Everything started going haywire afterwards.

Garba, a fair, middle aged man that possessed too much muscle healthy for a pathologist, spoke through his nose and had a twisted tongue at the same time, dropped by with his team for the removal of the body.

 Him, being the leader of the group and most likely the only slightly intelligent crime scene officer present murmured next to nothing of his findings. His subordinate was however more considerate, he took up the role of translator when all that was heard of Garba was muffled declarations and hurried scribbling sounds of his pen and jotter, how he was able to manage both was beyond me. I had a feeling his subordinate often translated for him in this manner.

"Zeep, fharp ceffhs." He said after examining the lacerations on the body's belly-slash- crotch area.

"Deep, sharp cuts." His subordinate translated and took a shot from his own camera.

"Tho fuobbu." He muttered when he stared unblinkingly into the chilly eyes of the body and turned the head to the other side, the poor head almost did a three-sixty.

"No struggle." Was the translation that came from the bored looking subordinate.

I looked over at venom voice in apprehension, apart from the crime scene guys and I, she was the only one left in the room. Hot cop had had thrown a subconscious Dave over his shoulder and ushered the sobbing mess of the hag out. The scene would have been hilarious and I would have taken dozens of pictures if the circumstances were normal.

But the circumstances aren't normal, they're never normal with you around.

Sigh.

"...theedt ceff." Garba's moans reached my ears once again.

"Neat cut." Subordinate translated.

"Tho dge-uh-ay."

"No DNA."

"Dghed vuo vuor anhwas."

"Dead for four hours…" it went on, nothing really came out of it and venom voice kept looking more nauseous by the second.

"...phwain vwadee."

"Fine body."

"Tho fuobbu."

"No struggle…"

My eyes scanned the room in anxiety and boredom, wishing to all that was pure that the two morons trying to analyse something that was clearly beyond their comprehension would just take the body away and let me breathe. That was when I noticed something odd about the body's hair.

She had on my type of hair, dreadlocks, that was why I was able to tell that hers wasn't natural.

"...dheoth vwon."

"Crotch gone."

"Tintwo diases."

"Simple slashes..."

I walked closer to the body in excruciatingly slow pace.

I looked around, nobody was paying attention to me. Venom voice was trying her best not to look at the general area where the body was, while the two clowns...

"Vue thud dayi ha dwo zhe xhan."

"We would carry her to the van."

I'd pulled on a latex glove as at that time.

I was so close to the body.

"Hey kid, stay back!" Translator yelled but I wasn't planning on listening.

I yanked off the dreadlocks. Lo and behold, It was a wig. 

The body's hair was totally gone and an incision was in it's wake.

The equation was new but the order was the same –—to find 'x'. 

The flashes slammed back into my head with such force, that I felt dizzy.

'Find 'x' my Elly, find 'x'.

The new equation, deeply engraved into shiny scalp of this new body blurred out and the room whirled in a flash as my head connected with something hard and everything blacked out.

♣

I was moving towards that section of the ladies once again. I wasn't going back there because I wanted to, I was going back because an unseen force was pulling me towards that stall like a magnet. I might be under hypnosis but I didn't care, or let me say my legs didn't care, they just carried me steadily towards the stall where I found my Tiny days ago. The stall where it all began.

I was there in no time and against my better judgement, I pulled open the door.

Tiny, in all her gory glory awaited me at the other side of the door and she wasn't alone this time, she was with friends.

I gasped.

A fair girl with long, thick cornrows, holding a furry friend with huge, hairy tail was seated on the cold ground next to Tiny. She looked healthy and full of life, a sharp contrast to the soulless form of my Tiny, she looked like a year or two older and she wouldn't stop smiling at her furry little friend and Tiny, it was an unsettling sight.

Tiny patted the squirrel's tail fondly, imprisoning me in her inhuman gaze the entire time, she looked very sinister in this manner, nothing at all like the adorable little creature I'd practically raised. I couldn't help my fear.

'I begged you to find ‘x’ my Elly and you did, congratulations.' The sides of her bluish lips, curled up in a derisive smile gave away the fact that she was mocking me, and it stung. It stung so hard that I felt it difficult to breathe.

'Do you find it hard to breathe?' The pretty girl asked with a concerned expression and sparkly eyes, I opened my mouth to reply but all I could manage were short gasps.

'Do you need help?' She asked again and walked closer. I nodded vigorously, I was going to die if I didn't get my inhaler.

'Maybe I should try to help you? But I'm not sure I'll figure out what's wrong before your death, it might be too late, you know.' Her voice slowly drifted from concerned to villainous. That was when it hit me.

The body.

In confirmation, her thick, fro hair started to thin out gradually and in no time, she was completely bald. Like an egg.

My gasp was faint, I was going weaker and weaker by the minute.

'Now I'm sure you want to call for help? But you can't right? Do you now understand exactly how we felt?' My stance wavered vigorously, my hand tapped around for support, I found nothing.

'I have a gift for you. A special gift.' The bald girl thundered gleefully, evil mischief glinting in her eyes.

Life began seeping out of my grasp.

She unceremoniously tore off the skin around her forearm and handed it to tiny.

I collapsed in shock. The dark shadows bordering my vision became more prominent and in the end, it prevailed.

I felt scaly hands feel my cheeks tenderly as I breathed my last.

