97. Destiny's Plot

"If I tell you why I'm here, would you tell me how come you're here too?" Emily asked Alex sitting on the bed.

Fearing that John could come any moment now, Emily, Clyde, Helena, Ryan, and Alex all went to the room where Alex was staying.

"Ok," Emily continued after Alex nodded. At first, she did not want to say anything about it but as this was the only option she could think of, she looked at Clyde, Helena, and Ryan who were invisible to Alex's eyes and then said, "Hannah and John are my friends and I believe you have met them."

Alex nodded still sobbing a little. "Yeah, both of them came to the hotel at which we were staying at that time and they asked us about the cursed stone."

"So you know about the stones?" Emily asked. If she knew about them, she could know something about Diana too.

"Not more than what Hannah and John told me," Alex replied in a weak voice.

Emily asked, "What do you know or how do you know about the stone being cursed?"

"I remember that day clearly." Alex stared at the empty and dull walls as her mind took her to the flashback."It was 28th November and we all were celebrating my birthday. When the party was over and everyone had gone home, I was sitting on the rug in my living room opening the gifts. There was this one particular gift that did not have any name written on it. It was not even a box or a proper shape. It was like someone had gift-wrapped the item itself without even bothering keeping it inside a box or something before wrapping it up.

I opened the wrapper anyway and there it was - the most beautiful emerald stone that I have ever seen. I showed my parents and they were mesmerized the same way I was. As days went by, I forgot to ask my friends and the guests that came to my party who had given the gifts. I even thought about making a locket from it.

But since the day we had the stone, our lives were never the same.

Unexplainable events began happening around us. We found ourselves feeling like we were being watched or followed. My best friends were suddenly getting sick and it was like our family was going through sad times. And then we lost my big sister. But it wasn't like she was suffering from a serious illness or something. Everything happened so suddenly. She wasn't even in an accident - "

"If you don't mind telling me, how did she die?" Emily asked with Clyde, Helena, and Ryan looking at Alex.

Alex closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued, "One day, when I came back from the school," Alex bit her lips. One could clearly see the struggle and pain her sister's death had on her and now she had even lost her parents too.

"I heard my mom crying from upstairs and I soon figured out that the sound was coming from my sister's room. I threw my bag on the floor as I ran upstairs and the sight I saw -" Alex gulped her saliva and pressed her thumb in a fist to hold back the tears.

Emily and the rest could sense that she must have seen the dead body of her sister but what she told them next, they didn't see it coming.

"I- I- saw her dead body hanging from the ceiling with her eyes staring right back at mine.

My mom saw me and ran towards me to hug me. She showed me a note where my sister wrote that she is committing suicide as she couldn't bear the weight of all those whom she had bullied."

"Was your sister a bully?"

"No, I mean, she was. But that was way before I was in middle school. She surely was a bully but she had changed. I know that. And I do not think that she could ever commit suicide. She wasn't that weak to take her life like that. She couldn't leave me like that. She promised to never leave my side, to always be there for me. She was the best sister and best friend I could have ever asked for. She was the only one who stood by me in my low times and I blame myself that I couldn't be with her through times like this. Something was surely troubling her for her to take such a step. If only I asked her and if only she told me."

Alex burst into tears. That poor girl went through a lot. Emily began rubbing her back and said, "You are right about your sister not committing suicide. I believe you. And I think maybe Diana is behind your sister's death."

"Who's Diana?" Alex asked, her voice suppressed by her sobs. "Wait, John and Hannah did tell us that the stone belongs to a girl named Diana and the curse she had put on it.

And at that time, I didn't know anything about Diana or that she killed my sister. All I knew was that she did not commit suicide. She can't.

There were times when I heard my sister murmuring something behind the door or looking tensed or her behavior being changed a bit. I always thought of asking but I thought that it must be some college stuff. I've heard screams from her room and one day I even heard another voice coming from her room for days but I thought that she might have some friends over.

Sometimes she would talk to herself saying that she is hearing voices in her head. She was going crazy. I never thought that my sister was going through such distress that one day it would end up taking her life.

I wasn't the girl who believed in curses and stuff like that but all those events and deaths - everything led to the day I got the stone. All the weird things that kept happening only to our family and no one else, all led to the day I opened the gift of the curse. I didn't know how but all the roads of the question led to the arrival of the stone as the answer.

But if you are sure that Diana was the reason behind my sister's death, then I'll help you in whichever way I can." Emily, Clyde, Helena, and Ryan smiled a bit. "Now tell me why you're here then I'll tell you my side."

