Foreword

“Have you ever thought that secrets can hurt? No. Then, you will not understand me, the one that was deceived. They have taken advantage of my trust, my ignorance, my innocence and me. I loved. Was loved. I wanted to live, enjoy life; enjoy the arms of my beloved, but everything collapsed due to one mistake. No, I lie, because of the many, many mistakes that I made in the past. Then I was only 15 years old. I had only dolls and toy houses where I went to visit.

I envied children who had loving parents who cherished them, felt sorry, and pampered. Nobody did that with me. My parents only paid attention to my sister and brother. I did not exist for them. Therefore, I decided to change. Become what others see me.

Beautiful, giving everyone the feeling they that are special for me, to be a leader in the company. In order to become a leader, you need secrets, secrets under seven locks, the skeleton that hidden in the closet. It was necessary to choose friends, and, having looked closely at school, I paid attention to four of them.

The first was JiHyo - not a pretty, fat girl. Then, “ordinary” is Jeongyeon. Sana is more like punk, her pink lock of hair stood out so funny in her brown hair and Tzuyu is an athlete, very cute and shy.

Before them, I played a role. Their love was not enough for me I wanted more. It was then that a plan came that would turn our game into a whirlpool of lies and deception.

Although three years have passed since those tragic moments in my life, I am very sorry. In addition, if they read this book, then I apologize for everything I did with them.

With love, Meredith.”

 

Tzuyu anxiously looked up from the introduction. Everything that she had just read spoke of how everything seemed to be. In addition, the names, and how old Meredith was, and something terrible was about to happen. She looked at her friends as they react to the note.

JiHyo and Jeongyeon simultaneously looked into each other's eyes, again buried in the book. Sana drank a sip of coffee, quickly turned the page, choking, she coughed:

- God! Girls! - She called softly to her friends, those, turning the page, also gasped. There, on the page, at the top, right where you put the figure printed in bold letters have been print: I see you - A.

- She is here. - All four together turned their heads to the Momo that sat next to Nayeon and read with concentration. Next to her on the table was only a book and food, there was no mobile phone. - Not. Unlikely. Everyone is passionate about the book. Even Mina.

“How does she know where we are?” - JiHyo was indignant in a whisper, the girls only shrugged, turned the pages, also read the message from "A". “Whoever it is, but he will not get us to leave here.”

“But don't you think that Meredith is a bit like Momo?” In addition to the fact that in this book we are described, the end of the phrase is alarming.

- Do you think that Momo wrote it? But we all saw...

- Hush. Let's talk then - shushed them Sana, noticing the strange look from Momo, that broke away from his part of the book, looked at them carefully, if an attempt to read their lips. - Someone is really watching us now.

Having stretched out the leaking shoulders from a long seat in one chair, Nayeon rubbed her eyes with her fingers and stretched. Eyes did not obediently close, horror, as I wanted to sleep. Coffee has cooled down a long time, and it made me sick! Nayeon rummaged in her bag, remembering that somewhere there was chewing gum. What only fingers didn’t come across in a bag: notebooks, cosmetics, pens, and a disk. Finally, in a secret pocket, in the corner, she found what she was looking for. She took out a package that not yet been printed, took one chewing gum, and mint freshness instantly filled her body.

Momo moved next to her, carefully opening the package of chips, taking out a couple of plates, put them in , chewed, set aside, turned over the page of the book. The further she read Momo, the more she frowned. Everything that written inspired a memory. The past that she was trying to forget. In that past, she did a lot of evil Nayeon. She hid a lot from her. If she plays in the play, then the whole truth that she hid from Nayeon will surface. The truth was even worse than a lie.

Mina pushed back her dark brown hair, clinging to her face, sighed tiredly, lowered her hands along her body, tried to relax. In general, she loved to work when this or that song sounded loud. When there was such silence, she recalled the day when the disaster happened. That day when she blinded.

Jisoo and Jenny, long ago began to leave their seats, putting down the book, they walked around the room, warming up. MinHo stood by a vending machine with hot coffee, waiting for a drink to pour into a cup. His hair no longer so perfectly laid. The eyes, like many of those present here, are red, from not up to sleep. Elkie and Chaeyoung held the book on their lap, sat against each other, their toe socks touched slightly and their hair almost covered part of the face.

