"Who is it?" Jasper asked, after hearing the news that a girls dead body had been found in Alice's downstairs bathroom.

"I don't think they'll tell us." Candice murmured as they glanced towards the house just as Alice was escorted back out of it by a police officer into the cold February night wind. She still had Jasper's jacket on, and pulled it closer around herself as she walked back over to her friends, her expression blank and a little unreadable whilst strands of her hair blew in her face. "Did you see it?"

"I just saw feet." Alice mumbled. She was annoyed, still a little drunk and dazed at the state of her house and didn't know what the appropriate response was to the situation. She knew she should care about how some poor innocent girl had lost her life but she was more concerned about how someone had turned her mom's favourite couch into a trash can. She stared at the ground, furious that her party had ended this way... since all she wanted was one night to forget about reality, but reality wouldn't let her. And reality had a name and a gorgeous face they were all familiar with.

"Gross." Fei whispered, folding her arms around herself to protect herself from the cold as Jasper looked between all of them, wondering why they all seemed so... calm. But he kept his observation to himself as his friends seemed to react for them all, with one of them now throwing up into Alice's trash can outside and the other calling their parents frantically. To the girls it seemed like an overreaction, but Jasper continued to wonder why they didn't seem to be reacting at all in that moment. There was a dead body in Alice's house and they made it seem like it was a minor inconvenience.

"My mom is gonna be so pissed about that couch." Alice murmured, rubbing her forehead then glancing back towards the house as she imagined her parents reaction...

...The officers kept the them there for a while until the forensic team arrived to turn Alice's house into an active crime scene... bright yellow police tape was put up, with large white tents on her front yard to house all the equipment, they were each questioned for their statements, then escorted into police cars to be returned to their parents, since the majority of them were underage drinkers. All but one remained whilst Alice was being questioned, and he stood to one side to wait for her to be done...

"And when did the masked people arrive? Can you remember a time?"

"No." Alice replied bluntly, "I was outside, with Jasper, like I said and they just arrived."

"And you have no idea who they were? Or why they were here?" The officer asked, her tone suggesting that she might've thought Alice was lying about something. It had been the third time police had been called to Alices house, and they were all beginning to become a little suspicious. Alice stared at her for a moment, feeling the frustration tightening her chest, causing her to hold her breath for a moment to stop herself from replying something snappy.

"No." She replied bluntly again, beginning to shiver from the cold wind now that it had managed to break through the layer of numbness the alcohol had provided.

"Alright, Miss Murphy." The officer said, writing down her brief response and closing her notepad. "One of the other officers has called your parents they should be here soon. You'll then be escorted back into your house to collect some of your belongings since you won't be allowed to return to the property until we have cleared it from being an active crime scene. Does that make sense?"

"Yes." Alice replied, trembling still. Her friends were gone, her parents weren't here, and she was surrounded by police officials and cop cars... she felt dizzy suddenly and sighed heavily as she felt her body sway a little.

"Can someone get this kid some water, please?" The officer who had just been questioning her called out, evidently annoyed with her which Alice found confusing and irritating.

"I've got some in my car." Harvey said, stepping out from the sidelines and unfolding his arms, causing Alice to glance at him without moving her head, her gaze slightly vacant, sending a quiet chill down his spine. But he shook it off, since she was allowed to be annoyed that her birthday party had been turned into a police investigation.

"And you are?" The officer asked, a sceptical look on her face at the tall blonde Male.

"Harvey Jones, ma'am." He said smoothly, extending his hand to shake hers politely. He then produced his I.D, clarifying who he was legally too.

"Alright." The officer agreed, seeing he was of a legal age. She waved Alice away, which annoyed Alice more but she kept it to herself as she walked carefully over to Harvey, keeping her eyes on his face.

"Hey." He murmured, looking down at her with a gentle gaze. "You okay?"

