BFF

Katie scrunched herself further into the little crawl space, giggling quietly to herself.

She loved hide-and-seek.

Okay, so maybe sleepovers with games were a little too middle-school for Katie's 16-year-old self, but they were so much fun! Katie loved a good game, loved the anticipation, loved the rush that only came from someone squealing Found you! 

The whispered din of a confused group of teenage girls reached Katies ears, and she had to clamp her left hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles now. She was the last to be found! The girls were going to get such a great surprise to find her up here, wedged into this crawl space in Lilas attic. 

“Where did she go?” came Hannahs trembling voice. Katies giggles died out and she rolled her eyes. Hannah was such a whiny little bitch, why did she have to ruin all the fun? Why did Lila even invite her in the first place?

“Shut up!” hissed Lila. “We don't have that much time left!”

Katie was a little disappointed to hear Lilas voice trembling too. She'd remembered her as a lot ballsier. At least, she seemed that way at school, holding court at her lunch table with her clique of seemingly perfect friends. Star athlete, star student, star citizen: that was Lila Sinclair.

Katie quite liked Lila. Which was why she'd been so eager to repair their friendship from elementary school with this sleepover. Food, scary movies, and a game of hide-and-seek, just like they had used to play when they were little. 

Unfortunately, Lila had invited other girls, which made this game with its particular rules so much harder than it had to be. 

“You still can't find our phones?” came another, slightly braver voice. That had to be Jenna. Katie was honestly considering letting her go another round of the game. As annoyed as she had been that Jenna held her title of Lilas best friend, Jenna was nice to her, and she played hide-and-seek really well.

“No!” Lila sobbed. Katie checked her pink glow-in-the-dark watch. They had better hurry up with finding her: they only had three minutes before it was her turn. 

“Okay.” Jenna said, her voice high and panicky now. “We need to…we need to figure out a way to cheat these rules. What were the rules when you were kids, Lila?”

Katie raised an eyebrow. Cheating? At hide-and-seek? Maybe Jenna wouldn't survive the next round after all.

Lila was breathing slow and deep, trying to get herself under control. Katie had seen her use the same tactics in the locker room before a volleyball game, that one time she'd snuck in and had to hide in a locker last minute so Lila wouldn't catch her.

“It's like she explained.” Lila said. “We each have a watch.” Katie could picture her brandishing the matching pink glow-in-the-dark watch Katie had lovingly strapped onto her wrist two hours ago, when she had first explained what they would be playing. Just like when we were kids! She’d said excitedly. Lila, who had been staring at the body of her friend Maddie on the floor, had nodded faintly, giving Katie a miniscule smile.

Maybe if Maddie hadn't tried to end the game before it started, she would have actually gotten to play. Maybe if she hadnt called Katie freak, or fucking crazy. 

“We set a five minute timer. One of us hides, and the other one seeks. When the timer goes off, we switch. We have two more minutes to find Katie. If we find her, she said we could leave. If we don’t find her before the timer goes off, we’ll have to hide and pray she doesn't find us before the time is up. Like…like she found Zoe.”

Katie tapped the kitchen knife in her right hand impatiently against her leg. Zoe hadn't been very good at the game. It had been too easy to find her under the kitchen table, pull her out from under it, and turn her pretty white tank top red. Lila was much better at this game. It would be so much more fun if it was just Katie and Lila playing. 

It didn't matter. Katie was the best at hide-and-seek. Lila had always said so. They would play until there was only two left, the most important two in the game. Katie and Lila, best friends forever.

Katie checked her watch again. One more minute. Downstairs, she heard Lila swear a blue streak as she apparently realized the same thing.

“We can't mess with the time, she'll know.” Lila explained quickly. “We can't leave, she's got the house locked down, and all of our phones are locked away so we can't call anybody either. We just…have to keep playing until she gets bored.”

Hannah started sobbing. Katie rolled her eyes again. At least Hannah would be easier to find. 

I won't get bored, Lila. I'll never get bored playing with you.

30 seconds. Katie readied herself to stand up, a grin stretching across her face. Downstairs, the girls scattered, looking for a hiding place. 

Katie loved hide-and-seek.

Her watch beeped. Katie pulled open the attic door and descended the stairs, the thrill of the game filling her chest, the knife in her hand catching the hallway light. 

“Ready or not!” she called. “Here I come!”

…

It was a gruesome scene at the Sinclair residence that morning.

Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, upon pulling up to the house, had immediately noticed their daughter Lila’s car was missing. They assumed maybe all six girls over for a sleepover had driven to get breakfast. 

This assumption was shattered two seconds later when the Sinclairs got to their front door and discovered it was secured with a bike lock. A quick scan of the house revealed all the doors were the same. After knocking and calling their daughters' name, the Sinclairs called the police, who in short order showed up and cut the locks to allow the now very worried parents in.

Immediately inside they discovered the body of Jenna, lying as though she had been crawling towards the front door. She had been stabbed with a kitchen knife multiple times in the back. 

Maddie was in the living room with her throat cut, the cream-colored carpet around her stained reddish brown. Police determined she had been dead the longest. 

Zoe, lying halfway out from under the kitchen table with multiple stab wounds in her chest and stomach, and Hannah, in the hall closet with similar injuries, were found next. No matter where they searched on the Sinclairs property, however, the police found no trace of Lila or Katie.

Their biggest clue was in Lilas room. Her diary lay open on her desk, with the word Katie scrawled in pink glitter gel pen in the middle of the page. Lila’s parents reported that some of Lilas clothes and her overnight bag were missing, so she'd been allowed to pack. The girls cell phones were found locked in a small safe under the couch in the living room, with Katies phone missing.

Katie's parents reported that their daughter's recent hospital stay had gone well, and she'd been responding well to the new meds. It wasn't until later they would find the still-full bottle of pills hidden in Katie’s mattress.

A week later, police three towns over found Lila’s body in a dingy motel room, stabbed over 40 times. In the motel bathroom, they found Katie in the bathtub, staring up at the ceiling, murmuring one thing over and over.

“Best friends forever… best friends forever…best friends forever…”