One

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Amber

It was a sunny day with not much going on in the houses lining the sidewalk. I moved back into the small town that I lived in when I was a kid on the outskirts of a busy city. I had no reason to return to this dreadful place other than a letter I received in the mail.

Pulling into the driveway I saw my family home overgrown with vines not having been touched in years. Not since my parents deaths, saying they deserved it would have been an understatement. They way the treated my siblings and I they were lucky it was strangers and not their own blood.

I got my backpack and heading up the steps to the porch. Forcing the door open I looked into the hallway. This place looked like a picture from another time, nothing used for ages. I was the youngest child in my family and upon seeing things that were from my teen years lying about unused made me feel like a ghost was living here in my place. Strange things that happened the night my parents were killed, running away felt like a cowards move. At least I didn’t have to come back to that.

My older brother said he would come by in a couple days to help clean the house up a bit. I decided since my parents left the house in my name we could just remodel it and sell it. Splitting the money among the three of us.

I heard my phone go off and scrambled to answer the call,” Hello?”.

“ Hey Amber, it’s been a while heard you were back in town, it’s Haley by the way”.

“I haven’t heard from you for like five years! What have you been up to?” I asked. I haven’t heard from Haley since that night. “How’d you get my number? I haven’t had a phone very long.”

“Your brother gave it to me, I was just calling to see if I could come over? Maybe catch up with you and see how you were doing.”

“Yeah that’s fine, I guess you already know where I am, huh?” I guess having her over wouldn’t be too bad, since I was by myself for the next couple days.

“Yep, be there in five!” With that she hung up the phone.

I went out to finish retrieving my things when I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye. Only to see a tree being blown by the wind.

"Amber!"I heard someone yell from across the street. Haley was running towards me I recognized that long blonde hair anywhere. The sundress she wore made her blue eyes pop out. The sun made her skin look sun kissed and she had a couple of bags in her hands.The way she was running made me worried for all the stuff she was carrying. We were not known to be sure-footed at all when we were kids. Just as I was about to mention it she stumbled over her feet but caught her balance.

"Hey Haley, how's it been?" I asked walking up the steps and opening the door trying to get my mind off how much I missed her over these past five years. "I made it just in time for the summer. We should head over to the beach sometime."

She smiled at that and was giddy with all the time we could make up together. I fumbled with closing the trunk almost dropping half the stuff I had in my hands.

"Let me get that for you. I didn't think you would get here that soon so I thought I had enough time to go shopping", she grinned. Her eyes held a hint of excitement and I could tell she was up to no good.

We got to my room when she saw the bouquet of flowers. They were fresh for being in a house that hasn’t seen a soul in so many years. There were also boxes on my old bed.

She looked taken aback but quickly covered it and turned to face me. "Looks like you have a secret admirer. Those weren't there when I left this morning. Your brother told me you’d be on the way so I tidied up a bit. Those boxes are for you, I got them." She was definitely up to something I reminded myself when I saw the way her eyes lit up mischievously.

I went to the bed and started opening them up as slowly as I could turning back to see her getting impatient. I opened the first one and it was a lingerie set. She started giggling, "I know you haven't found the one yet but I though you would need it for later" she was wiggling her eyebrows up and down and started laughing harder when she saw how my cheeks flushed and I hurriedly shoved it back in the box.

Why would she get me something like this if I didn’t even have a boyfriend yet? " I'll open the rest later since I'm sure it's just gonna make you laugh more. I'm only 20 Mae you don't even have a boyfriend!" I laughed.

When I finished unpacking my stuff and the room looked like it was mine again and I asked what we were gonna get for dinner. We ordered pizza and watched a movie. I told her she could use a guest bedroom and she decided to stay. I took the opportunity to open the boxes and I was right to wait till she left.

She got me lacy underwear sets and toys along with stuff to "enhance" the experience. I rolled my eyes and put them in the back of my closet.

If she wasn't already asleep I would have thrown them in her room and told her she could keep them. One of the boxes she had on there was decorated with a whole bunch of drawings she made on it.

I opened it up and a beautiful dress came out of it. It was emerald green and had lace all over it. A note she left said she thought it would complement my eyes and make me stand out. I fell in love with it instantly. And she was right my caramel brown hair fell to the back of the dress and my green eyes stood out marvelously.

I turned to the flowers and saw a box that was on the nightstand, it didn't have a tag or any note saying who it was from. In the box was a very beautiful green necklace and a silver ring that fit perfectly only on my ring finger. I left it on and laid down for the night.

Of course on the fist night back to this house I have a nightmare. I dreamed of a little boy I used to talk to when Mae and I were still little kids. It was the boy that got into an accident. I could have avoided the entire confrontation had it not been for my father. I was running away from him.

I tried moving closer to the boy but he suddenly shifted into a man, " Where have you been Amber? I've missed you." His piercing red eyes never left mine when he suddenly came after me, forcing me out of my strange dream state.

I sat up in a cold sweat, I hadn't had that nightmare since I moved from this place, so why am I having it again? It had a different ending that’s for sure but I don’t remember ever seeing someone with red eyes. I wonder who it could have been.