Disclaimer: This story is inspired by Charles Causley's poetry; What Has Happened To Lulu? and Sahira S.'s I Have Found Lulu.
I found myself bewildering again. Eleven years had passed since the death of Lulu. Though I was only at the age of six at the time, the scenes that my eyes witnessed were still vivid in my core memory. Till now and then, I still wondered the ground of Lulu's actions. Aside from my thoughts, mother often refused to face my questions for every time I asked about Lulu.
We were finishing dinner at the dining table, quietly. Mother looked like she was deep in her galaxy of thoughts like how I was a minute ago. "How was your day, mother?" I disturbed the silence. "Fine," her head did not shift a slight. Her eyes were locked to the yet unfinished meal. My wonder wandered off to her understanding of my concern towards her. I wish she could read how much I cared about her health; whether physically or mentally. "My boss cut my salary off this month. He said I didn't attend work for a week in total," she eventually lifted her chin. "It's okay, mother. I worked for extra hours this week. Mr. Elijah gave me extra salary for my dedication. He said I'm a diligent girl with a bright future," I said with a big smile. "With the extra money, I can buy your medications without skipping lunch at school," I continued. Mother was diagnosed with heart disease last year. The disease triggered her system to become incapacitated that her absence at work was sometimes spaed. Without her will, we encountered with moments where mother laid soullessly on the settee. She would eye the ceiling vacantly for an aeon until she passed out. Our doom was exacerbated when medications cost surged. I had to ditch lunch to accommodate her pills but I prefer sacrificing my meals than seeing her agonise. "What do I do without a daughter like you, Lola?" She delivered a melancholy, tasteless smile. I replied with a bright, cheerful grin. She had no clue how those simple words could illuminate my day. It was five in the evening. I had Casey and Alice accompanying my walk to home. It was dull day with nothing stirring worth to discuss about- Forbye the science project that was glued to my mind all day. "You know, I've been thinking about our science project all day long. I'm freaking excited to make it done," I said. "Whatever you say, nerd," Casey enlarged her eyes while twitching her head towards my face. I chortled whilst my hand covering my mouth. Casey was the bolshie friend we had all along. Regardless of her rebellious attitude, she ordinarily came out with boisterous jests that enhance our moments. "Make you sure prepare all the equipment. We don't want to end up getting a C like the last time," Alice, the responsible girl jogged my memory as the guru of our group. Since Alice brought it up, I kept cogitating of a way to find a bundle of wires to make the DIY heart monitor. I finer explore the attic before considering purchasing some. We waved our goodbyes as soon as my house appeared by the street. I took my loafers off and promptly let myself through the opened door. "I'm home!" I announced as I carried on with stepping my way to the attic. The attic contained undusted boxes and crates. The loathsome smell of the dust made me sternutate multiply times. Now that I thought about it, why would one find a piece of wire in the attic? "Well, at least it's worth a try," I shrugged. I crooked my knees before the crates. Albeit it was an anguish for my nostrils to find air, I let it pass to focus on my motive. The crate that I uncovered was filled with random goods. But I could define the theme; it was a crate full of a female's belongings. One old rag-doll, a folded poster of a boyband that, if I was not mistaken, was from the early 2000s, and a bunch of novels and notebooks. Whilst I was gazing upon the bits and pieces, my eyes caught a substance that tingled my memory. It was a thin book with a pinkish cover. The surface somehow gave me a flashback to when I was younger. Woefully, the visions I saw in my head were fuzzy and I couldn't tell myself more about it. I opened the book in page one to when I saw what was written; "Luviena Arden Fredman's diary. DO NOT OPEN!!". The sentence had me startled. "The book I'm holding is Lulu's diary," my heart whispered and wondered; was today the day where I would reveal what has happened to Lulu? Without shilly-shallying, I turned the page over and began to read the dead girl's thoughts. 