Musician for a Night.

The breakfast bell rung and students get up from their seats to head to the cafeteria. I’m busy cleaning my desk when Ivy Wolf comes to my desk.

“Muhzim,” She says, flashing me her obviously fake smile. She’s done this to me loads of times when she asks for favours. I groan. “What.”

“I’m having a party this weekend,” Ivy tells me, her hand sliding across my table. “A party wouldn’t be a party if there’s no music.”

I sigh. I knew exactly what this girl wanted. “Fine, I’ll come to your party this weekend to play music. Do you want acoustic or rock?”

Ivy’s face lights up at this and she squeals with delight. “Acoustic!”

I nod and she squeals a ‘thank you!’ She scampers out of the classroom where her other friend is waiting for her. I guess she told her friend I’d agreed to play music at her party as they were both squealing with delight.

“You’re really up for it?” My friend, Zafa asks me. I thought he was waiting for me at the cafeteria so this took me by surprise. I glance back at him for a second before continuing my clean up.

“It’s either that or I help my younger sister Swafa with her chemistry homework. We both know I’m smart but explaining chemistry to her is like explaining chemistry to an animal. Trust me, even you’re smarter than her,” I deadpan. Zafa throws a pen at my head and I grin.

We head out of the classroom together. “Did Ivy invite you to the party?” I ask.

Zafa scoffs and says, “You wish. I have no idea why she hates me so much.”

“Maybe she has yet to invite you,” I mumble, shrugging as I speak. Zafa rolls his eyes and tells me, “Her party is this weekend. Muhzim I don’t know if you haven’t noticed but it’s already Friday and yet no invitation. She’s been inviting people since Thursday.”

“Hey, she only invited me, the musician, today. I have yet to figure out good acoustic songs to play at the party,” I remind him.

“I’ll sneak you in if you’d like. Could tell Ivy that I need someone to help with… stuff,” I say. Zafa’s face immediately lights up and I roll my eyes. “Thank you,” he says prolonging the ‘u’. I nod and give him a deadpan look. Nevertheless it makes me feel good to see that I’ve made two people happy under an hour in a day.

…

I grab my guitar and bag and walk towards the door. I grab my hat and as I’m walking out of the house, something grabs my sleeve. I jump and turn to see Swafa, staring at me with her eyes wide opened.

“Hey, Swafa,” I say, trying to hide my fear. After my years of experience Swafa can smell fear apparently. I learn new things every day with her in the house. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” She asks in disbelief. “You were going to help me with my chemistry homework! Miss Jones said I was getting better at chemistry!”

“Sure, and I’m going to marry the Queen of England,” I deadpan, raising an eyebrow. Swafa smacks me on the arm. I grin. “Look, I have a party to go to tonight. I’mma be a musician there. We have Sunday Swafa so I’ll help you then.”

Just as Swafa was about to say something, an antic mustang stops in front of our house with Zafa in the driver seat. Zafa honks and I whisper, “bless that soul.” I grab my guitar, put on my shoes and run towards his mustang. I turn back to Swafa and say, “I promise I’ll help you tomorrow!” Swafa glares at me before going back in the house.

“You came just in time,” I tell Zafa as I climb into the shotgun seat, hugging my guitar to my chest. Zafa smirks and says, “Obviously. Looked like Swafa was about to beat you up.”

“You bet,” I say with a laugh.

“Have you told Ivy about me coming?” Zafa asks as he drives away from my house. My blood runs cold as I remember that I’d totally forgotten about that. Zafa’s staring at me now and he can obviously see that I’ve forgotten.

“Muhzim, what the hell,” he says, smacking the steering wheel as he takes a left turn. I take my phone out from the pocket of my jeans and begin looking for Ivy’s name in my WhatsApp contacts.

“Telling her now,” I say, not looking at Zafa. Zafa curses under his breath and I just grin.

Ivy, sorry for the last minute update but Zafa will be coming along. It’s either the both of us or nothing. I text.

Ivy reads my text instantly and types. Oh god, Muhzim. What the heck? Ugh, fine. Bring him along but make sure he’s on a leech.

Thanks Ivy. Cya there.

I slide my phone back into my pocket. Zafa glances at me and asks, “What did she say?”

“That I had to keep you on a leech,” I say with a laugh. Zafa glares at me and deadpans, “I swear I’ll be on my best behaviour.”

I shake my head and look out the window, letting the sun’s setting glow keep me in awe.

