Chapter 14

"Oiii get of me you fat potato!"

Oliwia snapped her eyes open. Thank God it had just been a bad dream. A dream that was awfully realistic.

"Great! You are awake" Abir said smiling as she looks up from her phone.

Confused, Oliwia looks at her wondering what is Abir doing in her basement. What is she doing in the basement. What are they all doing in the basement.

"Wha ... Why are we h...? What ar... you doing?" Oliwia yawned still tired from the uncomfortable position she was sleeping in and she kept feeling someone's elbow poking her.

"Oh I am just playing colour switch! Do you want to have a go? I've nearly completed all the levels. I guess I just couldn't sleep so I was playing on my phone. None of you guys snore. Surprising? Also did you know Mahnoor sleep talks?" Abir said all in one beat.

"Really she talks in her sleep?! Did she reveal any secret?!" Oliwia realised she was going off topic so she said "I mean why are we here?"

"Weren't we having a sleepover?"

"In my basement? On the cold floor? With Alice and Mahnoor completely passed out" Oliwia asked rhetorically as she tried to move the two girls away from her.

"Ehm yes? Alice and Mahnoor are both deep sleepers."

"No Abir, this isn't how sleepovers work.There is no potatoes here." Oliwia explained "Wait is that mud on your shoes? Idiot. Why is there mud on your shoes ?"

"Ehm cuz this is England where it rains a lot so it's muddy. Don't you watch Peppa Pig?! "

"What were you doing out this late at night?" Oliwia asked suspiciously.

"Jumping up and down in muddy puddles!" Abir stated "Ouch don't punch me! You'll wake the kids up" Abir whispered softly as she gestured over to the two sleeping beauties.

"You are so stupid Abir! Anyway The kids need to wake up! Tell me what were you doing out?!"

"Aww look, Oliwia is questioning me when she's the one who's guilty." Abir smiled as Oliwia's eyes widened "Yes Liv, I was awake the whole time you were talking on the phone, I heard everything."

Wait Oliwia is guilty? Always suspected that! Mahnoor thought as she eavesdropped on her friends' conversation, her eyes fluttering open slightly as she craned over to listen to her two friends. People tend to reveal a lot more when they think you are asleep.

Now they were whispering, even Mahnoor's impressive hearing skills couldn't work out what they were saying.

"She'll be imprisoned for life"

"I know"

"What she needs is mental help, not spending the rest of her life in jail."

Wait who needs mental help? So is Oliwia not guilty? What are they talking about?

"Let's wake these two sleepyheads"

Shit! They couldn't wake her up now, she needed more sleep, she couldn't risk getting dark circles from lack of sleep. Without even realising it she fell asleep, dreaming dark dreams.

***

"Yo Alice wake up!" Abir shouted but Alice wouldn't listen. 

"Aww she looks so sweet and innocent whilst sleeping" Oliwia complimented as she caressed her friend's face gently moving her blonde hair.

"Not creepy at all..."

"Alice, my love, time to wake up dear" Oliwia said sweetly as she kept playing with Alice's blonde hair while taking a photo of her.

"I feel like the third wheel...  Is something going on between you two? Personally I think you are better as friends." Abir pointed out.

Oliwia chose to ignore that "Alice wake up. Shawn Mendes is here asking for your hand in marriage"

Right at that moment Alice jolted awake "SHAWN MENDES??!!! FINALLY I KNEW HE WOULD LOVE ME BACK!"

"And that's how you wake up someone." Oliwia shared her advice with Abir

"Shawn? Where are you? I know what you did last summer!"

"Sadly Mendes couldn't be here today, but at least you have Abir"
"But I don't want Abir!!!"
"Why what's wrong with me?"
"You are not rich!!!"
"Bad Alice! Love isn't based on money!"
"It is! Now go and find me a rich guy"
"No!"

"Qui nel bosco scuro e profondo. Posso offrirti un ​​sonno eterno"

That snapped the three girls from their silly argument. They all turned to look at Mahnoor who was in deep slumber talking to herself.

"See? She talks in her sleep! It's creepy! Who knows what's she's saying" Abir said.

Alice chose to ignore Mahnoor's sleepy words and instead started to look around the damp basement, a confused and worried look on her face.
"Hey... where did Liam go?"

The others frowned and followed Alice's gaze around the room, searching for the unknown Liam.

"Who... who are you talking about? Liam? Is he your imaginary boyfriend?" Oliwia smirked, trying to ignore Alice's mysterious behaviour.

