They heard banging on the door, which brought their screaming to a halt, and looked at each other, but said nothing. Another knock.
‘Who is it?’ asked Mischia, with a shaky voice, walking towards the door.
Silence.
‘It’s Mrs Phillips dear. Are you girls alright? I heard screaming.’
Relief.
But, they didn’t know what to say, and couldn’t let her in either, so they had to come up with something before she got suspicious.
‘Sorry Mrs Phillips’ said Kelly, ‘we were just play...playing and being stupid.’
‘But why won’t you open the door?’ she asked.
‘Go away, stupid old bag,’ muttered Mischia.
Kelly went to the door and opened it very slightly, blocking the view inside with her body. She smiled and said ‘We’re fine Mrs Phillips, really. Sorry for the noise, everything’s ok now, thank you.’
She began to close the door, but Mrs Phillips would not be fobbed of that easily. The screaming had been real, and the girl looked distressed. The girls hadn’t come up with a suitable explanation, so Mrs Phillips wasn’t going anywhere until she knew what was going on.
‘Are you sure dear?’ She asked, trying to get a peek inside.
‘Yes!’ Kelly sounded irritated, then collected herself. ‘I mean, yes. We’re fine now Mrs Phillips, I have to get back to sleep now, you know, work and all that?’
This time she managed to close the door, and lock it.
Mischia was no longer in the passage behind her, she was in the living room, taking the money out of the circle.
‘She gone?’ she asked, as Kelly walked in.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Kelly, looking scared. What if someone was watching them? What if they were waiting somewhere, and were going to come and get them?
She looked around, then froze.
Everything had happened in such a hurry, Kelly hadn’t remembered that the scene was similar to the one in Oxford Street. But suddenly it dawned on her, and she gasped, her hand flew to her mouth.
Mischia stopped what she was doing and looked at Kelly, registering the look on her face.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
Kelly began to hyperventilate, then her legs gave way, and she landed on the carpet with a dull thud, disturbing a candle, which began dripping wax. Mischia picked it up and sat down next to her.
‘Kelly what’s wrong?’ Mischia shook Kelly, but the hyperventilating only got faster and louder.
‘Kelly breathe! What’s wrong? For God’s sake breathe!’ shouted Mischia.
It had no affect. Kelly was still staring at the scene in shock, and Mischia began to panic too. Something freaky was going on and Kelly had zoned out on her. Mischia made a decision then, and slapped Kelly hard across the face. She immediately stopped hyperventilating and looked at Mischia, with fear in her eyes.
‘What’s wrong?’ Asked Mischia once more.
‘Um...um...I-I saw this yesterday. The money I had, I got it from this Mischia,’ she pointed at the scene, ‘I got it from this.’ She started crying.
‘This? What the hell does that mean? Kelly?’
Kelly was rocking and crying, and Mischia didn’t know what to do.
Something was delivered through the letterbox, and there was a light knock on the door. They looked at each other, but didn’t move. After a few moments, Kelly closed her eyes and started to think. What had she done? Why was this happening to her? Who was doing this? And why? Was it because she had stolen the money? Why had she done it? Why hadn’t they stopped her? Why did they wait, and then come to her home and involve Mischia?
Thoughts kept swimming around her head, and she was feeling weighed down by them. What would they do now? She wondered.
Maybe Mischia knew.
Kelly opened her eyes and looked at her friend, who was crying silently beside her, looking lost, like a vulnerable child. Kelly knew then that because all this was her fault, she had to take responsibility for the choices she had made, and protect Mischia too. Her flatmate had not asked to be involved in this, Kelly knew she had to do something – now.
At that moment, she put her fear to the back of her mind and took charge. Composing herself, she stood up, Mischia looked up at her.
‘Lets clean this up-’
‘Kelly, what is all thi-’
‘And get rid of it-’
‘Kell-’
‘Then I’ll explain everything, ok?’
‘No, explain to-’
‘Later! Mischia, I’ll explain it to you later.’ she said, authoritatively.
Mischia was taken aback, but obeyed.
Kelly ran into the kitchen, fetched a roll of bin liners and came back to find Mischia extinguishing the candles and putting them together. She began packing the money into one bin liner, while Mischia packed the candles into another. When it came to the cat, they tried their best not to throw up, and when everything was in the bin liners, they stood, surveying the room.
‘Everything’s packed right?’ Asked Kelly, looking around.
Mischia nodded. ‘All that needs doing now is vacuuming.’
‘Ok, let’s go.’ She began walking.
‘Where are we going to get rid of these?’ Asked Mischia.
‘The bins in the alley behind Legends Nightclub,’ Kelly said, picking up the envelope on her way out.
Neither of them noticed that it was odd to be receiving mail at two in the morning.
Kelly had the candles, while Mischia had the cat and money. Lost in their own thoughts, they walked silently along the high street, until they reached the alley behind the restaurants, where the bins were.
‘Are we leaving the money?’ Asked Mischia.
‘Do you want it? Along with the cat?’ Kelly’s eyes were wide and mocking.
‘Ok, no need to be like that.’
They dumped the bin liners next to a bin, not even bothering to conceal them, and left. Walking back up the high street, Kelly thought about why all this was happening. Why she’d stumbled upon the dead body? Why she’d been so stupid as to take the money? Was she seriously that desperate? Why hadn’t she told the police yet, especially now there had been the cat? What if somebody had seen them? Why had she made these decisions? What would happen now?
She looked at Mischia and said ‘Look normal, ok?’ then remembered the envelope.
Opening it slowly, afraid of the contents, Kelly took out a card, as they rounded the corner to their house.
‘What is it?’ Asked Mischia, trying to get a look.
It was a plain, simple white card, with a symbol in the middle of it; a yellow square inside a white flower, with stems of little squares sprouting out of the petals.
Kelly’s eyes moved to the one word beneath it
Their flat blew up.