…

Ivy’s party had just begin and she beamed when she saw me although she scowled when she saw Zafa. Zafa only waved his hand meekly before hiding himself behind me. Ivy led us both to where she wanted the music to be.

“She can’t still be mad about the whole 5^th grade incident,” Zafa whispers to me.

“What did you do to her in 5^th grade?” I whisper back.

“I gave her a bruise on her face during camping. We were playing paintball and her mask fell off! How the hell was I supposed to know it was going to fall off right before the deadly ball of paint hit her face?” Zafa whispers loudly. Probably too loud as Ivy stopped in her tracks and glared at Zafa for a few seconds.

“I think she’s going to give you a bruise too tonight,” I whisper despite the tense environment.

“Here’s your stage, boys,” she says, pointing to a mini stage located at one side of the living room. There was a stool and a microphone attached to a microphone stand already prepared for me. I smiled at Ivy and said, “Thanks, Ivy.”

She smiled back at me and walked away. I turn to Zafa and smile, saying, “let’s get started!”

For the next few hours, I sang and played my guitar as Zafa hung out with some other guys at the party. I couldn’t care less honestly as I’d only brought him here in sympathy as he wasn’t invited. As I sang, suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw a text from Zafa.

Your ex, Qizy, 2 o’clock. He’d texted. I looked up and sure enough there she was, dancing with another guy. Qizy and I’d dated last summer but of course, the typical summer relationships don’t work out and I guess we were one of them. Qizy was like any average high school girl; beautiful, attractive, smart and witty. Alas, those were only outward beauty; inner beauty was and still is what matters.

I tried to lower my hat so that it’d cover my face but it was too late; she’d seen me. She walks over to me with her new guy and I feel like she has a point to make (mind you that I was the one that broke the relationship off, not her).

“Hey, Muhzim!” She says, coming up onto the mini stage. She gave me a hug as I hugged my guitar to my chest. It felt awkward to see Qizy; what more have her hugging me. She lets go of her embrace and I smile awkwardly.

Her new ‘guy’ comes up too and gives my hand a shake, introducing himself. “Jeremy.”

“Muhzim,” I say, shaking his hand back.

“What’re you doing here?” Qizy asks. I give her a deadpan look and gesture at my guitar. “Isn’t it obvious?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

She doesn’t say anything but instead, she nods and says, “Well, we’ll uh, cya!” She awkwardly walks away, taking Jeremy’s hand in hers. Jeremy glances over his shoulder to smile at me and I smile back.

For the next few hours, I play my guitar and sing. Soon, people leave and the party ends. Ivy Wolf pays me 30 dollars but I tell her to keep her money. She hugs me instead and I leave the party without Zafa as he wanted to catch up with an old friend of his.

“Will you be okay walking home?” He asked me. I nodded. He pats me on the shoulder and gets back into Ivy’s house. I put on my hat and sling my guitar over my right shoulder, and walk out of Ivy’s house.

I play a little tune on my guitar as I walk home. It’s around half past ten when suddenly, I see a brunette girl sitting on the sidewalk, crying. I stop playing my guitar and stop in my tracks, staring at her. I walk over to her after a few seconds of standing, and ask, “Are you okay?”

Mind you that I had no idea who this girl was and I was just trying to help. She looked up at me for a few seconds before digging her head back in her knees. “Go away,” her voice was muffled but clear enough for me to hear.

“I could accompany you home, if you want. It isn’t safe you know for a girl to be out at night all alone,” I realized that I sounded like my mother whenever she spoke with Swafa and I absent-mindedly grinned. I realized that I was doing so and I hoped this brunette didn’t see me grinning.

She shrugs and says, “Just leave me alone.”

“It isn’t-”

“Just. Go.” She says fiercely. I close my mouth and get up, walking away. I hug my guitar to my chest. I feel bad to leave the girl alone. God knows what might happen to her. I turn back to see if she was still crying.

But she was gone.

To be continued in: Last Night’s Gal.

Betrayed

Nicole rides in Syimmi’s car while Yura rides his motorcycle, leaving Augustus to ride in his car. The four friends arrive at Harry’s workshop at the same time.

Yura gets off his motorcycle and takes his helmet off, murmuring, “this workshop is literally in the middle of nowhere.”

