The man continued to stand there, staring. I didn't know exactly how I knew that his eyes were trained on us as we walked, but I did. They were like laser eyes that cut right through me. Why the hell was I so afraid? It was probably just some creep. And yet, it felt like something far worse. Clearly I was losing my goddamned mind. 

Our rental car was just a little further away but suddenly it seemed like miles. Those eyes I couldn't even see were burning my alive and fear was uncurling itself in the base of my heart. Stop. Focus. Breath. The manta just wasn't working. Minutes seemed to turn into hours as the man continued to stare with unrelenting focus, with an intensity that was slowly reducing me to an emotional wreck. I wasn't surprised to find my cheeks wet as we finally reached our car. 

Too many emotions flooded through my heart, but somehow not one of them was relief. Thankfully Noah didn't notice my unbalanced state as he clambered in after me and Sebastian took the driver's seat. I must have eaten something at the restaurant, or drank too much. It was the only logical explanation for my overreaction. Discreetly, I wiped my tears and I just prayed Sebastian would get us out of here so I could figure it out back at the hotel.

That's when we all realized that Alia must have fallen behind. With how dark it was, and with the lack of lights on the beachside, I couldn't even see her silhouette. The moonlight only lit up the trees. She'd been clutching onto Rosaline's hand when I'd last seen her. Stupidly, the fool had left her phone in my purse and to top all that, the roar of the sea drowned out any sound she could have made if she was further away than we'd anticipated. There were too many wrong things happening at the same time, like the stars were aligning when they weren't supposed to. There went any semblance of calm I'd managed to attain.

My heart started to beat faster and since I always cried when I feared something, I let the tears drip down my cheeks for the second time tonight as I turned to Rosaline.

"Rose where is she?"

Rosaline's eyes widened at my tears and she quickly replied knowing a panic attack would ensue if she didn't.

"I don't know D. She said she left her scarf in the sand and she went back for it. She was right behind me." 

Then where the hell was she, I wanted to yell but restrained myself. Everybody was just as one edge as I was. Just like how it always happened, my breaths started to turn short and fast. Panicking, I was panicking. Crap this wasn't going to help anyone.

"Why didn't you wait? Why the hell didn't you wait for her," I asked. 

I was begging now as I struggled to get air into my lungs. I didn't even know if something had gone wrong. For all I know, she was still walking here but my brain was running away with far more terrifying explanations.

It didn't help that the man I'd seen watching us in the woods had now disappeared.

"Davina chill. You know she walks pretty slow," Zahra soothed. 

She ran a hand through my hair. It did nothing. Nothing could help until someone got my baby back to me. Deep down I knew there was a connection between the man in the woods and Alia. I should have known, should have said something to Noah when I'd seen him. This was my fault.

"Davina it's going to be alright," Noah said softly.

I was already shoving him out of the way to get out of the car. Air, I needed air. Breath. Don't panic. Breath. I hadn't had a full-blown panic attack in a while and yet here it was, shaking me to my core at the worst possible time.

"She's taking longer than she should. Come on; let's check it out. Noah stay with her," Sebastian said.

Noah's arms wrapped around me and we watched as the others clambered out of the car. They'd find her. She was going to be fine. The four of us would be laughing about all of this when we got back to the hotel. Why couldn't I just believe that? Images flashed through my head, her gently drying my hair, her shaking body when she'd hugged me after I'd clambered out of the bathtub and how tightly she'd squeezed my hand on the airplane when we'd taken off. Alia was like a kid, and it had been instinct from the first moment we'd met for me to protect her. Something horrible had really happened and I could feel it in the depth of my bones.

And I heard it in the bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the night and had birds taking to the trees. Zahra. I don't think I'd ever heard her that frightened, that scared, and that much in pain. People began to rush out of the restaurant and suddenly air entered my lungs. It was almost as if the air itself was trying to push me forward to get up to see whatever mess waited. Like a child, I wanted to hide behind the car. Maybe it would make it unreal. But it wouldn't, and I needed to go see, for my baby.

"Noah, help me up," I said. 

My voice was low and scratchy. He looked at me with unbelieving eyes. I must have looked like a mess to him right now but I couldn't give a damn.

"Davina you're still not recovered. I'll go check it out," he said. 

I was already shaking my head. His concern did nothing for me right now.

"Noah help me up right now," I said more firmly. 

He sighed in resignation before swooping me up into his arms and going the way the rest of our troupe had gone. I'd pushed him to check it out and yet I was burying my head in his chest as we made that turn. Something lay there that was going to change my life and my body, my soul wanted to run from it. Nothing could have prepared me for what met my eyes as Noah swore for the first time.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, get help. Somebody help her," I said, screamed and began to screech as I inched towards my friend who lay face down in the sand in a pool of her own blood.

