UNDERWORLD

Chapter 2.

Lost in the moment, Skylar and I didn't realize when someone approached us.

"Hey girls. Sorry for interrupting, I heard you girls went to a party with the victim last night?" the stranger said.

Skylar and I looked up to see who it was, and to our surprise it was a cop. I rushed to him and asked him if the girl that died was truly Tarina Katz. He confirmed that it was her by nodding his head, and I broke into tears yet again.

"You look really affected by this. What was your relationship with the victim?" the cop asked.

"She was my roommate. I arrived on campus yesterday, and she was headed to a party at around 7pm. She invited us to come along, and we went together. But we left the party before her." I replied.

"So you arrived together but didn't leave together?" the cop asked.

"Yes Sir. How did she die though?" I replied.

"I can't share the details of that with you. All I can say is that it was pretty gruesome, and we are currently looking for the killer." the cop replied.

"You mean to tell me that someone murdered her?" I asked shakily.

"Yes, Tarina Katz was murdered." the cop replied.

I gasped in shock the moment those words left his lips. Who could be capable of something like that? Why would someone want to murder her? Is this why Arlo said it would be better if Skylar and I left together last night? Do murders happen often here? I didn't see anything about murders in the school when I was researching about it. Does this have something to do with the darkness I felt unlock within me? These thoughts kept circling my mind, and I was freaking out. But then Skylar placed her hand on back and told me to breathe, that everything would be alright. Usually I'm the calm one in situations like this, but now our roles are reversed.

"Did anything suspicious happen last night with her at the party?" the cop asked.

"Nothing happened with her at the party while we were there. But I can't say about after." I replied.

"When did you guys leave the party?" he asked.

"We left a few minutes after we arrived. We didn't stay up to an hour." I replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"We didn't really feel comfortable there." I replied.

"That's all for now. I'll be in touch if I have anymore questions." he replied.

"Okay. I hope you catch the culprit soon." I replied.

"Don't worry we will. I'll leave now." he replied.

"I hope they find the bastard who murdered her soon." Skylar said.

"Yeah me too. We better leave for class now." I replied.

"Yeah we should, but you should go clean up first." Skylar replied.

"Yeah I will." I replied.

I left after that and made my way back to our residence hall to freshen up, since I'm not familiar with anywhere else in the school. Once I got there, I noticed a man standing in front of the building. I could only see his back but even with just that, I already knew who it was. Arlo. I blushed at the thought of if he was here for me. But then I remembered what had just happened, his best friend is dead. And I just genuinely felt bad for him. I approached him to try to comfort him. I tapped him on his shoulder so that he turns around. And the moment he did, I saw the pain in his eyes. You could tell that her death was really affecting him on a deep level.

"It's going to be alright. They're going to find the bastard who did that to her." I said with my hand on his face trying to comfort him.

I wanted to comfort him, I wanted to let him that I was here for him, I wanted to let him know that he could share whatever he was feeling with me. I looked deep within his eyes, trying to let my eyes do the talking. Of all the different reactions I was expecting, I was not expecting the reaction he gave. He removed my hand from his face, and the pain I saw in his eyes slowly turned into hatred. I was shocked to my core when I learnt that the hatred in his eyes was for me.

"What's wrong?" I said with his hand firmly gripping mine.

"You have the nerve to ask me what's wrong? Rina is dead!" he replied.

"I know. I heard about it a while ago. I'm so sorry, I know you guys were really close." I replied.

"You're sorry? You've been here a day and someone is already dead. Now I'm wondering how that someone managed to be your roommate and my best friend. Who the hell are you?!" he replied angrily.

"Wait, are you trying to suggest that I did it? Are you kidding me right now?!" I replied and proceeded to removing my hand from his.

"No, no I'm really not. This is the last time I'm asking, and I need you to be honest with me. What are you?" he asked and I swear I saw his eyes change colour to red for about half a second.

