INTUITION

I stood frozen in front of the concrete house, surrounded by flowering bushes and fruit-bearing trees. It was a shelter like those of normal people.

“So, this is Abby’s house.”

I turned back when Amanda’s pitchy, insulting voice broke the stillness of the ambiance.

“Yeah.” I agreed while checking her from head to toe. She pulled down her creased miniskirt. As always, her dress was not for the occasion. She looked herself up on her phone, took a selfie of us with the house in the background.

“That should work for my IG. Come on. Our F-R-I-E-N-D must be waiting.” She giggled while dragging Emelie by the arm. I just followed them with heavy steps.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” They looked at me with squinted eyes; smirks on their faces. Stupid! I accidentally uttered those words out loud.

“Should we pick on you, then?” I cringed with Emelie’s fake British accent. She strode towards me and hit my forehead with her index finger three times. I almost stumbled behind on her third strike.

“Enough!” Amanda warned, holding herself back not to yell. She glared at us and drew a fake smile. As usual.

Emelie paced back to Amanda, snaking her arms to hers as they practice a nice greeting. And before they even knocked on the door, it had opened. A warm smile from a beautiful early adult welcomed them.

“You must be Abby’s friend. Please come in. She’s too excited to see you, she can’t even come out.”

Her lips were smiling, but her eyes were forlorn.

“Do I have dirt on my face?”

Her sweet, friendly voice distracted me. Her amber-cat eyes were enchanting. I spaced out. Wait! Did I really see cat eyes? I gave her another glance. And her pupils were back to normal, and they were hazel, not amber.

The next time she spoke, I froze. Her tone had turned from friendly to icy. “Care to join them for a lovely meal?”

I was seeing things. But I followed the other girls inside. The scream in my gut was tormenting. Go home! Yet, the moment I stepped into the house. A strong magnetic force petrified my powerful will to step back.

The place was cozy and organized, which took me by surprise. It was far from what we had in mind, judging by Abby’s eccentric aura. We imagined her living in a gloomy house with a poorly lit room—bats and cobwebs everywhere.

I had to stay focus. Enough of imagining things. This place may look appealing, but who knows? It could have been under a spell or something of black magic. They could have been putting up a show to lure us to the darkest corner of this house. I did not want to end up in a cauldron without fulfilling my dreams yet.

We settled ourselves on the comfy couches. Luckily, there was one for each of us. I didn’t need to squeeze myself with those two nasty brats.

“Hey, book nerd,” Emelie called from across my seat. I looked at her with suppressed annoyance. But deep inside, I wanted to draw her intestines out and strangle her with them. I hated to be called names. For sure, everyone did not like that too.

I took a deep breath before I answered. “What?”

“You didn’t tell Abby about the plan, did you?”

I loathe her and curly hair. “What plan? Are we not here just to visit her?”

“Girl, you’re oblivious.” And you are obnoxious. I screamed that in my head. “For a smart person, you’re pretty dumb. Do you really think, we want to be friends with that creep?” She gave me her “stupid you,” look.

“Of course not!” Amanda butted in. “It’s just like we don’t want to be friends with you. Don’t even get the wrong idea. You’re just here as a cohort. A scapegoat in case something went wrong.” I saw her innocent face distorted to a sinister expression.

That’s it! Why am I hanging around these bitches? Oh, great. I remember now. I signed up for this stupid connection with them not to be bullied. But I had enough. Without responding or looking at them, I walked to the door. But before I went out, I gathered my courage to give them a warning.

“I’m outta here. It’s not that I enjoy hanging with you, but you both suck! Clean your own mess idiots.” And I closed the door behind, not knowing what to happen to them next.

***

The following day, everyone on the campus was avoiding Abby like a plague. Some would literally run away from her with horrified faces. Others would spit at her while she passed by.

“Wanna know why people treat your friend like that?” I almost jumped when the evil Amanda spoke behind me. She was on her black dress and goth make-up. Creep.