"Don't ask me that." Alice snapped quietly and he chuckled quietly, not taking offence and motioned towards his car, which was a low black Porsche 911. "New car?" She asked, knowing the price of it... silently she wondered where he got it from, since his family wasn't the type to spend thousands upon thousands on cars.

"Yeah." He replied, opening the passenger door and motioning for her to get in. She did without question, since she couldn't be bothered to overthink it. The inside of his car was warmer than the outdoors, and she relaxed a little as he shut the door and walked around the car and got in the drivers side, then turned the heat on. He retrieved an unopened bottle of water from the glove compartment in front of Alice and handed it to her, then sat back and watched her drink some of it in silence. "That was some party." He commented, seeing her finish half the bottle then lick her lips.

"Until it was ruined." She muttered.

"Where was Magnus?" He asked, still watching her face as he smiled. Alice looked over at him, her silence and stare answering his question. "That was fast." he murmured, figuring out that they weren't a thing anymore, as far as he could tell from Alice's silence.

His comment was returned with silence again and he smiled more, the cat like smile that meant he knew more than he was letting on. "Did you read the journal yet?"

"No." Alice replied, looking away and out the windscreen as she wanted police officer crawl all over her house like ants.

"Why not?" Harvey asked, "You would've seen this coming if you had."

"Really." Alice murmured, wondering what her parents would think of the mess she'd made again. She then pulled down the mirror above her head to check her appearance and saw that her make up was still perfect, which made her a little less angry.

"He's not as unpredictable as you think." Harvey smirked, "Ver-"

"Don't say her name, please." Alice snapped quickly, her voice quiet as she spoke across him. Harvey stopped, raising his eyebrows slightly at her reaction, but understood it... he knew the reason why there was some kind of silent hatred, but Alice would find that out soon enough... if she got over her silent fear of the journal and read it, like he suggested.

"Alright. She made a note of all his patterns, he does the same thing with everyone." Harvey said, and Alice looked at him again as she sipped more of the water.

"Same thing?" Alice said, "and who is everyone?" She asked and Harvey watched her, telling her with his silence as they held eye contact. "Oh..." Alice murmured, knowing he meant his friends. "So what is this... some kind of intimidation thing? He ruins something I have then... what, makes up for it? To manipulate me?"

He chuckled, glancing out the windscreen and seeing a couple he vaguely recognised to be Alice's parents talking to police whilst looking shocked. "I think your parents are here." He then said, causing Alice to look out the windscreen as well just as the police officer pointed towards Harvey's car...

Alice got out after thanking Harvey for the water, exhaling heavily and trying to look more sober as she approached her parents... the next few minutes seemed like a blur, the unload of rushed questions, the worry, the disbelief... then the anger. "You are grounded for the rest of the month!" Sophie snapped loudly after noticing that Alice was anything but sober. "You got to school, you pick up Charlotte from school, then you come straight home!" She shouted, "look at the mess you've made, Alice!"

"This wasn't my fault." Alice murmured, feeling embarrassed and angry that she was being shouted at in front of all these people, who were doing anything but not paying attention to the scene her mother was making.

"Look at the state of the house!" Sophie shouted at Alice, "There is a dead girl, in my house!"

"That wasn't my fucking fault!" Alice shouted back, losing her temper as she felt the anger burst from her lips before she could stop it. Seconds after, she heard the slap before she felt it... and snapped her own hand up to cup her cheek as it stung violently. She stared at her mother in a tense silence as Richard stared at her too, in shock that she'd slapped their daughter.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," Sophie murmured as some police officers began to whisper about what had just happened and yet tried to look like they were minding their own business. "My hormones-" She began as her eyes started to water. "I'm sorry, Alice." She whispered before she turned away, walking off a few steps to wipe her eyes and calm down as Richard hesitated, unsure of what to say.

