My huge soft bed sank as Tony crashed on it with his butt, making my whole body wiggled from the effect of the bed bouncing back to form, frowning at him with the full brows that I carved last night raised

“must you?” I blurt and he giggles in response squeezing my chicks playfully like I would my little sister and before I can react he is resting his head on a pillow that he placed on my laps. ‘Player’’I snort, as if reading my mind he winks at me.

Rolling my eyes I shift my gaze from him to Rose, gracefully crossing her legs on the tiny couch by the bedside, her long sleek hair in a high ponytail pouring on the collar of her white fluffy gown, her warm skin tone shined from high up her lap down to her feet which were hanging from the floor – and again how is it that Tony is sharing a room with her and they don't seem to be romantically involved.

“So – boss – the plan?” Thelma’s shrill voice breaks the mumbling from Rose making a snap chat video to Tony whispering some words I know I don’t want to hear. Her face couldn't hold even a fake smile and from the aura she dispensed – she must be mad that the others agreed to this meeting

“so, let's start by getting to know each other and the reason for our coming here” I say. Grinning ear to ear I gesture for Thelma to take a sit on my bed but she looks away – not like I go around giving shits

Rose on the other hand, will never fail to live up to her expectation, she is up on her – wait, is that the animal fur slippers I have been looking to buy – I have searched online non-stop and here she is pacing on it like she was doing a major modeling shoot

“I am Rose, my parents named me after a flower because I am too pretty for a common name” I roll my eyes, here she goes again with the flower name – how can she be proud of her parent's sheer laziness to give her a peculiar name? Thelma did think the same with the way she adjusted her stance and only Tony smiled at her. He must be used to her ‘goody goody loving attention attitude’

“I am a tiktok celebrity with a little more than four million followers and I came here so I can tell them my experience here, I normally go to places and v-blog my experience. Unfortunately I don’t have network so, I keep the videos offline for now”

finally, she was done. Tony is next judging by the way all eyes are on him but he barely lifts his head from my laps and drops them again before declaring “I am Tony, I came for the money, no passion or anything. I don’t even like ghost stories” and like he wanted, we burst into a thrill of laughter, surprisingly enough Thelma found time to give her grumpy face a break

“He is my personal assistant and best friend” Rose declares

“You have a personal assistant?” Thelma blurts hiding the amusement in her face – I only have like a few thousand followers on the gram and I swear I need an assistant that would edit my pictures and videos. The hours I spend on it can be very much used on more productive work like studying

“We have been friends since childhood, I discovered my passion in photography and videography” he narrates

“I offered to pay him monthly to take me pictures and videos since we go to the same schools, he edits them and I post” Rose cuts him off sheer excitement filling her voice.

I catch myself smiling at them, they are a lot closer than I thought. looking at Thelma who finally decides to sit on the bed she clears her throat breaking her lips into a bright grin – she does have a nice dentition and for the first time that morning I notice she already had her makeup on with her signature bright red lipstick but her hair is in a messy bun and for some reason she does appear beautiful.

”I am Thelma, I had a project in school that involves solving unpopular mysteries that led to myths. I am to find a town that have a myth eroding from unsolved mysteries and simply put two and two together. Seeing the game ad, I thought there is nothing wrong with pocketing extra cash” Thelma chuckle rubbing her forefinger against her thumb and we all smile with her.

It was my turn, gracious heavens what excuse should I fizzle out now, unlike the others, I actually don’t have a real reason for coming here and I would sound like a psycho if I say that I left in the middle of my semester to go on a holiday to an island that I don’t remember its name because I saw a game ad – ok, maybe I was hurting just a little so my mind was fogged but I cannot have these ladies taking a nice joke home regarding my sad love story. Even Thelma knows I didn’t know of the prize money so that is canceled

“I simply came to Unwind” My popular old excuse courtesy of my dear Mama. Grinning proudly at them and ignoring the puzzled expression in their faces, I continue “so we are going to combine figuring out about the shadow thing and helping Thelma with her project. For the cash prize, we are splitting it equally”

“Rose is leaving hers with me, we made a deal” Tony says and Rose is smiling and nodding in agreement. How desperate was she to come with him that she offered him the whole thing – oh my, this girl is so many shades of – the weight of Tony’s head lifts from my laps and I follow his gaze to the door.

