The next day I got a call from the publisher saying that after two or three days my book will be officially published.

My happiness couldn't be described when I heard that. I can't wait to finally hold my work in my hands. People would actually read the characters and the story that I built. My head was over the clouds. Finally, my dream was coming true.

Mine and Hailey's dream was coming true.

Hailey might be proud of me. No, Hailey is proud of me.

Is.

Present tense used.

Finally.

Well, never mind. I overreacted. It's just that I die for framing a sentence where I can use present tense for Hailey, and it will make perfect grammatical sense and will be the truth.

I called Lily and she was just as happy as I was. She shouted and rambled and congratulated me with excitement. She said that she would love to come over to my flat, but she was going for shopping with Mary and Alice.

I spent the rest of the day at home. I got a letter from Cedric saying that he has successfully managed to convince the family to go back to USA and now they are on their way back. He apologized to me once again in the letter, and as soon as I saw that my mind shifted again to day dreaming.

Am I ready to forgive them? The one who hurt me so bad and left no space for love in my life?

Nope. Not yet. Maybe I'll forgive them once the scars in my heart have vanished. And that is known as: never.

I got rid of the thoughts and then went to my room and took out mine and Hail's diary. I continued reading from the page I left on the other day.

Diary Entry #4.

10th August, 2004.

Today a surprise painting contest was held in our class which was compulsory for everyone to participate. I was horrible at painting and was super tensed, but Hailey was perfect in it and she encouraged me by saying that it's gonna be nothing, you just have to visualize an image and let the colors flow.

So I followed what she told. Everyone were given a set of paints and brushes and their own canvas. I took a deep breath, visualized an image and started painting.

I kept on painting and painting and didn't realize I finished. It didn't come out as I had expected, but I was satisfied with the result.

I had drawn a road and on either side of it there were cherry blossom trees and the sky was a mixture of blue, slight hint of orange and violet. Then there was a girl walking on the road whose hair were flowing in the direction of the wind and her hands were kept in her pockets.

Hailey had drawn something more beautiful and perfect. She drew a lake on which the midnight moon's reflection was shining, then there was a boat kept on the corner of the lake from where the land starts, and on the land there was a tree whose leaves had withered and they were flying away.

Of course, my brilliant twin sister won the first prize and I was so proud of her that moment. Well, honestly I'm proud of her every moment.

The second prize was won by one of our enemies and believe me, I had no idea how she won that.

Third prize was won by Macy, and I couldn't help but give a small smile at it.

I was given the special consolation prize, and my happiness couldn't be described. After collecting the prize I ran towards Hailey and gave her a tight hug.

"Congo, Ham," she whispered and I giggled before replying her with the same.

Today's dinner: Fried chicken and mozzarella sticks! Yum.

I couldn't help but smile at the entry. I still remember how happy I was when even though I was terrible at painting, how Hailey's advice led me in winning the consolation prize.

After a while I kept back the diary and lay on my bed. The clock showed that it was 5:35 p.m. I was in a very good mood after reading the diary entry and also because of my book publishing news so I decided to talk to someone. Lily, Mary and Alice were shopping. Then I thought of calling my favorite brother.

After a few rings, he picked up.

"Hey Sherry bro."

"Yo Ann sis. You seem to be in a good mood today. What's up?"

"The ceiling?" I replied just like I had done to Lily.

I heard him cough and he said, "But I thought it was the sky. Anyway, what has made you call me today?"

"The girls are out shopping, John is boring so I thought why not call Holmes?"

"John! Did you hear that?"

"What? How can I hear what Ann said when you're the one talking to her!"

"Well, she said that-"

"Well, well, well. Look at whom we're talking to. Hey John how are you doing?" I quickly cut him off because if John got to know that I called him boring, apples know what will he do to me.

Stupid Hannah. I forgot that Sherry and John are always together. Those two are brothers for life.

Then I heard John say, "Oh, hey Hannah! How are you?"

"I think I just asked you that and I expected something like 'I'm fine' but it's okay. I'm fine, by the way."

"I'm sorry, your highness. I'm absolutely fine, thank you for asking."

"Um, well... Hannah, we got to go. We are in a public place right now and there's a lot of crowd here. Probably because it's the Thanksgiving season. Bye, see you soon," Sherry spoke promptly.

"Bye Sher-"

The call ended.

I blew out a frustrated sigh as I laid back on my bed. Every time I'm with them they complain about my gloomy mood, and today when I'm finally happy all are busy. Everyone are out today and I'm here dying in my bed.

Everyone are out.

I'm not included.

I have ringed a bell.

I quickly jumped off the bed and walked to the calendar and saw the date.

8th November.

And my birthday is in 19 days!

Are they planning to buy something for me... or is it just a coincidence?

I have made it very clear to them since the past few years that I really hate celebrating my birthday. But with the kind of friends they are, they would pay no heed to me and try their best to make me happy on a sad day.

I just shook off all these thoughts from my mind because if in case what I'm thinking right now turns out to be just an expectation, then I'll be the one hurt in the end.