The windows of the workshop were tinted, giving it an ominous look. Chills went up Yura’s spine and he shuddered. Augustus pats him on the back and Yura jumps with a yelp. “What’s gotten into you?” Augustus asks him with a raised eyebrow. A grin curls Augustus’s lips.

“Come on,” Syimmi says, Nicole beside her. “Let’s get inside.” The two girls step forward towards the workshop. Yura and Augustus look at each other before trailing behind them.

Nicole twists the doorknob and gasps. “It’s not locked,” she whispers to Syimmi. Nicole pushes the door slowly and it creaks, making her heart skip a beat. She opens the door widely and finds Harry’s younger sister sitting on a stool, her right foot crossed over the left. She smiles broadly at the four friends.

“It’s about time,” she says, stepping off the stool. “I’ve been coming here every day just to welcome your arrival. I wouldn’t have done it if Harry hadn’t insisted.”

“What’re we here for, Nina?” Augustus asks, annoyed and creeped out. Nina doesn’t drop her smile. She flips her hair and points to a wooden door located at the end of the workshop.

“That key,” Nina says, pointing to the key in Yura’s hand. “Is for that door. Unlock that door and you’ll fulfil Harry’s last wish.”

Nina walks slowly towards them and whispers, “enjoy.” And with that, she leaves the workshop, closing the door behind her. The four friends stare at each other, not able to get anything out of their mouths.

“Should we?” Syimmi asks.

“Well we’ve come this far, haven’t we?” Yura says, stepping forward and walking towards the door Nina had pointed. The three friends slowly trial behind him.

Yura inserted the key in the keyhole and twisted the key slowly. The door unlocked at Yura gasped. “What’re you waiting for?” Augustus then asked. “Open it!”

Yura’s heart beat at full speed. He shut his eyes and twisted the doorknob, opening the door. Syimmi gasped loudly at the sight of what was behind the door. There laid Yvonne in a pool of blood, her hands chained to the walls and a deep cut in her chest.

“Wh-What?” Yura stammers. He steps back.

“Why would Harry want us to see this?” Augustus whispers his question, his blood running cold. Sweat pour down Nicole’s forehead.

Suddenly, the faint sound of sirens could be heard from afar. The four friends are now alarmed. Yura rushes to the tinted windows and sure enough, he could see police cars in the driveway. He turns back to his friends, his face deadly pale.

“We’ve been framed.”

 -End.

The Golden Key.

The four friends hung out at an ice cream parlour the next day. The key stayed with Yura overnight and the three friends asked her if he had any clue what the key was for.

“Just because the key was with me last night doesn’t mean it told me anything,” was Yura’s reply. The other three friends nodded and continued eating their ice cream.

“Could it be his room? Harry was a very weird kid,” Nicole suggested, widening her eyes. Augustus turned to her and squinted his eyes, wondering whether to cringe or laugh at this suggestion.

Syimmi snatched the key from Yura’s hand and examined it. “I used to date Harry once, did you guys know that?” Syimmi said abruptly, making her other three friends look at her wide eyed.

“How did we not know this?” Nicole asked.

Syimmi shrugged. “I thought I told you guys,” she glances at her friends before sighing and telling them the story.

“It was the summer of 2016. My father signed me up to help at an orphanage, as you all know. I was signed up to help out for the whole summer and to be honest, I enjoyed myself,” Syimmi paused to lick her ice cream. “So, as I helped out there, the orphanage decided to have a sale. They’d invite people over to give away things to the orphans there for free so haha, it wasn’t really a sale; it was more like stalls at the walls of the playroom, just waiting to be knocked over by the feisty orphans.

“At this ‘sale’, I met Harry Walker. Harry sold wooden dolls, figures, music boxes and things like that. We talked, chatted, I helped him out and, well, by the end of the day it was obvious that we liked each other and well, things happened.” By the time Syimmi was done with her story, the others were staring blankly at her with mouths gaped open.

“What?” Syimmi exclaimed, licking her ice cream once more. “I broke up with him before school started. It was a very short relationship I must say.”

“So d’you have any, and I mean any, idea at all where Harry might be telling us?” Yura asks desperately. Syimmi puts a finger on her chin and starts thinking.

“Hey, strangers,” A familiar voice says. The four friends turn to see Grace Smith. Grace was a classmate of theirs who worked part-time as a worker at Brown Sugar Ice Cream. The ice cream parlour’s environment had given her a forever lasting fragrance of caramel ice cream.

