Back to the present

Nelly's POV

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"Honestly, how long is this going to take?" Leo asks, looking around for a clock. "Can anyone tell me the time?"

Sana naturally being the only one carrying a watch upon her wrist, flicks her arm up in a swift motion and reads the time, yet it still doesn't calm my ex-boyfriend down.

"I have better things to do, I'm done, seriously. Nazia can sort our her own problems." He announces.

Without bothering to say goodbye to other three bodies within the room, Leo steps out in long strides, his cheap Lynx scent lingering in the air. Soon enough, we hear the light purr of Leo's car from the curb, and that comfirms that he has indeed left.

"He wasn't doing much to begin with." Sana mutters.

"Well, ladies. If either of you feel the same as Mr Woody, feel free to tell me. I won't mind." Annabelle Shake tells us, with soft smile upon her lips. Although I understand her smiles are meant to be reassuring, they sure do seem creepy.

"No, I'd like to continue. But could we have a break?" I say.

"Sure." Dr Shake says.

Without wasting any seconds, I stand up and walk out in the same path as Leo, only I divert to the left, where the Chow mansion's toilet is.

The interior of bathroom had remained the same, golden cream walls with intricate pattern works, the cupboards neatly filled and a long mirror with a lavish sink on the left side. Even the toilet had roll of nostalgia hit me, as I remembered the hundreds upon hundreds cigarettes me and Nazia flushed down it, hidden away from her mother.

On the counter all of her Chow women's make up was layed out, amongst them Nazia's Rouge Allure Intense lipstick.

I remembered it clearly upon her lips that night at the skating rink, making her looks dangerous and beautiful at the same time as she reached out towards my face-

"Nelly, could please hurry up." Sana calls from the outside. "I need to got to."

I break out of my stance and quickly finish my bussiness, and as I'm about to leave, I swipe the lipstick off the counter before I can think it through.

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Sana's POV

I exit the toilet as the flush still goes, and close the door behind me.

Instead of making my way back to the room Annabelle Shake waits for me, I descend down the stairs and walk towards the vast kitchen of the house.

What used to be a place filled with the aroma of Asian food and Mrs Chow's booming laughter, was now polished and a nearly empty part of the house.

After opening several squeaky cupboards, I find one that has some source of food.

I pull out one of the two packet of crisps and open it.
For a moment I feel like my daughter Alizeh when she sneaks into the kitchen at night to eat the Nutella I hide.

At that thought, I pull out my phone and diall my husband's number, who picks up after a few rings.

"Hey, how's it going?" He says.

"Ugh." Is all I can say.

"That bad, huh?" He chuckles.

Hearing the warmth in his voice makes me want run home now. I wish this were a normal day where I could simply return from work and cuddle on the sofa with my husband and daughter to Stranger Things.

But I have to stay.
Nazia needs this, it's all she asked for after more than a decade, for me to simply to retell a nightmare we both lived in.

A nightmare she never escaped.

"When will you come back?" He asks.

"Don't know yet. But probably not today." I respond, eating the last crisp in the packet.

He wishes me good luck, which I sure need, and greets me goodbye.
I walk to the bin near the sink, and open to throw the plastic packet in my hand, but something inside catches my eye.

I bend slightly and pick up what looks like a colourful piece of paper, but up close I notice it's a ripped part of photo.

More specifically, a photo of our days back in school, where Nazia has a hand draped over Nelly.
On the other side of her was I, but that part of the picture is missing.

I flip the bin upside down, and more ripped pieces of old pictures tumble down.