"Scarlett?", Rose looked at the figure struggling to get up from the floor in disbelief. "Get off me", Scarlett screamed.

"Oh! Sorry", Rose got off Scarlett. "What are you doing here? You said yesterday that you might extend your stay at Nana's. But, more importantly, why have you sneaked into my house? And how did you get the key?".

"Did you hit me with the umbrella?", Scarlett scrunched her eyes at the umbrella Rose waved at her.

"That was an accident. I tripped over the carpet", Rose felt awkward at her clumsiness. "You are not answering my questions", Rose pointed out.

"I wanted to surprise you. So, I told you I may not return today. I came from Nana's in the morning and went to the workshop and got the keys from your brother. I told him I was gonna surprise you", Scarlett rubbed her shoulder where she got hit by the umbrella.

"Oh! That's why he didn't mention you when I called him. And sorry about the hitting you with the umbrella. I swear it was an accident", Rose said without much guilt.

Just then they heard a ding from the kitchen. "Ooh! The lunch is ready. You want some?", Rose put the umbrella at the coffee table beside the sofa and went to the kitchen. Scarlett followed her saying, "I am starving. Something smells nice. I only had breakfast."

"Oh! We can share lunch", Rose said with a devilish grin. She switched off the microwave and took two plates from the cupboard while Scarlett went and sat on the two-seater table at the breakfast nook. Rose put half the casserole in her plate and half in Scarlett's and carried them to the table. Scarlett stared at the food in front of her, "Really? Egg plant casserole?", at which Rose shrugged and started eating. She was really hungry. Scarlett reluctantly followed the lead.

"Why did you have the umbrella and why were you behind me?" Scarlett looked over at Rose with suspicion.

"Well, I thought you were an intruder. You were the one sneaking into the house wearing a hoodie and... is that a trench coat? Who wears a trench coat?" Rose eyed the coat with disdain.

"It's my grampa's. Nana gave it to me. I helped her clean the attic and found it. Sorry about scaring you. Well! I did mean to scare you a little. But I swear this is the last time I do it. I don't want to get beaten up with an umbrella", Scarlett smirked.

"You do remember what happened at the Redmayne's right?", Rose asked. "Oh! Yeah!", Scarlett said distractedly. "Oh! I brought you some stuff from Nana's. It's in my car. We will get it after lunch. It's something you love", Scarlett said in a sing song voice. "What is it?", Rose's curiosity peaked. Nana Carmine always sent her something special. On her last birthday, Nana baked her a beautiful and delicious red velvet cake, her favourite. Scarlett winked at her and chirped, "you will have to wait." During the rest of the lunch, they discussed Scarlett's time with her grandma and Rose's attempts at her novel.

After finishing the lunch, the girls washed and dried the dishes and went to get the stuff from Scarlett's car. There were two big baskets full of strawberries, two bottles of strawberry wines and some jars of strawberry jams. "We got a huge haul of strawberry this year from grandma's garden. I helped her make wines and jams. She is selling them in the summer farmer's market this year", Scarlett beamed with pride. "That's wonderful. I could help with the sale", Rose didn't show the slight jealousy she felt. "Of course you are helping. I signed up our names for a stall already", Scarlett grinned at her friend and Rose's jealousy turned to happiness. The girls put all the stuff in the fridge.

"That's too many strawberries. Ooh, I have an idea! We should make a strawberry cake for Mrs. Redmayne. Remember the cupcakes she used to make for us when we were kids?" Rose asked.

"Oh Yeah! they melted in your mouth", reminisced Scarlett. "How is she?"

"She is good. We should go and see her. She is home since this Monday. She is in a wheel chair. The fall had shattered her hip bone. They did some surgery but due to her age and osteoporosis, it will take a long time to heal. Poor Mr. Redmayne. He does every chore now. Rusty and I help with grocery purchase and lawn mowing", Rose said.

"Hmm, let's go day after tomorrow. That will give us time to bake the cake. And I will get some flowers from Madame Rossi's florists. What should I get her?", Scarlett quizzed.