“Hey, Grace,” Nicole says as she flashes a smile at Grace. Grace smiles back and looks at them seriously, saying, “Have you guys heard about Harry Walker? Poor soul, wonder what caused such a thing.”

“Yvonne caused such a thing,” Augustus said, saying it in the same way Grace would’ve, with such a high pitched tone. Yura hid his grin.

“Yvonne Patterson?” Grace asked in disbelief, ignorant to Augustus’s satire. She took a seat next to Syimmi and put her arms on the table. “What did Yvonne do to cause such a thing?” Yura shortens the story and explains everything. Grace asked if they went to the funeral.

“Of course we did,” Augustus says, putting down his ice cream cup as he’d emptied it. “That was, of course, for the sake of respecting his parent’s invitation.”

“And now we think Harry’s trying to tell us something,” Nicole chips in. Grace looks at Nicole and to the rest of the friends. “Whatever do you mean?”

Syimmi hands the key to Grace. “His sister gave us a note at the funeral a few days ago, saying that it’s from Harry. It was a code and it led us to the bench he made for the city park. And under that bench, we found this key and a note,” Yura hands Grace the note and she reads it.

“Usual place of crime?” Grace asks. “Have you tried his carpentry workshop? Yvonne and I were kind of friends and she told me stories of them both doing – ahem – stuff in that workshop,” Grace blushes at the end of her sentence. The four friends sit up and look at each other.

“Syimmi, Yura, finish your ice cream,” Augustus says, picking up his car keys. “We’re going to Harry’s workshop.”

To be continued in: Betrayed.

Harry's Code.

Yura groans and says, “Ugh, we’ll never get to the bottom of this code.” In his hand is the code Harry’s younger sister had given them. They were all in Augustus’s tree house, one that he’d built with his father years ago when he and his father were younger. Although now he’s a teenager, Augustus still enjoys hanging out in the nostalgic tree house.

“I agree with Yura,” Nicole supports as she lies lazily in a hammock, letting the wind sway it side to side. “It’s been a week, guys. We’ve tried numbers that might relate to the letters, objects that might relate to each letter but no, nothing seemed to make sense!”

“Relax,” Syimmi says as she walks over to Yura and sits next to him. “We’re bound to figure it out.”

“What else haven’t we tried?” Syimmi asks, and the others seem to put some thought into it.

“Harry always loved this, remember?” Augustus exclaimed abruptly, as if he was talking to himself. The others looked at him. “Remember how he’d always do this to the freshmen and some of them would’ve gone insane?”

“How did he give the freshmen these codes?” Yura asked. Augustus turns back to him and looks at him in surprise, as if he expected Yura to know this. Yura shrugs and tells him, “I’d like to know.”

“How those bullies would give you threats,” Augustus begins to explain. “Harry would spray paint them on their lockers, write it on a piece of paper and stuff it into their lockers… Sometimes he’d legit go to their windows in the middle of the night and write it on their windows with lipstick.”

“How do you know this?” Nicole asked, getting up from the hammock.

“My brother used to be his victim,” Augustus says flatly, referring to his brother Will.

“But of course, with my help, Harry stopped disturbing him,” Augustus tells them. “All the weird codes he sent my brother. Ugh, what a creep I tell y’all.”

That’s when it happens. Augustus gets up from the window sill he was sitting on and snaps his fingers. His eyes lit up and the others stare at him as if he’d gone mad.

“Yura, let me see that code,” Augustus lets out his hand and Yura passes it to him without any questioning. Augustus grabs a pen from the study table that was built at the end of the tree house and begins writing on the note. The others look over his shoulder, wondering what he was up to.

“What’re you writing?” Syimmi asks. Augustus holds up the note a few seconds later and shows it to the rest.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A

The others are clueless as to what Augustus is trying to tell them. Augustus groans and says, “Look! The code! I remember now. Harry used to send codes like this! Instead of starting the alphabet at ‘A’ he’d start at ‘B’ and the alphabet line would end with ‘A’ instead of ‘Z’.”

“Oh wow,” was all Nicole managed to say as the others stayed quiet, trying to take this all in.

“So, if I’m correct, the code says…” Augustus scribbles back on the note before holding it up again.

MY BENCH

“My bench?” Nicole asks, obviously baffled by this. “Is this another code for something?”

“Wait,” Syimmi says, putting a finger on her chin. “Harry was a part-time carpenter, right? I remember someone telling me that Harry made a bench for the town’s park. That must be the bench he’s talking about.” The others look at each other and back to Syimmi.

