"One body: A death, a suicide, and now a murder.
Lunacy is settling over, leaving its fingerprints on them, while breathing down their necks.
The warm kiss of air is mistaken for nothing but a midnight breeze, and finger prints not much more th...
On Saturday morning, Avril parked her Acura outside the Mckenzie's six garage driveway. She smoothed her plaid green shirt and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and headed for the door. The Mckenzie mansion was one of the largest in Suwatton, Clifton. Ariana's Dad was a famous lawyer, who could do anything. Her Dad had even managed to set free a bloody murderer seven years from now. When the news had reached Clifton High, no one would befriend Ariana. Her then Best friend, Maria Clarkson, even left her.
The door squeaked open and Mrs. Mckenzie appeared. She gave Avril a tight smile and welcomed her. She hated all of Ariana's friends. Huh. Uber-Rich Mrs. Mckenzie can't handle normal people. Even though Avril herself was of a Richie rich kind of family, she never made out why Ariana's mom kept pointing out flaws in Avril's parents. Recently Ariana told how her mother called Avril's dad a crocodile. Big vain Aunt.
"Ariana's upstairs. The others haven't arrived yet." And with a turn of the heel, she exited. Avril climbed up the round staircase. The walls were full of the Mckenzie's pictures. Avril noticed a photo of the family where Ariana was wearing a huge smile and Kaz, her older sister was holding their family's German shepherd, Lax. The parents looked young and fresh, holding hands. And behind all, Ethan, Ariana's older brother, faced the floor, avoiding eye contact with the family. He had always sticked out of the way. The next picture was of Ethan sitting in the library with Ashton. Ashton looked so happy and confident. Not a boy who would be a murder-victim, not a boy who would ever die young. She sighed and opened the door to Ariana's bedroom. The room smelled faintly of vanilla, Ariana's favorite perfume. Ariana sat by her laptop that was placed on a desk by her bed. When she saw Avril, she shut down the screen and stood up.
"Oh hey, Av. How's stuff?" She asked.
The door creaked open and Madeline and Adele came in. "C'mon, let's go to the porch." Ariana fitted into her yellow flats and the girls paddled towards the porch.
The porch was the girl's meeting place. They always sat there and gossiped. As usual, Avril sat on the big velvet chair by the table, Ariana got herself seated on one of the two orange plastic chairs that matched the other porch furniture and Madeline and Adele cuddled in the loveseat. "So, I guess we all heard the news." Adele began.
"Uh huh." Ariana answered. "Can you believe they have placed us on their suspect list?"
"Huh. What a guess the cops made yeah? They must be so proud of themselves." Madeline punched the table. "I don't want to get myself muddled into this cop stuff." Avril glanced at her. She had always been obsessed with being the goody good girl in the whole wide world. "But Med, who says the cops will ask us anything. We did nothing wrong." "Uh huh." She answered.
It was quiet for five whole minutes. Adele kept glaring at her blue and black striped nails. Ariana fiddled with her bracelet. Madeline just stared. A sharp sound filled the quietness.
Avril's iPhone blared. Ariana's chimed. Madeline's Samsung made a chirp sound. Adele's phone went in a tune of Stevie Wonder. Avril clicked on the One New Email from Lau.Shepp24 notification. She glanced at her friends who had the same surprised expression on the faces, convincing they had the same text. The email appeared.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Good Morning! I'm Agent Laura Sheppard. it was reported you were missing from the cruise that day. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions regarding The Havana Incident. I hope if we can meet. If you have time, please text me back. Thanks."
Avril read the screen three times. What the hell? Were the cops really taking it seriously?
"See. I told you they won't leave it like this." Med snorted.
"Uh never mind." said Avril, "Let's meet her together. Let's do it now." The others nodded in agreement.
Avril composed a short text and a meeting at Matthew's was set up.
"Guys, let's meet there in an hour."
***
As Avril entered her bedroom, she immediately went to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and gazed at her reflection. If only they hadn't planned that sneak-out to Melia Cayo.
The full Caribbean moon stared into the darkness. Huge waves leaped over one another as Carnival Glory, the big cruise ship harbored in Havana, Cuba. Everything was quiet. All the tired students were locked up in their cabins.
Except for five girls.
"Hey Med, are you ready?" Adele whispered into the darkness. Madeline carefully closed her cabin door which made a squeaking sound. "You are late Med. We were supposed to be ready sharp at 1:00. It's 1:15 now!" Avril said in a harsh tone. "Uh, Stacey was being such a drama-queen, asking she would complain. I had to wait till she dozed off." Madeline mumbled. Stacey was Madeline's room-mate for the cruise. Med kept complaining of how nosy she was. "Guys...I'm still not sure if we should, you know." Madeline was always against such bunk-stuff. "Med, we are here for fun! Stop being Mommy's little Barbie doll for once!" Adele snapped.
"C'mon guys, this way" Ariana led them to the deck. "This is the way out. I sneaked to Jeffery's office and peeked at the map this afternoon." Jeffery was the director for the cruise. He was the most interesting character the girls had ever seen. He disguised himself into a Mickey Mouse outfit and wore huge pink sunglasses over his dreadlocks.
"Wow, I didn't even think of it." remarked Adele.
The girls passed the swimming pool and the gymnasium and sneaked down the red velvet carpet that covered the staircase to the ball room. Finally, they saw water leaping the surfaces of the Cruise Ship. "Guys, what if we get lost?" Madeline enquired. "C'mon Med! The cruise ship is huge. I guess it can be seen from the other end of Havana." Avril stared at Madeline. What kind of high school girl was she?
Adele cleared her throat and gazed at the moon. "Actually guys, I'm getting the same feeling now that we are out. I can sense something's going to be wrong. I don't know..."
Avril and Ariana shared a glanced. Ariana sniffed. "Girls, we are together. All we are doing is going to a hotel ten minutes away. We are going to be safe there right? And what do you think are we going to get lost? Come on! We aren't five year old kids." Madeline and Adele nodded nervously.
With a huge sigh, Avril took out a map from her jeans' pocket. "So there is Melia Cayo. Just move to the right."
The girls paddled in the eerie, dark island. They were about two kilometers away when it started. Ariana was the first one to react. She glanced back and just stayed like that. The others followed her gaze and squeaked.
Smoke hurled from the huge chimneys of the Cruise Ship and orange flames covered its deck. The flames grew and grew and screams covered the horizon. Jeffery's voice croaked from the speakers. Evacuation sirens blared about the ship. And in some hours it was all over.
Her door knocked, snapping her out of her thoughts. Courtney stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. "Mom asked me to check on you. Are you ready for you play?" Oh God, she had completely forgotten about the play. She checked the time on the pendulum clock that hung above her bed.
Still two hours to go.
She had time. "Yeah, I'll be back in an hour." Avril headed for the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Courtney blocked the way.
Since when did she start bothering about where she went? "Just hanging out at Med's." she mumbled. Courtney investigated her up and down, still not moving. "Now if you'll let me go...I'm late already." She brushed past Courtney and glided down the stairs.
