After making sure her bike is locked, Aubrey slips her keys into her jeans pocket and trudges along the stone path that leads to the building entrance. This is still early, but the school is already packed. For the first day of the final exams, everyone seems to be enthusiastic. The feeling that Aubrey is lacking right now.

Despite how much time she's spent studying, Aubrey feels unprepared. Maybe she overdid it this time and got burnt out. The thing is she doesn't even care about it.

"Hi, Bree," Bob greets as he strides next to her. "I'm glad you made it to school."

"Morning. Of course I made it. Why wouldn't I?"

"You didn't show up at church yesterday. Lorraine said you caught the flu and couldn't leave your bed. Your phone was also off the whole day for some reason," Bob says, glancing at her. "So, I thought you might be too sick to go. How are you feeling?"

Aubrey adjusts her bag strap that slid off her shoulder. "Good. Better. I just needed to rest yesterday, I guess. Didn't even notice my phone was off until this morning."

Judging from the frown on Bob's face, Aubrey knows that he doesn't buy her answer. But she can't tell him the truth. Not now, or he will use it again to push her to go on counseling again.

However, the idea of seeing Sandra again has been on her mind, especially after what happened yesterday. She doesn't have trouble connecting with her own feelings this time, but she spaces out a lot as if her mind is being sucked into a pit of nothingness. Once she's thrown back to reality, the time has leaped to the next several hours. Yesterday was the worst. She has no recollection of what she did all day.

She needs professional help, and Sandra is the closest she can think of. Also, seeing her doesn't cost money.

"How's your finger?" Bob asks.

Aubrey looks down at her finger. It's no longer wrapped by a bandage. "It's healing."

Silence takes over as they walk side by side towards the building. For some reason, Aubrey starts to feel uneasy around her best friend. Bob avoiding her has put strains on their friendship, and this is nothing like the quarrels they often had before. This shouldn't affect her this much. Instead of being forgiving, as to how she's taught to be, all she feels now is resentment.

"Hey, Bree, Lizzie and I are planning..." Bob's voice falters when he sees who is standing at the entrance, staring at Aubrey.

"Hey, Aubrey." Asher grins, showing his dimpled smile.

"Asher." Aubrey returns the smile. Butterflies swarm in her stomach. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you." Asher glances at Bob who is still standing next to her, speechless. "About the prom."

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Aubrey turns to Bob who drops his jaws now. "Good luck with the test, Bob."

It's a cue for Bob to leave but the idea seems to take some time to land on the boy's mind. He finally nods while pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "Thanks. You too." With that, he walks ahead, glancing a few times at Aubrey and Asher before disappearing into the school corridor.

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"So." Aubrey turns her head, giving Asher her full attention.

"So," Asher says, his smile never leaving his face, "what color is your gown for the prom? I need to know so that I can wear the same color for the tie."

Claire's red velvet dress from the attic flashes in Aubrey's mind. "It's red."

"Daring. I like it." He winks, causing Aubrey's cheeks to heat up. As if enjoying the effect he has on her, the boy grins from ear to ear. "Hey, wanna hang out sometimes after school?"

"Like, during exams week?"

Asher bites his lower lip. "Why not?"

"Don't we need to study?"

Asher shrugs. "Not on Friday. Our brains need to rest. And we'll still have Saturday and Sunday to study."

Aubrey pulls her backpack straps down while considering Asher's invitation. "Are we talking about going to a party?"

"Do you want to?"

Aubrey shakes her head. "No, not really."

"I thought so. And there is no party during exam weeks for sure, at least not after school."

"Right." Aubrey bites her inner cheek, suddenly feeling stupid. "Where are we going then?"

Asher stares at her for a couple of seconds as if he's calculating what he's going to say next. "There's a place where I often hang out with my friends. It's really cool. Wanna check it out?"

"What kind of place?"

"It's an empty building down the woods; an abandoned house. Rumor has it, it's haunted or something, but you know it's all bullshit, right?" Asher chuckles. "Long story short, it now becomes our usual spot to chill. Well, it's nothing like a sophisticated ice cream shop, but it's free from people's curious eyes. We can always bring our stuff there and do whatever we want. So what do you say?"

A faint alarm goes off in the corner of Aubrey's head, but the growing excitement urges her to ignore it. Hanging out with him in a secluded place sounds tempting, and the thought alone wakes up an unexplained craving inside her.

"Count me in."

🔹🔹🔹

Aubrey spots Pastor Marlon's yellow car in the driveway. It's weird that he comes to visit on Monday afternoon. As far as she knows, there is almost no church activity on the day after the Sabbath. Aubrey wonders if there is some emergency news that he needs to share with the church council in person.

After securing her bike in the shed, Aubrey saunters to the back door. It's when she hears the sound of Lorraine and Pastor Marlon conversing in the kitchen. Usually, it doesn't stop her from entering the house, but the tone in their voices compels Aubrey to slow down with anticipation.

"... isn't there. Apparently, it's not the same box we thought it was," says Pastor Marlon.

A metal teaspoon clinks against the porcelain cup, followed by Lorraine sighing. "I'm sure it's the one. I remember the blotches on the crafting. But I don't know why the mirror isn't there anymore."

Then there is a pause. The pair seem to be absorbed into their own thoughts. Aubrey knows it's time to enter the kitchen and greets everyone, but for some reason, her feet stay rooted to the ground.

"This is... it just doesn't make any sense. How did the box turn back up after... being destroyed? I do think it's not the same box, Lori. Maybe Claire found two boxes instead of one back in the days?"

"Not that I know," Lorraine says. "I'm going to ask Aubrey. Maybe she knows about the mirror."

Aubrey's mind runs a thousand miles in an hour after she realizes that they're talking about her, her mom, and a mysterious box. Wait, are they talking about the jewelry box?

"What time will she be home?"

"In any minute. Then we can start the blessing ceremony."

Another silence fills the kitchen's air, contrasting the commotion inside Aubrey's head. The familiar animalistic growls begin to occupy every corner of her mind. She feels the rage and the strong urge to destroy everything within her reach, but she doesn't know what's for. The more she's trying to make sense of it, the more she's being pulled into a hazy thought.

A sneer rises to her lips as a gush of saliva starts to pour out of her mouth. Despite her attempt to walk into the kitchen, Aubrey feels her feet are now stepping backward, taking her farther from the house. She then dashes to the abandoned barn. All she can hear is her frantic breathing, followed by a low guttural sound escaping her lips while her teeth screech furiously. Once inside, she crawls to the corner and crouches under the rusty wooden table that has lost one of its legs.

The feeling of being sabotaged from her own consciousness is striking again. Aubrey wants to fight it, but she doesn't know-how. After a few minutes that feel like forever, she finally gives in and lets the nothingness suck her in.

🔹🔹🔹