This chapter is dedicated to my very cute, sweet, awesome cousin @maseeha123

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Layla, Sabby and I play pool, soccer table and ten pin bowling for about an hour. We enjoy our selves so much that as soon as one of us says something, we burst out laughing. I feel so happy and complete. I love my best friends. Mom had called me and I had updated her with whatever happened yesterday.

Then, something else happens that makes me feel even more happier and complete. Guess!!! You guessed it right. I receive a message from Richard while playing pool with Sabby.

Amy dear, I did feel hurt but now that you have apologised, I will forgive you, breaking the famous rule. We are friends remember! There are no such thing as sorrrys and thank yous in friendship.

You know, I had wanted to apologise to you for last night because I had no right to interfere in your life, but I just couldn't muster the courage to do so . I have realised that it takes a lot to apologise, and now that you did so, I respect you more Amy.

I hold the phone to my heart in relief and happiness. I feel so glad that I had actually apologised, pulling my soaring ego straight down. I jump up in delight and urge Sabby and Layla to come up with me, unable to control my happiness and most of all, the relief I receive from getting this off my shoulders.

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I notice the light disappear from both Malak and Sabrinas' faces as we walk up to the table Malak, Richard and Jhon sits at. Richard gets up and walks up to us with a big smile and I smile back to him in response. I feel Layla tense up as he comes up to me.

He walks straight to me, grabs me in a huge bear hug and squeezes the breath out of me. I hug him back and before I know it, I am tearing. He pulls back and laughs after seeing my tears. I notice the bewildered and confused expressions on the faces of Sabby and Layla and I chuckle. "Amy! You have to be the dramatic one!", Richard shouts as he wipes my tears away.
He then notices Sabby and Layla.

"Omg! Look who is here. Miss Oreos and gummy bears.", he goes over to hug Sabby and then turns to Layla, "And of course...Layla!", he hugs her longer than is necessary and Layla can't stop smiling.

I go over to a now very annoyed Malak. "Are they gonna be here the whole time?", she asks me and I nod. She shakes her head and I squeeze her hand. After the episode in the morning, she doesn't really get irritated with me as she used to before, and she has begun to trust me. I know that everyone else hates her, but I really don't know why, no matter how much I had tried, or still try to hate her, I can't.

Mr murderer sits at the table uncomfortably and introduces himself to my friends. He turns to me and jumps slightly in surprise when I smile at him. Wait! Did I just smile at him? This time I jump in surprise at myself.

Then, I realise that he was the one who had suggested mission apology in the first place. It is because of him that everything is back to normal now. I begin to doubt my initial thoughts and views about him. Maybe he is not all that bad.

This time, when he gazes at me briefly, I give him a genuine smile and a nod indicating my gratitude. He hesitates for a while, but finally smiles back at me when he realises that I am not faking it. I don't blame him after our many unpleasant encounters.

Malak continues to stare at the menu nonchalantly, as I talk to Richard, Sabby and Layla. As we talk, I happen to mention that I had met James Whittaker, the son of the famous chef. Malak becomes interested at the mention of his name. "I happen to know him too. I met him last year at the Mexican food festival when dad took me to Amsterdam in the Summer holidays for his conference meeting. I must say, he really is a very funny guy. He even asked me out on a date. It was weird that he hadn't introduced me to his dad though." She became happy at the thought of the time and I smile at her. Sabby rolls her eyes and coughs as she eats her very spicy burrito. "When did you go with da..your dad to Amsterdam? You had told us that you had been sick the whole Summer?", Sabby interrogates her amongst tears and Malak becomes unusually worried about something. She stands up quickly and runs off rattling off a, "I'll be back!" We stare at her as she runs off perfectly in her pencil heels. I smile, "Malak and her charisma." Sabby becomes very annoyed and I suppose it is because she has noticed that Malak and I have become quite close.

Richard shouts out to Malak and she turns quickly. "Meet me at the poolside at 5:00 sharp, I want to discuss a few things with you.", he screams accross the many heads in the hall. Malak nods and runs off making Layla tense up again. Oh! Is she still jealous?

