Illusion and Reality

Freaky pendant

“Are you ready to leave?” asked an impatient Lily standing at the door of my room. 

‘For the fifth time in the last 2 minutes….not yet,” I replied looking at her through the mirror, while curling the last strand of hair, “Okay, I am ready now.”

“Finally,” Lily exclaimed dramatically.

Waiting for her in the living room, I checked my phone for any messages. Lily came out of her room holding the pendant box in her hands, “It will look better with your dress.”

I stared at Lily silently, “I can’t take this, you wanted to wear it today.”

Rolling her eyes, she removed the pendant from the box, “It is just jewelry silly girl, I love you more, besides it won’t look good with my black dress and makeup.”

Shaking my head with a small smile, I put the pendant on. Lily was wearing her black bodycon dress, her makeup consisted of smoky eyes and nude lips with pin-straight hair. The color and makeup were making her skin glow even more. Meanwhile, my makeup consisted of soft glittery eyes and pink lips with curly hair. 

“You look beautiful Lil.”

Flipping her hair, she smirked, “I know.”

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After exactly 15 minutes, I refused to believe the sight my eyes were showing me. We were standing in front of the house where the party was supposed to be, but it was not any house. It was the same abandoned building. 

“How is this possible?”

The house which was once inhabited by rodents and spiders was packed with people chattering and laughing. Long gone was the shabby lawn, which looked out of the place in front of the pristine neighbors. The lawn had perfectly mowed grass, with a trail of stones leading to the main entrance. 

“I thought no one lived here?”

“Maybe they just moved,” she shrugged carelessly as we walked inside the house. The house was shining brightly, red cups were left here and there. People were laughing, dancing happily.

It was impossible to say the house was ever abandoned. 

I was too engrossed in my thoughts that I failed to notice Lily biting her nails, which she does whenever she feels nervous….which happened once in a blue moon.

“You okay?”

“I am worried, what if he does not like me?” she asked with furrowed eyebrows, eyes filled with doubt, which made her vulnerable, different from the normal Lily I saw every day.

“If he does not like you then it is his loss, you are a smart, beautiful, independent woman and any man would be lucky to have you in his life. Don’t ever doubt yourself,” I smiled, “sometimes you talk too much and forget to listen but hey I am not complaining.”

She chuckled slightly.

“Now go away and do your magic.”

“There he is, I am going to say hi to him,” she pointed towards the end of the stairs but he was blocked from my sight by few people standing with him.

“Hey,” a familiar voice said.

I turned towards him with a smile, staring at the tall guy with grey eyes and long blonde hair, “Hey Liam, what are you doing here? I thought you live on the other end of the town.”

“Someone likes to stalk me in her free time,” he said with a teasing smile, making the heat rush to my cheeks.

“You wish,” I rolled my eyes.

“I am kidding. Nathan used to be my neighbor before he moved out of the town. I have never seen you in parties though.”

“Parties aren’t really my thing, my best friend practically dragged me here,” I replied with a laugh.

He smiled showing his pearly whites, making girls swoon over his smile. 

“Did someone recently move to this house?” I asked grabbing a drink.

He shrugged taking a sip from his drink. “I don’t know, maybe Nathan’s family owns this house.”

I opened my mouth to ask another question when someone collided with me, as a result, I spilled the drink over my dress. 

“I am so sorry, I am so clumsy, please forgive me,” a petite girl with amber eyes and black pixie hair said in a timid voice. 

“It’s fine,” I said trying to remove some of the drink with my hands.

“You can clean it there,” she pointed towards a brown door, “I’ll show you the room.”

Giving an apologetic smile to Liam, I followed the girl quietly, “It’s okay, I got this,” I said as I opened the door but got stopped by her voice.

“Are you sure? I feel really bad about ruining your dress.”

“Is everything alright here ladies?” a smooth masculine asked. 

Standing next to us was a muscular man, with grey eyes, a defined jaw, with black hair styled neatly. 

“Everything is fine, Nathan,” replied the girl with a dreamy smile on her face. 

It was none other than the infamous Nathan. 

Giving a small smile to the girl, his eyes met mine, “I don’t think we’ve met. I can never forget a beautiful face like yours,” he said with a wink.

Clearing my throat a little bit and putting on a fake smile which I’d mastered in the last few years, I replied, “No we have never met. I am Samara, Lily’s friend.”

“Here you are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” came Lily’s sound, “Oh my goodness, what happened to your dress,” hearing her loud voice, the girl took a step backward, looking scared and I did not blame her, Lily could be scary when angry.

“It’s my fault, I spilled the drink on her dress,” replied the girl in a small voice, hiding behind Nathan.

Giving a tight smile, she was about to say something when I cut her off, “I am just going to clean it.”

“Lemme help you,” replied Lily glaring at the girl.

“I’ll see you, ladies, later,” said Nathan with his bright smile as he went to join his friends, followed like a puppy by the girl.

Lily passed me some more tissues as I dabbed them on the stain, “So that was Nathan.”

“He is even more handsome now. He remembered my name, can you believe it? Everything about today is perfect,” said Lily beaming like a star, her blue eyes shining brightly with her smile.

“I am happy for you Lil,” I tried to remove the stain, but the pendant kept getting stuck in my hair.

“So, who was the cutie you were talking to?”

A wide smile appeared on her lips as she leaned on the wall.

“He is just a classmate, nothing more.”

She rolled her eyes, “You need to live your life.”

“I should remove the pendant, it keeps getting stuck,” I replied trying my best to clean the stain, which was useless.

“I don’t think you can clean it with tissues.”

I tried to open the pendant when a bright blue light came from it and the electricity went off for a few seconds. I quickly removed the pendant and threw it on the floor.

Neither one of us uttered a word for the next 2 minutes, my voice was lost somewhere.

“What the hell just happened?” whispered Lily, “Tell me you saw it too and I am not going cuckoo.”

“It was definitely real.”

Staring quietly at the pendant, we stayed like that until Lily broke the silence, “Pass me some tissues.”

I gave her the tissues and looked at her actions quietly. 

She kneeled down and picked the pendant with the tissues, “I am not touching that thing,” she wrapped the pendant tightly in the tissues.

A knock on the door made my heart skip a beat, Lily and I looked at each other.

“Don’t worry, just act as nothing happened.”

I nodded not trusting my voice.

Lily opened the door and the same girl was standing awkwardly on the other side, “I just wanted to see if you removed the stain.”

“Water and tissues can’t exactly remove a stain,” replied Lily with a sweet smile and a sarcastic voice.

The girl left without saying another word.

“It wasn’t her fault,” I replied as we went back to the party.

"She spilled the drink on you, we went to clean it and the freaky pendant emitted a strange blue light, of course, it happened because of her.”

I didn’t argue with her, I was more than ready to leave the party, I had done enough socializing for the next 20 years. 

“I am going to say bye to Nathan.”

“I will just wait for you outside, I can’t stay here anymore.”

Giving a small smile she went towards Nathan as I went towards the exit.