Manuscript by Astrid (Editing)

Old Friends

I went home with a mindset of not letting my brain get eaten by a mission from the dead, but being alone tonight is not helping either. It's loud and disturbing. Silence. I'm talking about how loud silence is.

Fiona must be having a hard time just from the loss itself. Now she had put into a mess that as much as I know only us both can fix.

I went to the kitchen only to see all the bags of groceries still hasn't been sort out, my mom must have been very tired last night. At least I have something to do to get my mind occupied. I can do this, just a few more days I'll forget that image from the laptop. I will forget about my writing partner, I will forget about Astrid Hammer death and existence.

Right now, six full groceries bags to go.

I work my way bag by bag and cabinet to cabinet, though I was having a hard time reaching the higher shelf but I managed with the stool. I went to the last two bag. I saw a few treats, m&m, recees peanut butter cup, snickers and much more sweet chocolate kinds. I did not include this on the list. Have I already said I have the best mom? I don't think I've said enough. Well sometimes.

I put the candy bag aside because this don't belong in the kitchen, this belongs in my room, at all time. Dad probably going to sneak in and stole some but I'm sure I can finish that before he came home.

Now the last bag, I reach in for a carton of milk only to pull out a rather familiar packaging and kind that stands on Astrid's video. The same kind and brands of almond milk.

I froze in the room, suddenly the tile became colder, did the heater stop working? The room felt a little bit dimmer. I stand there rethinking back of what happened yesterday, the day before and this morning, Fiona, the video. Everything rush back in, and the bag full of candy doesn't look appetizing anymore. I turned all lights on and checked the temperature settings, then rush to finish all my sorting.

I ran to my room quickly, leaving all downstairs lights bright on. I felt like I'm going get murdered tonight. No, a milk can't kill me.

"It's just a coincidence Laurie" I assured myself, the milk sells everywhere. Nothing is following me, it'll pass, just like what Fiona said, just like the milk, it will go bad eventually.

I hide my bag of treats at the usual spots, so my dad could easily find it. I pull out skittles even though I'm not up for candy but just in case I already felt comfortable in my bed, and I don't want to move at least I have skittles with me.

Tonight is the perfect night to watch some movie, I already have my laptop on the bed, I turned off the lights, the only source is the moonlight from outside and my changing color larva lamp. The same larva lamp Astrid owns, it changes from pink to purple, then blue and so on. I quickly plug it out, turning the celling lights back on then jump into my bed.

Don't even bothered to close my blinds, it already felt like a presence watching me struggling to forget her, or is it Astrid watching me? Stop being silly.

Everything reminds me of her, she didn't even lived here. How am I supposed to forget about her when I go to the same school, lunch hall, class, and even locker alley everyday? How is Fiona doing? When literally almost everything she do would probably remind her of Astrid?

I can't take this, the whole moving on plan is not working and I just can't cope with not taking an action. She want our help when she is lifeless, but us the living pretend it never happened. She may not physically haunting me, but she's now haunting my mind forever. This is not going to work.