Emily looked at the three ghosts standing beside her. If they wanted Alex's help, they have to tell her the truth.

"What are you looking at?" Alex asked in a confused state. "There's just you and I."

Clyde giggled hearing Alex's words but Helena shushed him.

"Um, well," Emily began explaining everything she knew right from the start. All the events that the cursed stone brought, about Scarlett, Clyde, Helena, and Ryan, about Diana's pawns, about how Diana made Scarlett kill her from which she almost survived, the reason she came to the motel and about her nightmare which came true. "Well, this was my reason for coming here. Now tell me yours. Seeing you here just can't be a coincidence."

Alex just sat there trying to absorb everything Emily told her. At first, she couldn't believe it but then looking back at her past, everything seemed to connect which ended in losing their house as well as her parents to the monstrous blaze.

Alex began but looked around herself as well as the room as she spoke with a troubled look and Emily knew why.

"Don't worry, Alex, they are good spirits. They're not gonna hurt you," Emily smiled to ease her up a little.

"Don't even think about it," Helena playfully scolded Clyde.

"What? I didn't even do anything!" Clyde replied in his defense.

"Boy, it's only a matter of time considering how much you love to scare people for fun." Ryan giggled.

"That I do!" Clyde stuck out his tongue as he enjoyed remembering how Skylar got scared, how he enjoyed messing around with John and Hannah the time they were searching for the Willows and all the other people whom he scared his life. "But don't worry about me, Helena and Ryan. I am becoming responsible now and I know this is not the right moment for jokes."

Helena and Ryan looked at each other and scoffed a smile thinking about Clyde.

Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "My parents had decided to move to another country because of, well, you know, with everything weird and unexplainable that's been going on around recently. We were driving our way outside this state but there were few items left for us to buy. On our way, we saw the m.. mal.. mall,"

Emily, Clyde, Helena, and Ryan could feel the pain Alex was going through. The loss of her parents was still a fresh wound and making her tell them the story could only make it harder for Alex but they had no other choice.

"Poor kid," Ryan said as Helena and Clyde smiled sympathetically.

"It's okay," Emily sat next to Alex and held her hand. "If you don't wanna say it now, it's okay."

Somehow Emily reminded Alex of her own sister. She used to be by her side no matter what. Through all the low times, she promised to hold her hand and never let it go as they'll chase her sadness away together. But all that changed the day the curse made her sister take the drastic step.

"No, it's fine," Alex continued taking a deep breath and smiling back at Emily, "This was the closest shelter we could find till we pick up all the items we needed. And even though there were bodies around, it wasn't like we had a choice or it was anything new. After mom and dad dropped me here, they went to the mall and I went inside to look for a room to stay meanwhile. When I turned on the tv, I saw the news and it took me no time to recognize it to be the same mall which my parents went to and I rushed outside as fast as I could and that's where I bumped into you."

"What are you thinking, Emily?" Clyde asked looking at Emily's face which she makes when she is in deep thinking and planning state.

"It's just that, Alex picking up the room across the same hallway couldn't be just a coincidence. From all the rooms in this motel that she could've taken, why the one near to the one where the Jacksons are staying? And how Alex bumped into me at the exact same time I went outside the room? And out of all the places, Alex and her family chose this place to stay low-key till they get the supplies."

"You do know that I'm right here." Alex was confused looking at Emily speaking to either herself or the walls about her like a third person.

All four of them giggled at Alex's innocence.

"What's funny?" Alex was still confused watching Emily giggle but then she remembered Emily telling her about the three spirits within the same room. "Oh, it surely is weird but I'd probably get used to it," Alex said still looking around the room - lost.

Emily faced Alex, "I don't know why, maybe it could be just a mere coincidence, or maybe nothing could be in it like the way I'm thinking about it but something inside me - like a gut feeling - tells me that you were meant to be here. Like we all were meant to be here."

"Like we were meant to meet?" Alex sounded serious. "Like this, all feels like a destiny's plot?"

Emily nodded.

"Maybe it could mean that," Clyde replied coming in front of Emily. "Alex can help us. Maybe it's an indication that it's time to join forces to end this chapter for good."

Emily gave it a thought and said, "Maybe you're right Clyde. It all adds up. It's time."

"It's time for what?" Alex asked still looking at Emily talking to a wall that she understood to be the spirits that she was talking to.

"Alex, what would you say to come with us and help us fight Diana?"