Whoever looked first at the time, the clock showed the same thing - 24.00. In the stuffy room, practically without getting up, they sat in the library for more than 6 hours. However, the book did not end there. Many wanted to give up, abandon the book. Still they sat down. Opened on the desired page. Read.

- All! Enough! Let’s take a break and tell who read what - once again making sure that time does not advance, Nayeon gave up. - My head already hurts from overdoing it! Damn, how heavy this "melody" is! How did she think of writing such nonsense?

- I agree. When I agreed to the performance with the director, then a picture loomed over me, how to put it on. I thought that “Moon Tune” connected with romance, but it turned out...

“How much do you need to lie in order to pay for this lie in the future? I don’t even write so much in newspaper pages.

“Yeah, secret to secret. Therefore, you can go crazy. Therefore, who is the first to start Momo, are you ready to share your secret? - Nayeon turned her head to the girl, who laid the book down on the table and stood up, moving to the window.

Her hair in the darkened room of the library seemed golden. Her expression was pale and tired when she turned to the sound of Nayeon's voice. Now more than ever, Momo was like the ghost of Momo Peach. The same features, the same head movement, hand gestures. There was silence for a while, then Momo, as if hearing a Nayeon question, answered:

- The part that I read is very strange and scary. I still tremble because of what is writ there. Of course, I was not a gift for my parents and friends, but even I am not capable of this.

- Momo, what scared you so much? Tell me about the part that you read about - Nayeon quickly crossed the room, went up to her, and got over her shoulders. She never saw Momo so frightened. She felt the girl shaking, hugged her even more tightly. - Hush, hush, I'm here with you. I am with you.

- It's hard to put into words. However, I'll try. To be honest, I do not want to re-read it again. So. This Meredith writes about five friends, one of the girls was scared by a message from someone named "A". - JiHyo jerked on this behalf, Tzuyu and Sana looked at each other, Jeongyeon remained calm, although she turned a little pale. - This girl's name is the same as me, Momo. That is scary. As if, it written about me, something that could happen. This Momo loved to know everything about everything. She needed secrets, secrets, then to blackmail to achieve what she wanted. She acted worse with her friends than with her enemies. I played with them. Knowing all their secrets, knowing how they relate to her, how they idolize her. It is cruel. It is inhuman.

“Yes, my part also describes this,” Kim Jisoo put in the word hugging herself on the shoulders the room was cool. Her journalistic nature longed for a continuation, the recognition of the truth, the whole truth about the fictional character Momo. - I think the whole book dedicated to five friends. In each chapter, someone described. For example, I came across a girl named Tzuyu. True, it was very strange when I started reading, it seemed to me that I was reading about you, Tzuyu - she nodded to the girl that, having heard her name, mechanically straightened her hair by the ear. She always did this when she was worried. “But soon this image overshadowed reality with fiction. Tzuyu, and who are you reading about?

- About parents. I came across parents JiHyo and Sana. Partially mentioned are the parents of Rose.

- Everything is so realistic; I can’t believe that this is all fiction! - Jenny said admiringly. Her eyes sparkled with excitement; she got the most amazing and mysterious part from the novel. - And on my pages, it written about the past of girls. Their first meeting. Their first camping trip. Their celebrity is at school. Their first Halloween together and the first time that Eli scared them. It is so exciting. I like it so much!

“Speaking of Halloween, - MinHo jumped up from his seat. - We also planned a Halloween performance, which will happen in 2 weeks! If we put it, our school is not something that will take 100 steps ahead, ahead of everyone else, but we will have the most original theatrical production. Yes, our director, just amazing! How could he have thought of such a thing! We will become famous.

- Okay, okay, you need to live up to this day and put on the “Moon Tune”. You read the end of the story, yes, MinHo? What is it about? - Suspended his stormy fantasies Jeongyeon. Fame? What is fame? We are already recognizable on the streets. Everyone thinks we are involved in Eli's death. Moreover, we cannot prove back.

