Nethania

Chapter 25: Sticky Stick

AVIA

NEW DAY, a new chapter in our perilous existence. I couldn't get over the thought of two murders in one day, in different places and in a brutal way. Since Miss Nichole had announced yesterday that the class would be postponed for a day and a half because of the incident that happened in two different locations.

Our situation was getting messier and scarier. The killer was now enjoying her killing spree and we were like, waiting for our turn to be killed by her.

We were sitting on a bench with a table in the middle. Beside me was Hilary to my left, Hannah to my right and Nico beside her. Sitting in front of us were Austin, Jamsen and Vino. We were under a huge tree. It was twelve in the afternoon, and we only had an hour to enjoy the remaining time of our lunch break. We already had our lunch before we gathered here and we were only waiting for our class to start.

I was thinking of telling the authorities about Nethania, but the problem is, her name isn't complete and we didn't have much information about her. So how could they find her if her identity wasn't known?

"Are we going to tell the campus police about the killer?" I asked out of blue, looking up at the sky. We've been enjoying the cold breeze of the wind wafting around us, and all of us seemed occupied with our thoughts.

"What are you going to tell them?" Hannah asked, eyeing me.

"Definitely the killer's name," I replied as I turned to face her.

She smirked. "You said it yourself that she has no surname, right? So how could the campus police find that suspect if her identity isn't complete?" she asked, crossing her legs over the other one and began to put lipstick on her lips.

"Maybe we must have to get her hair?" Jamsen spoke while brushing his hair with his fingers, eyeing us with uncertainty in his eyes. I blinked many times while looking at him. We were all staring at him while his words were sinking into our minds.

"Jamsen, what kind of—He's right!" Hannah exclaimed. "Through her hair, we can detect her DNA and soon enough we will identify who she is." I leaned backwards when she waved her uncovered lipstick in front of me. I didn't want to be stained with her bloody red lipstick.

"To make it come true, we need to face her, but how could we do that?" Austin asked.

"Avia, will take care of it," Vino confidently suggested, pointing at me. "Besides, she already encountered the killer, so it is easy for her to deal again with Nethania."

"What? How dare you?" I growled, facing him. I squinted my eyes into slits. "You don't know how scary she is, Vino. You're saying that too easy because you haven't met her yet. Let's wait until you will." I flipped my hair, rolled my eyes, and crossed my arms across my chest.

I didn't want to see her again. How dare he order me to deal with her again just to get a single strand of her hair? I don't think so.

"Before we can think of anything that we can do to identify her completely, we must have her picture, I guess. Since we don't know her real name," Austin suggested.

"Uh-huh, there is hair in the picture... what's next? Her saliva?" I stated sarcastically, placing my chin on my palm and looking away.

All their needs were kind of dangerous to attain. Nethania had weapons and she had skills in dealing with her target.

"We should meet her," Nico said, pinching his nose.

"The question is how?" Hannah asked in a deep tone.

Austin heaved a long sigh. "We can't locate her that easily because she's killing people in no specific time. We will just hear that someone is killed and she was out of sight that instant."

"We can think of a way," Jamsen said, he was scrolling on his phone.

The ambiance became peaceful and only the wind was making a hushing sound between us. Leaves were rustling above us and students were scattered around, pacing back and forth.

While observing them, it seemed they weren't worried about the threat lingering around us. They were just strolling, talking, and bonding with each other, like everything was okay and fine.

Perhaps, like them, we shouldn't get too afraid of what tomorrow may bring, because, after all, no one of us knows what tomorrow might have for us and we have no idea what it will be.

"Guys, have you read The Angel's Misery?" Hannah shrieked, breaking the silence. She was holding her phone and scrolling on it.

We eyed each other and each one of us shook our heads, indicating that we hadn't done what she asked of us.

I nodded. "No, how about you?" I turned to her.

She tilted her head sideways. "Not yet, but I've got it saved in my library. I haven't found a time to read it."

"Is it really good?" Hilary asked.

"Guys, I have something to tell you," Austin jumped into the discussion, bringing a new topic to talk about.

We all stared at him. "What is it, Austin?" I asked.

"Alexandra told me that none of the cases had any evidence that could lead to the killer's identity, except for us, because we already knew her name. From Tyrone's death to Helena's death, who was the grade 11 student, no firm evidence was found. All the crime scenes were clean and the police hadn't found any lead," he informed.

Hannah gasped. "The killer is quite skilled and talented. She must have been a professional killer," she admired, nodding her head.

"She is also good at pretending to be someone who is innocent," Hilary added.

I narrowed my eyes in vexation and slammed my hand on the table. "Hey! Why are you complimenting that killer? You should hate her and detest her because of what she did," I scolded them, eyeing them one by one.

"We are just amazed how well she is in doing her bloody work," Hannah remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Just hate her."

"Fine, Avia!"