I didn’t pay attention to her and kept walking until a photo on the bulletin board caught my eyes. It was Amanda’s selfie with a plate of viand. But something was off. I took a closer look at the photo and saw a fake finger on the plate. It even had a red-coated nail. Beneath the picture were the captions “#Abby’sPlaceRealHouseOfHorror.” “#HumanEater.” “#Shapeshifter.”

“This is too much lady bitch!” I lashed out at Amanda. Surprise registered on her face. “Wanna know another secret? I’m a witch. Now, pick on me again. Let’s see who would win this time.”

I pushed her out of my way.

I looked for Abby, but no luck. Perhaps she was hiding somewhere. I didn’t attend my classes that day. Instead, I went to my favorite spot among the bushes right behind the grandstand of our school.

Yup. There it was, as bushy as always. I remembered asking the gardener not to cut it extensively. It was my hiding place when escaping the cruel world.

My heart flustered. My skin crawled when sobs permeated the air, along with the singing of crickets and birds and the creaking tree branches swayed by the subtle wind.

I hummed and whistled to warn whoever was in here of my presence. I just hope my off-tune voice could scare it away.

As I was about to push aside the thick shrubs, someone stood. She was the least I expected to be here.

Amanda.

She didn’t even look at me as if I wasn’t there. She kept on murmuring gibberish.

“It’s just a prank gone wrong. Now, I’m doomed. If mom knows about this, she would kill me.” She cried. Her eyeliner smudged angelic face. She was a mess.

“Hey! What’s your problem?” I was ignored again. “Now, what? Pretending not to see me? Oh, great!” I walked out, kicking stones on my way back to the main building.

***

“Okay, everyone. Settle down.” Miss Ledesma stood amongst students in terror. They were in the school quadrangle.

I saw one of my classmates at a corner and joined her.

“Where have you been?” Her tone asked as if it was a crime not to stick with her.

“What’s happening? Why is everyone here?” I completely ignored her, determined to know what was the commotion about.

“Someone found a student hanging by an electric cord in the music room.”

“Who?” And just before my classmate responded, men in white uniforms went out of the music room carrying a stretcher covered in a white blanket. My heart almost dropped when the hand of the corpse accidentally dropped on the side, as if waving goodbye.

The dead student wore a familiar bracelet. And I couldn’t be wrong. It was the bracelet I gave my childhood friend. But that was impossible. I didn’t even know she enrolled here.

Then my instinct kicked in. I need to check it myself. I ran towards the men. But before I reach them, a woman showed up. With a trembling hand, she uncovered the body.

Abby!

The dead girl was Abby. I stood petrified, unable to breathe. My head spun. My knees were noodles.

Abby’s sister looked at me. She was wearing dark glasses, but I knew she was looking at me. She nodded, signaling me to go with them in the ambulance.

***

I paced back and forth in the hospital lobby. My mind was in chaos, flooded with questions.

A tap on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

“It was my fault.” I looked at Abby’s sister. Why the hell didn’t I know her name? “Do you really not remember me?” She removed her glasses, which revealed her cat eyes. I knew it! I wasn’t seeing things back then. “We used to be neighbors. And you used to play with Abby when you were both three. You even gave her a bracelet.”

A pang of guilt and longing stabbed my chest. Yes. I remembered. I chose a bracelet with many hearts because I said the number of hearts represents how much I love her. I choked on my words. My eyes blurred with heavy tears. Suddenly, memories came rushing.

“You were the only child who played with my sister. Everyone avoided her because they were afraid of me. Of how I look. It’s my fault, why people avoided and bullied my sister. It’s my fault she ended her life. She must’ve hated me that much. My rare condition killed my sister.”

Realization hit me hard. They were not monsters. My instinct was not always right. I hated myself for misjudging her.

I gave her a tight hug. “It isn’t your fault. You and Abby are only victims of people’s poor judgment. And I’m sorry for being one of them.”