I almost vomited. I'd known this was coming the moment she'd been missing and yet, seeing her here, red staining her pale pink dress, pale skin that seemed to turn more and more white by the second and most importantly, the complete and utter stillness she lay in with an arm twisted behind her back was something my brain couldn't even process.

This couldn't be happening. These kinds of things happened in movies but not in real life. She'd been alive, walking just moments before. Death couldn't be so cruel as to claim her so soon. She was more than just my friend.

I'd been the first person she'd come out too, the first person she'd crushed on, and the person who'd taken her in briefly when her parents had kicked her to the curb. Our history ran far deeper than anyone else knew and there was a reason why she'd always loved me and placed me before anyone else.

And now she was dead and I was watching her, uselessly, as the smell of rotten eggs permeated the air. An old woman screamed. A man shut his son's eyes. Someone should shut my eyes, but nothing could erase what lay before me from my memory. Faintly, I heard Noah calling the police. Zahra's loud crying drowned out whatever he was saying. Or perhaps that was the ringing in my ears.

"Davina. Davina. Davina!" 

Someone was saying my name and I looked up blankly to Rosaline's red-rimmed eyes. This was her fault. The pain I was feeling was all her fault wasn't it? She'd left Alia behind when she should've stayed. In fact, she shouldn't have brought us here in the first place. Alia would be alive, and happy if it weren't for her.

"You. This is all your fault," I spat out. 

I was seconds away from leaping at her and scratching her perfect face with the manicured fingernails Alia had done for me. Who'd ever do things like that for me now? Who'd even care to try? Not her. Not Zahra. There would only ever be one Alia and now she was gone.

"Davina no." 

She was backing away from me like I was a wild animal. Maybe I had gone wild but I had good reason. The sight of her drove me mad and the scent of Alia's blood only turned my words crueler. Let her hear them.

"Your fault. Why didn't you wait? Why the hell didn't you wait? Did you even care? Are those tears even real Rose or are you just obligated to shed them," I lashed out. 

There was so much anger, so much rage in my heart that was darker than people ever cared to see. I wasn't just that happy, positive girl that screeched with joy at high ceilings. I could kill if something precious was taken away from me so cruelly. And Rose just had. She'd taken away something that was irreplaceable.

"Davina what are you saying," Zahra asked.

She was standing in front of Rosaline now and my venomous words turned to her. Let her feel a fraction of the pain I felt now.

"Neither of you cared. None of you cared. All you did was push her around cause she was easy to push around and now she's dead and for some goddamned reason you're still here because life is just that unfair. Just get out! Get out of here!" 

People were backing away now as I rose to my full height like a phoenix out of ashes. Only Alia's body lay between Zahra and me as she readied herself for me to fling myself at her.

"Davina stop," Noah said.

He took my hand. I shook it off easily. Stop? My words were unstoppable now. It was an endless flood of poison that could hurt ten times more than any of my punches could and the two cowering girls in front of me deserved every second of it. They'd done all of this.

"Get out! Get away from her! You don't even deserve to feel pain because this wasn't your loss. Don't even pretend it was," I bit out scathingly. 

Anger rose in Zahra's eyes. Bring it on.

"Ma'am we're requesting you to calm down." 

A woman placed her hand on my shoulder. Noah's police must have arrived by now. What use were they when her body was already rotting away? What was the point of finding out who killed her when she was already freaking dead?

"What's happening to her," Noah asked. 

The woman in a slightly scared tone. I listened as well. Let's see what explanation she had because I sure as hell didn't have one. Something had snapped and all hell had broken loose inside me when I saw her.

"She's in shock. Get her in the van."

Noah wrapped his hands around my body in a vice-like grip. They couldn't stop my words or my fight as I thrashed against him. I wasn't the criminal here. Or maybe I was, for letting them push her around all these years and for not saying a goddamn thing about it until it was too late. She deserved better than all of us and she'd never gotten it.

"Noah,get off me! Get off me," I screamed.  

It was like trying to fight a brick wall and the last thing I saw was Zahra's fist approaching my face for a brutal punch that knocked me out cold.     

Lot of things happening in this chapter. If you liked it, don't forget to vote and comment below. Poor Alia. May she rest in peace. 

Question: Who do you think killed Alia and why?  Comment below. 

The picture above is of the lovely Alia herself played by Alia Bhatt in my head.  

Love, 

-ASH