the door, she saw a boy holding carkeys. greeted the guy and turned around to face again. "It's horrible what happened. I'm glad nothing happened to you." she took her boots and her coat, while the guy at the door took her suitcase. "I've heard the whole thing, and I just want to wish you the best," the boy said. smiled at her. "Bye, ." "Good trip," After the door closed behind and , walked out of the kitchen. "Who was that?" she asked. ", he took with him. They left." "Oh yea, I know. I was hoping it was ." smiled. "Are you alright?" "I don't know," sighed. "I think it's all still surreal. How's ?" "His arm is okay. But he is..." got tears in her eyes. "O , he feels so bad. And he's so worried about . She is, after all his sister." "How did he know?" asked. "I barely spoke to when the police took over. When came here last night, he already knew that killed ." nodded. "We were all in the hotel when somebody told us that they identified the body, that it was ánd that she was killed. At fist, I didn't want to believe it. But, did believe it. Last night he already told me how scared he was that something had happened to her. And when he heard that it was her, he couldn't put the thought out of his head that was involved." "Did he say why?" "He had different reasons," told. " hated really bad. She was furious when told her what had told him." "According to , laughed at him," said. "That's possible," admitted. "And felt bad. But, was really angry. said that his sister is always trying to protect him and stuff, but that he wants her to stop." stared in front of her. "After all, knew something was wrong. He had no idea what, but he felt that something wasn't right. He said that he knows so good that he knew that she had done something." "Did he just follow his feelings?" asked. "No, not only his feelings," answered. "On the day when you asked for , said that and her had been together all the time. But, said that wasn't true. And then you have the whole thing with the bracelet." rubbed in her eyes. " knew that she lost it, even though she said that she left it in her room. You see, he had given her the bracelet, and she never took it off. Those things made him suspicious. But mostly he just followed his feelings." smiled sadly. "They're almost the same person, those two. It's unbelievable." nodded. "What's gonna happen now?" "No idea, their parents are on their way," mumbled. " is staying here with , and I'm staying too." nodded again. Maybe could comfort . He would need it and would sure try. Ten minutes later left to the policestation. went to the kitchen. When she saw the cut line from the phone she shivered. She made herself some toast, and to her relief, entered. hopped to him and took both his hands. "Thank you so much," she said. "I know you feel bad because of , , I'm so sorry for you." She felt how squized her hands and she heard him sigh. "I don't want to talk about it right now," he said softly. "But as soon as I can, we have to meet up, okay?" nodded. kissed her on the cheek and rushed out of the kitchen. heard him walking up the stairs. At the same time, somebody else came walking down. Seconds later entered. He was carrying two travelingbags. One of them, was hers. "Ready?" he asked, while putting the bags down. "I called a friend of mine and we can drive along with him. He'll be here any second now." "You packed for me?" asked surprised. " told me what was yours and I threw it in your bag." said shyly. "You're gonna need to iron when you get home." laughed. "That's alright," took a bite of her toast, but she wasn't hungry. "Is coming with us?" "I asked him, but he said that he'd take the bus." grabbed the toast out of her hands and took a bite. "He said that he wanted to be alone." "Would he get over it, you think?" "'s broken," sighed. "He was in love with , but at the same time he hated her." nodded. "For a second I thought he was gonna hit her, last night." "Yea, but he didn't. I think that he realized that 's ill and he felt sorry for her. I think he'll be alright. Just needs some time." looked at and it almost made her uncomfortable. "But how are you doing?" he asked. "Are you gonna get over it?" For the first time since the whole happening felt like crying. "Stop it, you're gonna make me cry," she said shaky. walked up to her and put his arms around her. "Hé, you can cry as much as you want to." smiled. "Thanks," They stood there for a while without saying anything, just hugging. Then said: "I'll be fine. And it would even be better when I get home." stepped back. "You wanna forget about this trip as fast as possible, don't you?" thought for a second. "I don't think I can," she answered slowly. "I'll remember these days for a reáál long time." kissed her on the forehead, just like the night before. "I was trying to find out if you still wanted to see me when we get home," he said. started laughing. "I knew you were," she teased. "I just wanted to hear you say it." At that moment there was a honk outside. took her hand and, after saying goodbye to , they left the house where no curtains can be found.


THE END.
copywrited to Pascale.