After receiving a call from Julia, Mia immediately phoned Toni.
Ring...
The phone connected.
"Hello Toni, where are you?"
"What's up Mia? It's unusual for you to call me so early in the morning."
"Is there something important?"
"What's the news, Mia?"
"So Julia called me in tears, she asked me to pick her up but my driver is on leave, and there's no one else to drive, can you come over and we’ll go to get Julia?"
"Okay, I'll just ask Dad if I can borrow his car."
"Yes, Toni, please hurry, I feel bad for Julia."
"Alright Mia, I'll wait for you, I’m going to get ready," Toni then hung up and quickly left his room.
Toni walked to the front porch where he saw his father enjoying coffee while reading the morning newspaper.
Toni sat next to his father.
"Pa?" Toni greeted.
"What is it, Toni?" asked his father, sipping his coffee and concentrating on the paper.
"Pa, is your car being used today? May I borrow it?"
"Where are you heading?"
"Just a visit to a friend's house, Pa, just for a bit, can I?"
"Alright, but not for long because I need it to go to the office later," Toni's father said, handing over the car keys.
"Promise I won’t be long, thanks Pa," Toni replied as he took the keys from his father's hand.
Toni rushed into his father's car.
"Toni!" his father called out.
"What is it, Pa?" Toni said from inside the car.
"Drive safely," his father warned.
"Yes, Pa, I'm heading out," Toni responded before leaving.
Toni drove at a moderate speed.
'What's really going on with Julia?' Toni wondered to himself.
It took 30 minutes for Toni to arrive at Mia's front yard.
He honked his horn to signal that he had arrived.
Mia came out of the house.
"Mom, I’ll be going now," Mia said, saying goodbye to her mother.
Mia walked to the car and got in.
"Let's go, Toni," Mia directed.
Toni started driving again, leaving Mia's house behind.
On their way, they casually chatted.
"What's really the matter, Mia?" Toni asked.
"I don't know either, Toni. Julia just called me crying. She's now at Roy's villa," Mia explained.
"Could Julia be in danger?" Toni wondered aloud.
"Shh, don't say things like that. Hopefully, Julia's alright there."
"And where is Roy's villa?"
"Julia said it’s at the peak, called Kenanga Villa," Mia provided the information.
Toni sped up, worrying about his good friend Julia.
An hour passed but they still hadn’t located Kenanga Villa.
Mia got out of the car and asked a local vendor in the peak area.
"Excuse me, ma'am, where is Kenanga Villa?" Mia inquired.
"Oh dear, go straight and at the three-way junction turn right, it's there," the vendor directed.
"Thank you, ma'am," Mia quickly got back into the car.
Inside the car, Toni asked, "Where is this villa, Mia?"
"The woman said go straight, then at the three-way junction take the right," Mia relayed.
With the directions clear, Toni drove faster.
After another 10 minutes, they found Kenanga Villa.
"There it is, Toni!" Mia pointed out from inside the car.
"Oh, right," Toni acknowledged.
He parked in front of the villa, and then he and Mia got out and walked toward it.
"Let's go, we need to find Julia," Mia urged.
They approached the villa and entered, only to discover a mess of liquor bottles scattered across the central living room table.
"Where's Julia, Toni?" Mia looked around but saw no sign of her friend.
Then, they heard a woman's sobbing from a room.
"That sounds like Julia. Do you hear it?" Mia asked.
"Yes, let's hurry," Toni pulled Mia's arm.
They opened the room to find Julia sitting on the bed, crying.
"Julia!" Mia exclaimed.
"Mia, Toni," Julia ran into Mia's embrace.
"What's wrong?" Mia held Julia as she asked.
"Take me home, Mia," Julia avoided the question, reluctant to share.
"Okay, Toni and I will take you home, but what happened? Where is everyone else?" Mia persisted.
"I don’t know, Mia. I woke up and they had just vanished," Julia stayed vague.
"Let’s just go home," Toni intervened.
They all exited the room, and as they did, Mia accidentally glanced at the bed and saw bloodstains on the sheets.
Still, she remained silent; whenever she asked Julia what was wrong, Julia didn't want to discuss it.
Mia and Toni helped Julia with her bag, and then all three got into the car.
Toni immediately began driving away from the villa, back to Julia's house.
During the drive, Mia once again tried to find out what had happened after Julia calmed down.
"Here, drink this," Mia offered Julia a bottle of water.
"Thank you," Julia accepted it and drank.
"What happened to you, Julia?" Mia inquired, still curious.
"Um, nothing... I was just scared alone in the villa and didn’t know my way back, so I called you," Julia lied.
"But they didn’t do anything to you, right?" Mia probed.
"No, Mia. Thank you both for coming to get me," Julia smiled, suppressing her sadness.
"That's what friends do, we help each other," Mia said, hugging Julia.
"If my parents ask about the study tour, just say I went home with you, okay? Because Via picked me up yesterday," Julia instructed them.
"Got it, Julia," Mia reassured.
"Everything's sorted," Toni chimed in while driving.
"You both are good friends. I'm sorry for how I spoke to you at school yesterday," Julia expressed regret.
"It's okay, Julia, don’t worry about it. We’re not mad," Mia reassured.
"Yeah, Julia, it’s all good," Toni added.
An hour of conversation in the car later, they arrived at Julia’s house.
Toni parked, and they all got out, greeted warmly by Julia’s parents.
But remembering his promise to his father not to take too long, Toni bid farewell to Julia’s parents. Mia also said goodbye, and they both returned to their respective homes.
***
January 2023, back to Mia telling the story to Dara
Mia arrived at her own house and concluded her tale about Julia.
Dara now had a little more information about Julia from Mia.
"I’ll get going, Dara. We’ll continue our story another time," said Dara, opening her home gate.
"Okay, Mia," Dara walked on.
Dara started piecing together the information she got from Mia.
'Must be something in Julia's past she doesn't want to share with Mia, because Mia mentioned blood on the bed. What's all this? I'm getting a headache thinking about this mystery,' Dara sighed.
Reaching her doorstep, Dara unlocked her home.
"Assalamualaikum, mom, Dara’s home," she greeted.
Noticing her mother heading toward the kitchen, Dara followed.
'Why didn't mom answer my greeting? She just walked silently to the kitchen,' Dara mused to herself.
Reaching the kitchen, Dara found no sign of her mother and went back to her room to change clothes.
Just as she was about to enter her room, she saw her mother coming from outside into the house.
"Huh? Weren’t you just in the kitchen, mom? I saw you there before," Dara asked, confused again.
"In the kitchen? No, dear. I was at Mrs. Ani's shop buying eggs. I just got back," her mother clarified.
Dara stood silent, recalling the figure resembling her mother, who didn’t answer her greeting and just walked into the kitchen.
"What’s wrong, Dara?” her mother inquired.
"Um, it’s nothing, mom. I'm going to change now," Dara said, entering her room.
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