- I would like to please you people about the end of the “A” journey, but, unfortunately, I can’t help you. There is more confusion than at the beginning of the story. I read a little about what Momo said. The only thing that is clearly clear, “A” is not one person, but a group of people who hated Momo. Now, I will read her last words from "A". Just a second, I even marked them. Yeah, here they are, listen.

“They think Rose has gone. They think that nothing threatens their life. They think they are safe. If they only knew that, this is exactly what we want from them. If they knew what they would do? Would you do we a favor and die? No, it’s not in their spirit. They are ready to fight further. If they continue to fight further, we will break them, like those dolls in the store.

JiHyo, Jeongyeon, Sana, Tzuyu.

We love you. We hate you.

You ask why we do this. You yourself know the answer. All answers are stored in the past. That past, the night Momo disappeared. ”

- Each of us has secrets that we want to hide not only from the world around us, but also from ourselves.

 

After half an hour reading the book, who was reading the pages, who was already resting, resting his head on bent arms, asleep, trying to fall asleep. The wall clock showed 02.12 nights. Future performers in the theatrical production “Moon Tune”, tired, exhausted, exhausted, with red eyes and dark bags under their eyes, looked at Nayeon, who, slamming the book, stood in front of them.

Im Nayeon, who stood before them was as fresh and full of energy as before they began to storm the book pages of the novel. How did she manage to look so beautiful and dazzlingly cheerful at 02.12 pm? They finished reading Meredith Bishop's book. In addition, Nayeon decided to summarize, and to distribute roles, and try to write a script based on the novel. The script should be ready by morning. That is, by 08.00 in the morning, and lie on the director’s desk at 8.15 am.

“Do you know what I think of all this?” Momo loved her friends in her own way. Maybe at first she chose them because of the difference, she wanted to make them feel special. It seems to me that next to them she herself was getting better. Although in her words and deeds, this is not visible. In the book, Meredith herself alludes to the fact that that evening, an event happened much more important than their party in the barn did. I think, Momo, kept so many secrets in her head that she involuntarily made it clear to the attacker about her guesses. And the guesses were very true, so she was killed. Who is “A”? Rose or someone else? Maybe this is Mina herself, although I don’t think she is. Mina hated Momo, the girls because they helped Momo, and then did not tell the truth to the police. After all, the truth could then change everything, and such, as then perhaps would not have happened.

- So you think this is not Mina? Why? - did not agree with this point of view of Jisoo. As a journalist, she loved to learn and interrogate everything. Now, no matter how tired she was, she needed evidence of the correctness of the outcome, which Nayeon about reasoned. “It is clearly written here; even literally I can read you her words: “They should be paid in the same way as Momo. They know too much. Knowing Jeongyeon, I bet they will reach the end and the past will be reveal. The past, which we are so expertly hiding. «What are these words talking about? They say that Mina is “A”. Mina writes threats to girls' cell phones. Mina adjusts the situation so that the girls are afraid. I bet anything, Mina was the one who wrote Momo.

- It is unlikely that Mina wrote Momo. At the expense of the girls, I agree with you. However, not Momo - here Momo Peach took the floor, her hair was tousled, and she became an even more beautiful hooligan than before. She swallowed from a bottle of water, wiped the back of her hand, put the bottle on the table. - Momo blackmailed. As Jeongyeon read, she had many secrets from the girls. She did not talk about visiting the boarding house and caring for Mrs. Park. She tricked them into spending summer vacations. In addition, after JiHyo said that she met in the summer with some pilot and called herself “Jiyeon”, everything became clear. Life is Jiyeon, the second side of Momo. Black and white strip of one coin.

- Why it called «Jiyeon "? - Chaeyoung, which has just closed the last page, reserved for her book numbers.

On the table and in the chair where she laid her legs, for convenience, empty bags of food were lying, a half-empty glass of coffee was next to the book, and Chaeyoung was just taking a sip of cold coffee. She looked around the room with a tired look, stopped him at Mina, and then again led him to Nayeon. Nayeon all focused on Mina. The same, in turn, turned away and looked in the opposite direction.