A girl is peering into the room blinking her lids fast and absorbing the atmosphere, the silence in the room seems to have scared her because she disappears making me sprung me up to my feet as I hurry after her. She is not exactly running but is walking too fast that I couldn’t reach her even though I was half jogging behind her. We both get to the hotel reception and before she slips to the other side that looked exactly like the side we came out from,

I call out to her “It’s ok, we are all participants too – you can join us” 
My calm voice stopping her in her tracks. Her pitch black curly hair swayed to the right while she turn – oh, I just stood staring at the cold crème undertone face, peering deep into those brown eyes that brighten up whenever it saw me, she had added a little flesh from the last time but never in a million worlds would I believe my eyes, my very best friend from high school is standing just opposite me and somehow this weird ass game had brought us together. Is this a good thing?

“Olivia Madden! In flesh and the body” I yelp holding my urge to drag her into a tight hug but still observing her to know if I should. Olivia narrows her eyes, she doesn't seem surprised to see me and neither is she the least excited as I am – maybe no hugging for now. Did I forget to mention that we didn't part ways in all the right ways

Moments later, I stroll into the room quietly holding the door for Olivia to enter. I could not quite hide my excitement with seeing her here making obvious the serious look on Olivia’s face.

“Guys this is Olivia – Olivia, these are Tony, Rose, and Thelma we are your team mates”

"you two know each other?” Tony’s confused gaze rested on both of us noticing the awkward way I gestured at Olivia

 
“No” Olivia was too fast to interrupt me so I shut my mouth after a few second of hanging it open, swallowing the yes I wanted to say but one thing is certain, Olivia can very well keep a grudge, it's been two long years damn it.

“Let us get to know you, why are you here?” Rose says with the soft pleasant tone that would fizzle out any bit of discomfort Olivia felt with sharing the same roof – or should I say room with me but she sits on the floor just by the door and leans on the white and black alternated brick wall paper, I was already back on my bed.

“I know that we should find a way to leave this place or we all die” Ok? Maybe I would have allowed Olivia to leave because what is with this killer joy mentality here? Clutching her hands together and lowering her head, she didn’t utter another word leaving us in confusion

“Olivia – right?” Thelma seem to suppress a lot she has to say to ascertain her name when Olivia slowly nods she continues almost immediately
“we are here to save this village from the shadows – you must know something, right?”

Olivia doesn’t reply, Tony keeps the pillow on my laps again, dropping his head and letting out a long breath. Maybe I just came across a look alike, because this timid fidgety girl on the bare floor is not the friend I made in high school

“I know about the family in the mansion that mysteriously disappeared and then came the shadows, tormenting and kidnapping people” Rose says interrupting the silence

“that was in the ad” I blurt in a somewhat condescending manner and that didn't go well with Rose, but even as I understood that she was trying to push away the uncomfortable environment Olivia caused, that was purely lame.

Dragging air into my lungs, I continue “So, we need to head out into the village, and gather anything that can serve as a clue regarding the mansion and what might have happened there. We leave in pairs”

“We will ask about the shadows, then come back here and tell each of our deductions” Thelma continues after me even though my last word’s tone clearly instigated that I had finished and I don’t need anyone cleaning up after me –

"I will go with Tony!" Rose yells in her typical pleasant baby tone

Yeah right. If it is not the co-dependent boss, now I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling for the thousandth time. What kind of team did I end up with? On a second thought, anybody that saw this game and allowed themselves to be flown to an island with a weird name to simply save a village is not quite normal. And unfortunately I happen to find myself here as well. Jeffery!