"I don't know what you're getting at here. But I can assure you that I did not murder her. Why would I even do something like that? And on my first night here no less, and to my roommate for that matter. You have to be joking because there's literally no way that you actually think I'm capable of that right now!" I replied angrily.

"I don't know what I think of you anymore, but one thing I do know is that I will get to the bottom of this. And you better hope and pray that I don't end up finding out that you had something to do with her death." he replied and walked away.

My eyes slowly filled up with tears as he walked away. Here I was thinking that we had something special going on, but he actually thinks I'm capable of murder! Are f*****g kidding me right now?! Like there's just no way. I get that he's angry and upset right now that his best friend is dead, and I'm her roommate and someone he just met. But that doesn't give him the right to accuse me like that. And what did he mean by "What are you?" This school just keeps getting creepier by the minute.

***** On the other side of the school******

**Skylar's POV**

I can't believe there's already been a murder, we've barely been here a day! Is this why Arlo told Kayla and I that we should leave together last night? I wonder why someone would murder her though. She was so nice, it's just impossible to believe that she's gone just like that. I hope they catch whoever's responsible soon. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't pay attention to the group of students lounging in the corner. Well that was until one of them said something that caught my attention.

"I heard someone died last night guys." One of the students said.

"Yeah someone did, and I heard that it was pretty gruesome." Another student said.

"The cops said that it's a murder. Who do you guys think murdered her?" Another student said.

"I say it's her roommate. I mean don't you guys find it suspicious how she arrives and then boom! Murder! I don't know about you guys but I find it really really suspicious." one of the students said.

"I completely agree with you, but is she really that dumb to commit a murder on her first day." another student said.

"Maybe she's a psychopath." another student said.

"Why would the school admit in a psychopath though?" one of the students questioned.

"Trust me the school allows even worse beings. Besides, they obviously didn't realize her true nature." a student replied.

"True." another student agreed.

My blood boiled hearing them speak about her like that. They don't even know her and yet they already classified her as the killer. It shouldn't surprise me much, students in any level of education love gossip like their lives depend on it. But I can't let them spread false rumours about her like this. I need to get behind the murder and clear her name. As much as I would love to let the cops do their jobs, I doubt that they would catch the killer anytime soon. And I need the killer caught soon so I can clear Kayla's name. If you're wondering why I don't just go up to them and set them straight. It's because then they'll just say I'm covering for her because I'm her best friend, and that'll make the rumours even worse. So best to just focus on clearing her name by solving the murder, and getting justice for Rina.

Hours later, Skylar and I met up at our residence hall after we were both done with classes for the day. We were both annoyed by people gossiping about how they assumed that I killed her. So we both decided to take matters into our own hands, and look for the killer ourselves. We decided the best possible place to start is the scene of the crime. So we made our way to the crime scene, to where she was murdered. On our way to the murder site, I told Skylar about what had happened with Arlo, and how he thinks that I killed Rina. She got angry and upset of course. But then I thought to myself, why don't I try to make an effort to understand where he's coming from. But even then I still couldn't get it, another thing I couldn't get was why he said "What are you?" and how his eyes changed colours. And by the way, when I said that I already knew that my uni life would be epic, this was not what I meant!

"We're at the murder site." Skylar said.

"How are you sure?" I asked.

"I think the police tape that reads crime scene, is enough to be sure." She replied.

"Right." I replied.

"Okay look, I understand that you and Arlo have something going on, and things with him are complicated right now. But right now, at this very moment, I need you to focus. I need your mind here with me. Okay?" Skylar said.

"Okay." I replied.

"Good." She replied.

We made our way into the creepy looking shed in the middle of woods. What would Rina be doing here though? The route back to the residence hall from the party did not involve the woods. In fact, the place where the party was held is pretty far from here. Did the killer perhaps drugged her and dragged her here to murder her?

"What's your theory on how everything went down?" I asked Skylar.

