“Miss Vivienne! Miss Sugar!” a voice from far away calls. “Mr. Ian! Mr. Jeremy!” the sound echoes again, louder in my ear. Is that real?
“Do you hear what I hear?” I ask alertly.
“What do you hear?” Vi asks.
“Ssssh!” Ian says, holding his finger on his lips. “I heard a voice.”
“Really?!” Vi says in disbelief and forget to turn the volume down.
“SSSH!” we says in unison.
“Oops. Sorry.” Vi whispers, clasping her hand on her mouth.
“Miss Vivienne!”
“There! The voice!” I whisper.
“Yes! I heard that!” Jeremy replies in whisper. “HEEY WE ARE HERE!” he shouts in his biggest volume.
Silence….
We’re moving uncomfortably to hear the voice better. The horses are tapping their feet on the ground briskly. “Miss Vivienne!” the voice says again.
“WE ARE HERE!” I scream as loudly as possible. But the ‘Miss Vivienne’ voice has gone fainter and fainter. “Come on!” I say, pulling Vi’s hand. “We have to get nearer to the voice!”
We quickly get to our feet and hop to the horse as fast as possible, then yank the reign and we’re moving out of the forest, to the wild plants and grasses. “Hey! We are here!” I scream again. But now, the voice has completely gone.
“Oh my god! We have to do something!” Vi says. And suddenly, without warning, Vi let out a high-pitched scream and it makes us all jump, even the horses are going to run away!
“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” she screams eagerly for like long 10 seconds then she stops. Leaving the atmosphere calm and silent. “What the hell are you doing?!” I ask. She must be out of her mind to let out that spooky scream! It’s like those screams you hear in horror movies!
“I’m trying to get us a help!” she retorts.
“SSSH!” Jeremy says, “I heard a sound!” and we all quickly get our ears ready for even the tinniest sound, except that the horses are moving and tapping their feet and it makes me have to grab Ian’s shirt so I don’t fall down.
“Sorry.” I whisper in Ian’s ear. And he was going to reply when Jeremy let out another shout, “Hey! We are here! Vivienne here!”
After few seconds or so, we can hear the sound of vehicle machine get nearer and nearer. The woman’s voice is also got nearer, calling our names. And we’re screaming in unison to tell them where we are.
Suddenly, a huge black jeep roaring from far, smashing the grasses and tall trees and it tumbles all the way to our direction. They see us! we’re safe!
“Miss Vivienne!” a worried voice of a woman is heard above the noises of the jeep.
“Mary! Omg! Omg! Mary! Thank God!” Vi has got down from her horse and the jeep has completely stops in front of us. From inside, a woman in her 40s coming out and hugs Vi eagerly. “Are you alright?” she asks faintly.
“Yes I am.” Vi replies.
“Come on! We should go back. The guests have come and your parents are in the house already!” She says, then she gets inside the jeep again then we all being led by the jeep all the way to the mansion’s paddock.
It’s such a shame for all of us when we almost too weak to walk back to house with all the guests enjoying their meals in their nice dresses and shirts. Most of them whisper to each other as they see us, all dirty with soils and grasses and our hair is a total mess.
“My goodness! What happen to you?!” Vi’s mum quickly get down from porch and walk quickly towards us, leaving the guests. We stop dead there, got stared by all the guests and those who are Vi’s relatives are coming closer to us and asking what happened to Vi and us.
“Come on! You all should take a warm bath and wear your nice clothes!” Vi’s mum says, ushering us inside where more people are gawking at us.
And so we walk, almost run, upstairs and get ourselves a nice warm bath before joining the guests downstairs. All the food and drinks and desserts, even the decorations are perfect. I mean, when you got this pretty mansion that always looks good anytime and a whole bunch of maids to take care of your house, there’s nothing to worry about. Even if it’s not decorated, it’ll still look nice.
There are standing flowers added to the sides of the tables and as I head to the long table, where the foods are, I can see that the chefs have done perfectly! All the foods are hotel-like menus and the desserts are so yummy, even just looking at it.