The last thing I was able to comprehend before everything went dark and numb was the voice of my Tiny, soft and innocent, like the way it was before her death.

'You'll always be my hero Elly. In life and in death. Thank you for bringing me a friend…'

♣

My eyes flew open and roamed wildly about for a few seconds. I realised I wasn't near a bathroom stall. I was in bed, a comfy bed in a warm room.

It was all a nightmare. A nightmare that felt so real, or was it real?

"Hey, she's finally awake! She's awake everyone!" Someone said excitedly from afar and in a few seconds, the bed I was sleeping on was crowded with faces I didn't want to see.

"Alleluia!" The hag's squeal was unmistakably a one of relief. Hot cop had occupied the bedside stool and was kissing the back of my palm with so much fervor you would think I was a long lost love returned to him by fate.

Venom voice didn't share his excitement though and senior Dave's poker-face expression seemed to be poking holes into hot cop's head.

What's all these?

"D––did ...I, did I die?" I croaked out and everyone around froze up.

"No!" Was the uniform reply I got from all four of them. I sighed in relief.

"So where am I?" My voice sounded better this time, hot cop still hadn't let go of my hand, though he'd stopped blessing it with his saliva.

"You're in the clinic," he explained kindly "you hit your head hard yesterday and—"

I shot up from the bed and snatched my hand away from his.

"Twenty four hours is gone?! Have you caught the killer?" 

Nobody talked. I knew it was a no.

Crap.

"Any calls from the lab yet?" Venom voice rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, principal hag found the intricate design of the widow blinds suddenly interesting, senior Dave suddenly developed a dry cough and excused himself.

I looked at hot cop expectantly and for the first time, he wasn't doing that I-can-see-right-into-your-soul thingy.

I gulped.

"The body has been buried." Hot cop whispered, not meeting my eyes.

"Another cover up huh?" I asked in astonishment.

Nothing.

"Principal Lawrence do you know this is bull shit." The hag had the decency to look sorry, I wasn't moved.

"Do anyone at least get the equation off her?"

Another frustrating silence ensued. Nothing.

Heavens knew how much I needed a blunt.

"Are you aware of the gravity of this? Without the equation, we don't know how much time we have left, and we've already wasted twenty four hours of the limited time doing nothing." I threw up my unwired hand in frustration.

"We weren't doing nothing Isabel, we were ensuring your safety." Hot cop countered as I yanked drip needles and useless blankets off me.

They could give excuses and laze around doing nothing because they didn't see what my Tiny was becoming by every subconscious meeting, because they weren't shown how helpless those girls had been when they neared their death, because they didn't know how crucial and limited time was, because they didn't know a dead body might show up the very next minute and I would be the one responsible for it.

I didn't know I was up and swaying till arms came around mine to steady me.

"You need to rest Adeoti. You can't do anything in this state you're in." I looked into Dave's eyes but found nothing but cold, menacing evil.

"... it might be too late, you know…" the movement of his mouth said and his grip around me tightened as the skin around his forearms started tearing off on its own accord.

I tore away from his hold and ran as faraway from the clinic as my bare feet could carry me. 

I was going bat shit crazy.

I was beginning to see things.

I was losing my mind.

I needed a blunt.

I ran, disregarding the fact that I was looking unkempt and my hand was bleeding, into my hostel, earning bewildered squeals from less busy house mistresses and by the time they were able to process their limbs into acting, I was already leaning against my the double locked door of my dorm room in slight relief.

Then remembering the happenings of the last twenty four hours, I slowly slid to the ground in fatigue and cried my heart out.

Someone else had died, had been murdered and it was all my fault.

I was too late. 

If only I'd figured out what seven meant earlier, if only I'd tried harder to search for clues, if only I had been invincible enough, a psychopath wouldn't have taken a keen interest towards me.

'...If only you had perished at birth…'

Sigh.

The pounding of the door had ceased by the time I was done pouring out my eye's content. The digital clock beside Dera's bed read 2:23pm. Classes would soon come to an end and in roughly forty five minutes, my twin and Alero would be back. It was for the best that they didn't see me in the state I was in.

I picked myself from the floor and staggered towards my end of the large room to pick up my bag of toiletries from my locker and escape to the bathroom before anyone made it back.

I stopped short when I walked past my bed.

It was unmade when I left for classes the day before and no one in the room concerned herself with another's chore. So I was surprised as to who will make my bed, all the cleaners do is sweep and––

The cleaners had spare keys to every dorm room.

I began to hyperventilate when I noticed the tip of something white peek out of my black pillowcase.

Time practically slowed as I reached for the sheet and it stopped when I opened the sheet to reveal its content;

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I hope you like this gift,
From me to you.

And that's it people🙌, a new chapter.
Someone should please guess what the gift is and win virtual chocolates😁😁.

Anyways, I hope y'all are being safe and adhering to social distancing😥.
More updates may or may not be popping up this week to distract you from touching your face🙌.

On to exciting news, Finding 'x' won an award!!!!😱💃💃
I mean, how cool is that😎?

This chapter is for Royally_Blossom, thank you for the honest review. It is very much appreciated and helpful, you might notice changes  in this chapters 😚.

So people, stay safe and be good, I love you regardless of the fact  that I can't send hugs and kisses at the moment.

Till we meet again,
✌illusionistic.