It might just be Lola's mind playing tricks on her but the sky seemed to have darkened considerably in the past hour. Trying not to think about how the trees outside were swaying like dancing ghosts in the wind, she hugged her pillow tightly and focused on the immediate issue at hand.
Gu Jun Pyo had finally proposed to Geum Jan Di on the small vintage television screen that sat perched atop the small table in Lola's room. The small tele was crackling, the cheapest yet best gift her best friends had bought her at someone's garage sale a year ago.
The old thing still worked like it was brand new but since it was old Lola had to settle for using DVD's instead of Netflix or other online outlets. That was what the flat screen downstairs was used for but right now Lola's parents were out for her father's company dinner and she never liked staying in the living room when she was alone at home.
This was probably her third time watching Boy's Over Flowers but damn Lee Min Ho will always be her ultimate despite that shitty hairstyle.
Lola's heart swarmed when Jan Di started tearing at the proposal. She'd lost count the amount of times Jan Di had cried throughout the fifty episodes but the happy tears were a welcome change. They made Lola happy.
Maybe one day she would find a love like that.
The crack of thunder boomed just outside her window and Lola nearly jumped out of her skin. Talk about a bad omen.
She shifted around under the confines of her comforter and sighed in relief when her hand clasped around her phone. She unlocked the screen and checked the time.
Eleven o'clock.
Outside the rain was beating down on her window mercilessly, she wondered how the party in Stephanie's house was going. With the weather like this, she was sure it would be a wash out and a small part of Lola was actually happy about it. Stephanie never invited Lola and her friends for any of her over the top parties so why should she care if the others were having fun while she was in bed watching her favorite kdrama.
Her phone suddenly buzzed loudly and her ring tone intermixed with Jan Di's and Jun Pyo's happy reunion.
"Hello?"
"Honey, everything okay?" Lola's mother's voice was laced with concern but it was also sluggish and laced with alcohol. She could tell.
"Yeah, mom. Enjoy your date night," She cradled her phone under her ear and continued to stare at the screen but something flashed at the corner of her vision.
Was it just her or did something move outside her window?
"We're feeling bad for leaving you alone at home. Especially since that murderer is on the loose. We'll be back soon okay dear? Make sure you keep all the windows and doors locked."
"Don't worry, mum. I've got it covered."
The chances of Julian breaking into our house and murdering me tonight were decimal. The school's most popular bad boy never paid attention to me throughout high school and he has been missing ever since his van crashed on the way to juvy.
That was almost a week ago and no one has heard from him since. For all we know he could be lying dead somewhere in the woods, or in a different city, looking for a different victim.
The thunder clapped again and Lola frowned at the timing.
After convincing her mother that everything was fine and that she would be going to bed soon, Lola hung up and turned her attention back to the old tele. The credits were now running so she hopped off the bed and took out the dvd.
She placed it carefully into it's casing and slid it among st the other precious dvd's she had collected over the past few years and then she glanced outside her window again. She wasn't going to lie, her parents had made her paranoid.
Julian had killed not one but two of her schoolmates and they were all in the same year. His first victim, Fiona had been in his close circle of friends but his second victim, Jason was just too random.
He was an average, not very popular student, good in math and shitty in P.E, just like Lola. She'd even talked to him once, they lied for each other when they were caught flaking out on their gym session.
Jason was very anti social, he kept to himself and hung out in the computer room during lunch breaks. She couldn't understand why someone as popular as Julian would kill someone so low profile like Jason.
But then again why would anyone kill anyone?
Lola flinched when she spotted something move outside her window again. Was it just the trees? She could have sworn she saw a shadow.
She grabbed her phone and dialed the two numbers she had memorized by heart.
"Lola, I'm in a dark place." Her best friend Nalini answered after a third ring. Hanna hadn't picked up yet.
"Don't tell me you haven't finished your homework?"
"No, and I have an essay due tomorrow."
"Hey guys," Kang Hanna, Lola's other best friend finally picked up on the group call.
"You still have time, Nalini. Hey, Hanna." Lola tucked the phone under her chin and climbed back into bed.
"I don't know guys. I'm usually not this last minute. How am I going to keep my grades up like this and it's only the first semester," Nalini grumbled and Lola rolled her eyes.