Alice's heart raced, and she tried to fight the acid that crawled enthusiastically up her throat to escape her mouth... but they'd already started moving before she could stop it. "I feel really sorry for that baby," she spat in a low voice, "if you can't even handle me shouting at you once in a blue fucking moon how the hell are you going to manage a screaming child, will you slap it too?"

"Alice." Richard scolded suddenly and she looked at her father, her sharp gaze surprising him slightly. "Your language." He reminded sternly.

"Sorry. I'm on my period." She replied snidely, using her mother's excuse and blaming her hormones and walked off, heading towards the house to gather some of her clothes up. She noticed quickly how her father didn't defend her mother from her words, which only added to her suspicions that something wasn't quite right... she thought about obsessively as she waited angrily for an officer to show her into her own house.

Dressed in gloves with her hair up and escorted upstairs, Alice was able to collect some of her clothes and toiletries, after they'd been inspected and cleared by the forensic team. She barely recognised her house with all the numbered markings all over it, the smell of chemicals and people dressed in white suits...

... Alice sighed heavily as she packed up her make up, her mind running over everything that had happened that evening in detail. How could she not have seen it coming...? Of course he would try to ruin her birthday, he even gave her a warning the last time she'd seen him. She felt her head beginning to ache as the alcohol wore off more and her energy levels grew dangerously low, she looked up and out of the window above her head, seeing the dimly lit view of her garden then the woods behind it, and saw people in white suits inspecting the garden too...

Her eyes wandered, something white amongst the trees of the woods behind her house catching her gaze suddenly...

She tensed immediately, her muscles fixing into place as a surge of anger and fear surged her veins as her eyes drank in the sight of a masked figure emerging between the lean bodies of the trees and stared hard, wondering if she was imagining the floating mask until she saw that whoever it was; was only wearing dark clothes. It felt like they were staring at her, even though the vacant doll mask with its big, animated eerie smile gave anything away... she knew they were looking at her. Her heart raced again as she continued to stared, and what was only a few seconds felt like much longer.

The masked figure lifted their left hand and waved using only lazy movements of their fingers, the movement sending a chill down Alice's spine since it only confirmed that they had been looking right at her... Alice's breath hitched in her throat as they moved their hand to their mask and held one finger up against the painted smile as if to tell her to be quiet.

She wanted to tell the officer stood by her bedroom door but knew she shouldn't... for it was only then that she noticed that there was not only one mask but many more standing a little further back in the shadows... all of them stood eerily still. Alice turned away, feeling exposed suddenly, and felt the faintly familiar feeling of fear creeping up her spine and tingling through her legs.

Her breaths were short and sharp as she walked away from the window and over to her closet, pulling open the white doors and reaching up onto the shelf to retrieve the white journal that Harvey explained would tell her everything she would need to know... the whole evening now felt like some kind of message. For there were cops all over Alice's house and yet even then she felt vulnerable and unsafe. But as she pulled out the journal, a box fell towards her, after being nudged by a folded pile of sweaters that she'd clumsily dislodged. She fumbled with it, dropping the journal by accident as she steadied herself with the box in her arms as some of its contents also fell out.

"Do you need help?" The officer asked from the door and Alice shook her head quickly, replying a quick no as she noticed the journal open on the floor. "Alright." The officer murmured, going back to standing by the door quietly.

Alice crouched down and put the box down too, reaching for some of the contents to put back... however it was only then that she saw the black box that Magnus had giving her for her birthday lying motionless by a pair of shoes. It seemed to stare at her too, and she snatched it up and put the lid back on properly so that she didn't see what was inside.

She wanted to open it, but she wanted to throw it away also... Alice knew if she saw what he had given her she'd grow attached to it, for the feelings she had for him were still very much present underneath all the anger she was feeling towards him, they were tucked away in a box with the lid messily placed over the top like the one that had just fallen into her arms... She also knew if she threw it away the curiosity of what it could have been would drive her insane... so she kept it, and put it in her little suitcase to look at another day when she had the courage, along with Veronica's dairy.