Austin sighed. "But the authorities found out something interesting," he added.

We turned to him again. "What?" I asked.

"Before Margaret died, they found her phone. They found an app was running on it."

We confusedly eyed each other.

I glanced at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What's app was that?"

"Read101," he replied.

So what was the connection between it and the murder case? It was her phone and anything inside it except conversations and photos had nothing to do with her death.

"What she was reading?" Hannah asked, her eyes widened and leaning closer to Austin.

He shook his head. "Alex didn't tell me what the specific book she was reading, but when she showed me the photo she took, I saw the Angel's Misery story. I just felt something strange when I saw it. I wasn't even sure if that was connected to her case but I felt it was. And they found it also on the grade eleven student's phone. The same app," he explained.

What was that?

Vino scoffed. "How sure are you? Can reading something kill you? Then how about Tyrone? I bet he wasn't reading that kind of story," he chuckled and leaned his back against the bench and placed his foot on the table, looking away.

"You're wrong, Vino," Nico butted in, eyeing him. "I caught him once that he was reading something on his phone but he didn't tell me the title."

Vino sneered. "Clearly unreasonable, right? I don't think it would happen. Who the f**k would read a story and die after finishing reading it?" He laughed like it was a joke told by someone who was stupid.

Yeah, I somewhat agreed with him. I flipped my hair and began tapping my fingers on the table.

"No one's gonna ask if Mr. Hilles was also reading it?" Jamsen questioned.

"Maybe—"

"Good afternoon, students."

We immediately turned our heads to the direction where the soft voice came from. I saw Ms. Nichole in her white formal blouse and blue pencil skirt. She was standing in front of the table and looking at us with her wide smile. We were quite surprised by her arrival. Hannah sat up straight, and Vino placed his foot on the table and sat up straight too. We eyed each other subtly.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Nichole," we greeted in chorus.

She nodded. "Have you seen Miss Jane?" she asked.

Our stares met again. I knew all of us weren't comfortable with the situation now. Hannah nudged me in the side. I stared at her and she was moving her eyeballs sideways, signaling me to answer her question. I shook my head obscurely while glaring at her.

"No, ma'am, why?" Vino answered. We heaved a sigh of relief.

Her eyes became sad, her face was out of vigor and her smile faded. "I've been looking for her since this morning, but I couldn't find her," she said, her voice was soft and tired.

"Maybe she's absent," Austin guesed.

She glanced at Austin. "I don't think so. The faculty members were strictly advised that if they wanted to go out, they should tell us before the day of their absence."

"Oh... We're sorry, Ms. Nichole. But we haven't seen her," Vino replied.

She nodded. "Thank you," she said as she turned away from us and began walking away from our spot.

We just followed her with our gazes until she was gone from our sight.

"Miss Jane is missing?" Hilary whispered, "Where she could be?"

Hannah snickered. "Where could she be? Maybe finding someone who's younger than her."

"Hannah, your mouth!" Hilary blurted out, eyeing Hannah with anger.

Hilary hated someone who made invalid judgements about other people. And Hannah triggered it.

"Oh, sorry Hilary," she giggled, "I'll zip my mouth," she said, smiling and eyeing Hilary.

I caressed Hilary's back and she took a deep breath while closing her eyes.

"Maybe it's time to go out of the classroom," Austin said, looking at his wrist watch.

"Right now?" Nico irksomely asked, placing his head on Hannah's shoulders.

"Yes, right now, ASAP," Austin answered.

I grabbed my handbag on the table and stood up. "What time is it?" I asked.

"It's twelve-fifty noon, ten minutes before our class starts," he replied while grabbing his bag off the table and hanging it over his shoulder.

They grabbed their bags and we left the bench. We strode along the pavement heading to the main building. I leveled the pace of Hilary and I wrapped my arms around hers and we walked together.

"Guys, I saw something."

We stopped striding when Nico announced it. We turned to him only to find that we had left him out. He was standing and facing the abandoned room. He was staring straight at it and it seemed he saw something weird. We eyed each other before going to his spot.

"What is it, Nico? Don't play around, it's getting late," Hannah said, stomping her foot on the pavement and crossing her arms across her chest.

"What is it?" Austin asked and stared at the room. I looked around, but I couldn't find anything interesting or strange in that location. The same creepy abandoned classroom we always see.

He glanced at us. "I saw through the window of the abandoned classroom."

"Abandoned classroom?" Hannah echoed and asked, "Where?"

He held Hannah's arms and led her to his spot, where he was standing. "Stand here where I am now. Look directly where my finger is pointing and you will see a white figure standing through the window. I think it was located on the other side of the room."

Hannah's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "Oh my, I really saw something standing."

"Let's go see it," I suggested, and I saw Jamsen noddingto me.

Hilary pulled my hand. "No," she opposed.

"Hilary, we have to see it," I insisted, holding her hand.