I realize that some of Vi’s relatives are also looking around the house and shaking their heads unbelievingly. This house is incredible! Especially, right now, when all the windows and doors are wide open, revealing every inch of its beauty and exotism. They even have their own room to put all the awards, photos, and memories they ever got. Most of them are trophies, won by Vi’s dad and Vi when she was in primary school or kindergarten.
All the walls are covered by pictures of their journeys around the world and Vi’s mum even can mention where every single thing in her house came from. She talks non-stop about the wooden coffee table at the back porch that she bought that in Srilanka and she had to bargain to get good prices there.
“They are freakin rich, aren’t they?” a woman in her 20 suddenly speaks to me.
I nod, “yes they are.” Actually, I was thinking of adding, Vivienne’s my friend, but I cancel it. It’ll be too “showy” if I said that. I mean, Vi doesn’t even know half of the guests here! But her mother does, and she tells us one by one who is who and what’s the connection.
I just can’t believe a woman named Maida Ling that came all the way from Hongkong. And she’s the granddaughter of Vi’s grandfather’s oldest brother. Can you imagine that. You can picture the whole family tree here. They are all here! And they are all going to sleep under one roof! Whoa!
“From what side do you come from?” the woman asks again. “I’m from Mr. Freyson’s. I’m Vi’s oldest cousin.” She holds a hand and I shake it.
“Actually I’m Vi’s bestfriend from
“Oh, I notice your accent! What’s your name? Mine’s
“Sugar, Sugar Dale.” I say, smiling too.
“Hey! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! We’re going to play Twister upstairs! Come on!” Vi suddenly shows up, grabbing my hand and pulling me upstairs.
The rest of the night is amazing. I really got connected to Vi’s relatives and some of them are our age so we really got a good talk. We played Twister and Hide and Seek! I have never played hide and seek in such a big area which is a crazy but exciting idea. But we have to go to bed at midnight cos tomorrow is the real party and we just can’t wait!
The next day, I wake up in a dizzy head. As I try to move my body, I realize I still wear last night’s dress. I try to remember what happened last night and finally realizing I was too tired to change after playing cards and hide and seek. Then I just jumped to the bed and sleep.
I rub my eyes and get to my feet, yawning few times without intended to and seeing Vi still sleeping soundly. I can hear the activities going on from far down there, they’re all getting ready for the infamous Freyson’s Family Gathering. They even got loads of balloons and they tied them 5 at once to decorate the whole mansion.
This sounds even greater as I push the bathroom door open, letting the steam to come out. I still am wrapped in my towel and as I blow dry my hair, Vi wakes up. “Hi!” she says in a husky voice then she yawns and stretches her body.
“Morning.” I reply, combing down my hair.
“What time is it?” She asks again.
“11 a.m. I guess.”
She pushed herself back comfortably to the bed and pulls the duvet closer to her.
“They’re getting ready downstairs.” I say, taking my best simple black dress from the wardrobe and pull the hanger out.
“Should I wake up now?” She asks lazily from under the duvet. I give her a look and she finally says, “Ok, Ok. I’m the host, I know!” she gets out of the bed and walking uncertainly to the bathroom.
All the settings are ready when we come downstairs, some of the guests are already playing happily around the mansion and Ruby has also took a bath and dressed in a pretty pink tutu skirt.
Suddenly, Ian and Jeremy also come downstairs, dressed in their formal suits and tie. “Hey!” Ian greets, smiling.
“Hey!” I reply.
“You look nice.” We both say at the same time. then there’s a pause before we break into laughter.
“So…are you going to pick Hayley up?” Vi asks Jeremy.
“Yeah, I guess. She’s coming all the way from
There’s a pause between us four as we watch the chaos and so many people wandering around the house. The maids suddenly come out, bringing plates and plates of food, then followed by bowls of cocktails and trays of orange juices.
“Let’s get those foods inside!!!” Jeremy suddenly shouts greedily as the maids put some of the foods on the long table outdoor and indoor. And with that, the party has officially started, at least for us.
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