Suddenly, the three were distracted once again as Mahnoor's limp body began to stir.

"Is Mahnoor having a stoke?! Everybody act FAST!!" Oliwia screamed melodramatically as she rushed over to her friends body and proceeded to shake her frantically.

"Mama bas thori der or sone do"
(Mum just let me sleep for a little bit more)

"Ew... she's alive. Why are you speaking in Urdu? Did you forget that I can understand it?" Oliwia muttered mischievously as she tried to translate Mahnoor's hurried words.

"No Mahnoor! Get up!" Oliwia said to her hoping she gets up.

"Sure, tomorrow..." She muttered and tried to find a more comfortable position to sleep.

"Mahnoor, Shawn Mendes is here!" Alice screamed hoping she will fall for this like she did.

"Wake me up when he goes" she whispered falling back into her amazing dreams

Oliwia got up from the floor and started walking round the basement looking for something

"Here it is.." She whispered as she took something out from an old box.

"Only glitter can wake you up." She stated silently as she sprinkled Mahnoor with colorful glitter "Sparkling and Shiny, ready to get up!"

"What a waste of glitter!" Mahnoor freaked out looking at the shiny floor around her.

"You can have the rest" Oliwia throwed the jar of glitter at her and smiled. "See? I am nice!" She pouted as she turned to the other two.

"Ooo I'm sparkly! Look at me shining like a bright star!"

They all ignored her and Abir spoke up saying "So what do we do now?"

"Oh I'll tell you what do you do! One of you will get me a hair brush or a straighter, preferably both! Can't have my hair looking bad of course... And then you explain to me why am I being held hostage in Oliwia's basement!" Mahnoor, who was fully awake now, shouted.

"Isn't the answer obvious? You're down here because I need your bloooood!" Oliwia grinned as she looked over at Mahnoor menacingly.

Just as Mahnoor was about to retort back she got interrupted by the loud sound of music coming from upstairs.

"I'M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WORLD"

What the hell?

"Life in plastic-" Alice began.

"-Is fantastic!" Abir finished.

"Woah wait a second?! If we are all down here then who is listening to  that song upstairs?" Mahnoor asked as she turned her gaze to the peeling ceiling, trying to determine who could be lurking above.

Without answering her, Oliwia ran upstairs to see who could still be in her house after the... interesting... party she'd held just a few hours ago. Without question, the other three followed her, cautiously searching for the mysterious intruder.

Once upstairs, the four girls halted as they lay their eyes on the wreckage that was Oliwia's front room.

Remnants of the party were strewn everywhere; plastic cups and candy-wrappers lined the hallway; streamers and abandoned belongings had been thrown across the room. The place was trashed.

And yet, there was no one in sight. The party-goers has vanished, leaving behind the mess of the party.

"You are going to be in so much trouble when your parents find out!" Mahnoor grinned as she surveyed the wreckage, pausing to take out her phone to capture the moment.

"Actually, where exactly are your parents?" Abir spoke up as she learnt against the trashed sofa and started playing her familiar mobile game.

Oliwia did not look worried in the slightest, in fact, she seemed oddly excited by the destruction of her house.

"My parents have gone back  to Poland for a while and I'll force my brothers to clean up. I have enough secrets to blackmail them with." She said with a nonchalant shrug.

Alice appeared thoughtful for a moment, which seemed unusual as Alice never seemed to think about anything, then looked as though she was about to speak up when, suddenly, a figure came bursting out of the kitchen and into the path of the four, stunned girls.

He paused, skidding to a stop in front of them, and frowned. "What are still doing in the house? Don't you know the party's moved to the woods out back?"

Oliwia scowled and then spoke, "Firstly: This is my house, why wouldn't I be here? Secondly: What?! When did the party move? Why are you in the woods?" She exclaimed in annoyance at the strange man in her hallway.

"It's Halloween! We decided to check out the Halloween party happening in the park. Wait... you're the person who set up this party? Huh, you're younger than I expected. Nice job with the party."

"Thanks! Now GET OUT OF MY HOUSE"

"Right at it" the guy said then he looked towards the kitchen and shouted "Barb, honey, we've been caught!!! Steal all the sweets you can"

"Steve, darling, I told you to be more careful" a girl that looked oddly familiar came out of the kitchen, holding a big purse that was probably full of sweets.

"Barbara?" Abir asked.

Barbara was a girl that was in the same class as these four. She was the loner, the girl who would sit at the back of the classroom, judging everyone. Many times she had tried to join their group but just like FF she was a fake friend.

