Once again, it was an empty house.

Julia got out of bed and began to get dressed, making sure that she put gloves on her hands before she went downstairs. Her father had left for work again, and… That was that.

Mornings used to be loud. Their mother always got up first. She’d make breakfast while Kara took forever getting her hair and makeup ready. Most mornings, Kara went to school early to jog around the track with the rest of the cheerleading squad.

Their mother would make a big breakfast, see their dad and off, then wake up Julia so Kara could drive her to school. Music would be blasting on their television, and mom would be singing along while cleaning up after cooking. Julia would eat something light, and then hang out in the library by herself until classes started.

Now it was… Her. She got to sleep in, so she didn’t need to hang out in the library anymore, nor did she have to worry about the outdated choices of music. But instead of bacon and eggs, she had oatmeal, and she had to get herself a license so she could take herself to school.

Yet it was terrible. Terrible enough that Julia debated calling her mother to see how she was doing, but she couldn’t. She was scared to. If her mother cared, wouldn’t she have taken Julia with her? Or called her? Or even offered to take her out of here?

Instead, she left her to be haunted by Kara’s ghost…

Julia leaned against the counter and looked around the kitchen. It already looked like her dad had cleaned up everything belonging to mom. Her favorite mug, the spoon she swore made soups better, and even the placemats for the table. There wasn’t a trace of her left behind.

Yet unlike, Kara, their mom wasn’t dead. She had chosen to go and leave them behind. When Julia looked around this kitchen, she couldn’t see either Kara or her mom there, and a part of her knew that neither of them were coming back.

As for how her body felt, Julia was still queasy. Bright lights made her dizzy. Being outside was worse because it felt like the sun was burrowing into her brain. Confined spaces made her feel comfortable, like when she was in her car, or indoors.

Being around other people was the worse. It was overwhelming. They were just as bright as the sun was. Some sort of sixth sense had awakened in her, and even seeing them out of the corner of her eye was a cacophony of noise and sensations that she struggled to shut out. She had to go to the bathroom in between classes just to get a breather.

Feeling to sick for lunch, Julia succumbed to her habit of hiding in the library. Though even that place wasn't empty. There was a table of students eating. Most of them were on laptops, and Mio was sitting by herself.

“Julia! You came!” Mio waved her over.

“... Uh, yes.”

That horrid glare that was coming off of other people was worse when it came to those around Mio, but less terrible around Mio herself. Julia kept her eyes to the ground and sat down next to Mio. Apparently, this is where the AP club met twice a week for lunch… Where they would LAN games across their laptops during the break.

Julia slumped across the table as Mio did most of the talking. Something about the AP schedule and all of their group activities. She had trouble absorbing any of it until Mio started to shake her shoulder.

“Hrm, yes?”

“I said I found out more information about Mackenzie.”

Mio had started her day early and done her research. A little lie saying that she had wanted to put together an obituary for the school newspaper was enough for the teacher to hand over some of the information they wanted. She learned that Mackenzie had been looking at several colleges. Every weekend was spent at her aunt’s in Portland, where she would volunteer cooking at a homeless shelter. Because of her charity work, she had won the town-sponsored scholarship of ten thousand dollars.

After her death, the scholarship went to Eli Strumm. He was an early favorite, as he did volunteer work within the town itself, but Mackenzie had the higher grades. His father worked in automotive repair, which meant that he had access to tools. Mackenzie’s car was far too damaged, and it was assumed that ice on the roads had led to her downfall. Julia wondered if someone had damaged the car themselves.

The only problem was that Eli had no connection to Kara. They didn’t share classes, nor did they have the same group of friends. Julia glanced over at the table of boys, and away again. She got a headache looking at them.

“Is your lupus acting up again?” Mio noticed that she wasn’t feeling good.

“Yes, sorry. I’m going to head to the nurse’s office.” Julia stood up. “I’ll call you later, alright?”

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“Yeah. I’ll text you after school if I don’t hear from you.”

Julia left and decided to tell the nurse that she was having menstruation problems. It got her the pain medication that she needed for her headache. If it didn’t get better, at least she would have an excuse to go home and skip out on the rest of class.

She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. It was easy to ignore the nurse. All he did was wear headphones while working on his computer. When not treating students, he was writing erotic novels that he sold online. Not the highest paying job, but it helped supplement his income.

It made Julia wonder how she knew about it. It’s not like she had heard anyone talking about it, but it felt like that was his passion. She could sense it. That drive of his to continue writing because barely anything happened at this school.

Her eyes opened when she heard footsteps walking across the room. A guy had walked in, and he was dragging a chair towards the bed. His hair was brown and shaggy, and he wore worn jeans, a dark t-shirt, and a heavy flannel shirt to keep himself warm. The brightness around him was especially strong, and Julia had to avert her eyes to keep herself from throwing up.