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"No...please noooo, leave me alone. What do you want?", Danielle manages to scream at the masked man between her tears. She walks backwards and her back meets the cold wall. She has no where to escape.
The masked man walks slowly towards her showing off the sharp, silver dagger in his left hand. His clean, black boots stomps on the ripped pages of her diary that lies on the floor. She quivers in fear, her eyes and face red in desperation. "Please, please don't.", she begs.

He laughs at the fear in her eyes and shoves a green sock in her mouth. He pins her onto the wall with his right arm and slits her right across her throat before she has the time to think about what is actually happening to her. Her limp body falls straight to the floor with a loud thud. The masked man laughs hysterically and shoves his Bat Man mask onto her face.

The lights on the stage becomes dim and I bite my nails due to the horrific scene. The sound of the piano starts and the limp body of Danielle wakes up from the floor and walks to the front of the stage. The masked man removes his mask revealing the handsome face of the lead actor. The rest of the crew members walks onto the stage, they all hold hands and bow down.

Mrs Hillburg, Sabby, Layla, Jhon and I stand up immediately and clap frantically at the talented actors. I look at the time and realise that it is around 5:00. The play was amazing and I was hypnotised by the amazing acting. It seemed so real.

As we leave the play house, Mr Chinese stands at the door and hands everyone a bat man mask. I chuckle as he hands over a mask to me. "Miss Brown, I meant to come and talk to you. Did you take your gold pocket knife from my office table yesterday?", I frown at him and then stare at him in shock. "Where is my pocket knife, don't tell me that you have misplaced it?", I shout a little louder. "No, it's just that it was not there this morning.", he calms me down. "Don't worry, it will be there dear, here, take a mask.", he hands me the mask and I narrow my eyes. He gulps, "Don't worry miss Brown, I will find it and return it to you when we reach Durban again, because you do know that I have confiscated the knife from you."

I walk away annoyed. Mr murderer comes up to me, "still planning on killing me?"
I chuckle. "Yes! You bet." He laughs. As I walk along the long corridor, I notice a familliar pair of blue eyes staring at me. I wave at James in excitement. He comes over to my friends and I. Mrs Hillburg is busy talking to Mr Chinese about something and leaves us to ourselves. "Heyy James. These are my friends, that's Sabby", Sabby smiles in excitement, "and this is Layla", she nods and I turn to Mr murderer, "and this is Mr mur...umm...Jhon!", I exclaim. Jhon turns to me and widens his eyes. I look down and gulp. Then my muscles relax when I hear Jhon chuckle.

James frowns at Jhon for some odd reason. "You look very different in reality. I did see a picture of you sometime ago, probably last year in a magazine.", Layla tells James and he smiles.
" I hope I look better I reality."
She laughs.

He comes to my side between Jhon and I, and begins to chat to me ignoring everyone else. I realise how easily I forget the world when I start to talk to him. We have way too much in common. "The play was amazing!", I tell him. "I agree, their acting was amazing.", he says. "Almost hypnotic.", we say in unison and stop in our tracks, startled. "Jinx!", we exclaim yet again in unison, and burst out in a fit of laughter at these small coincidences. My friends and Mr murderer stare at us as if we were some kind of mental patients.

They decide to talk about something else amongst themselves as James and I chat for as long as forever. "You know, a friend of mine says that she knows you.", I remember how Malak said that she had met him. He squints. "Knows me, who? How?", he asks.
"Her name is Malak, she said that she met you last year in Amsterdam, at the Mexican food festival. She said that you even asked her out.", I jab him on his side.

Then, the frown on his forehead returns. His blue eyes become worried at the mention of Malak's name. His body becomes stiff and I can see that something is bothering him.

What had happened between them?

I talk to him for a while longer but I realise that his mind is somewhere else. Malak?? Then, suddenly, he turns around quickly and tells me that he has to go. Within a second, he is gone. Weird again!

I turn to look for my other friends but they have also disappeared. I decide to walk back to my room. My phone begins to vibrate and I answer the call after making sure that I was not answering to "unknown number". "Yes Malak.", I ask wondering why Malak has called me. "Amy, I want to tell you something urgently.", she tells me excitedly. I smile, happy to hear her happy. "What? Tell me.", I ask her curiously.

She pauses. "I like Richard!", I stop in my tracks. My heart sinks. She rattles on, but all I can think about is Layla. But Layla likes Richard. Does Richard like Layla? Does he like Malak?

