trigger warning. this chapter includes death with minor graphic descriptions. Reader's discretion advised.

20TH NOVEMBER.
ORION ACADEMY:
CAMPUS.

APHRODITE picked up her speed. Her legs trembled as she ran through the empty hallways in the middle of the night. The cold air welcomed her as she pushed the front doors of the residential quarters open. The icy cool air burned the holes in her skin but there was no way she could stop. She stumbled on the uneven cobblestones. She bruised her knee as soon as hit the pointy rocks. She couldn't wait. She stood up and ran towards the woods without dusting her hands. Only one thing was flashing through her head was the text. It was now imprinted in her memory, she didn't need to read it again.

•••

OH DEAR APHRODITE, WE KNOW SOMETHING THE OTHERS DON'T.

WE CAN GIVE YOU PETER, IF YOU RID OF SOMETHING FOR US.

MAKE A DECISION QUICKLY AND REACH THE ORION WOOD.

HURRY UP, THE BACKLIGHT IS ON YOU.

~ the black hole

•••

Her ears buzzed as the voice in her repeated it to her. She could feel every heartbeat, each one whispering to move faster. To get rid of whatever she was supposed to. If not, she'd lose her only chance at finding Peter. Her research on him had been to no avail. Her resources likely had the wrong information. Peter wasn't in Mainland City but he was still out there and she wanted to find her. She needed to. But how could the Black Hole know? The only person she told this to was Lex and she knew he wouldn't tell this to anyone.

A silhouetted figure stood near the woods. Messy hair, looking around frantically. She knew who it was. She approached Karan, but didn't say a word because she heard footsteps following her. She turned around to find West and Lex coming in their direction, unchanged from their jerseys.

"You got the text too?" West asked. Both of them were sweating, gasping for air.

The text. Which means, they had received one too. But why would the Black Hole send a text to them? What secrets did the others keep? Was it something dangerous?

"What are we supposed to get rid of?" Karan questioned. "They've said it in such a threatening way--as if it's a dead body." He laughed. When no one joined him, he pursed his lips and lowered his eyes.

And then came a scream. A loud shrieking scream that made all of them cover their ears. But the sound seemed familiar.

"That's Yumi!" Aphrodite cried out. They picked up their pace and went into the woods after turning the flashlight of their phones on. Dried lips crunched under their feet. Aphrodite's senses sharpened. "Stay close," she warned.

The flashlight shines throughout the woods, in desperate search of their friend. Numerous questions arose in her mind, some even disturbing. Right when the darkest thought arrived, she heard sobs coming from her left...or right? It seemed to come from everywhere. Somehow, Lex pinpointed exactly where the sound came from. Lex flashed his torch on Yumi. Aphrodite followed Lex's flashlight. Her eyes caught Yumi sitting on the muddy ground, hugging her knees and whimpering. She was shivering, hiding her face. Aphrodite crouched beside Yumi, placing her hand on her shoulders and giving a gentle squeeze.

"Yumi, what's wrong? Where were you? Why are you crying?"

"I think I have an answer to that," Karan answered as he neared a pile of leaves. It was too dark for her to see what was hiding near the leaves. She stood up on her feet and approached the pile. With each step that she took closer, she saw things that she never expected to see.

Drops of blood and a hand sticking out.

Lex mumbled, "Fuck."

She heard a gasp coming from someone's mouth...or was it hers?

West came closer too but immediately looked away. "It couldn't be..." West trailed off, his voice going shallow. Aphrodite's throat ran dry. Her suspicion, the loud voice screaming at her of what it could be, came to be true. She saw a face. Blood smeared across its head. Her eyes were open, staring back at Aphrodite. As if she was accusing her. The light from her eyes was gone. Aphrodite stumbled back and fell into Lex's arms.

"That...that is...Joshua's girlfriend. It's...Jessica," she croaked in Lex's chest. The same girl Aphrodite had ignored when she was first introduced. The same girl Joshua talked so dearly about. And now here she is lying dead right in front of her eyes.

Karan's lips trembled as he made his way towards Jessica. He used his bare hands to brush the leaves away from her body. He placed his quivering index and middle finger on her neck. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Not even a weak pulse." He chewed the inside of his mouth. He extended his hand and brought it close to him again. He gulped and lengthened his hand again hesitantly. He lifted her head and scrutinized the back of her head. "From the looks of it, she was killed by a blunt force trauma."

He received all kinds of confused looks.

"What?" He put Jessica's head down and shrugged. "I watch a lot of documentaries on these.I am a pre-med student, remember?"

"Are we...are we supposed to get rid of...her...?" West stammered. His eyes lowered, a pained look on his face.

"Who...who could do this?" Lex whispered.

In fiction, we know who could be the killer. It's the partner of the victim, their parents or one of the characters that are hidden in plain sight. But in real life, it could be anyone. Anyone.

Aphrodite lifted her chin and gazed into his glassy eyes. She rested her head on his chest for one more moment and pulled herself apart.

"My...brother can't know about this. I can't tell him that I found his...his girlfriend like this."

"We should call the cops," Yumi whispered. Her tears dried on her red face. "We can't dispose...her. We shouldn't."

"And tell them what?" West reasoned. "How do we explain that we found her in the middle of the woods at past eleven? If we throw The Black Hole under the bus, they'll go into hiding. We already know nothing about them. The Black Hole has been a rumour, all this time."

"We can show them the texts, they could trace it back--" Karan paused. "No, no. We can't."

Aphrodite frowned. What is his secret?

Her eyes travelled on each one of them. Wondering what makes them want to get away with this. Her eyes reached Lex who was staring at Jessica. Aphrodite's heart sank even lower. Lex was hiding from her, wasn't he? He was guilty of something. Why else would he not step up and consider doing the right thing? He had wronged, too. But, what?

No one spoke a word.

None.

Just silence and the whistling of trees.

"I...I guess we are doing this," Lex murmured.

header image by Rosie Sun

the amount of anxiety I was facing while writing this chapter is just crazy. I knew what was about to happen but I was finding it so hard to write. Wrote this in five different ways but I think this works for now.

I'm considering a double update. would you like that?

anyway, have a great day/night

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