"You always say that and yet you're the one who ends up with all the A's while we end up with B's and C's," Hanna countered as if she read Lola's mind.
"How's it being home alone, Lols?" Nalini was quick to change the topic.
"It's fine. Or I think I was fine but the sky outside is so dark and my street looks so creepy and I can't stop thinking about Julian."
"Of course it's dark outside girl, it's night time, duh. Stop being such a chicken and stop thinking about that serial killer. His own girlfriend is out partying tonight at Steph's house. Everyone's moved on," Nalini said.
"Yeah but he's escaped and God knows where he is," Hanna added. She was just as paranoid as Lola about these things.
"And you think he's going to hunt us down? Please be real girls, the last time he talked to us was preschool. The asshole doesn't remember any of us. Anyway on a brighter note, have you girls seen BTS's latest Butter performance?"
And just like that the tension was lifted as the three girls argued about who ate up the performance. Both Lola and Nalini had their biases.
Hanna being the diplomatic one insisted on being a multistan and complained that the girls were missing out on many other lesser known kpop groups.
Lola was about to bring up Kcon when the lights in her house went off. Her breath stilled and she looked around her room that was now bathed in shadows and darkness.
"Girls, my electricity's out," Lola whispered in fear. She hated the dark. More specifically she hated being alone in the dark.
"You must have blown a fuse. You should stop using that old Tv," Nalini advised, but it did nothing to calm Lola.
"What should I do?"
"Call your parents," Hanna said and then Nalini countered.
"Why don't you go down to the basement and check. This happens sometimes during bad weather, all you need to do is flip the switches and it should be back."
"Okay, stay with me on the line, please," Lola got out from underneath her bed covers and tiptoed to her door. She put her friends on speaker and turned on the flash before creeping down the stairs and across the living room.
There was a loud swooshing sound coming from inside her kitchen and she was stunned to see her back door wide open. The sound of rain crashing against her roof was almost deafening as Lola rushed to the door and shut it quickly.
She could have sworn she checked all the doors before heading to her room upstairs.
"What the hell was that?" Nalini asked.
"The back door was open."
"Lola, what the hell! You should be more careful," Hanna scolded.
"I thought it was shut," Lola mused more to herself than anything. "Girls if I end up dying tonight, I want you to tell Tyler I've loved him since middle school, okay?"
Hanna quickly agreed while Nalini told her to shut up and stop being dramatic. Lola listened to her friends argue about which movie they would be watching this weekend during their regular sleepover as she dashed down the stairs to her basement and checked the switches.
"Which one should I check for?" She asked Nalini, who was famous for being a know-it-all.
"It's usually on the top right. It'll be the only one turned down."
Lola released a breath of relief when she spotted it. She pushed it up and sure enough the light's from the living room shone through the basement door.
"Thank God, I was about to have a heart attack."
"It's sad that this is the most suspense we experience on our weekends," Nalini muttered dryly.
"I'm heading back up. See you girls tomorrow," Lola said gratefully as she ran up the stairs, out of the basement and then up to her room, without shutting any of the lights off downstairs.
She flipped her phone on her bed and let out a small laugh at how stupid she was for being afraid for nothing. She walked into her bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face before brushing her teeth.
Lola was busy humming Pretty Savage under her breath when she heard it.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The shower had been switched off for hours, it never leaked like this.
Lola sneaked a glance at the shower head behind the shower curtain. Sure enough it was dry as a bone.
A shiver ran up her spine when she realized the dripping sound was coming from the other side of the shower. And there was a silhouette behind her flimsy shower curtain.
No, hell no was she going to look.
She took one look at the figure behind the screen and dashed out of her bathroom only to be grabbed by the shoulder. Her back slammed against the cold tiles of her bathroom wall and her eyes widened in horror when she saw none other than Julian Grey staring back at her.
Lola opened her mouth to scream but she was quickly silenced by Julian's strong hand.
"Shhh please don't scream.
I can explain," Julian begged her and she watched as the water from his drenched hair dripped down his face and onto her clothes.
She'd heard those words before. In movies and drama's. Those words were always either followed by those characters falling in love or killing each other.
And Julian had killed poor unassuming Jason and stuck up Fiona.
As Lola stared into Julian's dark bluish green eyes, she couldn't help but wonder if she was about to join Jason and Fiona in the afterlife.