"Are you there?", she asks me. I come out of my trance. "Yes I am.", I manage to whisper, not knowing if I should be happy for her or sad for Layla.

"Richard has called me to meet him by the pool side, I'm thinking of telling him there. What do you think?",she shouts. I gulp the sour, dry saliva in my mouth. So he doesnt know. Then, I say the unthinkable.

"Yes, tell him.", I say and she laughs in happiness on the other end. I smile. Then, her voice turns serious. She hesitates.
"Do you want to say something?", I ask her.

"Yes, do you remember that I told you, someone by the name of Larry was asking for you at campus?", she whispers. I remember.

I remember the encounter with Mr murderer and how he had asked for me. I know that it was him pretending to be Larry. "Yes. I do remember.", I tell her. "Well he is not any Larry, actually he is with us on the cruise, he..", I laugh. "I know! It's okay, he was just asking around for me.", I laugh thinking about how intense Mr murderer and my enemity was.

"Oh, is that it, lol. Amy. Okay then, wish me luck.", she urges and laughs. "Good luck!", I encourage her after taking a deep breath. She sighs and tells me, "Amy, please don't ever hate me. Please remain like this.", she pleads unexpectedly and I stand in one corner shocked. She cuts the call and I remain still.

I decide to get a cup of coffee to clear my mind.

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I hold onto my heart pendant as I sip my third cup of chocochinno. My thoughts race through my mind. I do feel sorry for Layla but I can't stop feeling happy for Malak. She has been through a lot. Why does everyone hate her? What did she mean when she said that I must not ever hate her? These new questions cause my side temples to throb.

Then, my phone vibrates again. I look at it. Three missed calls from Malak. I frown. Now why is she calling me? She is supposed to be with Richard. Then my phone starts to vibrate followed by my ring tone. Richard.
I answer it at the second ring.

"Yes, Richard.", I speak into the phone. "Heyy Amy, are you in your room?", he asks me sweetly. "No, I'm actually at the dining area, why?", I ask him. "No, I wanted to speak to Malak, I can't get through to her, she was supposed to meet me here by the pool side at 5:00. I'm waiting here for the past hour and a half and she isn't here yet.", he tells me sounding a bit disappointed. I frown.

This is weird, Malak had told me that she was heading to Richard. "No I don't know where she is, but she had called me and told me that she was coming to you.", I tell him, trying to cheer him.
"Okay, maybe she is delayed because of some reason or another.", he tells me and cuts the call.

But why can't Richard get a hold of her when she had just called me? Why did she call me? Maybe she needs me for something. I start up the stairs to my room.

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I walk on the Red Carpet to my room door. For some really odd reason, I feel weird. I feel nervous. The corridor is unusually quiet. I walk up to my wooden door and search for the card in my bag.

Upon finding it, I swipe it on the door handle and the door unlocks. I open the door slowly into the dark room. That is unusual . Malak usually leaves the lights on, because she hates the room dark. I walk in; turn towards my bed and lazily throw my bag onto the soft covers.

Then, I turn towards Malak's side of the room and freeze in horror. My feet refuse to take a step forward. Instead, it takes three steps back until it bangs against my bed, allowing my body to fall onto the bed. I sit on the bed still not believing the sight in front of me. My hands cover my quivering mouth. I must be dreaming.

In front of me, Malak lies limp on the floor. Her body lies in an odd, twisted position on the floor. Her eyes stare at me, wide and lifeless. Her blue face still remains beautiful and flawless. No! How can such a beautiful face look so lifeless? This can't be. I am dreaming.

Her head lies in a pool of reddish black blood. The curtains have splatters of blood. The bedsheets have splatters of blood. The cupboards, the dresser... the headboards.

Everything.

Everywhere.

Blood.
So much blood.
I am dreaming.
I walk up to the twisted body and reach out to touch her beautiful, lifeless face.
There is a green sock in her mouth. Wet with her saliva. Next to her face, lies a tattered batman mask that failed to remain on her beautiful face.

As my warm fingers touch her icy cold cheek, I let out a loud, piercing screech in horror.

Malak is dead!

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Dear readers:

Now the story has started.

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