"Red gerberas. That's her favourite. Now let's talk about the red-letter day", Rose dragged Scarlett to her room.

"The red-letter day?", Scarlett looked confused.

"Well, not exactly a red-letter day. Tomorrow is the annual summer party organised by our school mates. I want to talk about it."

"OK. Whoa! Did a hurricane hit your closet?", Scarlett quipped looking at the mess of clothes on Rose's bed.

"I was cleaning my closet", Rose started to fold her clothes. "So, are we going to the party?", Rose looked at her friend who sat in the bed cross legged. Poppy who was sleeping in her bed woke up, yawned and stretched. She slowly trotted to where the girls were sitting.

"Of course we are going. Why shouldn't we? Just because Ruby is in the organizing committee doesn't mean that we shouldn't go. The party is for everyone. And we have paid for it, don't forget that. We are going", Scarlett affirmed, stroking Poppy's head.

"OK", Rose went back to folding cloths thinking about what Scarlett said. Poppy jumped into Scarlett's lap and greeted her with a melodious meow. Scarlett started whispering to Poppy while gently stroking her fur. She dug into her pants pockets and produced some cat treats. Poppy's eyes widened and started nibbling on them purring contently. "How come she isn't as warm with me?", Rose was slightly annoyed at two's closeness.

"Well, you are her strict mom and I am the fun aunt who spoils her with treats every time she visits". Scarlett turned to Poppy and cooed at her, "aren't I a sweet heart, little one?".

Rose rolled her eyes at them and went back to her chore. Soon she realised that the red dress she wanted to wear for the party was missing. She started to search through the folded clothes and grew worried more and more.

"What are you doing?", Scarlett wondered. "I can't find my red silk dress. What am I going to wear tomorrow?" Scarlett felt uncomfortable, "Ugh! Rose, you gave me that dress to wear for my visit to grandma's." "Oh! Yes! How could I forget that? Did you bring it?", Rose asked. "I am so sorry Rose, I might have spilled some red wine on it", Scarlett said in a small voice. "What? You spilled red wine on my dress?" Rose stared at Scarlett, "what am I gonna do now?" Scarlett looked helpless at her friend. "I didn't mean to, Rose. I gave the dress to the dry cleaner, and I will get it the day after tomorrow." "But I need it for tomorrow", her friend bellowed. "That's it - I am not going to the party tomorrow", Rose declared. "Come on Rose, don't be like that. I got this beautiful white satin dress with small red roses from my grandma. As I have ruined your red dress, you can borrow that. It's sleeveless and I have a nice red faux leather jacket to go with it." Scarlett beamed at her friend. "OK!" Rose looked unconvinced. Scarlett felt guilty and said, "Oh! And I saw these beautiful red sparkling shoes in Laroux Shoes and Sandals. It looked like those magic shoes worn by Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. We will get it tomorrow. It will be great with the dress. I will book the shoes on their app", Scarlett took out her phone and started typing furiously at it. Rose sighed, "OK." Scarlett looked up to see her friend dejectedly stroking Poppy who had climbed into her lap.

"Do you want to watch Wizard of Oz? It will cheer you up", Scarlett asked at which Rose beamed, "Yes".

"The things I do to make her happy, Poppy", Scarlett rolled her eyes at Poppy.

"Hey, that's a classic movie".

"You do realize that we are the only ones in our high school who watch kids' movies. Everyone's watching Stranger Things and Squid Games."

"But they are scary!", Rose scrunched her face.

Scarlett sighed and got up to help Rose put her clothes back on the closet. They went to watch the movie with Poppy and a bowl full of popcorn. Later, the girls had dinner with Rose's family and Scarlett's papa, Rory Russel. They said goodbye to each other after making plans for the next day.

***

Rose and Scarlett had lunch at The Bluebells after a frenzy shopping and grooming sessions. The Bluebells was almost empty. The pastry shop run by Mrs. Gorman, a patisserie and chocolatier, was a favorite haunt of the girls. Mrs. Gorman wasn't there. She ran a book club on Friday afternoons at her home. She hired Daisy, the girl worked with Rose's mom on Friday afternoons. But instead of Daisy, the café was run by a new guy with the deepest blue eyes Rose had ever seen. Apart from taking their order, the guy completely ignored them.

