Nethania

Chapter 14: Play with Me

"I ALSO found a bloody letter on the top of his torso," Austin said.

I stopped and gazed at him. My eyebrows were knitting. They halted and stared at me and then at Austin.

"What?" He asked, blinking his eyes and lips partly open.

"You just saw a letter on top of his torso?" I inquired. "Where is it?" I gestured my hand in front of him.

He patted his right thigh. "It's in my pocket but we have to go to the clinic first, they are waiting for us there," he said, nodding his head to us and continued walking.

We bounded down the stairs and some students who were approaching us, some of them who spent their leisure time in the hallway, moved their eyeballs to stare at our presence. We just ambled down the hallway until we reached the first floor.

I flipped my hair and hugged myself. My flesh was still trembling because of the scene in the classroom. What just happened spread all over the academy like a wild fire. I even heard someone say when we passed across them that our class was so unlucky to have one classmate murdered in a cruel way. I just smirked and rolled my eyes. Tyrone was just unlucky because the killer targeted him.

"Ms. Nicole had a booming upgrade in her career this year!" Vino exclaimed, smiling.

"Yeah, she became the Administration Head," Nico commented.

I glanced at him. "She's quite familiar to me. Where did I see her before?" I pondered, looking below.

"She's one of the cafeteria staff before and when she finished her masteral education and some high degrees, she applied for the position of Administration Head after graduating," Vino replied.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head in amusement. "Geez, she's quite brainy. So she's been studying while working in the cafeteria?"

That was an incredible feat of work! Working while studying? That's impressive! If I was in her shoes, I would probably have stopped studying and focused on my work instead, but that was only my imagination. It probably wouldn't have happened anyway.

"Yes," Jamsen agreed, "She's that hardworking and determined to finish her studies."

"You're right, Jamsen, it's like a rags to riches concept, right? From a lowly cafeteria staff to a boldly assertive Administration Head," I added.

Austin sighed. "Therefore, we can't judge a person by their current status. Who knows, maybe that person will change a lot in the future," he said, looking at us.

"Yeah, I agree." I nodded.

We were approaching the clinic. We stepped inside the building when Vino opened the door for us. I faced the receptionist and told her we were visiting our friends. Since Vino and Jamsen already knew where they were, I didn't ask the receptionist for their room number.

We strode along the hallway. Our footsteps were reverberating across the hall, since fewer staff and students were walking along the white hall. Vino stopped in front of a white door.

"We are here," he announced, opening the door. I entered first and I spotted two ladies who were laying on their respective beds.

Hilary was scrolling on her phone and Hannah was sleeping peacefully on her bed. Hilary smiled when she noticed our presence. She put down her phone beside her and spread out her arms to welcome us.

I beamed and I placed my bag on the couch and sat beside her, then I caressed her back. "Hilary, are you okay now?" I asked, looking at her face.

She nodded. "I'm okay but Hannah was traumatized a bit. She still couldn't forget what she witnessed, so she went to sleep."

"Ahhh..." I nodded slowly. "Let's just give her some rest."

"How are you feeling?" she asked, "Haven't you felt weak after the incident?" Her hands were pinching my cheeks.

"Kinda dizzy but I can manage anyway. Just need a rest and I'll be okay," I Replied.

I kinda felt dizzy, but it wasn't that bad. I could still stand and walk with no difficulties.

I looked around and our boys were just busy playing games on their phones on the couch. I flipped my hair, folded my arms across my chest, and cleared my throat that made them look at me with creased foreheads.

Vino pocketed his phone and glanced at Austin. "So, Austin, what have you got inside your pocket?"

Hey! It wasn't the meaning of my stare! I just wanted you to ask them if they are okay, not ask Austin to spill the letter he was hiding. Vino, you're such a jerk sometimes.

"Oh you wanna see the letter?" Austin asked, eyeing us with his lips slightly parted. "Hannah and Hilary are still recovering. Maybe we could do this yesterday—"

Hilary poked my shoulder. "What letter?" she whispered.

I turned to her. "Austin saw a letter. By the way, what happened when you entered the classroom?" I asked. I wanted to know first what happened to her.

"Yeah, we precisely saw you leaning against the wall, unconscious," Vino commented.

"Oh, when I entered, I stepped on a pool of slippery liquid and suddenly I slipped off. My back fell so bad. And when I was laying on my back, I placed my hand on the floor to help myself get up, but I felt the gooey liquid beneath me. I lifted up my hand and saw the blackish, sticky and horrid blood. Then I went unconscious," she explained.

Vino touched her chin. "So she was laying on the floor and you just perhaps dragged her to the wall?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yes, and our deduction was correct." I faced Hilary. "But you're lucky because you didn't see what Tyrone got in the hands of the killer."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever it is, I don't want to see it."

"Guys? You're here!" Hannah cheered, raising her hands up in the air and yawned, waking up from her deep sleep. "I'm glad you came!"

"You okay, Hannah?" I asked, peeking at her.

"Yah, kinda. But what the hell did happen?"

I rolled my eyes. She was the one who couldn't get over the incident, yet she kept asking us what happened? Geez!

"So, perhaps Austin can show now what's inside the letter?" Vino crowed, pulling our attention to him.

Hilary poked my shoulder. I turned to her. "What letter?" she whispered.

"Earlier when Austin was searching for Tyrone's body parts, he saw a letter above Tyrone's torso in the teacher's desk compartment."

"You mean his body was cut off in pieces and scattered all over the room?" she asked, her face turning pale.

"Hey, don't picture it out in your mind, it's disgusting," I said.

"Okay okay." She nodded.