I sat on my bed, remembering Hailey all of a sudden. My sweet innocent twin sister. I really wish she was here today, and there was no such thing called M and Macy existing.

But then I thought about some things.

If Hailey never died, I would've never gotten to know about mom and dad's true colors.

If she never died, I would've never gotten the chance to stand on my own feet and face the world with courage. I wasn't the most courageous person, but at least I escaped to a city filled with unknown people and managed to settle down there.

If she never died, I would've never come to London.

If she never died, I would've never met such wonderful friends, Lily, the group and Mrs. Miley, my professor, who has also played a role in my book publishing.

Maybe Hailey dying had some kind of role in shaping my life. But still, she shouldn't have even died in the first place.

I have to move on from her death, I have been trying to since the past ten years. Maybe life changed for the better or the worst after her, but I can't help but hope how she never died in the first place. If fate would've wanted, I would still land in London and meet my people. Probably even Hailey would be with me in London too. But fate had much worse plans.

M, Macy and the nightmares of my life... They are definitely the things that have been nothing but a curse I wish was never chanted. M committed a sin by killing my sister. He had no right to end such a precious life.

I got a new message and checked from whom the message was, and I immediately felt anger rush in me.

Unknown

Missing your friends, Hannah? Oh, don't worry, I'm here!

-M.

I angrily shifted my gaze towards the window and stared at it for a while.

This M is just killing me. Yeah, why doesn't he just kill me instead of making me suffer with the unlimited questions caused by his each letter and message? If his intentions are to kill me, please do right away, I wouldn't mind a bit. I have nothing to lose anyway, it would be a gift for the world if my existence ceased from here.

He has a set of questions to answer, the answers that I deserve to know. The most curious questions being, why did he kill Hailey and how in world does he stalk me all the time? I hope I could do the same to him and creep the hell out of him, but sadly I don't have such a villainous mind.

I just sighed and then continued reading the diary. It's better to wander my thoughts in the beautiful past of Hailey and I than live in the dreadful present that contains a heartless killer.

Diary Entry #5

11th August, 2004.

Today was a Saturday. Ham and I were extremely bored. Then an idea came up in my mind, and it seemed to occur in Ham's mind too as we exchanged the 'you're thinking what I'm thinking' stare.

The both of us grinned and then together jumped off the bed and ran out of the house.

We slowly walked to the woods and searched for the thing.

"Hail, look!" Ham shouted and I ran to where she was.

Once I reached we both looked up and smiled. On top of the tree stood a small but beautiful tree house. We had built this tree house a few months ago with the help of dad.

We climbed the ladder and entered the tree house. This tree house was just for me and Ham and it contained everything we need, especially food.

Ham and I sat down on the couch by the window and looked down. The woods looked even much better from up here.

We walked up to the 'Boredom Basket' and opened it. 'Boredom Basket' is a basket which we use when we are bored. It contains some fun items like comics, video games, story books and many more things.

Ham and I thought of playing video games and we started playing. Ham won two times and I won once, hence Ham won the game. We hi-fived each other after the game. I was happy for her.

After a while dad sneaked into our tree house and told us that we had to go and study now. Reluctantly, we went along with dad.

Little did we know that dad was going to take us to an arcade and our boredom totally vanished. We had a lot of fun. Especially in those multiplayer games where Ham and I together made dad lose.

We had fun today!

Today's dinner: Fish and rice. Japanese!

I tried to remember that day. I don't quite remember it properly, but I know that dad used to be very caring and made sure we went out somewhere each Saturday.

Used to be.

If I compare dad before and after Hailey's death, he surely has changed a lot. He had turned from an angel in disguise to a happiness eating monster within no time. Hail had such an effect on him. Without his favorite daughter, he just didn't care about anyone anymore, especially his existing daughter who looked an exact image of his dead one.

Why did life had to be so cruel? Why did everyone around me had to hate me so much? Even after leading a good life here in London for the past few years, those terrible days of my life never seem to fade away. I had no one of my own at that time.

My phone buzzed and tore me away from entering another 'Hey gotta catch up on Hannah's stupid past' moment. I looked down to see that I got a text from Lily asking, more like commanding me to come to her house.

I wonder why did she say that, but then shrugged and wore my coat. Usually friends ask each other to come to their house, Hannah, in case you forgot.

After getting ready, I locked the door and climbed down the stairs.

Once I walked out of my apartment, I started heading towards Lily's house. Again, I wanted to walk instead of taking a taxi. Stupid me I know.

After a while of walking I had a bad feeling. A feeling saying something's gonna turn out bad.

I turned and entered a narrow alley which heads to Lily's house. Honestly I can reach Lily's house faster by walk than by a taxi, as a taxi couldn't enter this alley even though it's a shortcut. But am I making a mistake?

I took another turn and was confused when I saw that it was the dead end. I surely do remember that this road will lead me back to the main road which will eventually lead to Lily's house.

I turned again to go back from where I came from but immediately froze when I saw the figure standing in front of me.

Grayish green eyes.

---

Hello! Please don't kill me.

So, chapter left at a cliffhanger. What do you think will the person do?

Stay tuned to find out!

Apples are healthy, (:P)

~Apple.