"It's Barbie now!" She snapped and then she stomped away whilst singing 'Barbie Girl'. "C'mon Steve! You don't wanna waste your time with these lot!"

"Well I gotta go" Steve smiled and then winked "But feel free to call me in a week or so when I'm tired of Brenda or Beckie... whatever her name was..."

"Barbara" Abir corrected.

"It's Barbie now!" Oliwia imitated what the girl had said before.

"Barbie, Brittney same thing!" The guy said as he walked out "Oh and I ho..."

"BYE!" Oliwia's didn't let him finish his sentence as she slammed the door on his face.

"Well that was weird" Abir said

"I know it's supposed to be Halloween but when did things get this freaky?!" Mahnoor exasperated.

"Who cares?! Let's go this Halloween party in the middle of the woods!" Oliwia said happily.

"No Liv! What if we will get murdered next! FF died in the middle of the woods!" Abir disagreed with Her friend.

"Wait, She got murdered in the woods..but how do you know it was in the middle of it?!" Mahnoor seemed shocked.

"Umm...The.. police guy... told me that!" Abir sounded confused trying to make a simple sentence.

"Did he? I dont remember that.." Alice stated trying to have a flashback.

"It was just a manner of speaking!Can we just go to the party now?" Abir asked like nothing happened before.

"You didn't want to go a second before!" Oliwia screamed at her.

"Whatever" just a few minutes later they ended up in the woods right in front of Oliwia's house

"I haven't been in these woods since..." Mahnoor trailed off.

"Woohoo party" Alice exclaimed happily then she skipped towards the back door and then out to the woods behind Oliwia's house.

The other three gave each other a worried look and then hesitated before following Alice into the woods.

After a few minutes of trying to find the party the girls gave up.

"Let's just go home!." Mahnoor demanded while checking the time.

"Or we could take a shortcut and get to the party faster!" Abir came up with an idea.

"NO" Mahnoor and Alice shouted.

"We can't! Don't you know the saying 'Always stick to the path' we are probably going to get lost" Alice reasoned, which was unusual.

"Exactly! This always happens in movies, they go off path and then...
well you know... bad stuff happens" Mahnoor exclaimed.

"Relax these woods are completely safe, Oliwia would know" Abir reassured, giving Oliwia a knowing look.

"Okay!" Alice was brought by this so she started running towards one of the pathways, the darker pathway.

However Mahnoor knew that something was not right  "Is this really a good idea?" She asked, but no one really listened. She became alert all of the sudden.

The four girls walked in silence through the shady woods. Mahnoor kept looking into the details of the barky saplings, trying to find something or rather someone.

The path started to get darker and scarier. "The perfect place to murder someone" Oliwia whispered into Alice's ear.

Alice jumped up frightened of Oliwia's voice. "Is it?" She asked pretending not to be scared.

"It is indeed" Abir's face showed up from nowhere as she joined their conversation and Alice jumped up again.

"Oliwia scared me, Abir did too..who is it next?" She asked worriedly "Is it you Mahnoor?" She asked as she stared into Mahnoor's darkened silhouette.

"Sure,whatever" she stated not knowing what the questions even was.

A few moments later they could hear a person screaming close to them.

Mahnoor's eyes snapped wide open, "What was that?! Do you think the... the murderer has struck again? But how?" She mumbled anxiously to herself.

"If it is the murderer, then that would mean that we aren't the murderers! This could be the proof that we need to show that we're innocent!" Alice exclaimed excitedly as she tried to locate the direction the scream had come from.

As she started to head away from the path and towards the harrowing sound, Abir stuck her arm out and pulled her back. "Wait! It could just be a scream from the halloween party. Don't just go wondering into the woods!"

Oliwia nodded, "Speaking of Halloween party, Abir, can you tell us which way to go?"

Abir sighed and turned back towards the path and gestured for the others to follow her.

After a few tense moments of ambling through the winding path, the four girls reached an open clearing.

And, at the edge of the clearing, the girls could see a small, familiar figure kneeling by a clump of trees.

"Do you think that person could tell us where the party is?" Mahnoor muttered to the others as she tried to see who it was in front of them.

Before any of them could move, the person's head lifted and it locked eyes with Mahnoor as a dark grimace grew across the figures face.

Mahnoor instantly knew who the figure was. How could she forget the one who had betrayed her?

Her mouth opened and she whispered softly the three words that Mahnoor never thought she'd hear.

"I'm not dead."

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Song of the chapter "Barbie Girl" cuz why not?

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~Glitter, Pigeon and Potato