Austin stood up and inserted his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper from it. While he was unfolding the paper, my heart went on a race. I was staring intently at the paper and I couldn't take my eyes off from it.

He sighed and glanced at us. We could only hear the ticking of the clock and the cold air gushing out from the air conditioner. No one dared open their mouths, and we just waited for him to read the words aloud.

"Okay, I'll read it now," he said. His gaze was fixed on the paper.

"Hi there," he began. "You might have seen my little surprise for y'all! Do you like it? It's my love shattered in pieces! I love those people who receive my little gifts—"

"I'm lucky I haven't received one."

All eyes were nailed on Nico, who had just ruined the moment.

"Geez, be quiet, Nico," I hissed.

"—You know, I spent a long time cutting off his limbs just to surprise you! By the way, I'd like to tell you that Tyrone isn't the last and no one knows when I'll stop. I'm not here to bluff yet, I'm here to make your head pop! Now that I have your attention now, I'm happy. Tyrone was just my appetizer, and the main course is about to come, and of course, I'm not missing the dessert! How satisfying to see your muted scream and streaming tears from your bloodshot eyes? I know I'm talking too much and my letter ends here now. Till the next victim dies, the people of Alviana Academy. With regards, Your Reaper." Austin folded the paper.

Creeps began crawling onto my skin. It was like I couldn't move. My soul was terrified. I could even feel my hands trembling. We were hoping that the death of Margaret would be the last one, but Tyrone followed, and the killer just told us that he wouldn't stop killing people. He's a total freak and a psychopath. I was sure that the killer was the one who wrote that letter! We eyed each other.

Hilary leaned against my back like a little girl who was hiding from danger.

"So what about this?" Austin asked, eyeing us one by one, and inserted his hands into his pocket.

"That. Is. Super. Insane! He was planning to kill all the people in this academy!" Hannah shrieked, squeezing her face in between her hands.

"Not all people, Hannah. Maybe he has chosen some people for him to kill," Austin said.

"He didn't mention his purpose for why he was killing people," I expressed, "You know, guys, this is vague and blurry. No person can do something deadly without a reason! If he's doing this for fun, at least his reason is for his satisfaction. But what the hell is his reason for doing this?" I stood up and slammed my hand in the air.

"Avia, calm down," Jamsen said. "We can't ponder this clearly if we think so rapid and illogical. We have to know first who is this killer and what his purpose," he suggested.

"But how?" I asked, stretching my hand in front of them. "I'm sure his victims saw him before they died—"

"Even if they saw him, they can't tell us because they were all dead," Vino quipped and pointed his finger to Austin. "So all we have to do is to send Austin to the killer and—"

"I'm sure you have problem with me, Vino," Austin cut off his words and stepped forward to confront Vino but I restrained him.

"Hey, ignore him."

"Just kidding," Vino chuckled.

I flipped my hair and rolled my eyes. "This matter isn't to be laughed off. I snapped. "Two students were already murdered and we are doing nothing."

"What can you do, Avia?" Hannah asked, her tone was serious. "Confront the killer and say, 'Hey you! Stop killing people!' is that it? That's not how things work, Avia. Sometimes all we need to do is to stand, observe and watch how things unfold before us." We stared at her while saying her thoughts.

"So, we just stand in the corner and wait for the killer to kill another student?" I retorted. "The case of Margaret hasn't progressed yet, and another case followed immediately."

I sat on the bed. I could feel the veins in my forehead popping and my heart was pounding hard.

"Let me see the letter," I requested. Austin toook out the paper and handed it to me. I opened it and scrutinized the penmanship and it was so bad and crooked. It was barely readable and was written using human blood.

I stared at Austin. "How could you read this fluently? I couldn't even read this straight," I queried.

Geez.. I couldn't understand even one word and he simply read it easily and fluently? How could he do that?

He glanced at the paper and stared back at me. "I already took a glimpse at it earlier. We have our differences, Avia. If you can't read it, well, I can read that. Perhaps some of us here can read that letter also," he said, eyeing our classmates behind me.

Vino stood beside me and looked at the paper. "Yeah, I understand it, but It's hard, actually," he said and went back to the couch.

"Let me see it, Via," Hilary called and I gave her the paper. "Yeah, me too," she said, "For me, the penmanship wasn't that bad, yet the killer tried to change his penmanship just to make sure that no one could recognized his real one."

I gave the paper to Jamsen and they took a look at it.

"What clever crap," Austin mumbled and ran his fingers through his hair and inserted it back into his pocket.

"He wants to threaten us," Hannah muttered.

"Do you think he is targeting our class or he is picking random people," Nico asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He returned the paper to me.

"To know that," Vino said, raising an index finger. "We have to wait to see who his next victim is," he confidently said.

This jerk. Was he out of his mind?

"Geez." I shook my head. "You really wanted someone to die just to know how the killer picks his victim? What kind of human are you, Vino?" I asked, placing my hand on my hips.

"I'm kind, that's all."

I raised an eyebrow and rolled my eyes. "Geez. This man, do you even try to be serious?" I asked.

"Yes." He nodded. "And people died because of sobriety, I guess. So I don't want to try to be serious," he stated.

"Okay, I'm done," I snapped, turning my back around and sitting beside Hilary.

"Guys, the vase is moving," Hilary informed us.

"What?"

"Ahh!" Hannah screamed when the sound of a breaking glass echoed across the room.

The broken pieces shattered on the floor. The water soaked the floor and the flowers laid down. All of our eyes were staring at it. We were all confused, our eyebrows were knitting and our eyes were gazing at each one of us.

Geez! Someone is playing with us right now.