“Well?” Yura asks, running to the entrance/exit of the tree house. “What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

…

The four of them split up and look around the park, in search of Harry’s bench. According to Syimmi, it’s a garden bench that has Harry’s initials on them, to show that it was made by him. Regardless of the setting sun, the four teens were determined to find the bench.

Can’t believe we’re going on a wild goose chase for a bench. Nicole texts into the group’s WhatsApp.

This looks like a peace-offering from Harry, Syimmi texts. Maybe this is how he wants to forgive us.

Guys, I found the bench. Augustus texts, breaking up the conversation between the two girls. Yura asks for his location and Augustus instantly shares it in the group.

The others rush to where Augustus was and found him standing near the bench. “You could’ve just sat on the bench while waiting for us, you know,” Nicole says. Augustus stares at her and says, “God knows what Harry has put on this bench before he died.”

“Don’t be silly, Aug,” Yura says, folding his arms. “It’s been a week. Pretty sure millions of people have sat on this bench up to this day since then.”

“Yeah, probably death himself has sat here and killed himself,” Augustus deadpans. “This bench is literally isolated from humanity!” Yura rolls his eyes at Augustus’s dramatic statement.

“Guys, there’s something under the bench,” Syimmi interrupts. The others turn to her to see that she’s crouched down and her hand in underneath the bench. Syimmi digs her hand into the lines of the bench until what she’d been gripping onto falls into her palm.

A golden key and a folded piece of paper.

Yura takes the paper from her hand and reads aloud, “Usual place of crime.” He looks up from the paper to look at his friends.

“Well guys, looks like he left us another note,” Yura points out the obvious. “And this time, with a key.”

To be continued in: The Golden Key.

Important News.

3 AM

Guys. Yura sent a text in the four friends’ WhatsApp group.

For god’s sake Yura it’s 3 in the morning! Augustus texts back.

It’s important! Yura texts dramatically. Augustus squints his eyes as he’s blinded by the brightness of his phone. Syimmi’s name pops up and she begins typing.

The last time Yura said something was important it actually was just the fact that he found out Harry Potter was just a fictional character, Syimmi texts.

Nothing’s fictional about Harry Potter. Augustus texts as he grins behind his phone screen.

Harry Walker is dead. Yura texts abruptly. Syimmi who was about to reply to Augustus’s text about Harry Potter was shocked by this piece of information.

What? How? When? How do you know? Syimmi texts. Augustus waits for Yura to reply to Syimmi’s text as she had taken the words right out of his mouth (or fingers in this case).

His mom texted me. Yura tells them. She says they’ll be holding the funeral in 2 days. You guys up for it?

Why aren’t you guys asleep? It’s 3 am. Nicole, another friend of theirs texts.

I’m up for it. Syimmi texts.

Ditto. Texts Augustus.

Up for what? Nicole asks.

…

The four friends show up two days later at Harry’s funeral. It’s a gloomy one, just like any other funeral.

“How did he die?” Nicole whispers to Syimmi.

“Suicide, I heard,” Yura, who overheard Nicole’s question, answered.

“Why though?” Syimmi asks Yura.

“Yvonne broke up with him, I heard,” Augustus answers instead. “Slit his wrist and drowned himself in the bathtub, the poor lad.”

“How do we girls know nothing about Harry while you both know almost everything?” Syimmi asks, raising her eyebrows.

“His parents,” Yura answers. “Told us everything. Besides, we weren’t exactly friends with Harry Walker no, weren’t we? In fact, didn’t he hate us for some apparent reason?” The four friends are silenced by this and Yura regrets bringing up the fact that Harry had hated them.

After the funeral, as the four friends get ready to leave, a teenage girl walks up to them, asking, “Are you four the foursome?”

Augustus turns her way and asks, “Who’s asking?”

The girl hands him a folded piece of paper and says, “I’m Harry’s younger sister. You four probably don’t know me. Harry asked me to hand this to the four of you the night before he died. Good luck.” And with that, the girl leaves and all eyes are on Augustus.

“What’s in the note?” Syimmi asks. Augustus turns to them and unfolds it without a word.

LZ CFODI

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yura asks, looking over Augustus’s shoulder.

“That’s probably what Harry wants us to do,” Nicole says. “To find out what that means.”

The four friends stare amongst themselves.

To be continued in: Harry’s Code.