My name is Ashley and I live in Pearl City, Oahu. It is really beautiful here in Hawaii. The crystal clear water, the sandy beaches, and my best friends, Noah, Liam, Grace, and Emma make for the best summers over. My mom died when I was 5 five years old and I had to raise my little sister, Isabella. She is older now and can take care of herself. I am 17 years old and so are most of my friends. My friends and I like to do a lot of mischievous stuff in our city. For example, at night we play a hide and seek but throughout the whole city. Sometimes Noah gets pulled over by the police because he is the wildest in the group. He speeds in the streets of Pearl City acting like there is no one else. 

Liam is the laid back one of the group. He studies all night and usually does not participate in the late night activities with the group. Next on to Grace, she is the ‘mom’ of the group. She cares deeply about everyone and makes sure that we are all well taken care of. Her family is very tight-knit so sometimes her Mom and Dad do not let her out of the house at night to play games. Grace then turns to sneaking out of the house. 

Emma and I grew up together, so we are pretty close and have a tight relationship. Just like me, her Mom died when she was young so we both had to raise our little siblings. Even though, Even though I am closer with Emma than with Grace, we still like to hangout together and go to the mall. 

On the morning of Tuesday, July 4, we all had a sleepover. The five of us woke up at 4am in the morning to go for an early surf session,and we got there just in time. Emma and I layed our towels on the fresh white sand; we decided to tan for a while, listening to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. The bright orange was sun emerging from the slightly lit sky. 

“Come on!” says Noah.

“We are coming,” I said angrily. 

Noah and all the others except for Emma and I are very pushy. They never get the hint that maybe Emma and I do not want to go in the water just yet. Besides that, Emma and I put our wetsuits on and jumped in the water with our surfboards. The water was magical; there were fish swimming in between our feet and the occasional sea turtle floating around just to say hello. We stayed in the water for hours, and we only decided to get out because we knew our parents would be wondering where we went. 

I work at the Sunrise Shack and I have a shift this morning so the gang drove me to work. I had to change from my wetsuit to my work outfit in the car, which was awkward. The drive from the beach to the Sunrise Shack is super close, so I had to change quickly. When we arrived I served everyone a bowl.

“Can I get a Brazilian bowl,” said Emma.

That is always Emma’s go to when she comes to my work. The boys ordered their usual. Everyone left, and I called my Dad and I asked him if he could pick me up from work. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already one o’clock. I clocked out of work and waited on the side of the road for my father to drive by. In Hawaii, Jeeps are a very common car. But no Jeep is like my Dad’s. After my mom died he painted an array of hibiscus flowers on the side of the car to honor her, since those were her favorite flowers.

“Get in stranger!” my Dad yelled. 

“I’m coming, “ I said. 

I grabbed my wetsuit and board and headed straight for his car. We got home and I took a quick shower and decided that I was going to do some of my school work, so that I will be able to play hide and seek tonight. I texted our group chat saying, “Anyone for hide and seek tonight?” I proceeded to complete my homework, which was taking forever. I saw that they could all go except for Liam this time. 

I asked my Dad if I could borrow his other car, his porsche. He also said yes. I was so surprised that he trusted me with his car. Anyway the time flew around where we all start off in the parking lot. There are two teams: cops and refugees. I was on the cops side. So we gave the refugees time to spread out throughout the city, since they are on foot not in a car. Once we blew the sound horn all of the cops set off and started looking for any of the refugees. I found Grace first, hiding behind a trash can.

“You found me!” Grace exclaimed. 

She wanted to finally win this game of hide and seek. Grace and I were talking about the other people and where they could possibly be hiding. As we were talking, shots ring out. Grace and I immediately turn to each other in shock and horror. Both of us scared for our lives. We drive to my house, since it is the closest and call Emma, she doesn’t pick up. I call her again and she doesn’t pick up for a second time. We drive to her house and she is not there. Grace and I decide to get out of the car and look for her, Liam, and Noah. We thought that the shots might have just been to start off the game, since we know that Noah has a gun. We turn a corner and see her lifeless body lying there in a pool of blood.

“NO!” I scream.

As I am seeing the only person that was ever there for me die in front of my eyes. Our childhood blanket is on top of her dead body. I start to get the chills because the only person who knows about this blanket is her and I. We never told anyone else about it. I am in disbelief just sitting there crying and laying on her body. Grace calls 911.

“Our friends’ been shot!” screams Grace.

“Do you know which street you’re on?” the 911 operator said calmly. 

“I DON'T KNOW!” says Grace.

“Just stay on the phone with me.”

Grace was pacing back and forth on the concrete whilst I was laying down on my best friend's dead body. I could not believe it, my body was in shock. The one person who I trusted, the one person who understood me, was gone. 

…

Weeks had passed since Emma’s funeral. My body was still unbelievably numb at the fact that I would never see her face again. I had not seen the others since the funeral and Grace had been going to therapy these past weeks. I still thought that the fact that Emma’s baby blanket was on her belly was really creepy. Chills ran down my spine just thinking about that. We returned to school a week ago and Liam was back at it again with his studying. In freshman year, Liam and I had a paperclip incident in Spanish that has been our inside joke for three years now. 

One night Liam called me out of the blue, he never calls me, it seemed as if he had just butt-dialed me. So I did not think anything of it. I called him back just to make sure and I heard screaming coming from his phone. Liam is the only one that lives down the street from me. So I wanted to make sure everything was okay.

There I was, walking down the pitch-black street on a Friday night listening to the crickets chirping in the brisk air. As I approached his house, the only thing I could hear was a slight humming noise. 

“LIAM!” I shout.

No answer. I was starting to get worried so I entered the house. I was hit with a potent smell in the air and the humming noise was growing louder. 

“Liam,” I said again.

No answer. I headed upstairs to his room. No sign of anyone except for his laptop sitting on his desk. I proceeded to go down into his basement. As I opened the door, the smell of death smacked me in the face and I could see a pool of blood sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I ran down the steps until I could see Liam, lying in his blood, paperclips surrounding him. I instantly drop to the ground and start to call 911. 

There are chills running down my spine. As I am laying down in the basement, I start to wonder who else knew about Emma’s blanket and the inside joke I had with Liam. The police arrive, cops surrounding the entire block. As I emerge out of the house my Dad is there to comfort me. He knows what I have been through in the past couple of weeks. Sobbing, I run into his safe arms. 

Months pass and I am still grieving the passing of my closest friends. Grace wants to take me out of town. I finally agree and she picks me up at 8:00. She is driving and I am putting on some music. Grace, Noah, and I all agreed to not talk about what happened as is it too hard to talk about or even think about. We get to a bar and walk in. It is bustling with people of all ages. I sit next to Grace on a barstool. I order my drink and she orders hers. After a couple of minutes Grace has already met a guy and he offers her a ride to his place. I do everything in my power to convince her not to go. But knowing Grace I knew she was going to go anyway. I got an Uber home and crashed onto my bed after a long night. 

The sound of my sister sobbing wakes me up. I jump out of bed, and hear the TV saying that a girl and a boy were murdered last night.

“Who is it?” I ask my sister.

“Ashley..”

“What do you mean, Ashley,” I say.

“It’s Noah and Grace and they think it is the same person that killed Emma and Liam.”

I broke down. I could not handle anymore death in my life. To all the people I called my family, to my real Mom. I just could not take it anymore. I was wondering, “If it is the same person, then they know me, they knew my friend group.” This person whoever it is knew everything about my life.