"Well considering how much stuff is broken, she definitely gave one hell of a fight. But also considering how far this place is from the party, and the amount of broken tree branches we found on our way here, I have two theories. She was drugged and dragged here, or she knew someone was following her and thought she could handle it alone, hence why she came here." Skylar answered.

"So someone was following her and she decides that she could handle it alone? That's absolutely crazy." I replied.

"I agree. But look at the door, if she was drugged and dragged here, the door wouldn't be looking like someone broke in. So my official theory is that she left the party, and on her way back realized someone was following her. She made her way here to question the person away from a public space, but on her way here she realised that she bit off more than she could chew. Which led to her running and the broken branches, then she locked the door and the person eventually broke in, and murdered her. The only thing I don't get is the huge amount of broken branches we saw, it's too much for just two humans running in the woods. The killer had to have been really big in size." She replied.

"That's the only thing you don't get? I don't get everything. From Arlo talking about how things roam around at night here, to Leah telling us that we shouldn't get ourselves caught up in an adventure, to Arlo's eyes changing colour, to Rina's mysterious death." I replied.

"Yeah, it's definitely not the epic uni life we were hoping for. But we're already here, and we're not quitters. So we're going to see this through. Together." She replied.

"Together." I replied.

"Look around and see if you can find anything that can tell us who the killer is. Maybe the police missed something." Skylar said.

"Okay." I replied.

I looked around to try to find something that could possibly lead us to the killer. And as I looked around, I saw something faint on the wall. I moved closer and placed my hand on it to see what it was. Wrong move, I know. As I touched it, something weird happened. I suddenly started to see it clearly. It was like traces of.... darkness? The moment I saw that, I yelled. Skylar rushed to me and asked me what was wrong. But I was dumbfounded and couldn't reply her, because I felt the same darkness I felt when we arrived here from the wall. As I kept looking closely at the wall, I realized that there was a trail. A trail that possibly leads to the killer. Nope! Hell No! That is exactly how people die in horror movies. By following weird trails and sounds, I'm definitely not making that mistake.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Skylar asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Nothing. I'm just starting to think that everything that's happened might be supernatural related." I replied with a worried look on my face.

"Why do you think so?" she asked.

"Because I can see traces of darkness on the wall that might be from the killer, and it also leaves a trail that could possibly lead to whoever killed her." I replied shakily.

She looked at me and smirked, and with that I already knew what she was aiming at.

"We are not following some creepy trail. It's like you're begging to be killed next." I yelled.

"And if we don't do this now and get this person. More people are going to die." She replied.

"Maybe Rina was the only person on the person's list. Besides, we should just go to the police and let them handle it." I replied.

"Right, we're going to go to the police and tell them "Hey, we saw traces of darkness on the walls at the crime scene. And there's also a trail. Come take a look." They're going to think that we're crazy." She replied.

"Fine. Let's go get ourselves killed then." I replied.

"Hey, don't be like that. Think of this like an adventure into the unknown." Skylar replied enthusiastically.

"Seriously? Have you forgotten what Leah said." I replied.

"Okay so not an adventure then. More like a journey." she replied.

"Stop talking." I replied.

"Yes ma'am." she answered.

We embarked on our journey of following the mysterious trail. We both stayed on our guard, so as to be prepared for anything that might try to surprise us. After about 10 minutes of walking through the woods, we started to hear cracking sounds. I wanted us to go back but Skylar was not for it. I always knew her curious mind would get us killed one day, I guess today's the day. We pressed forward on our journey and ignored the mysterious sounds. About two minutes into pressing forward, the cracking sounds grew louder. And it became evident that we were not alone. We looked at each other and held hands in anticipation of what was coming for us. And our jaws literally dropped when we saw what it was. It was like a giant creature made of darkness. It was a demon. It was about two feet taller than us and had red eyes with razor sharp teeth. Shocked by the creature in front of us, Skylar and I couldn't move. It was as though our feet were stuck to the ground. So we did the next best thing, held each other, closed our eyes, and prayed to God that everything was just a really bad nightmare.