Mrs. Gorman was a friend of Roisin. When they were kids, the shop was small. Now Mrs. Gorman has expanded it to a café cum pastry shop. They used to spend their evenings on school days at the small shop, eating pastries and doing their homework. Even now, they had a designated table of two by the window through which they can see the passersby and Roisin's bookshop. Apart from the tasty delectables and closeness to the bookshop, the reason the girls chose the café to hang out was to avoid Ruby and her gang. Like the rest of the youngsters, Ruby and her minions hung out at the Red Lobster, a fast-food restaurant which claimed to specialize on sea food.

Rose sighed contently after finishing off the apple pie, "I love having dessert for lunch. We need to do this more often."

"Aren't you on a diet?", Scarlett slurped her chocolate shake.

"Don't ruin my day. I am really nervous about today. I can't explain it. but I have a bad feeling that Ruby is going to ruin this party for me."

"Will you please relax. I am with you. If that girl does something I will deal with it, OK? Please cheer up and let's talk about your new friend."

"He is not my friend exactly. We just chat once a while."

"Does once a while mean every hour? Don't think I haven't seen you messaging him, Rose. I can't believe Rowan befriended you. He is not our type exactly. I smell something fishy."

"Its nothing like that Scarlett. We just talk about books and poems. We have same interests. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he isn't nice", Rose felt frustrated at her friend.

"Well, he started messaging you out of the blue!", Scarlett almost screamed. The new guy at the counter raised his eyes at them.

"Shush!" Rose hissed.

"I don't trust that guy. He was popular in school. I am not even sure if he knew that we existed. Then he starts messaging you suddenly? You can be gullible. I am just looking out for you", Scarlett said in a hushed voice.

"I know", Rose felt dejected. She knew Scarlett was right. He never talked to her in school. Heck, he never even looked at her once. Then, a month ago, he sent her a meme. He later messaged her to apologize saying it was an accident. That's how they started chatting. They never talked over phone or met in person. Just chatted. Rose understood it. He might have felt awkward to hang out with her. After all she was nerdy unlike him. Usually, she would have neglected him. But Scarlett was away at her Nana's and she felt lonely even though Scarlett called every night. But with her parents and brother busy and with only Poppy as a companion, the days were beginning to suffocate her. So, she kept responding. Initially, Rose did suspect whether someone was pranking her. Gradually the doubt melted away as they chatted more. Now Scarlett had sowed the seeds of doubt in her mind. Maybe she should talk to him face to face or just ignore him. Rose was confused.

"Ugh! Its late. We have to go and get ready for the party. Its more than an hour's drive", Scarlett went to the counter and paid. The girls said goodbye to the new guy who showed no interest in returning them the courtesy. The guy was handsome but looked perpetually bored, Rose thought. "He is weird", Scarlett whispered to her to which she nodded. The girls went to the bookshop to talk to Roisin. Their parents were going out of town to attend an anniversary party of their college friend that evening. "Please be careful, girls. I don't like that you are going to that old mansion for your party. And that too at night? At least, it is not at the abandoned mines like the last time", Roisin kissed her daughter good bye. "And drive carefully, Scarlett. Call me if you need anything", she hugged Scarlett.

The girls returned to Scarlett's and got ready. By six in the evening, they started towards the mansion. The setting sun was bright red and looked ominous. The sky was a still life of varying hues of red. The red sky began to fade into darkness when they reached the Greywich Manor. The dark manor towered against a faded sky daring them to enter. As she stared at the looming manor, Rose couldn't shake the ominous doom she was feeling. Her hands trembled slightly. She felt her chest tightening. Their car passed the huge rusty gates. She looked over at Scarlett who was eyeing the mansion with a wariness. Her mind urged her to turn back. As the darkness descended upon them, fear began to creep over her.

***