She gathered the rest of her things up into the small suitcase and left her room, feeling anxious and a little dizzy that maybe this was the start of something she wouldn't be able to handle. She knew what Magnus was capable of, or at least she thought she did... but what she wasn't aware of in that moment, on the fifteen of February 2019, that she was completely unaware of what she was capable of, also.

* * *

"Thanks for letting me borrow these." Alice said as she changed into the clothes Candice had brought from her house to school. The three girls were currently in the girls toilets, Fei and Candice on one side of the cubicle door and Alice on the other, now pulling on clear tights underneath the brown suede miniskirt that was tucked into a long sleeved red, white and blue striped top.

"It's not a problem," Candice replied as Alice fixed herself up and sighed, tucking her un-styled hair behind her ears. It hung still slightly wet and wavy down her back, with some wisps curling by her face... she barely had any energy to blow dry her hair that morning since she'd barely slept over the weekend. "So... hows it going?" Candice asked as Alice emerged from the cubicle and walked over to the mirrors to apply her make up, even though the bell had rung for first period already.

"mm." Alice hummed, "It's fine." She murmured, remembering the room she was sharing with her sister at a hotel in town. "My sister spent the whole weekend crying because my mom forgot to bring the right pyjamas and her special light up bear with her from home so I got like no sleep," she continued as she applied her concealer heavily under her eyes to cover the dark circles. "On top of that my mom thinks it's super okay and fine to be an absolute grade one bitch to me ninety percent of the time because of her hormones and my dad just lets her take it out on everyone like it's perfectly fine. And I have none of my nice clothes with me, my laptop died and I forgot my charger, I forgot my text books too and I can't even go back to the house to get them because it's a fucking murder crime scene, I look like shit-" she cut herself off as her voice cracked, her eyes now watering heavily as she felt the tightness of frustration and stress squeezing her chest.

Her friends gathered at her side also immediately and put their arms around her to comfort her as she inhaled and exhaled slowly and refused to cry, but the urge was there, grasping at her throat so tightly that every breath felt like strain. "Don't be sad, Alice," Fei said softly, rubbing her back as Candice played with her hair since she knew Alice found it relaxing.

"I'm not sad, I'm fucking angry," Alice snapped and closed her eyes and breathed carefully as she tried not to focus on the loud screaming, ranting voice in her head. "He didn't need to do that, he didn't have to ruin my birthday like that." She continued, feeling the tears drop from her eyes onto her cheeks but she wiped them away seconds after they touched her skin. She groaned angrily and rubbed her eyes as Candice and Fei watched her sadly, there was so much Alice needed to say but it was grumbled and messy in her head and didn't seem to want to form into sentences logical enough for her to say out loud. Her body took over, ignoring her desire not to cry and released the tears anyway. She didn't sob, at least she tried not to, as a stream of moisture flowed down her face and dropped off her chin. "Sorry," she mumbled, but the tears continued to flow from her eyes and now they'd begun they didn't want to stop.

"Don't apologise," Candice whispered as Fei collected tissues hurriedly, "You haven't done anything wrong,"

"Everyone was staring at me," Alice mumbled, thinking back to when she'd walked in that morning to numerous pairs of eyes staring and whispering. Fei sighed as she handed Alice some of the tissues, but also helped to dab some of the tears off her cheeks too. "This is so humiliating." She whispered, looking down at her shoes as she felt her back being rubbed in comfort.

"We should take a mental health day and go to the park or something," Candice said suddenly, "My mom said that new zen garden is really calming."

"My dad designed that!" Fei said excitedly, "Sorry, irrelevant info." She murmured and blushed in embarrassment.

"It's not irrelevant," Alice replied, "I'd like to go actually." She continued, looking up at herself in the mirror and sighing. She had no eye make up on, or had bothered to do her eyebrows either and looked tired and as defeated as she felt... "I look like a ghost."