"What if it was a ghost or something supernatural?" she speculated.

"I know we have witnessed something scary before in that room, but I feel something odd now."

"Uhm...Are you sure, guys? Maybe we have to go to our room now," Vino hesitantly spoke behind us. He was smoking sheepishly and jerking his thumb toward the main building.

Austin sneered. "Are you afraid, Vino?"

His eyes instantly nailed at Austin who was teasing him. "No, Austin maybe you are. I'll go first, you cowards!" he exclaimed and marched, bumping his shoulder into Austin's.

"Go ahead!" Austin yelled.

We eyed each other and finally decided to go to see what Nico saw behind the room. We were supposed to go to our classroom, but I felt we had to see this first.

We reached the abandoned room. I looked down to see my path. Leaves were breaking down beneath my foot as I stepped on them. Leaves rustled loudly as we walked onto them.

I saw them stiffen when they reached the other side of the room. When I put my gaze on the place where they were looking, I moved backwards and my mouth gaped. I immediately covered my mouth with my hand and Hilary stood behind me.

What have we just witnessed? Another death?

"M-Miss Jane?" I stammered. I never averted my gaze away from her. Jamsen was scratching his head while looking at her. Vino just stared at the scene while touching his chin. Nico comforted Hannah, who was getting sick by looking at Miss Jane's situation. Hilary instantly hid behind the wall, and Austin was examining the crime scene.

I stepped my foot closer to her while covering my mouth and nose.

There was a huge stick that was firmly standing on the ground. Miss Jane's hands were overlapped and raised above her head and a huge rusty nail pierced her palms, keeping her pinned on the stick and her feet weren't touching the ground. She was wearing a white long-sleeved polo shirt and a black pencil skirt.

There was a sticky liquid or something wet that covered her whole body, from her hands down to her face and down to her feet.

Her mouth was kept shut by duct tape, and her eyes were kept open by pulling the eyelids up with a tiny strip of duct tape. Some sticky liquid entered her eyes that made it red.

Blood from her palms and the sticky liquid mixed up and in addition, she had a huge deep rip from her neck down to her lower abdomen. Blood was flowing out and her guts were nearly exiting her body. I could see her flesh being tore off. It is noon and she was left under the sun in this situation. The sticky liquid dried out along with her blood.

"Geez. What the hell is this?" I asked, suppressing myself not to vomit.

"Nethania seems serious about what she's doing," Vino commented, standing behind us. "Look, there are words on her forehead. I'm insatiable."

I'm insatiable?

"Another faculty member is dead," Austin added, eyeing us. His hands were in his pockets. "And perhaps she meant, she wanted more deaths? I guess?"

I eyed him and nodded. Maybe he was right. After all, Nethania was killing people and I think she's not satisfied yet, but why?

"I'll call Ms. Nichole," Hannah said and ran away from our spot.

"Go ahead."

"You know what, seeing this doesn't frighten me anymore," I shared, glancing at them. "It's like I am getting immune to this kind of scene. But I felt really sorry for her. What did she do to receive this kind of agony?"

"That's what I've been thinking too," Austin coincided. "The victims received the brutal way of killing a person and I don't know why they have to bear it. I bet you also saw what Nethania wrote in the bathroom, right?"

"Uh-huh." I nodded. "I'll do what you did to me. Kinda weird, right?"

"I think she has a list," Vino guessed, touching his chin while still looking at Miss Jane.

"That's what I've been thinking too," I agreed.

"What do you think is this?" Vino asked, pointing the sticky liquid at Miss Jane's face while looking at us.

Austin squinted his eyes. "A porridge?" he guessed.

"What?" I gasped.

"Miss Jane?"

We turned our heads to notice someone who arrived. I stepped backwards when I saw Ms. Nichole, the campus police and some members of the student council approaching our spot.

"Ms. Nichole, we're sorry to witness this incident. Nico saw a white figure was standing and we found Miss found in this situation," Austin informed Ms. Nichole. I went to his side.

"What the freak is this?" I heard Alexandra mumbled.

She nodded. "Okay, thank you for telling us. Are you okay? You don't need to go to the clinic?" she said.

Austin nodded and smiled. "No thanks, we're fine. But it's hard to forget what we witnessed."

She sighed. "Okay, you may now go. Tell me if you need something."

"Yes, Ma'am, we will," Austin replied and we began stepping away from them. Before we vanished, we bade farewell and went on our way.

"Guys, look what I found," Jamsen said.

We stared at him. "What?" I asked.

"Miss Jane was using the Read101 app too, and I saw the Angel's Misery in her library. It was the first book on the list, meaning she was reading it. I found her phone and opened it but, of course, I was careful in doing it and I took a picture of her library."

We gathered and took a peek at her phone. We saw the photo of her library and the Angel's Misery was really the first book on the list. We eyed each other.

"Geez!" I exclaimed.

Is this real? I hope it's not.