She seemed not to care what they were about talking. However, one of the heroes, who also called as Mina, is so similar to the story of Miyu Mina.

Everything from Halloween to the fire in her house.

“Momo led a different life where she could follow “A” with her fictitious name. She practically figured out who was writing to her. I think if Sana or Jeongyeon, or maybe Tzuyu, and JiHyo, did not see the second side of the Momo medal, then perhaps they would not have taken revenge. No, revenge, not “A”. Therefore, maybe they think that Momo told something to the girls and the group “A” is afraid of what she told them. Not much confused, but it seems to me that I caught the essence of this book.

***

As soon as the clock on the bell tower struck eight in the morning, the guard opened the school gate. City dwellers slowly left their crowded houses, signaling decency to each other, although decency was long lost due to greed for wealth. The only thing that was still pure and joyful was the sun's rays, which cheerfully wade through the curtain of lush trees.

Golden bunnies were reflect in the windows of fashionable cars, on the sidewalks, on shop windows, in sunglasses. Bright light could break through the most hidden dark corners in the most abandoned house, where no one had climbed for a year. All residents of a small town bypassed this house. Parents strictly urged their young children not to go there; otherwise, terrible nightmares would haunt them all night. Even they, the parents, will not save them.

A young girl with long black straight hair came out of an abandoned house. She was dressed not seasonally, in short shorts and a wide T-shirt with the inscription: «Devil cry ", the scarlet letters looked very convincing on a white background.

In her hands, she carried a dusty bag full of what was not clear, the only thing that be seen was a blonde-haired woman’s wig, strands that hung down. She walked without hiding the fact that she had been in that terrible house. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make out the face; the bangs hid half of the face. Bright red lipstick, bright red sandals, bright red nail polish.

The girl went just a couple of steps in order to throw the bag into the trash, and then she pulled out a red cell phone, dialed a number.

- It's me. Do you still remember me, Nayeon? I did everything you wanted. Waiting for you in a conditional place.

***

Voice mail has notified the owners of the house where the Park JiHyo family now lived about the time when something needs to change in life. The beeping voice continued to annoy the empty house, still suggesting that no one was hearing it. Suddenly he fell silent and instead a completely different tone in his voice sounded:

- If you thought you won, and then you are deeply mistaken, es. The game is just beginning, JiHyo. The past is returning. The first was Momo the second will be you. Wait, we have prepared a surprise for you.

***

The owners of the house opposite, the Jeongyeon family went down from the second floor to the kitchen, where the cooked breakfast was already on the table. There was a pleasant aroma of only brewed coffee in the house. Crispy toasted toasts lay on clean and white saucers. Oil delivered from the refrigerator, sliced ​​bacon, a shiny knife lying near the butter.

Everything was clean and sterile, sterile to such an extent that they did not immediately notice a small dissimilarity with their always-neat kitchen. They had breakfast, representing a loving family, which they had not been for a long time. Having finished the first to finish the bittersweet coffee, the wife of the family rose from her seat.

She went to the sink to wash the cup, and then she noticed an unusually bright towel. They have never had such a bright color in the kitchen. She took it, feeling that something wrapped in a towel. Turning around, she screamed, and a bloodied knife fell to the floor with a loud sound.

- Mom, what is it? Where is it from? - Jeongyeon was the first to run to her mother, as she was closer to her than her sister and father.

She looked fearfully at the knife, with a pointed nose that stuck into the tiled floor of their kitchen. Grabbing a rag from the sink, she wet her mother's palms, thinking that she was hurt, since they were all in the blood. But, wiping their palms, they sighed freely, everything is in order.

- Where did we get such a knife? I see him for the first time - casting one glance at the knife, asked Mrs. Yoo. - And what is this leaflet? - asked the question, sadly watching him fall to their table. Jeongyeon quickly opened it and read:

“I'm not just looking at you now, Jeongyeon. Now your whole family is under the gun. The game has begun, and I will be the winner.

***

Choi Tzuyu was washing herself in the bathroom, tidying herself up after a night's sleep when she heard an incoming call. Three short and one long calls indicated that the mail carrier had arrived and brought something important.