“Hello,” he said as he sat down. There was a notebook that he had placed on his lap.

“... Hi,” she replied.

“My name is Eli Strumm. I want to talk to you about your sister, Kara.”

Julia slowly sat up. The joints in her back and neck were screaming out in pain, and she gritted her teeth so that she wouldn’t show it. “What about Kara?”

“I believe that she attacked Austin Whitworth.”

A growl of agitation leaked out between her teeth. “What the fuck are you talking about? Austin had an accident due to his own stupidity, and he’s blaming a dead girl, my sister, on it. The only thing he is proving is how big of an asshole he is.” She didn’t want to discuss this when the nurse was listening, but a quick glance proved that he was still idly tapping away at his computer.

“There is a demonic ritual that your sister used to grant her desires. I believe that the three people involved were your sister, Austin Whitworth, and Mackenzie Foster. Every single one of them used it to their advantage, and in the process, turned on each other.”

Julia’s mind went blank for a moment as she tried to process his statement. Kara started to sleep with Austin with little resistance, but that didn’t make sense. The memory that she had forced Kara to show her had someone threatening her while Austin watched. Austin claimed to have used that conversation to blackmail her into sleeping with him.

But that didn’t mean that Kara hadn’t done the ritual. Though, her life didn’t seem that much different leading up to her death. Mackenzie, on the other hand, was going to win that scholarship. What if she wasn’t a target? What if that was her desire?

“You don’t have any proof,” she replied after a minute.

Eli put the notebook next to her on the bed. “Mackenzie was going to use the ritual to get herself into the college she wanted, Austin was going to make Kara his, and Kara was going to get rid of you.”

Kara picked up the notebook. “Sophomore Year” was glued on using holographic letters. Inside was a scrapbook, with notes and pictures decoratively pasted within. The book appeared to belong to Mackenzie. Most of the pictures were of Mackenzie with others. There were even a few pages dedicated to a party that she had at her house, where most of the AP Club had shown up with some other friends.

There was Eli moping in the background, and Mio laughing loudly over a bowl of popcorn. Julia’s mind was buzzing as she looked through the pages. Some of them seemed familiar, but… She stared at a picture of her and Mio playing a board game together. It was some weird game with monsters taking over Tokyo that Julia couldn’t remember playing with anyone, yet she knew all the rules.

She began to flip through the pages more quickly, until she saw a picture labeled, “Musketeers Forever.” It was her, Mio, and Mackenzie, with musketeer hats and outfits drawn on them with colorful markers. The pages that followed were a combination of them at different events. Them in Portland for a festival, pictures of them at school, at slumber parties, birthdays, a group Halloween costume…

Julia remembered herself being a loner, and Mio was this girl who got bullied about and was too afraid to say anything. None of these pictures were of those two girls. But how long did they know each other? This was a small town, so was it possible they were always friends?

“This is a joke… What the fuck is wrong with you to make up such a joke? Why would you waste your time putting all of this together?”

“Because that was your life, and someone took it away from you,” replied Eli in a harsh tone. “But what if there was a way to get it all back?” He held up his phone. It was an older smartphone, and the screen was cracked, but it was still good enough for Julia to see the drawing of an arcane circle.

“And what is that supposed to be?” Julia’s voice was shaking. That was the drawing that she had put up online the day after she had done the ritual with Britney and Mio. She recognized it immediately.

“It’s the start of a ritual to summon the same demon that your sister did. He’ll give you back your memories. The memories that your sister took away from you. He could even tell you why Mackenzie and Kara had to die.” Eli lowered his voice as the nurse coughed into his hand.

Julia had to cover her eyes with a hand. He had begun to glow so brightly that it felt like her entire world was spinning. “Even if this ritual did work, why would you want to do it? How do I know that you wouldn’t turn on me?”

“My family is doesn’t have enough to send me to college, and any scholarships I have aren’t going to float me for more than maybe a semester and a half,” he replied. “I need to go to a top university.” Eli let out a sigh and shook his head. “Maybe you know someone who can be a third, but we need three people to do this ritual. Tell me that you’ll think about it.”

Julia looked down at the open scrapbook, specifically at the picture of Mackenzie and her passed out on a couch together. There were sharing a blanket while cuddling close. Mackenzie had even gone through the trouble of putting heart stickers all around the both of them.

“... I’m going home.”

She clutched the scrapbook to her chest and started to run towards the exit. Julia had to go home. If Trill wasn’t there, she was going to make Kara answer her. Answer for everything she had done, and explain exactly why Julia couldn’t remember. Because if Kara had anything to do with this, then… Then she was done, and she wouldn’t know what to do with herself at that point.