13th May 2009 Hey diary! I'm so happy I bought you from the bookstore. I hope we can be best friends. But before becoming best friends, we need an introduction, right? Well, my name, as you can read in the first page, is Luviena Arden Fredman- but you can just call me Lulu. It's my nickname my mother gave to me since I was born. I'm 17 years old. I have a 6 year-old younger sister whose name is Lola. Although she's a lot younger than me, I love her so much. She's the one who always cheers me up at the end of a sad day with her sparkling smile and laughter. My dad had passed away a year ago. He was murdered by his best friend's former wife. The way that he was murdered chilled my blood too much that I don't even dare to write it here. Now that I think about it, it traumatised me a little. That brings us to my mother. She's a single mother (obviously) who works so hard to feed us. Sometimes she comes home late at night for working overtime. To me, it was redeeming for her to do that. I'm aware of how much responsibility she has to raise two children. Enough about my family, let's talk about me instead. Do you know why I bought you? The reason was quite embarrassing but I have to admit the truth. You were bought because I struggle finding a friend since forever! My schoolmates think of me as odd because they assume I talk to myself. I beg their pardon, I was talking to the new kid who just transferred to our school! He came to me from my back when I was at my locker. He said his name is Dean. We had a conversation for a little while and cliqued right away. He's kinda cute if you asked me. :) 20th May 2009 I feel weird. Recently, I heard voices and saw strange visions. It was for this one time where I was at school. I needed to go to the ladies so had to pass the hallway. When I was walking in it, I suddenly heard a woman's voice calling me out. The voice said, "Lulu! Lulu! Come here". I turned around to see where the voice was coming from but no one was there. I was alone in the hallway, I'm not kidding. It got more nerve-cracking two days after. I was listening to music while relaxing in my bed. Meanwhile having a blast, I spotted an unexplained silhouette on the wall. At first, it was a shape of somewhat.. A monster. The monster was shaped like an over-weight person with extensive claws and horns over its head. Before I had the chance to screech, the monster transfigured into a shape of a man. The man was standing still, not moving at all. When I looked at him, I could feel that his eyes were staring deeply at me even though he didn't have any. I'm so scared of what I heard and saw. Were those ghosts trying to contact me? I hope they won't disturb me ever again! 1st June 2009 I can see that my friendship with Dean is getting better. We spent all of our times at school with each other- just two of us. We ate lunch together, made jokes about each other, and sometimes he skips class just to see me! Doesn't he genuinely enjoy my company? At once, I can finally let my hair down at school and it's all because of Dean. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a phone so I can't text or call him when we're apart. But I think it's not a big deal. As long as I get to see him on weekdays, I'd be very happy. I also don't get why people always give me a weird look for every time I'm with Dean. They never talk to him either- like, NEVER! Dean said that they don't like him. It's sad to hear that, though. But I don't care. Dean has me to accompany him wherever he goes and I know he's happy to be my friend. 11th June 2009 Lately mother is always stressed over work. When she's home, her anger gets easily risen up because she gets mad at me over little things, and sometimes big things too. I said this because there was a time when Lola was asleep in her room, and mother and I was watching the tv late at night. I was sitting at the coffee table in front of the tv and enjoying the drama that was aired. Out of the blue, the black coffee table was tightly and intensely wagging. I shouted while shrinking back with my hands. The table kept on trembling without a reason and so were my hands. Mother astonishingly asked me what made me so scared so I explained to her what I saw. Without my predictions, she chided me and told me not to over-react much. When I asked her what she meant, she said that nothing was moving and my childish imagination still doesn't leave my mind. I was really confused. Didn't she see what I saw? Remembering that incident, it made me miss papa so bad. I long his warmth and care. If papa was here, he would've understand how I feel. I blinked my eyes innumerable times. I remained idle to process the three entries of Lulu's diary that I read just now. The utmost thing that knocked my socks off was the fact that papa was murdered by woman. I spent eleven years believing he kicked the bucket by a severe illness that I did not know the name of. Realising that I was lied to made me feel deceived. In the second place, I was puzzled over the things Lulu encountered. What were those, exactly? I au courant that was obliged to read the rest of the book to dig the case deeper. TO BE CONTINUED
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