For six months, the girl lived without parents, her father sent to serve in Hawaii, and her mother followed him. Drying herself with a towel, the girl ran out of the bathroom, went downstairs, opened the doors, and looked into the mailbox. There, along with letters and newspapers, was some kind of double-folded envelope, with an unfamiliar postal stamp. Out of curiosity, she opened it first, under her portrait, where she slept, Tzuyu read:

“Her kisses are just magical.” She gave herself to me immediately after the first glass of absinthe. 1-0 in my favor, baby.

***

On the second floor of the elegant Minatozaki, a shower poured. The girl herself went downstairs, not really paying attention to this action. She thought that under the hot jets of the soul is her mother. What was her surprise when she went into the kitchen and saw her native mother standing behind a stove and making coffee?

“Are you here?” I thought you were in the shower.

“Your friend is there,” the woman said, pouring a hot drink into the cup. The smell of freshly brewed coffee spread throughout the kitchen.

- What kind of girlfriend? - Slowly said Sana, glancing toward the stairs that led to the second floor.

“I don't know.” I first saw her. You only introduce me to boys.

“What did she look like?”

- Thin. When I opened the door, I only noticed her thinness in worn black clothes - taking a sip of coffee; the woman looked thoughtfully at the cup. “Ah, yes, and this strange red hoodie ...”

- What?! - Sana quickly ran out of the kitchen, not responding to her mother’s cries, crossed the stairs in a matter of seconds.

Having reached the bathroom, she froze, catching her breath, listening to the pouring of water, carefully opened the doors. The whole bathroom was flooded, it was impossible to breathe from the heat, and yet it went inside. There was no one. She began to examine carefully the room, but no sign of the presence of a person said anything.

“I thought you'd leave me a message of “A”. But apparently, you just did not have time.

A triumphant smile played on her lips, which the mirror erased and the word written there: "Turn around."

At the door, right in the middle, her photo was hilarious, the past “gray mouse” Sana, who was always hiding in the bathroom, tried to be invisible. Scarlet letters, like lightning pierced the whole body of a girl, penetrating thoughts:

The mask that you wear will soon break you will become the same. I know about you, let the whole city know about you. The past is back again. A.

***

The house was quiet; darkness enveloped the empty room of the apartment building where she lived. The girl walked through the deserted rooms, her legs stopped near the closed door, which she first knocked on three times, then went inside. She met by dolls of different sizes, in different clothes, and in different wigs, and with different voices. She knew what they were saying; just press the button on the back of her head and a voice would appear.

On the wall, right behind the doll itself with human height hung a portrait. Vintage portrait of a young woman. A fancy hat, a fan, with a uniform pattern that disfigured all the beauty that the artist of that time emphasized. Immediately behind him, portraits of the same face were still amusing, alternating ages with different styles of clothing, until they transformed into photographs in a frame, on a table, in the very corner, hidden behind a casket.

The girl's gaze stopped at one of these pictures. It depicted her whole family, joyful faces surrounded by sunlight. Her fingers gently touched the face of a young girl, identical to the portrait of a woman.

- For a long time we have not played together. Right? I was getting bored in this city, I thought that I wouldn’t go a lot and would lose my mind. However, you came you came back. Again, it became interesting for me to exist here. For a long time we did not have to choose among the dolls, we decided then that it would be them. Therefore, this girl turned up so successfully - the girl, without turning, asked the person standing behind her.

“You're right. She was, as always, by the way. «A» ever let us down. Now she's in business.

- How long do we have to wait?

- Not for long. Masquerade will speed things up. After him, our revenge will be sweet.

- What to do with Nayeon? - After a short silence, the girl decided to ask a question that she had long known the answer to.

The answer is that it has never changed since she knew this man. Her hunch confirmed when it sounded:

“How can she harm the one who created her?”

Again. Again this condescending tone. How she hated him. Nevertheless, she had no choice, not now, until her mission was completed. She just needs knowledge and communication. Therefore, I had to endure. Therefore, it was necessary to carry out all orders. In addition, to run errands. She knew that she needed to say what this man expected of her, and she dutifully said:

- We have an appointment.

-You know what to do.