Unspoken - Book 1 - S.S.

The tell

Lydia could be a little self-centered and rather selfish from time to time and, at school, she did prioritize her image above everything else, which was why she was always seen with Jackson, hanging off his arm and laughing at all of his stupid jokes, but she wasn't dumb and she knew - well, at the point, everyone knew, but she's always known - that Diana didn't like her boyfriend one bit and, since she was constantly making her best friend endure hours and hours of company from someone she didn't like, Lydia would always make an effort to try and get a few hours with just Diana every week so the two of them could hang out together, like the old times.

Every Thursday, it was movie Thursday for Lydia and Diana, so, it came as no surprise when the two of them found themselves, that night, parked just outside the video rental store, deciding what to watch together.

"You know, maybe this time we could try and watch something different." Diana mumbled, causing Lydia to smile, as she turned to look at her best friend, all too used to that conversation already since it usually happened every other Thursday between the two of them.

"Do you want to watch something different?" Lydia asked, causing Diana to laugh as she threw her head back against the rest of her seat.

"Not really, no." She admitted, as Lydia just chuckled.

"Then The Notebook again?" Lydia asked, as Diana just nodded.

"Okay. I'm gonna go get it." She said. "Do you have popcorn in your house?"

"Yes." Lydia nodded. "And tissues too because you always cry watching that movie even if you know all the lines by heart already."

"It's an emotional movie, okay? Leave me alone." Diana rolled her eyes, climbing out of the car before popping her head inside again to smile at Lydia. "Wait here. I'll be back in ten minutes."

Lydia only hummed in response, pulling down her visor down to check her make-up as Diana closed the car door and made her way toward the store. Usually, because she would rent the same movie again and again, she knew exactly where to look for it, so she frowned when, this time, she didn't find the so familiar DVD case for The Notebook where it usually was. Maybe someone rented it already, she thought, so, deciding to go over to the front desk to ask, Diana stopped dead in her tracks when the lights just above her started to flicker. She shook her head, brushing the whole thing off as some type of malfunction, but bit her lip when she felt her whole body shiver even though it wasn't even that cold to begin with.

"Hello?" She called, taking a deep breath as she looked around, jumping a little when there was a loud bang from somewhere to her right. "Is anybody there? Hello?"

There was no answer to Diana's question and the girl started to feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. As quietly as she could, Diana started to back away from the back of the store where she had been looking for her DVD and toward the door, but she couldn't hold back a whimper when, turning to her right, she saw the owner of the store, laying dead on the floor with his neck bleeding widely.

"Oh, my God..." She cried out, taking a few steps back in pure shock, knocking down some stairs that were probably being used by the owner, causing it to hit against one of the lamps and break it, turning off about another half of the lamps from the store. "Oh, come on..."

In the dark, Diana felt even more exposed, so, reaching for her phone, she tried to turn on the flashlight she had there but, with how much she was shaking, she ended up opening her camera instead.

"Oh, come on, come on..." She mumbled, feeling a weird sense of anxiety starting to take over her body just as a low growl was heard and she whimpered again, the sound making all of the hairs in the back of her neck stand up. "Oh, God..."