Ira's pov

"Ok, stop with the jokes now… it's not really that funny!" I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Do you really think that I'm joking?" Ray said in a serious tone.

"Come. Let me show you something," he said, leading Ira to Rose's old room, which they hadn't opened for years.

"No need to go there! I get it," said Ira, still a bit nervous.

"No, let's go! I'll show you something that I found after Rose left. I hid it so Mom and Dad never find it," he said while walking upstairs to Rose's room.

He takes the key from a drawer and opens the door, revealing an old dark room. Everything is black, from the bed sheets to the door colour. Even the curtains are black! Ira had seen the room before, as she used to sneak in there sometimes.

Yet it always makes her feel weird and different when she enters it.

"Come," Ray said to Ira as he went into the old closet, which still had some clothes and other things in there.

He walked to the corner of the closet, crouched down, and pulled out a box from underneath many other things.

Ira's eyes widened in shock when she saw what was in it.

"W-wait what? How? Why?" she said, her voice cracking in between words.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I thought too… I always thought that it was a bit suspicious of her to just run away like that after getting scolded by mom and dad, but then I found out that her school had reported that she’d been bringing these to school," he said, pointing at the things in the box.

Ira stood there speechless, before taking a bottle in her hands and looking at the faint coloured pills.

"So she had been taking drugs."

"Yeah… I'm sorry for not telling you before Ira, it's just that you were too young back then," said Ray with an apologetic look on his face.

"It's fine, you didn’t have to," I said, still shook.

Suddenly, before we could say anything else, the doorbell rang.

"Oh, it must be the pizza. I'll get it! And please don't touch anything in the box, Ira. It's not safe," Ray said as he walked out of the room, leaving Ira alone.

Ira's pov

I looked at Ray going downstairs and then back at the box. I know he told me not to touch it, but I couldn't help it. So I bent down, took the box in my hands, and opened it. Inside, there was a bootleg of the 'pills', a couple of accessories, and a locket? I took the gold locket in my hands and looked at it. It still seemed quite new.

It looked as though it could be opened, so I tried opening it, and CLICK! It opened. There was a piece of paper inside with something written on it, so out of curiosity I unfolded it. As I did, I became even more shocked.

It said:

"Hello Ira, so Ray finally showed the box to you? I know he did. I left clues for him to do so. Well, you can have this locket. It was meant for you."

So she planned this? I'm sure she did. Ok, this is creeping me out now! Before I could look at anything else, Ray shouted from downstairs.

"Ira come down!! Dinne's here!!!!!"

I flinched a little at the sudden voice filling the silence that had surrounded me until now. Brushing off all of my thoughts, I shout back, "Coming!!!"

I took the locket, put everything else back in its place, and walked out of the room silently, hoping that I wouldn't get caught by Ray. I'm sure that he would be really mad at me if he found out.

Before I went downstairs, I went into my room and quickly hid the locket near my bed. Then, I went downstairs hurriedly.

"There you are! What took you so long? Don't tell me that you were still in Rose's room," Ray said as he looked at me suspiciously.

"Stella texted me, so I was in my room," I said calmly.

Ray stared at me for a couple of seconds because he knows that I’m a great liar; I never get caught. But as always, he just shook his head and got back to what he was doing.

"Take your slice of pizza! I took mine," Ray said with a grin.

"Okay! Wow, this looks delicious~!" I said after looking at the mouthwatering pizza on the table in front of me.

"Alright, I'll start the movie. You take your soda and come over."

I just hum in response as I take a bite of the pizza, forgetting about the locket. Amazing. The person who made this is a genius!

With that, I go to the living room to watch the movie while eating.

                     ~Time skip~

I

ra's pov

"That was really fun!" I said yawning, a little sleepy. I looked at the time, and it was already 12 a.m.

"Okay, it's really late right now, so I think we should go to sleep. At least I will. You do what you like. Goodnight," Ray said, dragging himself upstairs to his room to sleep.

"Goodnight," I said lazily, feeling sleepy too. But suddenly, I remembered the locket. "Shoot! The locket!"

I hurriedly ran upstairs and sat on my bed. I took out the locket from where I hid it, and looked at the design. It's beautiful. Taking in a deep breath, I opened it again. I took the note in my hands and read it again; it IS for me.

As I was about to close the locket, I noticed a picture inside. I can’t believe it, it’s a picture of me and Rose! Well, the baby me, but who cares, I literally have a picture with Rose! God, I'm so happy. Both of us are smiling as she is carrying me in her hands. I never knew her smile was so pretty!!

Suddenly, I remembered something. I silently went inside her room, and took the box in my hands. I took out the pills again and looked at them closely. These are the exact same pills Brandon used to take after lunch! I was so shocked.

But before my mind could process anything, I heard the front door open.

My parents were home! I put everything back as fast as I could, took a picture of the pills and silently ran back to my room.

I sighed as I closed the door. “That was close!” I thought to myself. But I couldn't stop thinking about Brandon. What did Stella get herself into!?!

Who are you really, Mr. Rat?

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I have put a picture of the locket in the media area. So please take a look at it!

Thank you for reading!
Have a nice day/night~      

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Story line and writing by me Star
Editing by Rory Campbell
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